Requested by YYYAAASSSHHHVVVIII: Y/N is in a very toxic relationship, which has reached the point where she is being physically abused by her boyfriend and has a swollen eye. One day, Peter, her best friend, finds her badly hurt and asks about it. She gives up and tells him everything, so they go to the police, report her boyfriend, and then admit their feelings to each other.

*Please note: this is going to be a long one, but PLEASE read. Firstly, as the request suggests, this chapter does contain an abusive relationship which contains all types of abuse, so please do not read it if you don't feel able to, I will be back soon with lighter requests, and as always, I'm here for anyone who needs to talk. Secondly, I will not have ANY comments being offensive towards the reader. Much to my shock, I've had the reader called dumb and stupid, and deserving of abuse in the past when I've written about abusive relationships, and the reader being in denial. Denial is a VERY common part of abusive relationships, it's part of what makes the abuse go unreported for so long, that the abused doesn't recognise it for what it is. NO ONE is stupid for not getting out of an abusive relationship, NO ONE is silly or whatever, and NO ONE is letting anyone down if they fail to get someone out of a relationship like that. People can only be helped if they want to be helped, so I will NOT have comments either criticising the reader for not leaving the relationship, or criticising Peter and MJ for not helping her sooner. Anyone who's been in an abusive relationship, or knows someone who has been knows how hard these situations are. Finally, I hope to god that no one has ever experienced this before, and that no one ever will, but if anyone is in a relationship like this, please know that you are not alone. I know that it's terrifying, that this person feels like the world to you and feels like the only one who will love you, but this is NOT true. You are LOVED, you are CARED for, you are THOUGHT ABOUT, but not by your abuser. You are loved by friends and family, you are cared for by them, and if your abuser truly loved you, they wouldn't do this to you. That's all from me, but as usual, please comment or DM me if you need to talk, I'm always here, please skip this chapter if you think that it'll be too heavy, and just to reiterate that anyone who makes offensive comments about the reader, Peter or MJ, will be blocked without hesitation. Thank you, and stay safe, my loves xoxo*

I stood in my en-suite, my glassy eyes staring at the person in the mirror who I hardly even recognised anymore. I gulped, the girl in the reflection mimicking my actions, but I was still in disbelief that she was actually me. I was a lively girl, my smile was known to light up a room, I was bubbly, and kind, and full of life. But the girl in the mirror had sunken eyes, her greyish and pale skin that was still marked by ageing brushes thousands of miles away to the brightness that painted my skin. She looked defeated and torn down, the life no longer in her eyes as she just wished for it all to end. This girl wasn't me, it couldn't be. And yet maybe...it was. I gulped and looked down at my reflection, my eyes wavering as they landed on the purpose of me being in the bathroom. My last beating had resulted in my eye starting to have swelled, though the purple and black skin around the swelling was unfortunately all that I could cover as I raised my hand and started to dab foundation onto the space with shaking fingers. I winced as my fingers made contact, my teeth clenching at the pain that came with covering this bruise. But I had to cover it, otherwise my best friend and crush, Peter, was bound to know that something was wrong with me. I had been best friends with Peter for our whole lives, since he'd been taken in by his aunt and uncle who lived down the hallway from my own family. We had stuck together through elementary school and then high school, with me, him, Ned and MJ all going to CalTech together once we had graduated from Midtown. Of course I had always felt more for Peter than just best friends, the boy had had my heart from the second that I'd seen his innocent chocolate eyes and beautiful hazel curls. Then puberty had hit, and Peter had become Spider-Man, which had projected him from a cute and nerdy kid, to a cute and hot as fuck guy who I loved to bits. It just sucked that he didn't feel the same. Though, he had always been protective of me, which I appreciated most of the time. But I hadn't appreciated his immediately cold stance towards my current boyfriend, Shawn. I hadn't understood why at the time, but Peter had never really liked the guy who had come into my life in our last year of CalTech, two years ago now. I had always held onto slight hope that maybe Peter didn't like him because he was jealous, and that he reciprocated the feelings that I'd always held for him, but then MJ and Ned also started expressing concerns to me about Shawn. I hadn't understood why, not until his personality started to shift after six months of dating. On our nine month anniversary was when he'd hit me for the first time, and the abuse had been relentless since. He had gradually made sure that I saw less and less of my friends and family, with me only being allowed to see Peter, MJ and Ned enough so that my best friends wouldn't get suspicious, and he was always careful to make the markings inflicted on me coverable around those times. Today, I was meeting Peter and MJ for coffee, which Shawn had forgotten. Hence why I was trying my best to cover up the swelling and unnatural colours around my eye. I knew that my best friends would notice it immediately and wouldn't buy anything that I said in order to excuse it, so I was desperately trying to think of the best lie to give myself the best chance of walking away without them intervening. Though, I didn't know if it would work. After all, they weren't stupid, and they both knew me incredibly well, especially Peter, and so I had no doubt that they'd see that something was off. Just like they always did. I took a deep breath and lowered my hand from my face, my makeup having covered the swollen eye as best as it could as I nodded to myself. I gulped harshly and tried to stop the tears from falling, the salt water drops threatening to ruin my makeup as I cleaned up my products, and headed into my bedroom to continue getting ready to see my best friends, and my safe place.

