"After the End"

By Darthelwig

*** I own nothing. I'm just having fun. ***

A/N: This is an extended version of one of my Wanda/Peter Parker chapters from Flares. As requested. Enjoy!

He was so tired. His entire body hurt, and looking at himself in the mirror, it was no wonder. There was more of him that was bruised than not. Dark purple splotches marred his chest, ribs, stomach, legs. He twisted around, hissing at the pull, and his back was no better. From head to toe, he was just a mess.

But that wasn't the only color painted on him now.

"Don't worry."

Peter traced the words inscribed over his heart, red as blood. Red as the blood spilled on the battlefield against Thanos. His mind flashed to Mr. Stark, his ruined body in his last moments of life...

He wiped the bitter tears from his eyes and dabbed at the blood on his face with a wet washcloth.

He wanted Aunt May. He wanted Ned. He wanted all his classmates, hell, even Flash. He wanted his bed, and his things, and his life back, but most of all he wanted this whole crazy mess to have never happened.

But life didn't work that way. No take backs. No do-overs. Mr. Stark was dead, and he was never coming back. Peter knew all too well what death was. Hadn't he lost enough? Why did it always end like this?

He bent his head and sobbed as he wished for Aunt May to be there.

He went home.

The Avengers made it clear he was welcome to stay, he'd more than earned his place, but he just didn't want to be away from home any longer. He needed to get away, clear his head, not see people around him mourning Mr. Stark. He didn't care if it was selfish. Grief was selfish, and he just wanted to be a kid again, even if he didn't feel like one anymore.

He didn't ask about his soulmate. She hadn't come searching for him, and he hadn't gone searching for her. Hell, he hadn't even gotten to say his words to her yet, so she probably didn't even know he was her soulmate. Better to leave it that way for now, in his opinion. He was too emotionally spent to even think about it.

Peter knocked on the apartment door, his key long gone. May cried when she saw him, wrapped him in a bear hug and sobbed against his chest. His bruises protested but he didn't care. He hugged her back and never wanted to let go.

He told her everything that night, how he'd gone to an alien planet and fought and lost, and he'd turned to dust in Mr. Stark's arms and he hadn't been ready to go, and how being faced with his own mortality had made him feel. He told her about coming back, and the final battle, and the amazing things he'd seen. And he told her about Mr. Stark's sacrifice. It hurt, so much, but he managed to get the words out, and she held him and rocked him, and they got through it together as they always did.

He didn't tell her about Mr. Stark hugging him, though. That was personal, and special, and he would hold that moment in his heart forever. He'd wanted acceptance, and he'd gotten it, and maybe it was only relief on Mr. Stark's part, but he liked to think Mr. Stark had been happy to see him too.

He glanced at his soul mark in the mirror as he got ready for bed that night.

"Don't worry."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Don't worry, be happy, Peter."

Ned wanted too many details. Peter couldn't give them. He'd already exhausted just about all his ability to talk about it going over things with May. He had nothing left. Ned was disappointed. He couldn't hide it. But he knew when to back off, too, and Peter was grateful.

Instead they did stupid kid things. They put together the LEGO Super Star Destroyer Ned had gotten his hands on. They listened to music. They ate pizza. Maybe he was too old for goofing around like he was still fifteen, but it helped. And Peter slowly started to feel like himself again.

There was no way he would miss Mr. Stark's funeral. May helped him get ready, helped him with his tie when his fingers couldn't manage. She held his hand in the car Happy sent for them. And she stood close during the funeral itself, her hand grounding him. He'd never been so grateful for her.

It was weird, having all of the Avengers there. Nice weird, though. Captain America wasn't on the run anymore, they weren't fugitives. They'd saved the world, after all. A little appreciation and forgiveness were long overdue in Peter's opinion. The Avengers has never been the bad guys, and there were enough bad guys in the world that the Avengers were needed.

Admittedly, Captain America hadn't been on the run in five years, but still. Peter hadn't been there for that, so it was all new to him, and he was still adjusting to the new world order.

