"So . . . you take selfies for the paper?" Wade asked after a beat of silence. They were both sitting on the edge of the building they'd agreed to meet at a few days after their last event. the building itself had an exceptional view of a large swath of active crime territory. It was one of Spider-Man's more common outposts where he would watch when he needed a break.

Peter pulled his eyes away from the street to narrow them at the Merc. "They are not selfies. I take time to actually see that my photograph is skillfully taken and has nice elements. I don't just flip my phone out and snap a blurry picture. "

"Who says photograph nowadays? It's the twenty-first century Peter, they are called Pics."

Peter roled his eyes. The mercenary was an asshole.

Mercenary.

Peter suddenly had the urge to smack himself. He had thought of Wade's costume while he was half asleep and invited him on patrol. He a mercenary out on patrol. He brought a mentally unstable assassin out on a night of crime fighting. What the fuck was he thinking?

"Deadpool." the sensation that he was standing next to a time bomb became real. And reflecting on it just sprouted new concerns that in hindsight he should have expected.

"What?"

"I'm not trying to be snobby. But are you able to, you know, Not kill people?"

Wade was silent for a moment, staring at Peter. Peter didn't move, staring back.

"You know, I know my morals are questionable, but I don't un-alive without reason. I don't hurt innocent civilians or children. I won't do it in front of a child either. But I do believe a bullet to the head would solve the crime problem all of you heroes seem unable to manage." Wade turned to stare back out over the landscape as he spoke, not sounding terribly amused by teh question.

"I'm just wondering whether I should really have you here."

"You know that after a certain point, the system doesn't help these people. The dangerous ones, the actual problems won't change. They just learn how to not get caught." Wade looked down at his legs and snapped a button he noticed that was unclasped on one of his various pouches.

"Everyone deserves a second chance."

"What about when the second chance turns to third, fourth, seventh, tenth?" Wade asked skeptically.

"You can't just give up on people. "

"What about when they give up on themselves?" Wade retorted.

"They're only hurting themselves. No one can make them stop. We can only give them a reason not to. Continue doing it. It's their choice whether or not they take it," Peter argued.

"It's hard to change old habits," Wade muttered with a sigh, seeming to disengage as his eyes wandered.

Annoyance burned in his chest and he was about to say something but caught himself with a quick inhale when a familiar sound pierced the air. Wailing shorty followed the sound of the stopwatch.

"How do you save someone from that?" Wade asked dismissively, the statement in of itself a bit condescending.

"I can't, I don't, and I won't" Peter replied coldly. "That's their problem,"

Wade chuckled, leaning back on a hand. If Peter had to guess, he was probably trying to think of a way to turn Peter's response to the stranger's pain him. And that was unfair in Peter's opinion because it wasn't his fault he was touchy on the subject, it was Wade's.

He frowned. But what if it was his fault for caring so much? For letting the incidents get to him. Maybe he allowed them to pull him apart until he couldn't didn't care.

Thankfully he didn't have to ponder that idea for long, a disturbance in the air setting off the humming warning of his sense. It wasn't heavy, but enough to make him look around. Below them were a pair of men dressed in black with hoods pulled over their heads, walking like they were the shit.

"Hey!" Peter called down, waiting a beat before the two finally looked up. He waved once he had their attention. "If you're going to do something illegal, the least you could do is not dress like you're going to do illogical stuff. "

"That was a typo. You're supposed to say illegal stuff, but illogical works too. Lazy ass writer." Deadpool muttered as he stared down at their persons of interest.

Peter glanced over at Wade and turned back to their two subjects but had to pull back again to look at Wade as he processed what he'd actually said. "What?" he almost laughed. "So what, when I forget what I'm about to say that's just the author of your grand story backspacing?"

Wade nodded and shrugged. "Or editing in this case."

"Right," Peter said slowly, intrigued but busy. He looked down but the two dopes were gone. He followed the sound of their footsteps and saw one of their asses waddling around a corner. "I'm going to go check em-out."

"You into bad boys?" Wade mused. He was smiling to himself, staring ahead like he was trying to get caught laughing at his own quip.

Peter scowled at the man. "Deadpool."

"Yes, sweetums?" Wade tilted his head Peter's way.

He fumbled over what to do next, too annoyed but not angry enough to actually do anything about that. "- just don't kill anyone. If you do I will kill you. Got it?"

"You're still taking me with, even after that little chit-chat about how you don't trust me?"

"Wade. I am trusting you right now." Peter deadpanned.

"Sounds dangerous enough. "

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.

(Originally published Aug 03, 2016, officially edited 2023)

Until next time~ Shadow-Assassin)

Original Note:

Thanks for all the votes and comments! They mean sooo much