Stand By Me

The air was chilly and loud with the usual night life of New York. Sirens had died down at least for the next few miles. Through the fog of smoggy air a certain masked hero swung up onto a dingy apartment building. There was a second of him sliding across the dirt and gravel until he found his footing.

With a wince he steadied himself on some kind of AC unit. He slowly lowered himself onto the ground peeling his mask up to take a deep breath. There were a few tears in his suit though most of the blood dried the bruises were still deep. 

He reached a hand up under his suit to pull his binder back. The bruise on his ribs wasn’t healing because it squeezed tighter with each breath. He coughed trying to get a full breath. He slouched back murmuring a few words into his mask to get an update on his wounds. Nothing serious.

There was a loud crash behind the building that made him jolt. Listening for any misconduct nearby. It was hard to hear anything at first. The city itself seemed to create it's own grumbled cries. But after filtering out the cars and idle talk he could hear individual things. Once he was sure the area was clear he groaned, laying back on the dirty rooftop floor. Blocking out all noise save to for the wind and airplanes drifting by. He stared at the dark sky, unable to find any stars.

"You have to go higher up to see anything." Peter turned, yanking his mask down and whirling around to face whoever crept up behind him. Walking over the fir escape to the rooftop was a tall red clad man waving excitedly. "Hey Spidey!”

Peter sighed again straightening out of his defensive pose, "Deadpool." It sounded like more of a conviction then greeting. The mercenary didn't seem bothered as he hobbled over to the hero. That’s when Peter got the full view of Deadpool’s state.

One of his legs was definitely broken, his foot should not be pointed that way. He was slumped over like his shoulder was dislocated. Most of his suit was torn up or  that’s what Peter thought. There was too much blood to tell skin from suit. Peter let out a sharp breath between teeth as he raced to the Merc holding half his weight up.

”Jeez Deadpool what did you do this time?” The both grunted as Peter helped the larger man sit against the unit. “And how the heck did you get up here.” The hero huffed looking at the ladder that led up to the 20 story building.

”I don’t know I just had to come up. Guess you could call it my Spidey Sense,” he wagged his brows which Peter could somehow see through his mask. “Hey I was thinking we could team up for today. We haven't done this duo thang in a while and I really miss seeing your cute butt kick some less attractive butt.”

Peter sighed starting to put the Merc back together with only a few inappropriate comments. It was true they had teamed up a few times but it was usually unexpected or just coincidence. It almost always ended up with Peter stopping the man before he went rouge. In other words it was like taking up babysitting duty during a life threatening mission.

Peter was about to reply when he heard something. It was a gunshot, loud and only a few blocks away. Without a word he was leaping to the edge of the building, catching himself on a web and swinging his body towards the sound. Deadpool yelled after him but Peter was too focus. He made it to the bodega where a big man stood at the door. Peter already knew the drill squaring his shoulders as he confronted him. A vast two foot difference. "Excuse me," he said ever so politely.

The man didn't hesitate as he lifted a pistol from his waistband. Peter had the man's hand encased in webs before he could lift it any further and kicked his legs out from under him. Now at an even height the masked hero was able to land a good right hook. He had put more power behind it then intended making the man topple over. Peter webbed him up before proceeding inside. There were two more armed robbers, one at the counter, one at the far corner keeping two hostages kneeling with their hands clasped over their heads.

One of the men cursed at the hero's entrance. Both of them turning their weapons to him. Peter dove behind the nearest rack before they fired making one of the hostages scream. The small shop only gave him so much room to move around. He rushed to the back of the store to the drinks, glancing up at the big mirror in the top corner beside him. One of the men were coming his way leaving the hostages unattended. He pressed his back against the chilled glass, behind the shelf and out of the mirror's view.

He watched as the man got closer, getting ready to strike when the door swung open with a haggered beep. "I made it!" The quote was quickly met with more gunfire. Peter dashed down the aisle, taking the man by surprise. He gripped his arm, jerking it behind his back as if arresting him. The gun went off again leaving Peter's ears ringing, he had the man's arm webbed to his back making him stumble awkwardly. Spiderman kicked the gun aside and finished detaining the man before looking to the front of the store.

Deadpool and the last robber stood at gunpoint. "Deadpool," Peter said as calmly as he could, barely able to hear his own voice. "Don't shoot."

"Don't worry darlin I'm not pointing anywhere fatal." The woman's eyes widened before she fired. Peter let out a startled sound as he watched a bullet pass right through Deadpool's abdomen. Seeming unfazed Deadpool simply fired back making Peter yell, yet again. Peter made it over the counter to find the woman screaming over the gunshot wound in her shoulder.

