#but i still instinctually try to glide safely off of ledges

[goldensunset]

scarvio is so epic for no fall damage while riding koraidon/miraidon and for the rotom phone acting as a makeshift parachute that only kicks in at the last second before you hit the ground with no consequences at all

[shortcakemonster]

Go-Away Green pt. 10

Summary: Time to save the day.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Of all the things that you’d expected to happen to you to today, Tony Stark materializing on your roof in his Iron Man suit didn’t even approach the list.

The suit planted itself on the roof, then opened to reveal the billionaire genius himself. You backed away as Tony glided over to you. Somehow, his eyes remained glued to your now fully invisible form.

“Easy, kid, don’t want you toppling off the roof, now do we?”

You spared a glance behind yourself, and took a few steps forward to remedy your closeness to the ledge of the building that you would much rather remain on top of. Your ears perked when you heard the sound of metal whirring and colliding, and looked ahead again to see the Iron suit folding in on itself, transforming into a red and gold cube. This was likely to attract less attention from the neighboring buildings, which, now that you thought about it, probably wouldn’t take too kindly to having seen a teenage girl blinking in and out of existence.

Hm, not existing sounds kind of nice, right now.

Tony spoke again, interrupting your thoughts. “By the way, these glasses enable me to see you, on top of making me impervious to your mind control, so I won’t be forgetting you anytime soon. Unlike a certain mutual friend of ours. Care to explain?”

Your mouth hung open. You struggled for some words, but you had absolutely none. How did he find out so quickly? Sure, he was Tony Stark, but still-

A pit formed in your stomach. Peter’s conversation on the phone from earlier that day. It had been with Tony Stark, who now stood before you, sighing at your lack of a response.

“Did you two get in a fight, or something?” he asked, gesturing vaguely.

“No, no...” You’d had an argument, sure, but that wasn’t why you’d done what you’d done. “I mean- it was an accident.”

“If it was an accident, then why haven’t you fixed it?”

“I-” Your breath caught on the lump in your throat.

Look away look away look away look away.

“Don’t try it, kid,” Tony barked. You flinched, and he took a deep breath, trying to relax his demeanor for your sake.

You wanted this conversation to be over as quickly as possible, so you tried to think of something to shut it down.

“I'm not a superhero.” It was the first thing you’d said in ages with a degree of confidence.

Tony furrowed his brows at you. “You don’t have to be a superhero to be friends with one,” he explained slowly, as if he were speaking to a small child.

You blinked at him. Wasn’t he here to push you towards crime-fighting? To tell you that you were being selfish? That anyone else would kill to have powers like yours? That someone else would actually do some good with said powers, as opposed to whatever you did?

As if reading your mind, Tony said, “Look, you’re a teenager. So is Peter, but he fights crime because he wants to. I just try and make sure that he doesn’t get himself killed, every night. As for you, as long as you’re not using your powers for harm, I have no problem with what you do with them. Of course, using them to make my- to make a kid forget a really important friendship that he’s just made... well, that’s getting close to ‘harm’ territory, don’t you think?”

I’m not important.

“I can’t imagine that it’ll impact him all that much,” you murmured.

Tony shook his head. “He’s lonely, you’re lonely. I dunno about you, but I see an easy remedy for this.”

“He’s not lonely,” you protested. You had nothing to say for Tony’s assessment about you, but Peter had people who cared about him, as small of a circle as it was. He would be fine without you, better off, even.

“Oh, sure he is,” Tony objected, waving his hand. “It’s no secret. All heroes are. We’ve got the weight of the world on our shoulders, and whatnot. What’s more, he’s basically the only person his age who has powers, aside from you, of course. He needs someone like him, just like how you need someone like you.”

“But, I’m not...” Clearly, the not-being-a-hero tactic had no effect on Tony, so you switched gears. “I’m nothing like Peter.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously fed up. “(Y/N). You’re kind. You go to the same genius school he goes to, and you’ve saved multiple lives, just like he has. You’re both Raven-puffle-dors, or whatever you nerds are into.” He looked back down at you, his eyes soft and almost pleading. “Just... give it another chance, alright? Will you just give yourself one more chance?”

You blinked at him yet again, wondering why he cared so much. Why he’d come all the way from the Avengers facility to speak to you personally. Why he was risking looking like an absolute loon talking to no one on a rooftop.

Was it because he’d been a lonely kid, too? Tony Stark didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, per se, but you had read about his less-than-satisfactory relationship with his father. And there was no way it could have been easy to go to boarding school when he was so young, to skip multiple grades and never truly interact with anyone his age.