His soulmate was present at the funeral too, and he knew he had to talk to her.

Peter approached Wanda when Mr. Barton walked away. She was standing at the edge of the lake, looking out, hands tucked into her pockets.

"Excuse me, uh...Wanda?"

She swung around, eyes wide and hand slapped to her chest where he knew her mark was. Then he realized what he'd said.

"Oh, jeez. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that to be the first thing I said to you." He was mortified.

"Peter, right?" she asked slowly.

"Uh, yeah. That's me." He gave her a smile, but it didn't feel right on his face. And judging by her expression, it didn't look right either. She stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes, obviously trying to remember when they'd spoken. "It was during the battle," he volunteered. "You told me 'Don't worry.' I don't blame you for not remembering. There was a whole army coming down on us at the time." Recognition settled on her face.

"I do remember you," she said. "You were so injured. You look much better now."

"Yeah," he blushed. "I heal fast."

"I knew my soulmate was out there," Wanda said, eyes distant, "but I loved Vision and I didn't want to wait around for something I wasn't sure would ever come. Something maybe I didn't feel I deserved. The other half of me. And now you are here, and he isn't..." Her voice trailed off, but Peter stayed quiet, waiting. "I miss him," she said finally.

"I'm not gonna try to replace him," Peter said. "I know it doesn't work that way. And hey, I'm only seventeen. We've got lots of time, you know?"

"Yes. We have lots of time now," Wanda said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I've lost my other half twice already. My brother, Vision... I need things to be different this time."

"I'm not going anywhere," Peter told her, taking her hand. "Mr. Stark gave us all an opportunity. I don't want to waste that."

"Yes," Wanda said with a wry smile. "Stark saved us all." She looked out over the lake once more, her expression unreadable. "I respect him for that."

They stood there silently for a while, each lost in their own thoughts, until she squeezed his hand, bringing Peter's mind back to the present.

"Come home with me and Aunt May," he said. "I want... I need to have you close." Wanda raised an eyebrow.

"Your Aunt would allow that?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, she's cool. And she understands," he told her. Her eyes searched his face for a moment before she nodded.

"Okay."

"Okay," he said, and the next breath he released felt lighter.

Approaching Aunt May wasn't as awkward as Peter had been afraid it would be. She took one look at him and Wanda and their joined hands and sighed heavily but smiled too.

"Of course," was her reply when he asked, and Peter felt a weight lift off his chest.

"Thanks, May."

"You're not a little boy anymore," she said, cupping his face and smiling crookedly.

Peter's seventeenth birthday came and went. If you could really consider it his seventeenth. Was he seventeen or twenty-two now? Five years had gone by even if his body hadn't aged. It was all very confusing, and he didn't like to think about it, so he let May call this his seventeenth and left it at that.

They had a small celebration, just him, Ned, May, and Wanda. May got him a chocolate cake and no one talked about the Avengers, and even with his heart still heavy with grief he had a good time.

It was weird living with a girl. Not that May wasn't a girl, but she was his aunt. Wanda was a girl. And that was weird. He hadn't really considered the ramifications of living with a girl when he asked Wanda to stay, a girl he wasn't related to, a very beautiful girl, and his soulmate.

Let this be a lesson to him. Think before you speak, Parker. Think before you ask your super-hot soulmate to stay with you and your aunt.

Wanda was sleeping on the couch. May was trusting, but not stupid. She wasn't going to let them sleep together even if it was in bunk beds. Not that that helped a whole lot. Walking into the living room and seeing Wanda stretched lazily out on the couch always made him blush. He couldn't help it. It was probably silly, but the sight got to him. He also loved how she looked with her hair tousled from sleep, sitting at their kitchen table, sipping tea and blinking slowly in the morning light.

Like he said, not helping. Though maybe she'd be even more irresistible if they were sleeping in the same room together. That thought was scary. Wanda didn't need to have more of a hold on him than she did. She was already quickly becoming his center.

