Disconnection

It had been a pretty rough day to say the least.

After being lectured by both his parents, practically interrogated by Natasha and Clint and way too many awkward talks with doctors, he was finally allowed some time to himself. He laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to empty his mind. But he couldn't stop mentally recounting the events of the last 24 hours. They played in a continuous loop, again and again, each time more dramatic than the last.

He was left with a weird feeling, almost surreal, like none of this was real, as if he would suddenly wake up to find that this was all some sort of weird twisted dream.

But this was all real, and less than 24 hours ago, Peter had walked off a building.

Even though he knew that it all happened, it still felt like it all wasn’t real. The result was a weird mixture of peacefulness and panic.

He had spoken to Bruce about it, as he was by far the most understanding of the avengers. Unlike the others, he had been in the same position as Peter, his attempt being stopped by someone else. But unlike Peter, Bruce was stopped by himself in a way. Bruce claimed to be past that stage of his life, but every few months you could see it in his eyes, the overwhelming sadness and guilt.

He was now booked in to see the same therapist that Bruce did, Dr Blunt. Usually that would be a conflict of interest, but there wasn't any other that were trusted by the team with confidential information, such as secret identities. He had an appointment with her tomorrow at 9am which he was dreading, but his dads would kill him if he didn’t show up.

His mind kept drifting back to thinking about Deadpool. He couldn't help but wonder what he was doing right now at this moment, and if he would ever see him again. He hoped he would, despite all that his parents had said about him. They warned him that Deadpool was a ruthless and psychotic killer, but he didn’t seem so bad, plus he had saved his life. But Deadpool made it pretty clear that he wasn't interested in being friends with Peter. But Peter was determined to find him again.

Suddenly he had an idea, a way to find Deadpool, but he would have to sneak into Tony’s office to access his ‘work’ computer. Surely the avengers had to have information on Deadpool’s whereabouts, especially now that they knew he was in New York. Knowing his father, Tony probably had someone trying to track him down right now.

Peter hesitantly opened his door, checking the hallway for anyone else. Natasha and Clint also lived on this floor, and he didn’t want to run into them. Once he was sure that no one was going to see him, he climbed onto the wall, his bare hands and feet easily moving him up to the ceiling. The one thing he loved about the tower the most was how high the ceilings were, making it easier for him to move about undetected. He made his way to Tony’s office, making sure not to be seen by anyone. Just as he was about to crawl down to the door, it opened, Tony and Steve walking out. They seemed to be arguing in hushed tones, to quietly for Peter to make out what they were saying. He watched them from the ceiling as they walked to the elevator, thankfully being too engrossed in their argument to look up.

As soon as they were out of sight, he climbed down to the door, swiftly entering the code on the lock. He had cracked the code to the office years ago as a child, simply because he could, although he never had any use of it until now. He entered the room and closed the door with a soft click, and sat down at the desk. The huge screen took up most of the wall, with a small keypad on the desk. He quickly entered the avengers’ database and typed in the keyword Deadpool.

Results filled the screen, mostly stills from security footage and files from something called ‘weapon x’. Despite all this information, there was barely anything about his personal life. No home address was to be expected, but apart from his name and family heritage, there was next to nothing. But something caught his eye.

It was a more recently added file, a report from a shield agent. Peter’s hunch about someone being assigned to keep watch on him down was right, but by the look of it, they weren’t having much success. The only useful information was that he frequented a certain ring of food trucks, particularly a Mexican one, but didn’t stay for long, usually dropping by just before they closed up at midnight. Peter grabbed a sticky note off his dad’s desk, wrote down the address and stuck it in his pocket.

Just as he shut down the computer, he heard someone walk up to the door.

“Shit.” He thought to himself. He obviously couldn’t leave the way he came in, so that left him with one other option. He scrambled out the window and closed it just as he heard the door open and heard someone enter, his breathing heavy as he clung to the side of the building and hoped that he wasn’t seen. 

He climbed over to the window of his room, being careful to avoid the window of Natasha’s or Clint’s room. When he got to his window, he found it unlocked as he always left it and he climbed through, taking care not to make too much noise to tip off anyone else. He glanced at the clock, realising that it was already 11:42pm. He frantically pulled on his shoes and jacket and rushed out the window, making his way down to where Deadpool would hopefully be.

--------

By the time Peter got there, there was practically nobody there. He couldn’t swing from roof to roof when not in costume, so he was forced to walk the whole way. When he got there most of the trucks had closed up or were in the process of closing. He ordered a few tacos and started eating, but they couldn’t compare to the ones Deadpool made him. He waited around for a while, occasionally spotting a flash of red, but it was never who he was looking for.

