body bag (1)
TASM!Peter Parker x Fem!Reader
Summary: Enemies to Friends to Lovers Roommates AU where Peter realizes his feelings for his spit fire roommate as Spider-man <3 based off of the song body bag by chloe moriondo
Warnings: language, vomiting, violence, angst, witty banter
Word Count: 4.4k+
Author’s Note: This is going to be either two or three parts because it’s too damn long to be a stand alone fic since I’m a wordy bitch. This is an AU of sorts. It takes place in 2022 but Peter and MC are grad students (23, 24, 25, etc) and petergwen never happened. kk enjoy!
Peter had woken up to you slamming your bedroom door shut. He groaned into his pillow and willed you to go away and stay quiet. You had graciously woken him up from his post-patrol slumber. Through the thin wall that you shared, he hears you throw something across the room and it lands with a loud crash. Your scream of frustration is muffled through the wall and your bed knocks against the wall.
Of course something happened. Something always happens to you and you always have to make a show of it. Peter knows that the last thing you want is for him to check in on you. He hasn’t been the best roommate and hasn’t been the kindest to you since he moved in in the fall. You don’t get along and the last thing you probably wanted was for him to check to see if you were okay. The part of him that’s Spider-man wants to make sure that you’re okay, even if you don’t get along with Peter Parker. Peter groans again, before kicking off his sheets and climbing out of bed.
He's careful to knock quietly on the door. He hears you shuffle inside. “Go away, Peter!” you shouted through the door. Peter has to bite down hard on his tongue to stop himself from saying something to make your sour mood even worse. You’re obviously upset and want to be left alone. The last thing you want is for Peter to ask if you’re okay. It’s not like you’re friends to begin with anyways. You can’t stand each other, which is why he’s shocked that you’re home at this time of day. You’re usually working at the office you intern at during this time after your classes.
He walks away and returns to his room. This time he doesn’t hide his distain for you. He slams the door over the soft sounds of your cries.
The next time Peter sees you, he’s out on patrol as the friendly neighborhood Spider-man. He had heard over the dispatch that there was an armed robber on the loose near the bars you tended to frequent with your friends.
“C’mon, my guy, I have had the worst week in my entire life. I have nothing to give you, I’m just as broke as you are, I just don’t resort to armed robbery,” you were most definitely drunk. Your words were slurred and blurred together. Peter has half a mind to yell at you as himself, but another part of him is slightly impressed that you’re not shaking in fear.
Peter swoops in and webs the robber’s weapon out of reach and pins him to the nearest wall. “Are you crazy?” Peter shouted at you as he takes care of the criminal. “Why are you mouthing off to an armed robber?!”
You can’t help but giggle in your drunken stupor. You snort. “You sound like my roommate. Y/n, don’t do this, don’t do that. What are you, my dad?”
Peter goes rigged. If only you knew you were actually talking to him. “Where are your friends? Why are you walking home alone drunk? Do you know how dangerous that is? What if I hadn’t been here?”
You groan loudly and push past him in the direction towards your apartment. “Do you always interrogate the people you save, Spidey?”
He stomps after you and walks ahead of you to get you to stop walking. You make him want to pull out his hair, Spider-man or Peter Parker, you drive him nuts. He could shake you right now. “I just saved your life!” he shouted at you.
You roll your eyes and with a huff meet his masked gaze. “Thank you for saving me, Spider-ling.”
“It’s Spider-man.”
“Whatever you say, Spider-boy.”
Peter can’t help but grab at his head. He curses under his breath and you quickly stumble around him in a weak attempt to walk away from him. Your foot catches on the sidewalk and you don’t have time to catch yourself mid fall. Instead, you feel a set of strong hands grasp around your waist and pull you back on your feet.
“Nice catch, Bug-boy. Thanks.”
Peter huffs and shakes his head at you. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”
Your drunken cackle reaches his ears and your brows pinch together as you stare at where his eyes are behind the mask. “Since when do you service the people you save from armed robbers? I don’t live too far from here, I can get there on my own.”
“You tried that earlier and were mouthing off to an armed robber. Let me take you home.”
“If I puke on your suit, it’s your fault.”
