Break the Water

5

Oh writers blocks are so lovely lmao

"What do you mean?"

Peter looked up once again, eyeing the woman who raised her eyebrows as she waited for a response. Her right hand was still placed on her bleeding leg, her fingers getting more wet with the red fluid every second. He smiled a bit and shook it off with a shake of his head. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing." He said.
"You don't seem to think it's nothing." Natasha responded. She once again tried to look him in the eyes through the mask as if they would unravel all of his secrets as soon as she saw them.

When it stayed silent, she sighed deeply. "Look, we all have our past. It's part of the job, we can't save everyone's lives. Sometimes when you try to protect other people you have to make a sacrifice, and when it's someone else it hurts more. Not being able to save everyone doesn't make you less of a hero, it makes you a better person." Peter fiddled with his fingers as she said this, wondering why she was being so gentle to him. After all of the times her name came up when he talked to Tony, he thought she was a scary Russian assassin who would slit his throat when he was annoying her.

But this was different. He felt... safe. Comfortable. Like he would be able to drop all of his secrets in front of her like an atomic bomb without her getting hurt. Without her judging him.

"Thank you, Nat." He smiled softly, even though she couldn't see it. "I needed that." He sighed as he put the tips of his toes into the water. Normally he'd freak out; scream, squirm, have a panic attack. But the calm waves soothed his once tense soul. It felt comforting. He scoffed slightly.
"It's kind of weird you know?"
"What is?" Natasha asked, turning her head to the side. Peter shrugged. "I don't know. Something about you makes me want to open up to you. Tell you everything I know."

The woman laughed for a bit and started picking at her fingernails. "I hope so, that is basically the biggest part of my job." The sentence started with sarcasm, but ended with a tone that sounded like regret and sadness. Peter figured she didn't like what the Red Room had made of her, even though she seemed to be perfectly able to hide and deal with it.

In some kind of way he felt connected to her. Sure, her past was way more haunting and painful than his, but she knew what it felt like to smile through the tears of the past. She knew how it felt to cope up all of your feelings until you're finally alone, so the emotions can finally come out.

"Not in that way," Peter started, making the other Avenger look up with a hint of confusion in her eyes, "I don't feel threatened by you. I don't feel like you will cut me open unless I reveal all of my secrets to you, some part of me wants to do it willingly." He looked up and smiled fondly, even though he knew she couldn't see it. "Because I trust you."

And then, he did the unthinkable. Well, the slightly thinkable but still pretty rare. He pulled his mask off. It felt weird, naked. He had only worn his suit without his mask in front of Ned, Tony and May. Some part of him told him that MJ would follow soon, since she had been giving him suspicious looks all the time.
He didn't look Natasha in the eyes. He could practically hear her thoughts screaming A child, a kid, a fucking fetus already.

He scoffed softly. "I have only known you for a few hours and I'm willing to give up my identity to you. You should know that it's because you give an energy that somehow puts me at ease. It's not because of your assassin instinct or the years of torture and training that taught you how to interrogate. It's because I trust that human part inside of you. Embrace that." He finally looked up and smiled. "Hi, I'm Peter Parker."

It was silent for a while. Peter was egearly waiting for Natasha to react, while she was processing the words the teen had just said. Besides Clint, he was the first person to tell her that she is so much more than what the Red Room had made of her. Even though Bruce had shown affection, and Steve surely felt like a friend, they didn't assure her from her nightmares or haunting past. But Natasha knew that after hearing a teen who has been through so much hell in his life tell her that she was worth something the bad dreams would leave her alone that night.

"Thank you," was all she managed to say. There was another silence, this one way less tense than the one before. Both Avengers just listened to the sound of the surprisingly calm waves hit the side of the metal debris they were floating on. Everything seemed okay. Peter didn't think about his fear of the ocean for a second, Natasha could barely feel the pain in her leg anymore. It was peaceful.

"How old are you anyways?" The woman asked gently. "Fifteen," The boy answered, not looking up from the pattern of his suit. It took a while for Natasha to let the age sink in. Fifteen. At that age she was already captured by the Red Room, but she always figured that kids her age would live perfect lives outside of it. But even though she didn't even know half of what he had been through, the drowsy feeling of pity was clawing at her stomach.

"Before you comment on how I'm too young to be doing dangerous stuff like this, just know that ever since I have been bitten by that spider I was destined to help people. I don't think there is an age limit on helping the little guys, it's just doing what's right. It has been my fate to be serving the people of New York until I die and no worried adult can stop me from that. Believe me, a lot of them tried and-" Before the boy could finish his rambling he was cut off by a finger in the air that reminded him a lot of the one his mentor always used.

"I'm not going to comment on your age. However, I am going to comment on the fact that you have just given your full name to an ex-assassin. If you were an adult I'd say that you're a fucking idiot but Cap has been keeping me from saying stuff like that in front of kids." Peter just put his hands in the air. "Hey, don't blame me! The 'ex' part of 'ex-assassin' is very misleading!"

For the first time in months, Natasha laughed. And neither of the two would've thought that the shocking laugh that left her mouth would lead to a conversation about their deepest and darkest fears. The sun began to set, which was the only clue they had of how long they had been talking.

Peter yawned, but tried to cover it by pretending his jaw was aching. Of course the other Avenger noticed and she sighed at how the boy even thought he could hide a yawn from a literal spy. "If you wanna sleep, go ahead. I'll make sure you won't fall." Peter glanced down at thoe woman's leg and frowned slightly.  The blood that once was pouring out of the wound had lessened, but it seemed like an infection was about to take place. The pink flesh started to get a bit of a green colour and a bit of pus was oozing out of it.

"Are you sure you shouldn't sleep? Your body is taking energy by keeping you awake while you need it for your wound to heal."
"I'm okay, just go to sleep kid."

And once again, Peter trusted her.

Okay I don't even have anything to say so

Shizzle Dizzle!
~Burger Queen