SMOOTH OPERATOR (Spiderman!Ethan Landry x Superhero!Reader)

Chapter 7: I've Been Through Worse Than You

The situation is stressful. Sat in your apartment once again with the entire group. Well... the entire group minus Ethan. Something about him having econ. It was frustrating not having him there. You and Anika had begged him to stay but his professor apparently "wouldn't take excuses." You're sitting on the couch in the living room with Anika and Wes. Sam had insisted everyone stay together in the apartment. It wasn't a bad idea, you just hoped that it actually worked. Or that nobody in the apartment was actually the killer.

Anika's skimming through the tv channels when the news channel claims Sam is the latest suspect calling her out from the kitchen. Sam shuts the tv off and sits at the kitchen table, Tara, Chad and Mindy following her. It's late and honestly, you're exhausted. You tell Anika that you're gonna be in the shower. As you get up you get an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach. You push it down and enter your bedroom. You look up to see Ghostface standing by the window. You immediately slam the door shut and run back into the living room. "He's here, he's fucking HERE" At the same time a notification buzzes on Sams phone but before she can check the door to your bedroom bursts open and the masked man dashes into the living room.

You all try to rush into the kitchen away from him, Sam goes to grab a knife from the kitchen block only to find they had all been taken. You try to run out of the apartment, but only Tara and Chad are able to get out before Ghostface grabs Wes. Sam runs into the kitchen to grab the kitchen block again, but before she could get back Ghostface had already stabbed Wes. You all watch paralyzed in horror as Ghostface slams Wes against the wall of the apartment, dragging the knife up his torso. He throws Wes to the floor before turning to the rest of you. Mindy and Anika pick him up off the floor and follow behind as you and Sam try to find somewhere to get out. You find your way back into your bedroom at the end of the hall. You lock the door while Mindy and Anika move to push your vanity against the door while you try to find something to stop Wes' bleeding. Sam pulls her phone out to seemingly call 911, when she notices the message on her phone. She looks up out the window to see your neighbor, Danny signaling to open the window. The two of them shout at each other and you finally find a towel to wrap around Wes. As much as you wish you could take a second to relax, you need to keep going. Ghostface is banging at the door trying to get it open, while Mindy and Anika are struggling to keep it shut. Danny starts sliding a ladder toward your window. Once Sam is able to stabilize the ladder you guys try to figure out who would go first. Everyone tells Sam to go first, assuming Ghostface is probably after her more than the rest of you. Once Sam is in Danny's apartment, you try to get one of the other girls to go first but Anika pushes you toward the window and they tell you they've got it. You feel your anxiety creeping up as you grab onto the shaky ladder. The crisp October air breezes past your face as you take a deep breath and start moving. "Don't look down," Sam yells from across the street. You look up at the sky before facing forward and inching across the ladder.

Once you're on the other side you let out a shaky breath, almost falling to the floor. Sam holds you up, noticing your shakiness. Once you've recouped yourself you take a step back. Sam and Danny are coaxing Mindy across, and you pull your phone out of your back pocket and attempt to call Ethan. He doesn't pick up and you feel yourself tense up again. Part of you, the rational part knows he's probably fine. He's Spiderman, he's worlds better at defending himself than you are. He probably just turned his phone off in order to focus on the lecture he's in. But the other part of you, the irrational part, is worried. It's extremely late and what if he didn't make it to class, what if his class ended early and Ghostface caught him on the way home, what time does his lecture end anyways. You curse yourself for not asking him and not forcing him to text you when he gets to and leaves class.

You throw your phone down and look back at the scene unfolding in front of you. Mindy's pulling Anika through the window. Wes finally limps over to the window. You watch him wince in pain as he grips the ladder. As Wes starts to crawl, Ghostface kicks the door hard enough to get through and rushes to the window, everyone tries to rush Wes to climb across while he struggles. You and Anika cling onto each other as you watch Ghostface stab his knife into your windowsill and grab onto the ladder. Wes slowly starts moving as everyone screams at him to hurry, but it's no use. You all stare in horror as Ghostface starts shaking the ladder, Wes grips onto the ladder as hard as he can while blood soaks through all his clothes. You look away from the window, feeling Anika squeeze you tighter as Ghostface flips the ladder and flings Wes' weak body to the floor.

~

It's the next morning, the sun has barely begun to rise, and you're sat outside your apartment complex in the back of an ambulance. So many feelings are rushing through you, and you hate them all. You're scared shitless, tears won't stop pouring out your eyes and even though he's the last thing that should be on your mind considering your friend just died, an uncomfortably large amount of your time has been spent thinking about Ethan. At some point between you calling him and now, he'd sent you a text asking why you'd called him. That melted some of the anxiety and worry you'd had away, now all that was left was anger. You refused to text him back and contemplated exactly how you'd respond when you saw him.

When he finally showed up you almost tackled him. Chad approaches him but before he can say anything you grab Ethan and pull him into an alley behind the buildings. "Look I'm really sorry for not picking up-" you cut him off before he can finish. "Where were you? Where the fuck were you?" "I was in class; c'mon you know that" "That's bullshit" "How? I was in a lecture hall with 100 other people, ask any of them." You start getting frustrated at him, you can tell he just doesn't understand how you're feeling. "I fucking know you were in class, that's the problem Ethan. The one time I actually need you to be there you aren't there? You're telling me that right now, with a serial killer on the loose, a serial killer specifically targeting your friend group and last night was the night that you needed to go to class. You can skip class to go and help old ladies cross the street but not when we need you. Not when I need you?" " Y/N I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again, okay?"

You walk away toward the rest of the group out of frustration and because the part of you that's thinking practically. Ethan trails after you but Chad stops him and pulls him away. You're already aware that the entire group suspected Ethan and him being the only one missing last night didn't help calm anyone's qualms about him, so as mad as you were, you stood there waiting for them to finish. You could tell Chad was getting frustrated as Ethan scrambled to explain himself. Before things could get too tense Gale Weathers walks up with Tara, Sam and Kirby in tow, telling everyone to follow them and that she'd found something important. You followed after her an exhausted and emotional mess just waiting for this to all be over.

A/N: RIP Wes, you truly were the best plot device I could have asked for. anyways sorry for taking so long to update, a lot has been going on and i havent been motivated to write but im back babyyy. anyways tysm for reading and understanding.