After several hours of tossing and turning, Flash eventually gave up on trying to sleep. His body was still aching and he could feel the dry, irritation in his eyes, but his mind was just to wired to rest. He checked his phone for the time.
Damn, it was only 5:30am.. The glimmer of the early morning light was peaking through the sky-lights above him. He knew that even if he tried, he'd never get to sleep now, he just had to let it come to him naturally. The little cat nap in the car yesterday hadn't been enough to ease his sluggish and battered body, so today was going to be a miserable day for him.
Giving in, he sat weakly up in the bed and looked around his new home. The bedroom walls were a dark grey, like the color you see in all those HGTV shows. His big, soft as a cloud queen sized bed was nestled into the corner just as you exited the bathroom. Piled high with fluffed white pillows and a sink into me feather top mattress. The shock-white duvet could double as a heated or cooled blanket. He'd never seen one that could cool you down before.
Ever since the accident Flash could never seem to stay warm, even on hot days, so he thanked all the Gods for giving Peter or Wade (who he still hasn't seen) the foresight for buying those covers. While the cool feature would probably never be used he'd already fallen in love with the heated one.
Directly across, in the opposite corner, someone had hung a rather large flat screen. But not your regular, black trimmed, thick as a board style TV. This one was looked like something from a sci-fi movie. It was crystal clear, probably glass or acrylic, and was only about 1/2 inch thick. There were no wires or microchips that Flash could see and no remote anywhere. He had no clue how to even turn the damned thing on.
I'll have to ask Pete about it today, he thought.
Under that, there was some sort of black glass cabinet with a bunch of charging ports on each side and a weird glowing symbol on the top. The doors of it had what looked like a print scanner so he avoided it entirely because he really didn't want to accidently blow up his new home.
After the TV, you had three evenly spaced sky-lights down the wall/roof (Flash could lie in bed and see the skyscrapers in the distance) with a row of bookshelves underneath. A custom built closet finished off the wall.
Rising, he walked over the white shag rugs placed over the hardwood (he liked the ongoing color scheme here) to fetch his warmest hoodie from the closet, even though it was nearing June he wore two shirts and a thick pair of flannel lounge pants.
He went to the small bathroom to splash some water on his face. Hoping it would help relieve some of his fatigue. A glance at the mirror as he reach for a towel made him stop.
God..Look at me, he thought.
His face looked gaunt, the hollows of his cheeks were so prominent that he had taken on a skeletal appearance. Last he checked he was still above two hundred pounds, but with his 6'6 height it did nothing to help him. Before the accident he had been nearly three hundred pounds of muscle, now he was mostly skin over bone. The rehab sessions had concentrated more on getting him walking than getting him back like he was.
His skin looked pale but had a yellow undertone (that can't be healthy) and with the dark circles under the eyes he looked like death.. The scars on his face and head stood out like a beacon in the dark. He had learned that the shorter he kept the hair the less noticeable it was, so he'd starting leaving it at peach fuzz length. Couldn't make himself shave it off entirely.
Amazing what depression can do to a person, he thought.
"You've got this Flash. You can pull out of this shit and learn to be human again." He tried giving himself a little pep talk in the mirror. "One thing at a time...One day at a time.."
Sighing, he went to the living area and decided push out the sky lights to let the morning air in. He'd left the AC off last night for fear of freezing to death, but the fresh morning air felt good on his face. He walked around the room once more, taking in every little detail. The photos were his favorite part of this place. All of them taken by Peter Parker himself.
It must be amazing, being able to be so close with the worlds heros, he thought as he stared at the photo of Spiderman and Deadpool.
But Pete had said maybe Flash could meet them to one day. He couldn't imagine it, probably Pete was just humoring him but wouldn't that be just wicked awesome!
It was definitely a posed shot, they sat with their backs pressed against each other while they smiled at the camera. You could actually see the smiles behind the masks. Each had their furthermost leg bent with their arm resting on top of it, while the leg in the foreground was comfortably stretched out in front of them. Their remaining arms were held down flat against the ground and touching shoulder to shoulder. In the background behind them the large A from the Avengers tower was lit up directly behind them. meaning they were sitting on the edge of the building.
How the hell does Peter get these shots, Flash wondered.
A glance at his phone told him he'd been staring longer than he thought. Nearly an hour had passed. He wondered what time Peter would be up. He wanted to do something nice for them, so he planned on making breakfast this morning but didn't want it to get cold if they were late risers.
