End Of Beginning

Karen

Karen suggests he climb through the window to get to Peter.

“Go through his window. Use the fire escape.”

Matt nods, rushing over to his bedroom, Karen following close on his heels.

“What if it’s locked?” He asks as they push open the stiff window.

“Then we break down the door, you’re Daredevil, if there’s a will there’s a way.” Matt climbs out, moving to block Karen from climbing out as well.

“Karen, no.” Karen shoves him away, frustrated, climbing out behind him.

“Matt, we don’t have time for this, just open the fucking window.” She shouts. She rarely shouts in general, especially not around Matt and his sensitive ears, but she could feel apprehension well up inside her. Matt nods, moving over to Peter’s window, the rusty metal of the fire escape crunching beneath his feet.

“Okay, here we go.” He curls his fingers under and prays.

Peter’s window slides open much easier than Matt’s did. Karen pushes Matt inside with firm hands against his back, climbing in after him. She gasps when she sees multiple holes punched into the wall opposite Peter’s bed, plaster flakes and drywall coating the floor below.

“Peter.” Matt calls out. Karen turns around, rushing out to the living room where Matt’s voice had come from. Her hands clamp over her mouth, stifling a shout.

Peter lays on his living room floor, his own hands wrapped in a bruising grip around his neck.

Blood is smeared all over his neck and chin, staining the neck of the sweater he was wearing. There were glistening tear tracks down the sides of his face, wetting his hairline. Karen can hear the rattling of his breath from where she stands stiffly in the doorframe.

“Oh my god Matt.” Matt approaches him, pulling at his arms, attempting to yank his hands from around his neck. All it does is lift Peter up from the ground. Matt lets go and Peter crashes back to the ground, hitting his head with a sickening crack. “Matt!” Karen shouts, shocked at his aggression.

“I thought that might snap him out of whatever this is. His grip is too strong. Karen, come hold onto him.” Karen nods, rushing in and grabbing Peter the next time Matt lifts him. She crouches down and weaves her arms through Peter’s, wrapping her arms around his upper chest and arms. She watches intently, and painfully patiently, as Matt tries to pry Peter’s fingers off of his neck.

It took five minutes before Peter’s fingers relaxed and Matt could remove them from around his neck. Karen sighs, relief flowing through her veins as she feels Peter take a deep breath against her. His eyes, which had been staring blankly at the ceiling as if in a trance, begin to flick around, looking first at Matt, then he tilts his head up to look at Karen.

“What happened? Are you guys okay?” His voice strains. Karen nods, her lip wobbling.

“We don’t know Pete. You were choking yourself.”

Peter sighs out a small “oh” and Karen has to take a deep breath to stop herself from crying.

“Was someone in your apartment Peter?” Matt asks, putting on the interrogative lawyer voice that Karen recognizes all too well.

Peter nods, pauses, then he shakes his head.

“No. I.” He suddenly sits up, pushing Karen’s arms off from where they were still wrapped around him. His whole demeanour changes and he quickly stands, stumbling slightly as his body adjusts to the sudden change in position.

“I need to go for a walk, I need some air.” Karen stands up abruptly, prepared to stop him from leaving, but Matt intercepts him at the door.

“Peter, you need to go to the hospital.” Karen says, noting the aggressive bruising that was beginning to show under the drying blood on his neck. Peter shakes his head curtly.

“No. You guys need to leave.” Is what he says in response, moving to step past Matt, who moves with him, continuing to block his way.

“Peter. Your back is bleeding. Your neck is bleeding. You were choking yourself, you need to go to a hospital.” Karen insists, stepping closer to Peter. Peter ducks his head, pinching his brow.

“I’m fine Karen. Please leave.” He moves to step past Matt once again, this time pushing Matt with surprising strength against the kitchen counter when he moves to stop him.