“We’re walking.”
You scoff at him and resume the walk towards your apartment. “It was worth a shot,” you grumbled.
The walk back home didn’t last long. The more you walked, the more you struggled to keep your wits about you. In the moment, you hadn’t considered the consequences of your actions. You would’ve been killed over a $20 bill and maybe a few Target gift cards. Was your life really worth that little?
Spider-man didn’t talk the whole walk to your apartment. He was too busy keeping you steady and fighting the urge the scream at you for your ridiculous behavior during and after he saved you. You should’ve been the least bit grateful that he saved your life, but maybe some part of you knows that Peter is Spider-man, but he highly doubts it.
Your head spins and you pull out of his grasp when you’re at the front door of your apartment building. You fumble with your key fob and stumble up the two flights of stairs to get to your apartment. Spider-man shouts after you, and you completely ignore him as you push open the already unlocked door. You’re too focused on the vomit building up in your throat to come to terms with the fact that Spider-man of all people is in your apartment. You sincerely hope that Peter is not at home. You have no idea how to explain the situation if he comes out of his hole to find that Spider-man is in your apartment.
You race into your bathroom and fumble with the lights and push up the toilet seat before emptying the contents of your stomach. Tears of embarrassment fill your eyes and you feel a warm hand on your back gathering your hair together. You heave into the toilet until the wave of nausea goes away.
You lean back on your heels and dig the palms of your hands into your eyes. A broken sob escapes your lips before you gain the strength to look at Spider-man. Silent tears coat your cheeks and he squats down to meet your gaze. He wordlessly holds out a hand towel for you and you take it with a quiet thank you. The gravity of the situation finally settles on your shoulders as you cry pathetically in front of Spider-man on your bathroom floor.
You lean your head back on the bathroom wall and let out a sigh. “God, I hope my roommate isn’t here. I dunno how I’ll explain why Spider-man is in my bathroom.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said softly, gently wiping away the last of your tears on your face. “Let’s get your teeth brushed and into bed.”
You nod wordlessly and take the hand he offers and pulls you back on your feet. You brush your teeth and climb into bed. Your gaze lingers on Spider-man’s backside. He takes a step towards your bedroom window, but you reach for his hand to stop him from leaving. “Thank you for saving me,” you whispered before he squeezed your hand and left through the window. This time you mean it.
When you wake up the next morning, you’re hungover and disoriented. It takes you several long moments to gather your bearings and climb out of bed. You reach for your purse and empty out its contents; you still had everything in your bag. You rush into the bathroom and rip off the clothes you went out in last night. The good thing was that you had no wounds or injuries from your confrontation with an armed robber. It makes you sigh in relief as you turn on the shower. The warm water cascades down your back and you relax immediately.
You close your eyes and let your shoulders drop. Had last night really happened or was it just your drunken imagination? Had Spider-man really saved you and walked home and taken care of you as you cried pathetically on your bathroom floor? It seemed like a fever dream.
After your shower, you change into a clean set of lounge pants and a loose fitted t-shirt before making your way out of your room and into the kitchen. To your surprise, Peter is up and sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee in his hands and his glasses perched over his nose. You glance at the kitchen clock. He’s never up this early, and he tends to avoid you at all costs if he hears you move around the apartment.
“Is there enough coffee left for me?” you asked, walking towards the fridge.
“Mhm,” he hummed, looking at you through the rims of his glasses.
“Cool, thanks, Parker.”
There’s several long moments of silence and you feel Peter’s stare at the back of your neck as you make your cup of coffee on the kitchen counter. You set the creamer back in the fridge and turn to look at Peter as you sip on your coffee. “What, Peter?”
His shoulders tense up and he looks down at his open notebook. “It’s nothing, forget it.”
Your brows pinch together as you return his stare and drink your coffee. “It’s obviously something. What is it, Peter?”
“Are you okay? I heard a lot of noise last night and I wanted to make sure you were okay, but it sounded like someone was with you.”
Your body goes rigged and you laugh nervously as you take a sip of your coffee. “It was just Maude and Violet. They walked me home and I was drunk. Sorry if I woke you, I wasn’t sure if you were home,” you lied between your teeth as you met Peter’s concerned gaze.