Deciding to risk it, he pulled himself away from the photos and softly began down his steps. He didn't want to wake them if they were still sleeping. There was no sounds coming from the bedrooms, so he crept silently by, hoping there were no more hidden surprises waiting for him. Later, he was going to explore the house a bit more, just to get a good feel of everything and find the laundry room. His clothes from storage had a musty smell and he didn't want to walk around stinking up the place.
As he went down to the main floor he paused to look at more photos. The stairwell was lined from top to bottom with them. He'd recognize May and Ben Parker anywhere, having grown up around Pete one or both had made many trips to school when he and Flash had gotten into fights. Dozens of pictures of them and what had to have been Peters parents and other family covered the stairwell. Peter looked just like his mom. There wasn't an empty spot to be had. It didn't feel cluttered, it just felt homey.
Descending to the main living area these walls were peppered with even more pics of May with Peter, May with a man who looked burned, Flash couldn't really tell because the man tried to disappear into a hoodie, many more of Peter with the same man. Flash wondered if this was Wade, his face was very familiar but he just couldn't place it.
Each of the four living room walls apparently had a theme going on. One for family, obviously. One was full of photographs of Peter with none other than Tony Stark and (HOLY SHIT! That's Captain America!) group shots of Peter with the Avengers (holy hell, he really does know them) and even some of the X-Men.
Mother Fucker...That's Wolverine..
Wall three was dedicated to friend shots of him with their old classmates and, Flash was guessing, Peters colleagues from Stark Industries.
The last wall really caught Flashs attention. It was like a blast from the past.. Old photos, mostly from their high school days reigned here. MJ and Gwen, Harry and Ned, others he didn't remember, some that he did. Peter was in nearly every shot here, but what struck Flash the most was the sheer number of photos of himself..
He was freaking everywhere..
I don't even remember him taking these! Basketball, football, homecoming..The prom! Shots from the quad where they all had lunch to random ones of him in the halls. All of them looked like they were from a photo shoot but Parker must have meant for them to be this way. Flash had never even been aware his face was being snapped. He stopped at one of him and MJ by a locker on graduation day.
Huh, was there really a time when I looked that happy, he wondered. He was smiling widely at her while she was focused on something off to the side, looking unhappy. It wasn't one of the better shots so he wondered why Peter had it hanging here. MJ actually looked pretty angry..
And a few hours later she clocked me with my class ring.
The more he stared the more he remembered, and it was enough to bring back those whispering words in his head..Taunting him.
Pathetic! So horrible your own mother didn't want you!
A loser..! Selfish asshole, why don't you us all a favor and just finish what started in that desert!
Mary Jane was right to leave you! She should have shoved that ring down your throat and spared us all!
Useless.
Worthless.
Wretched.
Failure.
No one wants you here! Even puny Parker slammed the door in your face!
FREAK! Just kill yourself and be done with it! DO IT!
"...NO!..." he came back to himself standing in the kitchen beside the knife block.
Jesus that had been a bad one.. The voices hadn't tried to get him to kill himself for a long time, they had lately been pretty quiet. If they did this again he'd have to try and up his med intake, even though it didn't really make them go away, it still pushed them far back into his mind.
Taking a deep breath and wiping his tears away he tried to get his thought under control and began searching for the tools he needed for breakfast. Obliviously unaware of the man who had been standing at the top of the stairs who had watched his whole episode with familiarity. Having experienced it himself on a daily basis, Wade decided he'd go back and tell Petey-Pie what just happened before making his entrance.
It would give their new roomie a chance to calm down.
((And we get free food!))
[[Shut up, it's not our time yet! And it's not free if we fucking paid for it dumbass]]
((You suck the fun out of everything! Even Petey!))
"Both of you shut up!" Wade smacked a hand against his temple, "I'm the only one who's gonna suck anything out of Peter! HEH HEH!"
[[(( You never let us have any fun))]]
Back down in the kitchen Flash was having an internal pep talk while he was swiftly putting together a large stack of pancakes and bacon. Last night Pete mentioned that he and Wade both ate a lot of food at one time, so Flash figured he'd better make a few dozen cakes. He found a large electric griddle for the cakes and one for the stove top which had three packs of bacon currently frying on it.
Himself, he wasn't feeling hungry even though he knew he should eat. He skipped eating all together yesterday and today would be more or less the same. Food just turned his stomach, he'd rather not eat if he was just going to throw it up. He found a large serving tray and piled it up with the finished cakes before making two more dozen.
He was moving the crispy bacon onto it when a voice came down the hall singing loud and horribly.
"I'M A... CANADIAN BAD ASS. Watch me kick! You can roll with POOL or you can SUCK MY DICK! I'm a porno flick, I'm like amazing grace, I'm gonna fuck some hoooooo- Well Hello there!" Wade stopped his freaky dance.
