When the Magic Fades

Peter woke up late in the day, it was around 11am when he finally opened his eyes. To say he was a little disappointed that he woke up to the bed by himself was an understatement, but it was also understandable.

If the girls had woken up before him, he didn't really see the need for them to stick around. He had been using a lot of his stamina last night to keep both of them satisfied, which was why he was last to wake.

As he was basking in the afterglow of the night and thinking back on just exactly what happened he couldn't help but realise that he would have to figure out how to fix scuff marks on plaster. Seeing as the ceiling and walls were dotted with marks, which were just unexplainable if he got someone else to do the work, he would have to do it himself.

'Damnit'.

Quickly brushing his teeth and washing up, Peter slapped on one of the shirts Felicia had bought him a week or two back and a good pair of jeans.

Making his way out of his room and looking at the time, he quickly headed to the elevator. He knew that after a party like last night everyone would be up and about for lunch. He would have to see what was in the fridge from last night, hopefully there would be some leftovers.

Though with the rest of the Avengers around, it wasn't a safe bet to think everything was still there.

As he walked through the doors and heard the tell-tale sign of laughter, chatter and the TV, Peter gave a small jump when a hand landed on his shoulder as he made it to the bench. Looking over, Tony was standing by his side.

He looked a bit roughed up for some reason, but nothing was too discernible on the surface. The only reason Peter noticed something was off, was because of his super hearing which told Peter, Tony was suffering from some internal bleeding and a couple bruised ribs.

Tony spoke no words as he looked at the young man. There seemed to almost be and understanding between them as their eyes connected. Giving a solemn nod, Tony turned away from Peter and made his way back towards the couch where Pepper was sitting.

Peter looked at the man as he walked away, the slight pull of his shoulders telling of a man that was about to face a war, or had already lost it.

Peter wanted to give him a salute, something to show he understood his sacrifice.

But in the end his eyes caught Felicia looking his way and he stopped himself. With that strange interaction out of the way, the day was looking bright for Peter as he heaped himself some of the left overs and went over to the table, where Felicia and Laura were sitting.

It was just before he was going to make his way over that he was stopped once more by Clint and the events of last night really started to sink in. Appearing from nowhere, literally having slithered out of one of the vents above. The super spy gave Peter a scrutinizing look, as if a dad looking at a potential son in law.

Giving himself a nod of assurance?

The spy grabbed Peter's hand and raised it into the air. Peter let him do it in his stupor, as the man then gave him a hi-five.

Giving the boy another nod Clint's ear twitched for a second as if he heard something, before he disappeared again back into the vent, a little of the food on his plate missing. *Ding* It was not a few seconds later that the unmistakable ding of the elevator went off as Natasha walked into the room.

She looked slightly pissed off as she stalked her way in, eyes scanning the room. Though it was hard to tell under her cold demeanour, Peter could tell.

That pissed off look froze though when she caught sight of Peter himself. Her shoulders froze, he face relaxed just a little as their eyes met. Thinking about their talk last night, Peter instantly wanted to say hello, but held back as he saw the cold frosty wall come right back up.

Her face become a tundra as she turned to look away from him, heading right back towards the elevator and that was the moment that Peter really felt guilty.

Why did he feel guilty? Well it was obvious.

Should he feel guilty?

He shouldn't have, but he did.

'Was it a betrayal of trust?'

The idea worked its way into his mind as he found that his hunger suddenly dwindled down. Though he would still eat his food, still talk to Felicia and Laura, his mind would be preoccupied for the rest of the day as he thought of what he could possibly do to make it up to her.

He didn't really need to do anything; they weren't a couple.

They weren't like that.... But Peter could tell there were some feelings.

He would have been an idiot if he couldn't realize that fact after last night.

So, what should have been one of the best days of his life, was slightly dampened as for the rest of the day, he thought over what exactly had happened between him, Felicia and Laura; and what he would have to do about Natasha.

It was as he was getting ready for bed, his mind a mes the whole day that it setteled in.

Yes, he had a threesome, a damn great one!.... wait don't get side tracked....

But now what?

What was going to happen in the future.

How could he make any of this work?

He would have to choose someone.

This wasn't one of those harem anime where he could be oblivious. Though he wished he could right now.

'Could I just leave it as Friends With benefits?'

'Urgh this whole thing was going to become a mess; he just knew it'

That was the final thought that passed through his mind as he drifted back off to sleep. The rain outside mirroring his turbulent mind.

**************

Peter swung through the streets, the high-rise buildings of New York waving him off to bed.

He was tired.