Peter's P.O.V

"I'm serious, I want to do it today." Peter nodded, him and MJ sitting in the cafe as they waited for Y/N to arrive at their monthly coffee date.

"Pete, I know that you're dying to get her out of there, trust me, so am I. But victims of domestic abuse will deny everything until they're ready to open up about it. I'm telling you that she won't be truthful to us until she's ready to be." MJ insisted. Peter sighed and nodded, making MJ give him a small and sympathetic smile as they continued to wait for Y/N. Y/N was the love of Peter's life, and she had been since he had first moved in down the hallway from her. They had grown up together, had gone through everything together, and Peter would die to make sure that Y/N was safe. Which was one of the reasons why it hurt him so much to see her in what everyone knew was a toxic and abusive relationship, but she wasn't ready to admit to that yet. Since Y/N had started dating the asshole that was Shawn, two years ago now, Peter had noticed drastic changes in the love of his life. She had gone from being literally the light of a room, to being closed off and reserved. She had gone from wanting to cuddle with Peter on every movie night that they had, to flinching if he so much as raised his hand to cup her cheek. That wasn't even to mention the physical signs of abuse that Y/N bore, either. Rarely did Peter and MJ actually see the bruises and injuries, as Shawn was too clever to hurt Y/N in visible places, but it would be obvious from Y/N wincing when she moved, or her wearing things like sweaters and scarves in the middle of summer that she was injured underneath where Peter could see. Every single coffee date, Peter would insist to MJ before Y/N arrived that that would be the day that he'd get Y/N out, that he'd save her from the waste of space that was hurting her. But Y/N still wasn't ready to admit the truth to the pair of them, and MJ was right that they couldn't do much to help her whilst she was still in denial. No matter how much it killed the pair of them to admit. Peter and MJ looked up as the cafe door opened, both of their eyes widening and anger immediately bubbling inside of Peter as Y/N walked in. With her eye largely swollen, and makeup clearly attempting to cover up discoloured skin around the injury.

"Oh my fucking god. Do you see that? I'm going to fucking kill him." Peter spat underneath his breath as Y/N walked towards the table with a small but clearly forced smile on her lips.

"I see it, Pete, I see it." MJ nodded before standing up to greet Y/N.

"Guys, hey. It's so good to see you." Y/N smiled as she hugged MJ, but the softness of her tone broke Peter's heart as it was so far from the bubbly and loud Y/N that he had fallen in love with.

"It's so good to see you too, babe. How are you? Really?" MJ asked as they pulled away, and Peter stood up.

"Yeah. Fine." She shrugged before looking at Peter. He gave her a small smile, her returning it as he leant down and softly hugged her. She returned it, his arms curling around her waist as he nuzzled his face into her hair. Peter hated it, but he could tell that Y/N's relationship with Shawn was now so bad, that each time that he saw her, he feared that it would be the last. Hence why he held onto her so tightly, why he'd bury his face into her hair and inhale her scent just in case it would be the last time that he ever got to. He pulled away, but only enough to see Y/N's face as he kept his arms around her waist.

"Are you sure that you're okay? You know that you can tell us anything, right?" He nodded as he looked into Y/N's broken and dull eyes that were worlds apart from the eyes that he used to love gazing into.

"Peter-."

"Anything." He cut MJ off, making the girl sigh as he continued to look at Y/N. She nodded and gave him a small smile, her eyes glassy as she looked up at him.

