__________

Peter

"Who were you talking to?" Peter asked carefully, slowly making his way toward Wade. He caught the flash of hurt in his soulmate's eyes from the careful movements and quickly reacted to adjust his posture as he moved, coming to stand at the edge of the bed.

The larger man shrunk back, retreating into himself to the point he appeared small. Peter almost felt inclined to kneel down so not to feel so much larger than Wade. It made him feel like he was next to a broken child.

Then again, maybe that's what this was? Maybe Wade really just needed that larger stability in his life. For someone to actually be there, to belong to someone.

"No one." Wade finally answered. He didn't trust Peter.

Peter had to consider his options. His initial response would be to step back, but going back to his last thought he decided on something else. "No. I know that's not the correct answer," he placed a hand on Wade's shoulder with the same gentleness he had used the night before.

The second he laid a hand on him, tears formed in the man's eyes. Peter wasn't sure how to feel about that, the reaction sending an odd feeling through him. "You're mine. And I'm not going anywhere." he reminded. Even if I do have class and work that afternoon . . . 

Wade shook his head, reluctant to speak and leaving Peter there to consider his options. And he didn't have many reasonable ones.

Deadpool was hard to read. Peter really didn't understand anything about the man, much less the man under the mask. Wade Wilson. There was the complication of pairing the two into the same individual, which he was sure would apply to himself as well, but at least Spider-Man wasn't known for being a ticking time bomb. He couldn't say the same about Wade's alter ego, he was anything but stable. Moving away from the attempt to understand Wade and Deadpool, there was also the challenge that come with having an alter ego . . . the literal and metaphorical mask that came with the persona of the public character.  Peter could try and poke the bear to get truth out of Wade, but inevitably he might as well forego the stick and shove his finger right into the bear's eye if he wanted any real answers out of the man.

Obviously, there would be no stick poking or eye gouging. Well actually Peter wasn't going to lie, some form of stick poking would be welcome in the future but certainly no eye gouging. If he felt safe enough for that, that is.

But of course. Call Peter classy, be he wanted a stable relationship before any stick poking. But first, one needed some form of friendship to point any relationship down a positive road. And what Peter and Wade had going here wasn't what Peter would describe as a friendship. Some sort of weird form of shy tolerance from two aquatints, supposedly Soulmates. But to be brutally honest Peter didn't quite feel the same relationship goals vibe coming from his soulmate. And that was fine . . . but after a dream the night before, the concept of a lover who could handle Peter's lifestyle was tantalizing. But did he find Wade attractive? 

Granted, most of the issues between them were likely Peter's fault. And that rooted down to how he had introduced himself. But what was he supposed to do? He was so disgusted with the Mercenary. He had a lot of fury and hate stored for his soulmate over the last decade, he couldn't help himself from despising Wade every time he remembered what the man had done to him.

Just the reminder of his own anger created a spark of disdain at the thought of having any desire for his soulmate. He quickly suppressed it, focusing on the events in front of him and the thoughts he'd woken to redirect his feelings. Deep down, he didn't want to hate Wade. Especially after what he'd seen of the mercenary now, he'd gotten a peak at the actual person inside the reactive and personality husk, there was someone in there he could care for. Someone who had a story to tell him. Someone who might deserve forgiveness.

Wade was his. There was a reason he was his.

Peter sighed and brushed his fingers over the soft, fuzzy fabric of the blanket wrapped around Wade's shoulders. He smirked at the sight of his own masked face on the fabric. He would pay to see Wade's expression when he had retrieved the blanket just once more. Or better yet to have taken a picture. He didn't know Wade well, but he knew a prized horrified expression when he saw one.

"I got that before we met," Wade muttered.

"What about the other things? " Peter asked, nodding toward the other few things he'd noticed laying around that had Spider-Man all over them. "Big fan?" he teased.

"I was . . ." 

That stung slightly. 

"Is he a disappointment in person?" Peter asked with a small hum, eyeing the small acrylic standee making his home on the top of a shelf at the opposite end of the room.

"No,"

"You don't have to lie, I won't be offended. Meeting your heroes can be one of the worst experiences of anyone's life." Peter sighed and took his hand away from the blanket. He hadn't intended to rest it there for so long, but he'd gotten mesmerized by the soft fur texture and had been content petting it. 

Wade was quiet for a long minute that seemed to drag on eternally, teaching additional second feeling like a harder condemnation on Peter's case. "I'm not disappointed in you. It's just alarming," Wade finally said, taking his time to lay out the words carefully.

He nodded slowly, crossing his arms. "What did you like about Spider-Man? The hero who still had the anonymous, face-less appeal?"

"Spider-Man was powerful, but not grossly obsessive over it. He was cool, moved in an awesome manner, had a nice body, and seemed like a cool person to run into based on his talking reputation. I had been anticipating a run in for years."

Peter laughed softly. "He's a bit different once the mask comes off, isn't he?"

"You're still kind of a snarky ass which is no different. You've still got the same body and skill appeal. You obviously have the skill to dish out the conversation I wanted to have. But most of all, I'm just embarrassed and disappointed to know that I had managed to earn your wrath before I'd ever met you. I wanted the chance to start out on the right foot of a hero for once."

He didn't say anything for a minute, taking in Wade's answer. It was spoken softly and directly, not a trace of articulated wording behind his statement. He was being direct and honest. 

"We can't undo what happened in the past. Nor can I undo the impression I gave you when we met. But you don't need to feel embarrassed. We're both disappointed in ourselves so maybe we should try and start on a fresh note. Try to be better for one another, and get to be the person we wanted one another to meet?"

He wasn't sure how exactly that would work. They were human after all, it was hard to untrain the brain from what they already knew and had experienced. 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

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. Also, note that future fanfiction releases on Wattpad as I fully transition over to Ao3. If you want updates on what is coming out, follow me on tumblr, all links in bio.

(Originally published 2016, officially edited 2023)

Until next time~ Shadow-Assassin)

Original Note:

sorry this chapter was kinda weird. I don't know. Feels weird  like they both lose all of their character or something. Does it seem weird like that to you too?