TW: mentions of death, mentions of depression, mentions of mental health issues, mentions of attempted rape, malnutrition, mentions of trauma.

Y/N's P.O.V

I sat on my windowsill, pulling my jumper as closely around my body as I could as I held the cigarette in between my fingertips. I bit my lip, my mind racing as I thought about my visit to see Peter. Tears pricked my eyes as I revisited in my head what his house had looked like. I knew that he'd been in a bad place, but I had no idea that he was in such a bad place, both physically and mentally. I replayed the moment that I'd seen him for the first time. Fuck, he had looked awful. His sunken face, bony body and track marks made my heart hurt. Had I known that he'd been in such bad shape, I wouldn't have waited for five years to try and see him. I sighed and took one last drag of the cigarette before putting it out on the ledge and hopping down. I headed back into the kitchen and sighed as I sat at my open laptop. I bit my lip and stared at the screen, more accurately at my most recent half-finished article about Spider-Man. Yes, I had already written one, but I also wanted to see how many I could push before I finally got fired by Mr Jameson. Suddenly, my phone started to buzz. I looked down at the screen, and my eyebrows furrowed as it showed an unknown number. I bit my lip as I picked it up and held it to my ear.

"Hello?" I picked up.

"...Hey." My eyes widened as Peter's voice sounded quietly. I gulped, my heart starting to pound against my chest as I looked down again.

"H-hey, Peter, you okay?" I asked.

"Um, y-yeah. I just, um...god, this is embarrassing...I wondered if you wanted to come back over...to talk." The boy stuttered. My eyes widened slightly.

"Sure, Peter, I'd love to. You want me to bring anything over?" I asked. There was a pause.

"Yeah, actually. Some food would be great. I don't have much in the cupboards or anything, nothing good anyway." He chuckled slightly. I smiled and bit my lip, the tiny yet still present hint of happiness in his voice enough to tell me that there was still hope.

"Okay, I'll bring some food over." I nodded.

"Thanks. I'll leave the door unlocked so that you can come straight in, I don't want anything happening to you." He spoke softly. I smiled and bit my lip at his words.

"You want me to come over today?" I asked.

"Yeah. Sooner, the better." He replied. I nodded and looked down, my lip still in between my teeth.

"Okay, Pete. I'll see you after work." I spoke.

"Yeah. See you then." He responded softly. I smiled to myself and hung up before looking at my phone. I quickly saved Peter's number into my phone, the optimistic side of me hoping that this was turning into something for both of us. Though the pessimistic side, the side that had lost Peter and MJ five years ago, was still unsure.

I walked into school and immediately joined the flow of students who also didn't want to be there. I sighed and casually looked up, though butterflies exploded in my stomach the moment that I saw Peter stood at his locker. Without MJ, which was a rarity. I pushed through the stream of students and headed towards the boy that was my best friend.

"Hey, Pete." I greeted, making him look at me. My eyes widened as his left eye was circled with deep purple and blue colouring, making him look like he'd been in a fight. And, by the looks of it, he had won.

"Hey, Y/N." he smiled in return.

"Don't 'hey, Y/N' me, what the fuck happened to your face?!" I exclaimed as I grabbed his chin and turned his face so that I could see the bruise.

"It's nothing, I just, I walked into a cupboard this morning." He shrugged and sighed. I looked at him.

"Bullshit, Peter. What really happened?" I demanded. He sighed again and gently moved his chin out of my grip so that he could look at me.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He stated.

"Oh, yeah? Try me." I scoffed. He stuck his tongue in his cheek and nodded as he clearly tried not to smirk.

"I'm Spider-Man. I got the bruise from stopping a bank robbery yesterday." He nodded.

"Yeah, sure you are. And I'm the black widow." I scoffed and shook my head. Peter rolled his eyes playfully and gave me a 'I told you so' smile as MJ walked up to us.

"Hey, guys." She greeted, smiling at Peter as he gently pecked her lips.

"Hey, MJ, do you know what happened to Peter?" I asked as I nodded to his black eye. Peter sighed as they looked at each other.

"Yeah, he walked into a cupboard." She nodded.

"You really believe that bullshit story? I thought for sure that I'd get the truth out of you." I scoffed.

"It is the truth, Y/N. I can just be a bit dumb at times." Peter shrugged as he took MJ's hand.

"I know that much, Peter Parker." I teased, making him smile as I took his spare arm and the three of us started to walk to class.

I snapped back into reality, my mind coming back to the dull facts of modern time as I parked my car opposite Peter's house again. I climbed out and locked my car, quickly reaching my hand into my bag and holding my gun as I rushed across the street and up the steps to the boy's house. I opened the door and scurried in quickly.

"Peter?" I called out as I shut the door.

"I'm in the kitchen!" he shouted back. I nodded to myself as I moved through the still dark house, my eyes widening as I walked into what Peter called the kitchen.

"Peter, this isn't a kitchen, this is a black mould death waiting to happen." I scoffed as I looked at the black surfaces and grotty countertops.

"I'll be fine, I have superpowers." He shrugged.

"Yeah, that's another thing that we need to talk about." I nodded, making him look at me as we sat down at the dirty table.

"What food did you bring?" he asked.

"Salad." I nodded, making him groan.

"Peter, you've got nothing on you, you need to start getting the nutrients back into your body." I scoffed as I put the plastic bowl in front of him.

"Why? No one cares about me." He mumbled.

"The fact that I'm here suggests otherwise." I nodded. He sighed and looked at me timidly through his unruly curls as he took the lid off of the salad bowl.

"Peter, this place can't be safe to live in." I mumbled as I looked around the room.

"I've not got a choice, Y/N. I've not got any money, I can't afford any other place." He replied.

