#1 STOPWATCH

Chapter 20

Peter Knocked on the window pane, pleased with himself as he waited for the Merc. He could hear Wade moving around deep inside the apartment and steadily moving closer before appearing in the window. He looked confused when he met Peter's gaze but he opted to open the window for him anyways. 

Peter hesitated a moment before taking the invitation to enter, eyeing the window itself to make sure it would slide down to crush his spine while he climbed through. he'd been attacked by a window or two in his time. 

"Hi," Peter chirped once his feet hit the wood floor of the apartment. Wade was standing a few feet away dressed in a grey hoodie that was pulled up over his head with his hands stuffed into his big pocket. He was also wearing what looked like a cozy pair of fleece pajama pants.

"Someone's happy. What happened?" Wade asked after a beat of silence. Peter could also see the unspoken 'why are you here?' look in his eyes. The guy looked like he'd just woken up, eyes drooping with exhaustion and his facial features rather neutral.

" I got fired," Peter smiled through the mask. 

Wade frowned.

"That's generally a bad thing isn't it?"

"Normally." Peter agreed with a nod.

"What did you do to get fired them?" Wade asked, watching Peter closely as he turned to take off his backpack to dig out the answer to the question he'd been waiting for.

"This is why."

Wade took the offered prints, frown deepening for a moment as he unpacked the folder.  Peter watched him curiously, admiring this different Wade. Obviously, he'd been resting, but he kind of liked how much this Wade contrasted with fully awake Wade.

"What am I looking at?" He was staring at the cookie jar photo that had been left at the top of the stack.

"Just what JJ has been begging from me for years now. He always says he wants to catch Spidey with his hand in the cookie jar, but the moment I deliver it seems it's not enough." He sighed dramatically. 

"So you were fired for being a smart ass," Wade smiled softly as he flipped through the rest of the photos curiously before handing them over to Peter once he'd browsed through the options, laughing softly at the one with the close up of the cookie handful with his wide bug eyed mask gawking at the treat. "Cute."

"Right?"

Wade noded. " But now you're unemployed."

"Well, I have rent in my account. and like thirty bucks extra so I can live off some ramen for a while. I also applied for a paid internship at Stark Laboratories so if I'm lucky I might get in there." Peter sighed. "I kind of wanted to be fired."

" Stark Industries?" Wade says. " Impressive."

He shrugged and pulled off his mask. "Haven't been accepted. But I also applied to Oscorp, but it probably doesn't pay the same."

__________

Wade

Wade smiled at Peter, truly confused and a little upset he'd been dragged out of his warm bed. he did appreciate the out of the blue visit though. He felt special.

Still, he felt awkward with Peter there after what had happened. he liked that Peter cared, but the care also frightened him. He wasn't sure what to do with attention like this. And what if Peter just felt bad? His doubts of course hadn't been able to fend off the warm day dreams of being loved. It was strange, scary, and disappointing.

(I know this is probably just a the tired talking, but how have Peters's neighbors not noticed Spider-Man swings outside their window twice every day?)

[Maybe he lives in the Sewers.] Yellow mumbled more dead than alive. One of the things that was beneficial about being truly tired was that half the time it meant that the boxes were far from awake. That wasn't always true but it happened enough for him to look forward to the events. 

( I feel like we've lived in the sewers once but I've forgotten it because I've got a brain of Swiss cheese.)

[Didn't know you were a quantum leaper. But I don't recall living in a sewer but all three of us have a bit of Swiss cheese brain so it's still a possibility.]

'Did we ever see how that show ended? I liked that show.'

[ Pretty sure Sam decided to forever leap between people's lives in the past to fix what they needed to change for the rest of eternity.] Yellow slurred.

(That sucks.)

It took Wade a moment to remember that he and Peter were in the middle of a conversation.

"So what do you study then that makes you qualify for a Stark internship?" Wade asked.

 "I'm a double major.  I couldn't decide which one I wanted to do more, and both were important to my . . ." he paused and nodded at his wrists, "needs. So I'm studying both Biology and Chemistry. I also have an engineering hobby." Peter raised his wrists to expose the devices clasped around them. "I'm hoping my mix of science knowledge and additional super hero connections via being my own photographer, and also having encountered Stark as Iron Man that it would all be beneficial to both myself and him. I know the Avengers have been trying to track me down, and Tony himself has sent a few people to question me as a photographer. I'll probably be interrogated but I want the job."

Wade nodded along as he listened.

( Wade hun.) White drawled.

[ Your face is showing.] Yellow added monotonously.

" Shit," Wade muttered, quickly turning away from Peter and looking around for his mask.

"What?" 

He sighed when he remembered he'd thrown the while thing into the wash.

[Great. And all our extras are still at the other place. Why did we bring them there anyway?]

"In case we seriously needed a new suit after blowing off half our body or something," Wade muttered, forgetting about his visitor altogether as the pressing matter took over.

Special thanks to Jade for their pledge. Their support has brought you this edited edition of Stopwatch. If you would like to see more of Stopwatch edited in the future, consider pledging $1 to my Patreon or any of my commission tiers. Also, note that future fanfiction releases on Wattpad as I fully transition over to Ao3. If you want updates on what is coming out, follow me on tumblr, all links in bio. I also update new works on Patreon for free before I post anywhere else (for free).

(Originally published 2016, officially edited 2023)

Until next time~ Shadow-Assassin)

Original Note:

So  how is it?

I'm sure you're thinking ' darn author we understand slow build but twenty one chapters and they haven't kissed yet? ' don't worry my pumpkins in time.