“Get out of my way.” Peter shouts, his voice cracking with every word. Matt shoots Karen a nervous look, and she nods, retreating back into Peter’s room and ducking out his window, moving back into Matt’s apartment. She didn’t need to see Peter like this, she had already seen enough.

~~~~~~

“What happened Peter? Karen’s back in my apartment, you can talk to me.” Matt whispers. Peter shakes his head, tugging at his hair.

“I wasn’t choking myself Matt.”

“Peter, you were, I saw you.”

“No, no, there was someone else choking me. My…” He takes another deep breath and Matt can hear it scratching against his trachea.

“It was my aunt.”

Matt falters.

“Your aunt? Your dead aunt?” Peter shoots him a glare before nodding.

“I was trying to eat and I just couldn’t keep anything down so I took a shower, and then I took a nap but when I woke up my aunt was in the corner of my room.” Matt walks past Peter into his bedroom, Peter trails behind. He couldn’t smell anything besides blood, broken drywall, and Peter’s usual smell. If there had been anyone else in the apartment, there was no sign of it.

“But then it wasn’t my aunt, it was the guy that killed her and I just started beating the shit out of him Matt.” Peter looked down at his already healed knuckles. “He started choking me, then it was my aunt choking me, but apparently there was no one in here the whole time.” Matt shivered at the way Peter’s scratched up voice sounded. He shouldn’t have been able to apply that much pressure around his own neck.

“Does this happen a lot Peter?” Matt asks, remembering when he used to have frequent auditory hallucinations. Peter shakes his head.

“I think it might have had something to do with Scorpion stabbing me.” Matt nods, agreeing.

“Let me patch that up again, you probably popped your stitches at some point.”

Matt restitches Peter’s back, and then cleans up his neck. Peter stays silent the whole time, staring blankly out the window at the bright billboard that was now starting to illuminate the room as it got darker. Peter finally interrupts the silence when Matt brings him into the bathroom to wash his hands.

He watches as the water turns pink, blood washing off of his hands and out from under his nails.

“Do you know how to patch a hole in the wall?” Matt shakes his head.

“I can ask Karen or Foggy, and I’m sure it won't be hard to match your wall colour.”

Peter nods.

“They’re kind of a cream colour.” Matt smiles slightly, having been reminded of Karen’s previously cream coloured nails. He wondered if they were the same colour of the wall or if they were two different shades.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out Peter.” Peter nods, letting out a sigh.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight Matt.” He mutters.

“And you can’t go out with your back like that.” Matt adds. “Do you have any friends that could come over, spend time with you?”

Peter shrugs.

“Just DP, but he’s never seen my face.”

“I think I would feel more comfortable if he were able to keep an eye on you. Or you could come back with me and face the horror of a pitiful Karen.” Peter smiles slightly.

“I’ll call Deadpool for you.” Matt says, walking back into Peter’s bedroom with him. Peter collapses on the bed, shoving his face in the pillow. He rattles off Deadpool’s number, muffled by the pillow, and Matt types it into his phone, wandering into the living room as he calls him.

The phone rings for a moment before clicking as the person on the other end picks up.

“I don’t do booty calls anymore so who is it you want dead?” Matt sighs, tempted to hang up.

“It’s Matt. Peter’s neighbour.” He hears Deadpool click his tongue.

“I don’t think I know a Matt, or a Peter.”

“Spider-Man. It’s Spider-Man's neighbour.”

“Ohhh right, the cute blind one that patched him up. I take back what I said about not doing booty calls, what’s up.”

“I need you at Peter’s place, it’s kind of an emergency.”

“M’kay, what kind of emergency?”

“Does it matter?”

He hears shuffling on the other side of the phone and whispering.

“No, I guess not. I’ll be there soon.” And then he hangs up.

Matt waits by Peter’s window, expecting the leather clad man to come in through it. He’s surprised when he hears him knock at the door instead. when he opens the doorwhen he opens the door he’s met with the smell of fresh laundry instead of the usual leather and gun oil smell that Deadpool seems to have.

Matt has to stop himself from commenting on it.

“Where is he?”

“The bedroom.”

Deadpool nods pushing past him.

“Thanks for calling me.” He says quietly before disappearing into Peter’s room. It was a shocking difference from the way he was acting on the phone, and the way he had acted the few other times Matt had seen him. Matt leaves Peter’s apartment, somewhat trusting Deadpool to be able to take care of him.

He shuts the door behind him, moving over to his apartment. He doesn’t even have to knock before Karen opens the door.

“And I thought I was the one with good hearing.” He jokes. Karen pulls him inside, pushing him over to the living room.

“What the hell was that Matt?”

It’s a good question, and he doesn’t think he has a good answer.

“Please don’t tell her, I don’t… she could get hurt”

Peter’s voice replays in his head. Matt’s not sure what to say.

“Bad drug trip?” Is what he stupidly comes up with. He can hear the smack of Karen’s mouth as she opens it and closes it. Shocked.

“Matt, I’ve seen… I’ve experienced a bad drug trip and that was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Matt shrugs, not sure of what he had gotten himself into.

“Are you sure?” Karen asks, tugging at the skin around her nail anxiously. Matt is slightly surprised that she actually believes him.

“Yes.” The lie sits in his stomach like rocks, but he can’t tell her the truth.

“Poor Peter. I didn’t even know.”

“Well, does this answer all of the questions that you had about him?”

Karen shrugs.

“Maybe? I mean drugs could be the root of a lot of the problems he faces. Should he be in rehab? Does he have the money for rehab? How are we supposed to help him Matt? What if that happens again and we’re not around to help him? He could die.” Matt rests a hand on Karen’s arm and she stops her rambling.

“It’s okay Karen, I’ll talk to him. This won’t happen again.” Karen nods, worrying her lip between her teeth. Matt could tell there was more she wanted to say, more questions rattling around in her head, but she chose to stay silent.

She goes back to reheating the dinner that she had started for the two of them, and Matt blocks out any sounds coming from Peter’s apartment for the rest of the night, trusting in Deadpool to take care of him.