Jumping my way to my place, I manage to keep trace of Peter's, who was making his way to the middle oh the city.

I should be there before he arrives.

I must make it before him.

Oh Peter Parker, little do you know how ae are having a very fun race at the moment.

I'm almost there, however.

Stumbling throughout the familiar shops of the neighborhood, I try to convince myself that I'm nearly there.

The sound of the car honks rings in my ear as I run at my fastest towards my place.

After the incident that took place a bunch of a minutes ago, I have no energy left to teleport myself.

The stinging feeling in my thigh wasn't helping me win the race either.

I am almost here, yep.

I continue with the sprinting across the similar cafes and shops, throwing apologies at the people I was stumbling across.

I push my way towards the entrance of the apartment I had settled in, making my way quickly on the stairs.

The door to my place. There it is.

It was closed for a second, then forcefully pushed open for a while, then shut again.

"Phew" I mutter to myself, as my back glides down across the surface of the closed door.

A heavy pant escapes my lips, and I wince as I touch the area above my thigh, which was now covered in blood.

I put in the effort for another few steps to the bathroom mirror, in order to clean myself up.

Looking at my own reflection, I definitely did not expect to see green handmarks around the bare skin of my neck.

Another sigh fills in the air around me, as I struggle by searching for something that could cover up the colored marks on me.

It was all alright and calm, before I suddenly hear the window of my room opening.

Shit shit shit.

"Peeeeter" I cry out from the bathroom, as I give myself the fakest smile on the mirror and lock the bathroom door.

My hands search for the closest bunch of clean tissues on the counter, as I wipe the blood off my leg.

I could heal it if I focus.

But the problem is that I have to keep a conversation going with Peter from within the bathroom.

"Guess who got caught drawing on the wall of an old arcade!" I exclaim, laughing to myself.

I place my hands on my injury, and focus in my senses at the pain for a few moments.

The tissues that were once clean and white were now boiling with red, and I huff, throwing them in the garbage can.

A chuckle replies to my rants, and I smile to myself as I recognize it as the voice I've been wanting to hear since the morning.

Done with my thigh, I open the tap and splash some water across my leg, cleaning up the bloodied area surrounding.

"Hey Peter" I then call to him. "Guess what also happened today"

I am trying to distract Peter, as I quickly cover up my neck with a bunch of whispers and mumbles.

"I might have aggressively poked someone with a knife"

I take a deep breath as I put on a pair of shorts and unlock the door, finally making my way to my room where Peter is supposed to be.

"I know right! It was so -"

I fail to complete my sentence as I stop in the middle of my tracks, my jaw dropping at the sight in front of me.

Here I am standing in the middle of my room with my hands paused, as I stare at beaten up Peter. "What -"

"Hi" he interrupts, giving me a forced smile.

Peter slowly shakes his head as he looks up at me, "Holy shit" I mutter to myself.

Peter was lucky I was fast enough to quickly close in the distance between us, holding him tightly, as he collapsed into my arms.

"Hey hey hey" I whisper to him, holding onto him firmly, "a few steps to go, alright?"

I suddenly take his mask fully of his face, and stare down at his bloodied face, a shock expression drawn over my face.

Without thinking twice, Peter throws himself at my bed, letting out a heavy exhale as he collides with the mattress.

I throw his mask to the floor, eyeing his face, my heart now pounding hard against my own chest.

"It's alright, you're alright" I manage to tell him as I make my way onto the bed, crawling next to him.

Peter suddenly snatches the top of his suit off, grunting again as he reveals a deeply injured chest.

He instantly looks up at me, chuckling as he tilts his head backwards. "Hi"

"Peter, what?" I query, placing my hand over his chest. "What happend?"

My hands slowly trace their way around Peter's wounds, as I shrug my shoulders.

I however earn no response from Peter, except for a bunch of unclear words. "It actually burns like - FUCK"

I shake my head at Peter, moving myself closer to him, feeling very unsure of teh current situation.

I adjust my position next to the brunette, as I stare down at him "Listen Peter, you're gonna tell me everything that happend after I'm done with you"

I sigh to myself as I blink a few times. "For now, just shut up and cooperate with me when I ask you to, please"

Peter's hand was spread across the bed, and I take that as an opportunity to take ahold of it, giving it a light squeeze.

I bring my lips to the smooth skin of his shivering hand, placing a small kiss.

Peter nods in response, forcing a smile to his lips as his eyes lock with mine for a few moments.

I get my stuff ready within my hands, and soak the small towel with some water.

Getting ahold of the cloth, I start clearing the blood off his face, slowly tracing the scar from underneath his eye and it his chin.

