#there is no way i am going to pass calc 2 with my impatience

[obscuremechala]

i have GOT to draw digitally more. I just do not have time. so many mathh problems and hw and stuff

seriously i have like 45 math problems on one assignment. fortunately there's only three thihs week and not four but 45??? how wild are logarithms man

[calummwhatchasay]

x² + (3y/2 - √|x|)² = 1 (A.I.)

[geekygoddesss]

Caught you (Part 2)

It’s been hours.

I don’t really know how much time has passed, but I know it’s been a while, everything keeps changing around me, the scene keeps getting bigger and bigger. As the seconds pass more authorities come in the picture and before I can even process it, I am standing in the middle of one big crime scene, one that could have ended way worse than it did and that still send chills down my spine. I could have died there.

Call me corny, but I think maybe someone up there was watching over me. Call it destiny or maybe my guardian angel, but the moment I stepped in those gardens, I felt it, maybe I was supposed to see that, maybe I was meant to help stop that bomb, maybe I was meant to face the spiderman and help him prevent that more people kept getting hurt, but in between those people, there was me and my uncle too. I could have gotten poisoned by that thing, my uncle could have too. We could have died there.

But the Spider-man…

That’s something that really messed with my head. I came out clean from that place, but my head still felt like a mess inside. His voice was so familiar, It was like I’ve heard it before, somewhere around me. But where? that’s the big question. If I was sure of something in this life is that I have never (until a couple of hours ago) have had any kind of encounter with this guy, ever. This was the first time and maybe I was being a little paranoid, maybe I was just shocked by this whole thing, but it sounds familiar. I know that voice. He is somewhere around me.

The moment I came out of that building I knew that there was something off, more than it already was. My uncle was the first person to come up to me, the only one who seemed to be completely worried about me, he hugged me, thanked god I was fine and held me close until I had to beg him to let me go. He was that scared. Because of certain things and events that happened to occur in unfortunate times, My uncle had been sadly classified as the ‘bad luck’ teacher to take a trip with, bad things tended to happen, but it wasn’t his fault. It just happened. He was terrified this time.

I have never seen him speak so quickly and nervously, but since the moment I got out of that building, it almost seemed like he was starting to lose his mind and was one incident away from going mad. I wish I could have cared a little more, but my mind was too full of crap, it was hard to process, so I just kept looking and observing, analyzing.

Time passed as fast as it could, or at least that’s how it looked on my side. Because as people got out of the museum and everyone was processed by all of the authorities going around, I just kept staring at that building that just a while ago was in complete chaos and that now is being taken care off by all security forces, checking on everyone, taking a good report and last but definitely not least, arresting whoever did this, thanks god. They did a good job, but what they don’t know is that there is someone, around us, on the last place we could ever think and it’s watching over us, keeping us safe in incredible ways and that someone was the spider-man, the real reason we are all here.

I don’t even notice when I am being dragged to the yellow bus, I was too trapped in my own head, I barely noticed when we finally got the green light to go, all I felt was a hand on my shoulder and how my uncle was slowly walking me to the bus until I was facing the stairs and for some reason brought back to the real world, I just couldn’t stop watching that building, I was still waiting, because maybe, when he thinks no one is watching, he will get out and maybe, I could get at least a bit of a glimpse from him. I guess not anymore.

I go up the stairs and ignore the people calling me on the back for not moving and blocking the way, screw them, can’t they see I’m in shock?. I ignore every single one of them. I go inside and stare at the rest of my class, they all seemed the same as me, shocked and happy to be alive, scared, all of these feelings that I understood to perfection, it was a bad experience. Oddly enough, even when they didn’t like me and I tried to act like I didn’t like them, I was glad for them to be fine, even with Flash, or Betty “the witch” Branch, I was glad everyone is fine and no one was hurt.

I take the liberty to walk along the bus and ignore my uncle’s voice calling my name, I knew I was supposed to sit with him, but after this, I need to be alone for a second, so I might as well pick a spot, I know no one is going to take that seat beside me and I appreciate that more than ever, because I need to sit on my own thoughts for a while.

I pick the one in the middle of all rows, the first one I see empty, so I throw my backpack in there and take a seat, breath in and then out. This was finally over.

The bus is still slowly filling up with people, we were a lot of people in the class and I guess that after what happened, maybe we all need to slow down just a bit on everything in general, so that’s what I do. I stare at everyone, I know I seem creepy, but somehow I feel the need to see everyone’s face once and make sure we were all here. I recognize all the faces, as usual, count them, even make another count of those who were once my friends before they decided to believe all those lies about me, but I forget about it, again I was glad they’re alive.

Something catches my eye in one split of a second. A boy walks in, someone I know really well because he’s been in my class since middle school and to forget about him would be impossible, he has something in him that makes him stand out in between all these people, at least for me, and when I see it, I know. Oh, I know. Connecting the dots was so damn easy that my mental skills scared me a little, I knew what was the deal the second I laid my eyes on him. To the normal eye, he is fine, he walks fine, he seems just as scared as everyone else but again, something is off. Something that alarms me when I finally connect all dots, because even when Peter Parker seemed to be fine, he wasn’t and I know why.

My eyes widen and I curse under my breath. No. It couldn’t be… or could it?.

Maybe it’s just a big coincidence, or I was just going mad, but I think about it. That voice, I knew it, of course, I knew it, I’ve heard it for years, we knew each other since we were kids, it made sense. A lot of it made sense, but… how could it be?

Oh gosh, no, it can’t.

There’s only one way to find out.

I stare at him intensively in the eye, there’s a weird vibe coming out of me because I want to scream but I’m biting my tongue at the million dollar discovery. I gotta keep my mouth shut. I know he notices I am looking at him because our eyes meet and my glance is burning, like if I had some sort of laser eyes on me and ready to shoot. I wonder if he knows I know because when our eyes met, he looks a little worried, intimidated and serious and when our paths in the slightest bit, I act.

“You’re fly is down” I say, not killing my stare and looking for a reaction from him.

He looks down. I lied, His fly is indeed not down, but he sees what I see, that blood spot staining his sweater ever so slightly but coming unnoticed, it was small and not very scandalous, but it was going to be if he wasn’t careful and I knew that because I saw it front and center. I was there when it happened.

He hawks, grabs at the strap of his backpack and slides it off a little, covering the blood from anyone else’s sight with his own bag. But now he knew, I was not clueless about this, I knew more than I should. He doesn’t answer back to me, he just keeps walking away from me and takes a seat on his own. He definitely knows.

I wish I could be more straight up right now, because maybe that way I would get a complete answer from him, even when I think that silence of him was saying enough, I still had a lot of questions, a lot of things to make up in my mind but couldn’t. This was the one things everyone wanted to know and finally, I got the answer without even asking for it, but now I need to know if what I have it’s true and make sure, this is not just something my brain is making me believe.

Now I know that there is really just one way to find out, and I can’t help myself. I gotta ask him.

This is what I repeat to myself since the bus started moving because time is running and I am becoming more impatient with each second. This was not the place to talk about such a thing, I knew that, with the hundred snoops we have around, this would just end up in one big scandal and the last thing I needed right now is another rumor or bad fact about me leaking around and adding itself to the list, that would only be the cherry on top and more of a bad reputation was not on my list at the moment. So I had to be smart about this and make sure I am careful in everything I say or else, things could end up really wrong.

I don’t wait too long once the bus starts driving back and everyone is now more settled down after the past events, so I decided, I can’t wait much for this, I have to do something about it. So I do my best.

I get up from my sit and taking my backpack with me, I have a plan. I grab on the handles of the seats and walk to the back of the bus being careful not to fall back like an idiot. I walk along the little passageway that separates all rows and I look around until I saw just the person I was aiming for and not only that, but he’s alone, just like I need him to.

I move fast to the sit right on his back and throw myself on the empty spot. There’s a weird guy next to me, I know him, he’s not on this class but he is very good at calc when he commits to it, I don’t know his name but what I do know is that he’s in my spot and I need him to leave now.

“Can I sit here?” I say, with a fake smile on my face. If I wanted to kick him out, I might as well do it starting on a good note.

“No” he says, a clear frown appearing on his face.

I sigh deeply and do not make one effort to get up. I didn’t want to get to this but I would have to do it anyways. I have no other choice. “Does Mr. Harrington knows you’re here?” I ask the guy, raising my eyebrows up high.

“What?” He says, very confused by all of what I’m doing.

“Get lost or I’ll tell him you’ve been on his retreat with no permission” I say in a threatening tone as I point to the empty spot I was previously sitting on and getting up to give him a chance to leave. “Your choice, Ruben”

“Why do you want me to move?” He asks, still really weird out.

“You ask too many questions” I shake my head. I give him a good chance, one whole minute to decide on what to do and in all those seconds he’s just been staring at me like a loon. On the good side, Peter hasn’t noticed me there, which is good, that means he won’t be running anywhere before we talk. This has to be quick. “Go!” I exclaim in pure desperation, totally alarming the guy and making him move from my now new seat.

