2. A Love, a Father, and a Legacy (Peter Parker)

Chapter 9

I walked into the empty detention room, choosing a seat in the middle of the room at random. I dug my sketch pad out from my bag, hoping to doodle the time away. I flipped through the many drawings of Spider-Man, Peter, and random buildings in the city. My fingers paused at one of Peter lying motionless in a coma. The memory of almost losing him made me begin to worry that something had happened to him. I looked up to see if he had walked in without me noticing. When I failed to locate him I looked down at the picture again, feeling my breath quicken until my head swam with lightheadedness.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm right here." I felt Peter's hand, warm and familiar, touch my shoulder. My body instantly calmed as soon as I felt him wrap his arms around me. "Let's not look at these, okay?" Peter closed my sketch pad and placed it on the desk behind him.

"I'm fine. I swear." Peter pulled away, meeting my eyes.

"You sure?"

"Ya, I just, uh, started to think too much. I'm fine."

He looked at me, unsure. "I can't tell Tony to call off the party if you want. I'll just tell him that you're sick or something, or-"

I grabbed his hands to stop him. "I'm fine. I promise." I let him hug me again. "Plus," I pulled away and smiled at him. "I'll get some cake out of it."

"Glad you're thinking about the important things." He laughed.

~~~

Detention went by faster than I had imagined. The teacher, a surly woman with thick glasses and a long nose, was one I had never seen before. She wouldn't let us sit next to each other but she didn't seem to care when we would whisper to each other across the desks. Peter gave me my sketch pad back when I promised not to look at any old drawings. I started to draw yet another one of him bent over his Spanish book. I added glasses and a mustache to his face but he didn't find it as funny as I did when I showed it to him.

When we were finally set free we headed to the outside doors. Opening them, a large gust of wind hit us. The air had a faint smell of gasoline and cigarette smoke.

"Tony's not picking us up is he?" I asked, hopefully.

Peter shook his head, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Great." I shivered. "It feels like it's negative forty out."

"Here, take my sweatshirt." He started to take it off but I pulled it back over his head.

"No way. You only have a t-shirt on underneath that, you'll get pneumonia."

"I'm fine. I'm not cold." He started to pull it off again but I tugged it back down.

"Your lips are turning blue." He finally gave up and I forced him to pull his hood over his ears.

"Come on, race me to the subway." I started sprinting, getting barely ten feet in front of him before I felt him scoop me up in his arms, continuing to run at full speed. I buried myself in his arms, trying to warm him with my body heat. I smiled to myself, silently wishing the moment would never end, no matter how cold it got.

~~~

We finally arrived back at the tower, both of us completely numb. We ran inside and nearly jumped in the fireplace in the lobby. Thankfully Tony had lit it today, probably because of the sudden drop in temperature.

"Don't forget to act surprised." Peter grabbed my hands in his and started blowing on them in an attempt to warm them.

"I'll do my best, but I'm not really an actor."

"Well guess you better figure out how to be one in the elevator because we were supposed to be here ten minutes ago." He grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the warmth of the fire toward the elevator.