The night was tinged with a thick, suffocating air. Peter could barely stand in the alley, his body a mass of deep cuts and dark bruises. The fight had lasted far longer than he had anticipated, and Kraven was pushing him to the edge, toying with him, tearing him to pieces. Every breath was agony, every movement a reminder of how much it was costing him to stay on his feet. But there was Kraven, smiling with that deadly calm, his silhouette bathed in shadow, looking down at him as if he were a dying insect he could crush at any moment.
"Are you tired, spider?" Kraven's voice echoed through the alley like low, cruel thunder. His Russian accent imbued every word with a menacing tone, and his eyes glittered like those of a predator about to deliver the final blow. "How disappointing… They spoke of you as a warrior, someone capable of testing me." But I see you're just a kid playing hero.
Peter, panting, blood soaking through the fabric of his torn suit, could barely respond. He tasted a metallic taste in his mouth and tried to swallow, but the pain in his throat made him clench his teeth, holding on. "Don't give him the satisfaction," he told himself, holding on with all the strength he had left.
Kraven approached slowly, eerily calm, his boots clicking on the wet pavement as his grin widened, malicious. "How pathetic," he said, his tone almost amused. "You crawl around like a cockroach that doesn't even know it's dead yet."
With a swift, brutal movement, Kraven lunged at Peter, grabbing him by the neck and lifting him off the ground. Peter tried to free himself, but his fingers, numb and weak, only managed to claw uselessly at the hunter's arm. The pressure on his throat was suffocating, and his vision began to blur.
"What would your… 'loves' think, huh?" Kraven sneered, bringing his face close to Peter's, watching every spasm of pain in his expression. "They imagine you as a hero, like the great Spider-Man… but look at you. You're nothing but a scared, bleeding child. Maybe I should give them the consolation of knowing the real Peter Parker. A weakling crawling on the ground, worthless prey."
Peter gritted his teeth and, with what little strength he had left, kicked Kraven to the side, though the impact barely managed to make the hunter flinch. Kraven laughed, amused by the attempt. "So you still have some spirit," he sneered. "I like it, Parker. It makes this more fun."
Without warning, Kraven threw him against the brick wall, and Peter felt his body crash brutally. The skin on his back tore at the contact with the wall, and pain spread like a fiery wave throughout his body. He fell to the ground, and the blood that came out of his cuts began to form small puddles around him, staining the concrete beneath him red. Every attempt to get up was torture; his arms shook and his vision grew more blurred with each second.
Kraven leaned over him, observing his wounded body with a mixture of contempt and satisfaction. "Look at you, Peter… you can barely breathe, and yet you insist on getting up. That's what I hate most about you, about all of you heroes: you think you can do anything, that you're immortal. But…" he crouched down until he was in front of him, looking straight into his pain-filled eyes, "you're nothing more than prey, waiting for the moment when someone like me…" he pulled out a curved dagger and slowly slid it in front of Peter's face, "will finish you off."
Peter tried to speak, but only a weak, muffled whisper came out. "I… I won't let you win, Kraven. Not while I… have any breath."
Kraven's laughter was like a thunder in the silence. "Parker, I'm not here to win or lose. I am the hunter… and you are the prey. Winning is simply… nature."
Without warning, he plunged the dagger into Peter's side, who let out a cry of pain, feeling the cold metal cut through his skin, tearing through muscle and flesh. Every second the dagger remained there was torment, and Kraven watched with a sadistic grin, enjoying every spasm, every gasp of agony.
"Feel that, Parker," he whispered, as if he were teaching him a lesson. "That's the pain you feel when you face a hunter. All you can do… is wait for the end."
Peter bit his lip until it nearly bled, the agony unbearable. But in a last desperate act, he used all his strength to throw a strand of web towards a nearby building, propelling himself towards it in an attempt to escape. He fell to his knees on the other side of the alley, his body shaking, his breathing ragged, and every part of his being screaming at him to stop. But he kept going, crawling and climbing until distance separated him from Kraven.
