im getting way too much joy out of your anguished comments lmo 

Posting early so u guys can do the thing below :)

* * *

Of course. Of course, at Peter's next national decathlon trip, he had gotten coerced into going to the pool with the rest of the team late at night.

Of course, cause it's not like he could just catch a break for once, right?

Anyway, Mj had been the one to ask him, and he couldn't say no, so he put on his swimming trunks, threw on a swim shirt, and dragged Ned with him to the hotel's pool.

He wasn't actually planning on swimming, because he had taken a disliking to all things water since the vulture incident, but Mj had asked him to go, so he was going to. He could sit on the edge.

And that's what he did. He sat on the edge of the pool with his feet dangling in, swirling soft figure eights. The Acadec team was splashing around, and it was horribly loud. Peter did his best to not show how bothered he was about it, because if Mj noticed, she'd send him upstairs, but she had asked him to be here and he wanted to be here, to spend time with her and Ned.

He gazed down as his feet for a moment, trying to hold back his flinches at the loud noises. Suddenly, the face of Adrian Toomes showed up in the water, and Peter started. He grew unbalanced, and at that exact moment, Flash decided to try to push Peter in, since he had noticed Peter's reluctance to join the group.

Flash didn't even push that hard, but Peter was scared, and went plummeting into the water.

It felt cold, as he fell, despite it being an indoor pool, as if it was a lake.

That's ridiculous. It's a pool.

But, Peter kept falling, watching the surface retreat and grow dark. 

I'll hit the bottom soon and can push up. 

He kept falling, and began to panic. In his mind, he was brought back to that lake in New York, parachute tangled and air rushing past his face. 

Is this how I die?

Peter thrashed around, his air was running out and his lungs burned. He tried to take a gulp of air, but water rushed into his lungs and he tried to cough.

"Peter."

He thrashed more violently, the voice of the Vulture echoing through his head. It was cold and unforgiving, and there was no Iron Man to save him anymore. No one to care. No one to help him stay alive.

"Peter, get up."

Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He didn't want to die, and he didn't want to die here, surrounded by nothing but his own failure.

Peter felt his eyes close despite his best attempts to keep moving towards the surface, an unending battle, the teasing voice of Adrian Toomes tormenting him. It was worse than his nightmares, worse than anything his anxiety had thought up of. Nothing he did could save him, he just kept falling down a pit that never ended.

Something grabbed his ankle, and in a panic-filled last desperate act, he grabbed it back. He tried to tear it off of him, but it stayed firm. When his hands touched it, it was cold, almost like Tony's suit.

"Peter!"

Suddenly, Peter felt like he was getting catapulted through the water. He broke the surface and had his arms on something solid, gasping for air. He coughed and coughed, feeling the water exit his lungs. 

When he dared open his eyes, which stung from the water, they met the concrete of the pool's edge. His lower half was still in it, and the noise was still deafening.

Peter turned himself over and laid his back against the rough ledge, panting. He stared up at the ceiling, and closed his eyes again, trying to calm his heartbeat down. Right now, it was beating frantically, like he had just run a 5k or stopped a robbery.

"Peter? You good, man?"

Peter's eyes flew open and turned to meet Ned's as he sat up.

He sighed, and dragged a hand through his soaking hair in an attempt to get the sopping mess out of his face. "Yeah, man. I'm good."

"You sure? You were kinda flailing around."

God, the way that Ned was looking at him made Peter sick. Or maybe it was all the chlorine he had swallowed- but either way, Ned was looking at him with eyes full of pity, and he hated it.

A little more forcefully, he said, "I said I'm good, but thanks for asking."

Ned nodded in response, still a bit doubtful, but that wasn't Peter's problem. 

Peter pulled his legs out of the water and crossed them, looking out to the sea of classmates that were, currently, tossing around a beach ball. 

Mj was having fun, she was laughing and chatting with Betty. Peter almost wished he could be that happy, but he knew he never would be. He'd seen too much to go back to the time of innocence.

She looked over at him, sensing his eyes on her. He managed a weak smile, which she must've bought, because she went back to playing. 

Peter sighed again, and told Ned that he was going to head back to the room to get some sleep. Ned let him, handing him a room key, and Peter grabbed a towel to dry himself off with.

He padded down the carpeted halls, staring down at the mesmerizing patterns. He finally made it to his and Ned's room, number 126.

He used the card that he had taken from Ned to open the door, and miserably peeled off his shirt, tossing it into the bathroom.

Once Peter had gotten dressed into dry pajamas, and his hair no longer flopped around like a fish out of water, he turned on the TV and laid back in the bed. 

He knew that it was no use trying to sleep. He'd only get nightmares, like almost every other night before this one. 

He watched Animal Planet blankly, thinking about what had happened at the pool, and he decided that he didn't know which was worse: That Ned had looked at him with such pity, or the fact that no one else had cared enough to notice his suffering.

* * *

YOU MUST CHOOSE

what y'all want for chapter number 69? (it's coming up)

1. a p2 to eenie, meenie, miney, moe

2. a p2 to don't let the bed barnes bite

3. a p2 to this one (idk people might want it)

4. the prompt "left for dead" (mention possible characters)

5. the prompt "failed escape/rescue" (mpc)

6. the prompt "power outage" (mpc)

OR 

7. fluff (mention possible prompts: optional)

Leave a comment by the one(s) you want. You can vote multiple times if you can't decide. You have some time, Chapter 69 won't be posted for another week or so because i think this one is 67. 

idk i think i might write a loki one at some point hmmmm