forty-six.
Midnight was approaching rapidly and the party was in full swing. The colored lights were set on strobe and the music was turned up louder than it needed to be, but none of these sweaty hormonal teenagers seemed to care about the noise or the temperature.
Peter was a little more intoxicated than he should be, especially since he'd never drank before tonight. Peter was really good on rules and laws, especially underage drinking, but there were a lot of bad influences here.
Nat managed to talk the guys into letting Peter have a small gathering for the weekend, so the three of them could be alone. They were somewhere in Italy at the moment, and Peter's party had gotten a little out of hand. There were way too many people for this apartment.
Peter'd set up lights and music in one of the first-floor apartments, so nobody's belongings would get messed up on the upper levels. What had started out with as little as 10 people has easily turned into 60, all packed into this small room, singing and grinding and drinking.
MJ had managed to be the one that talked Peter into drinking in the first place and what started out as a small beer quickly turned into about 15 Jell-O shots. Peter's abilities made it a little difficult to get drunk, but this was his first time and he didn't seem to be giving up any time soon.
As of right now, he was sitting on a rickety old counter going shot for shot with some of the senior kids that showed up earlier with alcohol. MJ and Ned were looking on in concern while Peter laughed loudly with these senior kids. One of the senior boys was leaning on the counter next to Peter and touching on his leg. Whether Peter noticed or not, they didn't know.
Peter absolutely noticed and in his drunken amusement he started flirting back. The flirting ranged from touching the guy's arm to running his fingers through his hair while the guy stood between his legs. The flirting peaked when Peter went from laughing to sloppily making out with the unnamed guy.
This was the time that Ned and MJ decided to intervene because they remembered that Peter had said that he'd been seeing someone, and it wouldn't be good for him to be caught hooking up with someone at a party.
Ned served as the distraction to the guy, talking up a storm as only Ned knew how to do, and MJ half carried Peter outside away from the crowd. While he was drunk and blabbering on about God only knows what, she fished his phone out of his pocket and pressed the phone icon next to that Wade guy's name in Peter's contacts.
She figured that was the guy, based on the cutesy heart and winky emojis next to his name.
The call was answered on the third ring, and on the other end was a cheerful sounding voice, "Hiya, Petey baby. What's up?"
MJ looked to Peter who was playing with pebbles on the ground. "Hey, you're the guy dating Peter right?"
The tone of the voice on the other end changed when whoever it was realized that they weren't talking to Peter himself. "I suppose, who's asking?"
She sighed and grabbed onto Peter's arm to pull him off of the ground and into a standing position. "My name's MJ, I'm at Peter's place. He's having a party and he's wasted and I figure that you know how to help better than I do."
There was a moment of silence and then some shuffling. "Keep him outside where it's cold, I'll be there soon."
The call ended and she looked at Peter's phone screen for a second before putting a password lock on it and tucking it into her pocket so Peter wouldn't be tempted to do anything stupid with it, and then she let him sit back down on the ground before sitting with him.
By the time that Wade actually arrived, 'soon' had become too late, and Peter had already escaped MJ and run back inside somewhere impossible to find. MJ waited outside until the man approached her and then had to explain how Peter had escaped her, and how she'd been looking everywhere with no sign of him.
She followed the older man around and they continued to search for Peter together, and when they found him, Wade was ready to kill everyone in the room too.
Because Peter had been hanging out with those senior kids like it was no problem in the world. He let them pressure him into drinking even though he didn't want to, and with one of them making his drinks, it wasn't hard for his cup to get spiked.
They had Peter laying on the floor of this tiny bathroom, quietly protesting as hands touched all over him. Wade slammed one of the boys' heads into the wall and swept a girl's feet out from underneath her as she tried to run.
He turned to MJ, basically claiming her as a new sidekick of sorts. "You need to get all of those other kids out of there before I start shooting everyone in their knees."
She quickly left the bathroom and it was easy to hear the abrupt ending of the music and the girl pushing all of the other kids out the front door. In the meantime, Wade had both guns trained on a couple of the seniors and was standing in front of the door so none of them could leave.
"If anyone touches that boy, or tries to leave, I will shoot you, do you understand?" The question was met with a couple of quiet whimpers and mostly-silent nodding as they all raised their hands up in surrender. A knock from the other side of the door came, and it was the girl again, asking if she should call the police or not.
He told her to wait, and that she could call the police as soon as he'd finished putting the fear of god into these kids. The fact that they were near adults that somehow found amusement in drugging underage kids at parties was disgusting, and if it weren't for Peter laying on the floor and looking up at Wade like he were a complete saint, none of these kids would still be breathing.
He was fully aware of the puppy dog look that Peter was giving him from where he was laying, and not wanting to hear any lies out of these kids, he took to asking Peter.
"Can you talk, Petey?" Peter's response never came, as the boy was suddenly looking around in an almost panic.
Wade quickly asked which one drugged him, and a sleazy looking boy in a beanie answered him from the corner. Wade pointed both pistols at him, demanding to know what he gave Peter.
