A Call to Action (Avengers Fan Fiction #1) | REWRITING

Chapter 15

Peter threw the books on his desk to the floor. Some of the books ricocheted off of the floor and knocked the lamp over. A loud crash followed soon after, breaking the silence that settled. Peter's glasses fell off of his nose and onto the floor where everything had landed. His chest heaved as he exhaled loudly through his mouth. His fingers curled up into fists and faced the wall, not willing to let me see him in his angered state. I had just told him about what happened to my parents, which caused him to go into a rage. It took him a few minutes to control his actions and regain his composure. He grit his teeth, "Who did this to you?"

I clasped my hands together and crossed my legs. I wanted to wait until he calmed down fully, but I knew he wouldn't wait. When Peter was angry, he needed the answers up front, otherwise he would storm off. I reluctantly answered, "William Stryker, but he's already dead."

"Damn..." He tugged at strands of his hair and leaned his head on the wall. "I hate people like that. People that just plain out hurt others. I couldn't do anything to help you. I couldn't save you from that pain. I couldn't...I didn't even know you were alive, Lilly."

"Peter, it happened. So what? What's the big deal? It's in the past!" I exclaimed in a stressed tone. Maybe he didn't want to let that go. Does he blame himself for this? We were kids, for God's sake. He couldn't have done anything about it. I thought to myself. I picked at my skin to try to keep myself calm. Getting out of hand was something that we didn't need right now. Fighting was enough.

Peter choked in between words, "What's the big deal?" He had to regain himself before he regurgitated some lame argument or something that would hurt both of our feelings. He paused for a long time before continuing, "The big deal is every day that I wake up, I pray to God that you're still here. Sometimes, remembering that you're not dead sheds some light into my life. You're the only member of my family that can protect themselves. The only one I can talk to about literally anything. Yeah, I've gone through a rough few years, but I'm afraid, Lilly." He stopped talking and closed his eyes. Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up and realize this was all a dream. Some concocted fantasy my mind made up while I'm in a coma from a terrible accident that happened while on a mission. What if I wake up and you aren't there?"

A mental needle stuck its way into my heart. His words hurt, and showed the weaker side that I hadn't seen a lot of. He was afraid. Afraid of losing someone else. The fear of death was strong in all of these people in the Avengers tower, but not a lot of them were willing to admit it. It shows that they are weak if they say it, but that's not the truth. It just means they have come to terms with death. "Peter, I'm real. I'm not going to suddenly pick up my stuff and leave unless all of the other Avengers wanted me to. I doubt they would do that though. They love you too much to do that, Peter. I'm always going to be here for you, even if we're miles apart. This isn't a dream."

I picked up Peter's glasses and examined them. He definitely needed them for his vision, but this moment got me thinking. When he had his glasses on, he was the sarcastic, nerdy Peter everyone knew and loved. He was happy, comedic, strong willed. Oh, and did I mention sarcastic? When the glasses came off, it revealed another side of him. The anger, the depression, the mental fight he has between his emotions and staying strong for the sake of his sanity. He was a completely different person. The glasses were just a mask. Or maybe they transformed him back to his regular self. Is that what my glasses do to me? I pondered.

"It's people like Stryker that make me think they can just take away my family from me. I won't ever see them again. That's why I was so angry. So...terrified. I can't let that happen again."

I blurted out without thinking, "Wolverine killed him. It's over. Done. The past. End of conversation." I just wanted to talk about something else. Something that would bring us together, not pull us apart. We had been apart for so long. So very long. Hearing all of those words come from Peter put us on a whole new level in our friendship. He opened up to me, something a lot of people didn't do on this level of private pent up emotions. I wanted to hear more, but this conversation was breaking my heart.