my guardian angel | peter parker x gn!reader

f o u r

the avengers

Pain.

Darkness.

Two things you weren't quite aware you were enduring. A kind of pain you couldn't feel but could tell your body was screaming out for help from. The kind of darkness you couldn't see but could tell your skin was being squeezed by. Both suffocating and rejuvenating. Both suffering and bliss. Both heaven and hell. Teetering on the fence of mortality, until your soul succumbed to gravity.

That unpleasant feeling of falling, like your insides have dropped into the bottom of your stomach. When your fight or flight instincts are triggered but you have no one to fight and nowhere to fly. All that's left is the question of what you'll meet when you reach the bottom.

More pain. This time less dull, and a blatant injury in the back of your head. Your heartbeat throbbed throughout your body as one by one, your senses came back into action, unfortunately starting with your nervous system. Your entire body was sore, but nothing could compare to the piercing headache stabbing at your skull. The next sense to return was hearing. There were no voices, or at least none you could make out. All you could hear was shuffling, back and forth, back and forth, as if someone were pacing next to the bed you lay in.

Finally, enough of your consciousness was restored, and you were able to gradually open your eyes, having to blink them several times to get used to the blinding lights. The pacing beside you stopped and you were hit with a small gust of wind as someone rushed to your side. "Y/N! Y/N, can you hear me?"

After a few moments, your eyes adjusted to the difference in light and you were able to recognize the face matching the familiar voice. "Dad." You looked away immediately, remembering you were vexed with him although you couldn't remember the exact reason why. You made a move to sit up, making the dull sting in your body intensify and causing a groan to leave your mouth as you were forced to lie back down.

As if the soft impact against the bed triggered a spontaneous reaction, realization hit you. You shot up into a sitting position, the adrenaline that was being pumped into your brain numbing the pain. "Where's Gamora?!" Your eyes frantically searched around the room, which you were now able to recognize as your own, hoping to spot the green-skinned woman hiding amongst the dirt on your carpet.

At no sign of her, you turned to your father, whose expression had turned solemn and regretful. "She's gone."

Your stomach, the home of your emotions, was now the home of your heart. The physical pain you felt now seemed like an ant compared to the elephant that was the ache in your heart. It was only two words, but they felt like acid, corroding the organ's tissue and leaving nothing left. Something rose towards the back of your throat but there was nothing to throw up. You were empty. Completely empty. Even the sobs and the tears didn't want to stay any longer. Your lungs seemed to close up, you struggled to breathe. No words were able to form, and the only defense mechanism your body had the emotional capacity to perform was simply to curl up as your body shook uncontrollably.

"I told you to stay on the ship."

The emptiness was soon replaced by anger. Pure, blood-boiling rage.

"Do you realize how stupid that was? What if you died?!"

Even knowing what he'd done, he still had the audacity to be mad at you?