if you ran away, come back home ♤ peter parker

[4] like a dream.

"so, you in a hurry, or something?"

she gazed up at the top of new york as its buildings loomed over them, a shadow over them. her chest heaved as she inhaled, a wrinkle in her brow. "you know, now that you've asked i— i don't really know why i wanted to be home so bad," she tittered, shaking her head. he raised an eyebrow to his hairline at this, stuffing his hands inside of his jacket pockets. "why's that?" he inquired, blinking.

her throat stung as her reply say at the tip of her tongue, although she couldn't quite bring herself to say it right away. the thought of coming home to her mother and adrian was the last thing she wanted, but she knew it was practically inevitable at this point.

still, she wasn't sure if peter parker would be interested in a story such as this. "it's... it's silly," she chuckled, shaking her head. he shrugged, pursing his lips. "try me."

she glanced back up at him, her lips peeling open to show teeth. her heart practically punched her chest at this point, aching to be let free. she gulped down the lump of saliva at the base of her throat, hoping it'd maybe ease her nerves. "it's just, my mom has a habit of attracting the wrong type of men," she began. "and now, she's marrying one of them."

"oh, well, how is he, bad?" he asked, and she sniggered, about a million reasons why he was bad swarming to the tip of her tongue. "well, first of all, he's dirty and lord knows i can't stand dirt," she chuckled, earning peter parker's laughter. "and, i don't know, maybe i'm stupid, maybe i'm overreacting and overthinking things but i just get this bad vibe around him. like he's hiding something from us."

"oh, i'm sorry," he uttered, kicking rocks across the ground. she smiled— peter parker was even cuter up close. she could tell peter was out of words to say in the current conversation, so she took her own leap, asking her own question. "what about you? are you in a hurry?" she inquired, and he chuckled, looking ahead.

"was just going to... oscorp," he replied, adjusting the glasses on his nose. she stifled a laugh and nodded, peter glancing over and tilting his head. "oscorp. why am i not surprised?"

he pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow questioningly at this, "what— what's that supposed to mean?" she veiled her mouth away with her palm as she suppressed the giggle threatening to emit, shaking her head as she tucked hair back behind her ear. "no— it's just, you know, you're peter parker, top student of midtown science. oscorp is literally the first place i'd expect you to be."

she earned a laugh from that one and she melted— she had never heard something so beautiful before. she wanted to hear peter parker laugh more often.

"fair, i guess," he mused as they crossed the street, ravishing the moment. he had to admit— this was the best conversation he's had in awhile. she eyed her books, her teeth gnawing on the flesh of her bottom lip as she pondered whether or not to ask how he was doing.

on one hand, she didn't want to ruin the light-hearted mood in case it was still a sensitive subject but on the other, she wondered if anybody had asked him this question, and if not, if he wanted someone to. she wasn't sure which route to take, the conflict bubbling up inside of her until she practically vomited her words out, halting in her tracks.

peter spun around to face her as soon as he had realized she had stopped walking. "are you o—"

"peter, i've been wanting to ask you something for awhile but i wasn't sure if i should so, you don't have to answer if it's still a touchy subject but—" she stopped for a breath and he almost laughed at this, until she picked back up again. "—are you okay?"