“Fine!” He exclaims back in annoyance, grabbing his bag and quickly walking past him mouthing a big “You’re weird” as he leaves the place.

Yes, I am weird and I do not care.

This was easier than I thought.

I smile to myself as he leaves, I know how lame this plan is, but in a situation like this, desperate plans were the best and I still had questions that need to be answered. I get on my new sit, getting myself on the side closer to the window and on my knees, the perfect position to rest my hands on top of Peter’s sit and look down at him. He is still too busy reading whatever nonsense is on his hands and there is a pair of earbuds resting on both of his ears. I almost hate to break his peace but I have my reasons. I check on that stain on his sweater for a brief second, it looks bigger but still easy enough to hide, I wonder how is it looking now, I wonder if it hurts.

“I know” It’s what I say in order to catch his attention. My voice is not loud nor too quiet but he hears me over his music, I bet that’s part of his superpower or whatever, but what I care about the most is that he heard me and now I can’t back out.  

His eyebrows raise and he looks up at me confused, I can see a hint of pain on his face the moment he turns around in a slightly alarmed move, I feel bad, It probably hurts to even stay still, but again, there’s not much I can do right now.

“You?” I mumble in one hard tone, making sure this conversation was just between us “Huh, would you look at that? it makes total sense” I say, almost talking to myself at this point. If you looked at it from an objective point of view, it would almost seem like I am just assuming things out, but I know I am not, what I am saying it’s very real.

“What?” he says confused, putting his headphones down and turning his look to me  “I don’t know what you’re talking about” he says hardly.

“I saw you, I’m not stupid” I say In a quiet groan.

“I didn’t say you were and I really don’t know what you’re saying” he says back, slowly, turning his look away and trying to ignore me.

I frown a big frown. Sure, I could have dropped it right here and leave, for me it was obvious enough that my suspicions were true if he wasn’t who I think he is, he wouldn’t seem upset at all and even when I would love to let it go, I can’t do it. I need to hear it from him.

“I know a boy’s voice when I hear it” I say, not letting it go.

“I’m not a boy and I don’t know what you’re saying” he says, his head looking back at his book and evicting me.

“Oh please, Peter” I say, leaning over the sit and hanging over him, I could almost completely face him on this angle, I know how annoyed he must feel right now.

“What the heck?” He frowns, looking back at me

“Don’t act dumb, I know what I saw”

“Sit down!” He whispers in an angry tone. Looking at his book and pulling up an invisible wall between us.

I try to pull the book from his hands but he is a lot faster than me and lets it fall on his open backpack in one agile move. Too fast for an ordinary guy, may I point out.

“(Y/n)!” He says very annoyed at me.

“I know your secret, Parker” I say In slow and clear words as I go back up in my previous position.

He says nothing and I don’t either. He knows I know and I know that what I know it’s exactly what he doesn’t want me to know… if that makes any sense at all. What matters here is that, this is something big and dangerous, on the wrong hands, this secret could unleash ugly things. Thank god that someone isn’t me… for now.

I let it go. Not saying one more word, I get up again and go back to my seat. Letting the tension fly between both of us and an air of doubt float around, he knew exactly what I mean and I was not going to be fooled by his lies. I know what I heard and saw, all I need is a concrete answer. I guess my plan didn’t work out this time, but it does not mean I will not give it a try a second time.

He will just have to wait for it. But trust me, whatever his full secret is, I will let it out, not to the world, but at least to me.

The whole ride home, I start wondering a lot of things. Maybe I was being too noisy when trying to get in Parker’s life in one way or another, maybe I was playing with fire, maybe I was putting my nose into somebody else’s business and that was just not right, but honestly, this felt different, feels like something I am meant to know and that there is a reason behind why this happened.

I have to know. I know this wasn’t ethically right, but I can promise my intentions weren’t bad, in any way. I helped him and he helped us, he saved lives, I would like to do something for him, it’s the least I can do after all this. I bet no one gets to properly thank him often.  

There was some strange relief going through my body when the bus finally made an entrance in Queens like we were finally home and away from trouble. For the rest of the trip, I find a way to finally find my peace and when I finally feel serene enough after such a weird day, I see my uncle coming to me on the way to school. He sits with me and makes sure everything is in the right place, especially inside of my mind, that was the more important one. We talk all the way back until the bus is finally parking in front of the school and everyone is ready to go home.

I see a lot of cars around, a lot of parents, everyone worried sick for their children that were just endangered to such bad criminals and that could have died in the act. Mother’s are crying and the moment the bus doors open, everyone is rushing outside and looking for their family in between all people, they cried in happiness, thanking the gods that everyone was fine and to that I smile, because I was grateful for it too. This was a big scare for everyone, I understand their emotion.

Peter goes out of sight the moment I get up my sit, I don’t see him anywhere, I bet his aunt is probably somewhere around, she’s always been the paranoid one and with something like this, she has been probably going crazy over what could have happened with his nephew, and I don’t blame her, because I bet my mom is too, they’re friends after all, that’s probably one of the many things they have in common.

My mom, on the other hand, I know by heart she is not there, otherwise I am sure she would be the first in line, getting  through the crowd of people to see my face and make sure I did not have a single scratch from that incident, I didn’t, but still there was a single part of me that broke, knowing that she was not here and was not going to be here by any chance, not because she didn’t care but because she probably worried but still had a feeling that coming here to make sure I got home meant that there was a high chance I was seriously hurt. She was a superstitious woman, so I tried on not overthink much about it, I think the best I can do for now is get straight home and make sure to give her a big hug.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you home?” My uncle asks me, as I grab my backpack from the seat and hang it over my shoulder.

The bus was now almost completely empty and the others one left around the place were just us two and a couple of guys on their way out, unlike them, we took our time, we had no rush to get anywhere, anyways.

“I’m sure, I don’t live that far” I shrug, walking towards the exit as I look at him over my shoulder, I give him a sincere smile, I was fine, I liked walking home, not that I had anything with riding with my uncle there, but I had something to take care of.

“Are you alright?” he asks, putting his hand over my shoulder before I reach the exit.

I look back at him and turn around, showing him the best smile I can as I say “Always” I nod, to then bounce my body in the tips of my toes just a little and admit “I mean, it was very scary but-“

“I was worried about you” he says, interrupting me with a completely serious tone “Come on, I’ll take you home” He said, encouraging me as he walks past me and gets down from the bus.

“No, really, I’m fine” I chuckle, following him and skipping the few steps of the bus with a jump “I gotta do a thing on my way there anyway, I can walk” I insist, shaking my head as I talk.

“You have plans, really?” He asks in a teasing tone, his eyebrow raising as he looks down at me.

“I have plans at Ally’s!” I exclaim. It was not an excuse at all what I was using, it was indeed invited to Ally’s place tonight, but right now, there were other things on my list that I should be worrying about.

he chuckles, shaking his head as he looks over at me. I have no clue on whether if he believes me or not, but that is on him. I told him, I had plans. “You’re one stubborn girl, huh?” he says, nudging my shoulder with his arms as he says “Fine, be careful, okay?”

I smile and nod “I will”

“Tell your mom I said hi” he says. He walks back, looking over his shoulder at me almost as if he didn’t want me to get off his sight.

“Okay” I chuckle, waving at him “Bye!”

“Goodbye honey” he says, waving back and slowly disappearing in the crowd of people.

Good, he was out of the picture, now I better get my hands to work.

I have been thinking about it the whole trip. Plan A was kind of a disaster but I was sure this second one had to be better, I had it sketched out in my head, now I was hoping for it to work just the way I was imagining, or else things could get a very weird and awkward turn. But at least I tried.

According to my calculations, Peter should be heading home just about now (if his aunt hasn’t picked him up yet), he might be taking that shortcut that goes to that sketchy street and straight to the neighborhood we live in. It’s no secret by now that Peter and I have lived pretty much one building away for about our whole lives, we’ve knows each other since children for a reason and I think that after this long time of just watching go home after school and just observing his routine in general, I know how the drill goes or at least part of it, so I had high hopes for this plan that I barely even structured right on the way here.

I go through the school parking lot, passing by the crowd or crying mom’s and heading straight to the street. I walk fast, hoping that I didn’t lose him after my little conversation with my uncle, maybe he knew I was going to look for him after school and picked up the pace, or maybe he just got lost with his super suit to wherever he was planning to go and left me all alone to solve my doubts all by myself. I think of all the possibilities, all of them, and I make up all of the possibilities that could happen as I make my way around the corner of the street and finally, see just the person I was looking for.

Good. My plan was not entirely lost after all.

I walk faster to catch up with him, he is close but still not close enough and I need to get his attention now, but things could not be as easy as they seem, because now he is not alone, his sidekick is right beside him and not looking like he planned to leave at anytime, so right now I had two options, I could either find a way to kick his friend away or throw the metaphorical  bomb on him right in front of those two and see what happens, out of those two options, I was definitely aiming for the first one, but shit happens, I’ll see what I can do.