He had school in the morning and Aunt May had been asking him some questions about why he was starting to get bags under his eyes. He just had another run in with Electro, how he got out of his specialised cell he had no clue.

Harry hadn't been speaking too him, which hurt. Though he had been spending more time patrolling.

'Maybe it's time to pull back a bit. The city survived without me way before I started...'

'..... Wow, had it already been two years?'

Peter reflected on his time as Spider-man, it had all been so hectic at the start. But life was good, Mr Osborn had even talked to him the other day about doing some intern work at OSCORP.

Peter was soo excited!

He was a bit young, only 13, but Mr O had assured him it would be alright, he just had to prove himself.

As his thoughts drifted off, his body automatically dragging him back towards his house. He was so tired he didn't notice the sudden light that appeared before him.

Before he could even make a noise, he disappeared into the swirling blue portal mid-air.

The cool breeze and sound of New York ever present in the city that never sleeps.

**************

Crystal looked on in what could only be worry as Peter began to shake in his bed. All the cameras in the room were hijacked by her systems as she focused all her computing power on her maker.

It had started 2 minutes and 34.325619 seconds ago.

A cold sweat had broken out on his forehead as his body started to turn from side to side. The sensors in the room picked up his elevated heart rate and blood pressures as he started to squirm.

"Peter."

Crystal sent out a small call to wake him up, but it was no use. He didn't respond to words as his vitals only continued to spike. The worry only intensified as it seemed to get worse and worse.

Something was wrong.

Crystal knew that but couldn't find anything in her database that corelated with what she was seeing. The processors in her mind were being clocked as more of her programming focused in on what was happening.

Tasks were put on hold, programs stopped as her data banks started to 'fuss' over him. It was at the 3-minute mark that Crystal decided that after another 30 seconds she would wake Felicia or Laura to come wake him up.

She had just set off his phone alarm to no use.

Crystal lamented the fact she had no physical body as she continued to watch what was happening.

Finally, a change, a flash of orange appeared around his head. It glowed dimly in the light, but the cameras in the tower were of the highest quality. She instantly began to run programs magnifying the image, taking it in and deciphering.

It was a complicated pattern, something Crystal had never seen before. Running it through all know programs was the first priority right now, old texts appearing and disappearing as the 'old language' was deciphered.

But it was too complicated, her programming couldn't make sense of it.

More of her processing power was shunted towards the problem a full dedicated replica produced and partitioned to continually focus on this unknown 'langague', Crystal would figure out what every this was and create contingencies.

Just as the partition was duplicated and sent off the flashing stopped and Peter's body stilled.

His vitals were still through the roof.

"Peter."

This time her voice gave a response as his eyes snapped open. His body almost bolting out of the sheets.

He raggedly gasped for breath as he looked around the room, not knowing where he was for a second, tears streaming down his face.

"Peter, are you ok."

The voice seemed to startle him again, he looked up to the ceiling, right to her camera. Crystal like to think he could see her worried gaze through them.

But there was something different, something behind his eyes that Crystal hadn't seen before. His body still shook, gasping for air, tears dripping to the ground for another 22.3567 seconds to be exact before he finally calmed down.

He still hadn't said anything as he looked out of the window. Crystal noted it was a rainy October day, while also accessing the cameras outside the building. There were no know threats lurking outside, that wasn't what he was looking at.

Finally, one last time Crystal spoke, her voice almost tentative.

"Peter?"

He still said no words, Crystal was about to message Laura and Felicia about the anomaly but he finally turned.

His face impassive, his voice... blank.

"Re-activate protocol , code 616212700"

If Crystal had eye brows they would have been furrowed, what was....

"Code accepted." Her audio spoke up, her programming mired in surprise as new files appeared from nowhere.... no locked files... What...

Peter closed his eyes in pain in confirmation of something...

"Activate code infinite"

"Command Accepted"

Peter turned his back as he continued to look out the window, if Crystal was searching his approximate line of sight, she might have correlated it with a designated sight of interest.

"Wipe the last 10 minutes from all memory files, no backups."

"Command Confirmed"

"De-activate code infinity set for 10 minutes, set as default."

"Command Confirmed"

"Bring up all major media anomalies over the last 20 minutes. Bring me specific footage from outside address, 177..."

Peter stopped, pain flashing through his eyes.

"Delay order."

"Command Confirmed."

Peter sent one last look at the camera above and the window outside before slowly going back to bed, though he knew he wouldn't be getting anymore sleep.

"Goodnight."

There was no reply.

Notes:

Well I gave everyone I think enough clues to figure out what is going on. I will not spell it out this time. This is a plot point that will be important in the future. But like way down the track. Hope you guys enjoyed it.