Their lunch went great. At least Wade thought so. Everything had gone on without a hitch until they left the restaurant, and even that wasn't really something that had gone wrong. It was just something that had happened that Wade had yet to really put behind him.

Peter had relaxed which was the most prized event of the entire outing. Peter was always tense, even when he was into a conversation he was always kind of jumpy. But today not only did he just relax, he was even bold enough to get what he wanted which Wade wasn't sure he'd do. It wasn't until they were walking that anything wrong had happened.

Before explaining what had happened he'd preface by saying that the universe really wanted one of them to be killed by a car. Why? Beats him, he'd kept his nose clean the last year. Sure, he was doing jobs, but nothing that would get him into trouble with someone or something that could actually cosmically bother him. Maybe it was a full moon?

Anyways, they were crossing the street (with an active crosswalk he might add) when a Tesla came whipping around the corner with more speed then he thought reasonable for an electric hunk of plastic. Most days this would have been the unfortunate end of Wade's evening, but it wasn't. It wasn't because Peter kicked the car back.

Kicked as in he had one foot on the ground and still managed not only to destroy the front of the car but also send it screeching back several feet while it was in drive. Wade knew of and had personally seen many supers accomplish comparable feats, but not without physics playing out. Peter should have not been able to do that. Super strength or not, he still should have been pushed back by the velocity of the car because a car is a ton and Peter is maybe one hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet.

But Peter hadn't moved. It was like he'd adhered himself to the ground (with one foot!) and let what happened to happen. Peter gave the girl who tried to run them over reverse whiplash which one, was cool. Brat earned it, driving like and idiot. And two Peter didn't react, he stepped back and Wade wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him along so they'd be on their merry way before they could be identified and sued for emotional damages or some shit like that.

He sighed and spun the jar of pickles he'd bought, looking at the swishing contents within. There were little round things and some peppers. And the pickles obviously. It was the first jar he'd ever boughten. He was going to give it to Peter sometime. Not right away, they would be too obvious but maybe in a couple of weeks.

He smiled to himself at the thought of Peter. He really liked him.

His twelve-hour alarm went off, pulling him out of thought. he lapsed the timer and got up to go fill a dose of his medication. He had another appointment coming up, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be as optimistic as the last. He'd been feeling a bit down lately despite everything going up. Kaisen said that he should prepare for such things, that part of getting better was the up and down wave of great improvement and minor relapse. "Baby steps" he promised. Deep down Wade believed him but he couldn't stop his surface emotions from bothering him.

[Which is why focusing on Peter is so much better!]

Wade's stomach dropped. He'd been enjoying the last few weeks of being alone with himself.

[Oh c'mon champ, I know you missed me.]

"We're going to bed." Wade said sternly.

[But I just woke up?]

"You're freshly regrown, that means you're weak and not strong enough to talk long. If we go to bed you'll be more awake." Wade reasoned with the voice as he finished up his injection and grabbed a can of sweet tea before heading towards the bedroom. Hopefully his medication would ramp up in his sleep and the thing would be gone by morning

[Oh, I suppose you're right... but I know what you want. I don't think that's fair.]

"And you know what?" Wade asked as he put his can down on the bedside table after giving it a shake. He walked over to his closet and began stripping, putting his dirty clothes in a hamper and pulling on some shorts for the night.

He was really proud of this. Of his closet. That he had everything organized in drawers and hanging, even his mercenary shit was all in one place. It used to just be everywhere, scattered dirty and gross on the floor. He never knew what was truly clean of it wasn't in his single abused plastic round basket. His living space had really reflected his mind, and his apartment was clean, but his bedroom being a welcoming space for himself made him really happy.

[I'm waiting!]

"Yeah... and I really don't care." He smiled down at his mostly empty hamper before turning to go brush his teeth.

He'd kill the bastards one day. There would be a day he knew he wouldn't have to worry about waking up with them again. He'd kill them for good, because they didn't have control anymore, even when he wasn't feeling good. Because when he wasn't feeling good now it just meant he was going to drink a sugar drink after cleaning his teeth which is a no no and sleep in until the sun was past noon.

[You can't defeat me.] the box warned coldly.

Wade laughed to himself and started brushing. He took his time, keeping the voice on the edge of its seat in wait for his response. They way it did that made him feel like it was a demon sometimes, an entirety that hovered around him waiting for his brain to break in just a way that it could squeeze its fingers in and pry its way into the home it had resided since the experimentation.

He spat in the sink after two minutes.

"You wouldn't say that if you didn't feel threatened." He smiled as he washed away the suds from the head of his toothbrush.

Special thanks to Poiuytre23.

Until next time
~ Shadow-Assassin