She was in her twenties and he was still only seventeen, for crying out loud. It would be weird for anything to happen between them, wouldn't it? Too much of an age gap. Too much older than him. But a tiny voice in the back of his head kept whispering that she was his, his soulmate, meant for him, and he wouldn't be a minor much longer. He was trying very hard to ignore that little devil on his shoulder and be an angel, but she wasn't making it very easy.

Not that she was doing it on purpose. No, she wasn't like that. But she didn't really have to do it on purpose to constantly catch his attention and have his mind wandering down some very explicit paths.

Still, it was a relief to head back to school and get out of the house for a while, away from the temptation.

School was... weird. It felt like nothing had changed but everything had changed all at the same time. Some of the people he knew were grown and gone, while others had been victims of the Snap and remained just as he remembered. He had been super grateful to discover Ned hadn't left him behind, even if that might've been selfish of him.

Selfishness seemed to be his thing these days.

Flash was still a complete dick to him, but it was nice to know some things never changed. Comforting, even. He needed things in his life he could hold on to, things that could ground him when he felt panic and loss start to take him.

He had nightmares. He didn't remember the five years he was gone. No one did. But he dreamed of watching his loved ones disintegrate right in front of him and being left alone. He dreamed of dying, of that moment where he knew he wasn't going to make it and he had to make peace with that, and the look on Mr. Stark's face. He dreamed of battle, of watching his friends be slaughtered and having his soulmate taken from him before he'd even really had her.

And he dreamed of Mr. Stark's broken body in those final moments, watched the light leave his eyes over and over again.

Sometimes he woke up screaming. Mostly he woke up crying and clutching his pillow.

It was one of those night when Wanda crept into his room and settled on the bed next to him.

"I'm sorry I woke you," he whispered, voice hoarse and choked with tears. She smoothed his hair and caressed his cheek.

"You didn't. I don't sleep well either."

"Oh." Peter looked at her in the dim light filtering in from outside. It was way too dark to make out any details, but he could see the outline of her form and the faint gleam of light on her fair skin. "Would you stay with me?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied. He scooted over in his small bed to give her some room, and she slid under the covers to lay next to him. There was zero space between them, and he could feel the warmth of her body pressed against the entire length of his own. She turned on her side to face him and put her hand on his sternum, right next to his mark. "I'll be right here, Peter. I won't leave you." Peter put his hand over hers, rubbed his thumb over her soft skin.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"You never have to thank me," she said before moving even closer and cuddling against him. She slid one smooth, bare leg between his and threw her arm across him, pressing as close against him as possible, and Peter brushed a soft kiss over her forehead. He'd thought he'd feel nervous and awkward in this kind of position, as per usual, and while there was some of that, mostly it just felt right.

And most importantly, it helped.

They didn't spend every night together. Neither of them wanted to cause trouble with May. But it became a comforting routine, and it made Peter feel better just knowing that she would be there if he needed her.

And when her nightmares came, he was there for her too. She didn't talk about Vision much, but he knew she dreamed about him. On those nights, she would come to him with tears in her eyes and clutch him to her with shaking hands. Sometimes she would whisper to him, her face buried against his chest, begging forgiveness for what she'd done. All Peter could do was hold her and remind her it wasn't her fault, that Vision wouldn't have blamed her. Eventually she would calm down enough to drift into sleep again, and he'd hug her tight.

He told her he hoped it was enough. She always smiled and said it was.

Peter couldn't bring himself to put the suit back on.

He knew he needed to go back out there. Spider-Man was still needed. He had work to do. He had people to protect.

But he couldn't put the damn suit on. He sat on his bed in his underwear, trying to find the strength to put on the mask.

And that's how May found him when she got home, tears in his eyes that he couldn't quite stop.

"It's okay, Peter," she said, hugging him to her. "You don't have to do this right now. You don't have to do it at all if you don't want to. It's your choice, and you can make it in your own time. There's no rush."

