PANIC HAD UNFURLED in Peter's chest the moment Wanda had made her observation. The comment set him on edge for the rest of the visit until Natasha swooped in and said it was time to go.

The teen noted a distinct lack of Clint when he made his hasty escape from the tower, which made a small spark of curiosity unfurl- the archer was usually hanging around and especially when they were having takeout for dinner that evening. Chinese- Clint's favourite. However, even that small oddity of behaviour wasn't enough to distract Peter from his internal melt down all the way back home.

Wanda knew. He didn't know how or what she knew but she did. And Peter had to concentrate extremely hard on keeping his emotions in check; he'd already seen a glass of water shaking- the liquid beginning to slosh around- before he promptly poured it down the drain with no explanation while Natasha watched him with drawn together eyebrows.

"I've got to do something first before picking up dinner." Her voice broke Peter from his reverie as he set down the glass and turned around again.

"Assassin things?" He wondered, displaying an easy smile.

"Assassin things." Nat confirmed, a fond smile of her own pulling at her lips.

Peter nodded. "Cool."

"Cool."

Before the woman ducked completely out of the room, she leaned against the doorframe and narrowed her eyes. Peter was trying way too hard to look relaxed as he leaned against the counter. One of the beauties of him having lived with her for so long, was that Natasha knew all of the masks Peter wore and was usually able to deconstruct them.

"You're going on patrol, aren't you?"

He showed a sheepish smile at being figured out and bowed his head as Natasha tutted. "I'll leave some dinner out for you, but remember, no getting injured. It's Wanda's birthday this weekend so we're staying over, and I don't want you bedridden or bleeding. That's an order."

Peter saluted Natasha with a teasing grin.

At the acceptance of his nightly activity, he let a low, heavy breath escape. He needed the space to think things through, even if it was just a few hours to himself. It would allow him the time to assess his emotions and remove them from the situation to think practically about what was happening to him and if there was any way that he could stop it.

The whole ordeal was scaring the hell out of him. Even if Peter wasn't admitting it aloud.

He could feel the power shifting under his skin whenever his heartrate increased. Sometimes it would flare before his sense and set him on edge or make his palms itch.

"Stay safe kid." Natasha added.

Peter was already nodding at the expected warning as the assassin took a brief moment and tried not to fixate on how comfortable Peter seemed in the apartment and even around herself, knowing of her dark history, as he lounged against the sink. Her thoughts wandered to what the apartment would feel like when Peter no longer lived there but she was quick to shake the idea away and turn on her heel.

"Call me if you need me." She called over her shoulder as she went.

For a second, Peter debated whether to run after the woman, to spill his guts about the strange new powers- but the idea was crushed by the memory of how relived everyone had been when Peter came back without any new mutant developments. He drew in a sharp breath and gripped the counter a little too hard to stop himself from either running after Natasha or sinking to the floor. Peter had seen their reaction to Wanda's display of power through recovered footage of Sokovia and their hesitance and reluctance to even discuss them. Peter was half sure that they were similar to his own, maybe just not to the same extent- at least he hoped.

Frustrated, Peter rested the heels of his hands against his temples and pressed into his skull painfully hard as if to silence his thoughts. Then he straightened up and headed off to grab the suit- it was going to be a long patrol.

-

An hour. Spiderman had been crouched on top of a building with a phone in his hand and staring down at a single contact for over an hour. Thumb hovering over the call button.

He'd been wrestling with the idea of just calling Natasha. To finally admit and explain the sheer fear that ran through him every time that stupid blue mist would weave around his fingers, making his surroundings shake like he was a walking earthquake.

He didn't want to scare her or give her another reason to be afraid of him.

Peter had sat and thought frantically for a solution ever since he left the apartment, but his mind supplied no answer. The idea of not knowing what was happening to him or not having the faintest idea on how to control it made Peter think back to when he was just a kid and first received his 'spider' powers. He'd even gone as far as to contemplate talking to Tony- but every time he went to call his hand would just, freeze, like it no longer obeyed him.

"Hey kid." Peter jumped at the sudden voice. It registered a moment later.

Usually, his spider sense would have alerted him and told him that he was no longer alone on a rooftop well past midnight- Clint apparently was one of the rare exceptions. Peter didn't know whether to be annoyed by that development or intrigued. He'd decide later.

