Clessidra | Peter Parker.

26. primitive instincts

It took everything June had to explain to Peter what had happened without shivering in fear.

After she had gotten out of the clinic, he was there, waiting for her with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. Without even giving her mother a second look, June rushed in his arms, breathing in his scent as if she hadn't seen him in weeks. He had tried to get everything out of her, but she was freaking out too much to compose any logical sentence, so Peter simply excused himself from Heather and took her home, where Aunt May had promptly prepared a cup of chamomile even if she didn't know what the hell was happening.

In the quiet silence of the kitchen, after Aunt May had gone to sleep, June spilled out everything that had happened, from the call her mother had received, to the visit and the amount of information Cecilia had stuffed in her head violently. Her mind was stuck with the image of the hallways filled with soulless bodies standing limply, and she couldn't shake off the cold feeling that had frozen her every muscle, which not even Peter could warm up.

"Did you accept?" he asked her, his cup still full, just like June's, since they had been so much into the conversation that they had completely forgotten about the outside world.

"I asked her to give me a few days to think," she simply said, playing with the cup with her cold fingers.

"What do you think?"

"Her reasoning made a lot of sense, mostly after what she made me see. But it freaked me out, and I'm scared shitless of seeing that hallway again. But if it means saving those people, saving Simon's father, I can't think about myself, I can't allow to be selfish." June raised her head, feeling oddly satisfied when she saw Peter nodding. It wasn't the first time he agreed to something she said, but it showed her how things had changed between them and how healthier their relationship was, now that there was nothing but trust and affection to bind them.

"I'm going to talk to Tony tomorrow. See if he knows something about Cecilia and, even if he doesn't, I'll ask him to do some research."

"Whatever, you're such a fangirl," June joked, trying to sound serious as she raised an eyebrow.

"Weirdo," he exclaimed, letting out a loud laugh. The two quickly drank the chamomile before returning to Peter's bed where, despite the time, they realized they weren't tired in the slightest.

"What about a night patrol, in honor of the old times?" June proposed, grinning as she turned towards Peter.

"Are you sure about it?" he questioned her, trying not to show the excitement in his eyes.

"Yep."

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to, I mean-" June shut him up by crashing her lips on his, placing her hands on his cheeks while standing on her tiptoes. Peter immediately synchronized his movements with hers, wrapping his arms around her waist to pull her closer to him. Their lips moved together for a while, the two teenagers forgetting about everything else for a few seconds.

"It's not like I asked you to have sex," June joked after they separated, trying to act cocky even if her cheeks were stained of a deep red.

Peter started coughing, trying to keep his hands on her waist even if her words had made him incredibly self conscious. By now he had grown accustomed to the feelings for the girl, wondering how he could have spent so much time with her without even thinking of kissing her or even hugging her, but they had been friends for so long that the thought of being so intimate made him feel weird. Of course, he had already thought about it, but one thing was for him to think about it, another one was June actually expliciting it.