Chapter Text
“I told you, I’m trying to save the most lives. And you still do that pretty well.”
Blood was swirling down the drain. The sight honestly too familiar for him to question it. Even during his current Spidey-Break he half expected it to be there every time he showered. Now he was back after two months of hiatus and the sight felt disturbingly comforting.
“Okay, Pete. Maybe therapy isn’t as crazy as you thought.”
He sighed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to tell MJ about his little break...from his break. But there was no way he could have let Miles handle his mess with Yuri. Not with the way she’d been acting. And he’d been hopeful for an olive branch after their last...disagreement. He supposed saving his life was one. And that’s what she did. He would have burned alive under that train. Or choked on the gasoline seeping through his mask with every cough.
Said mask was lying in the sink and he really hoped it could be washed and fixed. They didn’t have the funds to get the materials to make a new one. Their freelancing efforts were carrying most of their financial burden which mostly consisted of the mortgage and the repairs they had to do after the Hunters ransacked the place and Venom created the additional front entrance. MJ’s podcast had just gotten approved for monetisation but she was hesitant to accept any of the offers. Her podcast was only two months old and she wanted to deserve and build her audience’s trust before making any money beyond the occasional donation. If that meant Peter needed to step up his freelancing game for a few more months, he’d do just that. After all, MJ had been there to help him time and time again. It was only fair and his absolute pleasure to return the favour now that he had the time and energy (on most days at least) to do just that. He couldn’t become a financial burden from becoming Spider-Man for...24 hours. It had taken him 24 hours to get beat up and get his recently repaired suit totalled again.
“I’M HOME!”
He glanced at the alarm clock on the sink. And now he had spent 20 minutes overthinking the now due conversation without actually thinking or planning said conversation. Great job, Parker. Swiftly scrubbing himself down and checking out the burns must have ended similarly as he was interrupted in the middle of the second by knocks on the bathroom door.
“Pete? You in here?”
“Yeah, uh, give me a minute.”
“I found one of your webshooters on the ground downstairs. Let me in?”
Peter sighed defeated and unlocked the door.
“Welcome home,” he tried joking but MJ’s worried face and his own guilt over the entire situation made the delivery flat and watery and he just sat back down on the toilet seat to dab the cotton ball over the remaining wounds now turned scrapes and scratches.
“I’m going to guess Yuri called?”
MJ took the cotton from him, exchanged it for new one, gently cupping his face and got to work there.
“Not exactly. Miles found some intel, forwarded it to me. I told him to leave it to me. That it wasn’t his mess to clean up. And only then Yuri showed up.”
She took his words in, pushing his wet hair around, checking for more wounds.
“And did she give you this?”
“No, uh, we actually came to a truce. At least I think so. This was me attempting to stop a freight train carrying a symbiote and...the Flame who tried to burn me alive while I was stuck under my successfully stopped train.”
“I wouldn’t count that as you stopping it successfully, Pete.”
“Yeah, well. It didn’t blow up Brooklyn.”
MJ fondly shook her head, her thumb caressing his cheek before stopping abruptly.
“Wait, you said something about a symbiote?”
Peter nodded: “It seems like his actual plan was for the train to be stopped so he could get his hands on the symbiote. And I ran right into his trap.”
“You did what you always do. Save lives. The explosion could have killed people, you couldn’t have known this was about another symbiote.”
“I guess...”
“You can’t blame yourself for this, Pete. You did your best.”
And all he could do was crumble, let himself fall into her waiting arms and cling to her. He knew she was right. Had to trust that she was. And trust that between Yuri’s efforts and Miles’ incredible work they’d find the Flame. Trust that they could do what he couldn’t. What he can’t. Not just yet. But he’d get there. With a little more time.