Wilted (Peter Parker x Reader)

18

Peter

It was going to be dark soon, and nothing has happened so far.

I was sitting on the ground and leaning against a wall, facing the cylindrical glass cell where   Y/n was still sleeping on the floor. Dr. Banner and Tony hadn't come in with an update, or checked in, or anything, and I could feel myself becoming more and more tired.

"Spiderman, Spiderman," I sang lightly to myself. "Does whatever a spider-" I stopped my singing as Y/n slightly moved. This was the first she had done so since passing out. I watched silently as one of her hands moved to her head and the other helped her sit up.

She looked around with narrowed and confused eyes before she noticed me. Her look became hard and angry. For some reason I was holding onto hope that she would wake up as herself, but I suppose that was pretty unrealistic.

"Where am I?" She demanded more than asked.

"You hurt yourself so we moved you somewhere safer." I spoke gently. Neither of us had moved from our spots. Our gazes and positions held strongly, as it was all we could do.

"Safer for me, or for you?" She kept still, but I could feel the sarcasm. Despite that, she seemed to be calming down.

"Both, I guess," I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. I didn't know what she wanted me to say, or what I could. I needed to remember that she might never be her old self again.

"Hm. That's honest." She hummed before looking around again. She stood up, holding her wounded arm half mindedly, and started to walk the length of the glass, a full circle. Unexpectedly, she threw a punch at the glass, and yelped as it and her arm took on the impact. No crack, no chip, not even a smudge. "I'm never getting out of here." She whispered, seemingly accepting that fact.

"Why do you want to?" I asked, such a stupid and open ended question. She brought her attention back to me before walking to the glass parallel. She took a seat on the ground, crisscrossed, and began talking.

"Would you want to be trapped in a cage like an animal?" She asked calmly. I smiled lightly and looked down, seeing her obvious point.

"No, I would not." She pursed her lips and nodded at my response. I brought my gaze back up to her, only to see she was still staring at me.

"And yet here you are. Guarding me like a warden to ensure my enslavement." She growled out as her mood gained some anger, but still did not move.

"What?" I responded with a question. "I'm not guarding you. This thing held the Hulk, it will keep you here. I am NOT here to make sure you behave."

She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes again.

"Why are you here then?"

I played with my fingers for a few moments before I decided to be truthful to her.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." My response made her face soften up. Her eyes bounced back around the details of my face as she thought for a few moments. She opened her mouth to respond but quickly silenced herself and stood up as the door opened. Backing up a few feet, she eyed whoever walked in.

"You're up!" Bruce spoke with a smile as he walked further into the room. He spotted me and came over, holding the charts in his hand. As he flashed me the results, I let a relieved scoff fly out of my mouth. Y/n backed up a few feet but looked at us curiously. I could sense a little bit of fear in her, none of which was here when we were alone.

The paper he now held in my face had lots of different words on it like what tests were run and what chemicals and such were found, but the one word that was circled was 'match'. I kept looking from Y/n to the paper, trying to figure out how I could put this information to use.

"So even if we don't know what exactly happened to her, we know it has to do with the stone!" He half whispered, half shouted to me. He was ecstatic about his discovery, and was gesturing to her pretty frantically. His lab coat flapped around lightly as he expressed with his arms.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked, looking at  Y/n.

She held her wounded arm once again and stared us down as we watched her. She backed up another few feet, until she bumped into the wall, as to which she shrank to the ground and glared at us.

"If you come near me, I will fucking kill you." She growled out menacingly. I handed the paper back to Dr. Banner before stepping up to the glass. She glared, but I noticed she was looking past me and at Bruce.

"What?" I asked her, trying to control my fear. She made eye contact with me, and all of the anger of before came flooding back.

"You heard me!" She yelled at me. 

"Y/n..." I spoke gently. I thought we were making progress tonight.

"I don't know who that is!" She was still yelling, but this time more desperate and sad. She wasn't a liar, that much I knew to be true. It was even more evident now that she doesn't remember much if at all. A tear fell down her cheek as she pulled her knees to her chest and put her head down. Her hands covered her ears as if she was hearing things she didn't want to. She was immediately shaking with sobs and Bruce placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Let's go take a break." He spoke calmly to me through a smile. I looked back at Y/n and sighed as she sat there silently.

"Okay." I followed him to and through the door and down the hallway.

~

"I don't understand." I spoke as Tony handed Bruce and I a glass of whiskey each. "She was sitting so calmly, she accepted her being here, and we were talking."

Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner took a swig of their whiskey as I stared at mine, lost in thought.

"She wasn't angry until Dr. Banner came in and started talking about her. But then she even yelled at me. And her own name, she didn't recognize it and yet it sent her into hysterics..."

"It seems like you're the only one who can be around her, and it'll help." Bruce spoke up. "She's terrified of me, you heard and saw. She looked right past you, and only got mad at you to defend herself. I think she's just afraid."

"What, the girl who killed hundreds of people is suddenly afraid?" Tony mocked and took another gulp.

"If she truly thinks she's doing a good thing, then it makes sense." Banner shrugged and cringed at the idea.

"So what? We just keep her locked in there forever?" I spoke loudly.

"Until we can stabilize her, ya." Tony spoke and finished his drink. "But for now, it's been a long day. I will have Happy at your door at NOON." Tony spoke and took my untouched drink away. I knew better than to argue to stay longer, and considered myself lucky enough to be invited back each time.

Standing up, I glanced down the hall that led to Y/n, and sighed.

"Okay. Goodnight everyone."

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