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“I was wondering when I was gonna meet you.”That was the first thing Peter heard when his eyes flickered open, only to be greeted by rocks rattling against his skull and bees buzzing in his ears.Oh, this was a concussion for the ages.He let out an audible groan, unable to get a grip on his surroundings or the source of the voice for a few seconds. When he tried to sit up, a gloved, forceful hand pushed him back onto the cushions and the same voice cut through the noise, “Don’t be stubborn, kid. I have a zero tolerance policy for vigilantes and their around-the-clock bullshit. You’re not getting out of here until I give you the go-ahead.”Peter’s eyes widened, the realization of his exposed face to person(s) unknown killing any exhaustion sedating him.“Before you go crazy over me seeing your face, I’m just gonna tell you that you look like the average White boy and there is no way in hell anyone could pinpoint that you’re Spider-Man based on my vague-ass knowledge of your facial features.”Trying his level-best to calm his palpitating heart, he tilted his head to the right to see who he was talking to. It was a Brown woman, face half shrouded in shadow due to the dim lighting of the apartment. Her expression was that of solemn concern.“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he stated, latching onto her gaze with the utmost seriousness he could muster. “You should’ve left me wherever you found me.”She rolled her eyes, as if he’d told her a story she’d heard a million times before. “You’re all peas in the same idiot pod, aren’t you?”His mind was fairly foggy, no thanks to the criminal who whacked him with a crowbar like a baseball player hitting a victorious home-run. Still, he managed to understand who the ‘peas’ were meant to be in her metaphor, her words distinct enough to keep replaying in his head, allowing him to follow the conversation despite his ailments.Based on everything he’d heard, he inferred, “I’m not the first vigilante you’ve met, am I?”“Understatement of the century, honey,” she confirmed with a tired smile, proceeding to shine a dizzying light into both his eyes, causing him to squawk out his misery like a crow denied water. “What are the names of the seven continents?”The question was so random, all Peter could do was give her a baffled look. “Huh?”“Okay, the concussion may be more severe than I thought. Do you remember anything from before you passed out?”Scouring his mind, he came up utterly blank. Guesses were his only guide for now. He shook his head, clicking his tongue at how debilitating this concussion was.She tried to put a positive spin on the situation, saying, “Maybe it’s for the best. If a concussion didn’t knock you down, burnout would have. And trust me, that’s usually much harder to recover from psychologically.”He chuckled and then groaned, the pounding getting worse and worse. “Joke’s on you, lady, I have a lot of shit to recover from psychologically, so… ha,” he retorted lamely, throwing up lazy finger guns and pressing his lips together.“Then I regret to inform you that being Spider-Man is not a way to fix your mental health.”“Oh, there’s no fixing this, I’m well aware.” He circled his temple with his index finger, the classic signal for craziness. “Spider-Man isn’t a coping mechanism.”She raised a skeptical brow. “What is it, then?”“A responsibility.”“Can’t it be both?”Peter considered the possibility, then he remembered what being Spider-Man cost him. “If coping mechanisms are supposed to involve giving up all the good things in your life to save the world, then yeah, sure, both.”A grimace breezed past her expression, and she rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand.“So you don’t find it thrilling to take down bad guys?”She seemed oddly curious about his perception of his alias, and since he had nothing better to do, he indulged her intrigue.“If I did before, I don’t now. It’s a job, not a hobby.”“So there’s no part of it you enjoy?”“I mean… it’s nice to save people, of course. Make kids smile. Make the neighborhood feel safer. But for all the times I help, there are just as many times when I make things worse, so…”“Double-edged sword,” She adequately completed his sentiment, eliciting an affirmative hum from him. Then, she made an ambiguous observation, “You didn’t ask how I found you or how you ended up on my couch.”His hollow eyes stared at the ceiling, indifference written all over his face. Neither did he have a sense of urgency to leave, nor did he have any engrossment in interacting with this helpful stranger. Life just happened— he was going through the motions without much care for when or where he ended up somewhere. Numb to the caverns of misery he could be suspended in, and numb to the clouds of nine he could rise up to on other occasions. Both were temporary, so what was the point of emoting over them?Somehow, she found herself more worried for Spider-Man within a few minutes of knowing him than she did for Matthew Murdock over weeks of patching him up.Sparing her a cursory glance, he dismissed the note, “Does it matter? I probably just collapsed somewhere, you happened to be there, and you decided that you wanted to devote the time and energy into fixing me up or whatever.”She couldn’t deny his description of the situation, especially considering how extremely loose it was, therefore subject to no tangible error.