Hello I donât know if it has already been done but I got this idea where Peter one and Peter three starts to see peter two as a older brother/father/mentor figure. So they become overprotective of him since the last ones they had died. And at first Peter two doesnât notice it. Because it so subtle like the little things. Until it becomes a problem during a fight. All the while peter one and peter three just want to protect because they canât lose anymore loved ones.
A/N: This ended up linking back to plot points from Someone To Watch Over Me and Hearts Like Wild Animals so I highly recommend reading those first if you havenât!
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âYouâll be okay, Two, youâll be fine, I swear. Peter One and I are gonna take care of everything! Youâll be patched up and all good again in no time,â Peter Three was rambling reassurances, though the panic behind his eyes betrayed him as he kicked the apartment door shut and ushered Peter Two toward the couch. âI restocked the first aid kit, like, barely a week ago! Weâre actually prepared this time, at least I-I thinkâLet me just go double check that everythingâsââ
âI can do it!â Peter One blurted out, desperate to feel useful, scrambling toward the cabinets under the bathroom sink.
âGood man, thank you! J-Just come and sit down, Two, okay? Keep it cool, weâve got this, everythingâsââ
His method seemed to be that if he kept talking and talking and talking, he wouldnât have to stop for a moment and think about the ramifications of what had happened. Peter Two, however, wasnât having it.
âPeter, stop it. Donât say everythingâs okay when itâs not. Itâs not okay. Get off of me right now. Let me go,â he ordered with deadly calm, jerkily shrugging away to round on his brother with only a slight shudder through his injured arm. Peter Three stopped up short under his narrowed eyes, as did Peter One, frozen in the bathroom doorway with the first aid kit clutched to his chest.
âW-We shouldnât be wasting any more time,â Three tried again after a beat of uncertain silence, gesturing at the couch. âYour armââ
âI can deal with my arm myself. What you can do,â Peter Two shot back, âis explain what you were thinking out there.â
Peter One swallowed hard. Peter Threeâs jaw twitched and then set. Inhaling deeply, he shifted testily back and forth for a moment or two before lifting his chin and folding bloodstained hands over his chest. When he spoke again, his voice was clipped. âJust doing what I had to do.â
âI told you last time, Peter, I told you as clearly as I could that something like that could never happen againââ
âYeah, well, that was before you needed my help!â
âI didnât! I didnât need your help, and certainly not that kind of help!â
âSo I was just supposed to leave you to fight a whole gang alone with a busted arm?! I was protecting you!â
âYou were lashing out irrationally and causing even more damage and chaos and bloodshed instead of doing your job with a clear head! You think I couldnât have handled those meatheads on my own? Iâve taken on twice that number, twice that size and I came out on top just fine, thank you very much. You were supposed to focus on evacuating the civilians! Remember them, the people who actually need protecting? If I needed backup, I wouldâve called.â
âNo, you wouldnât!â Peter One exclaimed, drawing an incredulous glance from the eldest. âYou wouldnât! If he hadnât noticed anything was happening, you wouldâve just tried to power through it on your own like always. You could have pieces of broken bone sticking out through your skin now if he hadnât been there to help!â
âI beg your pardon? Youâre supporting him on this?!â Peter Two couldnât help but reel back at his words. âYou remember what happened last time Peter Three stopped pulling his punches, donât you? That was supposedly for your sake and you called him out right off the bat! What happened to setting boundaries between protection and paranoia? Whatâs changed?â
Peter One flushed hotly, sputtering for what could be a reasonable response. âT-That was different!â
âHow?â
âWell, Iâm not you!â
âWhatâs that supposed to mean? What is this double standard where youâre allowed to draw a line against his methods and Iâm not? Canât you trust me to take care of myself?â They hesitated just a fraction of a second too long. Peter Twoâs mouth dropped open, disbelief and hurt filling his face as he stared between them. âIâŠIâm sorry, Iâve been doing this job longer than the two of you have combined and somehow youâve convinced yourselves that Iâm more helpless than those civilians on the street today? Is that what youâre telling me?â
âNo, butâ!â
âDeny it all you want if it makes you feel better about yourself and what you can do but you needed me out there. Thatâs a fact,â Peter Three snapped. âAnd if you donât think I wouldnât do anythingâanything to keep you safe, then you donât know me at all!â
âYouâre the one whoâs lying to yourself, if you seriously believe that Iâd ever ask or want such drastic measures from you!â Two let out a shaken breath, stumbling a few more steps back until he bumped and rattled the coffee table. âI-Is that how badly you think of me, that Iâm tooâwhat, too old or s-stupid or useless to get by without you there to be my guard dogs? I canât believe this, I canâtâŠâ
âNo, no, no, no, no, itâs not like that!â Peter One heaved a hurried, tremulous breath, trying and failing to reign in the anxiety spiking. âItâs notâThatâs notâWeâre just trying toâ!â
âWeâre trying to get it through your thick skull that youâre not invincible!â Three spat. âYouâre one to talk about double standards, asking us to trust you on this when you lied to our faces how many times before!â
âBefore? Before what? W-What are youâ?â
âThree, pleaseâŠâ
Peter Three was undeterred by the stressed, whimpered plea from the youngest. If they were going to have it out, they were going to have it all out here and now.
