The Spider and The Flame (Peter Parker)

Part 9- Loyalties

I slowly open my eyes to the sound of light snoring. Peter is fast asleep, one arm still draped over my waist, with his face in the crook of my neck. I smile instinctively and yawn.

Pete is an amazing guy, I'm very lucky to have met him. He genuinely cares about me, and I care about him. It's not everyday that I get to spend time with anyone that I care about.

I turn over to face him in bed and I notice something peculiar. My stomach drops at the sight.

His keys are on the bedside table.

I could take them, run away, get back to Steve and the others. After all, I'm on their side, aren't I? I don't really belong here, I don't need all of Stark's tech or Black Widow's training, or Pete-. No, I can't think like that. I need Pete for more reasons that I can dream up.

Debating about the keys is really tearing me up inside. On one hand, I feel obligated to try and escape because of the promises I've made to Team Captain America. They have my best interest in mind and want me to be safe. On the other hand there's Team Iron Man, who, taking the necessary and understandable precautions, have been patient with me and have been willing to train me in their own safe facility. Plus, Team Iron Man has Peter on it.

My morals get the best of me.

I'm not going to be switching teams. I would never betray Steve like that.

I sit up in bed and look over towards the door, my easy escape route. Thinking through it, though, once I'm out the door, then what? I don't know my way around the facility well enough to find a blast door and unlock it. I need codes and stealth and my powers aren't exactly the most stealthy.

I lean back and let my body fall slowly onto the bed, in defeat. I can't risk trying to escape if I won't actually make it. I'd never get a chance again.

"Morning sunshine," Peter whispers next to me, with a clear scratchiness to his words.

"Hey, Pete," I smile, turning over to face him.

"Have you been awake for a while?" He asks, blinking rapidly to be rid of the sleep in his eyes. While he blinks, his hair falls into his face to nearly cover one of his eyes.

I lift an arm to his face and push his hair back. I touch the skin of his face and feel an electric pulse emit through my body, giving me shivers.

"No, not really. I just woke up" I smile, hovering my hand on his head a little longer than normal. I pull my arm back to my body.

He smiles and breathes in sharply, closing his eyes. We lay in silence for a few minutes, him drifting in and out of sleep and me studying his face. By now I know every curve and ridge of his face by heart.

-

Pete makes the best pancakes I've ever had. He took the liberty of shaping mine like a smiley face, I think. It's a little distorted and kind of ugly, it's hard to tell what kind of face he tried to make with it.

"Get it? It's Spider-Man!" Pete laughs, proud of his work.

"Oh... Yeah, okay" I laugh, poking at the pancake with my fork. "I think I like your face more than this... Spider-Man's."

"Hey now, let's not forget that my face is kind of... Spider-Man's" Pete furrows his eyebrows and chuckles, walking over towards me from the stove. He pulls out a chair next to mine and begins to eat his ugly face pancake.

"You aren't the mask, Pete. I like Peter Parker way more than I like a spider in red spandex." I laugh and bite my lip. "Spider-Boy"

"Okay, that's it" Pete growls, obviously annoyed by the nickname. He turns to me and jumps out of his seat, grabbing me from my chair and carrying me bridal style to the couch in the tv room. He lays me down with a playful roughness and begins to fake punch me in the abs. "Boom, pow, smash!" He makes wincing noises for me while I giggle. He stops for a moment and puts his hands on his hips, staring down at me. "You know, I'm beating you senseless and you're laughing about it. You're shit at self defence"

"I don't need to defend myself from you, I don't think you could hurt me if you tried" I tease, propping myself up on my elbows on the couch. Pete sits down at my feet and puts a hand on my knee. He makes circles with his thumb over the area and stares at me.

"You're right, I could never hurt you." Pete sighs and a small but short-lived smile crawls onto his lips. I curl my legs in towards myself and Pete turns his attention to his hand still on my knee. For some reason he seems flustered, and before I know it he's standing up and walking back towards the kitchen. His walk is a little bit staggered and he runs his fingers through his hair nervously.

"Pete? What just happened? Are you okay?" I ask, jumping up from the couch and rushing into the kitchen behind him.

"You're just important to me, Ash. And you're on the other team. We fought each other, we're supposed to hate each other. I don't know, it's stressful knowing I'm supposed to hate you but I can't"

"Hey, the war is for the most part over. I'm literally a prisoner here so it's not like I'd win in any fight here anyways. Plus, I don't want to fight you either." I smile, running one of my hands down his cheek. His face is warm and red, obviously because of his stress levels growing so quickly.

Pete takes a long and strenuous sigh, smiling into my hand and closing his eyes. Once he opens his eyes again, his features return to normal.

"I have an idea," he smiles.

Sitting back at the table where my half eaten pancake is waiting for me, I begin to cut another bite from it.

"Shoot" I say, mouth full of pancake. Pete smiles and winces a little bit, probably because of how gross the chewed up pancake looks in my mouth.

"Tony is... A bit of an alcoholic," Pete begins to tap his fingers on the marble countertop, "So what if we... Followed his example tonight?"

"You want to get Tony Stark's version of white-boy wasted?" I say in a very serious tone, which quickly turns into a burst of laughter, "if I had ten bucks, which I don't, but let's say I did, I'd say, ten bucks says I can drink way more than you"

"Okay, that was super confusing but I'll take that imaginary ten bucks later tonight" Pete smiles mischievously, while I take another bite of my pancake.

Authors Note
Hey guys! I posted this book about two weeks ago and I'm really excited about how many people are reading it! Thanks for checking in with the story:) Leave a comment for me to read and vote! I love love love it!!!