“Well, for your information, my neighbor was having a smoke break on the roof when you collapsed onto it out of nowhere. She was very pissed, you know? You made her drop her last cigarette into the streets below.”“Woe is her,” Peter deadpanned, shutting his eyes irritably and slightly adjusting his position on the small couch.His frigid reaction to the fraction of humor in her anecdote upset her a little. For a superhero with a reputation for being friendly and overly humorous, he sure was moody at the moment. Though she could just attribute that to the concussion he had and the non-consensual exposure of his identity.Slumping her shoulders, she expressed the sad sentiment aloud, “You know, I expected you to be cracking more jokes.”He let out a humorless chuckle. “There’s your problem right there.”“Huh?”“Expectations. The more you expect, the more you set yourself up for disappointment.”That was a bleak way of looking at life and ambition in her opinion.“What if I expect disappointment?”Peter shrugged and stated the obvious, “Then you’ll never really be disappointed.”She narrowed her eyes at him with a tilt of her head. “Your logic’s kinda weak.”“Don’t let my ex hear you say that,” he murmured, a sad laugh spilling out of him in tragic remembrance. “She was a stickler for realism.”Another warning sign— the mention of an ex he clearly missed. She could only imagine the worst, considering his line of work, though she prayed to God it wasn’t true.“Why is she an ‘ex’?”“You think she’s dead,” Peter observed with a raspy voice, an inquisitive gleam over his eyes.“Like we’ve established, you’re not the first vigilante I’ve met. Dead exes are more common than you think.”If Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Matt Murdock were any indicators.Licking his lips, Peter clarified, “Well, you’ll be glad to know that she isn’t dead. Came close to it, though. We’ve just… gone our separate ways. She’s in MIT now, I think.”What was more shocking than his name-drop of one of the most prestigious institutions in the world was how casually he mentioned it. Like his ex was just going to a random college on the East Coast.Her eyes widened when she processed the information. “Wow, she must be quite special.”“She was,” he affirmed, his eyes distant in the wake of the memories flooding his head.Noticing his descent into the depths of his hippocampus, she quieted down for a minute or two, evaluating the nature and severity of his circumstances based on the evidence she had. She stared at the web-shooters encasing his wrists, the design of his suit, recalling all the videos she had come across through the years of his quick wit in action, both in speak and in technicality. The times when the whole world was bombarding him with one singular question.
Will you be the next Iron Man?
Which led her to an allied question.With bated breath, she interrupted his nostalgic reverie by saying, “Assuming that you created this suit and technology on your own, shouldn’t you also be at MIT?”His eyes lazily shifted to address her. “There aren’t as many tall buildings or supervillains in Boston.”A hint of his classic humor hidden beneath the glass of apathy shielding his face.Letting out a pointed exhale, she expressed her disapproval, “You shouldn’t even be doing this in the first place. You’re just a kid.”“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” He snapped in a booming voice, a stark contrast from his prior indifferent behavior. She flinched out of shock, inciting a bit of guilt into him and restoring some of his composure. “Don’t you think I’ve tried to walk away from this? Just for a little while, if not forever? Well, guess what— once you’re in, you’re in. No vacations, no sick leaves, no mental health days. There’s no escape. Not unless you’re willing to face the consequences of ignoring your responsibilities. And I’ve made that mistake too many times to count. So, no, Spider-Man isn’t going anywhere, and I’m not gonna apologize for that.”She couldn’t deny his conviction. He was about as stubborn as Matt, if not more, and she’d learned her lesson from trying to ‘fix’ him and his habits.Her gaze steeled as she stood up from her seat and spoke a truth of her own, “I’m sure I’m not the person who deserves apologies for your tireless escapades.”Ice cold, but he supposed he deserved it.At least that ‘person’ wasn’t alive, exempting him from that particular duty.What he’d never selfishly admit was that at this point, he would set the world on fire just to bring her back and apologize to her a million times.After a moment of tense silence, he broke the ice to ask, “Can I leave now?”Her eyelids fluttered against each other as a theory popped up into her head.“Was that your strategy all along? To annoy me enough into kicking you out of my place?”He chuckled, realizing that if he wasn’t concussed, that was a tactic he would’ve definitely ended up attempting to employ. “Even if I tried that, I think you wouldn’t have let me go.”A ghost of a smile breezed past her face, and impressed by his astute observation, she complimented him sarcastically, “MIT really lost out on a genius.”This time, he succumbed to the humor with unfiltered laughter, the only repercussion being his head reminding him of the fact that it was utterly out-of-commission for the night.He rose to his feet and cradled his head upright, stretching his neck muscles to test his limits.