#i tried being nice to this dude like iv known em a long time and it sucks to not be his friend anymore

[lamptracker]

FIC: Counting Down the Days (part 1/?)

Here we go with part 1.

FIC: Counting Down the Days

Pairing: Peter Parker/Female Reader

Inspo: “Cancer” by My Chemical Romance

Summary:  While visiting a children’s hospital as his alter ego Spider-Man, Peter meets a girl his age. She’s sweet, she’s smart, she’s funny… and she’s dying of cancer. When she laments the fact that she probably won’t get to live long enough to have the typical teenage experiences of prom and a boyfriend, Peter offers to fill those roles for her.

Warnings: Talk of death. The usual cursing (he is from Queens). Endgame spoiler. 

Tagged: @flokidottir-imagines-br  @babyplutoszx2   @musiclover1263   @judemoos   @drxgxnslxyer   @hollanderheart   @thequeensardine   @ive-got-some-lies-to-tell   @captainbuckyy   @xxtomxo   @deleteidentity   @yessterekthings   @itsyaspacemom   @upsidedownparker   @starksparker

(if I tagged you and you don’t want to be let me know, k?)

**

“Mr. Spider-Man! Mr. Spider-Man!”

A boy, about five years of age, ran full-tilt down the hall at St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital; he only stopped when he ran smack-dab into a pair of blue and red legs.

“Oh!” Peter Parker, known to many as Spider-Man, looked down at the small boy hugging his calf.

Peter had recently decided to give back to the community he helped keep safe. His aunt May had suggested going to a children’s hospital in uniform, to help brighten the patients’ spirits. St. Mary’s was the closest, so he tried that one; he soon fell in love with the small patients there.

“Hey, DeMarcus! How’s it goin’, buddy?”

“Guess what, Mr. Spider-Man!” DeMarcus’s little brown eyes gleamed under the harsh fluorescent lighting. “The doctors say I’m all better! I have something called re...re...  ugh, Mommy, what was that word?”

“Remission,” DeMarcus’s mom said, smiling widely.

“Yeah, that. But I get to go home, Mr. Spider-Man! Isn’t that awesome??”

Peter held out his gloved hand for a high-five, crouching down so he and DeMarcus were eye level. “That is so awesome, dude! I think that calls for a high-five.”

DeMarcus giggled as he returned the high-five. “I’m going to miss you, Mr. Spider-Man.”

“I’m gonna miss you too, buddy. I’m sure I’ll see you around, though.”

“Mommy! Can you take a picture of me with Spider-Man?”

DeMarcus’s mom pulled out her phone, snapping a few pictures of the two of them together. “Thank you for doing this,” she said. “It really made him happy, that a real superhero took time out of his day just to come see him.”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Ma’am, really. DeMarcus is a good kid, I really am going to miss seeing him. Hey, buddy, can I get a hug?” Peter asked, crouching down again.

Wordlessly, DeMarcus flung his arms around Peter. “I love you, Mr. Spider-Man.”

Peter chuckled. “Love you too, buddy. I’ll see you, okay? In the meantime, be good for me. Study hard in school and stay out of trouble.”

DeMarcus nodded, firmly grasping his mother’s hand. “Mommy! I can’t wait to go back to school and tell everyone I’m friends with Spider-Man!”

Peter chuckled as he walked down the hall.

“Is that everyone?” he’d asked a nurse.

The nurse checked her chart. “I know you don’t normally go there, but you could visit the teen wing, maybe? It’s not usually very full, which is why we don’t usually have you go there. But… we have had one patient in there for a while now. Would you like me to see if she’s up for a visitor?”

“Sure.” As the nurse walked down the hall, Peter sat down in a chair. “Karen, any messages for me?”

“Text message from Science Bro Shuri. Displayed or read aloud?”

“Displayed is fine, thanks, Karen.”

Hey Spider-Doofus. When you get done there, come by the lab. Got a little something for ya

Peter chuckled. Probably a suit upgrade, again. Ever since she came to America to work for Stark Industries, carrying on Tony’s work, she had been upgrading his suit at every opportunity.

“Follow me,” the nurse said. Peter followed her down a hallway, into a room on the corner; the nurse peeked her head in. “(y/n)? You ready for your visitor?”

“Sure. Forgot to ask who it is, though.”

“It’s Spider-Man.”

A chuckle. “Is it really Spider-Man, or is it just my uncle Leo in a rented costume again? Because that was kind of a bummer.”

“It’s the real deal, (y/n). Can he come in?”

“Make him prove it,” the girl called out skeptically.

Without another word, Peter shot one of his webs through the crack in the girl’s door.

A long pause, then: “Yes, I’d love to see him.”

Peter laughed as the nurse opened the door wider, allowing him access. He paused at the end of the girl’s bed.

She was thin, not painfully so but definitely thinner than she was supposed to be. Her hair had all fallen out, but based on the pictures littering her nightstand and taped to her walls it had been (y/h/c). But the thing that struck Peter the most was -

“Holy shit, you’re my age,” Peter breathed.

The girl chuckled. “Yeah, I- wait, what?”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“Seventeen.”

“Me too.”

“No way, really?”

The nurse had left at this point; Peter closed the door behind her and webbed it shut for extra insurance. “You cannot tell anyone about this,” he said.

The girl scoffed loudly. “Probably in this joint for the rest of my life,” she said, almost bitterly. “And I practically have nobody. Who am I going to tell?”

“You… well, we’ll get to that, hold on.” Peter carefully removed his mask, looking at her; he ran a hand through his thick auburn curls.

“Wow, you’re cute,” she mumbled to herself; Peter laughed. “Do you, uh, do you live around here?”

