seventeen.
Wade woke to Peter shifting in the bed. He looked down at Peter's outline and saw him shaking in his sleep. When he heard Peter's broken sob and call for help, he didn't hesitate to pull the little arachnid to his chest.
Peter stiffened in Wade's grip before thrashing harder, clawing at the arm slung across his chest. He thought he was trapped again, this much Wade could tell. He could hear the desperate gasping for air and the scared whimpers leaving Peter's mouth.
Wade let him go, only to sit up and grab his hands to stop Peter from clawing at his own skin. It was animalistic the way Peter tried to tear into himself. It was like there was something on the inside he needed to rip out. Some demon living inside of his bones, making him like this.
Peter thrashed beneath Wade, trying to rip himself free from his grasp. He struggled to no avail.
"Shh, it's gonna be okay Petey, you're alright. You're safe here, okay? Nobody's going to hurt you here. I won't let them, shh." As Wade went on talking, Peter seemed to calm down a little.
Peter opened his eyes and Wade could see the tears in them. "Oh Petey, you're okay... It's over now." He released Peter, who launched forward to hug him. Wade held onto Peter's shaking frame and soothed him as he cried. "I've got you, Petey, it's alright."
He held Peter until the younger boy was out of tears to cry. "Come on..." He stood, still holding Peter in his arms and walked into the other room to make coffee. It was relatively easy to work around the spider attached to his chest. He was small enough that he wasn't an obstruction to the process.
He sat down on the couch and Peter carefully detached himself so he could take a cup of coffee from Wade. He took a long drink from the cup and sniffled quietly. Wade almost missed the small moment. Peter could easily break back down again in a second, and Wade made it a point not to move from his spot on the couch.
"Do you want to talk about it, Peter?"
Peter stared blankly into his coffee for a long moment before nodding and turning to face Wade on the couch. Wade did the same, tucking a leg under himself and giving Peter 110% of his attention.
"Last year... There was this girl I liked, and her dad... He was a bad guy. Stole all kinds of tech, remade it, and then sold it... I didn't have my suit at the time, so I was basically wearing sweats and a hoodie, and... I took a lot of damage... Lots of bruising, um... We crashed a plane, and I was thrown a good couple hundred feet... I was in so much pain I didn't want to move, but I knew I had to..."
"Was this before or after you were... Stuck?"
Peter takes a breath. "After... Like right after. There wasn't a whole lot of time in between.."
Wade sipped his coffee to hide his frown. "Alright."
"He... Dropped me from high up, he threw me onto the ground, slammed me into things... Slammed my head into the ground... His suit exploded, and I couldn't just let him die. He was a bad guy, but I couldn't leave him to die, Wade, I couldn't do it."
"Shhh, I know Peter, it's okay. You're braver than a lot of people for saving his life."
Peter's voice cracked slightly. "And the fire was so hot... I got burned... Sometimes... Sometimes I can still feel it. Feel the flames on my skin, and it burns so bad..." Peter's fingers trailed absentmindedly over his collarbones where the scarred skin was.
"I know the feeling, but Peter... That moment does not define you. Yes, you were injured, and I know it scares you, but right now? You're safe here with me. Peter. I will keep you safe."
And Wade reaches out and grabs Peter by the hand. Wade didn't know if he took Peter's hand to stop him from clawing at the scars, or just for the sake of holding his hand. Maybe it was both. Wade wondered if Peter felt what he felt. Though Wade didn't even know what he felt.
He could describe it as a high powered magnet inside of his chest where his heart should be. A magnet that drew him closer to the metal that was Peter's skin. It was almost like iron sand in his veins, shifting and pulling him to Peter's touch.
From the way Peter looked at their hands, Wade thought he might feel it too. Peter did feel it, and he felt his spidey-senses telling him that Wade was a bad idea, but for just one moment, he didn't care. He was hurt and sad and scared and he just wanted it all to go away and if it meant using Wade then so be it.
Peter put his cup down on the table and carefully took Wade's from him to do the same. Just as Wade opened his mouth to speak, Peter closed the distance between them to smash their lips together.
And Wade had never felt more alive.