“Parker” I call for him. Not too loud but loud enough for the two of them to hear me.

I see his friend, Ned, turn back to see me with a weird look. I know it is not usual for a girl to go just looking for Peter in the middle of the afternoon and after such events happened in a school retreat, especially if that girl it’s me. So I guess I understand how this is weird for all of us.

I can see how he ignores me, I don’t need anyone to tell me that because I can see how Ned is turned off when he raises his hand to wave at me, Peter makes him walk faster and pick up a pace that would probably make me stop trying to follow him, if I had to keep walking in this speed for a while, but he was not going to get rid of me that easily.

“Eh, Peter, wait up” I say, picking up my pace a little more and trying to reach him, but he doesn’t turn around or stops “Stop ignoring me” I say I’m a playful voice as I keep walking. I had to admit, this was too much of a fast pace for me, but my plan could not go to shit, not right now, I had to carry on and make something out of it.

“Parker!” I yell, in an insisting voice, making him stop on his feet and curse under his breath, and I know he is in fact cursing because I can hear it, he is not happy I am here, I know I am annoying, but in my defense, it could be worst.

He turns around slowly. Ned following his movements carefully, almost mimicking him. His lips are pressed together in a tight expression, his eyes closed and he looks totally irritated by my presence. I smile at his annoyance, showing him a white and bright smile that mocked his expressions.

“Yes?” He says in a not very nice tone as he looks at me for the first time.

I walk up to him, not losing that smile for one second as I say “Hi, Hi Ned” I wave at both of them and stop in track when I am right in front of him.

My hands fly to the pockets of my jacket and I am bouncing on my feet for some reason, I am feeling sort of anxious at the moment, but I try to forget about that, because this is important, so I try to shake that nervousness off as I go on with my plan.

“I was wondering, Can I walk with you?” I ask innocently “I’m supposed to be home by 6 and maybe my mom would be less mad if she sees me with you, you’re kind of a good influence” I say shrugging. He knows I am making up a lie just to walk with him and he is not buying it at all, but too bad then, because Ned seems to be buying it pretty well, so I guess my plan is working in a way.

“You want to walk with us?” Ned says in a confused tone, frowning a little at my question.

I nod, not taking my look off Peter, who was just waiting for his friend to catch the hint and know what he didn’t want me there or anywhere near him, but Ned was never going to know that, at least not now.

“Oh um sure” he says awkwardly, looking over at Peter and see what he thinks, not a good thing I’d say.

Peter steps over, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, suddenly taking control of the situation. He stutters a little, trying to come up with something good but not getting a hang of it properly and I was really so curious to see what he got.

“Actually we- uh- we were about to go for pizza, I am not going home yet so”  He shrugs, smiling at me a really fake smile.

“I like pizza” I say shrugging, smiling back.

“We only have money for two”

“I have money”

“Well This is a really important meeting we are having” he says almost in a snap if this was the last card he would play, it’s not so bad, if I didn’t know what I was dealing with, I would have believed it. “Science club stuff, you wouldn’t get it”

Now this really pissed me off. Little did he know, he had really no idea what he was talking about and he should be smarter. Really, after so many years of knowing me, he really had no idea about me at all.

“Actually, I was in the science club for two years straight, so I don’t know what you’re talking about” I say, taking up a serious tone, losing that smile of mine just a little. “Also, Since when the science club only has two people in it? Weird”

“Well, we- actually- we were-“ Peter struggles.

I see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows in one nervous move as he tries to look for some other excuse to get me out of the place, he should know better, I was not going away that easily if that’s what he thought. I need answers, and no matter how much he tries to get me out of the way, it won’t be that easy.

“Peter, can I talk to you for a second?” Ned says, In a weird, really over polite voice. Peter nods without even thinking about it and before I can say anything else, Ned is pointing at me that he will be back in just a second and pulling his friend away for a second.

They don’t go that far from me, neither I move from where I’ve been standing all of this time. They stand far enough, but I can hear they are arguing, It’s Peter who starts talking at a million miles a minute saying who knows what, he was whispering but he was rushing, he really had a lot in his mind.

“Are you really turning her down?” I hear Ned says and accidentally pointing at me.

I don’t even know if that means a good thing or not, maybe it was a good thing but it could also be a bad one, I wish I knew but at the same time, I don’t want to. Peter just keeps talking and saying probably too much as he speaks to his friends, but after a good minute of having the two of us going over the same conversation over and over, Ned steps forward, walking towards me but at the same time not.

The moment he reaches just the place he was on a while ago, he turned to his best friend and said “Peter, I don’t think I can go for pizza tonight, my mom is waiting for me at home, I don’t think she’d like if I get home late” He says, showing Peter a smile and shrugging.

“Oh really?” Peter says, his jaw tensing up as he runs a hand over it in a nervous move.

“Yeah”  Ned chuckles, nodding at both of us as he walks past me, obviously deciding to take the long way home as he waves “Have fun guys”

“Bye Ned” I say in a happy tone as I look over my shoulder, watching him go.

“See you tomorrow, Ned” Peter says, his hand rubbing his forehead in pure frustration as he admits on the fact that now he was with me.

“See you man” Ned says as he leaves, reaching the end of the street and disappearing for the both of us.

Peter is glaring at me. If looks could kill, this one would be lethal, but I didn’t care, my plan was working to perfection and I would make sure to get something out of it. Weather if it fails or not, it would be worth the try.

“and now there’s two…” I smile, walking up to him and standing on his side.

He glares back at me with a burning look. Hisses a quite “Shut up” under his breath and starts walking. I follow him. I know how much he wants me to go but he was not getting rid of me right now.

Because my plan is working to perfection and I am loving it.

We start walking. He is not saying a word, he just walks forward and pretty much pretends I don’t exist, that is exactly how I know how this whole thing it’s going to go from now on until we get home, he is evicting me, I don’t know if that means a lot or that maybe he is afraid of me in some way, but I don’t think he is, I think he does not want to say, what I want him to say.

I count on the minutes, I don’t know why, I guess it’s just some weird habit because if I have to speak up any truth, I have to admit he does make me a little nervous, I wish I knew why. Inside of me I am hoping that he starts up some sort of conversation, address this nonsense, insult me, send me to hell, anything but he just keeps walking and completely acting like if I was stranger to him, and maybe I was, but I need for him to acknowledge me at least for one second and talk to me about what really matters here.

I count to ten minutes. He is still not saying a word and I am now completely frustrated. I want to know what’s on his mind, I want my questions answered and I want him to stop being such a dick and at least look over at me and do something.

“What?” I say, breaking the silence between us as we are finally walking about a block away from our place. He is silent and looking forward, but ignoring my voice completely.  “Cat got your tongue?” I say, looking at him with a bit of a teasing voice. His jaw tenses and he takes a breath in. “Is there something in your mouth?”

“Please just-“ he says, in a big irritated voice. He stops himself from snapping at me, I can tell, he just waves his hands in the air, like he was trying to explain something and says.  “I don’t feel like talking”

Oh, no shit. I did not know that genius.

“There, you just did it!”  I cheer, pointing at him with a big teasing smile. I didn’t mean to be this annoying but there had to be a way to get something out of him and if he was not going to help me, I had to find my ways. “Listen, I don’t bite, Okay? I just want to have a conversation” I explain myself, shrugging.

“I really don’t feel like having one” He groans, looking down at his feet.

“Parker” I snap, almost letting out a groan at the end. This was really getting me good “I’m trying to be nice here” I say, shaking my head as I look over at him “Just talk to me” I beg, I didn’t mean to beg but somehow it feels like I have no other choice.

He looks at me for the first time, really takes a look at me and our eyes find each other. I never noticed how big his eyes were, how cute his look was and how innocent he came to look sometimes, I think it was no secret that Peter Parker has always been attractive in my eyes, but that was something that I never really liked to say in front of people, that was a little secret I kept to myself, just like he keeps his. He looks tense though and I do not like that at all. He looks worried and frustrated, he knows the magnitude of this and I do as well but there is only really one way to get this over with and he isn’t helping, so If he doesn’t cooperate, I will have to push my way out of this.

I am sorry, Peter but this is necessary.

I wait until we pass that sketchy bar on the corner of the street and then wait for us to reach that street, the one we used to avoid when we were children, that sketchy alley no one should ever be wandering around but the perfect place to finally talk about it. I grab the end of his jacket once we are right in front of it and pull on it hard.

I drag him in it, he fights me at first but seems to be so surprised by my move that just focuses on not trembling on his feet and falling over and before I can even notice I am pushing him against the wall like a total bully and keeping him there. I know how he outrages me when it comes to strength, but at least I had him here and not really making a big effort to get out, this is the moment. I have to speak up.

I might look like a total psychopath right now, but I do know care at all, I just want answers.