Peter hisses at my sudden touch, shutting his eyes close for a second as I pause my work.

"If you feel much more pain, just give my hand a squeeze, deal?"

Then, I grab out the closest alcohol bottle that comes to my hand.

Peter lers out a bunch of unclear words under his breath, as I slowly stroke the cut on his cheek.

"Almost done" I mumble and he hisses again, as I instantly continue to dab his wound.

I place my hands on the mattress next to him for a little support, as I position myslef on the top of him, clearing my throat awkwardly.

"What comes next won't hurt, I promise"

With my two hands now cupping his face, I shut my eyes close, focusing my senses on Peter's injury.

His face was now wrapped between my hands, and I squeeze my eyes harder, taking in all the emotions in the air around us.

Come on.

The feelings.

The pain.

The emotions.

The fear.

I suddenly feel a tingle on my cheek.

It's working.

Peter lightly groans from a distance, but I keep my senses fixed up on him, harder and harder.

Almost done?

Squeeze your eyes.

More.

And more.

Until it was done.

I let out a shaky breath I never knew I was holding in, as I slightly open one eye, only to look down at a smiley Peter. "Hi"

I am now smiling back at him, ignoring the burning of my face that's normally caused after such a spell.

Peter looks up at me, then my arms, as I slowly remove my grip from his now clear face.

"This may sound dramatic" Peter starts off, his eyes still focused on ne, "but you kind of, magically, sucked the pain away"

My eyes flicker as he continues to speak, but I pull my thoughts together and shake my head.

I let out a light chuckle, "What happend with you?" I then question him, patting my hands together.

Peter looks me up and down, a grin spread among his face features. "Just the normal"

I look right back at Peter, whose eyes exposed him. "What happend?"

"It's typical"

"You've gotta tell me, though"

"Nothing important"

"I'm serious Peter"

"I'm not messing around" he then speaks, shrugging his messy hair out of his face.

"Peter"

I am desperate to find out what happend with him, especially after stumbling across Martin Li.

Peter takes in a deep breath. "Fine" he finally gives in.

It was silent for a moment again.

"Uhm - the group of er... burglars" he stammers, his eyes avoiding my gaze. "Last night"

"Oh"

Last night.

"Yeah"

"Mhm, okay"

I look down at my legs, as I try to unclear the air from the awkward tension.

I look back down at my position again, and then clear my throat. How am I supposed to get out of this position without making it obvious.

"What happend to your spidey sense?"

He stays quiet for a bit. "I was not concentrating, erm.. yeah, you know, when I'm facing an existential crisis - my tingle does too, and my mind becomes kind of, occupied - by, a lot of stuff -"

The following actions were then done in a matter of a few seconds.

Peter suddenly stopped in the middle of his words, his eyes flying to the crook of my neck.

I instantly pull back from the position we were in, a little bit too fast that I could sense the feeling of stinging on my neck as I move away.

Peter's eyes narrow, "Irene" he starts off, his hand slowly pointing to the area underneath my face. "What's, that?"

Peter noticed the last thing he should've.

I gulp after I realize how messed up this was.

Shit. It's a shit day. Today's a shit day.

He repeats his question through his gritted teeth. "Irene, what's that?"

The magic that was covering my bruises must've 'delayed' it's effects, due to my attempt to heal Peter's wounds at the same time.

Which includes healing one's self then absorbing other's pain away, causing no intersection.

"Irene?"

The way Petet says my name out was just -

"Who did this, Irene?" he snaps at me, his voice full of rage, as he's no longer laying down. "I'm gonna.. I'm gonna fucking kill them and -"

"Hey, hey!" I start off, raising my voice at him, to grab his attention, shaking my hands in front of his sight.

"You stay where you are, chill the f out. It's okay, I'm okay" I assure him, sending a look of disbelief.

Peter shakes his head in disapproval, before fiercely catching my wrists together with his hands, so lightly.

"Don't you think that's a little too easy for you to say?" he scoffs, before continuing. "You're pissing me off"

"Peter, it's not like it's anything I haven't been in before" I blurt with a grin, trying to remove my hands from his grip. "It's okay"

My wrists were secured by his, making it hard for me to push them away.

"No no no no it's not okay" Peter creaks out, lowering his head as he remains his grip on me, "It's not okay" he lightly whispers.

I stare at my hands, and then into his eyes, only to catch him staring back, his lashes fluttered.

His gaze softens as he looks back at me, so did his grip around my wrists.

Peter then directly removes his hands from mine, pushing himself away from my figure.

And it was then silent.

Peter and I were both helplessly looking at each other, a hundred of voices howling in my head.

