𝓈𝓊𝓃𝒻𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝓇 | p.p. x reader | book one.

𝒻𝒾𝓋𝑒✓

The sheer amount of mechanical parts sitting on my desk was overwhelming, with parts and pieces covering practically every inch. The unfinished guitar sat like an obelisk in the corner of the room as if to taunt me with failure. I sighed and rolled over on the bed, finally deciding it'd be best to make another attempt and figuring out how to get the damn thing working.

It'd been three months since we moved to New York, and a week since I started school at Midtown High. Most of my spare time had been spent on homework or tinkering, whether it was to pass the time or to distract myself, so now my room was nothing but a mess of unfinished creations and loose parts. The only things I'd had the attention span to finish was a self-watering garden and self opening window curtains.

One of my desk drawers was filled to the brim with unfinished mechanisms and gadgets; propulsion mechanisms, beebee shooter wrist guns, a pair of goggles for the sole purpose of finding lost items. Everything in it had been a boredom project, one that was quickly abandoned once the purpose was deemed useless or the project got too hard. Swiping all of the loose parts into the drawer, I used that as my way of "cleaning up", simply closing the drawer to come back to it later.

My parents had gone out for the day to run errands, which usually never took less than 6 hours. The apartment was quiet without them there, with no television show echoing down the halls or simple conversation floating from the kitchen. I wasn't able to find the motivation or energy to do much of anything, so I simply laid back down in bed and stared at the ceiling.

The dinging of my phone cut through the silence floating in the air, my hand reaching out to grab it and bring the screen up to my face. The only notification on the screen was a text message, Peter's name in bold letters next to the message.

peter: hey, are you busy?
no, why?
peter: ned and I were gonna head to central park and hang out. we were wondering if you wanted to come with.
sure, i'm bored anyway. i'll meet you guys there.
peter: see you then.

I tossed the phone on the bed next to me and swung my legs over the edge, stretching out my stiff arms and back before standing up. I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater, slipping on a simple pair of converse and grabbing my bag. I took the subway card off the table, locked the door with the single key that I owned, and began the walk down to the subway station.

The ride to Central Park was longer than my usual ride to Midtown, the train stopping at an unfamiliar platform in an unfamiliar part of New York. Luckily, there were plenty of signs pointing towards Central Park for the convenience of tourists, so I simply followed the numerous groups of families carrying cameras and tour guidebooks.

It was hard to find Peter and Ned amongst all the other teenagers and young adults roaming around, but after walking around for a few minutes, I was able to spot them near one of the ponds nestled in the back of the park. I waved at them as I made my way over, and they waved back.

"So, was it just some spontaneous plan to come out to Central Park?" I put a bounce in my step when I made my way over, the two boys flashing me a smile.
"More on less. Have you been yet?"
"No, my family and I haven't had the time. My mom works at the hospital so she's always away and my dad alway has something to do with work."
"Well, allow us to give you the tour then."

What had to have been an hour was spent with a meticulously detailed tour of Central Park, from where every pond located down to the best places to have snowball fights in the winter. The park was beautiful in mid October, with the trees slowly beginning to turn shades of brown and red and orange. The trails we walked were crowded with tourists enjoying the scenery, and once Ned and Peter had finished their Central Park Tour, the sun was beginning to set over the skyline.

"I should get going. My mom will probably be worried if she gets home from work and I'm not home."
"Do you want us to walk you back?" I shook my head at Peter's offer, adjusting the straps of my bag.
"I'll be fine, the subway station isn't too far from here or my house. I'll see you guys later?" They both nodded and sent me on my way with a wave.

I was able to remember the way back to the subway station from Central Park, hopping on the first train that would take me back home. I rode the subway back to my stop as usual, enjoying how empty the train was in the early evening as opposed to the busy weekday morning I usually rode the subway. Once it stopped at my platform, I filed off with the rest of the riders and began my walk home.

My eyes wandered down alleys as I passed them, whether it was an unconscious protective maneuver or simple curiosity. As I passed an alley just a few buildings down from my own apartment, a bright, cyan-shaded glow caught my eyes. Assuming it was someone's phone they had lost, or another piece of valuable tech, I walked down the alleyway to pick it up, but when I looked closer at it, my eyebrows raised in confusion.

Instead of a whole, completed piece of machinery or tech, it was a small motherboard-type mechanical piece, with the bright glow coming from somewhere underneath all the mechanics on top. Flipping it over a few times and getting a better look, I slipped it into the pocket of my jacket, hoping it would be useful for one of my projects. I'd developed a rather unbecoming habit of dumpster diving for parts for any of my tech projects, so I couldn't pass up an opportunity for a good piece of tech that didn't require digging around rotten trashbags to find.

I got back home before either of my parents did, flipping on the lights in the apartment to combat the quickly diminishing natural light. I put my bag down on my bed once I got into my room and tossed the motherboard onto my desk, quickly changing into the t-shirt and shorts I wore as pajamas. Deciding to occupy myself before dinner, I grabbed my guitar off of its stand and set it down atop my desk. Picking up the motherboard that sat next to it, I realized it fit perfectly into the spot I'd needed to wire up the tone and volume controls, so I set to work on fitting the piece to the body.

Normally, when I worked with parts like motherboards, they had no power source, so I didn't think anything of it when I started connecting the wires to the motherboard I'd found in the alley. This one, however, had some sort of internal powersource, so as I was attaching the last wire and completed the circuit, the electronics sparked and sent a current through my fingers and up my arm. I recoiled back, shaking out the shock and numbness in my arm with a quick few flicks. The pain subsided quickly, so I wrote it off as something that didn't cause any real damage and continued fitting the piece to the guitar, finally getting it secured to the bottom casing after a few minutes of maneuvering. I placed the upper casing on top and secured it, plugging the guitar into my amp and testing it.

The sound that came out started a little wobbly, but eventually came out clear after a few adjustments, so I unplugged it and set it back on the stand. Intending to wash my makeup from this afternoon off my face, I walked into the bathroom, my face with water before scrubbing the makeup off. As I went to grab a towel from the rack next to me, the dark outline of a spider on the back of my hand had me swatting at it to get it off. As I flicked my hand forward to send it flying towards the trash can, a small, quick bolt of lightning shot from my fingers, zapping the spider and scorching the wall behind it. I froze, convinced it was all just a trick of the light or my imagination, but when I looked in the mirror, I almost screamed.

My eyes, normally a dull (e/c) shade, were glowing the brightest shade of neon blue I had ever seen.

And so were the veins under my skin.