“Sort of. I don’t know you from school, though, where’d you go?”

“Townsend Harris. Where do you go?”

“Midtown.”

The girl laughed. “Ah, smart guy, huh? You know I missed getting in there by like three points? I got held back in fifth grade, because I missed so much school when I got sick the first time. It’s a long and winding explanation but to sum it up, it’s cancer. My name’s (y/n), by the way.”

“I’m Spider-Man. But my real name’s Peter, Peter Parker.”

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Peter Peter Parker.”

Peter smiled warmly at her. “So… what do you mean, you have practically nobody?”

(y/n) sighed. “Well, my dad left when I got sick the first time. Said having a sick kid was causing too much stress on him, turns out he’d been cheating on my mom since I was four. Um, he pays child support but it’s not much so my mom works two jobs just so she can pay for my bills. If she’s not at one of her jobs, she’s here. But she works such crazy hours that she’s not here as much as she wants to be. I don’t have any siblings, both sets of my grandparents are dead. I have cousins but they live in Maine.”

“Any friends?”

“Oh, sure. They come by once in awhile, but they never stay long. I know being with someone who’s dying is kind of a bummer. I’m still in the group text and on Snapchat, but it’s hard watching someone live the life you’re supposed to be living, y’know?”

Peter just nodded solemnly.

“I’ve had this twice before,” she added, “and I’ve beaten it both times. But this time, it’s spread too far and my body really can’t handle anymore chemo, so… I’m just around until I’m not around anymore, I guess.”

“Wow,” Peter said. “That is incredibly not fair.”

“Tell me about it. My friends are all stressed out about their SAT’s, what college they’re going to pick, and here I am wondering if I’m going to live until dinner.” (y/n) puffed her cheeks out, exhaling slowly. “That’s dramatic, I’ve got at least a month or two but you know what I’m trying to say. But anyway, prom is in a few weeks and they’re texting me pictures of their dresses and they’re all going to look great.” She smiled sadly.

“But you’re not going to get to go,” Peter said softly.

“Nope. That’s the thing that sucks about this the most. They get to have lives, Peter. They get to go on dates, have boyfriends, go to prom. I won’t get to do any of that.” A tear slid down her cheek; she hurriedly wiped it away. “I’m sorry, you came in here to cheer me up and now I’ve bummed both of us out.”

“No, no, it’s okay! It’s okay.”  Peter smiled at her warmly.

But the wheels in his head were turning. And once they’re in motion, he finds it very hard to get them to stop...

“Hey,” he said finally. “What if I did that?”

“What if you did what?”

“Well, I-I know you can’t leave, right? But maybe… maybe you could have a date? In here? With me? And-and maybe we could have our own tiny prom?”

(y/n) scrunched up her face in confusion. “You just met me, you’d do that just for me?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Because you’ll get attached,” she said simply. “And then I’ll be gone, and then you won’t know what to do?”

Peter laughed bitterly. “You think I’ve never lost anyone close to me before?” he asked, voice tinged with sadness. “Let’s see, I’ve lost… um… both my parents. My uncle Ben - who I watched get shot, by the way. And you’ve heard of Tony Stark, yeah?”

“Yeah. That was so sad, I… oh, no.”

Peter nodded. “He was my mentor, the closest thing I had to a dad since Uncle Ben died. And I watched him die too. So… I’m sort of used to it.”

“God, Peter. I had no idea, I’m so sorry.”

Peter shrugged. “Eh. You never know what’s going on with a person just by looking at ‘em, y’know? So, um… what do you say, huh?”

“You can't fall in love with me.”

“I can’t promise that, I fall in love very easily. I almost married a key lime cheesecake last week. Our children would have looked really weird.”

(y/n) laughed slightly. “You know what? Okay. Let’s do this. What have I got to lose, huh?”

“That’s the spirit.” Peter winked at her; they both burst into laughter. “Okay, um… I have robotics club tomorrow after school, and then I need to-”

“Robotics club? God, my fake boyfriend is such a fucking nerd.”

“And my fake girlfriend is really fucking mean.”

(y/n) started laughing again.

“But anyway, I can’t come by tomorrow but I can the day after? I’ll bring coffee, where’s your favorite coffee place?”

“I always like Rosita’s on the corner of 41st Street and 43rd Avenue?”

Peter nodded. “You got it. I’ll text you when I’m close to there, you can tell me what you want when I get there.”

(y/n) grinned slightly. “Well, Peter Parker, how you gonna do that without my phone number?”

Peter cocked his head to one side in confusion, then laughed. “Ah, (Y/n) used flirting! And… it’s super effective! You do raise a good point, um… can I see your phone?”

(y/n) nodded, handing him her phone; he programmed his number into it quickly. “Here, I’ll just text you so you have mine, I… it’s complicated, I…”

“Phone built into your suit?”

“My fake girlfriend is really smart too.” Peter shook his head as he dissolved the webs holding her door shut. “Okay, so… see you in a couple of days?”

“I’m really looking forward to it, Peter. Bye. Great Pokemon reference, by the way.” She waved slightly as Peter returned the gesture, then slipped his mask back on as he walked out the door.

“I don’t know what you two were talking about in there,” the nurse said as Peter stepped out of the room, “but that’s the most I’ve heard her laugh since she’s been in here. I think that’s just what she needs right now. You will come by and see her again, right?”

Peter laughed. “I promise.”

He thought about that old adage - To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

He’d only known (y/n) for about a half hour, but he already knew her world had been filled with hospitals and sadness. He hoped that he could make what was left of her world a little bit brighter.

#peter parker #peter parker fanfiction #counting down the days