Flash turned, prepared to finally meet Wade and froze in his tracks.
Standing before him, decked out from neck to toe in full red and black gear, was freaking Deadpool!
There were katanas strapped to his back, two small pistols holstered to the cross-straps on his chest, more guns holstered at his sides, thighs and ankles. Knives attached from top to bottom and (HOLY FUCK, that's a grenade!) a purple unicorn was attached to his belt.
"...Nnn..."
Wade cocked (hehe, you said cocked) [siiiiiiiigh] his head to the side like a dog. "Uhhhh, you ok there Sparky?"
"...Hooo...llyyyy..."
[You forgot your mask dipshit, way to go]
(Oopsies! He looks like he's gonna shit himself)
"He's not wearing the brown pants.." Wade replied.
"What?" Flash managed to stutter out at last.
"Not you Atomic blonde, them!" he gestured up in the air. "Aaaanywhos, sorry bout that, didn't realize my mask was off. What a face to wake up to, huh? Also sorry about that chair thing yesterday...Yea.. Anyway, gotta go to work today so I can bring home more bacon! HAH!"
[Please don't bring an actual pig in here again]
"Holy shit...You're Deadpool?" Flash stammered.
"Yeeeeeeees..?"
"Like, the actual, Deadpool? Wade Wilson? Merc with the mouth?" Flash was slowly drawing closer to Wade.
"Ummmmm...PETEY...HELP!" Wade called out, tapping his fingers together he looked around the room for help, "The one and only, sugar tits! Look sorry about the mask thing, Pet..."
"This is the greatest day of my life..!"
"I.. Say What?" Wade was getting confused.
[You're always confused shitstick]
"Can I have your autograph? NO! Wait! How about a pic?! I have to go get my phone! Shit, why didn't I bring it with me!" Flash cursed. "Can I touch you? Can I touch your katanas?" He placed a hand on Wades pecs and honest to God giggled he was so happy!
"Soooooooo...You're a...Fan?" Wade inquired happily.
"Dude! You're like one of my idols! I mean, I totally love Spiderman and all but you just.. Like, inspire me every freakin day and you're so freakin hilarious but still a total badass and oh my God, I love you and Flash just shut up before he thinks you're crazy..."
"...PETER!?" Wade called.
"For the love of God! Wade, what is it?!" came the shout from upstairs. "And where the HELL is the damn toilet paper?! This isn't funny, Wade! I really have to GO!"
"Can we keep him?" Wade yelled.
(We have to, he's sexy and good for our ego! And he didn't notice our scars!)
[Just another mouth to feed. Throw him to the curb]
(He's paying rent douchepool)
"If it's Flash, then yes! He can stay. If it's something else you drug home then NO! Leave it outside! Now come up here and bring me the fucking toilet paper or I swear to God I'm not letting you bring anymore unicorns in this house again!"
"YOU MONSTER! YOU...Are those pancakes?" Wade asked gleefully.
The mention of the food broke Flash from his fanboy trance and he raced back to the stove. "Shit! The bacon!" When he turned back Wade was sitting at the the kitchen island already drizzling syrup over a dozen of the pancakes.
"How..?"
Wade flashed him (heeee Flashed) a smile showing off his perfect teeth, "I'm gifted! Now pass me some pig, puddin!" He clapped his hands in anticipation.
Flash moved the bacon to the serving tray and turned to give some to Wade. Only to find him licking the syrup from his fingers and the pancakes already gone.
"...Uhhh.. Did you already...?"
"Those were delish!" Wade spun on the stool, "WEEEEEEE! Almost as good as mine, but you got a looong way to go there blondie. Now, Big Daddy Pool is going to finish this piggly wiggly and then its off to work for a few days. I have some terrorists to terrorize! Reach me some OJ, would ya?"
"Sure." Flash got a small bottle of Sunny D from the fridge, "Here you...Go.."
Half the bacon was gone.
"Told you. Gifted! Just ask Petey-Pie! My mouth is maaaaagical!" He sang.
"Wade..." Peter said from the doorway.
"Yes, dear?"
"Where's the freaking toilet paper?" he asked darkly.
"...Well, what in the actual ass, look at the time! I gotta plane to steal, Love you Baby Boy!" Wade jumped from his seat and gave Peter a dramatic hug and dipped him.
"Wade..."
Wade turned kissed Flash right on the lips with a popping smack, then lifted him up into a bear hug, rocking him from side to side. "Genie, thanks for the love. And by love I mean pancakes. Take care of Petey while I'm gone, Kay! Kisses! Bye!" He pulled his mask on as he made for the door giving Peter a smack on the ass, then he was gone with a slam of the door.