He knew that wasn't true. Every moment he spent agonizing over this was a moment where someone out there could be getting hurt or killed. He couldn't let that happen. He was supposed to be a hero. Mr. Stark had believed in him, and he couldn't let him down.

He looked at the suit again and his resolve fled. He didn't put it on.

The day he finally did put it on felt like a victory. He lost himself in the feeling of swinging through the air, the rhythm of his movements as he went from building to building. It soothed him. He stopped for a minute on a rooftop overlooking the city and nearly jumped out of his skin when Wanda floated up beside him in a burst of red.

"Whoa! Jeez, Wanda. What are you doing here?"

"Checking on you. I was worried."

"I'm fine," he said, a little irritated at the intrusion. "I don't need a babysitter." He could actually see her withdraw into herself, putting distance between them as she looked away, and his heart hurt.

"I apologize," she said. "I'll leave you be." She began to walk away, and damn it, he couldn't let her go like this.

"Wait!" he called after her, and she turned to look at him. "Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that." Wanda gave him a sad smile.

"It's my fault," she said. "But so you know, I don't see you as a child, Peter."

"You don't?" How could she not? Everyone else did. Hell, because of the Snap he was still in high school. After everything he'd seen and everything he'd done, he was still just another teenage boy.

"No," Wanda said, her eyes burning into him. Peter felt suddenly self-conscious, a nervous awareness of her prickling his skin. Her gaze felt heavy and hot, not quite an invitation but a revelation of her desire. He swallowed hard.

Wanda blinked and the spell was broken.

"I'm going to go," she said a little shakily. "I'll see you at home."

"Yeah. See you at home," Peter replied, a bit breathless. He watched her jump off the roof in a cloud of red and rubbed distractedly at his aching soul mark.

Nothing much changed after that, though Wanda didn't follow him again.

He tried to call Happy a few times, but his calls always went to voicemail and he never got a call back.

Peter went to school, did his homework, tried to focus on learning. Ned was just as bored with it all. That was probably why he put so much effort into planning when their class trip came around.

Peter didn't want to go to Rome. Maybe in other circumstances it would've been fun, but he didn't want to leave May, or Wanda. God, how was he going to sleep without Wanda close by?

Wanda and May, however, were nothing but encouraging.

"Maybe this is exactly what you need, a break from all of this," May said. "Maybe a break from Spider-Man."

"A vacation is a good thing, Peter," Wanda added. "Enjoy it while you can."

So, he and Ned made all kinds of plans about where they wanted to go and what they wanted to see while they were on their trip. But the night before he left, Wanda crept into his room, slid into bed next to him, and pressed her lips to his throat. It was the first time she'd kissed him, and it sent his pulse skyrocketing. He pulled her closer and nuzzled into her hair, inhaling her sweet scent.

"I'll miss you," she whispered into his neck, sending goosebumps across his skin.

"I'll miss you too." And he would, without a doubt. He already felt off balance just knowing she wouldn't be with him. "It won't be long. It'll be back before you know it."

"I know I said I'd stop, but all I want to do is follow you," she admitted. "I know it's not healthy. I just..."

"It's okay. I get it. I want to have you there too. I just... can't." Wouldn't it be amazing, though, to experience Rome with her? He wished he could. "Maybe someday..."

"Yeah," she said sadly. "I'll be thinking of you, though." Her hand slid under his shirt and up until she could brush her fingers over his mark. It sent an unexpected rush of arousal through him and suddenly he was sporting an almost painful hard-on.

"Wanda," he moaned, and she froze. He pulled her hand from under his shirt and kissed the inside of her wrist and palm as he tried to gain control of himself.

"Are you alright?" she asked. She sounded shaken.

"Uh, yeah. Um. It's just... that felt really good, and it's sorta embarrassing." God, he was glad she couldn't see him blushing.

