#1 STOPWATCH

Chapter 14

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Peter

This was neither the first nor the last time that Peter would find himself here. He had followed his soulmate here several times over the past week during his investigation into who the man was. Tonight demanded extra attention though. There had been a disturbance reported that sounded like he'd been involved several days ago and he hadn't heard anything from the man since.

He quietly stepped around the small apartment not impressed with the care put into cleaning it. "Wade?" 

There wasn't an answer, but his intuition pointed him toward a door. It didn't feel like danger, but there was someone there. He approached slowly and pushed the door open, hesitating when he noticed the man in full get up on the bed. "What are you doing?" he frowned, catching the man's shoulders tense.

He noticed the blood soaking through the leather suit and into the blankets shortly after. 

"Wade?" He stepped forward with more urgency, quickly rounding the bed so he could see the man's face. Or the face of his mask he supposed. "Are you okay?" Peter pressed, bending over the man. "I know you're awake."

Could Wade answer? Could he even breathe with that thing on? What was wrong with him? The man was supposed to be unkillable right? That's what the internet said, so why was he bleeding? What was wrong? He couldn't see any obvious entrance wounds but that didn't mean much when he couldn't see all of the man. Maybe the wounds were small but many.

"Wade, I'm taking this off." He was afraid that the merc would be staring back with dead eyes when he lifted the mask. He knew that he wasn't dead, but the fear being produced by the man's eerie state was starting to gnaw at Peter's resolve to remain calm. 

The man was curled in the fetal position, his breathing shallow and far in between. It felt wrong.

Peter reached for the mask and carefully raised the edge of the tough fabric. Wade stiffened, his breath hitching. From the little that he'd moved the mask, he could tell that it and likely the entirety of the man's suit was caked to his skin with blood. His skin prickled at the realization, glancing around to find the answer to his problem. There wasn't one, he didn't have enough information.

"Can you speak?"

There were two short breaths before Wade gave a feeble negative hum. No. 

"I can see that you're in a lot of pain Wade, but this mask needs to come off." He could see the angry skin peeking from the sliver he'd managed to pry away. Everything looked very pronounced and inflamed, dry and wet either from sweat or pus. Probably both.

The man's breath caught like he was trying to hold back a cry. 

"Just a second. We'll soak the fabric first to break some of the bonds. And then it'll be like a bandaid, okay?" He walked away so he didn't have to see if Wade's response was fearful or not. He needed to find a wash cloth or something.

He came back with a dish towel and a bowl of water a minute later. "I'm not going to suffocate you," he promised as he diligently went about wrapping the man's head with the soaked towel. The white cloth almost instantly became a splotchy mess of red, blood soaking through. It was particularly bad around the man's cheeks. After it was soaked he pulled the towel away and pulled away the mask enough to get his fingers under. "Okay. It's going to happen on three. Just relax for a second okay? I'll let you know before I count." Peter said, hesitating a second to give Wade time to process his words and let his brain mull on it for a microsecond before he pulled the mask without warning. 

When he met the man's eyes he couldn't help but notice that there were about four hundred emotions going through them and despite that, Wade didn't try to strangle him so he took that as a sign that despite it having been awful, they were good.

The man's blue eyes were obnoxiously blue with his bloodshot. They were a pretty blue but he didn't thing that this was the time to inform the man or think about at all. 

He offered him a weak smile.

Wade made no effort to return it. He glanced away. 

The scars looked horrible. Painful to look at, so Peter tried not to if it wasn't needed. It freaked him out, not so much because they were gross to look at, but he could imagine the pain and he felt terrible about it. 

"The rest of this needs to come off," he said quietly. 

The merc responded with a few tears. 

He sighed.

Wade deserved someone better than him. He'd been fairly abusive to him thus far and here he was trying to get the man to trust him in such a hash moment. Wade had committed atrocities in Peter's life, but he deserved someone more stable. Someone who could take care of them both.

He'd never been able to take care of anyone. The last time he tried, his best friend and crush was killed. 

Gwen's soulmate had died when she was young, young enough that she didn't recall the sound of her timer. He'd naturally gravitated to her, the girl representing an island of safety, someone else who didn't fit into what was ideal. He had grown to have feelings for her but it hadn't been love. That was why her life was wasted.

Peter had killed her because he wasn't able to return her feelings for him and she didn't hesitate to go after him. To try and help him as she had insisted. 

Who was he to think that he could offer help to Wade, much less something you'd expect from a soulmate, love, platonic or romantic?

No, he couldn't think like that. Wade was his. His and his only. And he couldn't let go.

"I'm going to make you go to sleep for the next part okay? You'll come back now and again, but you should be able to handle what I'll be doing." Peter said, earning a concerned glance from the man as he reached for his neck, firmly squeezing so the man could breathe but he could stop the blood from entering his head.

Special thanks to Patron Jade for their pledge. Their support has brought to you this edited edition of Stopwatch. If you would like to see more of Stopwatch edited in the future, consider pledging $1 to my Patreon. Link in bio. Your support could bring the edited edition to your screens all the faster.

https://www.patreon.com/Narloch

(Originally published Aug 06, 2016, officially edited 2022)

My word was this awful to edit. IDK what 15 year old me was doing but it didn't make sense. Had to delete a chapter and scotch tape this one together with the important lines from the deleted on. Yuck. Until next time

~ Shadow-Assassin

original note:

XP Sorry another shorter chapter. But you know. 

Please tell me what you guys want in the story. I seriously need some details. I got a sort of an outline for this story compared to what I originally had. This was supposed to only be another one-shot so, please give details