Ms. Stark [Peter Parker]

Chapter 36| The Final Battle

MARIA
9:39 pm; Friday: Stark Mansion

"Heyyyyy..."

I sneaked up on Peter and hugged him from behind. I dug my forehead into the back of his shirt, and I could feel him jump slightly. I believed I actually scared him. He spun around instantly.

"Jeez Maria, you came out of nowhere, " he spoke with relief once he saw it was me.

"You were scared, weren't you?"

"No! I don't get scared, " he stutteringly protested. I laughed and raised an eyebrow, questioning him. He shook his head and smiled before turning back to the view out from the balcony. The dark sky was pretty, no lie, but I stilled wondered why Peter was out here by himself. Or why he wanted to be, if he did.

I looked back up at Peter, who still seemed zoned out. He stared mindlessly at the sky, with confusion hidden in the depth of his face. He almost seemed sad, but as the breeze from the chilly night flew into his hair, it was hard to tell.

"Is everything all right, Peter? I- I mean, why are you out here all alone?" I ask gently, with all my humor now taken out. He weakly smiled.

"Yeah, it's just- I- I-" he spoke to the clouds slowly, and then turned to face me. "I can't get it off my mind, I have a feeling T.E.D isn't gone... you know? It just seemed..." he tried to find the right words, "too easy. Like they planned for failure, you know?" He acted embarrassed by his own words like he knew they didn't make sense.

"I think you're just over thinking - you're paranoid, basically, they will come back. But we defeated them, remember? We're safe, " I try to comfort him, which he gave in easily. He nodded as he listened.

"You're probably right... sorry... I just got to thinking, " he defended himself.

"You do that a lot, " I say, trying to lighten him up. He chuckles.

"Yeah, I do."

We both look back out at the sky for a small second. Despite Peter seeming comfortable where he was at, I wanted to go inside.

"Let's go to my room, " I say, tugging at his sleeve like a child. He narrowed his eyebrows like he was confused.

"What? Why? This is a party, why would we do that?"

"Well better than staying out here. I'm cold and I want to put on my pajamas, " I defend. He shot me a weird look.

"Pajamas? At a party? You look good in the dress, what's wrong with it?"

"It's tight and itchy. I'm not going to talk to anyone here beside you, so who cares?"

"Um... what about Ashtyn?" I nudged him towards the indoors, and he looked back and saw what I saw. Ashtyn was still blabbering her mouth to Thor in the distance, and now eback to some other people I didn't even know. He smirks and rolls his eyes at the sight.

"Sooo... now can we go to my room? Everyone seems occupied, " I ask.

"Yeah, alright, " he gives in. I smile and grab his hand before leading him.

•••

We swooped passed and avoided everyone, which they all were too busy mingling to be paying attention to us anyway.