Eric Hastings was an aspiring journalist that would do anything for a good picture and a first-page deserving article. Peter Parker disguised as Spiderman was desperate to bring attention to the growing violence and weapon trafficking in the dark st...
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Eric was lectured by his principal and offered a choice, the boy could either have ten weeks of detention or join the Decathlon club. The boy choose to join the decathlon team, but also made the principal assure him that his parents wouldn't be aware of his absence, the principal agreed to the terms, and the boy was sent back to class with authorization to enter the room.
Hastings was quiet enough and entered the room without attracting much attention, he handed the teacher the authorization and made his way to his desk. Camille was sitting alone and staring at the boy with a complete question mark on her face.
Eric sat by her side and took the boom of his back and fining Peter's washed uniform in there, he made a mental note to give the uniform back to the other teenager after class "Where were you" Camille whispered taking notes from the board.
"Writing the most amazing article of my life" Eric whispered back getting a disapproving look from their teacher, Camille still had a lot of questions to make, but she decided to wait until the end of the class.
Once the bell rang Eric packed back his stuff and turned to talk to Camille, but a fast figure came inside the room and pulled him out in the hallway "Ned? What's going on?" Eric asked troubled by the sudden interaction.
"You are on the TV man" Ned said pointing up, one of the TVs in the hallway had the CNN breaking news logo, The video Eric acquired earlier in Beth's store was playing and alongside it, there was a picture of Eric.
"That's right Anne, the Queen's streets are getting more dangerous by the second. Thanks to Eric Hastings from the New York Times we've got these exclusive images that helped the police identify the car in which the bandits escaped" The male reporter said inside of the CNN studio.
"What an amazing video John, this video also gave us a first look at how Spiderman acts around the streets" The female reporter said smiling.
Eric froze, everyone seemed to be talking to him, but his head was too busy trying to understand what was going on. Did the video he acquired and the article he wrote was presented on TV? His name was quoted on TV and his photo was broadcast live on national television.
Everything around him seemed to go on slower, even the corridor started to get darker. The boy started to feel cold even though his forehead was starting to get all sweaty, the sound disappeared from everything, the only thing he could hear was the sound of his heart beating and his lungs trying to fill up with air.
"Eric? Eric? Come here" Camille pulled the boy away from the crowd and inside the male bathroom "Hey you are okay, count to ten with me" Camille tried the first option, but it didn't work as well as it used to.
"C'mon take some big breaths with me" She said synchronizing their breathing "What's wrong? Did they do something wrong? with your article?" Camille asked "No- is just that I panicked, everyone was talking and questioning me. I'm sorry for that" Eric said washing his hands and throwing some water on his face.
"Do you want to go home? I can walk you home or call your parents" Camille offered "No. I'm fine. Besides, my parents don't understand what a panic attack is, they'll think I'm just making a scene" Eric mumbled throwing more water on his face.
"Thanks for that Cami, I don't know what I would do without you," The boy said with a warm smile, after panic attacks, Eric would feel weird. The first thing was that everything was too bright and every noise sounded 200 times worse.
"H- hi, I'm sorry to disturb you guys, but is Eric okay? Do you need me to call a teacher or a nurse?" Ned asked entering the bathroom shily "I'm good, but thank's for caring" Eric said back.
"You guys can go to the cafeteria if you want, I'll stay here for some time" Eric said dropping his bag on the floor and controlling his breath "No way, we're staying here with you" Ned said completely entering the bathroom.
"By the way, have you seen Peter? I need to give him his uniform back" Eric asked trying to get his condition out of focus "He's home, some kind of evil flu he caught, but I'll text you his address" Ned explained grabbing his phone and sending Eric Peter's address.
The trio sat on the bathroom floor and stayed there for some time until Eric felt okay to go back to the outside and face the crowd of curious eyes. Camille made a good job and scared everyone away before Eric opened the bathroom door and left.
~X~
Eric left school after lunch and decided to check how far from there Peter lived. It was a 10-minute walk that the boy was willing to make, Eric plugged in his earphones and pressed the shuffle button on his Taylor Swit playlist "Oh, all too well 10 minutes version? Damm the exact time" The boy started to walk towards Peter's apartment building.
It took more than 10 minutes because Eric decided to stop by a bakery and grab a few sweets for Peter, maybe make the boy feel better. Hastings didn't know exactly what was Peter's favorite flavor, so he grabbed two glazed doughnuts, two chocolate, and two filled with strawberry jam.
Eric entered the building and went upstairs to the fourth floor, knocking on the door Ned had told him. A few seconds later a woman appeared at the door with a confused look on her face.
"Hi Mr.s Parker, I'm Eric a friend of Peter's. I had to give something back to him, but Ned told me he wasn't feeling fine. So I brought a few sweets. Could you give them to him?" Eric asked.
"Oh darling please come in, you can call me May. Peter is in his room, the last door in that hallway" MAy pointed the boy in the right direction and he smiled as a thank you. Eric felt a little anxious about being there, he wasn't that close with Peter to simply show up at his house, so he was scared to be invading Parker's privacy.
Hastings knocked twice on the door and heard a loud "Come in"
"Hey Peter" Eric said entering the room "I stopped by to give your uniform back" The boy explained it way faster than necessary "Oh hi Eric. Thanks for that" Peter said giving a soft smile.
Parker had an ice pack on his face and many bruises on his body "Oh my god Peter, what kind of flu is this?" Eric asked getting closer to the boy in the bed.
"It's not exactly the flu, I told Ned it was the flu so he wouldn't get worried. But I actually got mugged by a group of guys" Peter explained.
"When was it?" Eric asked taking a look at the bruises "It was a day ago, I was coming back from school and they corned me up in an alley" Peter lied bluntly "Dammit, where was spiderman?" Eric joked taking the ice pack away from Parker.
"Ice packs are only good on the first twelve hours, they cause vasoconstriction, therefore, stoop the blood from forming large hematomas. After the first hours is better to use heat packs, they dilate your vases allowing your body to reabsorb the blood that leaked" Eric explained.
"Oh wow, since when did you become a doctor?"Peter asked looking impressed.
"I'm more like a nurse you know? Sexy nurse" Eric joked and Peter chuckled.
"I'm kidding, I used to have Muay Thai classes when I was younger, a lot of bruises, so my doctor told me this technic" Eric explained leaving for the apartment's kitchen and warming up some water to fill up the bag.
"Here, see if it feels better" Eric said giving the warm bag to Peter "I also brought this over to cheer you up" Eric opened the doughnuts box and saw Peter's eyes melting.
"You are a really good friend Eric," Peter said grabbing a strawberry doughnut "Are we friends?" Eric asked happily "Of course, we are"Peter said taking a bite.
~X~
Hey guys!
I'm not really sure what to write here... so thanks for the readings and votes?