Was he this determined to prevent another kid from going through what he’d gone through? A lonely childhood, and a subsequently lonely adulthood?

You tried to swallow the lump in your throat, looking downward. “I don’t think... if I make him remember me again, I don’t know if he’ll be able to forgive me, or if he’ll want me around.”

Tony scoffed, then covered it up by clearing his throat. “I mean, take that up with him. Give him that choice, let him feel however he’s gonna feel about it, you know? That being said...” A knowing, humorous expression passed over his face. “He’s Peter Parker. You’ll be fine.”

You let your eyes lock onto his for a brief moment. “You really don’t care about the powers thing?”

He shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just... I’ve made the mistake before, with Peter. I expected too much from him, and then too little. Now, I couldn’t stop him from crime-fighting if I tried. Would I like for you to use your powers for good? Of course. I’d love for everyone to use their talents for good. But you’re a kid, and if you’re not willing, then it’s not happening. Simple as that.”

Tony seemed to remember something, then reached into his pocket. “Well, this is an awkward transition in conversation, but all that being said...”

His arm stretched out before you, and in his hand rested an earpiece, identical to the one you had before.

“You dropped this... somewhere. Just kidding, it’s brand new.”

You plucked the earpiece from his hand and pressed the tiny indicator button, the little lights flashing along the curve. You looked down at your bare hand, its lack of a ring to control your invisibility, which was arguably the more important (and definitely much more difficult to manufacture) of the devices that Tony Stark had given you.

“Go be a hero. In whatever way that means to you.”

In a matter of seconds, the red and gold cube behind him unfolded, allowing him to step inside of it. The metalwork closed around him, then Iron Man gave you a little salute before launching into the air, leaving a rush of wind and heat in his wake.

You adjusted your hair, then stared at the earpiece in your hand. Did you really want to do this? Was it worth it? Were you worth it?

One thing was for certain: Peter Parker was definitely worth it. You strapped the earpiece over your ear.

In whatever way that means to you.

“Karen, where’s Peter?”

...

Peter turned out to be in danger. What a surprise.

An entire apartment building was on fire, and Spider-Man (with the aid of the fire department) was doing his best to get the residents out of there safely.

Invisibility wasn’t going to do anyone any good here, and it would be beyond dangerous and stupid for you to attempt to help when you weren’t equipped to. You momentarily entertained the idea of calling this night quits, but then something caught your eye.

High up in the air, far away- a sudden, tiny flash of orange light zipped toward the building, streaming through an open window. The room containing that window suddenly burst into flames, sending smoke through the broken walls.

You followed the source of the light to a nearby building, the windows of which were mostly dark. Another flash zipped past- another explosion- and its origin revealed a figure on the top of the roof, crouched low behind the ledge. Wielding a long, black rifle.

A sniper.

You were in shock for a moment- what the hell is happening? But you shook your head, finding your focus.

You briefly considered telling Peter- or telling Karen to tell Peter- about the sniper, but you looked back at the burning building, at Spider-Man swinging from area to area, trying to get people to safety as quickly as possible. It was up to you to take care of the root of the problem.

“Karen, what’s the quickest way to get up there?”

“You could have Peter take you,” the voice suggested.

Your heart sped up even more at the idea, if that was possible, given the situation. “He’s busy!” It was true, to be fair, but obviously not your only reason for not calling him for help.

You resolved to do it the old-fashioned way by taking the fire escape up to the roof. It was a struggle to keep your steps light on the way up so not to alert the sniper, a man dressed in all black, who instinctually made you still as soon as your eyes landed on him.

Deep breaths. Just not too loud.

You sidled over the ledge and onto the roof, never taking your eyes off of him. Your movements were glacial and calculated as you made your way toward him, his back facing you. You swore that he could hear your heart pounding through your ribcage, though if he actually did, then you would probably be dead where you stood.

Eyes forward. Hear nothing, see nothing.

Your ears picked up on a peculiar noise, and as you got closer to the man, you were able to make it out. Was he... singing?

"London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down...”

A shiver went through you, your skin crawling. It didn’t take a genius to know that this man was sick in some way or another, but this solidified that claim.

Distracted by your own disturbance, you were just careless enough to let your foot make a sound against the floor of the roof, causing the sniper to wheel around, pointing the gun in your general direction. “Who’s there?”

You went stock-still. If he fired the gun right now, he wouldn’t hit you, but it would be too close for comfort. Besides, he could hit one of the other buildings nearby.