“What are you doing?!” he says in a very harsh voice, so unnatural of him from him. I flinch a little at his voice but do not back out of this situation, it was now or never and I was not about to let that go.

“I know your secret” I say in a mumble, changing my tone drastically and making myself seem as scary as I could.

“What secret?” He says.

“Your secret” I whisper, grabbing on the end of his shirt tighter “I know what I saw In there and I saw you Peter Parker” I say, letting out a small chuckle. “or should I say… Spidey?”

“Stop” he says interrupting me as he looks to both sides, either to check we were the only people here or to make sure he could ask for help. I did not give a shit about neither.  “You’re acting crazy”

“Am I? Am I really?” I say, letting him go for once and taking a step back.

If he really wanted to escape, he could have done that now and leave me hanging, but he didn’t. He stayed right here and listened to whatever I had to say, so I carry on. I unzip my jacket and open it up, throw my backpack on the floor and give a little turn, I could have even gone as far and touch myself all around just to prove on my point, but that wasn’t called for and I think he gets exactly what I am trying to say.

“No cameras, no mics, not anything, just me and you pal” I say, opening my arms in the air dramatically  “I know what I’ve heard back there and I am sure there is probably a lot of people that speak like that around here but I don’t think it is a coincidence that someone on a mask happened to had your almost exact voice, If not identical” I say in a harsh voice as I take a step closer to him. “Peter during the whole thing, you weren’t there” I mumble in a more soft voice.

I could see it in his eyes, He knew there was no other way around, I caught him right in the act and there was no way he could run off from this. I was just us two and a truth to be unleashed.

“Tell me the truth” I mumble in a softer voice  “Are you or are you not the spiderman?” I ask. I let him reflect his answer, If he was not the Spider-man I think the worst that could have happened here is that he breaks to cry, I know I am a bit intimidating sometimes, but when it came to something like this, I would risk making him cry just to prove my point, and for a second, I thought he was going to when he closed his eyes and bit on his bottom lip, but he starts nodding. He is admitting it, he is answering me. Sort of. I was right “I knew it! I knew it” I say in a big exclaim, taking a big step back at my reaction.

“Stop” he begs, shaking his head in frustration.

“Oh my gosh” I cover my face with my hands “it makes so much sense”

“Stop it” he says again.

“That’s why you’re always in Queens and then- and then all the way in The city just when we’re there, it makes SO MUCH sense”

“You cannot tell anyone” he says in a big snap as he grabs both of my wrists that were previously in the air and stopping me in track “If any even suspects I do this, I’m toast”

I smile a sarcastic smile and scoff “For sure you’d be”

“Forget about it, forget about this and anything you saw today, no one can know this, no one” he speaks fast, letting go of his hold and pushing me back a little. He was mad, he was really mad. I feel terrible for making him this upset but after this discovery, I wouldn’t expect anything else from him.

“Who says I’ll say a word?” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

There’s a silence, a tense silence. Sure, I was being a snoop myself but getting on his business, but that did not mean I was going to tell everyone about it, a secret it’s a secret, period.

“I’ll put it this way, if I pretty much heard something anywhere about this, the ending won’t be pretty” He says in a threatening tone, pointing at me with his finger as he says it.

I almost want to laugh. Peter Parker is threatening me. Or should I say? The spiderman is threatening me.

“You wouldn’t hurt a fly” I say, a burning voice coming out of me and I put my hand over his pointing finger and pull it down.

He shakes his head in anger and takes a deep breath in. He paces around, almost as if he was looking for something to do or say, but right now, there was really not much he could do about anything, his secret was out to one more person, there was nothing he could do.

“Damn it” he curses, still pacing around the place. “shit” he says, kicking the wall in front of him. That really takes me by surprise, I flinch back.

I don’t know what surprised me the most, his reaction or that kick on the wall, one hard kick that broke a couple of blocks and left some dust on the floor, along with a brand new hole in it.

damn, this boy is strong.

“I’m gonna go” he says, walking back and trying to leave the place as fast as possible.

he walks away from me, he is fuming right now, after what he just did I don’t know if it is a good idea to follow him or not but that’s just what I do after he announces he is going to leave. I run to him before he can completely leave the place and place my hand on his shoulder.

I am really playing with fire right now.

“Peter” I say, as I watch him turn to me. He is really pissed right now, no joke, It kind of intimidates me a little, but I go on. “Listen, I know what everyone says about me but I am not a bad person, let alone a snitch” I say, stepping back and putting both hands on my pockets “what you did today… it was awesome, thank you” I speak from heart, letting him take this however he wanted to, but I was telling the truth. “I don't know if anyone ever tells you that in person but thank you” I am mumbling now, making it personal and real, I meant what I said, more than ever.

However, he was walking away. Maybe he was feeling intimidated or maybe he was just done with this conversation. I know how tense it has been, but I couldn’t help myself.

”I mean it, Your secret is safe with me” I say as he leaves.

He stops in track, turns around and looks over his shoulder mumbling a soft “Thanks”

I take this small opportunity to walk forward, closing the space between us just a little and talk to him, before it was too late.

“Just saying, If you ever need a hand on… anything, you know where I am, just say the word” I say softly. It almost felt like a necessity for me to make sure he knows that, because even when Peter and I have never been friends, I know him since I was little as I felt like I should look over him. Seeing him hurt was never good.

He does not say anything else though, because after my final words he just turns around and leaves me alone. Not waiting for me, not asking questions, he just left me all alone in that alley.

I guess I really screwed up. I wonder what’s going through his mind but maybe, that’s what’s meant to happen, maybe he’s supposed to let that thought sink and let himself cool down. He’s had a rough day and I was not making it any better. So I decided to finally drop it, this is his deal, not mine. I try to not think about it for the rest of the day.

Sure, this was a lot of information and I could barely get over the fact I made such a discovery on my own, It was so hard to believe that such a big piece of information came to my hands without me even asking for it and I was starting to wonder if it was even real or just another product of my weird mind trying to fool me. But it wasn’t, this is very real. Probably the most real thing I have seen in a long time.  

When I got home I couldn’t get the shock out of my face, even when I tried so hard to act like a normal person by the time I got to my doorstep, that slight shock on my face couldn’t seem to wash off so easily, I guess that’s normal now that I got my hands into someone else’s dirty business.

I knocked on my door, of my own apartment, because apparently as a cherry on top of this messy and tragic day, I left my keys at home, this day couldn’t get better. I waited, as much as I could, I knocked for about ten minutes, yelled my mom’s name, even slid a note under the door, but apparently it was impossible, my mother was not home and I was locked out, good to know because now apparently I was temporarily homeless when I less needed to, that was just great.

If I had more friends, I would have recurred to the quick solution of going to any of their places, but by now it is more than obvious that is some impossible thing to do. I text mom, I know it’s not her fault to not be at home, but at least I thought after such events going viral she would have at least called me, to see if I was okay or at least know my location, work consumes her and I hate to be a witness of that, because not even her daughter being trapped in a big crime scene could bring her out of the hell hole she called office.

She answers quickly though, it was a big relief to see she is indeed worried about me and that she was not too consumed by her work back there to see what was happening out in the real world. She answers in a matter of a minute, asks where I am, how I am, how I am feeling. I almost want to cry for some reason, seeing how much she cared really touched my heart in a special place, so I call her and we talk.

Apparently, it was just the worst time to get locked out of my home, She was getting home late and I had only a couple bucks to spare, not much places to go either, it was a mess but there was nothing to do about it so the only solution I see on this is to leave, somewhere kill time before I can come back home and rest.

I could go to Ally’s, that’s pretty much the only option I have but I know things could not be as easy as I wanted them to be, here’s how this rolled. On a normal Friday night, I would be going heading to her place when her parents didn’t have their guard up with anything, so going through the fire escape and knocking on her window for sushi night was the only tradition we have managed to keep for the longest time without getting caught. I wasn’t a bad person, but her parents sometimes could be a little paranoid (and very overprotective) sometimes, so I would rather not risk anything by going to her house earlier than expected and have her parents yell at me badly. If something happened to Ally and me, if her parents had us to never see again, I don’t know what I would do, Ally is my only friend. I am not going to risk that in the slightest bit.

So I take the easiest solution I have, out of the handful of things I could do. I go to McDonald’s, I order something and stay there, for hours and hours, until the sky is dark and I am the only teenager who's all alone in between all of the people here. Not that I wasn’t used to it, but it wasn’t the way I was expecting to end my day.

I eat in silence, reflect about everything that happened today and replayed every moment, every single bit of it with strong detail. I did not want to forget a thing about it, I wanted to remember everything, all of it.

The moment that stands out the most after all the nonsense that happened was definitely the one moment I wish I could forget. The moment Parker looked at me with those eyes and basically begged me to stop this, when he opened his secret up to me and almost looked defeated, because this is something that should not be out to anyone and there I was pushing the secret out of him when he was trying to keep himself strong but there was something in him that gave up and without wanting or meaning to, he revealed it and I knew he didn’t like that one bit. I feel guilty for it, I try not to but I do. I wonder how he is doing now.

