Broken Hero || Peter Parker X Reader

Epilogue

(Peter's POV)

You know that feeling when you miss someone so much that your heart aches so bad it feels like it's going to explode? That your whole world has stopped and won't start again until you one day see their face again? That it feels physically impossible to do anything when they're gone?

That's how I felt right now as I stood in front of the mirror, staring at myself in the blue cap and gown. That's how I've been feeling...

But I force myself to push those thoughts away as I'm mentally preparing myself to walk across the stage at graduation today. And for some reason, I can't believe I've made it. High school graduation here I come.

"Peter!" I hear May call out to me. "Lets go, we're going to be late!"

I take a breath, straightening out my cap one last time before emerging from the bathroom and meeting May out in the living room. She stops once she sees me, staring at me in awe, a small, proud smile resting on her cheeks. I raise my eyebrows at her, confused. "What?" I ask as to why she keeps staring at me.

Sudden tears fill her eyes and she quickly wipes them away, shaking her head. "I'm just... so proud of you." She gushes.

I grin widely at her, shaking my head. "Thanks..."

She then wraps her arms around me a big hug, squeezing me against her. I hug her back, resting my head on her shoulder. I hated how much this day seemed like the end of all things. Endings lately really started to get me. They were starting to physically hurt my heart.

"Okay, come on." May breaks away, wiping her eyes one last time. "I have to drop you off by the library entrance, and then I'm meeting everyone else by our seats."

I nod, watching her as she picks up her purse and immediately heads for the door. I then realize I should probably follow her, so I do.

As I close the door behind me, I take a deep breath, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart. This is it... here we go.

~~~

To try and listen to the senior speech the whole way through was harder than it seemed. Sure, it was a very intelligent speech, but it wasn't too entertaining. I hadn't really payed attention to any of the ceremony until it was almost over and they were calling up people by their whole names.

I clapped the loudest and cheered for Ned, who was before me because his last name started with L, but my turn was coming soon enough. I wiped my sweaty palms on my gown, trying to steady my harsh breathing. This past year has been absolutely insane between being Spider-Man, school work, finding the love of my life, and then losing so much...

I don't have words to describe how much my life had changed just this past year. But I was ready of this, ready to move on, ready to begin a new chapter in my life...

"Peter Parker." The principal speaks into the microphone. I hear immediate cheering, probably mostly coming from May. I stand up slowly but am quick to walk onto the stage. The principal shakes my hand before handing me my diploma, and I can't help but smile like the dork that I am.

"Congratulations, Mr. Parker." He tells me. "I expect great things from you."

I nod, gripping hard on my diploma, never wanting to let it go or forget this moment. "Thank you, sir." And I walk to the end of the stage where I have to stop and turn to look at the audience to move the tassel to the other side of my cap, to represent that I have officially graduated high school.

And once I found May in the audience, it seemed like time had just completely slowed down, now going in slow motion. My aunt was standing on her feet, clapping wildly with a huge grin spread across her face as tears ran down her cheeks.

And next to May stood a girl who also happened to be clapping and crying. A girl with bright blue eyes, long brown hair and dimples on both sides of her smiling face. The girl I fell in love with.

Reece Healy.

My heart slowed down when I spotted her face, relief washing over my body. She had been in England for the past week and a half, visiting Will, and her plane had been delayed so we didn't know if she would make it on time to my graduation or not. But she did. And she's here.

Next to Reece was Mr. Stark, who had a small smile rested upon his face as he clapped along with them. And behind the three of them, was all of the Avengers, dresses in street clothes as they were trying to hide from the public, but wanted to come and support me. My heart swelled at how loved I felt in that moment, and I never wanted to forget that feeling.

My eyes find Reece again, and her smile melts my heart, because I know she's proud of me, just as much as I'm proud of her. I'm going to marry that girl one day, just you wait and see...

~~~

"Peter!" May is the first to find me, running up and tackling me in a hug. "Oh, I'm so proud of you, congratulations!"

I laugh at her, squeezing her back. "Thanks, May."

She lets go and holds my face between her hands. "When did you get so grown up?"

I laugh at that as well, shrugging. "I don't know either."

She smiles brightly before slightly fixing my hair and then resting her hand on my arm. "Guess who's here!"

But I didn't have to guess because I already saw her earlier. "Hi, Peter." Reece steps in front of me as May steps back. "Congratulations."

I don't think I've ever smiled so big in my entire life. I then grabbed her waist, pulled her against me and wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug, all in one swift motion. She squeezed me back as I stuffed my face into her shoulder. "Thank you." I mumbled.

Being apart from her for so long was incredibly nerve racking. I was constantly worrying about her, and I also just flat out missed her. Being apart was like losing her, and I could never go through that.

A few months ago when Lea had stabbed Reece and we all thought she was going to die, was probably the worst few days of my life. When she flatlined, I thought our story was over, and I didn't know if I could go on without her.

Luckily, the doctors rushed in right away and got her breathing again. And the next day, she woke up. Everything was a little rough at first, obviously, between Reece almost dying and her finding out that Lea killed herself; it felt like we were almost at rock bottom. But things only got better from there, with time, of course.

Now everything was okay again and I couldn't be more happier, or more in love.

"Hey." Reece breaks away to look up at my face.

"Hi." I respond with, that goofy smile never leaving my face.

"Do you know?" She asks, her eyes sparkling.

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Know what?"

She smirks. "That I'm in love with you."

I laugh lightly. "Yeah, I know." I say, wrapping my arms around her waist to bring her back closer to me. "I'm in love with you too."

~~~

This is it, the story has come to an end. Thank you all so much that stayed it and read it. I love you all the most and I hope you enjoyed it❤️

~Hazel