𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄; peter parker

ꜱɪx

MAELYN AND PETER WERE HUNCHED over the metal sink with their hands busy cleaning. The girl held a brightly-coloured sponge beneath the murky, soap-filled water as she scrubbed at the remnants of their late night meal, whilst the brunette beside her had his fingers covered by a hand towel, intricately drying one of the few utensils they had used with the pasta. They couldn't just leave their dirty dishes sitting on the perfectly clean bench inside the extremely expensive apartment to gather green mould. 

"I can't believe we finished all that." Maelyn sighed as she attacked one of the patches of dried pasta sauce with her squishy, makeshift weapon. She muttered a soft apology when her elbow came into contact with his waist after she'd decided to change her tactics, moving position to try and scour the pot back to its original cleanliness.

"I did travel through universes." He shrugged nonchalantly. "That's gotta make someone hungry." He playfully nudged her side with his elbow as a smirk grew across his lips, his eyes flickering down to look at her with gleaming speckles of caramel brown. The girl met his glance as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, her irises sparkling with their usual ocean blue, before she tore them away with a visible gulp. She didn't want anything to escalate.

As she looked back down at the reddish-tinted water, her pupils latched onto a lone piece of pale spaghetti as her mind wandered off to tend to the thoughts running rampant in her head. She knew the butterflies slowly coming to life in her stomach meant something, but that didn't mean she couldn't force them back to sleep.

Maelyn-Jae Parker could not have even a tiny sliver of feelings for Peter Parker - the Spider-Man from another universe. 

There were a list of reasons as to why she might occasionally feel a twinge of liking towards the boy, but nothing too extreme. He was sweet, and cute, and everything she had ever wanted in a guy, apart from the part where he lived in the same universe as her. She couldn't care less if the boy lived in a different house, in a different town, in a different country, or even in a different continent, but they had to actually exist in the realms of her Earth. She couldn't date a man from another universe. It took long-distance relationships to another level.

There would be no way to communicate, so they wouldn't be able to talk to each other or see the former's face. There wouldn't even be a way to make sure the other person was still breathing. One of them could be dead and the other wouldn't know - wouldn't ever know. It was too much for either of them to handle. Which was exactly why Peter was scolding himself for even thinking of it.

In his eyes, he just wanted to stay. Nobody was waiting for him back in his world. Sure, some people might miss the presence of their beloved superhero, but who already didn't? He hadn't saved somebody's life for a few years, let alone done anything right. As soon as the tragedy of his best friend tore a scratch in his heart, he hadn't even tried to save someone from inside the red and blue suit, but with Maelyn, he felt different. He felt like he could sweep the streets again, flying through the bustling roads of New York on his self made web strings to save the lives of the innocent. But he knew, as soon as he stepped foot back through that portal, that feeling of playing the hero would disappear.

Once they had navigated through their intense feelings and finished packing up their dishes, the pair found themselves to be sprawled across the spotless couch with a tv remote in hand - in Maelyn's hand. Not before finding the boy some more comfortable clothes, though.

They had found a closet in the bedroom upstairs, filled with some of Happy's dearest clothing pieces. That collection consisted of a wide range of Hawaiian shirts, stretched sweatpants, and business suits, not much to lounge around in. Peter made do, however, when he found the only hoodie the wealthy man owned.

"Any suggestions?" Maelyn questioned as she scrolled through the variety of movies and tv shows on Netflix from her warm position laying on the couch. Peter lightly shook his head as he bounded down the staircase in his oversized clothing, jumping over the back of the couch to get comfortable on the white sofa. "Ocean's 8 it is."

"What's that about?" Peter spoke with intrigue, wanting to know the depths of the film he was about to watch.

"A bunch of women band together to rob a bank. It's one of the best movies I've ever watched." Maelyn boasted with a passionate smile. She loved to talk about the things she enjoyed the most. The boy laying beside her nodded his head with understanding as he looked towards the screen, shuffling his position over so he was completely facing the electronic rectangle.

Before long, Maelyn was out cold. Peter only noticed when he made a joke about a particular scene in the movie and she didn't respond, which at first, saddened him beyond belief. Once realising she was asleep, he lightly chuckled to himself before pondering on what to do.

In the end, he decided that carrying her up to her room was the best thing to do. A bed would be ten times more comfier than a couch, even if it was the most expensive one from the shop downtown. However, as he began to snake his arms beneath her chest and legs, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm.

"Don't move me, I'm comfortable." Maelyn demanded as she retracted her hand from the slap. 

"But-" Peter went to protest.

"Shut up. I'm trying to sleep." She buried her head even further into the pillow to try and block out the light from the television and the sound from the speakers. The boy beside her sighed in surrender before turning back to the movie and watching it with droopy eyes, his mind elsewhere from the scene between Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock. Before long, he was away in dreamland too, snuggling even deeper into his place on the white sofa.

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