Peter's POV

Bang!

I startled out of bed, landing in an ungracious lump on the floor.

I rolled over, grabbing my web-shooters from under me and attaching them to my suit. Blindly reaching up, I fumbled for my phone. I dragged it down and squinted against the light.

Wait, what the hell? Six a.m.? What ungodly being woke me up?

Why had I stayed up so late patrolling? Why did work end so late? Why did school have to take up all my time? Honestly, I regret all of my life choices.

What was I doing? Superheroing. That thing. That I do.

But hey, I was already in my spidey suit! One less thing to worry about.

I shuffled over to the window, kicking some clothes and books out of the way in the process, and leaned out to see what I was going to come up against.

Debris littered the street like a prom gone wrong. Or at least like my prom had gone down. A car was on fire across the street. Further down, there was a shop with the windows smashed in. The inside was covered in bits of rubble and wood, the tables and hardware they sold in pieces from what I could tell.

The road was deserted, too. That was probably the most noteworthy thing because it was pretty ridiculous how many people I've had to save while they're taking a picture. Especially around superhero battles. You would think people value their life more than a couple of likes on Instagram, but no.

All around the place were bits of concrete, smashed glass and holes in buildings like a riot had come through here. Honestly, I was surprised all of this hadn't woken earlier me.

I scratched my head. This was bad enough to get classes canceled, right?

Right?

I jumped up onto the windowsill and shot a web out at the nearest building… which I smacked into… because I got tangled in the webs.

You know what? This might as well happen.

I untangled myself out of my web-cocoon before crawling up onto the rooftop. I had to look for whatever was causing the explosions. Hoping for a pipage problem was probably a bit too optimistic.

Maybe it was a villain who just loved bombs? Or Paste Pot Pete? Oh, please let it be him. I just wanted something simple and easy, and not aliens that take forty-eight hours to defeat.

I had been there before. I was way too tired to deal with that today.

Whatever gods there are, please let me rest. Even if it's just Loki that I have to beg to, I will. I just want to sleep. Is that so hard? Was I asking too much?

Behind, incoming.

Ah, the old Parker Luck. Things like this always happen when I want it to go the opposite way.

I was forced to jump to the side as something zipped past me. I was up moments later, trying to track its path, but it disappeared behind a building. And then it exploded. And then there was another explosion the way I had aimed on going.

I sighed. This was already shaping up to be a terrible day.

So, trusting my gut, I followed the path that the flying mysterious thing had probably taken in reverse.

Lo and behold, only a couple alleyways down, there were people. And not just any people! People with guns.

Damnit. Life, you are a cruel thing. This was the exact opposite of what I needed today!

The people there were all clustered in a big group. I was expecting them to be beating up some poor guy who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe a gang war (which would explain the explosions… to a point). Nope, instead, they were all just standing around looking kind of bored.

Oh! And some of the people had gotten more creative than just having guns. Some had crowbars, others had pipes, and most impressively, another had a bazooka.

A freaking bazooka.

They all seemed to be wearing the same type of clothes too, jackets with some kind of skull emblem, like they were trying to be the best flashmob in New York. That title had already been taken by Fisk with his troops.

In all honesty, they looked like they had crawled out of some bad action movie with low production value and high testosterone. Like Terminator.

Welp, this probably meant I had to take them all down. The sooner I did that, the sooner I could go back home and pass out.

As I swung towards them, a bald guy with tattoos absolutely covering him - like he thought they would make him cool - spotted me. "'At's 'im! Get 'em!" he shouted, showing off his yellowed teeth to all the world.

Ew, Gross.

I aborted my swing in favor of just aiming myself at one of the guys and pulling myself towards him like a bullet, kicking him in the guts. I then used him as leverage to backflip out of the way of one of the goons who had decided it was the perfect time to try and hit me with a crowbar.

He ended up hitting his buddy in the face, effectively meaning that with barely any effort two of the men were already down and out for the count.

"Hey, guys! I didn't know the circus was in town, you should've put up flyers!" I yelled at them.

And they shot at me, like the assholes they were.

I flipped and twisted myself out of the way until I got close enough to the group to land a few solid punches before jumping back to avoid some bullets.

"C'mon guys! Can't we talk this over? Grab some coffee,-" my voice became strained for a second as I kicked one guy in the face and took the gun off another one "-wheat cakes, ice-cream… nobody can hate wheat cakes!"

I flipped backward, narrowly avoiding the bullets flying every which way around me. The unfortunate guy behind me ended up getting hit in the shoulder. I webbed him to the ground.

Gun, behind.