"Quit you're crying," Deadpool grumbled joining them. He picked the gun up from the ground. "I just got shot in the stomach. Twice." Peter tuned him out as he placed webbing over the bullet wound then bound her up too. He told the hostages to call the police, rounding up robbers and leaving them stung together in front of the shop. The two left before the police arrived.

Only when he was done did he turn to Deadpool who was poking at the holes in his bloodied suit. "Are you okay?"

"Nope," the mercenary laughed staining the mouth of his mask. Peter winced checking his webslingers to make sure there was enough fuel to get home.

"Do you want me to," he gestured to the wounds with with wrist.

Deadpool gasped, "are you offering a helping hand?"

Peter rolled his eyes even though the other man couldn't see. "You want me to or not?"

"Naw I'll be fine," he waved the smaller man off placing his gun back in it's holster. "Good work partner," Deadpool beamed.

Peter sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. "Yeah," he said reluctantly. "Good job not killing anyone."

Deadpool let out what could only be described as a squeal throwing an arm over Peter's shoulders. He immediately went tense, shoulders rising. Deadpool yanked his arm back putting his hands up, "sorry. But thanks Spides I'm really trying ya know and it feels good to be acknowledged. Like unaliving people is real easy, it's the keeping them breathing that's the tricky part. You heroes really do make it harder on yourself, but I get it. Clear cautious and all. It's been one hell of a journey, soul-searching and shit, but it's really working. I think I could go vegan. Hahaha, yeah right. I could never go vegan." Peter was barely listening to the mercenary anymore. Focused on taking in deep breathes around his binder. It was starting to make him feel queezy.

"Yeah," he murmured waving his hand. "I gotta go Deadpool."

"Oh, so soon? Well alright, we should do this again sometime! Deadpool and Spidey against the world! Or Spidey and Deadpool I don't mind either way." Peter gave another short goodbye before he was swinging back to his loft. He left the window unlocked for days like this. It's not like he had anything worth stealing. Besides his camera. Which was well hidden. As soon as Peter made it inside he pulled off his mask and top, glaring at the pale binder squeezing his chest. He peeled it off, taking a deep breath gratefully. He had somehow kicked off his pants, taking the few steps to the still popped out futon where he flopped face down.With a groan he stretched out popping a few stiff joints. Once settled he took another deep breath. Within seconds he was asleep.

=====

Peter nearly cursed when his alarm went off. It felt like he barely began to fall asleep. He glared up at the dresser where his phone sat. He pulled himself to the edge of the bed, feeling around the floor until he found when of the webshooters. He aimed it at the phone, missing twice before finally getting it. He shut off the alarm shoving both gadgets aside as he pushed his face into the musty comforter. After a few seconds of contemplating his life's purpose he forced himself out of bed.

The lanky man stumbled over his own feet on his way to the dresser. He pulled out whatever clean clothes he could find. Having to grab the cleanest smelling pair of jeans from the floor. He started the shower, actually cursing when he realized there was no hot water. It was brief, Peter he rubbed a bar of soap over himself as quickly as he could. He dried with a still damp towel and struggled to get his binder on his wet torso. When he was finally dressed he went back to his room, scooping up his Spiderman suit and webshooters as he went to the closet. Sitting at the bottom was a cardboard box. He opened it, taking out his camera bag and setting the suit inside.

He slid his shoes on before standing. His watch going off letting him know he should be leaving. He grabbed his backpack and collected the keys from the counter before leaving. He made sure he had everything then locked the door. Three days out of the week Peter had morning classes at ESU. He took the subway to the other part of the city and sat in a two hour lecture. There was 30 minutes before his next class. He usually found secluded areas on campus to wait for his professor to show up. Peter tended to keep to himself. Not that he had trouble talking to people, or maybe he did. He had found it hard to connect with people. Not just because of his busy schedule but because most people who got involved with him ended up in some kind of trouble. He still held onto a picture of Gwen in his wallet reminding him of that.

Though he had to admit things weren’t all bad. He was doing good in school with just one more year to go. He majored in Biophysics, minored in biochemistry, and he also managed to get a few photography classes. He got a few internships though most of them ended up being a supervillain that Peter ended up arresting. And he still had a place at the Daily Bugle when Jamson was in a good enough mood to accept his pictures.

He started testosterone thanks to the help of Bruce Banner. Though it took years of testing and even longer for the physical changes to happen. His voice wavered and cracked well into his junior year. He passed now which was more then enough for him. Though that meant he took a couple shots a week then just the one every other week. They couldn’t find a better solution.

At least for now.

Peter sighed looking up from his book. The bench he sat at now was in the farthest part of the courtyard nestled between the humanities and physics building. There was the usual flow of people walking to and from the library. A few people sat at the water fountain which was shut off this week since the weather began to change. 

