Peter was having a nightmare.
He knew he was, but he couldn't wake up. Everytime he tried, another masked villain rounded the corner, holding a gun to one of his family or friends' heads. And the worst thing was he was frozen, unable to move, no matter how desperately he wanted to.
Peter thrashed, his small form wrestling with his blankets, letting out small cries. Suddenly there was a loud screech of car tires outside the wide window, and he finally jerked out of the nightmare, dripping with sweat and shaking.
It took a few minutes for him to breathe normally again, and realize he was in Stark Towers, not in the dark alleyway of his dream.
"It was just a dream... it was just a dream… it was just a dream…"
I need to get out of here. He decided, the walls of his room were starting to close in on him. Untangling himself from his sheets, he stuck himself to the ceiling and crawled out the room.
He wasn't sure why, but ever since he'd been bitten by that radioactive spider he'd felt safest in high places, especially the ceiling. It just seemed to be a weird side effect of his powers.
Making his way to the kitchen he still felt agitated, and his spidey-sense was going haywire, reacting to every small sound.
The sound of chewing echoed off the kitchen walls, and Peter froze, his breath caught in his throat.
"Couldn't sleep?" Natasha asked calmly, taking a bite of churro.
"Uh, yeah, just a nightmare no big deal really- but aren't you more freaked out by me being on the ceiling?" Peter asked curiously. "Mr Stark completely freaked out the first time." He laughed softly at the memory.
"No. It makes sense, given your powers came from a spider."
"Huh, ok."
"So, are you going to tell me why you're awake and crawling on the roof?" Nat raised an eyebrow at him.
"Oh, well- um…" Peter dropped down from his perch, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Just a nightmare, nothing big."
"It must have been fairly bad for you to come out here."
"Nothing I haven't had before. Just all my friends and family being held hostage with guns… it's fine though."
Natasha studied him for a moment before setting down her mug of tea and churro and walking over to him. Peter studied her warily, he loved her but she was a hardened assassin and extremely unpredictable.
Surprisingly though, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. Peter stiffened for a moment before returning the hug, letting himself sink into the embrace.
Finally they pulled apart, Natasha watching him expectantly.
"Thanks." Peter sniffed, wiping his eyes.
"No problem, Spiderling."
"Don't let Mr Stark hear you say that, it's his nickname for me." Peter let out a watery laugh.
Nat smirked,
"like he could do anything about it. Now, do you feel better or do you still need hot chocolate?"
"Definitely still need hot chocolate, with lots of marshmallows." Peter agreed.
The assassin nodded seriously. "With whipped cream too?"
"Of course!"
"On it."
The two settled on the couch with their mugs, silent for a while, just enjoying each other's company.
Finally Nat broke the silence. "So how are we going to use your ceiling crawling to scare the others?"
Sorry about the wait! This chapter is shorter than the others, but i'm really happy with it, hope you enjoy :D