I jumped at the alleyway wall, springing off of it to kick one of the guys in the back of the head. He had tried to shoot me too! Honestly, these guys weren't even creative! I had semi-high hopes and they blew it!

I grabbed a hold of his gun and swung it at one guy who had been getting too close. He stumbled back from the blow and I used that moment to web him up too.

There was a flash of green to my side.

Bang!

A bullet buried itself into my stomach.

I stumbled back, already covering the wound with a hand. I winced at the squelch I heard. That… that definitely wasn't good.

Bang!

Another one in my shoulder.

Crap, this was getting out of hand. Maybe I should get out of here and regroup, dress my wounds and then give this a second go. Surely there were some other heroes around. But they had that big bazooka, someone could seriously get hurt and-

I slipped out of the way as one of the circus men tried to take a swing at me, dodged a bullet that would have buried itself in my head, but was too slow to move out of the way of another.

"Hey, guys, I call for a timeout!" I yelled, wincing at the pain I was finally starting to feel. I hastily grabbed a clip of webs, flicking a switch on it for just this very purpose, and threw it at the ground.

As hoped, it exploded in every which way, including at me, and trapped all of us.

With the pause in the battle, I was able to finally look down at myself.

Blood, everywhere.

Ha, who would have thought Spider-Man would die from such a small battle? Not even against some big bad villain?

I hope Aunt May wouldn't be too mad…

Boom!

I flung myself onto the ceiling, gasping for breath. I grabbed for my stomach, feeling around for a hole in my costume, a wound, anything.

I was… whole?

Shoulder? I grabbed at it, trying to find the wound. I had been shot! Why wasn't there any wound?!

I let myself fall back onto my bed, which bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

I wasn't hurt, nothing was wrong with me. Wow… ha, what a vivid dream. I was still shaking and I could swear I still felt some phantom pain!

I laughed quietly, rubbing tiredly at my head. That's what you got for patrolling until two am. What time was it anyway?

I picked up my phone. Six a.m.? Damnit! Why had someone decided that illegal fireworks were great at six a.m.?!

Another explosion rocked my room and someone screamed. I reluctantly grabbed my web-shooters and mask from the minefield that was my apartment floor. I'll just go tell these people off, get them to stop, and crawl back into bed and sleep till midday.

I shuffled over to the window and slipped out in one move.

I rounded the corner, prepared to yell about firework safety when-

Dodge left, incoming.

I aborted my swing as fast as I could, narrowly avoiding the whatever-it-was hurtling towards me like a balloon losing air.

And then there was a huge explosion, followed by several people screaming.

I picked myself up from the ground, glancing back to find a crater in the road.

This wasn't good.

I rounded the corner, following the trail of destruction into an alleyway. "Hey, guys!" I shouted, drawing everyone's attention-

No way.

The circus people?

Shocked into stillness, my pause gave them an opening to rally.

"'At's 'im! Get 'em!" One of them shouted, showing off his yellowed teeth to all the world. Again.

Ewww…

C'mon Peter, get it together.

I ran toward them, and at the last moment flung myself at the alleyway wall. I backflipped off of it and tackled one of them to the ground, then sprung backward off of him, webbed him, and then reattached myself to the alleyway wall.

Wow, that was pretty cool!

"Hey, guys! I didn't know ballet was in town, you should have put up more flyers!" I teased them.

And they shot at me, because of course they couldn't be a "proper" fight without some bullets. Maybe add something here about villains disrespecting him, or something cynical.

I flipped, twisted and jumped out of the way until I got close enough to the group to do any damage. I was able to land a few solid punches before I was forced to jump back and away to avoid being littered with holes.

"You all dance so prettily too! All coordinated!" my voice became strained for a second as I kicked another guy in the face and took the gun off another one, "Encore! Encore!"

And they shot at me again. Honestly, did they know any other way to fight? The bullets missed me by a mile!

I aimed and webbed several guys to the floor, effectively taking them out of the fight. Including Bazooka Guy.

"Hey, Bazooka Guy! Question, is that compensating for anything?"

He was quick to curse me out, something about dust, a funnel, and my guts. Very creative. A-plus.

It only took a couple bigger webs to get the rest of the guys. I finished with a bow to my cursing crowd.

"Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all night!"

I straightened back up, dusting my hands off. Alright, time to go back home and sleep. Maybe after I'll try and do some laundry or something. This was my last clean spider-man suit… if you called a day of wearing it under your clothes clean.

I turned around and started heading back. Maybe I could go grocery shopping too, and maybe do some of that chemistry homework. Maybe give the apartment a clean if I had the chance. Or even-

Behind, incoming.