Something that definitely stands out for me was all of that blood I saw on his shirt, pouring out of him hard after that impact and how it was slowly leaking through his sweater, he was bleeding but still standing so strong as he made his way home. I followed him and intercepted him when he could have been bleeding out to death. I am a horrible person.

Maybe everyone in school was right, after all, I am somehow close to the devil personified. After everything that happened, I seemed to forget about the one thing that mattered the most. Peter was hurt real bad and at this point, I didn’t even know if he was stable or bleeding his guts out, maybe his aunt would be taking care of it but what if she wasn’t, who would help him out?.

Oh Man, I really have to do something. I had to see how he’s doing.

My thoughts are really rushing in my mind. I guess anyone could have seen that just by taking a simple look at me, I don’t think I have ever left a store so quickly, the moment I realized what was going on, I grabbed my things and stormed out of that place, and the weirdest thing of all, I didn't even know what to do at all.

I just to my building, that’s the quickest way I manage to find so I could get to him quicker, I go right to my building and when I find myself in front of it, I run a building down, that is where he lives. I wonder if he is in there. Before doing anything else I take a good look up. I don’t seem to remember what his apartment number is, but what I do remember is that he lives right in the middle, or something like, so I take my chances and go up the fire escape, If I don’t see him then I will leave, it’s just as simple as that.

Climbing through those tiny stairs was somehow familiar for me but still, just as any other time, it gave me chills every time I looked down, made me feel like I would fall but if that thought came to mind, I just looked up and kept climbing, what really mattered right now is how am I going to find Peter’s room, that’s the real issue.  

I look through every window in the first 3 floors, a bit of a difficult thing to do if you ask me, but somehow I got it done. He is in neither of them though, I look carefully, maybe myself as invisible as a shadow as I climb through those stairs and do my best to not look like a criminal in the process. That would only be the cherry on top on this stupid day, I don’t need that right now.

The moment I reach his room I start doubting, the whole set up of the room rang a bell in my head, everything looked like Peter in a way, but I didn’t really know, I didn’t know until I saw it, his suit, laying in the middle of the floor and all bloody, but he is nowhere to be seen, at least from my sight, so I take my chances and knock on his door twice. Hopefully, I wouldn’t get kicked out from this one, I wanted to help.

Again, I don’t see him at first sight but his door is locked and the light is on, he is definitely here, I can tell.

I can’t really tell what he is doing, but the moment I kneel on that metal stairs and peek over a little, I see him, he is on the floor and looking in a mirror, he is in pain, no one is helping him. Good that I am here now then. I knock again.

His head raises in surprise and he looks at me through the mirror. His eyes narrow and he takes a deep breath in, he was his hands on that wound on his torso, he is not doing fine. I see him get up quick and I worry, he is hurt, he shouldn’t be moving much, apparently, he doesn’t care much.

I wave at him through the window, he does not wave back or say anything at all, he just goes to the window and stares at me through the glass. Not opening it for me.

“Hi” I mumble, shyly. Hoping he heard me right.

“Hi”  he says back, in one serious tone. His voice muffled by the barrier between us.

I wait for him to say something, do something, even if he just wanted to kick me out, I need an answer.

“I know you don’t like me, but can we talk now? for real?” I ask innocently, for once trying to look friendly, being genuine. I reach for the backpack hanging on my side and quickly opening it to get that McDonald's bag out. This was mine at first, but I figured, he could use it more than I do. “I brought you an apple pie” I say, showing him the bag and smiling a little bit.

He is not liking one bit the fact that I am out here standing in front of his window and I can see it in his eyes, he wants me out, now. I don’t let it get to me though, I just look away from his face for a second before looking up at him a second time.

He wasn’t convinced at all, I guess he doesn’t care If I brought him anything, he just wants to be alone to heal, but little did he know, I am here to help him do just that.

“it’s cold out here” I say, in a little singing voice, looking down at my feet. I had come all the way here to see him, he could at least appreciate that.

He looks away from me for a second, crosses his arms over his chest and really thinks about it. I guess that’s a good thing because even when he makes a little move to leave and ignore me at first, he stops in track and really thinks about it, I come in peace, I think by now he knows that. So I almost wanted to crack a full smile when he gives one step forward and grabs the edge of the window.

“Fine” He groans, pulling it up halfway and leaving it to me to push it the rest of the way.

I cheer to myself when the window is completely open for me and make sure to be careful and not step on anything once I make my way in. Then I see it, this room is a complete mess. His clothes are all over the floor, his gadgets all around and there is a mess right in front of his bed, a bunch of bloodied paper from his own wound.

It seems worse than I was expecting.

“Peter…” I breath deeply looking around the room as he looks back at me, waiting for me to say why I was here, but I don’t really do that. I just turn to him and say in a very steady voice. “Show me, the wound”

He sighs but does not think about it much, because right after I say it he is slowly grabbing the end of his shirt and lifting it up halfway, showing me the poorly covered up wound, still bleeding through a piece of white bandages and spreading slowly. He is losing blood.

“Oh man, I was hoping you patched it up” I say, trying to look closer at the bandages but being too shy to get just a little closer or touch around. All I could see was a big patch of blood spreading around and white pieces of cloth wrapped around his toned torso tightly, but not good enough. “This is a bad one” I say, sighing a little.

“It’s fine, I can handle it” he says in a tight tone, sliding his shirt down.

“Hm, are you sure?” I raise an eyebrow looking up at him “I know how to fix it, First aid kit?” I ask, walking around his room and seeing if he has something around that resembles what I just asked for.

”on that bed” he points out, not being sure if he could trust me or not.

I don’t blame him, people don’t usually trust me on anything.

“lay down” I say, grabbing the first aid kit and looking at it well. He had enough things for me to work, that’s good, that way we could be done with it sooner. However he was still looking insecure on if he should let me take care of this or not.  “l know what I’m doing, I promise, I can help” I say, speaking the truth, as I look in my bag real quick and reach for the hand sanitizer I usually carried around. For once It was really useful.

He does what I say, I don’t know if I should be surprised or not but I just go with it. He takes his shirt off, without me asking for it before, he just does it and lays down on his side. I help him a little bit, turning his body in a way so I could take a good look at his wound. So I get my hands to work.

I take off the bandages with extreme ease. None of them were completely stuck to his body, they were being held up by just a couple of pieces of tape around his healthy skin, this was not right. Those couple pieces of cloth were complete soaked in alcohol and blood, I could almost feel the desperation he had in when patching himself up, but this was not the way, he needed serious help on this. I take a closer look to his wound once the bandage is out.

This one is bad. It’s a clean cut made by god knows what, but it goes along part of his ribs and a bit of his stomach, making one cut that could be deathly if it was made a little deeper, he is a lucky guy, but there is no way he would fix this up by himself.

I knew what I had to do the second I took a look at his open skin.

“Is May home?” I ask him, looking up at him quickly before turning my look back down to inspect the kid. He shakes his head, leaning down a bit more on the bed, giving me full permission to work on him. I look around the room and grab the first pillow I find around and pass it up to him “Bite this, just in case” I say in a bossy tone. It’s the least he could do since we don’t have any anesthesia around.

I don’t give him time to think, because right after I pass on the pillow I am instantly taking in that big bottle of alcohol he had on top of the kit and pouring it on his wound without a warning. His head is thrown back and he groans in pain. I feel the need to apologize but I don’t do it, I know it hurts but it’s what it takes for him to heal.

“You should learn how to take care of these better, it could get pretty bad” I say as I grab a little cotton ball and pat it around the wound to take away anything that could possibly go in and cause any more damage. I take advantage and look at it closer “Yeah, a few stitches here and there, you’ll be as good as new”I talk to myself, chuckling at my own words before correcting myself “well not exactly that but it is how it is”

For my surprise he chuckles too, looking at me carefully as I pull out a big stitching needle and threat, he’s been waiting for this somehow, but didn’t have the guts to do it himself.

“How do you know so much about this?” He says almost in a mumble as he watches me, take a pair of gloves and slide them on my hands.

“School” I chuckle, shrugging a little “Mom takes those first aid classes too seriously” I say, shaking my head at the thought “it’s not bad, I like them”

He nods, understanding what I am saying and then laying his head on the pillow, he looked exhausted, so I decided to work on him quickly so we could be over sooner. I’m sure this will be a world of pain but it’s all we have now.

I take a big and steady breath in as I carefully prepare my needle to make the first stitches. This is not that hard, but for some reason. Peter is making me nervous and I don’t want to hurt him more than he already is.

I steady my hand once I hold his body up to keep him still and with careful moves, I make my first stitch, put that needle in him and close that bit of skin from being all open. It’s a good stitch I can tell, but still, it’s a bit difficult to make it perfect because Peter is moving a little and groaning in pain, I hate to see him like this, I really do.

