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I've Really Messed Up This Time

After Peter's shift at the deli, he walked down the street a bit and then ducked into an alleyway. He quickly made sure no one was around and then grabbed his homemade suit out of his backpack. He winced a bit when he pulled his sweater over his head but continued to undress and put his suit on. Peter grabbed his web-shooters, zipped his backpack, threw it up in the air, and shot a web at it, fastening it to the wall of the alley like he does every day. Pulling the mask over his head, he shot a web at a tall nearby building and launched himself into the air.

Peter loved the feeling of swinging around Queens. It was the only time he ever felt free, free to just be himself. Free to let go and let loose.

Free to be a kid. 

He decided to land on top of a tall building, which looked to be the building of a big business, and look over the city. The sun was setting, so it was probably a little after 6:00 by now. He sat down on the ledge, letting his legs dangle over it. Looking down, he could see people walking around, going about their daily lives. Most people wouldn't be able to see faces from where he was, but Peter could see the smiling faces of families walking together. He saw the joy and happiness they had, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of longing. 

Longing for what he knew he would never have. Longing for what he felt he didn't deserve.

Peter jumped at the loud sound of metal hitting the roof of the building a few feet away from where he sat, startling him out of his thoughts. He quickly stood up and spun around. What he saw made his jaw drop and his eyes widen, the small whites of his goggles mimicking his action.

In front of him, was the one and only, Tony Stark. That alone made Peter extremely anxious, but accompanying him were Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye. All of them were suited up and armed, which made Peter even more nervous.

Tony took a step forward. "You're the Spider-Man, right?" he asked. His faceplate was down, so Peter couldn't read his facial expression to gauge the situation.

"Uh, yeah," Peter answered, sending up a silent praise that he didn't stutter in front of the Avengers. "Yeah, that's me. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! What are you guys doing here?"

It was Steve's turn to take a step forward and address the spider. "We need you to come with us."

Peter's heart immediately started racing. He didn't like the sound of that. What do they want from me? he thought as he took a step back towards the edge of the building. "W-why?" He silently cursed himself for stuttering, for showing how scared he was.

"Look, son. We have zero intentions of hurting you, but we need you to answer a few questions and then you'll be free to go," Steve said, putting his hands up in an attempt to calm Peter down, but it was not working. Peter's eyes were scanning the area, looking for ways of escape. 

"What kind of questions? And I'm pretty sure you mean I'll be free to go if I answer your questions the way you want me to, am I right?" Peter remarked, trying his best to muster up some fake confidence while he panicked internally. He took another step back, now standing so that his heels were off the ledge of the building.

"SHIELD is tasked with dealing with supernatural and superhuman threats to ensure the safety of civilians. You obviously have some sort of superhuman capabilities, and so it is SHIELD's responsibility to ensure you aren't a threat," the Black Widow explained in an impassive tone, not giving away her personal feelings towards this situation. "We were tasked with bringing you in so that SHIELD can make that judgment, so you can either come willingly, or we'll bring you in forcefully. Please, just save us the trouble and come with us."

While the Black Widow was talking, Peter noticed Hawkeye slowly pulling an arrow out of his quiver and notched it on his bow, but still held it so that the arrow was pointing to the ground. Peter had made up his mind, he was not going with the Avengers. They would want to know his identity, and that was not something that Peter was going to give up willingly.

"I'm sorry guys, but I just can't do that. Ya see, I'm kind of busy, and I think my roommate would be pretty worried if I didn't come home tonight," Peter lied, hoping they bought it. He didn't want them to know he was only a 15-year-old. They would probably find a way to keep him from being Spider-Man because he was 'just a kid'. Peter had stopped being a kid a long time ago.

"Wrong answer, son," Cap said before Peter felt his spider sense go off. It wasn't as strong as it used to be, just a dull hum now. Peter had reacted just a split second too late, as a tranquilizer arrow had hit his leg as he leaped off of the building.

Peter started to feel a bit drowsy, but the drug wasn't strong enough to knock him out. They probably didn't account for Peter's extremely fast metabolism, which Peter was thankful for. Peter swung from building to building as quickly as he could, taking sharp turns and staying close to the ground in an attempt to lose the Avengers. He found a small alleyway and decided to hide behind the dumpster until he felt it was safe.

Way to go Peter. You somehow managed to mess up so bad that you're on the run from the freaking Avengers! Great, just great. You've really done it this time.

After about ten minutes, Peter felt that he had lost them, so he crept out of the alleyway, still a bit drowsy from the tranq. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to patrol today. The encounter with the Avengers had left him a bit shaken up, along with feeling sluggish due to the drugs in his system. He once again began to swing through the city, headed towards the alley with his backpack. Peter couldn't afford to lose another one. He had already used up too much of his paychecks on backpacks because he kept losing them.

As he approached the alley, he heard a woman scream. It was coming from the alley he was heading towards. Peter perched up on the roof of the building to see two middle-aged men cornering a young woman. She didn't look any older than 21. The blond man had her pinned against the wall while the bald man held out a knife, seemingly just to scare her.

Peter didn't wait any longer. He jumped down and shot a web at the knife, pulling it out of the man's hands and into his own. "That's not very gentlemanly of you," Peter called out, making the blond guy turn his head to look at him, but not letting go of the woman. 

The man roughly pulled the woman away from the wall and pushed her into the arms of Baldie. "Take her. It seems I've got a pest to exterminate before we can have any fun," Blondie said with an ugly smirk on his face. 

Before he could run with the girl, Peter shot a web at Baldie's face, blinding him. He instinctively let go of the woman to try to pry the webbing off of his face. The woman took this opportunity to run down the alley and away from the scene, leaving Peter alone with two very angry men.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Blondie screamed while lunging at him, pulling a knife out of his jacket. Under normal circumstances, Peter would've been able to sense that he was in danger and dodge the knife. However, with Peter's spider-sense acting up and being drugged, that is not what happened. 

Blondie had stabbed him in his gut, causing Peter to let out an agonized scream. The pain was sharp and intense as he felt the cold metal slice into his side. He backed up and put his hand on the wound instinctively. He could faintly hear sirens approaching them, which was both a good and bad thing for Peter. Blondie obviously heard them too, because he was quick to grab his buddy and hightail it out of the alley and away from the scene.

Peter shot some webs at his wound in an attempt to slow the bleeding enough to where he wouldn't bleed out before he got home. He grabbed his webbed-up backpack and headed to his apartment, not even bothering to change out of his spider suit. When he made it to the building, he climbed up the way to the floor his apartment was on and snuck in through his bedroom window as quietly as possible. Peter looked at the clock and saw that it was only 10:00. He couldn't hear another presence in the house, so May probably took another night shift at the hospital.

Peter left his room and went straight to the small bathroom across the hall. After closing and locking the door, he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to a sitting position with his back against the wall. Looking up at the ceiling he thought,

I've really messed up this time.

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~ xxjustabeanxx