two sided | peter parker

LVIII | indulgent

『in·dul·gent | adj. | having or indicating a tendency to be overly generous to or lenient with someone』

IT HAD BEEN WEEKS, Peter had not spoken much to Y/n and the girl was evidently worried for him. The nights at the apartment were gray, rainy, and the opposite of sunshine. He'd drift from room to room with painful smiles and contemplative looks. Sometimes, if she were lucky, Y/n would get a small answer or nod from him.

Peter was pained, his thoughts fleeting back to the fire and how the fear had built up and overrode. He'd thought about calling or texting his mentor, but the possibility of Tony even responding was slim in his own opinion. However, when Y/n saw his thumb hovering over his contact, she encouraged him and told him he'd instantly pick it up.

He wandered from room to room. The two had just started up classes again because the mountain of lawsuits towards NYU since they claimed that their lives were endangered. Most of the lawsuits were sent in by parents, but were quickly turned down when the investigation was banned. 

It turned out that there was some electrical shortage in one of the electric fireplaces that caused the fire to roar out of control and blaze one room after another. Y/n and Peter were forced to go to another 'media outing' involving tons of interviews about their experience in the flames. The couple looked tense and quiet, refusing to go in a deeper analysis of it.

Currently, Y/n was folding laundry. Folding some more jeans and some of his dressy t-shirts, she stored them into his drawers. Taking his gray t-shirt, she hung it up instead since he wore it so much. Peter watched her, coming out of the bathroom as he ran a small towel through his hair and a pair of sweatpants on.

Her head hung when he walked right past her and pulled on the gray t-shirt. "You should talk to Tony," His head tilted up at the statement that left her lips. His eyebrows furrowed, face scrunching up in reaction to her sentence. "Why?" His voice was soft and light, and although it meant to harm, she swore that it could break her.

"He seems to be able to help you when you're in feelings like this, Peter. I know he can coax it out of you, and you know I can't. You'll refuse to tell me in the very end, and we both know that. Besides that, you and Tony haven't talked in a while and it's a good opportunity to catch up." He stayed quiet for a few moments, going back into the bathroom to pull on his suit.

Crawling out the window, he looked back at her and said his words in the usual soft tone. "I'll be back."

"So, you just walked out on her?" Tony paced back and forth, questioning his student's intentions with a bowl of strawberries in his hand. Tossing one in his mouth and munching, he waited for Peter to stammer for a response. Instead, the boy looked down and let his eyes stayed glued on the floor.

His shoulders shrugged lifelessly and he looked incredibly dead inside. Bending down, Tony looked him in the eye and patted the boy on the shoulder. "C'mon, let's go to the lab," He noticed the others looking on and guided the younger one to the laboratory where he did much of his work.

Peter broke down almost instantly after Tony asked if he was okay. "I-I'm just scared that I'll lose her! After what happened with Charlie and Eden and now this, I was so scared. I was so scared and I didn't know what to do. What if she was shot or stabbed? What am I going to do? I'd freeze up on the spot!" He panicked.

Tony's eyes softened, realizing the existential dread that was flowing through Peter at the very moment. He leaned against the counter, fingers gripping the edge of the table behind him. "Kid, she can handle herself. Y/n isn't weak or low on self defense skills. She trained with Natasha and trained with Charlie and Eden; she's one of the best fighters I know."

Peter sputtered, "N-No, you don't understand! I-I'm not worried about her d-defense skills! I'm scared that I'll lose her in an instant and I won't be able to protect her in time, even if I'm not there!" He yelled, knowing that if Tony was exactly in that situation, he would definitely blame himself as well.

Tony stopped the entirety of his contemplative issue, sighing. "Kid, you're already losing her."

His head shot up. "What?"

"You're already losing her."

"How?"

"You're pushing her away, Peter. If you're scared of losing someone, do you really push them away? No, you want to pull them closer and hold them tight. If you don't want to lose her, don't push her away. Just do what you need to do, kid."

Peter focused on Tony's words, silence bestowing upon them for a solid ten minutes while Peter sunk into a deep layer of thinking. He tapped his foot repeatedly before licking his lips and fiddling with the mask in his hand. Giving a small smile, he nodded at the man that he nearly owed everything to. "Thanks, Mr. Stark."

Slipping out the window, Peter swung back home and into the window. His heart fell, watching the girl sleep peacefully on their shared bed. It was way past midnight and there was a post-it note attached to the window's rim. On it, it read in her neat handwriting: Hope you're feeling better. Dinner's in the fridge. I love you.

He smiled gently on the note and Peter couldn't help, but let guilty tears build up and flow down his cheeks. Hearing the slight squeak of the window closing, Y/n shifted out of bed and rubbed her eyes, going to the living room. "Peter?" She softly questioned, running into the nineteen year old that had tears staining his cheeks and a broken smile. 

"I love you so much, Y/n."

She smiled in response, tears threatening to leave her own as she pulled him close. "I love you to the moon and back, Peter."