The Princess and the Spider-Man

Chapter 6

Peter led Mera to his nearby apartment so that they could talk more privately. Peter led her to an elevator and pressed a button. Mera looked at Peter in a confused manor and her chuckled.

"Wait for it." he said, holding up his index finger. Then in a couple of seconds, the elevator doors opened and Mera cocked her head to the side in awe.

"Wow, a secret room?" she asked in amazement.

"Not exactly." Peter replied with a grin and led her inside of the elevator. "This is called an elevator. It's used to lift people up and down tall buildings to different floors so that they can go to.....wherever it is in that building that they want to go to." he continued.

Mera looked at Peter for a minute as he pressed a button labeled with a number '5' and felt the elevator move. "Woah." she said, instinctively grabbing onto the closest thing to her. In this case.......it was Peter's shirt.

Peter inwardly blushed as he wrapped his arms around her to steady her, which in turn made Mera blush herself. "Wait a minute.......can't people just use those stairs to go up and down? Why use these?" she asked. "Are the stairs broken sometimes?"

"No." Peter replied with a chuckle. "See there is this thing that we humans have that most of the time stops us from taking the stairs. It's a little something called.......laziness."

Mera rolled her eyes, knowing all-too-well of a perfect example of a human who was at times lazy. "That you don't have to explain to me." She announced as the elevator doors opened.

"Oh, you know someone who's lazy?" Peter asked.

Mera gave him a blank stare and said, "Everyone knows someone who's lazy."

Peter nodded in agreement and led Mera out of the elevator. The two walked along the hallway past several doors, until they finally found Peter's apartment.

"Alright, just so you know, I'm not the neatest person in the world." Peter said. In fact he realized that he never even came back to his apartment complex after the Fisk take down.

"It's cool Peter." Mera assured, smiling warmly at him. Peter took in a breath and finally opened the door.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought it was, but it was still a mess. All of his Spider-Man gear and newspapers on the tables with pictures. And more newspaper clippings of his greatest foes were hanging on the walls in a messy manor.

However, Mera did not seem to mind though, as she surveyed the entire area with a small grin and an curious glint in her eyes. "This sure is a nice place." she complimented.

"No it's not." Peter said, closing the door behind them. "I'm sure Atlantis is far better-looking than this place." he said. Mera looked at him with a warning as he mentioned her home.

"Try not to say it so loud." she ordered, looking around.

"These walls are thick, nobody will hear us." Peter assured. "Don't forget, I am still holding a secret of my own, and nobody else around here knows."

"Alright." Mera said, sitting in a nearby chair, and Peter sat on his bed. Mera continued to look around and said, "Oh! I see you got a new suit."

Peter looked in his closet to see the suit that he put in, while Mera was scanning the room for the first time. "Yeah, well I made the suit with the help of a good friend." he answered.

"By the way, that reminds me........so how did you get your powers?" Mera asked, turning fully towards Peter. "You said you weren't born with them."

"Alright, story time!" Peter said rubbing his hands together excitedly. Mera had to laugh at the energy that Peter was showing. It was really heartwarming to see him smile that dashing smile. "Alright, so it all started back in high school." Peter began explaining to the sea princess. "We went to a building full of scientific discoveries and experiments and inventions called Oscorp Industries. My friend, Harry Osborn, is the son of the man who, not only owns Oscorp, but is now the mayor of New York City. Norman Osborn. But anyways, back to the story. So when I was 15, we took a field trip to the building and we witness the presentation of a radioactive laser test."