HOW IT WORKS // p. parker

Part 1

He can't be late. Peter Parker cannot be late to be on the roof five blocks from his apartment. Because if he is late, even for one minute, his chance to meet her is very thin. Well, not really meet, but watch her taking the same route to her school not far away from where he lives. And he would follow her to make sure she's safe.

     But first, Peter knows she'd be buying some beverages at the bakery around the corner. It was always different. Sometimes it would be butter bread, cheese bread. It can be donuts, and curry puff. But the drink is always the same: a cup of hot milk tea.

He grabs his spiderman suit hidden in his wardbrobe. But not just inside his wardrobe because that's too easy for Aunt May to discover what he's been up to - coming home late at night, hands and face bruised because, apparently, he's got beaten by bullies by the street when he actually saved the kids. There's an access behind his wardrobe. He doesn't know how Tony Stark did that, but it was good. He puts on the suit as fast as he could because when he glances at the clock on the wall, he only has a few minutes to be on the roof.

He doesn't care if he has school. He can be at his school on time, just when the bell rings for the first period. He has done this many times before and he never lates. Even though he misses one, he knows he's not losing anything because he has Ned, his happy-go-lucky, round best friend who loves to talk. Peter can depend on him literally on everything, though Ned doesn't know that he is Spiderman. Most of the time, he'd tell Ned that he woke up late.

It was sunny outside. He doesn't want anyone knows who Spiderman is and where Spiderman lives, and by taking the alternate and short exit means he would reveal his identity. If he takes the window, with he already wearing his Spiderman suit, people will know where he lives. Padestrians' attention might be what's in front of them, but there are coffee shops and restaurants around. They might do the sight seeing while having their breakfast.

But Peter doesn't care. Everyday, he goes out like this. He wears his Spiderman suit inside, his t-shirts and jeans outside. Unlike at night, there are no t-shirts or jeans to cover up. He climbs the roof using the iron ladder - in which he is very grateful they have that - and once he gets to the top, he hides somewhere darker to take off his t-shirts and jeans, shoves them inside his schoolbag. Just as when he's about to flee, a voice booms behind him, startling him.

"Peter Parker," it says. It's a female's voice, young and bright and energetic. She sounds someone who is around his age.

Peter freezes, slowly turns and to see the person. His heart skips a bit, suddenly afraid someone knows him. But worst of all, he's afraid she's going to spread who he is. However, he doesn't know what he should expect when he sees her. Long, dark and wavy hair, braided and pulls to her side. The way she stands so tall and confident sometimes cowards him, but there's something in the girl standing in front of him makes him feels connected that he could trust her even though unsaid.

"Please don't tell anyone," Peter begs. His voice muffled behind his mask. "I- I- We-"

"That's alright," Sarah says. She smirks, amused. After years of being Peter's neighbour, she has seen enough of Peter's reaction to anything that by now, she could imagine how Peter's face would look like. "I know you're late. You can go now." She smiles.

"Errr." Peter doesn't know how she knows, but it's too late to ask so he keeps a mental note to ask her later. "Right, thanks."

     And he runs, jumps off the roof and flies in the air until he needs to hang on to something. He sprays his spiderweb, clinging from one building to another. His schoolbag daggling behind him, but he pays no attention to it because he knows, if he cares about it too much, he won't be anywhere by now.