"It felt good to me too," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that would happen. You've never touched my mark." It was true. Peter had never even asked to see it. He'd caught glimpses of the edge when her clothes shifted, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to ask her to show him.

"It's okay," Peter told her. "I just need to wait for it to... go away." Which might be a while, with the echoes of arousal still pulsing in his veins. Did all soul marks do that? Jeez.

"Do you want me to leave?" she asked, but Peter only pulled her closer. She accidentally brushed against his erection, but neither of them made mention of it.

"Don't go," he said. "Don't leave me." Wanda brushed her fingers over his cheek and jaw.

"I'll never leave you," she promised.

Peter enjoyed his trip. He did his best to leave everything behind, to leave Spider-Man behind for a while, and just let himself be in the moment, and it felt freeing, like he'd put down a heavy burden. He felt lighter. He knew he was smiling more. It was sort of freaking Ned out at first. But it was a good adjustment and, he realized only afterward, exactly what he'd needed.

May was at work when his flight arrived back in New York, but Wanda came to get him. She could do that now that she wasn't a fugitive anymore. She still tended to hide her face under a cap, but that was probably for the best. There were still some people who were openly hostile about her. Peter wished she didn't have to be so careful. Wanda was a good person, even if not everyone saw her that way.

She wrapped her arms around Peter, and he held her tight. Her scent surrounded him, and his soul mark throbbed. and he closed his eyes a moment just to breathe her in.

"I missed you," he told her.

"I missed you too. Welcome home, Peter," she said warmly.

The Sokovia Accords had been tossed out the window after the Snap, as the world reeled from the devastating effects. The world was left wondering... would anything have been different without the Accords? With the Avengers team still intact, would they have been ready and equipped to deal with such a threat? And what were they supposed to do now? No one felt safe. Thanos has proven that there was no such thing.

So, the Accords were scrapped and the entire Avengers team, or what was left of them at least, were welcomed back with open arms.

This mattered to Peter because he was no longer under threat of being registered and having his identity revealed, even without Mr. Stark's influence to protect him.

And because Wanda received an official pardon and apology from the government. May framed it and hung it on the wall in the living room. He caught Wanda staring at it later that night. He left her to her thoughts, and by the next day she seemed perfectly fine.

"It's nothing," she told him when he asked about it. "Just memories. I'm okay, I promise."

He hugged her anyway.

The holidays were good. They invited Ned over for a quiet meal, celebrated with gifts and smiles and love. Peter had never been so grateful for May. No, for his family, which Wanda was now a part of. May, Wanda, and Ned helped fill the hollow spaces in his heart that Mr. Stark's loss had left behind, and slowly he was healing.

May wanted to watch the fireworks for New Year's, though, so Peter swung her onto a rooftop with Wanda following behind and they watched the lights fill the sky. Peter hadn't seen a smile that big on May's face since before the Snap.

And Wanda looked so beautiful under the stars, with the colors of the fireworks washing over her and glittering in her eyes. He wanted so badly in that moment just to kiss her, but they weren't alone, and he wasn't going to do that in front of May. Their eyes met, though, and he knew she felt the same thing. The air was charged between them.

Peter forced himself to look away and simply enjoy this moment of peace with the two people who mattered most to him in the entire world.

Their first kiss came three weeks later.

It wasn't how he'd imagined his first kiss happening. There was no romantic backdrop, no lead-up, just a quiet desperation.

Wanda had been moody since receiving a call from the team earlier that day. She hadn't wanted to talk about it, but something was obviously wrong. Peter couldn't force her to talk, so he'd had to let it go.

Until she came to talk to him that night.

He sat up as she perched on the edge of his bed, and he could sense the tension radiating from her.

"They want me to go back," she said. Peter's heart skipped and his gut twisted.

"When- uh, when are you going?" he asked.

"I don't want to go." Peter's heart began to pound at that statement, and he rubbed his chest in a vain effort to calm his nerves.

"I don't want you to go either," he admitted. "But if it's what you need to do..."

