how in the everloving heckety heck have we reached almost 50k reads in the time span of one month?
also this chapter has many triggering elements involving discussion of abuse
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My finger gently presses Ned's doorbell. Immediately, the door swings open with the force of a thousand Hulks. "PETER—" Ned squeaks, grabbing my arm and pulling me into his living room. We immediately book it to his bedroom, bypassing everyone. I shout a quick hello to Mrs. Leeds before I'm shoved through a doorway. "Are you okay?" He asks once he closes his door.
"No!" I screech at him, waving my arms around wildly. "May just tried to hit me." I drop my backpack on the floor and plop down on the bottom half of his bunkbed.
"She what?!" Ned freaks out on me, eyeballs widening to unimaginable extents. "May tried to hit you?!"
I sigh and run a hand down my face exhaustedly. "I'm sorry to just show up with all my problems, Ned. You shouldn't have to deal with them too."
"Peter, stop..." Ned insists, sitting beside me on the bed. "Don't do that. I'm your best friend. I signed up to carry, like, half the load of horribleness when I agreed to be your Guy-In-The-Chair." He smirks at me. I chuckle, scratching the back of my head in thought. "You know you can tell me anything right?"
I take a deep breath. "I know." I smile up at my best friend. We sit in silence for another moment. "I don't think the Avengers trust me."
"Why?"
"They hacked into my phone." I scratch the back of my head and look to the floor in embarrassment. How did I not catch on? Of course they wouldn't trust me. Nat is way too secretive to trust anyone with anything—you know, her being a spy and all. "They listened to my conversation with May."
"Okay, that's not your fault." He points an angered finger at me. "They shouldn't have been all up in your business, man."
"Yeah..." I trail off, stressed.
In case you're wondering—I messaged Ned earlier today after I missed our hang-out. He seemed to understand after I explained that I was unconscious practically all morning. Well, he understood after he freaked out about the fact that I knew the Avengers.
We go quiet again. I feel bad for showing up at his door with all my emotional baggage, but I needed someone to talk to. The Avengers broke my trust, May tried to hit me...but Ned?—No, my best friend is always gonna be there for me. I know I can rely on Ned, no matter what. "You okay?" He murmurs after another moment.
A few tears prick at the corners of my eyes. "No." I wipe my cheek on my sleeve, neglecting to let Ned see me cry. "Why would May try to hit me?"
"Peter, she's always had that..." Ned pauses hesitantly, "...problem."
"No, she hasn't." I explain between sobs, "She didn't used to be like this." Ned grabs my shoulders and pulls me into a hug, finally giving me the signal to let it all out. I just sit there—crying. As if I were a kid again. Or something like one, at least.
"Come on, Peter. You need to get some rest." Ned sighs and stands up.
"Are you sure it's okay if I stay here?" I check again, grabbing my backpack and chucking it onto the top bunk.
"It's always okay, dude." He chuckles, grabbing some PJs and going to change in the bathroom attached to his bedroom. "Here—some of your pajamas." Ned throws a handful of my clothes at me.
"How do you have these?" I laugh as I look down at my pajamas.
"We have, like, a bajillion sleepovers a month, dude. You always leave stuff here." Ned shrugs. The bathroom door closes behind him. I quickly change into my PJ's.
My phone goes off a consecutive 30 times so I grudgingly pick it up and check my messages.
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chat: May
May
Peter I'm sorry
I'm so sorry Peter
Please come home
...
I can't lose you too
...
I didn't mean to
...
Please come home
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chat: the crew
Spy
Peter, we're sorry
We didn't mean to upset you
Printer
Peter? Hello?
Cool
PETER PLEASE COME BACK TO US
WE NEED YOU
CAW CAW
PETER WE'RE WORRIED
Printer
Kid, pick up the phone
We just wanted to make sure you were okay
Old
I told you that you shouldn't have invaded his privacy
If you'd have just listened
Spy
Not now steve
Peter, pick up the phone
Please?
science man
Are you okay? We can talk if you need to
I know you feel hurt
We didn't mean for it to happen like this
Spy
Peter, please
We need you to respond
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chat: May
May
Peter
Get home
Right now
...