“Does your aunt knows?” I say, trying to keep a conversation as I tight a knot around and cut the string, readying myself to do another stitch.

“Yeah” he says with difficulty, looking up at me and then look back at his hands “She knew what happened but she didn't yell at me this time, I am in one piece so” he tries to keep going, but the second my needle goes in his skin, he hisses “Ouch”

“Sorry” I mumble, making a second stitch  “one piece, huh?” I scoff, looking up at him shortly.

“I try” he chuckles a bit, as he dries the little spots of sweat on his forehead.

I keep working my magic around and making one stitch after another and making sure to keep them from tearing apart too easily, I didn’t want him to get these out from dumb moves, so I had to be patient and work quickly. He tried drowning in groans and big yelps of pain by biting the pillow just like I told him, but in this last ten minutes that I’ve had patching him up he has been thinking too much about the hits of pain going through him at times, I had to make it somehow easier for him.

“Since when have you-you know” I ask, trying to distract him a little but still being curious about what’s the story behind all this because I am sure there’s one and I would really want to know how this whole thing started.

“About four years” he answers, biting his lip when I put the needle in.

“Crazy” I mumble quietly.

he nods “I know”

I give him a little smile but still manage to not take my hands off this. “Do you like it? being a hero?” I ask softly.

“I feel like the weight of the world is on me” he mumbles, looking up at me. “how did you know?” he asks

He doesn’t need to elaborate. I just need to listen carefully to know what he is talking about, it’s not that hard. I sigh and shake my head, it was such an easy answer but still hard to explain, without making it sound totally ridiculous.

“Your voice is one of a kind, it stuck with me” I chuckle as I explain “I saw that blood stain and it all made sense, it was like the universe was guiding me to know about this”

Yeah, the way I just explain it did not make it sound any less weird.

He nods, pursing his lips together at the pain as he tries to say “Well I hope it was only you who saw it” he says, breathing heavily to then look at me straight “Are you Alright? You- ouch” he hisses before continuing “you landed pretty hard”

I almost forget about that. The moment I landed on my arm was for sure one painful moment, but it was not anything compared to what he was dealing with right now, my situation was just child’s play if I looked at it objectively, but if I was being honest with myself, I could still feel the pain in my shoulder from that bad landing, but It was nothing to worry about.

“My arm hurts a little but it’s alright, I’ll survive” I say chucking as I look at him for a short second and smile “you on the other hand…” I mumble, making another stitch “I didn’t see those guys with weapons”

He nods again, closing his eyes shut “It was a knife I think” I say softly.

I curse on my insides. Those fuckers really made one big mess and here I have all the consequences. I hope they rot in jail.

“I see, this is a clean cut” I sigh, passing the cotton ball around the wound once just to clean it up.

I look around, inspecting the room just a little and see what he has been doing before I got here to help. Not much from what I was already suspecting, a bunch of bloodied clothes, bottles of ethyl alcohol, brand new bandages, and a big white towel all soaked up in old and new blood, standing out from all of the things he had around. I see how he stopped the bleeding all the way from that museum until he got home.

“towels, good call, stealer” I scoff, shaking my head as I chuckle.

there’s one hint of a smile on his face and he mumbles a small “Shut up” before he up just a little bit.

I nod, tighten up my last stitch and cleaning up the wound around one last time. “I’m done” I announce, backing up a little and looking for some other set of clean bandages, he needed this covered for the rest of the week.

“Thanks” he says, resting his weight on his arm and carefully sitting up on the bed. he was exhausted, I could see it in his face, thank god this was already over and he could finally rest and I hope he gets a good time of rest, it’s the least he can do after saving so many people.

I lift his arms a little and with extreme gentleness, I start wrapping those fresh bandages around his body, making sure to keep them tight but still leaving him room to move with freedom and without much difficulty, if he wanted to keep this a secret, then he should be able to act like himself and move naturally.  

“can I ask you something?” he says as he watches me, tight around bandages around his body.

“Yep” I nod, as I unroll the cloth around his torso over and over.

“How did you know where the bomb was?” he says in a curious tone  “If you didn’t tell me about it we might as well be all poisoned” he points out. I want to laugh.

Yeah, sure, If it wasn’t for me we would all be poisoned, but if it wasn’t for him, we would be probably death and a big important museum would be missing some important pieces. I wasn’t a hero here, he was.

“I sneaked in those gardens on the top floor and I heard them, I was hiding of course, I was scared but, I had enough time” I say, telling him just about a snip of what the whole story was, but I am sure he didn’t want to hear all of it. “I heard it all”

he nods, understanding how I knew in the first place and giving me a little smile “Thanks for helping” he says in since words before he closes his eyes and gives one big sigh “and about a while ago, I…”

“Don’t you worry” I interrupt him, waving this all way. I cut on the cloth that’s left and quickly tape on his bandages to secure them “I know how you felt, in my defense, I was acting kind of, intrusive” I shrug, as I back up just a little, Now that I was all done.

“And I was an asshole” he says.

“No, you weren’t” I shake my head and stopping him from saying more “you could never, you’re Peter”

He keeps looking at me in silence, he doesn’t really have much to say, so I let him say nothing, I knew what he meant and I accept his apology, but I also knew how pushy I was being and I know how kind he is all of the time. He is Peter, he would never hurt anyone just because, even when he is, in fact, the Spiderman, I don’t care. the only face that really matters here now is that he saved lives and if I could do something to help him, I would, without question. Because he’s a hero because he deserves it.

I pack everything back where it was in silence, making sure everything was on the right place as I put everything back together, put away all the used stuff and organized what would be necessary if he has to use it again because we both know he will.

I turn to look at him for a second, just to find his eyes staring at me with deep concentration. I smile, now this is surprising.

“What?” I chuckle a little “Is there something on my face?”

he snaps out of it, shaking his head a little before stuttering “No it’s just-” he tries to say the first time to them mumble “Your eyes are really bright on this angle” he says “It’s pretty”

I blush, looking down at my hands and I mumble a quite “Thanks” and try to not make a fool of myself.

“I-uh-eh” I stutter slightly as I get up the bed, suddenly very nervous about nothing in particular “you need to clean this up once a day” I explain, before I forget to tell him this, even when it is really important “just with alcohol, There can’t be too much air running in the room, no open windows and you should wear gloves…” I keep explain before turning to look at his face for the face time, he looks worried or maybe confused I can’t tell, but it is impossible for me to resist it, so my mind changes in a snap and I find myself saying some other thing when I start taking again. “you know what? Come over by my window tomorrow night, I can get it done for you” I mumble, not taking my eyes off his “We don’t want Queen’s hero to get an infection” I nervously chuckle, grabbing my backpack off the floor.

“You don’t have to” he says, watching me as I put hang the strap of my backpack on my shoulder.

“It’s the least I can do, you saved us” I say shrugging “I want to” I say in a strong voice, making myself clear enough.

Before he can deny my offer once again, I hawk, hardly and step back just a little. Really, I was getting really nervous about this and I don’t know why I don’t know why he has this effect on me.  

“anyways, I’ll be on my way” I say, turning around and starting to open the window so I could finally leave. My mission here was complete.

“Sorry for being rude” he apologizes again, not moving from the bed as he watched me leave.

“Sorry for being noisy” I apologize right back, smiling at him and I stepped out to the world.

“Can I tell you something?” he says, raising his voice a little before I can leave. I peek inside to look at him as he says whatever he has to say “I feel better” he admits, smiling up at me.

I chuckle, nodding my head as I said “That’s good, that’s really good” I say “Maybe we can make a deal here” I suggest with a little shrug “You go save people, I’ll patch you up”

He chuckles at my suggestion. It might sound like a joke at first but I am really serious, it would be an honor for me to help him.

“Sounds good to me” he says, nodding after a brief second of thinking about it “I’ll make sure to tell you everytime I’m close to death” he says clearly as a joke.

I bite my lip and shake my head as I mumble “It’s not funny, Peter” I half smile to then say  “It was a pleasure to help”

he nods to me right back. “Really, Thanks, I owe you”

I chuckle as I grab the end of the window and mumble a quiet “No, you don’t”

I hear him laugh for a full second and it is honestly, music to my ears, but I try to not let that show in my face. I start closing up his window, giving him some privacy, but before I can fully close it and leave to let him have some proper rest, I hear say something, that maybe sounds very normal, but to me, it is like a peace offering, something that makes me know that we’re okay.

“Have a good night (Y/n)” I hear him call before I can leave.

I look at him through the window, he is watching me and smiling at me softly. I wave at him and with a small smile, I say “Good night, hero” to then give him a bit of a playful wink.

I wish I have stayed for a little longer, just to see his reaction, but right after my last words, I just leave, I don’t know, I just feel the small bit of pressure on me and I don’t know why, he just makes me nervous, too nervous. No one has ever really had this effect on me but here he was making a difference.

