Spider-Man Imagines I

When We're Together (Part Two) | Peter Parker [TH]

Of course you felt guilty, but it was mostly overpowered by the strong feelings of hurt and anger. You were hurt that Peter would put off telling you, would give you gifts to help you not be upset with him, and would leave so easily. You were angry that Mr. Stark would take a boy away from his family over Christmas and that the boy would just let him. You felt a million things for a million different reasons - but none of them mattered when Peter sent you the text.

Left early. I'll see you sometime after New Years.

Your heart sank. New Years? You glanced at the clock. He was supposed to leave in three hours! You had time-

Hurriedly, you sent him back a reply.

so soon???

i was coming to say goodbye

i love you, peter. i'm sorry for everything i said

None of the texts went through.

Should have said goodbye. Should have told him it was okay. Should have kissed him. Should have -

He was gone to who knows where, fighting who knows what, risking his life and leaving you behind to sit, worry, pray, and hope, just like you said you didn't want to do.

You felt sick to your stomach.

...

He should have said that he loved you.

His pounding head was leaving against the headrest on the plane. He had earbuds in, but couldn't concentrate to the music playing. He was full of regret and worry, wondering just what he had been thinking when he let you walk away like that.

He should have fought harder. He should have pulled you to him and kissed you passionately. He should have told you that he adored you more than anything else in the world, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you, and going on a few missions a year didn't change what really mattered -

A tap on his knee made him lift his head and look up. He popped an earbud out of his ear and Pepper leaned forward in her seat across from him, the cap of her pen touching his leg. She gave him a concerned smile.

"You okay?" she asked softly, trying not to disturb the sleeping Tony next to her. He had been sleeping less and less lately...

He nodded, suddenly afraid his emotions had been too readable. He glanced around at the rest of the team, all either asleep or reading books and magazines and things, and then put his earbud back in. He turned his music all the way up, then winced and turned it back down. It was a song you liked to danced to with him.

Why did he have Christmas music like this downloaded on his phone, anyway? He skipped it and found something safer, but it didn't stop him from thinking.

He remembered, at your first Christmas party, how you had danced with him to this song clumsily, spilling Coke on your new green dress. He had laughed and gathered up all the napkins he could find around him to wipe the wet stain of soda off. When you wiped it, a streak of red frosting from your cake smeared across it. He had grown horribly afraid and sorry, blabbering apologies even though you had spilled your drink on the dress in the first place.

And you had kissed him. Right there, mid-babble, you had grabbed his face and kissed him. It was your first kiss with him and it tasted like buttercream frosting. That moment became the greatest moment of his life.

Then, at your party the next year, he had stayed after to help you clean up. While you did dishes in the kitchen, wiping leftover ranch dip out of glass bowls and scraping crumbs off of plasric trays, he attempted to peel tape off the ceiling from where the decorations had hung.

He couldn't reach a particular square of tape, and you were in the next room, so he jumped, stuck his fingers to the ceiling, and pulled himself upward with his strength in one arm. He peeled the piece of tape off, tongue between his teeth in concentration.

"Pete - what in the heck are you doing on my ceiling?"

He gasped in shock and tilted his head back to see you, dish towel in hand. His feet met the ceiling and he was in a crawling position, staring at you upside down.

"I-I was... um, there was a tape - and I - had to get it-" He held it out. "I'm... sorry?"

You stepped forward until you were right below him. He found that it was hard for him to tell if you were angry when you were upside down.

"Peter, come here," you'd said evenly.

He peeled his fingers off the ceiling and dropped down, hanging upside down in front of you. His lips pressed together and his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

"___, I am so sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I'm Spider-"

You grabbed his face and kissed him while he was upside down. He nearly choked in surprise but quickly moved to kiss you back. Then you pulled away.

"I love you," you had said, and it was the first time you had said it.

And then there was your third party, where he had realized for the first time that he wanted to be with you forever. That moment right there, with his arm hooked around your waist, seeing you dare Ned and Michelle to shove eight gingerbread cookies in their mouths at once, he decided. You were so special to him - so funny, so joyful, so beautiful - such a ray of light in his life. A phone call from you was the reason he came home. A kiss from you was the reason he had the strength to do anything at all.

You were everything.

His memories must have been out to really get him. As he tortured himself with them, he remembered that your party was tomorrow. It would be the first one he would miss - and yet another reason for you to be upset with him.

Christmas is our thing, Pete.

And he wouldn't be home for it.

He felt sick to his stomach.