darling [peter parker]

panic!

Wendy finally cornered Peter Parker during third period.

It was completely by chance that they were at the bathrooms at the same time. Wendy figured it was a sign. She didn't waste time in calling out Peter's name and dragging him off to the side. He seemed more annoyed than usual to see her. She liked that.

"I finished the poem," she announced proudly. His brow furrowed. She rolled her eyes and added, "The poem you're going to read to the entire school that names every one of my positive attributes." His face dropped. Her smile returned.

"I thought I was supposed to write that," he mumbled.

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Please tell me you have a rough draft."

He grinned. "Actually, I couldn't come up with anything." She scowled. Well, she walked right into that one. She puckered her lips and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She was suddenly struck by the realization that she didn't have a witty retort. Even weirder, she didn't care that she didn't have a witty retort. Her subconscious was focused on whether the frat boys would actually get convicted without a victim or witness. The police usually took Spider-Man's captures and notes fairly seriously, but attempted rape? Rape was barely taken seriously as it was.

"Chloe?"

Her heart dropped to her feet. Oh my god. They were here. They found her. This was it. They were going to take her and kill her. It wasn't like her or Peter Parker would be able to stop them. Would they even have time to scream? She could already feel Taller Letterman Jacket's arms around her, squeezing the life out of her. The air was sucked from her lungs as a scream scraped the top of her mouth, begging to be released.

"Hey, Wendy!"

She blinked and realized it was still just her and Peter in the hallway. The frat boys were nowhere to be seen. It was all in her head. That 'Chloe' was probably a misinterpretation of Peter saying 'Wendy.' She shook her head as if clearing cobwebs and was about to force a laugh when she realized she was crying.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked. He'd moved closer to her, but seemed hesitant to touch her. It was a good thing he hadn't. She'd probably lose her shit. She rubbed her eyes but when she opened them, this horrible situation was still playing out. Shit. What was she supposed to say? 'Yeah, I actually won the bet by nearly getting raped and now I'm traumatized!'

She cleared her throat. "I'm fine. I've just been missing Aunt Peggy more than usual lately."

Peter shifted nervously. "I-I never got a chance to tell you, but I saw the speech you made at her funeral - it was beautiful."

"Thanks," Wendy replied, her tone flat. "I'll email you the poem." With her head down, she fled back to her third-period class which, thankfully, was full of people who were perfectly content to ignore her sobbing at her desk.

*

Wendy was about to go to bed when Spider-Man appeared at her window.

She was much quicker about letting him in this time. She made sure he knew to be quiet because her parents were home and her dad would probably have seventeen consecutive heart attacks if he thought she had a boy in her room. They sat on her bed again, but at the head, not the foot. 

Wendy was suffocating her old stuffed animal, trying to drain any comfort or semblance of innocence from the worn elephant. Her back was against her stack of pillows and her legs were tucked under her blanket. She was in the middle of the full mattress. Spider-Man sat closer to her feet in a criss-cross position, his hands laying lamely in his lap.

"I think I had a panic attack today," she divulged as she stared at the ceiling. 

"What happened?" he asked. She could hear the concern in his voice and she wondered why. Why did he seem to care about her so much? Why did he keep showing up here? Why was she so drawn to him? Why did she want him to hold her in his arms like he did that night?

She sighed. "I was in the hallway with Peter Parker. Hey, is he really your friend?"

"Oh, yeah," Spider-Man said quickly. "Yeah, you know, he's a pretty cool dude. I-I met him through Iron Man, so." He nonchalantly shrugged.

"Huh." Wendy tilted her head. So Peter wasn't lying just to get in Liz Allan's pants. "Anyway, I was standing in the hallway with him during third period because we had a bet, and I won, and so his punishment is he has to recite a poem detailing my greatest features to the school-"

"Who wrote the poem?" Spider-Man asked.

"I did."

She knew he was grinning as he said, "I could've written it for you." She stifled laughter and nudged him with her foot.

"Anyway, we were talking and he said something douchey and I was supposed to say something back but I just started thinking about those boys and conviction rates for rape cases and then I thought I heard them and my heart started racing and I couldn't breathe and I was sure I was going to die. And then it was over and I was crying." The words rushed out of her mouth so quickly she thought her lungs might shrivel from a high oxygen output combined with a low input.

Spider-Man moved forward and gripped her shoulders. "Hey, darling, I will go down to that station myself and-and make a witness statement. I'm not gonna let them get away." Within a moment, his arms were wrapped tightly around her. She buried her face in his neck and hugged him back, her arms around his neck. He shifted to her side. Her leg found its way between his and his hands rubbed her back. Neither said a word. They stayed like that until Wendy fell asleep.

*

ugh my soft babies whomst i love and adore!!! swendy (wendy x spider-man) is rising!!!

next chapter...it's gonna be hella angsty folks

early update courtesy of zaalima-