Just as he was about to give up and head home he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Peter? Is that you?”

He turned around to face Deadpool, fully costumed with his two katanas and several other weapons strapped to him.

“Oh hey Deadpool! I was just looking for you!” Peter exclaimed before he could realise what he was saying.

“Looking for me?” Deadpool said, looking surprised. “I thought I told you not to do that.” He said disapprovingly.

Peter desperately tried to come up with an excuse. “Uhhhhh, well, you never gave me a chance to properly thank you for saving me. So… maybe would could hang out for a bit if you’re not busy? I have tacos?” He asked as he looked at Deadpool hopefully.

Deadpool sighed. “Well, I can’t say no to that face, or those tacos. Let’s grab a coffee, I know an awesome 24 hour place near here.”

Peter was about to say yes, but then he remembered the agent that was assigned to keep watch of Deadpool.

“Uhhhhh, do you have an apartment or something that we could go to instead?” He felt awkward asking him, but he preferred it to being watched by someone.

Deadpool grinned at him suggestively. “Wow Petey, what kind of girl do you think I am? You did at least buy me dinner first but still.”

Peter blushed at his words. “No, no, no, that’s not what I meant! It’s just that Shield may or may not have someone following you and I just thought it would be better if we could talk in private.”

Deadpool considered it for a second. “Why don’t I just go and take care of this agent, and then we can continue in peace?”

Peter looked at him in horror. “What?! No way! That guy is completely innocent! You can’t just kill him!”

Deadpool laughed. “Don’t worry baby boy, I wouldn’t have done it. I don’t kill anyone unless they have it coming.”

Peter visibly relaxed at this. He didn’t like the idea of Deadpool killing anyone, but this was better than nothing.

Deadpool continued. “Anyway, we can go to my apartment, but I’m warning you, it’s not exactly clean.”

Peter couldn’t think of an alternative, so he agreed, letting Deadpool lead the way.

“So how did you know I would be there?” The mercenary asked.

“Oh, shield has been keeping tabs on you, so I looked through my dad’s files and they said that you might be at the Mexican food truck” Peter replied.

Deadpool laughed. “Mexican food has always been my weakness. Do your dads know you’re with me?”

A jolt of anxiety shot through Peter. “Uhhhhh hopefully not, they aren’t exactly your biggest fans. After you left, they lectured me for hours about how you’re dangerous” He thought back to all the things that they said about the mercenary.

“Well they’re kinda right kid. I don’t really get along with heroes and I’m not exactly the kind of guy you want to get involved in.” Deadpool paused for a second. “Hey, how come you haven’t joined the family business? I kinda figured you would at least have an Ironman suit or something?

“My parents don’t want me getting involved with the whole superhero business, they’re worried I’ll get hurt.” He figured this was technically true. Peter hated lying to him, but he couldn’t tell him that he was Spiderman, especially when he wasn’t really anymore.

“Really?” Deadpool replied. “That seems a slight bit hypocritical if you ask me.”

Peter simply shrugged in response. What else could he say?

The continued on talking as they walked, discussing who would win in battles between different avengers and Deadpool. Deadpool was sure he would win every time without fail, but whenever Peter disagreed, he would accuse him of being biased toward the avengers. Peter found himself laughing, having the most fun he’d had in ages.

“Okay, Okay, maybe Thor could beat me if he was really lucky, but I could beat all the rest!” Deadpool bragged. “I’ve met all of the Avengers other than Spiderman, but I’m sure you could introduce us.” He looked thoughtful for a second. “Hey, what’s going on with our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman? I’m kinda surprised I haven’t run into him yet, I’ve been here for a month. Is he avoiding me?”

Deadpool actually looked really downtrodden at being avoided by Spiderman, Peter couldn’t help but try to comfort him.

“No it’s not you, uh, Spiderman just isn’t doing the whole superhero gig anymore.”

Deadpool looked like he’d just been punched.

“What!? Spiderman quit!? Please tell me he’s just taking a break!”

Peter shook his head. “Sorry to say it, but it looks like he’s gone for good. He hasn’t formally quit the Avengers but he hasn’t showed up in nearly a year.” Peter didn’t want to disappoint the poor man, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing.

“Did he ever say why?”

Peter shook his head. “He just said he couldn’t do it anymore. Sorry to be the one to tell you Deadpool.”

Deadpool was silent as they walked up the steps to his apartment. As he unlocked the door, he turned towards Peter.

“You can call me Wade. Wade Wilson.” He said, as he opened the door, and they walked through it together.