eleanor ◇ peter parker

chapter twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY. DEAD SPOT.

peter panicked. right after he'd hung up on quentin, he got a phone call from wade, asking if he needed a ride. of course peter accepted. so in less than five minutes, wade had made it to peter's apartment and the two set off on their way to manchester, new york.

the beginning of the ride was silent. peter had not seen wade for those months, and wade had barely stepped outside since ellie had died. peter wished he could've abandoned all of his responsibilities, but he was still an intern for tony stark, he was still the hero of new york, and he was still a high school student. he had to keep his grades up, and keep working. it also helped him keep his mind off of eleanor until late at night.

peter knew that wade didn't have that advantage. wade had nothing to keep his head away from his daughter. peter felt bad for him.

most of the car ride was silent. the radio played soft 40s music until the two hit a dead spot. then they just sat in silence. it gave peter a lot of time to think. what happened? is eleanor awake? did something go wrong? did she --

"so, how have you been the past three months?" wade asked, completely cutting off peter's thoughts, which was probably a good thing. peter knew if it was still quiet, he'd start thinking about all of the bad possibilities happening in the mansion right now.

"we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," peter shook his head, glancing at wade, who's eyes didn't leave the road.

"i started the conversation didn't i? that means i want to talk about it." wade replied, taking a sharp turn that he always almost misses. peter knows that means they're about an hour away from manchester. that also means that they sat in the car for 4 hours.

"okay..." peter answered. "well, i've mostly just been focusing on school and being spider-man, i guess. that and the internship. i've been trying to think of everything but her."

"opposite for me." wade said. "complete opposite. i can't go five minutes without thinking about her. believe me, i tried." he shrugged. "i did everything i could. i went out, did some jobs, kicked some ass ... but it didn't matter. it just brought me back to thinking about her." he sighed. "everything reminds me of her."

peter nodded. "everything reminds me of her, too. i can't even get coffee anymore."

wade agreed. "kinda sucks."

peter laughed the least little bit. "yeah, it does."

it was silent again. it stayed that way for about six minutes before peter turned to wade again. "do you think she's awake?"

"doubt it." wade replied. peter's heart dropped. "i think she's slowly coming to."

"like waking up?" peter questioned.

wade nodded. "slowly. takes a while. but it won't be pretty."

"what do you mean?"

"we have quentin who's going to look in her head. and he's not going to like what he hears. there may be screaming ... i just don't want him to go through it." wade answered.