I whipped around, ready to fight, when too late I realized I had made the wrong move.

The Bazooka Guy had managed to aim at me.

One of the missiles was headed straight for me.

Damnit.

An explosion echoed along the street, followed by a scream. Then another, this time closer and rocking my bed, and cars honked their distress in the street below.

I shot up and tumbled out of bed, smacking my elbow against the ground in the process. Only half coherent, I struggled to untangle my legs from my sheets.

My body ached fiercely, crying out at me to do something. Don't just wait around!

I sighed, rubbing at my face. What time even was it?

I looked over at the alarm. Six a.m.

What?! Trying to calm down, I looked myself over for any injuries while the pain ebbed away. I was... fine. Nothing was wrong with me. I was fine. I wasn't dead. I hadn't died. I was just having the worst case of deja vu ever.

This was crazy.

Two hours wasn't enough time to dream an entire morning, let alone two, let alone die in both! Didn't people wake up before they died in dreams?

Maybe someone was messing with me. It could be Mysterio decided today was the day to experiment with dreams within dreams and go all Inception on me. I seriously hoped right now wasn't another dream within a dream. Therapy already costs too much.

I pinched my arm. Ow. Nope, real life. Pain isn't real in dreams.

Alright, whatever, that was weird. I could deal with this.

What do I do? Well, investigate the explosions, obviously. I guess if it happens again that's the time to be worried. Who knows? Maybe I'd gotten home at twelve instead of four and had had enough time to dream out a day?

I pulled myself off the floor and grabbed my web-shooters, putting them on with shaking hands.

There was another explosion with more blood-curdling screams.

I took a deep breath, calming my nerves. I could do this. I am Spider-man. People were in danger.

I got up, checking that my web-shooters were on right before I climbed out the window. This time I was going to take these goons down and then go about my life.

Except, when I got there, everyone was already tied up. I cautiously peered into the alleyway from my vantage point on the wall.

All their weapons looked beyond use. The bazooka was bent, their guns were sliced in half and all the men were lying around. No blood, not dead but definitely unconscious.

And to add the cherry on top, an unfortunately familiar red spandex loving mercenary was leaning against the alleyway wall.

I dropped down to ground level, folding my arms and sauntering up to him. "What are you doing here?"

He actually seemed to relax? What the hell?

"Hey, Spidey, long time no see! How you been, baby boy?" He asked cheerfully, still not looking over at me. Apparently, his hands were more interesting.

I had to stop myself from curling my hands into fists. Some of the men were concerningly still, though I count fainty hear them breathing. But for all I knew, there was a dead guy in the dumpster. "Did you kill anyone?"

Wade leaned his head back so he was staring at the sky and sighed like everything I was saying was tiring him out. "No, I didn't. I know how you feel about that."

"You didn't answer my first question either, you know. Why are you here?" I ground out.

He tilted his head as if trying to mimic a puppy. "You make a lot of enemies, you know."

"Are you keeping tabs on me?" I hissed, jabbing a finger towards him.

He dropped his gun carelessly to the side and strode up to me, using his height to loom over me. It wasn't very effective, villains did it better. "You know full well I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was important."

"You think everything is important!" I spat, refusing to take a step back.

Deadpool leaned back as if trying to size me up. Probably trying to figure out what my next move was going to be. I hated how observant he was.

If he couldn't read people, he wouldn't really be a good mercenary, after all. All part of the job description. Along with bloodlust, a twisted morality, and good aim.

"When was the last time you washed your costume?" he asked instead, completely changing the subject.

This wasn't worth punching him over. This wasn't worth the time or the energy. I had things to do that were way more important than him and whatever games he was trying to play this time.

Forgoing an answer, I simply turned around and webbed away.

Work didn't give me a break and neither did college.

Three more essay assignments on some boring aspect of chemistry and honestly I just wanted to smother myself with a pillow.

Alas, I couldn't blow this off because it counted for a fair amount of my grade.

I leaned back in my chair, staring blankly at the word document, which was also blank.

This sucked.

Alright, time to actually try to get some work done.

T - h - e….

…

…

….?

Nope, I couldn't do this. This was torture on my mind and body and soul. This paper sucked and life sucked and Wade sucked and could someone please come to smother me with a pillow!

C'mon Pete, just two-thousand more words. Two thousand more and you can go to sleep and forget about the day and hopefully get smothered with that pillow while you slept.

Ah, wouldn't that be glorious?

What time was it anyway? I glanced at the clock in the corner of my screen. 11:58.