"Hey man." Peter tapped the messages on his phone and began to message Harley back. He was giving up on the internal debate for a while as Clint dropped himself down on the edge of the roof.

Harley: you eaten yet?

Peter: you eaten yet?

Harley: are you copying me?

Peter: are you copying me?

Harley: lego sucks!

Peter: you take that back.

Peter: the wedding is off.

Harley: you forgot to ask me you idiot-

Peter: so that's what I forgot to do

Peter: oh well

Peter: too bad, so sad

Harley: hope you face plant a building again buttercup

Peter: damn keener, that's cold, like your heart

Peter: stop with the nicknames

Peter: and I'll consider proposing

Harley: bold of you to assume I have a heart

Harley: also, tempting offer but...

Harley: no? love bug.

Peter: I'm an aRaChNiD!

Harley: you're annoying <3

"Stop flirting with the boyfriend." Clint announced, heaving a heavy, dramatic sigh before nudging Peter's shoulder with his own, making the teen scoff but stow away the phone.

"Why you out here?" Peter questioned, more curious than anything.

It was rare that somebody from the team joined him on his patrol- they never really did the small stuff like stopping bank robberies or muggings or car thefts. Peter had often let himself wonder why- and it had led to a disconcerting self-discovery that he didn't care to share with anyone else, that maybe his nightly outings were the only thing keeping him sane.

A new purpose that wouldn't cross off all his wrong doings, but maybe make them less all consuming. Less heavy to carry.

"Needed some time to think, I think." Clint shrugged; Peter hummed.

"You didn't have dinner with us." He commented, shooting the man a questioning look.

Clint shrugged. "Technically you didn't have dinner either."

"I had an apple- and you didn't answer."

"You didn't ask a question." Clint fired back, smug.

"If Nat wouldn't be pissed, I'd push you off right now." Peter grumbled, gesturing to the multi-story drop beneath them half-heartedly. Both of them knew it was an empty threat and that if Clint really did somehow manage to fall then Peter would be jumping down after him in a heartbeat.

Clint snorted and looked up at the sky, letting his head roll back.

He liked looking up at the sky; it was a steady constant that connected him back to everyone in his life because they would always look at the same sky no matter where they were or how far apart that they seemed. "Just, shut up and enjoy the moment." he mumbled, trying not to imagine a time where Peter wouldn't be next to him to stare at the sky like they were doing now.

"The moment of me imagining your demise? I do that a lot." Peter smirked.

"God you're a pain in my ass-"

"- you love it. Admit it." The teen smiled wider. "Besides, I'm here to stay, you can't just get rid of me that easily, even with the assassin voodoo you got going on of being basically invisible."

There was beat of silence and then, "I don't want to get rid of you."

The admission was surprising to the both of them. Clint never liked talking about feelings, especially with teenage mutates who had a hero complex and a spider as an aesthetic but... dammit Clint needed to say it at least once. Needed the kid to hear it, because a strange and distant part of him thought that he was about to lose Peter again. It was like having the world tilt on its axis and everything was falling out of place and the kid didn't have the slightest clue.

"If I could ship you off to my farmhouse, out of harm's way and all that, I would."

Peter's smile softened into something sadder. "But you can't."

"But I can't." Clint repeated, as if reminding himself that that wasn't an option and it never could be, not in their line of work. "I'd be damned if I didn't try though."

Peter laughed. It was light and quiet, and Clint decided it broke his heart.

Because it was the laughter of someone who would rather laugh at the idea of someone wanting to protect them rather than believe it. "Maybe one day I'll take you up on the offer." Peter replied, shrugging the conversation off even as it replayed in his mind because Clint wanted him.

Maybe the archer didn't know about the freaky powers yet, but he wanted Peter and maybe that extended to magical mutations too. He could breathe a little easier after Clint left. 

A/N

All I could think about in the first paragraph about Wanda is the tiktok sound- she knows, she knows, and i know she knows. Like, really? My brain needs rebooting I swear.

This is one of my favourite chapters that I have written so far, (and I pre-write a bunch, I'm on like chapter thirty in my drafts), and it just makes my heart warm cos Clint is actually worried he's gonna lose the teen just as much as Natasha. *sobs*

Anyway! Let me know of any spelling mistakes! xoxo.