Playing with Fire

6. The Flashback

Y/N's POV

I looked up at the sun shining brightly overhead as I listened to the songs of the birds flying around. I looked back down letting my eyes adjust to the scene around me. I was in a backyard lined with brown, tall, wooden fencing. The grass was green, and I was sitting on a wooden swing under a large, lush oak tree. I felt...happy. I heard laughter...was that coming from me?

I glanced down to see my small legs hanging off the swing. They didn't even reach the ground. I couldn't have been older than seven.

"Come on Jakey, try and push a little harder," I giggled as I looked at the little boy behind me. His hands were behind my hips trying to push the swing forward without much luck.

"I'm trying...I'm too small," he grunted as he fell onto his butt pouting with his arms crossed.

I hopped off the swing and turned to face him. He had bright blue eyes, and hair color the same as mine. I sat down in front of him and closed my eyes and smiled. "Don't worry! One day you are gonna be tall and strong... like me." I held up my arms as if I was flexing the muscles I didn't quite have yet and gave him a smirk.

He started giggling, "You're only a little bigger than me," he said as he jumped on top of me. We started wrestling and tickling each other rolling around on the grass. My stomach was hurting I was laughing so hard.

Coming from inside the house we were playing behind, I heard a woman yell. "Y/N! Jake! It's time to come in for lunch!"

"Race you there!" Jake said as he pushed himself up and ran for the door.

I sat there and looked up at the sun one more time, blinding my vision. All I saw was white as the memory evaporated away.

I woke with a start. My eyes were beginning to adjust to the brightness of the room. I felt a hand fall onto my arm and before I knew who it was, I immediately turned and grabbed their neck with my other hand out of instinct, still sitting in the bed.

A boy with brown hair and chocolate eyes stared back at me with his hands up. I looked down to notice he was wearing the same suit as Spiderman when it registered in my mind.

I immediately released his neck and covered my face with both hands embarrassed, "Oh..my..god...Spiderman...I am so sorry."

He put his hand behind his head and awkwardly looked to the side. "No, don't worry about it. I guess I kinda deserve it for catching you off guard... Oh, and uh, you can call me Peter by the way."

I felt the corner of my lip gently turn upwards as I gave him a half-smile, "Thanks, Peter."

He looked back at me in surprise. "For what? If it wasn't for you, we would still be back there right now."

"If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have gotten shot either," I looked at the bandage on his side then back down at my hands feeling the guilt creep into my chest.

"I've been through worse..." I remembered back to him helping me on the rooftop after the battle and then looked up at him to find him smirking.

"Touché," I replied.

He pulled up his chair closer to the bed and sat down. "So, if you don't know your name then what should we call you?"

My blood ran cold. In an instant, the dream I had came flooding back into my memory causing my eyes to start tearing. Quickly, I covered my eyes and sniffled, embarrassed at the number of times I cried in front of this guy already.

"Um...I'm sorry...It's okay, we... uh, don't have to figure that out right now."

I gained my composure and took a deep breath, "No, it's okay...my name is Y/N."

"Wait, you remember?!"

I simply nodded and kept my gaze at my hands. "I had some sort of dream that I think must have been a memory. It felt so real like it actually happened. I was with my brother playing outside when a woman, I'm guessing my mother called our names telling us to come back inside... His name was Jake."

Peter's POV

Her expression grew a little darker, and I instinctively placed my hand over hers. When I realized what I did, I started to blush and pull away when her other hand rested on top of mine, holding me there.

My heart rate rose as she looked over to me, "Why are you being so nice to me. I'm from Hydra, how do you know I'm not dangerous."

"Because...you protected me from them, which means you can't be all bad. Plus I saw the way they were treating you. I'm under the impression that Hydra does not treat their own like that."

"Oh...you'd be surprised...I'm sorry you had to see that," she looked away again, probably embarrassed for making her remember that I was there for the whole thing.

"I'm not," I responded as I looked into her eyes, with a serious expression. I kept going, "I don't meet many people my age that can experience what I am going through in my life. Like you, I know what it is like to live with powers... and I also know what it is like to live life barely knowing who your parents were," she stared at me with a sad expression as I continued, "I know you feel like you are alone right now, but trust me when I say that I have felt what you're feeling right now, and it will get better."

She squeezed her eyes and smiled as a tear slid down her cheek. She released my hand and opened her eyes looking past me, out the window. I turned to follow her gaze to notice that the sun was beginning to rise out on the horizon. I looked back to see her examining the room we were in as if she had just realized her surroundings.

"Where are we, exactly?"

Y/N's POV

"Avengers Tower," a new voice beamed in from across the room. The man closed the door he just opened and placed a change of clothes and a pair of shoes on the table next to me.

I looked over to Peter and he gave me a reassuring nod as if letting me know that I can trust him.

The man must have sensed that I was on edge. "Don't worry you're safe here with us. When I built this tower, I made sure I had the finest security systems installed,... isn't that right Friday?"

Before I could ask who Friday was, a female voice came over the speakers, "That is correct Tony."

"Why don't you rest and we can talk details later. You had a rough night," Tony said as he turned to leave the room and called back, "Come on Parker, you too."

"I'll see you later... Y/N," he said as he hopped out of his seat and walked through the door Tony was holding open for him.

Before closing the door, Tony called back one last time, "If you need anything, just ask Friday."

He closed the door, and I was left there in silence with nothing but my thoughts. I laid my head back against the pillow and turned it to the side to look at the rising sun. I thought about Peter Parker's words as my eyes slowly began to close."...it will get better," and I began to believe he might be right.

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Published: 4/10/2020