Hey, that wasn't too bad! Maybe if I get this done by two am I won't be dead tired tomorrow. Five full hours of sleep… man, that sounded like bliss.

I blinked, right, focus, work to do.

The b-o-n-d…

I groaned, I hated this already. If I can just-

Bang!

I fell out of bed, tumbling onto the ground and smacking my funny bone onto the ground.

Cursing, I scrambled to sit up. I looked up at my bed.

I wasn't there a moment ago. I had been studying! One moment I had been studying and now I was-

Oh my god.

I snagged my phone off the bedside table. 6 am! It was yesterday again?!

This wasn't fair. This shouldn't be happening! I met Wade yesterday- I mean today and we had that fight after I fought the circus men and… the day before that I had fought them and died…

I rubbed tiredly at my forehead, where a headache was blooming. Nope, I was going insane. I had just had a dream within a dream where I had lived two full days, one where I had thought I had had a dream within a dream when I had woken up that day and-

The building shook again as a lady a couple floors above me screamed.

Right, I had to go fight the circus men. And avoid Wade. And get on with life.

Easy enough, right?

I palmed around for my mask and haphazardly put it on before I shuffled over to the open window.

Here we go again, hopefully for the last time. I slipped out of the window with ease and arched into my first swing.

Around the block, I found them. Again. But everything had gone quiet and there were no more explosions.

Please, please don't be Deadpool.

I landed at the beginning of the alleyway, cautiously peering into the dark passageway.

Huh, someone else had come to help this time. And it wasn't Deadpool because I knew he didn't have any of my webs. I casually walked into the alleyway, noting how it looked like a bomb in the form of webs had gone off. It was not the prettiest of sights.

Looking up, I found a familiar teenager swinging his legs idly as he sat on the edge of a fire escape.

"Hey, Spidey! Do you like my gift?" Miles asked, a huge smile visible even through his mask.

I looked over the mess of an alleyway a second time, then put my hands on my hips. "Did you seriously use a whole cartridge of webs for these goons? I think we need to do more training."

"That's what you focus on? Not even following up my joke about us both being Spider-man?" He said, putting his hand over his forehead like he was a damsel in distress in a sixties movie.

"That joke got old years ago and you know it. Isn't it a school day? What are you doing here in Queens of all places?" I asked, folding my arms and jutting my hips out like an old teacher trying to scold a class of teenagers. Which felt way too accurate at the moment.

He shrugged. "Oh, nothing much. Just felt like the right thing to do. Wouldn't want anyone getting killed now, right?"

I narrowed my eyes. "'Wouldn't want anyone getting killed now?" I echoed.

That made him shift suspiciously. "They wanted to kill you. So I stopped them. End of story. And I mean, who brings a grenade launcher to a street brawl? Can't let 'em run around."

"Did they say something about wanting to kill me?" I asked, keeping my voice light-hearted.

He nodded quickly. "Yeah! Now I'm sure you have places to be-"

"Nah. I'll come with you back to your school, how does that sound?"

"No!" He exclaimed. I smirked at the same time he stiffened.

"You trying to skip school or something? Miles. C'mon." I jumped up to join him on the web.

He shifted, bringing his legs up under him so he was sitting cross-legged. "No… I just wanted to go do something more…" he waved his hands around like it explained everything, "y'know!"

I tilted my head. "'Something more, y'know?' Sounds great, kiddo. Schools still important."

He grovelled for a few seconds, burying his head in his hands. "Just because you're a nerd who's doing a freaking Master course at NYU doesn't mean I have to."

"I'll take that as a compliment. C'mon kid, this ain't like you," I prodded.

"I'll just get notes from Ganke?" He replied, looking the other way.

"Your boyfriend, huh?" The glare I got made it well worth it. "Won't your teachers be worried?"

He shrugged. "It won't matter by tomorrow."

Another red flag. Huge red flag. I looked down at the 'circus men' still trapped in huge balls of webs. "How about we get outta here? I'll get you some pizza."

"What about burgers?" Miles pleaded as we both got up, shooting our own respective webs at the closest building.

"Sure kid, your pick."

"So I speed around the corner, my arms stuffed with chemicals that I don't even know the name of and a hundred scientists chasing after me with guns-"

"Woah wait, when did they get guns?" I asked, waving a fry around.

"In the elevator! Keep up, Pete. So I'm yelling about how this is the worst day of my life when guess who bursts in through the vent?"

"Captain America?"

"No, screw him. Black Widow!"

"You sure she wasn't a clone?"

"No! We had already killed the clone."

"That's right. What the hell was she doing there?"

