The Void

Chapter 10 - Building the Catapult

(Your POV):
I arrived at Parker's apartment on Saturday, my body still a little sore from the beating I had received from my parents. However, I had become a master at masking my pain as well as covering up cuts and bruises in visible places with makeup. I was surprised by the apartment building in which Peter lived, confused by how someone attended Midtown High was also living in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Queens.

I brushed that off and made my way up to the apartment, the number already engraved in my mind from the text he had sent. Once arriving, I knocked on the door, a woman answering it.

She immediately flashed me a smile, "you must be (Y/N), please do come in! Peter's almost ready he is just grabbing one last thing."

I nodded, unsure how to respond to her enthusiasm. Instead I just prayed that Parker would hurry it up so we could get this day over with and I could get out to complete my daily missions. Because of my slip up, my family had punished me with giving me more to do each day, which often resulted in me having to stay up late into the night to complete my homework.

Parker emerged with a bag of wood, giving me a smile, "hey, (Y/N), everything else is already up on the roof if we want to head up now."

"Yeah, I have plans after this so I'll need it to be completed rather quickly," I replied, already turning to his apartment door.

"Bye, Aunt May!" Parker called out as he followed me, making me roll my eyes. We were just going to the roof where our power tools would be less distracting to the other residents, it wasn't like he was going far.

Parker led me up to the roof, where there was already situated a stack of wood that the school had given us to build the catapult, the rest being in Peter's bag. We were each rationed a specific amount and if we ended up needing more, that's when we would have to buy it ourselves.

We stood for a moment on the roof, somewhat overwhelmed by the task ahead of us and not quite knowing where to begin. I finally removed the bag from my shoulder, which carried my parents power tools and turned to Parker, "well, I suppose we should get this over with."

We laid out the plans for the catapult and began with the base. It didn't take us long to fall into a rhythm, Parker would measure and cut the wood and I would assemble the pieces based on his markings. As I built up however, the task of constructing the catapult became harder to accomplish on my own. But due to my stubbornness to be independent, I attempted it anyway, resulting in a slightly misshapen side.

Sighing in frustration, I unscrewed the one-by-fours that built up the sides and shouted, "hey Parker, wanna lend a hand over here?"

He stopped what he was doing and obediently came to my side as I repositioned the one-by-fours in a triangular shape. I moved closer to the catapult in hopes that he would have a better angle and requested, "would you mind screwing these in? They're being a bit temperamental."

Parker nodded and picked up the drill I had placed down so that I could fiddle with the wood. However with me in the way, he was having difficulties getting to the wood, dropping quite a few screws on me. He ended up have to stand right up against me, his hips against my shoulders and an arm on other side of me. I had never been this close to him before and it was making me feel a little dizzy.

He successfully screwed the wood in place and I quickly stood from my spot, needing to get away from him. However when I turned around he had still not taken a step back, leaving us in extremely close proximity. My breath hitched in my throat and I could no longer think, feeling his warm breath on my face. We simply stared at one another, neither one of us able to move from where we stood.

Finally I was able to avert my eyes and squeeze between him and the catapult, "wanna do the other side, Peter?"

His face lit up and a flashed me an adorable smile, "you just called me Peter."

I rolled my eyes, "don't get used to it. Now get over here and help me secure the structure of this side too."

He did as I requested and I focused on my breathing in an attempt to ignore how close Peter was to me. I had never been affected like this before, shutting my feelings out had become second nature. But perhaps I had been too lenient with Peter and now I actually seemed to care about him. I couldn't afford that to be true, I needed to shut him out, to distance myself so that I could bury my feelings for him.

Friends are mere distractions, I reminded myself as I got back to work on the catapult, ignoring Peter's offer to help drill. He eventually slinked back to his spot, cutting the wood while I finished constructing the catapult. I tested the launching mechanism once I was finished, making sure that it worked properly, grateful that the arm shot up and if I had put anything in the bucket it would have been sent flying over Queens.

"What do you think, Parker?" I asked, admiring me handiwork.

He frowned, "I think I liked it better when you called me Peter."

"Tough," I replied, determined to shut him out. However when I noticed the sadness creeping into Peter's eyes, I sighed. "Alright fine, does the catapult look good to you, Peter?"

I didn't understand why seeing him looking so sad pained my heart nor why when his eyes lit up at the sound of me speaking his name made it flutter, but it was a feeling that I both enjoyed and that terrified me. He gave his stamp of approval, but I was hardly paying attention lost in my own thoughts.

When I came back to earth, Peter was standing right in front of my reaching up towards me. My reflexes took over and I tightly grasped his arm, keeping him from touching me. He looked down at my grasp, rather confused, "I'm sorry, I was just going to get the saw dust out of your hair."

His words took a moment to sink in before I let him go and I apologized, "sorry, Peter, I must have been zoning out and I didn't realize-"

I broke off when he grabbed my own wrist, his eyes widening as he pulled back the sleeve slightly. Realizing that he had seen one of the bruises that I had not bothered to cover with makeup, I yanked my arm free from his grasp and turned away, "I suppose I should head back home. I have a family thing this afternoon and I don't want to be late. I can swing by tomorrow and we do some test launches of the catapult, does that work for you?"

"(Y/N), what was that bruise from?" Peter asked, completely ignoring what I had said, his voice filled with concern.

I shrugged my shoulder, "I must have hit my arm or something. I always have bruises on me and never know where they are from, you don't need to worry about."

"You got awfully defensive over a bruise that you don't know the origin of."

I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, "Well, I suppose I don't like people seeing them. I don't want people to know of my imperfections."

Peter's face softened as he cupped my cheek in his hand, "you don't seem to have any imperfections, (Y/N). And I know that you aren't telling me the truth about that bruise, but I can assure you that you can tell me anything. I may just be your physics partner, but I can also be your friend."

I stepped away from him and growled, "I already told you my feelings about friends. Now I'll see you tomorrow to test that out."

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(A/N): Ok so technically I missed posting a chapter yesterday because it's 1:03 over here, but I just got back to my room from the chorus concert so I'm counting it as not be late lol. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!