He nods slowly. “Just be careful if it happens again, the apartment door was left unlocked.”
“Ah, shit, sorry.”
Peter’s not surprised that you made the decision to lie. After all, he’s the one that took care of you and walked you home, but you didn’t know that your reclusive roommate was Spider-man. If he were in your shoes, he’d probably lie too. He lies to you on a regular basis due to his nightly occupation. He heard you tell your friends on the phone one day that you think he’s a male stripper with how late he’s out every night.
There’s a brief pause before Peter speaks again. “I made breakfast, there’s leftovers on the stove for you.”
“Oh! Thanks, Peter.”
You make yourself a plate of the leftovers he made and take the stool beside him. You eat quietly and scroll through the emails you missed yesterday. From the corner of your eye, you notice Peter staring at you. You turn to look at him. “What, Peter?”
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem upset. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’m getting by,” you answered truthfully with a shrug of your shoulders. “I rather not talk about it.”
When you’re finished with breakfast, you clean up the kitchen before retreating to your room and get ready for the day. When you leave the apartment, you don’t miss the way Peter’s eyes follow you out the door.
Now, Peter didn’t intend on following you. He’s just worried about you. He knows that you don’t owe him an explanation. He hasn’t been the best roommate and you have a rocky relationship with each other, but something about last night makes him want to change that. You could’ve died, and even though he prevented it, he wants to make sure you’re taking care of yourself. Whatever you’re going through, he wants you to know that he would be there to listen if you wanted, whether as Peter or as Spider-man.
He changes quickly into his suit and climbs out of the window. He knows a little bit of what your daily schedule is like. You have classes in the morning until the early afternoon and then you head to your internship at some law office near Manhattan. He doesn’t know exactly what you do, but it keeps you out of the house for most of the day and into late evenings every week.
As he follows you throughout the day, he catches up on homework he’s been neglecting to do as well as keeping tabs on the gangs he’s been tracking over the last several months. He’s perched on the roof that’s opposite of the office you work in. He can see you at your desk, which faces the windows on the fifth floor. Your eyes are focused as he watches you work from a distance. Your head turns as he watches you react to someone calling your name. He sees you laugh and smile as you take a file from a co-worker. Peter can’t remember the last time he saw you smile.
A few more hours pass before he watches you gather your things and head out the building. He hovers over you as you make the journey back home. The lights in the apartment turn on and the window to your bedroom lights up and Peter makes his move to greet you for a second time as Spider-man.
He swings on to the fire escape with gentle footing. As he’s about to knock on your window, your curtains slide open and you don’t notice him standing there until you poke your head out the window.
“Agh!” you screamed, hitting your head on the window. You stumble back into your room and grab at the top of your head. You stare at Spider-man with wide, shocked eyes as he raises his hands in mock surrender just outside your window. “What are you doing here?!”
Spider-man climbs through your window and stares at you with his hands up. “What are you doing climbing on to the fire escape?” he retorted. “That’s dangerous.”
You gap at him like a fish out of water. “I sit on the fire escape when I eat dinner. What’s it to you, Spider-man? You do much more dangerous things than me climbing on to the fire escape and we’ve both lived to tell our tales.”
“Touché,” he said, closing the window behind him.
“What are you doing here? You can’t just come in here! My roommate heard you last night!”
You run to close your bedroom door and Peter’s thankful that he’s wearing his mask with the smirk that grows on his face. If you only knew that you were talking to Peter. “I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were doing.”
You sigh. “I’m fine!” you hissed. “Can you please leave? Peter should be back any second and the walls are super thin. Please go.”
Peter has to bite his tongue in order to suppress the laugh that’s threatening to spill out. “Wait, you’re roommates with a guy?”
You scoff at the masked superhero. “Seriously, Bug Boy? It’s 2022, a guy and a girl can peacefully live together without fucking each other! You’re unbelievable!”
Peter sputters at your crass language and his cheeks flush a deep red. You stomp towards him and gently brace your hands against his chest. You ignore the feeling of his taut muscles under your palms as you push him towards the window.
