Living With Secrets

Deadpool Gets Murked. Again.

Peter was supposed to be in class. He knew that, but he also knew he didn't need to be taking Chem 221, and he could stand to miss a lecture. The teen was also absolutely exhausted from patrolling the night before, and all he wanted was a break. It had been 2 weeks since he went home, maybe he'd go down there for the weekend. It was Friday, after all.

Peter checked his phone again. Where the hell is she? he thought. He and MJ were planning on Skyping today, but she was already a half hour late.

As if she could sense his frustration, MJ texted.

MJ: I have so much homework, I completely lost track of time. Lets Skype this weekend, k?

Peter sighed. This had been happening more and more in the last month. MJ was always busy, Ned was hardly even in his dorm. Peter didn't want to be mad at his two best friends, but he was a little sad they didn't see each other as often. Or at all, really.

Peter: Its no problem, sweets. We'll talk later.

MJ: <3 *Kissy face*

The brunet smiled to himself, rolling his eyes a little. His silly girlfriend could always make him laugh, even if she was blowing off Skype dates. While he wasn't mad at MJ, he was disappointed, and it was really starting to put a funk over his day.

Deciding that it was better to go out than stay inside all night, Peter got up, stretched, and headed out onto campus for a walk. Spoiler alert, he wouldn't get too far.

About a 7 blocks from his dorm, his spider sense went off. Something was about to happen, and Peter was ready. The brunet spun around, looking at the building behind him.

Nothing.

Just as Peter was about to brush off his feeling of unease and continue his walk, he saw a familiar red and black suit on the top of the building. The mercenary had his hands raised in surrender, but Peter couldn't see anyone else. Just as he was about to call out to the man, there was a loud bang, a gun shot, and Deadpool fell backwards off the building. Peter ran towards the super... killer. There was a sickening splat, and Peter cringed. God, he hated that noise.

"Looks like I'm going home after all," he mumbled. He pulled Deadpool into his arms and onto his back, feeling the sickening feeling of blood run down his back. "Yuck. Karen? Have one of dad's suits come get me on the top of the roof, don't tell anyone else what's going on."

Flying would be faster. After Karen told Peter an iron suit was on its way, Peter pulled the bloodied bag of broken body that was Deadpool up to the top of his dorm. The two boys caught a lot of terrible looks from others, but no one stopped the infamous Stark heir.

Peter let the bloodied man slip off his back and onto the roof. There was a moment of silence, then Peter heard the familiar sound of an iron suit thrusters.

Peter stepped into the suit, letting it close around him. He scooped up the man on the roof, taking off into the afternoon cloud cover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter lounged on the couch, playing with a lock of his own hair and scrolling on his phone. When he'd gotten to the Tower, he'd dropped Deadpool into his bathtub, giving him time to recuperate. He'd then taken a shower, thrown his clothes into the washer, and changed into a pair of sweats and one of his dad's old band shirts. The Tower had been strangely empty when Peter had landed. Apparently most of the team was out looking for a pre-school for Alyona, shopping, and, in Bruce and Stephen's case, at the hospital watching a new and experimental surgery.

Peter knew that when Deadpool got up, he would have to explain why he'd taken him from MIT to New York. Then, he'd have to ask what the hell the Queens' mercenary why he had been at the college in the first place.

Maybe he's a student, Peter mused to himself. Then he realized he would have to explain to his parents and family what the half dead mercenary was doing in his bathtub. All in due time.

There was a ding and the elevator slid open, Peter poked his head up over the sofa and saw a sleepy Alyona curled up in Clint's arms, Natasha, Steve, Bucky, Wanda, and Sam carrying bags of groceries, and Rhodey carrying a box of old computer parts. Clint headed towards the hall, probably putting hiss daughter down for a nap, while the rest of the family moved to the kitchen. They hadn't yet seen Peter, so he used that to his advantage. The perfect opportunity to reveal himself appeared a few minutes after Clint returned.

"Lyona is all tucked in. Anyone else hear that weird thump?"

"What thump?" Bucky turned away from the groceries he was putting away to look at his friend.

"The weird thump! Just now, sounded like a person falling in the shower," Clint waved his hand around, rooting in the fridge with the other one.

"Is anyone else home?" Natasha asked, leaning on the counter lazily.

"Not that I know of, I'm pretty sure Tones and Pep are still out at the meeting, and Bruce and Stephen are at the hospital," Steve said, setting a stack of canned soups in the cabinets.

"Then... who would have fallen in a shower?" Clint laughed a little.

"My guess is Deadpool," Peter smiled and stood up, stretching a bit and letting a yawn draw out his 'pool'.

Everyone jumped in surprise. "What are you doing home, Peter?" Steve's voice was laced with that Captain America disapproval.

Peter shrugged. "There was a slight emergency and I needed a place to go."

"Everything alright kind of emergency or..." Natasha trailed off, prodding Peter to give more information.

"Everything's fine, Deadpool died on campus and I couldn't leave him there."

"I'm sorry, died?" Wanda spoke up, moving over to her brother and hugging him lightly.

"Yeah, he can't die die, but he can die. I put him in the bathtub, he should be up and moving around in a bit. I mean, the first time I saw him die, he jumped off a building, and he was up and moving just a few minutes after, but this time he was shot in the head first, so we'll see." The teen shrugged, ignoring the stares from his family, and made his way over to the grocery bags. "Ah! Capri Sun."

"I'm sorry, Petya, what are you talking about?" Natasha put her hands on her hips. "How long have you been friends with Deadpool, the mercenary,  and how many times have you watched him die?"

"I only met him a few weeks ago, and I've seen him a few times after. I think he might be a student at MIT. Anyways, I've seen him take a few shots, but I've only ever seen him die once. Twice, now."

"Peter," Steve started, his voice warning him of an oncoming lecture. "You can't be hanging around a mercenary. He kills people for money. He is a bad guy."

Peter scoffed, rolling his eyes in an uncharacteristic display of defiance. "He's not a bad guy. He kills people for money, yes, but he only takes the money because he really needs it to help pay rent for the lady he lives with, and he only kills really bad guys. Like drug lords and child traffickers and stuff like that. I actually think he's helping me out in my quest to make New York safer."

The family didn't take this well at all, and they all began to talk at once. Peter took a few minutes of berating, then held up a hand to stop them.

"I'm gonna go check on him, he's probably up by now and I need to explain things," he said, turning away and walking down the hall. "We can talk about this more at dinner, yeah?" He called back over his shoulder, feeling bad for walking away.

The family all murmured phrases of agreement, and Peter distinctly heard his Aunt say she would be telling his parents as soon as they got home. He'd deal with that later.

Peter pushed open his bathroom door, calling out to Deadpool. "Hey, man, feeling any-" The teen stopped short. The bathtub was empty, nothing but a smudged splatter of blood around the porcelain and a message written in red.

Thnx ;)

**A/N: I know my chapters are getting longer and longer. Please let me know if you like them this long or if you'd like them to go back to being no more than 1,000 words. Thank you!**