CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
( WINS AND WOUNDS )
DR. CONNORS – WHO WAS, in fact, the Lizard terrorizing the city – was stopped just in time. With the help of Captain Stacy and Ryan Berry – Spider-Man somehow got through the Gwen's dad, but neither knew how since Nick's uncle quickly made them get out of the car after they explained the situation – New York's spider vigilante was able to stop the Lizard and to keep everyone human. Ryan gave a short explanation to Nick about how he had gone into Oscorp to get the cure for the serum, and both he and Captain Stacy went up to the roof of the building to help. Spider-Man switched out the serum for the cure in some machine that was supposed to diffuse it into the air.
No one died, thankfully. George Stacy was close to it because Dr. Connors, as the Lizard, had stabbed him in the chest. Ryan Berry also got acquired a gash on his leg from the lizard, but thankfully paramedics were able to get to them both in time. Spider-Man, himself, had gotten some more bruises and cuts and scrapes, and had more holes in his suit to patch up along with blood to clean out. Once the fight was over, and once Dr. Connors was in custody, Peter went home and didn't go to school again the next day.
Nick didn't, either. Same with Gwen and everyone else at Midtown High. No one was allowed to go back until things were cleaned up and fixed at the school, which would actually be a while. Two weeks, maybe. Gwen stayed at the hospital with her dad and the rest of her family, meanwhile Nick went over to the Parker residence as soon as he could before either Marty or Anita, or even Olivia, asked him to hang out for the day. Nick rubbed his nose. It was bruised from running into that door yesterday, a bit swollen purple on the sides, but not as swollen as it had been. When he got home, he put an ice pack on it for some amount of time – he doesn't remember, it was a wild night of worrying over Peter, Ryan, Captain Stacy and the fate of the New York City citizens because he wasn't allowed to go near Oscorp – and Sharon got him to play piano with her again.
Sighing, Nick made a mental note to not run into any more doors – or trip, even, since he's already done that twice while walking to Peter's apartment – and to later check up on Gwen. He did neither of those things, and soon enough Nick was outside of the apartment door, and knocking a seconds later.
"Someone get the door, I'm making meatloaf!"
"Oh, no, not the meatloaf."
"I'll get it!"
"Wait, it might be-!"
The door swung open. Shawn Parker stood there in a black sweater that looked a size too big, boxer shorts and socks; his curls were a complete mess and he looked like he just rolled out of bed. Meanwhile Peter was right behind his brother, looking like he had been moving to stop Shawn from answering the door. He was slightly more put together with a t-shirt and gym shorts, but his hair was just as untamed as Shawn's and the bruises plans cuts on his face didn't help. Nick stared wide eyed at them both; this was the first time he was seeing them standing by each other, and boy was it weird.
"You could be twins," was the first thing out of Nick's mouth.
Shawn nudged Peter back as he opened the door wider for Nick to walk in. "Yeah, we get that a lot, and I honestly don't see it," he said.
"Neither do I," Peter said, quickly getting between Shawn and Nick, and shut the door with one hand as the other slipped into Nick's. But then a split second passed by, and Peter was about to pull his hand away remembering that Nick wasn't out to either Shawn or May, but he stopped as Nick laced their fingers together. Peter looked at Nick with a smile, but the shorter boy ignored it as Shawn jumped over the back of the couch and landed face down on it.
"So, I heard something about meatloaf," Nick said, Peter dragging him to the kitchen where May was.
Peter made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat as he pulled his hand from Nick's to go to the fridge, searching for snacks and drinks. "It's better if you just forget about it. We might as well go ahead and order take-out, too, Aunt May."
"It's not getting any better, Aunt May!" Shawn shouted from his spot.
May huffed and crossed her arms. "You two have no respect for my dignity, especially in front of guests," she said, motioning to Nick. "And it is getting better! It was edible last time!"
"I'm sure it'll taste lovely, Miss Parker," Nick said with a smile.
"Thank you, Nick, and please, just call me 'May'."
Peter handed Nick a soda and a back of chips. "Suck up," he whispered just quietly enough to where only Nick would hear it. Nick instantly stuck out his tongue in a childish manner and opened the bag of barbecue chips. May watched the interaction fondly, and Shawn peaked over the edge of the couch to watch, thankful in the moment that the couch was in direct line to the kitchen entrance, giving him a clear view.
+++
"How are you, really?" Nick asked as he looked around Peter's room. He's only been in it a handful of times, and only really looked at everything in it once. "Like about last night."
Peter looked up from his phone from where he was on his bed, lying on his stomach. For a second or two he just stared at Nick, watching him pick up an old computer keyboard in confusion. Finally, the younger boy shrugged. "I guess 'm fine, why?"
"I mean, you watched Gwen's dad almost die, and you almost got choked to death by Doctor Connors, and got beat up pretty bad, actually." He motioned to Peter's face vaguely; well, actually, he just motioned to Peter in general when he mentioned the last two things. Peter had few more bruises, cuts and scrapes, and his neck was badly bruised but he had gotten ahold of some makeup of Aunt May's to cover it up. "It's a lot compared to me running into a door and almost breaking my nose."
