infinite

Part 16

"Just hop on my back, we have to go on the rooftops to get to where all the big buildings are," Peter says while slouching down a little. I take a deep breath and climb on to his back,  holding onto him for dear life. "Ready?" he asks. "Y- yeah," I tightly close my eyes and he shoots his web and we go flying up towards the tallest building in our area. 

I hang on tightly as my body jolts with his in the air. The wind whips around me and it seems like an eternity later I feel us stop. "You can get down now, and open your eyes," he laughs. I do as instructed and open my eyes, and let my grip around his neck go. We are standing on top of the building, I look across at all of the lights. "It's so quiet," I say to him. "Yeah, it's the best time to come out here because no one is out, now and sunrise are my favorite times," he sits down on the edge of the building, dangling his feet over the edge. "Come here," he says while patting the spot next to him. 

I take the seat next to him and I accidentally look down, causing me to freak out a little. "Don't look down," he puts his hand under my chin and lifts my head, "Look out there." My eyes scan over the city, taking in every sparkling light all dancing together like shimmering ballerinas. "It's gorgeous," I say breathlessly. "I come up here, to this spot all the time and just sit. I think about all of the people out there," he points to the city, "all of the people who I help, who I have influenced in some way, it is the best feeling in the world, but also the scariest." "Why the scariest?" "Because, what if I can't help them one of these times?" 

"This is a whole city that you protect, it's a big job, which is why you have help," I say. "Yeah, you're right, I do have help," I see him look at me from the corner of my left eye. 

"Well," I say while stretching my arms above my head, "now is a good time to talk about all of this," I gesture to his suit. "Oh yeah," he looks down at himself, "I got these powers when I was 12, not long after that Mr.Stark sought me out, oh, I got the powers from a genetically modified spider that bit me, it's dead now." As he speaks I nod and quietly admire him. "Have you ever been afraid of your powers?" I ask. "No, well, when I first got them I was but after it was awesome, in a way I feel like these powers made me whole, made me... extraordinary." I shake my head, "Peter, you have always been extraordinary, if I never found out about your powers I would still think the same thing." 

This is true, to me, he is one of the most extraordinary people in this world. I find myself these days being truly fascinated by him, by the little weird things he does. Like how when he's thinking, he makes a very puzzled expression, like he's trying to solve something so complicated. Or like how when he finishes using a pen, he always clicks them open and closed twice. Or how when he smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkle. And the sound of his laugh is like listening to your favorite song in your favorite place, it's like the feeling of the sun beaming on your face. 

"You are extraordinary as well, like this beautiful abstract painting of color," he says looking straight at me, "come on, I know a place where we can test out your suit," he stands up and extends his hand for me to take. "Up you go." I jump onto his back and clutch around him tightly, then tap on his chest to signal that I'm ready. 

This time around, I feel so much better, I'm not worried about the fact that I'm flying through the air. I'm simply only thinking about how warm I feel inside on this cold night. 

***

Peter lands in what appears to be an old abandoned airfield. I climb off of his back and spin in a circle looking at everything. "No one ever comes here, and no one can see, we can do whatever we want!" he shoots a web and does a flip in the air. I look up at him and laugh, "I don't know how to work this thing!" I yell up at him. 

He lands back on the ground in front of me with a thud, "Exactly, so let's figure it out! Don't you have an assistant in that thing?" "Yeah, I named her Carly," At the sound of her name she turns on, "Hello, Jaina," says her robotic voice. "Sweet, I named mine Karen, she's the best," he beams. "Carly says that I have a force field in this suit, let's test it out, Peter, try to run and attack me," he shrugs and runs off down the runway. 

He turns and waits for me to nod my head, I do, and he charges towards me. Just as he is about to make contact I yell, "SHIELD!" and a big bubble encases me, knocking Peter back. I tell Carly to remove the shield and go to help Peter. "Are you okay?" I ask while helping him stand up. "Yeah, I'm fine, at least we know it works," he says rubbing his arm, "let's try something else." 

I know exactly what, "Carly, activate rocket blasters," as soon as I say that I realize that I shouldn't have. My shoes begin to spit out flames and I lose control, I fly up, and I crash hard into the side of a wrecked airplane, then fall to the ground. 

"Jaina!" I hear Peter yell, and run over to me. "Okay, so I need some practice with that," I groan and roll over. "I think that's enough practice for tonight," he grabs my arm and helps me up while laughing. 

"Your heart-rate is increasing," says Carly. My eyes go wide, "Thanks for the information Carly... be quiet," I whisper the last part. 

"Before we go, do you wanna take a break for a little while? You took a pretty big hit just then," he asks me, suppressing a chuckle, and I nod rolling my eyes. We go sit down on some old, tattered plane seats. "Want to know how I found this place? It's a funny story," he asks. "Sure," I say while nodding.

***

Hours go by with us sitting on those ugly, deteriorating plane seats, filled with the sounds of our laughter, and us talking about everything and anything that our two minds could muster up this early in the morning. "It's almost time for the sun to rise!" Peter exclaims. "Wait, really?" I press a button on my mask and the time pops up, it's really 4:03 a.m. I didn't even notice the hours passing by. "Hurry! We have to go," he says. I quickly jump on his back, hold on tight and squeal as he takes off, and swiftly maneuvers through the city, flying through the buildings. He took us back to the building we started our little midnight adventure at, "Yes! We made it just in time, watch," Peter directs me to where I need to be.

We both turn towards the horizon, and I watch in awe as the sun creeps up behind the sky. As it rises, the sky turns from a dark blue to purple, to pink, then to orange. It is natures own majestic art piece. 

I feel my hand being taken into Peter's own, I look down, and our fingers are intertwined and my heart begins to beat so loud I think he can hear it. His hand, while still covered by his suit, is warm and comforting, and my hand, also covered, fits so perfectly in his. 

I look over at him and see how tense he is, by how his jaw keeps clenching. I tighten my grip on his hand, giving it a squeeze. He looks over at me, moving his head closer, and his eyes switch between looking at my lips and my eyes. I just stare into his eyes, his two pools of honey illuminated by the burnt orange sun.

And then my lips meet his, in a meeting that I just simply can't describe.