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Another Terrible Day

Peter woke up to a dinging sound, and then the sound of footsteps headed towards him. He picked his head up, panicking a bit, and tried to get up, but was painfully reminded of the wound in his side at the action. Going back to a sitting position with his back pressed up against the bathroom door, Peter focused on the footsteps headed his way. They didn't sound close enough to be in the apartment. They were walking down the hall, probably having just gotten out of the elevator. He didn't know what time it was, but he knew whose footsteps were walking down the hall.

Peter didn't wait for her to stop by his apartment door for confirmation, as by that point it would be too late. He knew he didn't have time to clean everything up and get to his room before she came in, so he quickly locked the door, hoping she would go straight to her room after such a long shift like she normally did. Peter opened up the cabinet under the sink and grabbed the can of Fabreze he always kept in here. He quickly sprayed some in the air as he heard her pulling her keys out of her purse. He sprayed just enough to mask the metallic scent of blood that was all over the bathroom floor, but not enough for it to be overbearing.

He turned the bathroom light off as the front door opened and forced himself to be as quiet as possible. Peter was thankful for his heightened senses on nights like these. He would often come home late from patrols and would use his senses to sneak back in without disturbing her. Sometimes he came in hurt, but never this bad. It was always some small scrapes and scratches with occasional fractures. Those kinds of things were easy for him to take care of and healed pretty fast, but this was a lot worse.

Peter listened as she locked the door and made her way into the apartment. His heart was beating incredibly fast and was so deafening to his oversensitive ears that he felt like she would surely hear it. He forced himself to tune out the sound of his own heartbeat and to focus on hers. He could hear her walking towards her room, and let out a shaky breath once she closed the door. He stayed in his position on the floor until he heard her breathing slow, signaling to him that she was asleep.

After waiting a few more minutes, he slowly got up, gritting his teeth at the sharp pain that shot through his body from his abdomen. Peter grabbed a washcloth that was sitting on the counter and some cleaning solution from under the counter and cleaned up the blood that coated the floor of the bathroom. Once he was satisfied, he put the cleaning solution back where he found it and held onto the now bloody rag, planning to throw it in the dumpster outside the apartment building tomorrow morning before school. Peter didn't want to risk her finding it in one of the trashcans inside their apartment, knowing it would cause her to ask questions he couldn't answer, at least not truthfully, and would eventually lead to consequences he'd rather not think about.

He waited by the bathroom door for a couple more minutes, listening to her slow, steady breaths as she continued to sleep, which Peter was thankful for. He did not have the energy to deal with her tonight, especially after being chased by the Avengers, shot with a tranq arrow, stabbed in the side, and stitching himself up. It seemed Parker Luck had taken pity on him after screwing up the entirety of his evening. He slowly turned the lock and opened the bathroom door, being extra careful not to make any noise for fear that it would wake her up. His spider-sense had yet to inform him of any danger, so he continued down the hallway to his room, which was, fortunately, a good bit away from hers. 

Once he reached his destination and confirmed that he was still safe, Peter closed his door and changed out of his clothes, which were covered in his blood. He put on a pair of black sweatpants and let himself crawl into bed, feeling extremely exhausted from the events of the night. Before allowing himself to fall asleep, he took a quick glance at his alarm clock, seeing that it was 2:30 a.m. That meant he only had about 4 and a half hours until his alarm would go off, as he had to get up at 7:00 in order to leave the house by 7:45, catch the subway, and make it to school before 8:40.