The hunter watched him go with a satisfied grin, like a wolf allowing its prey to momentarily escape.
"Run, Peter. Run while you can…" Kraven muttered, his words echoing in the empty night. "The next time I see you, it will be the end."
When Peter arrived at his apartment hours later, the reality of the pain hit him full force. He forced himself to smile when Felicia and Gwen arrived, his entire body shaking as he tried to appear normal. But as soon as he sat down, he noticed that every movement made him sweat, his breathing was labored, and his hands were shaking as he held a glass of water. He felt like the world was slipping away from him every second.
Gwen was the first to notice something strange. "Peter… Are you okay? You look… horrible."
Peter tried to laugh, though the laugh escaped in gasps. "No… nothing is wrong. Just… a rough night."
Felicia frowned, moving closer to him and examining him more carefully. "Parker, you're sweating like hell, and… what is that?" She looked down at his abdomen, where blood had begun to soak the fabric of his shirt.
Gwen brought a hand to her mouth, horrified, and her eyes began to fill with tears. "Peter! Why didn't you say anything?".
Peter looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't want to worry them... I just wanted us to be able to... have a quiet night".
Felicia let out a bitter laugh and grabbed his face, forcing him to look into her eyes. "Calm down?" she muttered with a mix of anger and fear." Do you really think we can be calm when you...?" Anger began to surface in her voice, and her hands shook with contained rage—. What the hell were you thinking?
Gwen leaned towards him, tears running down her cheeks as she took his hand, her voice shaky and broken. "I don't want to lose you, Peter. I don't want you to risk your life... just to make us feel better. All I care about is that you're here, that you're okay".
Peter felt the weight of her words, and guilt hit him like a fist in the chest. "I'm sorry," he murmured, feeling like words could barely convey everything he felt. "I just wanted to… protect you from this."
Felicia looked at him, her expression softening though anger still shone in her eyes. "We're not kids, Parker. We're not weak. You can trust us… you don't need to carry everything."
Peter fell silent, taking in the weight of the words, feeling like, for the first time, he had the strength to stop carrying that weight alone.
Felicia and Gwen exchanged a knowing glance, and Peter could feel the weight of her worry and anger spilling over into her gestures and words. Felicia grabbed a napkin and, with a firmness that almost hurt, began to wipe away the blood seeping from the wound on his abdomen.
"This isn't just a 'rough night,' Peter," she hissed, not taking her eyes off him, her fingers shaking slightly as she cleaned the wound. "Do you realize how close you came to…?"
Gwen, her hands still shaking, grabbed a first aid kit from the kitchen. "I can't stand to see you like this, Peter. Not again. You always think about protecting us, but…" Her hands stopped as she searched for a bandage, and a sob escaped her lips. "You break our hearts every time you decide you can do this alone."
Peter tried to apologize again, but the words caught in his throat. He was exhausted, the pain was constant and brutal, but what really overwhelmed him was the weight of guilt and love he saw in their eyes. It wasn't the first time he had risked himself like this, that he had returned home in pieces after an impossible battle… but this time there was something different. This time he hadn't been able to hide it, and his sacrifice had become theirs as well.
"I love you both," he murmured, and his voice was broken. "You don't know how much. But every time I face someone like Kraven… every time I see my enemies advance, I feel like… if I don't do something, I won't see them again. And I don't want anything or anyone to touch them."
Felicia paused for a second, her expression softening, though her eyes still reflected a mix of pain and fury. "We're not princesses who need you to rescue them," she said, her voice as firm as a blow. "We're your companions, Peter. We're your equals. And we want you to stop deciding what's "best" for us."
Gwen finished wrapping a bandage around his abdomen and looked into his eyes, her gaze clouded with tears. "If you ever do this again… if you ever think you can carry the weight of it all again, without us…" her voice broke, "I don't know if I can bear it."