It was the start of fall already. Sometimes he felt things were going so fast. Like anytime he finally broke the surface for air he was washed up to a whole new shore. School, work, saving New York yet again. Sure new things always came up but he felt caught in a never ending cycle where problems were always bound to happen. If it wasn’t a midterm it was a villain destroying half the city. If not a villain it’s the gas getting shut off. Or even better it’s all three happening at once.

He felt like things should be getting better. That as he went on things should become easier but all he felt was exhausted. 

Looking at his watch he got up to head to his next class when he heard it. His ears tuning into a commotion just a couple blocks away. Sirens shrieking over the sound of a bullhorn. He could hear the words ‘Spider-Man’ through the speaker.

"Aw no," Peter groaned gripping his bag. Thankfully this wasn't happening too far away. Peter made sure his bag was secure as he ran the five blocks to the bank. By then there was chaos. The situation elevated to a shoot out, most of the glass windows of the back broken leaving everything in plain sight. Peter took out his camera, flicking off the lens and looking through it for a certain annoying masked man.

From here he only saw a few hostages who seem unharmed. He had to run around the building, making sure to stay out of the line of fire and far enough away from the police so that they wouldn't catch him. He found a decent spot up on a fire escape, able to zoom in with his camera to capture a few shots of the mess below. When he looked inside he found both Deadpool and the gunman in a stand off just out of the polices' range. Peter took a few more picture. The man seemed to be talking, and over the sound of sirens Peter thought he could hear Deadpool talking too. He couldn't make out exactly what they were saying but they didn't seem to be agreeing. Peter was only proven right when Deadpool cocked his gun. A rush of fear made his stomach flip. The mercenary wouldn't kill him right? Deadpool had told him just last night he was a changed man.

The gunman fired, Deadpool didn't move even though he'd just been shot through the chest. Peter held his breath as he stared through the lens. It was never easy watching him get shot. And Peter has seen it over a dozen times now.He knew the red suited man was about to fire. He knew he was capable of simple incapacitating him, not killing him. But that didn't stop Peter from shouting at the top of his lungs, "Deadpool!"

From up here without the lens Peter couldn't see the masked man too clearly but he could have sworn he saw Deadpool look his way. There were a few more gunshots. Peter lifted the camera back to his face finding the gunman on the ground. Peter held his breath as he stared at him, fingers clenching around the camera unintentionally taking more pictures. The merc went to the hostages, directing them away from the gunman and out of the bank. The police took this time to rush in finding the man on the ground.

Peter stared as they brought his hands behind his back and cuffed him. And when they pulled him up Peter let out a breath nearly falling to his knees. He was alive. He didn't struggle with the police as they marched him out to a patrol car but he bowed his head and hid from the cameras broadcasting behind police boarders. Peter took as many more pictures as he could before searching for Deadpool again. But he was gone. Peter looked over the lens scanning the streets for the blabbermouth but he'd seemed to disappear.
"Hey!"

Peter looked down at the pair of cops calling up at him. He cursed climbing up the fire escape away from them. He brought his hood over his face and made it over a few rooftops before descending and making his way back to the University. 

His Physics class had already started so he cut to the library to edit the new photos. There was a good collection, Peter could already hear Jamson slander his name as he took them. "Spiderman in a stand off! He's armed now," Peter could only imagine the headline that ran though the man's head. When the time came to get to the Bugle Peter was running on nothing but a can of tea and bag of chips.

The Bugle was a familiar bland building Peter walked into in stride. He nodded to security and lady at the front before knocking on Jameson’s door. It opened to the large grey haired man who never broke eye contact with the TV in the far corner of the room. It was of the bank robbery. Peter wordlessly handed his pictures off finally catching Jameson’s attention."Perfect! Well done Parker! I want an article by tomorrow morning. This'll be on the front page."

That was all the younger man needed to hear before he walked out to collect his check. He thanked the woman giving the security guard another nod. He rushed to the subway before it left, almost falling asleep on the ride.

When he got to his stop he followed the mob of people out to the street. He hiked his bag higher onto his shoulders and took his time walking back to his loft. He had patrol tonight. He couldn't go to sleep yet, he kept reminding himself. When he got home he set his backpack aside, he swapped the camera bag for his suit and changed. Peter always left out the window when he suited up. Within the first five minutes he was chasing after a teen with a backpack full of drugs. "Stop running," Peter wheezed trying to get a clear shot through the sea of people.

The girl ran around a corner making Peter shout in frustration. He shot a web at the adjacent building and flew up over the crowd turning the same corner. She almost slipped in the damp alley. Peter shot a web to the middle of her backpack and brought it around as he swung past her. She stumbled reaching up to swipe them away but seeing as they were spiderwebs they stuck to her hand. Peter landed at the end of the alley shooting another web to her front yanking the thief forward. Peter had her tied up completely as she stepped out of the alley.