"I know, Pete. And I love you for that." She whispered and raised her hand to cup her cheek. He leant into it and kissed her palm softly, making her give him a small smile as they pulled away, and sat back down to start catching up with each other. Right now, Peter could only hope that part of that catch up would be Y/N finally telling him and MJ what was happening to her. But he could only hope.

Y/N's P.O.V

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom, tears silently rolling down my face as I stood in just my underwear and bra, and stared at the countless bruises and markings that painted my body. I choked and shook my head, even moving slightly to see them being agonising as I turned around to look around my body in the mirror. I had just come back from my monthly coffee date with Peter and MJ, and I had to admit that it had broken me even more. But that wasn't their fault. Seeing how sad they were when they looked at me, seeing the knowing glances that they exchanged with each other every time that I pulled my sleeves down slightly, or adjusted my scarf. They knew what was happening, I knew that it was just about me admitting it to them. But despite everything, I still wasn't sure if I was ready to do that.

"Y/N? Are you home?" My eyes widened, my heart jumping violently in my chest as I heard Peter's voice call out.

"P-Peter? W-what are you doing here?" I yelled out again as I looked to the doorway of my bedroom.

"You left your purse at the cafe-." He appeared at my bedroom door, making both of our eyes widen and his lips fall open as his gaze fell on my almost naked body.

"O-oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't realise that you were-." Before he could look away or even finish his sentence, his eyes started to roam my body. But not in the way that I'd always dreamt of them doing, not in the way of him admiring me and wanting more. No. His eyes were roaming over the countless bruises and cuts that covered my skin. His eyes wavered, making me gulp and try not to cry as eventually, his eyes flicked back up to my face.

"Y/N, w...what is all of this?" He asked with a trembling voice as he shook his head and weakly gestured to my body with his hand before it dropped back to his side. I bit my lip so harshly that I could taste blood, my heart knowing that the game was up as his eyes told me that he didn't need an answer. He knew what he was seeing. He just needed me to say it.

"Help me, Peter. Please fucking help me." I choked and shook my head, everything in me breaking down in an instant as tears started to roll down my face.

"Oh, Y/N." He returned my choke as he rushed to me and wrapped his arms tightly around me without hesitation. I sobbed into his shirt, my eyes squeezing shut and my hands balled into fists around the fabric as I held onto him for dear life. I was petrified that if I let go, this would all be a dream, and I'd wake up to having just been knocked out by Shawn and my best friend still not knowing what was happening to me. Because he finally knew. He finally knew.

"Come here, angel, have this and let's sit down." He spoke softly as he quickly shrugged his flannel shirt off to leave him in a t-shirt so that he could instead hang the shirt on my shoulders to cover me up slightly. I gulped as he took my hands and guided me to my bed before we both sat down on the edge of it.

"Now is the time, my love. Now is the time to tell me everything. I know that it's going to be so fucking hard, but I'm right here, I love you, and I'm never leaving your side again. You can tell me everything, and I swear to god, that I will keep you safe." He reassured, his beautiful chocolate eyes flicking over my face as he cupped my cheek. I took a deep breath and nodded, my heart beating so fast that I felt sick as tears continued to roll down my face.

"What can I say apart from that you guys were right? You were right to feel that something was off. For the first five or six months, he was lovely, he was charming beyond belief. Then after six months, the small things started, the comments about my weight, the comparing me to MJ and how much prettier she is than me, how much skinnier, how much smarter other girls were than me. Then, nine months in is when everything started. W-we had a big fight, I can't even remember what it was about, b-but it ended up with him hitting me for the first time. It was a bad hit too, he split my lip and everything. It, um...it's been relentless ever since. The put downs, the beatings, the assault in every form. It never stopped. It never fucking stopped." I sobbed and shook my head.

"It's going to stop now, because we'll get this asshole." Peter nodded as he pulled me gently back into his arms. I let him cradle my broken body, his hand soothingly stroking my hair as the other gently rubbed up and down my back in reassurance that I was now safe.

"I'm so sorry that you went through all of this. I'm so sorry that we couldn't stop it." Peter mumbled.

"Don't be sorry, Pete. I wasn't ready to admit to you and MJ what had been happening, despite you two no doubt knowing anyway, so that's not on you. None of this is on you." I whispered.

"You need to remember that it's also not on you, either. The only person responsible for this is Shawn, okay? And if you're comfortable with this, I want to take you down to the police station now, and report him. Do you want to do that, angel?" He asked softly as he looked at me. I gulped harshly and looked up at him, tears still making my vision blurry as my heart continued to feel numb.

