Veins and Wires // Peter Parker

Emotions and Confessions

As fire engines passed the Cyclone ride, Peter and I sat on top of it. We stared at the mess, looking down on it, completely exhausted. My eyes flashed with a bright red 20% making me sigh with fatigue. I glanced at Peter, leaning on a metal bar, and placed my head on his shoulder as I closed my eyes.

"What do we do now?"

"I do not know, to be honest. Maybe see what happens from here," I answered, looking up at him. He had dirt smothered on his face with blood, his own or maybe someone else's, still smeared in his face. I did not judge, knowing I probably looked about the same.

"Yeah...see what happens," he agreed, looking down at me. We sat with each other in comfortable silence for a moment, watching firefights er- fight the fire surrounding bird brain and Happy find Spider-Mans little message.

I watched Happy look around until I felt a hand lace its finger with mine. I looked up to meet Peter's eyes and slightly red, beaten face. I felt absolute adoration for him, something I never thought I could actually feel for another person. I wanted the feeling to last forever. And for a moment, I felt like my nonexistent heart was beating a million miles a minute. Until it dropped to the bottom of my stomach at my sudden realization.

I could not do that to him. In my mind, the only point to relationships or "love" is to test your compatibility. To test the possibility of a future together. I know that is completely dumb, we are both obviously still in high school and we have known each other for a few months but in my mind, that was how it was. How it worked.

And we had no possible future together.

I am a humanoid android. A machine that was created in a lab to destroy everything it touched. A robot.

If we were in a relationship I would be dooming Peter into this life. A life of crime-fighting with death, destruction, and no chance of a normal life insight. And if we were compatible, if we did by some chance have a future together, there would be no intimacy, no children in it. Biologically, anyways.

And I could not do that to him. Not in a million years.

I took a deep breath in and looked down at our entwined hands. I stood upon the beam stiffly, pulling my hand away rather suddenly.

"Come on, we have to go before they finally spot us," I said in a monotone voice, jumping down from the ride. I refused to look back at him as I heard him climb down.

"Right," he sighed trailing behind me, hearing the disguised hurt behind his voice.

I wish I was normal. Just so I could give it back to you as sappy as that sounds.

...

We walked silently through the night, avoiding each other's eyes.

"Hailey I-"

"Peter, we are both exhausted and possibly traumatized for the rest of our lives. We can talk tomorrow," I reasoned without missing a beat as I continued to walk through the alleyway to Peter's place.

All I had to do is drop him off, make sure he does not do anything dumb, and then scurry to my new home to unpack. Easy. Or so I thought before Peter grabbed my shoulder, stopping me from walking forward.

"I want to talk now," he said with determination, holding eye contact with me. "Did-did I do something or-?"

"What? No! I just...cannot," I answered as I tried to find the right words. God, without the ability to conjugate words together all of this sounds so dramatic, like a horribly written soap opera.

"I like you, Peter. Obviously, I do but-"

"You think of me as a friend..." Peter trailed off, interrupting me causing me to raise my eyebrows in disbelief.

"No, Dumbass! Well yes... and no er- I do not know," I stammered not knowing how to put my emotions in words. "To be honest, I did not think I had um..these types of feelings. When I was...created I was not meant to have any feelings at all. But obviously, that did not go according to plan," I explained looking down at my cold, hard hands. "I do not want to drag you into my mess, Parker. You already have your own problems you need to help and adding mine to the mix is not going to help," I confessed, chuckling darkly in defeat as I looked away.

"Isn't that for me to decide, though? Hailey, I don't care what you are and you shouldn't either. Seriously, I'm genetically half-human and half-arachnid now, I am never going to be normal. And to be honest," he argued, pausing for a moment. "I'd rather be not normal with you."

WARNING WARNING W-W-WARNING: SYSTEMS OVERHEATING. PLEASE SEEK TREATMENT IMMEDIATELY.

Shut up, you overpriced know-it-all. What do you know anyway?

"You know that is super sappy right?" I joked to distract myself from the fact I was extremely flustered by his confession. I was not expecting that one-liner.

"I mean it's too late to take it back now."

"Who said to take it back? I was just commenting on your desperation to have a girlfriend. So much so, you would ask a robot to be your girlfriend," I laughed quietly as I quirked an eyebrow. And yes, this is the best I can flirt, shut up.

"First of all, humanoid android," he corrected dramatically causing me to smile subconsciously. "Second, who said girlfriend? I was just saying you don't have to do everything by yourself," he mocked, smiling like a dork.

"Touché, Parker," I answered, looking him up and down. "So what do you decide?" I asked, taking a step forward towards him.

"Go on a date with me?" He asked, crossing his arms nervously and taking a step towards me. I contemplated for a moment before taking another big step forward making us only a few inches apart.

"Fine. But do not get mad at me when it is not what you expected," I said quietly. For a split second, I thought about kissing him before deciding against it.

I knew it was about time I started helping Happy clean up the mess we left him with so I kissed Peters cheek. An electric shock zapped his cheek softly from a short glitch as I levitated off the ground and flew above his head before calling out to him.

"See you Saturday, Spidey."

Well that was a quick 180