"No!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly, and she immediately lowered her voice. "No. I want to be here, with you. Do you... do you think that's okay?"

"Of course! You don't have to fight, Wanda. That doesn't have to be your life." He took her hand, and she grasped him tightly. And then she was leaning forward, her fingers sliding through his hair. She paused just shy of kissing him. He could feel her breath on his face.

"Is this okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," was all he could get out, and then she was kissing him, her lips soft and plush against his own. Their mouths opened to each other and suddenly she was kissing him breathless, pressed against him, and all he could feel was her. She was everything, the only thing he needed.

She was the one to break the kiss.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she gasped.

"For what?" Peter asked, still reeling a bit from their kiss but already wanting more.

"I told myself I wasn't going to push you, that you're still too young and you'd come to me when you were ready, and here I am throwing myself at you in your bed."

That was just ridiculous, so Peter decided to risk waking May and turn his bedside lamp on so he could see Wanda's face more clearly. His heart twisted when he saw the tear tracks on her cheeks, and he reached over to brush them away.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I liked it," he told her, holding her face to make her look at him. He needed her to see how serious he was about this. "I think I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

"Yeah? Not just New Year's?"

"Not just New Year's," he said with a smile. "Wanda..." He was hesitant. "Would you show me your mark?"

She looked startled, but quickly recovered and gave him a smile. Without preamble, she stripped her shirt off, and Peter swallowed hard at the sight of her. He'd never seen anything or anyone more beautiful.

His eyes drifted from the soft swells of her breasts to the words scrawled in red across her heart.

"You can touch it if you want," she told him. Peter's eyes flicked up to hers before settling once again on his words on her skin and their strange pull on him. He traced them with his finger, feeling that frisson of arousal flow through him. He glanced at Wanda to see her biting her lip as she watched him touch her. Her heated gaze burned through him, but she didn't move, didn't push, kept her arms firmly at her sides and let him do as he wished without pressure. Peter loved her for it.

"It's beautiful," he said softly.

"I'm not like you, Peter," Wanda said suddenly. "I'm not good. My whole life has been violence and bad choices. I want to atone for that. I need to. But I need you more, and I don't want to go back without you. I know it's selfish."

"Hey," Peter said. "You know, I uh... I don't really want you to go either. I kinda feel like you belong here. With me."

Peter looked into Wanda's eyes and realized he'd never been more certain of anything in his life. She belonged at his side, and he at hers. She was his soulmate, his perfect other half. There'd been too much loss and loneliness in his life already. He couldn't let her go, not for any reason, not for any length of time.

He cupped her face and she leaned into his touch, and Peter didn't want to resist anymore. He kissed her, a bit awkwardly, but with every bit of his caring, devotion, and want behind it. And she responded in kind. Like a dam bursting, their mutual need had them crashing together. Peter lost himself in the feel of her, the utter bliss of her touch.

Wanda yanked herself away with a whimper, and Peter realized he was on his back now, with Wanda straddling his leg through the sheet and rocking her hips against him. It was the most erotic sight he'd ever seen, and he allowed his hands to skim up her sides as she moved.

"Fuck. Gotta stop," Wanda rasped, her hips stuttering as she slowly regained control of herself.

"What?" Peter asked. "Why?" She bent over to place a sweet, soft kiss on his lips.

"Because I won't rush you into this," she said. "I won't take advantage of your innocence."

"Is it wrong I kinda want to be taken advantage of?" he asked, not bothering to hide the way his erection tented the sheet. Let her look. Let her see how he wanted her. He wasn't ashamed. Her eyes were drawn to his lap, and her tongue peeked out to moisten her lips as she quickly looked away.

"I think that's pretty normal, actually," she laughed a bit breathlessly. "Doesn't change anything. I know you haven't had a lot of experience with girls. I don't want to rush anything. I can wait for you." She ran her thumb over his cheek. "You're worth waiting for."

"I love you," Peter blurted out, the feelings welling up in him too strong to be denied. Wanda smiled so prettily.