“I appreciate the concern, but I’m fine. You have to leave. Go save a stray cat or stop a car thief, I don’t care. Just go. You have more important things to do than checking in on me, I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.”
You open the window and practically shove Spider-man out of it. He holds the window open for just another long moment. “I’ll be here if you ever need me again, okay?”
Your gaze met his masked white eyes. “Okay. Take care of yourself, Spidey.”
Your heart drops into your stomach as you watch him swing away.
You shut the window and lean against it with a heavy sigh. Your shoulders immediately deflate and you shake your head in disbelief. Spider-man had come to check on you.
Ten minutes pass as you attempt to relax from your second encounter with Spider-man and eat your dinner on the kitchen isle when the door to the apartment unlocks. You let out the tension that had built up in your shoulders as you waited for Peter to come home.
He locks the door and quickly toes off his shoes. He smiles and says a quiet hello before shrugging off his backpack and his jacket.
“Hey, Pete. There’s leftover dinner in the fridge,” you said, finishing your meal. “I was going to watch the new episode of Rick and Morty if you wanted to join me.”
“I’d love to,” he said, hurrying down the hall and throwing his bag in his room. He joins you on the couch and it takes everything in his power to calm his racing heart.
Several days pass and things between you and Peter are somewhat back to normal and Spider-man hasn’t returned to your window.
Near the end of the week, to your complete and utter surprise, Peter brings you lunch one afternoon.
“Hey, Y/n!” the secretary Tara called your name. “Your roommate’s here with your lunch!”
You look over your desk and to your surprise, Peter trails behind Tara with a bag with Paula’s Deli inscribed on it. It was your favorite spot to get sandwiches when you needed a pick me up. Peter smiles sheepishly at you and rubs the back of his head. You smile softly and lead the two of you to the break room across the floor. You settle at an empty table and sit across from him.
“You didn’t have to get me lunch, Peter. Thank you,” you told him with a grateful smile.
“You forgot your lunch on the counter.”
“How did you know to get me Paula’s Deli sandwiches?”
He grins as the two of you start to eat together. “It’s only the best kept secret in Queens, Y/n,” he teased, pulling the hat he was wearing off his head.
“Jesus, Peter! What happened to your eye?” you gasped, reaching across the table to get a better look at his face. His right eye was black and bruised. He winces when your fingers brush over the tender skin.
“I was running late to class yesterday and wiped out and well… fell on my face,” he muttered sheepishly.
“Shit, Parker,” you mumbled before sitting back down. “If you need me to help you with anything, just let me know, okay?”
He smiles softly and nods. “Okay.”
After you had lunch with Peter and finished the remaining work you had left for the day, you went home and were surprised yet again that Peter was home before you. You knew that he was out late most days and you rarely saw him around this time of day at the apartment.
Music was playing softly through the TV and you sat your bag on one of the empty stools at the counter. He was making dinner. You never saw Peter make anything in the time that you’ve lived together.
“I’m making spaghetti, I hope that’s okay,” he said as he turned to greet you.
You stare at him. “Yeah, yeah that’s fine. Thanks, Peter. I’ll be right back to help you.”
You retreat to your room and change into comfy clothes. You return to the kitchen table set for dinner and Peter eagerly pulls out a chair for you. You shake your head and laugh softly at him before taking a seat. You eat together and make small talk before building up the courage to ask him a question.
“Why are you doing this, Peter?” you asked as you sipped on your water. “Not that I don’t mind you making dinner for us, but this isn’t like you. Do you have something to tell me?”
Peter clears his throat before his eyes meet yours. “I want us to start over. I know we haven’t been the best roommates to each other, and I want to fix that. We haven’t gotten off on the right foot and I want to try and be friends with you, if that’s okay with you.”
You’re shocked to say the least. You hadn’t expected that. You thought that this was his “I’m moving out” speech and that he’d force you into a spiral as you tried to find another roommate before he left. You visibly relax.
You can’t help but smile. “I’d like that,” you said, clinking your glasses together.