"Why not move back in with your Aunt May?" I asked, looking at him. He sighed and shook his head as his eyes stayed glued to the salad.

"I'm not going to be that twenty-one-year-old guy who still lives with his parents, or the equivalent to his parents. Not to mention that I've fucked her life up enough, she doesn't need me to burden her more by moving back in." he mumbled. My eyes widened.

"Peter, this is your Aunt May that we're talking about. She's the sweetest woman alive, and you know that she would die for you. If you moving back in is going to help you, you know that she'll come here herself and help you pack." I scoffed. Peter sighed and shook his head as he looked at me.

"Y/N, don't you get it? Me moving out and me distancing myself from her, and you, is what's kept you safe all of these years. It's why you're still alive. I let MJ get close to me, and look what happened. She wouldn't have died if it weren't for me." He choked and shook his head.

"And I would have been raped yesterday if it weren't for you." I spoke softly as I looked at him. He gulped and returned the glance.

"Because that's the whole point of who you were as Spider-Man. I know that you've lost so much, Peter, and I can never be sorry enough for that, but what mattered to you was each person that you saved. What made you carry on was that you could stop one person's car from being stolen, you could stop one kid's cat from falling out of a tree and getting hurt, you could stop one person from being raped, or killed. Every person that you helped, that you saved, was why you were Spider-Man." I nodded.

"And what about who I couldn't save? What about my parents? My uncle Ben? Michelle?" he shook his head. I sighed and looked at him.

"I know that you don't like it, but their losses are what gave you the power to stop others from feeling the same way that you did. You knew that if you could stop just one person from suffering like you did, your job had been done. And that's why you made such a difference." I replied. Peter sighed, a tear leaving his eye as he looked back down at his salad.

"On the topic of saving people, thank you for stopping those guys yesterday." I nodded. He shrugged and looked at me as he prodded at the salad with his plastic fork.

"I wasn't going to sit back in the house knowing that you were being raped outside, you know that I would never do that." He shook his head.

"There's another reason, Peter. You never did this for the fame, or money, you did it because...well, it was...you. It was who you were as a person. Do you not see that?" I chuckled and shook my head. Peter sighed and looked at me as he nodded.

"I saw it sometimes, I guess. But what they don't tell you about being a superhero, is that everyone that you don't save turns into a personal demon. Every single one turns into a bad voice in your head." He nodded. I sighed, giving him a small smile as I stood up and pushed my bowl of salad towards him.

"I need to go, Peter. But you have my number, you know that you can call me anytime." I reassured. He nodded again and looked at me.

"Thanks, Y/N." he mumbled. Suddenly, my eyes widened. I looked at him, making his eyebrows furrow.

"What?" he gulped.

"Move in with me." I spoke. His eyes widened.

"W-what?" he gulped again.

"Peter, it's perfect. I still live just down the hallway from May, so you can be close to her without 'fucking her life up', as you put it. And, if you're serious about getting better, a place like this is only going to make you relapse. You need an actual place." I nodded.

"I never said that I wanted to get better, Y/N, I'm fine." He scoffed and shook his head.

"The fact that you called me, asked me over, and actually ate some of that salad tells me otherwise. That tells me that you do want to get better, and you know that you need to." I stated. He sighed and looked at the emptying salad bowl.

"I'll, um...I'll think about it. That's not a 'yes', but I'll think about it." He promised. I gave him a small smile and nodded, an 'I'll think about it' a million times better than a deadpan 'no'. It was something.

"Okay, Pete. I'll take that. See you later, finish your salad." I spoke, my voice getting louder as I walked out of the kitchen and away from Peter.

"Yes, mom!" he shouted back, making me chuckle to myself and shake my head as I left his house.

Peter's P.O.V

"Yes, mom!" Peter yelled back, his lips curling slightly as he could hear the faint sound of Y/N chuckling before she left the house. His smile dipped shortly after, though, and he sighed as he looked at the two plastic bowls of store-bought salad that now sat in front of him. His sunken eyes flicked over the green and red colours that made up the salad, the rocket leaves and slices of tomato more colour than he'd seen in five years. Even his Spider-Man suit had lost its vibrant shades over the years of being in such a dark and light-robbed room. Speaking of which, Peter's eyes flicked up to scan the kitchen, another sigh leaving his lips as he looked around. He had to admit that Y/N was right. Maybe it was because he'd spent most of the last few years either high, depressed or unconscious, but looking around now, this place was not fit for human living. The kitchen counters and cupboards were caked in black grot, which Peter suspected would be revealed to be black mould instead of filth if he ever attempted to clean it. Not that it was worth putting that effort into this shithole of a house. Peter looked up, the roof and actual structure of the house showing scars of the fire that had ripped through the building only a year before Peter had moved in. Hence why he didn't have to pay rent. The guy who owned the place probably thought that it would have collapsed and killed Peter in his sleep years ago. Maybe that would have been better. Peter shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the toxic thoughts as he looked back at the salad that sat on the table. He couldn't help but smile slightly, the food a small reminder that his old best friend did actually care about him, and did want to help him. And he had decided that he was going to let her. He gulped as he turned his phone on, the bright white light making his eyes hurt slightly as he unlocked it and scrolled along to her contacts. He stared blankly at the screen for a second, knowing that if he made the phone call, it would change his life once again. But this time, it would hopefully change it for the better. That was the plan, anyway.

"Come on, Pete. This is for the best. Deep down, you know that." He mumbled to himself, his brain screaming at him not to do it in anticipation of the withdrawal that would rip through his body if he decided to get clean, but his heart also yelling that he couldn't carry on like this. His heart won. He gulped, taking a deep breath before pressing Y/N's name on the screen and holding the phone to his ear.