“What MIT really lost out on was an explosion instigated by a self-proclaimed animal-themed supervillain thanks to my very presence there.”The specificity of the scenario made her snort, almost spilling the water out of the glass she offered to Peter, along with some aspirin.He graciously accepted the medicine, downing the water in one long gulp and placing the glass on the side table. “Thank you. For everything.”“I could say the same to you about everything you’ve done as Spider-Man.”With the utmost humility, he shook his head. “Without people like you, it would be significantly harder for me and the others to do what we do.”Her head tipped to the side in confusion, and she couldn’t help but request clarification, “People like me?”“Medics. Supporters. People who understand that there’s only so much the law can do to help people. People who accept and go out of their way to help people like me, regardless of the kind of damage we can cause. I know the Avengers aren’t out there anymore, but… there are heroes everywhere. Not just the freak shows you see on the news. Heroes like you are how I know that I’m making a positive change for somebody somewhere. That’s all the fuel I need to keep going.”Despite the inherent pain following him in the shadows, he remained a hopeful and optimistic spirit, even if his behavior didn’t always account for it. And she admired that perseverance wholeheartedly.She would love it if Spider-Man wasn’t so young, but she’d rather have a mature kid for Spider-Man than no Spider-Man at all.And in that moment, she decided that she would do anything to ensure that Spider-Man would keep living another day.Having taken a page out of Daredevil’s book, she fished out a burner phone from her duffel bag of medical supplies and held it out for him.Before his confusion could fester for too long, she softly stated, “If you ever need someone to patch you up or talk to.”He gnawed down on his bottom lip, his eyes flickering between her almost daring look and the device in her hand, contemplating the loaded decision of letting her take a small step into his isolated life with this source of communication.His brows elevated for a split second, silently asking her whether she was sure about this. That once she was in, that was it. There was no getting out of the crossfire.“You’re not the first troublemaker I’ve dealt with, remember?”He shot her a small, slightly reassured smile and took the phone from her. Flicking the old-fashioned gizmo open, he saw her number and contact name and couldn’t help but laugh at the goofy name.“Night Nurse? Is that your superhero name?”His eyes were shining with genuine happiness rather than ironic blitheness, which was a welcome change of pace, and she was glad to be the cause of it.Raising a brow, she placed a hand on her hip and riposted, “I’m not gonna entertain someone who goes by the name of Spider-Man mocking me for this, and I’d really prefer it if you called me Claire.”“Noted,” he uttered, a respectful grin lining his lips. “Personally, I would like you to know that I have super healing, so chances are that I’m not gonna show up here unless it’s really bad.”She grimaced at the conflicting revelation. “Thank you for placing that kind of pressure on future me, honey. You really know how to excite a tired old woman.”“Old? Come on, you don’t look older than thirty.”“Dealing with you idiots has aged me to retirement at this point.”He suppressed his laughter at her misery behind his gloved palm, sending her his sympathies through his gaze.Inadvertently, a loud yawn escaped her mouth, her exhaustion sounding through loud and clear.“Alright, I’m seriously gonna go now. I don’t wanna take up more of your time. And I promise I will go home and rest unless something really small and urgent comes up.”Narrowing her eyes at him, she exposed her skepticism, “That caveat could mean two very different things in both our minds, but I’d like to give you the benefit of the doubt because you seem earnest about it and you’re very cute.”He leaned into the adorable factor, placing both sets of fingers beneath his chin and scrunching up his nose. “Thank you.”“Don’t push your luck, honey,” she warned, though the warm look on her face betrayed the caution in her tone.With a final smile of gratitude, Peter grabbed his mask from the couch and opened the window to the balcony.“I’m Peter, by the way.”With that, he slipped on his mask and fell backwards off the railing, swinging off into the night.And just like that, she’d adopted another vigilante idiot, the only difference this time being that he was young enough to be considered an unofficial surrogate son.Pulling out her phone, she dialed a number she hadn’t contacted in a long while, if only to catch up and explain the deja vu-esque tale she’d just experienced.“Hey. I think I just met a younger version of you from another universe.”The cozy laughter from the other end of the line let her know that her career as Night Nurse wasn’t likely to end any time soon.