Forget me forget me forget me-

Wait a second, he couldn’t forget you. With his attention now on you, he wasn’t endangering the people in the apartment building across the street. All you had to do was disarm him, somehow. You’d done this before, once with a ladle and once without. All with Spider-Man’s help, of course, but that wasn’t on the table, right now.

It didn’t matter if you thought that you couldn’t do something. You just had to do it. People’s lives and homes were at stake.

You just needed to be careful. Extremely careful. More careful than you’d ever been in your entire life.

You inched further and further away from the line of fire, from his periphery. You considered picking up a stray pebble and tossing it in the direction opposite of you, but shut that idea down, not wanting him to get trigger-happy. More than he already was, at least.

Your path made a half circle around him, getting closer and closer. You did everything you could to control the shaking that wracked your body, the nausea that pooled in your stomach, the breaths that so desperately fought to be more quick and labored than you were willing to allow.

Closer.

Closer.

Careful.

Now you were behind him, sandwiched between his perched form and the ledge of the roof. If he spun back around to his original position- or even adjusted himself slightly so he was closer to the wall- you would go tumbling off of the roof.

You weren’t about to give him that chance.

You had mere seconds to determine the best approach, but that was all you needed. Even from this angle, you knew well enough from various self-defense videos online that all you needed to do to knock this man out was to hit him in the corroded artery. You didn’t want to do him serious harm, but you also didn’t want him hurting anymore innocent New Yorkers.

At the exact moment that the edge of your hand came down against the sniper’s neck, incapacitating him, something shot out and hit the side of a chimney that occupied the roof. At first, you thought it was a bullet, but a second later, you realized that it was web fluid plastered to the surface. Right on cue, Spider-Man flew over the side of the building, landing gracefully on the roof and sweeping the area for any threats.

You raced to the other side of the roof without thinking, curling yourself into a ball even though you knew that Peter wouldn’t be able to see you no matter how you were positioned.

Spider-Man appeared to take in the situation, examining the gun as well as the limp body that was mere feet away from it.

“Karen?” It had only been hours since you’d last heard him speak, and he wasn’t even speaking directly to you right now, but his voice was like a breath of fresh air.

You heard Karen’s voice in your ear. “He’s alive, though he’s suffered a blow to his corroded artery and will require medical attention.”

“Huh. Guess someone else took care of you, then.”

He secured the man to the roof with some web fluid for good measure, then took a look around the area, his spine straightening.

“It’s just a matter of who,” Spider-Man mused under his breath.

You didn’t dare to even breathe too loudly. Now was your chance to reveal yourself. Actually, you went to school with him, so you’d have a million more chances, but still. This felt right.

And yet so, horribly wrong.

Tony had given a pretty convincing speech, but you knew your situation better than he did. Even if he could empathize with it, nothing changed the fact that the people in your life were better off not being in your life. Or rather, you were better off staying out of theirs.

Tony had urged you to use your powers for good, but for all you knew, making everyone forget you was for good.

Just then, Spider-Man seemed to notice something. Just as he did mere days ago, when he first took notice of you and tried to talk to you, but failed. He zeroed in on a spot on the roof, way too close to you for your liking. His demeanor shifted, becoming more reserved, analytical.

His eyes landed directly on your form. You didn’t move a muscle.

BOOM!

It seemed to happen in slow motion. The gun itself combusted, causing a greater shockwave than one would expect. Your body leapt into the air, then promptly plummeted back onto the floor of the roof.

Spider-Man, however, was catapulted backwards, hit square in the head by a stray piece of metal, likely sending him unconscious. His body went limp, sailing over the length of the roof and toward the edge. His back collided with the ledge that bordered the roof, and if he wasn’t unconscious already, then he certainly was, now.

You almost saw your life flash before your eyes as he began to slip off of the ledge, away from the safety of the roof.

You didn’t even realize that you were sprinting towards him. Your movements didn’t feel fast enough, but surely, surely you could make it, just a little bit faster-

You threw yourself to the edge of the roof, your arms shooting outward-

I’ve never been good for anything but please just give me this one thing please-

...

Peter jolted awake at the feeling of being caught- at a hand curled around his, desperate to hold onto him. And a voice crying out, a voice that he was sure he’d never heard before but somehow struck a familiarity within him...

He cracked his eyes open and craned his neck upwards, trying to find whatever was tethering him to the ledge above him, keeping him from falling.

He looked up at whatever was holding him- he saw nothing, he didn’t even see him own arm- but an image struck him, despite the dizziness that was overtaking his head.

