Breaking the Void

Chapter 22 - Swinging Set

(Your POV):
I successfully delivered the file on Howard Stark early in the morning following the party, having been kept at the Tower for hours with the Avengers. Drained of all energy, I simply dropped it off with my parents and dragged myself into bed, not even bothering to get changed or remove my makeup.

They had spent all of one day combing through the pages upon pages of information, doling out some of the work to me, making me lose precious time to do school work. Senior year was supposed to be a breeze, but with Peter and I competing for valedictorian I was taking as many AP classes possible and dedicating every spare minute to school work.

It was annoying how much trouble I had to go through to obtain the file just for there to be nothing helpful, which I had accurately predicted. If Stark knew how to make the super soldier serum then he would have turned it into a profit, which he didn't so clearly Erksine was the only one who knew the formula. But instead I had to sneak into the basements of Stark Towers, deal with anxiety of having the stolen files while in the presence of all of the Avengers, and then waste time going through the endless information for absolutely nothing.

"So we're still back at square one?" Mr. Erksine asked, clearly annoyed that this mission had produced nothing but a dead end.

I shrugged, "well I suppose that we know it most likely has nothing to do with gamma radiation. Oh, and that the serum was blue."

"Void, that is not necessary," my father snapped at my staying the obvious.

"My apologies," I immediately replied, shutting up as I knew any sarcastic remark would result in a beating and I had a date with Peter scheduled that night.

I tried to remain obedient throughout the remainder of the meeting, as the tried to figure out what there next step would be, but I feared all of my time spent with Peter and his friends was starting to wear off. It took all of my strength to keep my mouth shut and listen to their idiotic ideas, one of which included chopping off one of Captain America's limbs. Luckily, my mother quickly debunked that before I had a chance to speak out. Now that I had met Steve, I had realized how nice of a person he was and I felt a little guilty for kidnapping him earlier. Even so, I was still willing to trade their lives for Peter's if it came down to it.

I was finally released after my parents decided that hacking S.H.I.E.L.D. would be the next best course of action. I didn't understand why they thought that that would give them answers either. If S.H.I.E.L.D. had the super soldier serum then they would have created super soldiers and H.Y.D.R.A. would have stolen the formula when they were undercover in the organization. Not to mention there was no reason that S.H.I.E.L.D. would even have information regarding the serum considering it was founded after Captain America went into the ice.

However I wasn't going to argue with them because I was already running late to my date with Peter and didn't want to keep him waiting much longer. As I practically ran to the train station so that I could catch the next ride to Queens, where we were going to be meeting with Ned and Betty for a corn maze, I quickly texted him, explaining how I had missed the train I was planning to take and was going to be late.

Want me to swing over and get you? It might be faster, Peter responded not long after my text had sent.

Won't Betty be suspicious? I don't want you telling the world who you are just because I missed the train.

Oh I forgot that I didn't tell you, Ned and Betty aren't coming anymore. Apparently they decided that they weren't right for each other and broke up

I paused my quick pace as I re-read Peter's text, checking to make sure that I understood what he was telling me. I finally sent back, Really? That was unexpected, did they get into a fight?

No just grew apart apparently. I was as surprised as you are, they seemed inseparable, at least when Ned wasn't talking about video games or Star Wars or anything like that

I suppose it wasn't the best relationship then, but it seemed like it was going steady until they suddenly broke it off. You really had no idea that they were thinking about breaking up?

Nope, I found out when Ned texted me that we should do the corn maze alone since he didn't want to third wheel or bring his ex to a double date

Before I could respond, a blur of red and blue landed beside me and I automatically leapt into a defensive stance. Seeing that it was only Peter I relaxed and punched him lightly in the arm, "don't you know better than to sneak up on me? I am defiantly more likely to punch first and ask questions later."

"I'll try not to do it again," he teased, but I could tell that he enjoyed surprising me. "I heard that you were in need of transportation?"

I rolled my eyes at him, "no, you were the one who decided that I needed transportation, I was perfectly fine going by train."

"Well, while I'm here, I have to help a damsel in distress," he replied, wrapping a strong arm around my waist.

"Hey, I'm not a damsel in distress!" I cried out as he attached a web to the roof of a building and lifted us up into the air. It hit me then that by having him swing me to Queens, I was going to be dangling from a string with only Peter keeping me from certain death. I quickly held on as tightly as I could Peter and buried my face in his chest, hoping that by not looking down, I wouldn't realize how high up we were.

The feeling of falling each time we swung from a building caused my stomach to rise to my throat, the same feeling that I experienced whenever I was falling from great heights as well as when he had forced me into that rollercoaster. What made it worse was that it was a fairly long journey to Queens, certainly made shorter because of the shortcuts that Peter knew, but I was still in midair far longer than I would have liked to be.

He finally set me down on the ground and I continued to hold on to him, not feeling entirely balanced. Once I had steadied myself and had a chance to catch my breath, I turned on him, "I am never, ever, ever, ever doing that again. Ever."

"C'mon it's fun!" Peter tried to change my mind as he removed the Spidey mask.

"I think now might be a good time to mention my fear of heights? That and swinging from building to building high above the ground don't really mix."

His face fell slightly at my comment and he apologized, "sorry, I just thought that it would be more convenient for you and that you might find that you enjoyed it."

Not wanting him to feel guilty, I took his hand in mine, "while I am not a fan of the heights, I can't say that I hated being help tightly in your arms."

"Well we don't have to be swinging through the streets for that," he smiled, pulling me back in close to him and bring his lips down to meet mine.

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(A/N): So I tried to keep some of the suddenness of the breakup between Ned and Betty that FFH had, but obviously this story is more focused on you and Peter, so it didn't work out quite as well but hey, that's high school relationships for you! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!