"Well, here's the thing. Turns out she had been following me from the moment I fell through the ceiling so I was all like, 'what the hell? Black widow!' and she just gives me that look. You know the look right?"

"Oh, I know the look."

"And she goes 'good job kid, I'll take it from here."

"No!"

"Yeah, she did! Well, it was more like 'huh. You get out of here' but in Black Widow speech that's basically a compliment."

We were both interrupted by an explosion outside. We both watched as a red and black person went flying out of sight.

"Wait, who was that?" Miles asked, turning to me, blinking a few times.

"I don't think it was Daredevil. Daredevil has way more grace than that." I mused.

"So who else do we know whos a red and black wearing superhero? Or a villain? Maybe it was just a normal guy getting blown up?" He paused to take a bite out of his burger. "Wait that's Deadpool isn't it?"

I shook my head, devouring the last of my burger before standing up. This was going to be a nightmare. "How about we go check it out rather than just wondering."

Miles chuckled, "Yeah that might just do the trick."

We both went into the McDonald's bathroom and changed into our respective costumes. Only a minute later we were both outside looking at the chaos around us.

"Someone was having an off day," Miles murmured beside me.

"'Off day' is an understatement and you know it," I whispered right back.

In the relatively short amount of time we had been eating at McDonald's, the whole street had turned into a rubble-filled mess like the Hulk had rampaged through it. And in the middle of it all was Deadpool…

Who was singing about pina-coladas in the rain?

And not only was he singing some 80's song, but he was also getting shot at by a different group of 'circus people' than the ones that had tried to kill me this morning.

A headache began to pound behind my eyes.

"Should we step in?" Miles asked hesitantly.

I rubbed at my nose, "No. Let him do his thing. We'll just get civilians out of the way if we need to, ok?"

He nodded firmly. We paused watching the carnage go on for a few moments before he spoke up again. "Hey, Spidey?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we just going to watch this fight…?"

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"Well, uh, no, but-"

"Then don't worry about it. Despite appearances, Deadpool isn't as insane as he acts," I explained quietly.

Miles stared at me, probably trying to figure out what the hell I was thinking. I ignored his searching gaze and kept watching the fight.

With everything that had happened between us… I did know that he respected me enough to not kill in New York. I wasn't sure how much he bent that rule… but he wouldn't outright kill out in the open. That much I was certain of.

Especially because killing in the open meant that it would somehow or another come back to me.

Let's just say people had somehow mistaken our costumes to be the same more than once. I wasn't really sure how, but it has happened.

Not five minutes later all the 'circus men' were tied up and Deadpool was dusting his hands off.

I rolled my eyes. I didn't need to see anymore. All I had needed to know was whether he would kill anyone and luckily, he hadn't. I went to grab Miles' shoulder to drag him along, but flinched away as he suddenly shouted-

"Yo! Deadpool!"

Unluckily, he was drawn to the noise. He seemed to brighten up as he realised who it was and came sauntering over with a huge smile on his face, visible even through his mask

"If it isn't Spider-man and Spider-kid! Hey, Baby boy! How are you doing?" He asked cheerfully, his eyes watching my every move.

"Fuck off," I growled.

He gasped dramatically, slapping his hands over his mouth. "Language in front of children, young man! Has nobody ever taught you manners!"

I stared at him, refusing to dignify that with an answer.

He turned to Miles instead. "What are you doing around these parts anyway? I've never seen you come this way before."

Miles tilted his head, folding his arms. "What does that mean?"

Wade grinned even more, but it looked way more strained than his normal one. "Doesn't have to mean anything. You know me, or at least I assume you do. Wade Winston Wilson, at your service!"

"At my service, huh? Tell me whatcha meant then? Cause I have definitely swung through here multiple times," Miles pried. I couldn't help my fond smile.

He shrugged, dancing back. "Just feeling very groundhoggy day, anyway I have to go! See ya Baby Boy and spidey-kid!"

He threw down a smoke bomb. Both Miles and I stumbled back a step, waving away the fumes. Wade was gone.

Miles turned to me after the smoke had cleared, hands on his hips. "Baby boy, huh?"

"Do not start on me, young man."

It was pretty quiet the rest of the day. I never did force Miles to go to school, whenever I tried to bring it up he changed the subject away from school into something I was doing or something he had spotted.

So we just chilled and ate various unhealthy junk food together. It was pretty good.

That night when I went to bed, I couldn't help but hope that mentoring Miles for the day was what would let me see the next day come.

Or, if the logic of the Groundhog day movie was true that would be the case.

It wasn't like I could magically solve everyone's problems in New York in a day. Ha, as if.