Looking out for little guy (who's gonna look out for me?)

Looking out for the little guy(Who's gonna look out for me?)

Spider-man swung through Queens, making no noise other than the quiet, rhythmic 'thwip!' of his webs shooting out and latching onto buildings.

the world sped by beneath him, cars lighting up the street with their headlights. Peter loved nights like these, nice and quiet- he could think for once, have some 'me' time. Ironic, really, considering he was out as Spider-man.

his peaceful swinging was interrupted by a high pitched scream coming from a nearby alley.

"hey karen, activate motion sensor goggles," peter whispered, silently dropping onto the roof of a building.

he scaled the wall- as quietly as he could, and as slowly as he dared to allow him to assess the situation.

it was pretty common, unfortunately. Aggressive, drunk guy harassing some poor woman.

the difference was that cowering behind her, was a small child.

he dropped into the dingy alley behind the guy, and was about to web him when the child screamed

"SPIDER-MAN!LOOK MUMMY!" The man swivelled, throwing a punch at where peters head would have been if his spidey sense hadn't warned him.

"okay jeez! who pissed in your coffee this morning?" he quipped, praying that he was disguising the quiver in his voice.

he had been in much worse situations yes, but this was a child that could die if he didn't get this perfect.

"you're gonna regret that!" the man slurred, whipping a gun out of his jacket.

'shit!' peter thought, immediately dropping into a defensive position. the woman behind them screamed, and he quickly flipped over the man's head, to protect her and her child. the man shot at him, but he was heavily drunk and he missed. thank god.

peter quickly webbed the man's arms and feet, before turning to the two.

"hey there! sorry about that ma'am-" he chuckled nervously. the woman seemed to be in a state of awe and shock, nodding and muttering thank you. she motioned for her child to follow her- when peters spider- sense tingled once again.

he swivelled around, just in time to see the man's right hand break free of the hastily thrown webs.

*BANG*

"LUKA! OH MY GOD! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!"

the man had shot the kid, and peter saw red. he marched towards him, webbing him up multiple times, for good measure, knocking the gun to the ground in the process and stamping on it, using his super strength to break it in half. he then turned around to the kid, who was lying on the floor. he knelt down, hands shaking slightly and reassured the mother.

"it's gonna be okay, promise. hey karen! call an ambulance, like right now please!"

"right away peter."

he then turned his attention to inspecting the wound. it was a shot to the abdomen, thankfully missing internal organs and exiting the child's body. Peter used his webs to seal the wound, all whilst telling the pair it was going to be okay.

in no time at all, although it felt like hours, he heard ambulance sirens and thought it would be a good time to leave, he couldn't do anything else.

-------

when peter got home, he peeled off his sweaty suit, and just flopped into bed, hugging his pillow tightly. if he had just reacted sooner, if he had webbed the criminal up properly in the first place! then that child wouldn't have gotten shot (and probably left with a permanent scar and trauma to boot)

slowly, peter was realising that he couldn't save everyone.

he cried himself into a dreamless sleep.

------

when he got to school the next morning, looking very much like a zombie, Ned was watching a video on his phone. peter didn't care- up until he heard the words 'Spider-man' and 'shooting'

he perked up immediately, craning his neck to watch what looked to be a news report.

"last night in queens, a young child and mother were cornered by a drunk man and were saved by the vigilante, Spider-man " the reporter stated,

"the child (who will remain unnamed) received a gunshot wound to the abdomen and is currently in hospital, but is expected to make a full recovery. next, the weather."

peter paled at the mention of that night, and paled even further when he overheard cindy talking about how spider-man was such a hero.

"no he's not." peter mumbled, bitterly.

"What was that penis? Spider-man's the best hero! " flash butted in. Peter grit his teeth.

"No he's not, how could he be when i-he couldn't even stop a kid from being shot."

The small group of people in the classroom looked confused as shy, hero-loving peter parker spoke as if Spider-man was gum on his shoe.

"The kid lived! And it would have been worse without Spider-man there." flash argued back, as peter fought to keep himself from crying.

"He still got shot, flash! He was a kid and now he's gonna have trauma for life because i wasn't fast enough!" Peter's voice broke, as he sank onto his chair and put his head in his hands, leaning his elbows on the desk.

"I wasn't good enough."

His shoulders shook as he fruitlessly tried to keep himself together, Ned patting his back.

"Peter what do you mean? You weren't there?"

Cindy questioned, as a look of horror and realisation crept onto flash's face.

"No-no there is no way penis parker is Spider-man! Right!"

"Hey, pete! Its okay- you help so many people every day! You're an amazing hero. " Ned said, trying to comfort his friend and inadvertently sealing the nail on the coffin.

"Oh peter-" Betty whispered, moving forward to pat his shoulder.

"You really are an amazing hero, you saved us all in D.C!"  she said.

"And in europe!" abe added

"And you defeated the vulture,"

"And thanos!" and it went on, with classmates listing all the heroic things he'd done.

Peter couldn't save everyone, he knew that.

But he looked out for the little guy, and did his best.

And that was enough.

"Thanks guys, really. But if you tell anyone i can't promise I'll protect you from mr. Stark."

"YOU KNOW TONY STARK?"