What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I -

"I'm scared" he then speaks, suddenly snapping me out of my thoughts.

Peter looks back down again, his eyebrows now drawn together.

What Peter said didn't help with tge resting of my thoughts, so many unsaid things on the tip of my floating ideas.

I look at him and it just terrifies me how much I would do for him, it makes me wanna help him feel the happiest he's ever been.

My almost lover.

"Of what?" I query, my voice shaky. "Me?"

Peter shakes his head, his hands trembling as he holds them together. "Of me"

Huh?

"Of me hurting you" he finally says.

Of me hurting you.

Of me hurting you.

Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you. Of me hurting you.

His words echoed in my head.

Of me hurting you.

His words got suddenly stuck.

I gulp hard. "Your past won't repeat itself" I say, managing to speak out the few words.

That however, caught Peter's attention, as he snaps his head towards me at that mention, his eyes widening.

"What?" he blurts. "What are you - what are you talking about.. how did you -"

"I figured it out" I confess, furrowing my eyebrows. "Not a long time ago"

I take a in a deep breath. "The day I came back here actually. And I also figured out that you weren't ready to talk about it. Then you said that time will tell"

I sit there, filling in the silence between us, and I was still greeted by quietness, nevertheless, if it wasn't for Peter's heavy breaths.

I'll hang on to watts destined.

"I lost Gwen"

"She died" Peter finally speaks, as he plays with his twitched fingers. "I couldn't save her"

"But I held on to hope, even though it was my fault" he continues, leaving a few pauses between every phrase.

"The night Gwen died, I was there. She was there too, because of me. She was then falling through time, and I couldn't stop it"

"Gwen was defenseless, but I wasn't" Peter speaks, his eyes welled up. "She is still sixteen, while I stand here, perfectly alive at eighteen, holding the guilt of her tragic story on my back, with no one to talk to about"

Peter pauses for a while. "And that's why I can't lose you too. Not when I've been here before, and not when I have the ending printed out on scars in my heart. I can't let anything bad happen to you"

"And I'm scared it's too late" Peter then says, raising his head to my eye level. "Because you make me feel.. you make me feel " he trails off. "And I want it to stop, and I'm sorry to tell you I just can't. I can't make it stop. Maybe it's because I also don't want to"

Peter finished speaking, and I had no words left.

Nothing came out of my mouth, even with trying, and I felt so heartless, yet so full of feelings.

But his eyes said that he was feeling something too, and eyes don't lie, right?

Could it be too late to talk?

I just wanna pull him into me again, I wanted to kiss him again, but I am selfish.

With that done, I would be so selfish.

Peter absently played with his fingers, as he lowers his head, avoiding my gaze.

"Maybe I'm too selfish saying this" he speaks, his eyes still wandering around my room. "But I care for you, and it is just -"

I make move forward and wrap my arms around him, placing one hand at the back of his head and the other around his waist.

Directly after that, I feel his arms wrap around my figure, my head now resting against his shoulder.

His fingers are tracing around my waist, as he holds me stead against him, and it felt safe.

It felt like home.

"I've got you Peter" I mumble into his shoulder, my eyes shut together. "I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. If you're staying, then I'm staying"

I feel him shiver against my touch, as I tighten my grip around him. It was the only way I could express how sorry I feel for him.

"We're in this together, alright?" I reassure him. "And nothing bad is gonna happend to me"

I whisper the last part out, a shaky smile making its way to my lips as I repeat his own words.

Peter chuckles as he straightens his shoulders, slowly causing him to pull back for a while.

And my attention was turned back at him, making me realize how close we actually were.

It's not like it's anything we haven't been in before, right?

Talking about that, surprisingly none of us mentioned it, and I felt kind of relieved.

The intense eye contact now feels louder than anything in the room, and it felt like my while body was pounding hard.

Peter's eyes were locked into mine, only breaking in a few moments when his sight trails down to my lips.

I wanted him to kiss me. I want to feel our lips touch. I want this. I want him. I want us. I want our almost. But fuck it.

I clear my throat and I sit up straighter, earning the same awkward action from Peter.

"Stop making me think about you" I wanted to say, but I didn't. I wanted to say a lot of things more. And instead, I kept it to myself.

"I.. I feel everything for you, goddamn it"

But shit, you make me crazy.

"I.. I am sorry. I'm a mess" I complain, dipping my head in my own two hands.

"You're a beautiful mess, Irene" Peter admits, and I could picture him grinning.

I felt like a sad squished cookie, as I laid against Peter, comfortable silence surrounding.

I knew for a fact that whatever this is, it will end very soon.