Peter sighed, seeing his frosty breath in the air. He looked out over the frozen water between the academy and New York City as snowflakes collected in his hair. There were more than just the typical lights coming from New York City. Peter could spot a rainbow of different colored lights all across the city. Christmas was beautiful. It was a shame he didn’t have anyone to spend it with this year.
Peter tilted his head down as he felt his phone buzz in his pocket for what felt like the millionth time. It was probably only the thirtieth time, though. A picture of Sam popped up on his screen. Underneath it read “Buckethead.” He let the ringer go to voicemail, before looking at the long list of messages on his home screen. He had one hundred and twenty unread messages. He was right about how many missed calls he had. Nova had been the thirtieth.
Peter scrolled through and saw messages and calls from all of his teammates. Each of his teammates had tried calling him at least once, while everyone but Miles and Dagger called him twice. He had multiple messages from all of his teammates too.
“Webs, where are you?” A message from Miles read. Another from Ava demanded that Peter “answer the phone right now.”
“We can talk about this bro.” Flash. “Spider-Man please, we’re all worried about you.” Flint. “You don’t have to do this Peter, we’ll all spend Christmas together. We’re your family!” Sam. Peter turned his phone off before dropping it on the rooftop next to him. He wouldn’t be needing it anymore.
Before he knew it, Peter felt tears running down his cheeks. His eyes looked soulless, like he had nothing left to live for in this world. He probably wrote something basic like that in the note he left for the others in the dorms. He didn’t really remember what he wrote. The tears froze uncomfortably to his cheeks. He decided it was time.
“Sorry Sam, I don’t have a family anymore.” Peter took one last step off the edge of the roof. He saw the ground getting closer and closer before he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact. It never came, however. Maybe he just didn’t feel anything when he hit the ground? No, that wasn’t it. He felt a pair of arms tighten around his cold, shaking body. When did he start shaking? Peter opened his eyes, only to see Nova holding him bridal style.
“Careful Webs, you could’ve gotten really hurt.” Nova frowned.
“Why?” Peter found himself blurting out.
“Why what?” Nova raised an eyebrow behind his helmet.
“Why didn’t you let me die?” Peter glared at him, eyes welling up with tears. “I wanna die, just drop me, let me go!” Peter began to get hysteric as he started squirming in Nova’s arms.
Nova quickly flew them to the ground before he could accidentally drop Peter. Peter guessed that Sam had commed the team right after he saw Peter on the edge of the roof, because as soon as they were on the ground, Peter was swarmed by Dr. Connors, along with plenty of medics, Director Fury, and the rest of his teammates.
Peter felt a bit bad after looking at his teammates. Triton, Amadeus, Cloak, Miles, Rhino, Ava, and Flash looked terrified. Danny, Luke, Flint, and Ben looked at him sadly. Squirrel Girl and Dagger had tears streaming down their faces. Peter had hurt them. In that moment he felt even worse than before.
“I’m sorry.” Peter sobbed. “I just miss her so much.” Peter hid his face in his hands. Suddenly, he felt many pairs of arms around him. His team was hugging him.
“We’ll forgive you as long as you promise to never do that again.” Ava mumbled.
“Yeah, even though Aunt May isn’t here, you still have us. We’re your family and you’re never spending any holiday by yourself. Not on our watch.” Miles reassured.
“I really love you guys.” Peter smiled slightly.
“We love you too.” Maybe this Christmas wouldn’t be so bad.