"I love you too. Now rest. I promise I'll stay."

Carol Danvers herself came to try to talk Wanda into going back, but Wanda was adamant.

"I won't go until Peter does," she said. "I won't allow you to separate us. There's no more Sokovia Accords, no more laws telling me what I must and must not do. You can't force me to return. Please respect my wishes."

Their new team leader didn't have much to say after that. She left with a promise that they'd stay in touch, and an open invitation to return.

They fell back into a rhythm.

Peter went to school every day. He did his homework and participated in extracurricular activities. He ate dinner with May and Wanda, and sometimes Ned too. He didn't go out as Spider-Man every night, and he felt better for it. There were nights where he just hung out with Ned, geeking out over Ned's newest LEGO score. Some nights were spent with May and Wanda, watching movies, and him pretending like everything was normal, like he didn't still have the occasional panic attack when flashes of what he'd gone through revisited him.

Everything was normal. He was normal.

He wished he believed that. He knew he'd never be the same again.

But the rhythm of their lives helped steady him. He managed to fit in time as Spider-Man a few nights a week, which helped him clear his head and his conscience. May didn't comment on it much. He was glad.

And Wanda welcomed him home every night. He was even more glad for that.

Flash still tried to make himself an issue, but Peter was getting better at ignoring him. What did that kind of bullying really matter when he'd already faced so much worse?

He laughed in Flash's face and moved on.

He dragged himself home one night, bleeding and bruised, having faced a bigger threat than he'd expected. Wanda gasped when she saw him and he let her help him inside, let her strip his uniform off and bathe his wounds. He could barely move. The sink was red with his blood.

"What happened, Peter?" Wanda asked him as she carefully wiped his face.

"I lost," he muttered through swollen, bloodied lips. He could barely look at her. Wanda wouldn't allow that for long. She turned his face until he met her gaze.

"Are you ashamed?" she asked incredulously. Peter didn't answer, just looked away. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, Peter. Maybe you just need help. Everyone does sometimes."

Peter's eyes snapped to hers, anger burning in them. "I can't afford to lose, Wanda! I have to protect people! I have to protect May, and Ned, and you..." His ragged breaths were interrupted by Wanda's lips as they crashed against his. It hurt, but he didn't pull away until she did.

"You're an idiot, Peter Parker. None of us can save the world on our own. That's why we have a team. We have help. You can rely on us. You can rely on me." Tears shone in her eyes as she spoke. "Let me help you, okay?"

Peter stared into her eyes before finally nodding. "Okay." She looked so relieved. "I'm sorry," he said softly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, unheeding of the blood he was getting on her. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Two nights later, he and Wanda finished the job. They made a pretty good team, if he did say so himself.

It took a couple of weeks, though, for May to stop fretting every time he went outside again. His injuries had left her badly shaken.

Peter wrapped his arms around her from behind one afternoon as she sat at their kitchen table and whispered, "I'm sorry, May. I'm okay. I promise."

He didn't hear from Happy anymore. It hurt. He'd almost given up on that entirely when Happy showed up at his school one afternoon as he was leaving.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey." An awkward silence stretched between them as Peter watched Happy search for words. "What are you doing here?" Peter finally asked.

"Just thought I'd check up on you," Happy said, shrugging. Peter went from zero to pissed off in the space of a breath.

"Really? And it took you this long?" he asked. "I thought we were a team. I thought we'd gotten past the point where you weren't taking my calls, but you just cut me off. You can't just ghost me whenever you feel like it!"

Happy looked guilty. Good. He should. Peter was so sick of it. He deserved better.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? We've been dealing with a lot since Tony... passed."

"Yeah," Peter said, his anger suddenly snuffed out, leaving him tired and sad. "I get that."

"Wanna get a coffee?" Happy asked. Peter nodded.

"Sure. It's good to see you, man." And he meant it.