The douchebag was obviously high as he answered, "Aww man, nothin' bad, just a little bit of Cherry Meth, ya know? It's no big deal."
Wade was getting angrier now, especially knowing that he'd been given such a strong date-rape drug. He stepped closer to the kid, demanding to know what time they drugged Peter, to begin with. The soberest of the little group answered from the door, her voice meek. She said it'd only been maybe 45 minutes since they slipped it into his cup. Even the smaller doses of GHB could last up to 4 hours. Knowing this, he demanded once more- and none too gently- to know how much they gave him. She said it was a little more than he would need because he's smaller than the people the others usually dose up.
All of the other kids started yelling at her to shut up, so Wade let off a round into the ceiling. It made them all jump, but Peter was almost totally unresponsive. Wade could easily tell that this girl didn't want to be a part of this, so he decided to strike a deal. He'd let her off easy if she helped him out.
All she had to do for him was get him the names of all of these kids, where they kept their stash and their ages. And then she had to swear she'd tell the cops all she knew if it came down to it, even if it meant she might get in trouble too, and she swore instantly. In return, he wouldn't threaten her with bodily harm and wouldn't mention her as one of the bad kids to the cops, if they even got involved in the first place.
He told her to get the other girl, MJ, and try and get Peter at least into the living room from here, as he wasn't going to take his eyes off of these asshole addicts. She called for MJ and she came at once, the two of them hauling off an unmoving Peter. He instructed the girls to keep his shoulders elevated, and to make sure he was breathing all the time.
He was wondering why his healing abilities weren't fighting off the drug... Did the serum affect his body's healing properties? No, now was not the time to think about that. Not when there was a room of little assholes that thought it was okay to drug kids right in front of him.
MJ and the other girl had Peter propped up against a wall. He was dripping with sweat and staring off at nothing. He was shaking, and after a minute he began heaving, but it only lasted a second because in the next he was throwing up all over himself. The other girl called for Wade, who only poked his head out of the door. The merc's heart dropped when he saw his boy, shaking and vomiting with no idea what was happening whatsoever.
Peter's head turned towards the bathroom once he was finished vomiting, and then he was out. Passed out against the wall and covered in puke.
Wade instructed both girls to find something to catch puke in for when he threw up again. They were both covered but didn't seem to care much as one got up to look for a bucket or something, and the other one stayed with Peter, probably to make sure he didn't choke on his own puke.
Wade turned back into the bathroom and let off a round just beside one of the boy's heads. One of the girls was crying, nearly begging for her life. One of the other boys was begging that they be let go, but the sleazy one that said drugging Peter was 'no big deal' was just smirking. Wade asked him if he thought any of this was fucking funny, and he just laughed, being too high to comprehend what was happening. Wade had had enough.
MJ looked up when the bathroom door opened and Wade came out of it. Behind him, all of the kids began filing out of the bathroom, all looking afraid from their lives. One of the girls was shaking, and the sleazy one was covered in blood. It looked like it was his own. The kids all sprinted out of the front door and Wade crouched down by Peter, who was awake once again awake, but still mostly unresponsive.
He told the girls to follow him as he scooped Peter up. They all went up to Peter's room where Wade put Peter in the tub, still fully dressed. He turned to the girls after that and gave MJ specific instructions to go upstairs, go into the apartment, go into the middle dresser drawer and get some of Natasha's clothes to wear for now, and to shower while they were up there. He also warned them that if anything else was touched, they'd be in big trouble and that they were to come straight back downstairs once they were finished.
They agreed and MJ lead the way. The girl seemed obedient enough to follow some simple instructions, and she was. She stood still as a statue while MJ was showering, and her own shower was quick. They then locked up the apartment and came back downstairs. They found Wade sitting on the side of the tub, messing with Peter's hair.
"I'm sure you girls are ready to go home, huh? If you've been drinking, let me know and I'll get you money for a cab."
MJ shook her head and crossed her arms. "We're not leaving Peter. Not until he's better... I know he's safe with you, but he's my friend."
"Speaking of friends, where did the other one go?"
They shook their heads and informed him that they sent Ned home at the same time that they made everyone else leave, and that he'd come by in the morning when he had money for a cab. Wade nodded and stood, taking this moment while Peter was still to talk to the girls. He pointed to the closet.
"There's extra blankets in there, you can make yourselves a place on the floor. I'll take care of Peter and make sure you girls get home safely in the morning, okay?"
After a moment, MJ agreed but told him that he was to wake them if anything happened. He agreed with a laugh before thanking them both for helping. He told MJ that he was lucky to have a friend like her around.
He watched from the bathroom door as the girls made their bed and went to sleep. He switched the light off before closing the bathroom door so as not to disturb them. He thought it was kinda fucked that they had to be so grown up tonight, despite their young ages.
He looked to Peter in the tub and decided that this whole night was just fucked beyond repair.