You and Peter fall into a nice, new routine after that. You take turns making each other dinner and you actually enjoy spending time together. You’re courteous of your crazy schedules and communicate with each other when you need space. It was a good change of pace. Things were going back to normal and it allowed you to push your two encounters with Spider-man to the back of your mind. You haven’t seen him since you told him to leave.
One night, you’re scared awake by a crash just outside your window. Your heart is in your throat as you turn on your bedside lamp and creep over to the window. You pull back your curtains and gasp in surprise. Your hand flies to your mouth and then you’re frantically trying to open your window for a very wounded Spider-man.
“I know… I know you said not to come back, but I didn’t know where else to go,” he wheezed as he clutched his side.
You gingerly wrap your arm around his waist and guide him into your room. “I didn’t say that,” you whispered tentatively as you help him on the floor and lean against your bed. “I said I could take care of myself, but apparently you need me to do that for you too.”
“Don’t tease me, Lady Bug,” he laughed painfully. “It hurts to laugh.”
You ignore the way the nickname makes your heart skip a beat. You run into your bathroom and rummage through the cabinets for the first aid kit your parents bought you when you first moved into the apartment. You wash your hands quickly, throw your hair up into a ponytail, and run back out to the injured superhero.
You kneel down in front of him and stare at his bloody chest. His suit is torn in three different places across his chest. It was like whatever he fought tried clawing his heart out. It had massive talons.
“I can’t clean the wounds the right way with your suit still on.”
“If you wanted to see me naked, you could’ve just said so.”
“I’m not joking,” you deadpan with a glare. “You’re lucky you didn’t wake Peter with how loud you are.”
“Peter, Peter, Peter,” he tutted. “You’re awfully concerned about someone you don’t get along with.”
You let out an exasperated sigh and lean back on your thighs as you look at him. “Do you want me to fix you up or not, Spider-ling?”
He grunts and leans forward. “There’s a zipper where the mask meets the neckline of the suit. I would unzip it myself, but I can’t lift my arms above my shoulders.”
Your heart leaps in your throat. You’re going to have to unzip the suit for him. “Okay,” you whispered.
You sit up on your knees and lean towards him. Your fingers gingerly wrap around his neck as you feel for the zipper. Your fingers itch at the edge of the mask and you hold your breath as the zipper falls down his back. His warm breath hits your shoulder even through the mask. You know he can smell your agave scented shampoo and it makes you wonder briefly what he smells like without the iron of his blood and the mixture of his sweat on his skin.
Your fingers carefully pull the suit from his body and it’s bundled at his waist. Now that the suit is off his chest, you can see the full extent of his injuries. You can’t help but stare. Blood is oozing from his chest and it’s already starting to dry at the edges.
You run back into the bathroom again and wet a washcloth before returning to your spot in front of him. You dab the cold cloth against his skin and he winces at the contact. You don’t say anything. What could you say to a superhero that came to you for aid? You don’t have the words.
“What happened?” is what you settle on.
“You should see the other guy,” he joked. You stare at him and he sighs. “The less you know, the better. It’s safer that way.”
“Then why come to me at all? If it’s so dangerous, why are you here with me?”
He sighs and you focus on his chest rather than trying to guess what his face says when you stare at his mask. “For purely selfish reasons.”
You don’t know what to say to that, so you settle on not saying anything at all. The bleeding finally stops for you to wipe antibacterial cream on the wounds before placing large bandages on the wounds.
“Are there any other wounds I should take care of?”
He shakes his head. “No.”
You nod your head and busy yourself with cleaning up the wrappings and throwing the bloody washcloth in the trash by your bed. Spider-man calls your name and you turn to face him as he makes it to his feet. You swallow hard and meet him by the window. You help him back into his tattered suit and zip it back up, your hands braced on his back.
“Is it wrong of me to say how much I like you?” he whispered.
“You don’t know anything about me, just as I don’t know anything about you,” you reasoned, not meeting his masked gaze. “You can’t say that.”
“I know, and I know it’s selfish and dangerous of me to want to get to know you.”
You nod in agreement. There’s a ringing in your ears. “Goodnight, Spider-man. Get home safe.”
He opens the window and you don’t miss how his gaze lingers as he stands on the fire escape.
He doesn’t say goodnight.