But in honest words, I meant every single thing I said back there, he is a hero, our hero and as long as he keeps doing this amazing job for us, I would keep patching him up as much as I can, because he deserves this and more. All for one and one for all, I’ve heard. Peter Parker deserves all of it.

Because even when the world didn’t know. Peter Parker is a true hero.

He deserves the world...

[xkurzel]

Part 3 of the college!AU series. [2] [1]

“Why can’t I get this?” Santana huffs, throwing her pencil onto the desk, the pencil clattering to the far corner.

Brittany chuckles next to her. “It’s okay. Math isn’t for everyone.”

Santana shoots Brittany a dubious look. “Says the math genius.”

Brittany grins. “If it helps, I probably really suck at law.”

Santana sighs but the corner of her lips quirk up as she gives Brittany a small smile. “A little, but that’s not gonna help me pass my Calc final in two days.”

Brittany nudges Santana’s shoulder with her own, a soft, encouraging smile on her face. “Not with that attitude. Now, c’mon,” she reaches across the desk to fetch Santana’s pencil, “Stop abusing another inanimate object and try it one more time.”

“You’re never going to let me live that down, huh?”

Brittany winks. “Never. Now try again.”

Santana rolls her eyes skyward before straightening in her chair. “Okay, so…” Santana screws her eyes shut to concentrate on remembering the right way to solve the problem in front of her, taking off her glasses and tossing it on the the desk in order to rub at the bridge of her nose.

Santana blows out a noisy exhale before opening her eyes and hunching over her notebook. “I have to find the value of the integral, first…” She carefully scribbles out line by line of the solution as she works it out, double-checking each line before getting to the final value. “Then, I just have to plug in the units into the integral… meaning, the answer should be this.” Santana circles the final answer a couple of times, running the lead of the pencil into the paper, before sitting back and nudging the notebook over to Brittany, confident that she’s finally gotten this problem right.

Brittany’s oddly quiet, a rarity compared to the handful of times Santana’s run into her. Santana raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to check if it’s right?”

In an instant, Brittany’s eyes refocus as she seems to snap out of it, tugging the notebook in front of her. Brittany checks Santana’s answer against her own before nodding. “Good job. You got it,” she confirms softly.

Santana grins and bounces in her seat, grabbing at the notebook and Brittany’s answer to triple-check. “Thank god! I was stuck on that one forever. I thought I was never going to get it.” Only then does Santana notice Brittany’s fallen silent again and she looks back to her, finding an inscrutable expression on Brittany’s face, her lips slightly parted and blue eyes boring into Santana’s.

“What?” Santana asks, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“Sorry,” Brittany starts, biting down on her lip, before continuing, “It’s just… you look really nice without your glasses.”

Santana almost scoffs because she thinks Brittany’s joking or just trying to lay another line on her, as she’s been doing majority of the time they’ve run into each other this week.

But the expression on Brittany’s face and the soft, sincere way she had said it, without any of the bluster or teasing usually evident, make Santana’s protests die in her throat.

Heat blooms through her skin. “Thank you,” Santana murmurs out, holding Brittany’s gaze.

A group of students entering the library breaks the charged moment and Santana flushes, laughing breathlessly, keeping her eyes pointedly on her things as she gathers them. “And thanks for the, um, tutoring session. I feel a lot more prepared for Calc now, thanks to you.”

Brittany stands as soon as Santana does, shrugging on her backpack onto one shoulder. “No biggie,” Brittany replies, “You’re a great student. And don’t worry, you’ll do great.”

Santana finally gathers all of her textbooks in her arms, fiddling with the stack of books to hold them all securely, and looks back up at Brittany.

Here’s the thing: Santana’s not an idiot.

Brittany, with her tousled blonde hair, long legs, and those crystal clear blue eyes, is hot. Plain and simple. She’s only human and Brittany’s insane attractiveness was the first thing that stood out to her the minute she turned around and saw her leaning against the wall.

And sitting next to her for over an hour and feeling the heat of her skin near hers as their arms brushed on the desk only solidified the pull of attraction Santana’s been feeling since their first meeting in the hallway.

So yeah, Santana’s attracted to her.

Not that she’d ever admit this, of course, because, despite how gorgeous those blue eyes are and the way those blonde locks make Santana’s fingers twitch to run through them, they’re just… too incompatible. With Brittany’s easy nonchalance and that smirk and her cocky attitude, she just isn’t Santana’s type. At all.

Then again, maybe Santana judged Brittany too quickly, seeing how focused Brittany was during their whole tutoring session, just patiently explaining to her how to work through the problems. Even now as Santana looks into Brittany’s eyes, that signature smirk that drives Santana up the wall is absent from Brittany’s expression, a kind and friendly smile in place instead.

“You know,” Santana says carefully, “I had my doubts before our session. I thought you were just trying to get me to go out with you again.”

Brittany tilts her head, smile still on her lips. “But?”

“You’re… not that bad,” Santana admits, the corners of her lips curving up.

Brittany’s laugh comes across easily, her eyes crinkled in delight. “I’ll take it.”

Just as Santana opens her mouth to reply, footsteps thunder from around the corner and a girl carrying a set of books jogs up to their table, slightly out of breath. Santana jumps, taken aback.

“I am so sorry I’m late!” The girl rushes out, “I completely misread the tutoring schedule! Santana, right?”

Santana’s eyebrows shoot upwards. “What?” She asks, bewildered.

The girl sets her things down onto the desk. “I’m your Calc tutor! So sorry, the tutoring center’s been slammed with finals week so our schedules are crazy. Thanks for waiting.” The girl then finally takes notice of Brittany, a confused look coming across her face. “Brittany? What are you doing here?”

“You know each other?” Santana asks slowly, looking back from Brittany to the girl.

“Brittany works at the tutoring center with me,” the girl answers.

Santana’s jaw falls slack as she turns to Brittany, who has her hands outstretched in defense like she was expecting Santana’s reaction.

That smirk reappears on Brittany’s lips. “Okay, so I might’ve seen your name on the tutoring schedule when I swung by and I may have switched some schedules around so I could be the one to help you out.”

“I—you—what—” Santana stutters out in disbelief. She looks to the tutor and back to Brittany, whose mouth is twitching like she’s about to grin at how worked up Santana’s getting. Santana’s face suddenly feels uncomfortably warm, the tips of her ears red-hot as she flushes in embarrassment.

“You’re unbelievable, you know that!” Santana finally huffs, pointing a finger towards Brittany who breaks out into a sheepish grin. Santana spins on her heel and stalks away.

“Santana, wait!” Santana hears Brittany call after her, but Santana just shakes her head, picking up her pace so Brittany can’t follow after her.

Santana strides off to her dorm, determined to hole up there for the rest of the night and focus on acing her finals and putting one infuriating blonde and all of her antics out of sight and out of mind.

/

Santana aces her finals, of course.

After buckling down in her dorm and pulling consecutive all-nighters, she breezes through the rest of her exams. Calculus was the hardest out of all of her finals, but—Santana admits begrudgingly—Brittany’s tutoring session really helped her understand the material.

Even though Brittany wasn’t really her tutor and was apparently just trying to pull something. Or whatever.

But Santana’s trying not to think about that. Or her. Since Santana made a point to avoid the library for the rest of the week, she hasn’t run into Brittany since, to her relief. The few days of interacting with the blonde had been confusing and distracting and frustrating, all at the worst possible time. So Santana’s glad that finals week is over, that the blonde that took up far too much time in her thoughts in just a few days has been thankfully absent from her life, and that she’s finally getting out of her dorm and meeting up with Mercedes to grab a coffee.

Santana walks out of her dorm building and spots Mercedes on the grassy quad in the center of the cluster of dorm buildings. Mercedes turns as soon as she spots her and Santana’s steps quicken to meet her halfway.

“Finally! Where have you been?” Mercedes greets her with an arm around her shoulders, wrapping her up in a hug.

Santana laughs and hugs her back. “I know, I know. But it was finals week. I had a good reason to go M.I.A.”

Mercedes rolls her eyes. “Girl, we’re taking the same classes so don’t even give me that. You could’ve sent a text so I knew you were alive, instead of ghosting me.”

“Well, that’s why I’m here now, isn’t it? Now, are we gonna get this coffee or not? I needs my caffeine,” Santana tugs on Mercedes’s arm to get her to start walking and Mercedes follows with a chuckle.

“Don’t think I don’t know you’re just using me for my wheels because you’re car-less this semester,” Mercedes says breezily, unlocking her black SUV as soon as the pair arrive at the dorm parking lot.

“But it’s just so, so sweet,” Santana says as she climbs in, trailing a hand over the matte black dashboard, and Mercedes reaches out to swat at Santana’s hand.

“Hands off the damn ride, Satan. I just got it detailed,” Mercedes points at Santana, narrowing her eyes playfully, and Santana laughs and throws her hands up in defense.