Peter closed his eyes, letting those words sink in, deepening his sense of responsibility and love for them even further. He knew he couldn't promise them he'd never get hurt again, that he wouldn't face danger again. But that night he understood something he hadn't seen before: that their fight wasn't just his. That their sacrifice, as heroic as it was, was also their sacrifice.
Felicia and Gwen stayed by his side, holding him, until he finally closed his eyes and allowed exhaustion to overcome him, feeling, for the first time in a long time, that he was no longer alone in this endless battle.
The air in the room grew thicker as time passed. The pain still lurked in Peter's every breath, but at least it didn't feel so heavy anymore. The touch of Felicia and Gwen around him gave him a sense of comfort, of something he could hold on to so he wouldn't sink. And for the first time, he didn't feel that desperate need to fight alone. The world kept spinning, and even though the pain was unbearable, his heart beat for them.
Felicia sat next to him, her fingers gently touching his face, as if she feared that the fragility of his skin could disappear at any moment. Her gaze, though filled with anger, also conveyed something else: concern, love, and a protective fury that hadn't been seen in her before.
"We love you, Peter." Her voice was low, but powerful, as if each word carried a weight in it. "But we're not going to let you keep doing this to us."
Gwen, for her part, knelt in front of him, her hands holding Peter's with a tenderness that contrasted with the rage contained in her eyes. "Never again, Peter. You don't have to carry everything. We…" she paused for a moment, as if the words couldn't come out of her mouth as clearly as she wanted. "We need you too. And, above all, we need you to be okay. For us. For you."
Peter didn't know how to respond. His head was full of confusion, but there was something in their hearts that told him he was finally understanding. The relationship he had with them, so complicated and, at times, stormy, wasn't based only on attraction or crime-fighting. It was something deeper. It was love in all its forms: warm, fierce, and completely imperfect. And he couldn't ignore it any longer.
He took a deep breath, and although the pain made him tremble, determination filled his veins again, but in a different way. He didn't want to continue with this idea of being the lone hero. Not anymore.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice cracked, but sincere. "I'm sorry for making you suffer because of me. It won't happen again."
Felicia stared at him, her eyes now filled with a mix of relief and concern. "Promise us that you won't keep sacrificing yourself like that. Not for us. Not for anyone."
Peter nodded, feeling the weight of the promise, and for the first time in a long time, it didn't cost him to make it. He wasn't alone in this. He had them. He wouldn't lose them.
The hours passed slowly, and the blood in his veins seemed to stop burning with each cure Gwen and Felicia gave him. Every touch, every gesture was a reminder of what they meant to him. The strain of the battle against Kraven was still a lingering pain, but he was more focused on them, on what he needed to do to protect them, not just with his strength, but with his will to be there.
Felicia and Gwen shared glances that said more than words could express. They alternated between caring for him, but also each other, seeking comfort in each other's proximity.
The room seemed quieter than it really was. With every step they took, with every gesture of affection towards him, Peter felt more surrounded than he had ever imagined. He had been so caught up in the need to protect everyone, that he hadn't seen what was in front of him.
Gwen, caressing the part of his face where the marks of the battle still remained, whispered softly. "Tell me what hurts you, Peter." Don't be afraid to say it. You're not alone.
Gwen's voice snuck in like a balm on his inner wounds. It wasn't just the softness of her words that soaked into him, but the unconditional love behind them. That acceptance, that willingness to be by his side, to understand even his worst moments, left him speechless.
Peter smiled weakly, unable to help it. It wasn't a hero's smile, nor a smile that tried to hide his pain. It was a real smile, a genuine one, although full of sadness.
"Everything hurts me," he admitted. "But... what hurts me the most, what really destroys me, is the thought that I risked so much without thinking of you. I don't want you to see me like this, to see me... weak."
Felicia sighed and leaned toward him, softly kissing his forehead. "You're not weak, Peter. You're human. And it's okay to be. What's not okay is that you think you have to do everything alone."