A few days later, Peter received an invitation to visit Pepper and Morgan. He took Wanda with him, and they had a nice day together. Being around Morgan was like being around a tiny Mr. Stark. She was brilliant. He could already see how amazing she would grow up to be.

Pepper welcomed Wanda without hesitation. He hadn't been sure how that meeting would go but quickly realized he'd been worried for nothing.

It was a great day. Morgan had them smiling, laughing even, and his heart felt lighter by the time they left.

Peter took Wanda to prom. She was the only person he could imagine going with. May took tons of pictures, so proud it was embarrassing. Ned and his date came over and she got pictures of them too.

May had allowed the four of them to get a hotel room after, as long as the four of them stayed together to prevent any naughtiness. Ned, however, told Peter after they left that he'd gotten a separate room, his sly wink letting Peter know exactly what Ned hoped to get up to.

"Does spending the night alone with me make you nervous?" Wanda asked him as they danced. Peter took the time to consider it.

"Yeah, but I want to," he told her. "I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" she asked. "We can just sleep if you like. I don't want you to feel pressured."

He kissed her hand and smiled.

"I'm ready," he said. "I'm sure." Her smile was adorable.

Peter was nervous as hell, but Wanda was patient with him. They took it slowly, kissing and touching and slowly undressing, letting it build up naturally. She guided him inside of her and Peter finally understood what it was to feel whole. They moved as one, fitting together perfectly, and Peter could see his pleasure reflected back in Wanda's eyes.

It wasn't an orgasm, it was an earthquake, rocking him to his very bones.

They made love multiple times that night, neither of them wanting to waste a moment of their time together. Peter learned the taste and feel of her secret places, and she took the time to learn his. They couldn't stop. They wanted it all.

May looked at them suspiciously when they got back the next day, like she could sense something was different, but Peter just gave her an innocent smile. Wanda offered to make breakfast, and that was that.

They didn't risk having sex in the apartment until May's suspicions faded. Even then, they gave it some time, so it wasn't until over a month later that they made love again. Wanda rode him slow and quiet in his bed, one hand resting over his soul mark. The image of her moving over him was the most erotic thing he'd ever seen, and he tried his best to memorize the sight.

Graduation came faster than he'd expected. Before he knew it, he was trying on his cap and gown, blushing when May kept saying how handsome he was as she brushed the tears from her eyes.

He had expected he'd feel different or something when the day finally came, but he didn't. There was a sense of loss, certainly, as he prepared to leave school behind, but he still felt like the same old Peter. Still a bit of an outcast, still anxious and insecure sometimes.

Peter looked out over the crowd as he waited for his turn to walk the stage and take his diploma, searching for May and Wanda. His eyes found them easily, their proud grins by far the brightest things in the room.

"What do we do now?" he asked Wanda as they lay tangled together in his bed that night. She pressed a kiss to his chest and settled on top of him.

"What do you want to do?" she asked.

"Not fair, answering a question with a question," he pointed out. Wanda huffed out a laugh that didn't sound sorry at all. "I'm serious, though," he said. "What do we do now? College? The Avengers? What am I supposed to do?"

Wanda sighed. "There's nothing you're supposed to be doing, Peter. Except, I suppose, for following your heart. What do you want? If you want to fight, we'll go back to the Avengers. If you would rather go to college, I'll follow you there too. It's your life, and your decision."

"I always thought I'd just join the Avengers. It's what I wanted for so long." He ran his fingers through her hair as he spoke.

"And now?" she asked.

"Now I think I might want to try college first. I can keep helping the little guy, keep being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man for a little bit longer. We've got time, right? And if the Avengers ever really need us..."

"We'll be there," she finished.

"Right. We'll be there. But for now, I kinda wanna be Peter Parker for a while."

"I'm with you," Wanda told him, brushing her lips against his.

"Yeah?" he asked, smiling.

"Yeah. Don't worry, Peter. We're a team. Always." Their lips met again, and Peter let himself sink into her kiss.

"I like the sound of that."