“Okay, relax, I’m hands off. Just get me to coffee already.” Santana throws on a pair of shades from her purse and snaps towards the road impatiently.

Mercedes rolls her eyes but sets the car into drive. “You are so damn dramatic.”

The two catch up over the finals they just took, commiserating over being only five semesters through all of their pre-law classes, before Mercedes pulls up to a bustling coffee shop a few blocks away from campus.

“Why is it always so packed?” Mercedes exclaims as she puts the car in park and the two clamber out of the SUV.

“I know, god, it seems like everyone from campus is always here,” Santana grumbles in response, opening the door for the two of them. The coffee shop is a known popular haunt for students from their college, so they see a few familiar faces that both of them send a few nods and waves to, some being in both of their classes, a few that Santana knows from around her dorm, and a couple others that Mercedes knows from the various student clubs she’s in.

“So since finals are over, I’m thinking we need to go out. You’re staying on campus during break, right?” Mercedes asks as they both fall into line.

“Yeah, broke the news to my mom last week. How are breaks on campus, anyways? I’ve always thought they’d be dead because everyone goes home,” Santana muses, squinting up at the menu as she decides what to get.

“It’s pretty fun. A lot of people stick around and you can finally come with me to all the off campus parties over break, like I’ve been asking you to for the past two years.”

Santana rolls her eyes. “Not interested.”

“Oh, come on. You were plenty interested back in high school.”

“Yeah, that was high school. Now, your girl’s just trying to graduate and get to law school.”

“You’ve gone soft, Satan,” Mercedes teases as the two get to the front of the line.

Santana rolls her eyes again, hip-checking Mercedes softly. “Shut up and order.”

Mercedes just chuckles but rattles off her order to the barista and Santana does the same. When Mercedes reaches into her purse for her wallet, Santana smacks her hand out of the way. “Nuh uh. You fly, I buy, remember? This round’s on me,” Santana says as she takes out her own wallet.

“Actually, it’s on me,” a familiar voice chimes in from behind them as a hand slaps a card into the barista’s outstretched hand, and Santana’s stomach drops as she whirls around.

Brittany’s standing there, looking dangerously good in a tank top, a flannel wrapped casually around her waist, with ripped jeans that look almost painted on. She gives a wink to the barista as she takes her card back. Annoyingly, the barista flushes at Brittany’s attention and Santana grits her teeth.

“Thanks?” Mercedes says warily, glancing at Santana, who’s shaking her head exasperatedly. “And you are?”

“No one,” Santana answers flatly, shoving Mercedes towards the other end of the coffee shop where their drinks will be and pointedly away from Brittany.

“I’m Brittany,” Brittany offers with a grin, following after the two.

“You two know each other?” Mercedes raises an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

“No.”

Santana rolls her eyes, turning her back towards Brittany. “No, we don’t know each other,” Santana confirms to Mercedes, who has an amused look on her face.

Brittany chuckles, stepping around Santana to shoot Mercedes a dazzling smile. “We totally do. We were practically study buddies all through finals week. But I don’t know you, though you do look familiar. You are…?”

Mercedes laughs, shaking her head in amusement. “Mercedes. And you know, you look familiar too. I think I’ve been to a few of your parties. You room with Sam Evans in that house on Shaker Avenue, right?”

Brittany grins. “I knew I’ve seen you before. Yeah, I do, with a couple others, too. That’s what I came over to talk to you ladies about. I wanted to invite you two to a party we’re throwing tonight to celebrate being on break. You in, ‘Cedes?”

Mercedes hums, shooting a furtive glance to Santana, who has her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, and goes to respond, but the barista calls out hers and Santana’s orders. Mercedes goes to pick up the two coffees, sending a friendly smile to Brittany. “You know what, if Santana’s down, then I am, too. But it looks like you two need a moment so, Brittany, thanks for the coffee, and Santana, I’ll see you in the car?”

Santana sends Mercedes her most withering glare, but Mercedes just lifts her coffee to her lips and raises her eyebrows as she turns to walk out of the coffee shop.

Santana turns towards Brittany. “You need to stop.”

Brittany tilts her head innocently. “I don’t know what you’re referring to. Also, hi. Haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“That’s completely on purpose, because last time we ran into each other, you lied about being my tutor.”

“Okay, look,” Brittany steps close to Santana, who takes a step back, “I actually came over here to apologize about just that. I should’ve just been up front with you. It was kind of uncool and I know that you were just trying to get some help and probably didn’t need that stress.”

Santana keeps her arms crossed, looking off towards the side. She’s trying not to show it, but she’s actually kind of surprised Brittany’s apologizing. “Yeah, you should’ve and yeah, it was,” Santana mutters.

Brittany ducks her head to try and catch Santana’s eyes. “Can we start over? We obviously keep running into each other and are gonna see each other around. I’d like to start fresh, if you’ll forgive me.”

Santana hesitates, finally facing Brittany to try and see if Brittany’s being sincere or if she’s just trying something. Brittany smiles back tentatively.

“Okay, fine. Whatever. Apology accepted. And since I can’t seem to avoid you, for whatever reason, consider the slate clean.”

Brittany’s smile breaks into a full grin, bouncing on her heels with barely contained excitement, and Santana rolls her eyes gently at her reaction. “But some rules,” Santana points at her and Brittany nods fervently. “You’ve got to stop hitting on me because I’ve already told you I’m not interested. And no more stunts like the whole tutor thing.”

Brittany narrows her eyes, grin still on her face. “You never said you weren't interested. You just said we didn’t know each other well enough.”

“Yeah, well,” Santana clears her throat, “I’m not. And we don’t. But since I’m pretty sure Mercedes will end up dragging me to your party tonight, we might as well be on civil terms. But only if you stick to the rules. Got it?”

Brittany composes the expression on her face to a serious one, nodding solemnly. “Got it.” Her mouth twitches upwards slightly. “You’re really into rules and stuff,” she notes nonchalantly.

Santana narrows her eyes at her, walking towards the exit. “Don’t push it.”

Brittany just hums in response, following after her and through the exit. “So I’ll see you two at the party then?”

“Probably, considering how Mercedes keeps looking over here.”

“Great. Can’t wait to see you. In a totally friendly way, of course,” Brittany says with a slight smirk.

Santana rolls her eyes before nodding towards the parking lot. “Are you parked by Mercedes? She’s in the black SUV. You can swing by and say bye to her, if you want.”

Brittany shakes her head, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. “Nah, I took my bike here. But tell her I said it was good to officially meet her and that I’ll see her tonight. See you later?”

Santana just nods as a goodbye, sending Brittany a tight-lipped smile, and Brittany chuckles, raising her eyebrows at her and waving before jogging off around the corner.

Santana sighs as she makes her way over to where Mercedes is parked, already mentally preparing for the barrage of questions she knows she’s sure to get.

Santana swings the door open and climbs in, her hand immediately shooting to her coffee and drinking a few gulps to get the caffeine rushing through her, her other hand holding a finger up at Mercedes to tell her to wait.

“Okay, go ahead,” Santana sighs after getting her well-needed coffee fix.

Mercedes reaches out and shoves Santana’s shoulder. “Girl, you did not tell me you ditched me last week to hang out with that girl Brittany. Since when do you two know each other?”

Santana scowls, rubbing at her shoulder. “Watch it, Wheezy. And we weren’t hanging out. I just ran into her a couple times at the library during finals week and she kept talking to me.”

Mercedes raises an eyebrow. “Sure seemed like more than that.”

Santana picks up her coffee, taking another sip. “It’s not. Seriously. We’ve just bumped into each other a lot recently. That’s it. How do you know her?”

“I don’t really know her, but I damn sure know of her. She, Sam Evans, and a couple of other people throw these huge functions at their off-campus place all the time. I’m talking major parties. I would’ve never pictured you two running in the same circles, to be honest.”

“What do you mean? You and I run in the same circle and you said you’ve been to their parties.”

Mercedes rolls her eyes. “Yeah, but that’s different. I go to a lot of parties and know a lot of different folks. And look, Santana, I say this with love and all, but you’ve been kind of buttoned up since we got to college. And Brittany’s crew, well, they’re pretty wild.”

Santana scoffs, affronted. “I’m not buttoned up!”

Mercedes shoots her a look. “Girl, other than me, who else do you hang out with? And I’m talking about actually hanging out off campus and not for school. I shouldn’t even count because we went to high school together.”

Santana huffs. “Well, mostly everyone sucks anyways and okay, so I like to stay in at my dorm most of the time. So what? That doesn’t mean I’m buttoned up.”

“Right.”

“I’m not!”

Mercedes chuckles. “Alright, okay, you’re not. So does that mean you’ll come with me to the party tonight? Because I’ve been trying to get at Brittany’s friend, Sam, and could use a wingwoman. But only if you’re up for it.”

Santana nods, straightening her shoulders. “You know what? Hell yes, I’m up for it. We’ll go.”