Forever

chapter eleven

"Stop it! Give them back!" Peter laughed, reaching for his web shooters.

"No can do, Darlin'. You can't go on patrol until you admit you cheated at Mario Kart." Harley held them high over his head, and with Peter being so much shorter, it worked.

"I didn't cheat! You just weren't ready when I unpaused it, which is your own fault."

"I wasn't even in the room! That's not fair."

Peter huffed and with astonishing speed, climbed up the wall and jumped down from above, grabbing the web shooters out of his hand.

"That's not fair, either!" Harley complained, chasing him to get them back. Peter's phone rang, but he ignored it. It could wait.

"You being taller isn't fair, I'm just using my resources," Peter laughed, climbing onto the ceiling.

"You know what..." Harley mumbled, going into the kitchen for a moment before returning with the newest version of his potato gun. "Who cares about fair?"

He started shooting potatoes at him from across the room. Peter crawled away and it was fun until Harley almost knocked him off the roof and Steve told them to knock it off.

Laughing, Peter gave in as he dropped back down to the ground. "Fine, I'm not going. But I didn't cheat either."

The phone rang a second time and Peter picked it up, sighing when he saw the caller ID. "I'll be back." Better to deal with it now. He left to go to his room.

Dread built up listening to the phone ring. He didn't want to talk to Nico at all right now, much less about what had happened last time they were together and all their problems.

Taking a breath, he pushed all other thoughts away as he sat and answered. Spider-Man didn't run away from his problems, even if that was all he wanted to do.

"Hello?"

"Hey, baby. I wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened, really. I was just really mad about you blowing me off and I know I should've controlled my temper better."

Peter fell back on his bed, laying to stare at the ceiling. "Yeah," he agreed, trying not to sound bitter.

"It's just really hard for me without my parents around and stuff, I just struggle with it sometimes."

Peter took a deep breath. "I know, Nico. That doesn't make it any better though."

"Could I make it up to you with a movie? And I can buy it all and we can go to dinner and my place after if you want?" He sounded genuine, but so had he before.

"I... I don't know. We've been fighting a lot recently and I don't like to be around you when you get like that. It scares me, Nico, and it hurts."

"I'm sorry, Peter. You know I love you, really, I never want to hurt you. You just make me so angry sometimes. If you'd just listen to me it would help."

"I know," Peter sighed. That was true enough, wasn't it? He always had a problem doing what he was told. "Even if you're right, it doesn't change it though. You promised it wouldn't happen again. You... you promised."

Nico sighed on the other end, followed by a short pause before he answered, the warmth in his voice starting to retreat. "I'm sorry. Another chance is all I'm asking for, babe. If you just help me, it'll be fine, okay?"

"I don't know, Nico. It feels like you're not even trying to be better. I don't like fighting with you and that's all we ever do."

Another short pause, this one more tense. "Are you serious, Peter? I'm trying to reach out and do something nice for you. I've apologized over and over, and you're saying I'm the problem? Can you just stop for a minute and just think about how hard this is for me?"