Peter closed his eyes, letting the weight of her words wash over him. The truth was, he had never been alone. He had always had someone by his side, even when he thought he didn't. Gwen, Felicia, even everyone who supported him, they were there. And he couldn't ignore that anymore.
"Never again," he murmured, squeezing both of their hands tightly, not just in gratitude, but also in promise. "I'm not doing this alone. Never again."
They both nodded, their eyes filled with tears, but also relief, knowing that those words, like the cure they had given him, meant real change. From that night on, things would be different. He wouldn't be a superhero bleeding out alone in the shadows. He would be a man, one with his own demons, but also with a shared heart.
The night, which had started with the feeling of defeat, of blood and fear, ended with something much more powerful: togetherness. The three figures were together, fighting for what mattered most. Not the world or the city, but the people who really mattered.
The room fell into a deep silence, a silence no longer filled with tension or pain, but with a quiet acceptance. The lights of the city filtered through the window, illuminating the faces of the three figures in the gloom, but the darkness was not feared this time. They were together, and that changed everything.
Peter, calmer now but still with his body wounded, lay back on the couch with his hands intertwined with Gwen and Felicia's. The bandages on his abdomen were evident, but his eyes, though tired, shone with a new light. He was no longer the man who feared hurting the people he loved, he was not the man who preferred to keep his suffering alone. He was no longer that.
Gwen, sitting next to him, leaned slowly, seeking his lips. Her kiss was soft, but laden with everything that had not been said before, with all the anxiety and hope he had been hiding. Peter received it, and for that brief second, the world stopped. There was no more Kraven, no more battles, no more fear. Only the warm touch of their lips, of that love they shared, so deep that it was capable of healing even the deepest wounds.
Felicia, observing the gesture with a mixture of tenderness and some jealousy, approached, her hands touching the back of Peter's neck as she pulled him towards her. The difference in temperature between their skins was palpable, and the kiss she gave Peter was fierce, full of repressed passion, of a need that she could not always express, but that this time she was not afraid to let out.
"I love you so much, Peter," she whispered, without moving away from him, touching his face with the softness that only she could offer him.
Peter, breathing heavily between kisses, smiled inside as he felt the warmth of both of them. "Me too. Both of you. You are my reason to keep going."
Gwen caressed his chest, feeling the scars, the ones left not only by that night's battle, but by all the battles before, and those of life. "Don't just protect us, Peter. Let us protect you too. Let us be your partners in this."
Gwen's words reached deep into his heart. In his life, he had been so used to loneliness, to being the one fighting alone, the one always carrying the guilt, the one sacrificing himself so that others could be safe. But that night, the voices of Felicia and Gwen, his love, reminded him that he didn't have to carry all the weight alone.
They stood there, holding each other, hands intertwined, sharing their love and their pain. Outside the house, the city was still in chaos, the shadows still lurking. Kraven was still there, as were his enemies, waiting for the next move. But now, more than ever, Peter knew he wasn't alone. Not in this war. Not in life.
"I don't want to keep losing you, Peter," Felicia murmured against his ear, her voice cracking with emotion.
Peter closed his eyes, feeling the weight of her words, and breathed deeply, grateful for the warmth of both of them. "They won't lose anything," she assured him. "I promised I won't do it alone, and I will keep it."
The night ended, but for Peter, waking up would be different. He wouldn't be just a hero trapped in his destiny, fighting for a world that often didn't understand him. He wouldn't be just the man who had to sacrifice himself to protect others.
He would be a man with two reasons to live, two women who loved him and kept him going. And finally, in that moment, he understood that the most important thing wasn't saving the city, or the world. It was protecting what he had discovered that night: them, Gwen, Felicia, and himself.
The war would continue, danger would lurk, and the battles would not disappear. But now he knew that when the darkness was too great, when the blood was too much, it didn't matter how much it hurt. He would always have a place to return to.
And with that, for the first time in a long time, he felt complete.
This is my first polyamorous Spiderman oneshot, I hope you enjoy reading it.