Peter, despite smiling amusedly at Nick running into a door, rolled his eyes. "I mean, yeah, none of that was fun, and it scared me, but I'm fine now. Captain Stacy is alive, so is your uncle, and so am I. Doctor Connors is behind bars. No one got turned into lizards. It's a win, despite the wounds." He then rolled onto his back, lifting his phone above his face as he read a text from Ned, his best friend going on about the Spider-Man and the Lizard. Peter smiled and sent back a quick message just as Nick laid down beside him.
"Are you positive?"
"Yes, Nick."
"Like, superheroes go through some tough shit, y'know? Tony Stark went through some hole in the sky! He can't be okay after that, and Captain America was in a world war, so he's definitely not okay, and who knows what the Black Widow went through. I mean, my uncle has seen some serious shit, too, and-."
"Nick?"
Nick stopped talking at noticing that Peter's face above his. "Yeah?"
"Shut up."
He frowned, but the frown turned into a smirk as he got an idea; Peter noticed the sudden mischievous glint in his eyes and titled his head like a confused puppy. "Make me."
Peter's brown eyes widened dramatically, and sputtered out a 'what' the best he could.
"Anyway, where was I? Right, okay, so my uncle has seen some shit, too, and he's just a cop. Well, he was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for a bit of time, but-."
Once again, Nick got cut off. But not by Peter telling him to shut up, but rather by Peter's lips on his. Nick's eyes widened, not being able to process what was happening for a split second, but when he did he kissed back and did his best not to smile too much, loosely wrapping his arms around Peter's neck while one of Peter's hands went to rest on the side of his face. Slowly, despite him trying not to, Nick broke out into a smile and started laughing. Peter started to as well, pulling away the slightest bit.
"You're a little shit," Peter said.
Nick grinned. "I know."
"I hate you."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Boys! The meatloaf's ready!"
"Can we please go ahead and order Thai?!" Shawn shouted from his own room.
Peter quickly got off of the bed and fixed his shirt that wasn't even messed up in the first place, but his face was beet red. He sent a glare that had no fire behind it to Nick who was smiling widely, and couldn't help but smile as well. "We, uh, you know...better go before either of them bust up in here," he said.
Nick nodded and stood up. "Yeah, 'course."
The two just stood there for a moment until they remembered that they needed to move to leave, so Peter rushed and opened his bedroom door, letting Nick out first. They made their way to the kitchen where May was cutting pieces of the meatloaf. Ten minutes later, the woman was on the phone with the Thai place as the three boys played Go Fish.
+++
"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" Nick shouted as he entered the house, ready to hear his dad's question about how the Parkers were holding up and his mom's about if Olivia Green was there. Instead, he got the sound of Blue Bloods playing on the TV in the living room and the familiar voice of his uncle shouting back.
"They went on a date!"
Nick frowned in confusion and went to the living room to see Ryan in the recliner, his wounded leg propped up. "Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?" Nick asked.
Ryan shrugged. "Nope. They just stitched me up, let me stay there for a bit so they could make sure nothing else was wrong, and then they let me go. I'm staying here for a couple days, though, hope you don't mind."
The teenager quickly shook his head, grinning happily. "I don't mind at all!" He then sat on the couch, ready to watch Blue Bloods with his uncle, but the show paused right as he did so, making him frown once again and turn to look at Ryan. "Why'd you pause it?"
Ryan's eyes were narrowed on him as if he was trying to figure out an answer to a question, and maybe he was. Nick sat there, confused and ready to bolt if an awkward question came up. It was silent for a good minute until either of them spoke; it was Ryan who broke the silence. "I understand if you don't want to, but I just want to talk about what Vally said in the car the day we took her to the comic and record store."
Nick's eyes widened for a split second but he did his best to hide it. "The Wonder Woman comics?" He asked.
"No, the other things."
"What other thing?"
"Nick, don't play dumb."
"I'm not."
Ryan gave an unimpressed look. "The thing about you looking at Peter the same way I look at Evalyn." This time, Nick couldn't hide his surprise, and at seeing it, Ryan continued. "Look, I don't care if you like boys. I don't care if you like girls, or if you like those people who don't go by anything. Okay? I only care if you're happy. Are you happy?"
Nick hesitated, but nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"Good."
And that was the end of that, other than Nick questioning Ryan about Evie and when, or if, they're going to date. Nick had never really noticed his uncle and Olivia's mom flirt in any way, let alone speak to each other, but he had gotten the tiniest of information from Olivia the day he got too close to the Lizard for comfort. Despite that, though, he knew they worked well together. They were two adults with kids, and had their priorities straightened out. Once that conversation was done – correction: Nick grilling Ryan on his feelings for his friend's mom – they went back to watching Blue Bloods until Dan and Sharron Berry got home.
***
A/N— Cherish this plus the next chapter because the one after that & parts of Part Two is quite angsty for literally everyone involved. Oops. The kiss between them wasn't supposed to happen, but I decided to give it to you guys because, well, [insert spoilers here]. But yeah! Nick being a little shit to get Peter to kiss is honestly hilarious to me though. Also I don't think I ever told you guys but Shawn is portrayed by Bradley Simpson from The Vamps.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote and comment xx