"You're not going to leave me?" I whispered.

"I'm never leaving you again, sweetheart. I promise." He nodded. I gulped and returned it, my heart jumping in both anxiety, but also hope that this would finally end soon. This nightmare would finally soon be over.

"Okay. Yeah, let's do it. I want him to pay for what he's done to me." I returned.

"Good, angel. Because we're going to make him pay." Peter promised, making me gulp and nod as he stood up, and started to get me clothes to get dressed into.

I sat at the desk in the bustling police station, Peter sat beside me with his arm around me and his spare hand holding mine as we sat and talked to the police officer.

"Can you tell me the extent of what Mr Backshaw did to you, Miss Y/L/N?" The police officer asked softly.

"U-um, everything, he, um...he did everything." I nodded as I spoke equally as quietly.

"Does this include sexual assault and rape?" He asked. My eyes wavered and my gaze flicked to Peter. He gave me a small smile and nod, though I could tell by his eyes also becoming glassy that he already knew the answer to the question.

"Y...y-yes." I virtually whispered as I looked back at the police officer. He gave me a small and sorry smile, tears rolling down my cheeks still as Peter leant in and softly kissed my head.

"Okay, Miss Y/L/N, thank you for everything that you've told us today. We'll get you into a private room soon, and take photos of all of your current injuries, as well as doing all of the other tests that you've consented to. You've done really well to come in here today, I hope that you know that." He nodded.

"Thank you." I gave him a small smile, making him return it as he closed his notepad and stood up before walking away. I bit my lip and looked at Peter, tears also streaming down his face as we looked at each other.

"I'm so proud of you, my love. I'm so fucking proud of you." He choked and shook his head, making me return the choke as I curled into his body, and he kissed my head again.

Peter and I lay in his bed, my head and hand on his chest and his arm curled around my waist to hold me into his body as we lay in his sheets. After the magnitude of what I had done this afternoon, I hadn't wanted to be alone, and so Peter had invited me to stay the night with him. Hence why I was currently cuddled into his arms, my body shrouded in his scent due to the oversized t-shirt that he had given me to wear as pyjamas.

"Pete." I whispered, my quiet voice piercing through the silence and darkness of the room as I spoke.

"Yeah, angel?" He responded with equal softness.

"Thank you for today. I wouldn't have been able to report him without you, and I don't think that I'd even have been able to tell you and MJ if you hadn't come over and seen everything. So, thank you." I nodded against his sturdy chest.

"Don't thank me, my love, I only did what was right. But for what it's worth, I'm so proud of you. It really takes a lot to not only admit that you're being abused, but also do something about it and report it. What you did today was incredible, and I'll always be so proud of you for that." He returned, making me smile tiredly as his fingers gently ran through my hair.

"Thank you, Pete. I love you." I mumbled.

"I love you too, angel." He returned. I gulped and bit my lip, my heart starting to race again in anticipation of what I was about to say as I shifted my head so that it was still on Peter's chest, but so that now I was looking up at him.

"Pete, I...when I say that I love you, I don't...I don't mean it in a friendly way. I mean that I love you, that I'm in love with you. I can't live without you, and I don't want to. That's what my 'I love you' means." I admitted, my heart almost deafening as I anxiously waited for his reply. He gave me a small smile and bit his lip as his beautiful eyes flicked over my face.

"I know, my love. That's what my 'I love you' means too." He returned the confession. My eyes widened, a breathless laugh leaving my lips at his words. He smiled and leant down to gently press our lips together, me returning it without hesitation as I raised my hand to his cheek to pull him closer. After a moment, he broke the kiss and looked down at me with the soft gaze that I had truly fallen in love with over the years.

"I love you." He smiled, making me chuckle and bite my lip at him.

"I love you too, Pete." I whispered before resting my head back against his chest. I sighed out and sank further into my arms, my heart feeling settled for the first time in a long time. Not only was I finally free from the horror that Shawn had always inflicted on me, but I had also just learned that after all of these years, Peter did in fact feel the same about me as I felt about him. Given what had led us here, it was obvious that a relationship wouldn't be jumped right into, and that when we did go to that, it would be slow, but I knew that Peter would wait for me. After all, you wait for those who you love. And so I had no doubt that in time, Peter and I would find our way to each other. Help had come after all, and so would our love for each other. And that was enough for me.