He stuck her to the wall telling the closest pedestrian to call the cops before running after a scream three blocks away. The night was full of work for Peter. He couldn't find a moment to breath only making it harder to keep his focus. His head was almost spinning when he finished tying up his last perp. The man spat curses at him as he walked away. He needed to find a place to sit. There was too much noise and too many faces.

He slung his way to the top of some kind of business building. When he was sure no one was around he lifted the mask to breath. He couldn't force his lungs to expand far enough. For a second he was genuinely afraid for his health. He reached under his shirt to pull the binder forward gasping. He had to take it off. But he couldn't just do it here on a rooftop and he was too far from his house. Panicked Peter spun around looking for some kind of direction. When he found nothing he stopped. Took another deep breath, then sat.

He couldn't panic now. He had to get in as much air as he could before he passed out. Within minutes he started to feel less dazed, but his stomach clenched on nothing making it growl. The hero fixed his clothes and pulled down his mask just as he heard someone step over the fire escape.

"You know if you wanted to meet here you should have said so," Deadpool chided walking over the younger man.

"I didn't want to meet up with you," Peter grumbled passing a hand over his shirt to make sure his binder was on correctly.

"Whaaat, I was getting a whole other vibe off you. I thought this was a done deal man, what's up?"

"I'm leaving," Peter waved the taller man off heading for the edge of the roof. Wondering if he could really make it to his place from here without passing out.

"Wait! Come on Spidey! We were a good team yesterday," Deadpool persuaded following after him. Peter chose to ignore him about to leave when his stomach growled loudly again. "Whoa, was that your stomach or did we just enter Jurassic Park?"

Peter's face warmed up as he whirled around to glare at him. The merc was simply staring at Peter, the lines of a grin crinkling his mask. Spiderman continued to glared at him until he gave in and smiled back. A laugh bubbling out of his lips. That only encouraged Deadpool to laugh too, it was loud and came from his gut. A laugh Peter found contagious. He laughed harder, the both of them cackling on the rooftop until Peter's stomach growled again.

"Want to get some power food before we start this shift?"

"No, I'm good." Peter knew it was a lie but he didn't have any money on him.

"Uh no, no you aren't. I know a guy who can make a torta that'll fill your soul," the smaller man could almost see his excitement brimming past his mask. "It's on me," he added. As anxious as Peter was to get home he couldn't deny a free meal.

"Sure," the younger shrugged.

Deadpool pumped his fist with a victorious yell. "Alright, down the fire escape or can I get a free ride," his brows wagged. Peter immediately gestured to the fire escape. They both made it down to the street, getting a wave of stares as they made their way uptown. "If I knew food was all I needed to bribe you I would have you used it earlier."

Peter huffed, "you caught me on a good day."

"Thank the stars," Deadpool shouted getting even more attention. "Getting food with the bae, another line on the bucket list."

"I'm not your bae."

"So you think." Peter ignored him, instead turning to the deli the mercenary pointed to. The line wasn't terribly long, that didn't stop Deadpool from complaining. Peter crossed his arms listening to the big man whine like a child with mild amusement before they made it to the counter. Once they were there the merc was listing an array of items Peter could barely keep up with. All of it sounding better then the last. He ordered the same and they stood near the back as it was prepared. Deadpool going on a detailed description of what the torta was like only making Peter hungrier.

When they finally collected their food they decided to climb up another fire escape. They sat at the edge, Peter using a fist full of napkins as a plate. Deadpool using the paper bag already soaked with grease stains. They were both silent before the first bite. As soon as Peter had a taste he was sighing, back slouching as he took in the rich taste. "I told you," the merc said around a mouthful.

They ate in silence. Well Peter did, Deadpool talked here and there about different things. Peter almost couldn't tell if he was talking to him or someone else. With his stomach full the smaller man leaned back with a groan. 

"Thanks," Peter murmured watching as the other man began wiping greasy fingers on his suit. Peter smacked the napkins into his hand stopping Deadpool from ruining it any further, though he was sure it was beyond saving anyway. Wade took them with a nod. Pete was far too full to move at the moment so he stared up at the sky.

"How was your day Spiderman? Kicking ass, taking names I bet."

"Basically," Peter said with a smirk.

"I knew it."

"How was yours," though Peter had an idea.

"Pretty good. Things got a bit wild for a second but it was nothing I couldn't handle."

"Wild?" He was pushing it but Peter figured hearing more about the story could help him write a better article.

"Got shot in the lung. It was super gross."

Spiderman looked to where he'd been shot with a wince. He could still hear the shots from earlier ringing in his ears. "Are you alright?"

"All healed up," he said smacking his chest.

"Right," Peter murmured. He didn't think he'd ever get used to that.

"So," Deadpool chirped as he stood up. "Where do we start?"