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Part Five

 

Author:  kevswitchau

Pairing:  Peter Parker/Casey Connor

Genre:  AU: Faculty/Spiderman crossover

Rating:  NC-17

Warnings:  Sexual tension, drugs, language, angst, violence.

Disclaimer:  I don’t own the rights to these characters, I’m just playing with them.

Note: I don’t own ‘em, I don’t own the characters, but I’d like to!

 

 

You’re the closest to heaven that I’ve ever been

And I don’t want to go home right now

Iris (The Googoo Dolls)

 

 

Casey was sure Peter was still awake.

 

He was lying in bed, listening to Peter’s deep, rhythmic breathing, but he was sure.

 

Casey’s Mom had been watching some black and white movie when they got home, and she had glanced at Peter and nodded in response to Casey’s question.

 

Of course he can stay. How are you, Peter?

 

Perfunctory. Polite. Of course she didn’t wait for an answer.

 

Then she had gone back to sniffling into her tissue, watching some woman overacting a death scene. She hadn’t even blinked in Casey’s direction. Hadn’t noticed the bruises or the burn...that would come.

 

Casey led Peter upstairs, stopping to pull bedding out of the linen cupboard. Casey had wanted Peter to at least sleep on the couch downstairs, or in the den...that would have offered him some form of comfort, but Peter had insisted. The floor was fine. It was almost as if he didn’t want to let Casey out of his sight.

 

Not that Casey minded.

 

So now here they were, lying in the darkness, listening to each other breathe. Peter shifted, and a few minutes later, shifted again. Casey knew the floor was hard. Hard and cold, and Peter was unlikely to get any sleep down there.

 

“Pete?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You wanna...I mean...”

 

“What’s up, Case?” Peter sat up. 

 

“The floor’s too hard man. You wanna sleep up here?”

 

There was a beat of silence, and Casey’s heart sank. He could see Peter looking at him. His silhouette didn’t move. Casey wondered if it had been a mistake...knew he shouldn’t...

 

“No, it’s okay.”

 

For a minute he was vaguely disappointed. Try again. 

 

“Pete...if you’re there, you won’t get any sleep. You don’t sleep, I don’t sleep. For gods sake get up here. I’m fucking exhausted.”

 

“Casey...”

 

“Peter...please?”

 

Peter sat where he was for a moment longer. Casey could imagine what was going through his head. If Peter refused this time, Casey wasn’t going to push it. He lay down again, pulling the quilt over him. Maybe the dark room had been a mistake. Maybe things would be too weird now. Maybe...

 

He felt the cold air rush in as Peter lifted the blankets and climbed in beside him. Casey held his breath for a moment, afraid that if he moved or spoke, Peter would just get up and leave.

 

“Case?”

 

Casey smiled slightly, relieved, and turned towards the voice, so that they were lying side by side staring at the ceiling.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Thanks man.”

 

Casey turned his head and regarded Peter’s profile for a minute. He felt his stomach clench bizarrely. 

 

“My pleasure,” he whispered, his mouth suddenly dry.

 

Peter turned his face towards him, and Casey felt himself blushing furiously. Thank god for the darkness. Casey had made a decision on their way home not to ask any more questions. He didn’t want to push things with Peter. Didn’t want to force Peter away. He’d take what he could get.

 

“Your Mom seems nice.”

 

Casey shrugged. “She’s okay I guess. We get along well.”

 

“And your Dad?”

 

Casey shrugged again. “I think I’ve always been a bit of a disappointment to my Dad. He was this super jock, you know?”

 

He felt Peter nod.

 

“I guess he always wanted me to follow in his footsteps...play ball professionally or something. Sometimes I just get the feeling that I’ve let him down.”

 

Peter nodded seriously. “I know that feeling.”

 

Casey propped himself up on his elbow and looked down at Peter. Even in the darkness, he could see Peter’s face was drawn down into a mask of pain. Casey didn’t speak. He waited.

 

“I let my Dad down too.”

 

“You don’t talk about your parents much.”

 

Peter sighed. “Well...he’s not really my Dad. My folks died when I was small. I went to live with my Uncle and Aunt, and they sorta became my parents.”

 

Casey nodded.

 

“I...there was...” he sighed again. “My Uncle died a little while ago. He was killed. It was...my fault.”

 

Casey didn’t know what to say. He stayed still, watching a single tear slide down Peter’s cheek. Peter reached up and angrily scrubbed at it. He wouldn’t look at Casey.

 

“Jesus man,” breathed Casey. “I’m sure it...”

 

“People I care about always seem to get hurt.” It came out as a whisper.

 

Now Casey really didn’t know what to say. He wanted to reach out to Peter. He wanted to hold him and kiss him and make him forget all about the things that made him cry. The things that he’d lost. But he was scared that if he did, Peter would pull back, and this would be lost. Whatever this was. Casey didn’t know, but he knew it was good.

 

Casey watched Peter take a deep breath and let it out slowly. He turned to Casey with a watery, lop sided grin. “How are those ribs, man?” 

 

He’s so good at changing the subject. Casey took a deep breath and winced. “Still a bit tender.”

 

“And how about this?”

 

Casey almost flinched as Peter reached out and gently cupped his cheek with a warm hand. He realised that Peter was being careful not to touch the burn, and he relaxed into the feeling of Peter’s fingers on his skin. 

 

“It’s okay,” he breathed.

 

“Your Mom never said anything...” Peter’s thumb ran gently along his cheekbone.

 

“She never noticed.”

 

“She’ll notice in the morning.” 

 

Casey shrugged. He knew what would happen in the morning. It wasn’t his Mother he was worried about. But right now...right now the morning was hours away, and right now he was here with Peter tenderly touching his face, feeling Peter’s body pressed against his in the darkness.

 

Peter pulled himself up onto one elbow so that his face was inches from Casey’s. Casey could feel Peter’s breath against his cheek.

 

“Goodnight Case,” he whispered. Casey opened his mouth to say something, but Peter leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. Closing his eyes, Casey felt Peter’s tongue softly brush against his. He knew that it was a cliche to say that the kiss took his breath away...but there was no other way to describe how he felt as he tasted the softness of Peter’s mouth.

 

The kiss ended as gently as it began, and Peter stroked Casey’s cheek once more before lying back down. Casey stayed where he was for a moment, breathing rapidly, feeling slightly off balance.

 

Nobody had kissed him that way before...not before tonight.

 

He cleared his throat. “Night Pete,” he croaked, and turned his back on his friend, snuggling under the blankets. 

 

For minutes that seemed to stretch into hours, Casey lay on his side, his eyes wide, staring into the darkness. Even though he was more tired than he had ever been, he couldn’t sleep. His body was hyper alert; every sound, every movement was magnified. His mind raced.

 

“Go to sleep, Casey,” Peter mumbled. 

 

Casey’s eyes widened. How did he know?

 

“Okay...sorry,” whispered Casey, but he knew he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

 

He felt Peter press against him in the darkness. He was drawn backwards so that he was lying in two strong arms, Peter’s chest against his back. Peter’s heart beat slowly, rhythmically, vibrating through Casey’s body, lulling him.

 

“Go to sleep, Case.” 

 

The words were whispered in his ear, and Casey found himself drowsing, his whole body relaxing against Peter’s.

 

“Okay,” he breathed, and he slept, safely, in Peter’s arms.

 

 

Kevswitchau 2002

Part 6

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