I couldn't care less where you're at, you're gonna get your ass home right now
...
That bottle's not gonna miss next time
...
I'm sorry
...
Peter please
I need you to come home
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Before I even realize it, I'm sobbing uncontrollably as Ned grabs the phone from out of my hand. He shuts it off and drops it down into my backpack, right on top of my Spider-Man suit.
Ned picks the bag up and sets it on the other side of the room. He points at it angrily, "We don't need to worry about anything in that bag right now."
I wipe my tears on my sleeve again and climb the tiny ladder to my bunk on top. Flopping onto my back, I take a deep breath as I stare up at the ceiling. "Thank you, Ned." I murmur after a quiet minute.
"Anytime, Peter." I don't have to see his face to know he's smiling. The light flicks off and I'm left in darkness. From where I'm at, I can see my backpack continuously lighting up from notifications. Thank god Ned turned the ringer off.
__Nat's POV__
Why isn't he replying? Is he okay? Is he hurt again?
"How do we find him?" I ask immediately, crossing my arms. All the Avengers are gathered in the living room.
"Woah, woah, woah—" Steve throws his hands up. "I say we give him space. He feels hurt, Nat. We broke his trust."
"But we didn't mean to!" Bucky argues, waving his hands around wildly. "We hacked it to make sure Peter stayed safe! Not to make him feel like we didn't trust him with our secret!"
Bruce sighs heavily, "Either way, we invaded his privacy. We have to give him time to recover from that before we can explain ourselves."
The room goes silent. "What do you think happened with his aunt? She sounded angry." Tony asks from his spot on the couch.
"She did." Bucky concedes, leaning forwards on his knees in deep thought.
I sigh, squatting down onto the couch with the rest of the team. "Peter did say she drinks a lot."
"Yeah, but he said she hadn't drank anything tonight." Tony denies while glancing from one Avenger to the next.
Bucky shrugs, "Who's to say she didn't start drinking after that?"
We all go quiet. Secretly, we all wished we would've kept listening after Peter hung up on me. Bruce shut off the hack after Peter found out, for fear of hurting him more. But who knows what happened to the kid?
I can only hope that he's safe in his bed at home. This poor kid has been through so much and it kills me that we just threw even more at him. It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Each of the Avengers split off to go sulk somewhere else, while I stay seated on the couch, head in my hands. "Nat?" Clint pipes up from beside me.
"Yeah?" I sigh heavily without looking up.
"He's gonna be okay." My best friend ensures, laying a comforting hand on my back. "I know he will."
"How do you know that? How could you possibly know that?" I snap in return, my eyes shooting a quick glare at him. He's taken aback by my aggressive tone but I can visibly see him let it go only a moment later. "I'm sorry, Clint. You didn't deserve that."
"It's okay." He smiles at me kindly.
That's the thing I love about Clint—he gets me. He knows where I came from and I know that no matter what I do or where I go, he's still gonna be right by my side. People come and go, but a best friend is like a rock that doesn't let the river of life sweep you away.
True friends never leave. Even when they're driving you nuts and all you wanna do is let go and drown in that crazy river, they stay strong for you.
I can only hope that Peter has someone like that—someone who's gonna make sure he's okay tonight. A rock that's gonna hold him in place.
I can only hope.
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yoyoyo
sorry for the hecka late update!
here are the results for the ship vote! I took track of every last comment 😭😂 thanks for voting!
(disclaimer before you vote: I deeply apologize if certain people won't like what the final results will be 😭 I would write every fanfic with every ship if I could! I love them all.
if we get clintasha, I just want you to know that I love the friendship between the two and I think shipping them might ruin that :( I would personally prefer to write a spideychelle or stucky, so please keep that in mind while you decide my fate 👀)
(drum roll please!)
Badadadadadaaaa....
top 3 (not in order):
-stucky
-clintasha
-spideychelle
vote on the ship by commenting on it! thanks!
-bottle of honey