fearless || peter parker

eighteen || elevatophobia, and the stamina man

This time, I woke up to Nitara shaking me awake.

"We're here, Sleeping Beauty," she said. "You slept the whole way back to Midtown."

I sat upright, and unstuck my skin from the pleather bus seat. I felt like I hadn't changed positions at all in however long we were on the road for, because all two hundred and six bones in my body felt like they were thawing from liquid nitrogen.

Or so I thought I had two hundred and six bones. After earlier today, I wasn't sure what was going on in my body anymore.

Nitara plopped a backpack down on my lap. "We stopped at the hotel, so I grabbed your stuff. I also got you a sandwich when we stopped for lunch, and I tried to get you up, but man, you wouldn't budge."

I swung the straps of the backpack around my arms. Other than being irrationally sore everywhere, my mind was clear, and I didn't feel like I was a hundred and four degrees and about to hack up a half pint of blood.

Outside, it was dark. The bus ride shouldn't have taken more than eight hours if we stopped for lunch. And Nitara was telling me I slept the whole way. Sure enough, the top floor of Midtown was visible from Nitara's window.

I stood up, and was pleasantly surprised when the world didn't churn around me. The bus was practically empty already, save the driver and one person with distinct curly brown hair going down the steps.

I rushed forward, ignoring the static rushing through my legs. "Peter!"

I hopped down the steps and stopped Peter outside, where students were dispersing to their cars. I didn't see Liz anywhere, which was probably a good thing if it were her father picking her up.

"Diana," Peter said. "I wish I could talk, but I gotta go."

I smiled. "I figured. But just a minute. You called me in the middle of the Decathlon, remember? What was that about?"

Peter's face blanked. "Uh- right! I did, but I was just trying to get a hold of Ned. That's all. He wasn't answering his phone, so I wasn't sure whether it had started or not at that point."

Peter didn't say so, but I could tell he wanted the conversation to end. I tried not to take it personally. What I wanted was to ask about why he was so frantic over the phone. I wanted to ask why he always had to go, and why he never showed up anywhere.

The moment we spent staring at each other was interrupted by a woman from the sidewalk calling Peter's name and waving him over.

"Is that your aunt?"

Peter turned and shrunk at the sight of his guardian, and I turned to look again. "Uh... yeah. I really do have to go, because she's probably freaking out. And I want to avoid as many teachers as I can."

I bit my lip to keep from smiling. Every teacher that Peter ran into, he would probably get an additional ten weeks of detention from.

I spun around again to say goodbye, but he was already gone.

Nitara stumbled off the bus, which closed its doors behind her. Her hands were full of her assortment of luggage, which she dropped to the ground in relief.

"I hope that's not too heavy for you," I said, observing her exhaustion. "You're walking all the way to Winter Street."

"Correction," Nitara said, stretching her arms. "We're walking to Aspen avenue. You must be crazy if you think you're spending tonight alone."

I started walking away from the commotion of the bus and cars. Peter had the right idea. I didn't want to end up having to explain myself to Mr. Harrington about Washington Monument any time soon.