Chapter 2
They agreed that Peter would stay at Frank's safehouse until his wounds were completely healed and then he would go back to his previous life like they had never met.
It was kinda sad, living with someone that talked the bare minimum and tried to avoid bonding at all cost, but at least that person knew his name, he wasn't just an unknown bastard anymore. It wasn't reassuring at all though, it was a constant reminder of what he had lost. He couldn't even talk about it because his current roommate behaved like a brick wall, so they just suffered in silence.
Peter sometimes woke up shivering in the middle of the night after having a bad dream, the most current one being his loved ones crying out to him for help desperately but him not being able to reach them in time and they slipping through his fingers, fading away. Sometimes, he woke up shivering in the middle of the night, startled by the sound of Frank crying after a bad dream.
They never talked about the nightmares, they didn't really even talk about anything important, in a pitiful effort from the older man to not address the elephant in the room. He understood that the marine was used to being alone but he wasn't now. So what's the point of having someone in your house but just talking to them occasionally like they're some kind of decorative plant?
Peter had enough, he was going back to his home, he had no company there but at least he could get his phone and be in a familiar space. He got off the bed determined to leave but the room started spinning around and he landed face first on the floor.
Frank rushed into the room with an alarmed expression "Peter! What happened? Are you alright?". Peter was not alright at all, every inch of his body ached and his head was fucking pounding "Yes, I was trying to get up, I want to go home".
Frank stared at him like he just said that there were raining monkeys "you can't even stand without help, are you nuts?".
"I don't care, Frank, I'm leaving".
"No, you're fucking not, why do you wanna do that?" He picked Peter off the floor and placed him in the bed.
Peter's patience snapped "because you act like I'm not even here! It's boring at the very least and I feel fucking ignored".
Frank looked startled, like suddenly he didn't know how to talk.
"You're going to take me home right now".
That seemed to send the marine's brain functioning again and he pinched his nose, taking a deep breath "you're gonna die if there's no one to take care of you, kid".
"I'm not a kid!".
"Then stop behaving like one!".
Bullshit. All of this was bullshit. Why did he care? Frank ignored him and then didn't want him to leave? Was he playing with him? Nothing made sense, he just wanted to go home and see the people he loved, but he couldn't because they were gone and he was stuck in the punisher's house. Fucking great. Even the vigilantism was taken from him because of the injuries.
It would be a lie to say that Peter didn't think about quitting everything very often. He almost betrayed everything he represented by trying to kill Norman Osborn so what was the point anymore. It could happen again and he couldn't risk spider-man to hurt anyone, the people would lose faith in heroes. Maybe it was time to let go.
"Listen, we're gonna go to your house, you'll grab everything you need to be comfortable here and we'll start again, okay?".
Peter just nodded, resigned and Frank helped him get to the van, carrying him all the way. The car drive was silent and quick, they arrived pretty soon and almost couldn't get inside because someone forgot to bring the keys. Once inside the apartment Frank gathered the things pointed by Peter and put them in a bag.
"Anything else?".
Peter murmured something intelligible.
"Sorry, what was that again?".
"Look inside the drawer".
Frank obliged and immediately his eyebrows shot up making Peter blush violently. But hey, he said anything he needed to be comfortable, right?
"I hope you've washed this thing" the older man said and he could feel the heat on his face spread to his ears and neck.
Peter really hoped that Frank didn't choose that moment to start being talkative; it would've been deadly embarrassing. Listen, there's nothing wrong with being a sexual person, specially when you're a teenager but seeing the big, bad Punisher holding your vibrator was the most demeaning thing one could think of.
Fortunately they just went back to the safehouse in complete silence. When they arrived Frank told him to put his things wherever he liked and feel free to make the place his.
Considering that Peter could barely move, he just took the things to the room and left them all there, he would spare them all over the house when he could walk by himself.
After everything was settled he just layed in the bed staring at the photo of MJ he had as his phone lockscreen, she was sitting on the couch, paying attention to whatever movie they were watching at the time, curls falling down her face, beautiful as ever. Oh god, he missed her so much. She was the most beautiful, smart, funny and pure hearted girl he's ever met and she was his girlfriend! No matter how much time it took, he would get her back.
Leaving his stupid broken heart asides, he hoped MJ was happy with her actual life. Would it really be worth it to take her back to madness? Guess there's just one way to find out.