"Y/N, it's not your fault."
I sighed, swaying my legs over the railing on the fire escape.
"Yes it is."
"No, it isn't."
"Oh my god, Jean. It is. It should've been me. I-" I sniffed, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. "I should be the one dead right now, not Scott. And I'm so, so sorry. It's not fucking fair."
"Hey hey hey, no. Don't you dare say that. Yes, it's very unfortunate that he's gone, but it'll be ok."
"You guys were supposed to get married, in the future," I said into the phone. "Everyone knew that. You were so happy. And I took that away from you."
"No, you didn't. And I will never blame you for that."
"But I will."
"Just don't. You shouldn't."
"I know," I whispered. "Is Charles there?"
"Yea. Wanna talk to him?"
"Yes, please."
After a few moments of shuffling, he answered.
"Hello?" Charles said to me.
"I need to come home."
"You know you can't, Y/N."
"Please, I don't want to be here anymore."
"I understand that-"
"Do you?!" I raised my voice. "Do you really? I'm fucking scared, Charles. I saw one of them today, at a damn party. Do you know how that feels? They know where I live. They've gotten in before, what's to stop them from doing it again? I don't feel safe in my own apartment."
"I'm sorry, Y/N, but as you've seen, it's more dangerous here."
"Then why the hell did Peter leave?"
"Because. Because...we need him here, now that Scott is gone. If you came as well, it's just too much of a risk."
"Ok," I nodded. "Ok. I just hope you realize exactly what you're doing. Leaving me out here, alone. That's a real shitty thing to do. Clearly, you don't care, so don't contact me again. Please. Just leave me alone. Until I get my shit together," I said, and hung up. "Jesus Christ," I gasped, placing a hand on my chest as I turned around.
"Sorry. I came out here, then I didn't know if I should leave because I would've made noise, and-"
"It's fine. How much of that did you hear?"
"Uhhh, most of it. I'm sorry," Peter Parker said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Fuck," I whispered.
"Are you...are you ok?"
"Oh, yeah I'm great," I laughed, staring down at my hands.
"It's ok not to be, you know."
I sighed, and looked up at his face.
"You wanna talk? Vent?"
"I don't know."
"Well, what do you want?"
"To sleep," I answered quietly, turning towards the city.
"You can't sleep?"
"No."
"Well when was the last time you did?"
"Wednesday night."
"Y/N, it's Saturday," Peter looked at me, tilting his head.
"I know it is. I'm not 2."
"Do you want to stay with me?"
"What?"
"Yea. Um, aunt May is...away. So it'll be just us. I heard you don't feel safe, and that sucks, I'm sorry. I know it's just next door, so it's not that far, at all, but it might help."
"I don't know. Are you sure?"
"Yes. Really. It's not a problem."
"I thought you hated me," I whispered.
"What? Why did you think that?"
"Because you act like it."
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to. I swear I don't hate you."
"Well I don't hate you either."
"Good. So are you coming?"
"I think I will, yeah," I smiled, jumping off the railing and onto the cold metal. "Thank you, Peter."
"Don't worry about it."
-time skip brought to you by Bucky's metal arm-
"Y/N! Y/N wake up, come on," Someone said to me, shaking my body.
I gasped, and sat up quickly.
"It's ok, it's just a dream."
"P-peter?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm here."
"S-s-sorry. I'm fine," I panted, moving my legs off the couch.
"Are you sure? What happened?" Peter asked, crossing his legs beside me.
"I swear, I'm going crazy," I laughed, looking over at him.
"What do you mean?"
"I just, I have this dream a lot. Or nightmare, I don't really know."
"What happens in it?"
"I can't remember much, it's, uh, more like flashes of things.
"Like what? I used to have nightmares too, it does help to talk."
"All I know is that I hear someone calling my name...and then I'm in some sort of bath tub or something? Not sure. Then I feel cold water, and that's it."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"That's...weird."
"I know. I know it is. It's annoying, too."
"How often does it come up?"
"Well it started when I moved here. But it's getting more frequent."
"Maybe it's a sign for something."
"Maybe. I'm sorry. For putting all this on you."
"I'm ok with it. Really, I am. It helps me from going insane," He laughed.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Are you Spider-Man?"
"W-what? Y/N, come on," Peter laughed, blushing.
"Don't fuck with me. I'm not stupid."
"I swear to you, I'm not," He stuttered, fidgeting with the blanket.
I stared at him, propping my elbow up on the back of the couch.
He just looked at me, occasionally clearing his throat and looking away.
"Ok, fine. How did you know?"
"Well, first of all, you're voice is very recognizable. This isn't a movie. Second, all your sneaking around and disappearing makes sense. Your lame excuses. And that one time when you left and Spider-Man showed up right after. And the Stark internship."
"Wow. But how...I don't understand."
"Have you heard of The X-Men?"
"You mean those mutants? Uh, yeah. They're legends."
"Yeah?" I laughed.
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm one of them.
"Ha, ok sure."
"God, how dumb are you?"
"Rude."
"I'm Zaphire."
"No way-We've been working together this whole time?"
"Mhm. There were threats, where I used to live. So I had to leave. And then Peter Maximoff came too. He's Quicksilver, by the way. And Scott, was Cyclops. But the bad guys got him."
"Woah. Is your dad an X-Men too?"
"I have a picture," I said, grabbing my wallet off the coffee table. I handed it to him, and he opened it.
"No fucking way. That's Wolverine!"
"Yup. His name is Logan."
"You look so happy," Peter laughed.
"It was the better part of my life. Everything seems to be going downhill."
"It'll get better. Someday," He smiled softly, tilting his head. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen your real smile."
"I guess I just haven't had a reason to lately."
"Well, maybe I can change that in the future."
"We'll see," I whispered.
"So how is being an X-Men? I wanna know everything."
"It was fun. But then that whole thing with Apocalypse happened, so Jean is in trouble. The school is pretty nice. Charles used to live there when he was younger. And my suit is the latest design, we get new ones every few years."
"Awesooome. What are all your powers? Do you have more than what I've seen?"
"Ok, uh, metal can't cut me, I can fly, I have X-Ray vision, and super strength. What exactly is it that you do? Are you a spider? Do you lay eggs?"
"No, god no. I have super strength too. And I can stick to things. Like the ceilings. My senses are hightened as well. Oh, and my web shooters."
"So that stuff doesn't actually come out of you?"
"No," Peter laughed. "Does your sister have a mutation too?"
"Nah, she was adopted when I was around 5."
"Ohhh, cool."
"You don't have any siblings, right?"
"Nope. It's just me," Peter smiled, putting my wallet back on the coffee table.
"Hey, uh, there's this dinner thing at the mansion in a few weeks, we do it once a month. Do you want to come with me? I wasn't going to go because I'm pissed at everyone, but I'll try."
"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude-"
"Really."
"Ok, yeah sure. I'll come."
"Nice."