âOh, I bet it was easy for you to forget, Peter Two, since you were the one who got to sleep it all off, but we didnât have that luxury! We were the ones who had to sit here with you in limbo for six weeks, never knowing when you mightââ There was a wet glimmer in dark, fierce eyes then and he hissed, shaking his head viciously against it. âYou couldâve died! You lied to us, you pasted on that stupid big brother smile and told us everything was fine and dandy and we believed you and then look what happened! You went into a coma and you couldâve died and it wouldâve been our fault because we werenât paying attention and t-taking care of you and making sure you were safe when it counted!â
By now most of the color had drained from Twoâs face as it started to dawn on him. The gang war wasnât the real battle his brothers had been fighting today.
ââIâm not supposed to need help!â Thatâs what you said, isnât it?! You think just cos youâre older and more experienced, you can do it all yourself and you donât need us but weââ
âWe need you.â Peter Oneâs words came out as a sob, the first aid kit slamming onto the floor as he sagged against the bathroom doorframe and buried his face in half-shaking, half-flailing hands. âWe canât lose you, we canât risk itâI still get nightmares about h-how pale you were, y-you were barely breathing andâwe were right there with you and we couldnât even do anything, we had no idea if you wouldâwe made a promise, we promised each other weâd never let it get that far again, we canât, we canât! I c-canât lose anyone else!â
The glare twisting Peter Threeâs face deepened, if only to prevent his chin from wobbling as he moved to pull Peter One against him. Peter Two could only look speechlessly on for a few minutes, trying to absorb everything. Now that he was thinking back on the time that had passed since the six week cycleâŠhow had he overlooked the change in their behavior for so long?
Peter Oneâs âinnocentâ interest when he left on any unexpected outing. âWhere are you going? What street is that on again? How long are you gonna be gone? You want some company? I can come withâOh, okay, um, thatâs fine. Stay in touch, let me know when youâre on your way home!â Demands a helicopter parent should be making, not a younger brother. The way he wheedled and whined to convince him to stay in for a movie night rather than patrolâŠThe days that their scheduled rendezvous seemed to get pushed back earlier and earlierâŠ
Peter Threeâs retaliation against anyone who offended him: shoulder-checking someone who tried to cut him in line or steal his taxi, easily dressing down anyone who made snide remarksâand that time someone had snagged the last box of his comfort food on the store shelf right in front of him, only for it to mysteriously materialize when they were unloading the cart at the checkout counter. Three said heâd found one more on another shelf. Was that true or had he actually gone out of his way to steal it back from that other shopper when neither they or Peter Two were looking?
Pettiness like that could be addressed later. Today, however, was a real matter of life or death, as were their motivations behind all of those seemingly insignificant matters. Inhaling deeply, he approached to trail his good hand over Peter Oneâs shaking shoulders.
âPeter? Can you look at me, please?â
Red-rimmed, puffy eyes peeked miserably over.
âBoth of you.â
Peter Three sniffed harshly, defiantly.
âIâm sorry. I didnât realize how much Iâd hurt you, with everything I didnât say. Iâm notâŠIâve never been very good at confiding in others. When Iâm vulnerable, I-I tend to justâŠshut down, in more ways than one. I have a lot of work I need to do on that but the only way I can is if you let me be vulnerable. What youâre doing, what youâve been doing, itâs not healthy for any of us. I need autonomy and you need a break from stressing about my safety. I know I canât just say âDonât worry about me.â Youâre worrying about me because you love me but this isnât the right way to show itânot at the expense of your wellbeing or the people out there. They have people who love them too, remember? We have to look out for them first.â
âAt our expense,â Three muttered. âAt your expense, every single time.â
âYep.â His blunt affirmation seemed to startle them a little and he forced a thin, rueful smile. âEvery time. Iâm not saying itâs fair. If life was fair, none of us would have this job; none of us would need to but these are just things we have to accept. I will always be Spider-Manâand even if I wasnât, Iâd still get hurt. And even if I didnât, even if you managed to keep me exactly where you wanted me to be, all perfectly cocooned in unbreakable bubble wrap, Iâd still die someday.â
The small, muffled sound Peter One made at those words hurt his heart, but he kept his hand gentle, circling against his back.
âI know, bud. Honestly, Iâd rather not. The thought of it scares me just as much as it scares youâbecause I do know Iâm not invincible, Peter Three, Iâm very well aware. But neither are you. You wonât always be there to protect me, you canât be, and you donât have to treat that like your personal failure. The risks I take are my choiceâand sometimes theyâre stupid, unnecessary ones that I end up paying for and thatâs not your failure either. Thatâs just lifeâand Iâll have you know that despite my many, many, many mistakes, Iâve lived a good one. I want that for you guys too, I donât want you living just for me, likeâŠvicariously through me, like thereâs nothing else worth living for.â
ââŠThere isnât. Youâre all I have.â Peter Threeâs flat, hushed tone cracked on the edge.
âYou have each other! You know that; you had each other every day while I was checked out for six weeks. Thatâs how you got through! Iâm sure some of the time youâve dedicated to hovering over me since then could be better spent watching each otherâs backs because contrary to popular belief, I can in fact look after myself more often than I canât. That being said, IâllâŠIâll try to get better about letting you know when I do need a hand.â
Hiccupping faintly against the lump in his throat, Peter One blinked away the tears still welling. âPromise?â
âI promise. AndâŠspeaking of hands, I-I think I do need a little help with this arm.â











