Chapter 1
Just another year.
‘Just another year to go.’ Peter always used to think, and now, the time has finally come.
He was free.
Free from high school, from the teasing, from the jocks.
The graduation happened months ago, and Peter has never felt so relieved in his life. He would no longer be the nerd, the loner… The freak… The latter was the most hurtful.
They all knew it, that’s way they kept calling him that.
But now Peter wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. He made sure to cut all ties with everyone except Aunt May, and he rarely even called her anymore. Sending text messages was more convenient. It was easier to lie, to make them believe you were fine, when the other couldn’t hear your voice.
So that’s what he did. He pretended. Everyday, every time.
He pretended that he didn’t live in an awful part of Queens. He pretended that his appearance wasn’t such a big deal, that people were just overreacting. He pretended that he never thought about ending it all, not even once.
Not going outside, unless really necessary, became Peter’s favorite activity. He would stay inside his tiny apartment, doing nothing more than watching tv, sending some pictures he saved to The Bugle and trying to survive on a few pizzas, a can of bean and some frozen leftovers he stocked in the fridge.
As soon as the… “event” happened, Peter began saving as much money as he could, but not too many people were keen on hiring a young boy with his condition.
He got lucky enough to have met this cute couple that owned a coffee shop, back when he was still recovering in hospital. They knew that he wouldn’t have felt comfortable enough to work near so many people, so they put him in contact with two of their friends; Bruce Banner and Tony Stark.
Bruce Banner, a rather well-known scientist agreed to have Peter work as an intern for him for some time. At first he was quite reluctant to do so, but he kept the younger boy around for quite some time. Definitely more than a year.
The pay was great and the work was fun and interesting, but Peter was under too much pressure at the moment, he really needed to take a break.
Tony Stark, the famous genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist that owned Stark Industries. He hired Peter as a personal photographer each time he had to organize a big event. He was crude and could act like a real ass at times, but they all knew that he cared for the student.
The little brunette smiled sadly at the memories. Those people he met were good people and he liked having them around, but he couldn’t keep being the leech that kept sucking on their happiness. He was poison, a burden and he needed to stay out of their hair, no matter how much he hated it. Loneliness was one hell of a torture.
The sound of his vibrating phone got him out of his daze.
Weird. Aunt May was the only person that still sent him messages, but he doubt she would do so at 11pm.
He checked his phone, and unsurprisingly it was an unknown number.
Peter’s heart leapt with fear and worry as soon as he eyes scanned the message.
“help” it read.
‘What is it supposed to mean?!’ Peter internally screamed.
Maybe it was a prank, but what if it wasn’t?
He should really help this person but first he had to discover how the hell they got his number.
“Who are you and how did you get my number?” he sent back.
His phone vibrated quicker than he thought.
“i mWade” the person replied.
“Alright, Wade. What is happening? Are you in danger?” Peter ignored the fact that Wade ducked his question.
“i m col d” Came the answer. “gpt in fight” Judging from the terrible lack of punctuation, the brunette guessed that the person was probably drunk but he wanted to be sure anyway.
“Are you drunk?” He quickly typed not wanting to lose time if this person was indeed in danger.
“ bitvh i mght be” The stranger lazily replied. Peter scoffed but nonetheless smirked. ‘bitch, I might be saving your ass right now, so tone down the attitude.’
“Where are you? Can you walk?” He insisted.
“im om th floor e” Wade took a bit longer to reply this time. “i wanthe sleep”
‘You want the sleep, huh? That’s adorable.’ Peter thought. He quickly shook his head, drunkenness was NOT adorable.
“No, don’t sleep.” He said instead. “Is there someone you can call to bring you back home?”
“weqsel hes an assole” ‘Well, he might be an asshole but let’s hope that he’ll still bring you back home.’ The brunette thought.
“he ccomin” The drunk replied.
“Alright, take care Wade.” Peter finally put down his phone and thought about going to sleep, but he was still a bit worried about this drunk stranger he briefly talked to tonight and couldn’t get less agitated.
He still wanted to check to be sure, so he tried calling Wade’s number but no one answered so he supposed, and mostly hoped that he got home safely and fell asleep.
He turned off the tv and went to his little but messy bedroom and decided to call it a night. He’ll send a message to Wade tomorrow to check on his drunk ass.