Pete looked up at the ceiling, "Where's the damn toilet paper?" he asked the air.
Flash flopped down into a chair in the breakfast nook, looking shell shocked. Pete stood in the doorway, taking in the palor of his skin, his thin frame and sunken, dark eyes. Thinking back to the talk he and Wade had upstairs a few moments ago he went to the cabinet and pulled out two plates and cups. He piled his own plate high with pancakes and bacon, then made a smaller plate for Flash since the man didn't seem to want to eat.
Checking to see the other man still sitting stunned he took a small bottle of vitamins from the cabinet. Not your over the counter brand, these were a super strong one created by Peter to help those with super stamina stay more balanced. He figured if he could get at least one a week into Flash the man may start to feel better. Crushing one, he mixed it into some butter that he topped Flashs cakes with, then poured some OJ into the cups.
He carried everything to the table with ease, setting the plate down for Flash.
"Oh, thanks Pete, but I'm not to hungry."
"Humor me a bit." Peter sat, "I can tell you're not ok, Flash. I noticed it yesterday, and I'm seeing it today. And I will mind my own business til you decide you want to talk to me, but trust me, not taking care of yourself is the worst thing you can do. You look like hell, you're thin as a rail, your skin tone isn't healthy at all. Did you sleep last night?" He asked as he took a big bite.
"...No. But that was more from excitement than anything. It's not often I'm too happy to sleep. Usually I just can't do it. I have..." Flash tried, but he couldn't make himself tell Peter about the night terrors.
"You don't have to talk if you don't want to." Pete assured him, "I'm not usually a mother hen, I swear," Flash grinned, "but for today at least, let me help. I've never seen you like this before, and it kinda worries me. Eat, then we'll go upstairs and I'll show you how to work some of the gadgets in your bedroom. Then, you can try to sleep."
"I don't know if I can keep the food down.."
"Just try, ok. It's better than nothing at all."
Flash picked up the fork and began working his way through the meal, before he even realized it he had cleared his plate and for once he didn't feel sick at all. That didn't happen often.
"Hey Pete?"
"Hmmm, " Peter hummed.
"You said Wade was an exterminator..."
Peter took a long sip of juice, "Weeeelllll.. If you really look at it, he kinda is.. Just.." he gestured vaguely, "with much bigger bugs..?" He hid his red face behind the cup. "He'll be back in a few days, then you can fanboy all you want. Wade will love that. It's not often he finds people who really admire him, so he's gonna be attached to you like a shadow from now on. He likes you, and he doesn't do that with many people."
"But he barely even met me.."
Peter shrugged, "Wade can tell that your a good man. It's enough for him."
"Can I ask where he's going? Or, um, should I not know?"
Peter looked him straight in the eyes, "Syria. He's gone to Syria.. Got a hit on a terrorist group he wants to wipe out. Don't worry about him, alright. He will be fine, I promise."
Flash paled a bit more at that, "...What part of Syria?"
Peter rubbed his face. He was up later than expected last night after Wade deemed it necessary to hack into Flash's military career after watching Black Hawk Down. It didn't take long for them to uncover his medical records and the files on the incident that nearly cost him his life. Digging deeper, Wade managed to find shielded info on the group responsible for those IEDs along that highway. A group that has caused trouble for SHIELD and the Avengers in the past. A group that the ARMY had apparently known everything about, including knowing about the roadside bombs that had been set up on that highway. Yet, they sent the convoy in anyway, without a warning to them of what they were walking into.
Nineteen men and women, all dead. Now, over two years later, the government had still done nothing to rectify the situation. Choosing to let the terrorists walk free, killing countless numbers of Syrian women and children, and even more members of the military.
Wades anger had soon rubbed off on Peter. After spending much of the evening with Flash, you could see how much damage that incident had caused. Damage that could have been avoided if only the government had done the right thing. Which was why Wade was now on his way into the ruins of Syria. He had names, he had faces, he had a head filled with rage. And he had Peters blessing. Knowing that the US Army willingly let those men and women go in there, not informing them of the danger, was enough for Peter to turn Wade loose. Looking over at Flash's weary face, he was glad he did.
After tomorrow... Well, that city in the desert would most likely be a smoking crater.
Sometimes even Spiderman had a dark side..
Peter sighed, "Aleppo.. He went to Aleppo.."
Flash nodded, contemplating that for a moment.
"Hey Pete.."
"Yea?"
"Your best friend is freaking awesome!"
He raised his glass in a toast, "You really have no idea.."