(Y/e/c) eyes. (Y/h/c) hair. A smile that he would give anything to see again.

“(Y/N)?” he gasped, his vision going blurry and black immediately after.

You dragged Peter’s sagging body over the side of the building, grunting with relief when he was safely away from the ledge, and almost as importantly, that he was visible once again.

“Karen? Is he okay?”

“He has two bruised ribs, various burns, and he’s suffered from smoke inhalation. He should recover fairly well on his own.”

Wanting to give Peter some air, your hands delved under the hem of his mask, gently tugging it upward to reveal his face. You were wary of the unconscious sniper on the other side of the roof, but you could make him forget about you and Peter if anything happened.

But here was Peter. His handsome face, his messy hair. Your hand reached out to stroke his jaw, and you were surprised to see your appendage flickering, as opposed to being completely invisible. Still, you resolved not to touch him, as you didn’t want to see him flicker with you.

You glanced back at his face. Peter’s eyes were open.

You stared at each other for a moment, completely frozen, before you leapt away from him, going completely invisible.

Peter surged forward, into a sitting position. “No!”

A coughing fit attacked him, but this didn’t stop him from standing shakily to his feet, searching wildly for you in every direction.

“Please don’t go!” he croaked, his voice hoarse from the smoke. “Please! I’m sorry I forgot about you!”

He screwed his eyes shut. He felt that if he kept looking at a world without you in it, he would forget altogether that you were actually there. He needed to focus on nothing else but thoughts of you.

(Y/e/c) eyes. (Y/h/c) hair. Those hands, that smile.

“Look, my eyes are closed!” His voice sounded like he wracked with pain, unrelated to his injuries. “Please, if you care about me at all, please be there when I open them.”

...If you cared at all?

Caring didn’t begin to describe the way you felt about him. About kind, brave, handsome, brilliant Peter Parker.

He’d apologized for forgetting about you, as if it was his fault. Nothing could be his fault, this was all you. It was your insecurity, your insistence on being alone, being forgotten.

But at this exact moment, you decided that you’d had enough of being forgotten. Especially by the kind, brave, handsome, and brilliant Peter Parker.

All of these thoughts led you closer and closer to him, time standing still as your eyes swept over his young features, his messy brown curls, his eyes wedged shut.

You wanted those eyes open. With the utmost silence, you took one more step forward.

See me.

You lifted your arms slowly, bringing them towards Peter’s form and into your own vision. They flickered.

No, they weren’t supposed to do that. Not when they were about to touch Peter. You couldn’t make him flicker like you. You couldn’t flicker.

Inhale.

Exhale.

I’m right here.

Your hands went opaque, then cupped the side of Peter’s face and pulled him into a kiss.

Peter’s eyes flew open as he gasped in surprise. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be this lucky.

And yet, here you were. (Y/h/c) hair. (Y/e/c) eyes, which were closed, but he knew their color like the back of his hand. And you weren’t currently smiling (though he couldn’t complain about the alternative), but he remembered what it looked like. He remembered you.

He melted into your embrace and closed his eyes in relief. His arms wound across your waist and shoulders, trapping you against his chest. He was never letting you go again.

Yes, this was right. There was nothing more right than this. Nothing better than sweet, smart, beautiful you in his arms, kissing him.

All too soon, you had to pull away for air, your forehead resting against Peter’s. He laughed, incredulous, and you couldn’t help but to echo him.

He cupped your face with one hand, prompting you to open your eyes and stare directly at him, at his curly brown hair and warm brown eyes. “Hey, I’m sorry about-”

You didn’t let him finish, pulling him in for another kiss. You felt him chuckle before the two of you separated, though he didn’t let you get far, placing gentle pecks all over your cheeks, nose, and forehead.

“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he whispered into your hair, tucking his chin on top of your head.

Your arms went around his waist, melding you to his torso. “Believe me, I’ve learned my lesson.”

You’d never smiled so much in your life.

...

A/N: Oof. Tfw you have to reread your own fic because it’s been so long since you spent any time on it that you’re worried you’ve forgotten the important details.

Good Lord, I’ve gotten two anon messages from people who were worried about my well-being because I haven’t been active. I’m sorry.

Epilogue’s coming... I’m not gonna say “soon” because obviously I can’t be trusted.

This is gonna get like 3 notes because it’s basically been a year but whatever. Happy Thanksgiving, I guess.

By the way, don’t try that corroded-artery-jab stuff at home, it’s extremely dangerous. Just thought I’d mention that, since the video I watched about it gave several warnings.

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