Peter Parker and Meredith Stacy (A Spider Man Story)

Part 2: The Hero

There are low rise terraces containing amorphous mixture of stores, those renovated with newer signs, graffiti on concrete walls, take-aways, small grocery stores and people seemingly milling around, mothers pushing strollers with pale determination, never ending streams of traffic spewing fumes, honking horns, and pedestrians waiting at crosswalks as do I. 

There, my favorite part of New York City lies right across the road. The marble buildings tower over the hordes of people. Scents start to waft through the breeze. Yes, finally. The smell of strong coffee and warm, freshly made muffins fill the air as I reach to the other sidewalk and into the café. A woman begins offering me some pudding after handing in my 'usual'. I thank her and trade a coin for the white, stiff pudding, but "Oh no, no, no," she spurts out in her strong Italian accent. "Free." she says. I give her my most appreciative smile I can manage but give her the tip anyway. She smiles brightly, the skin around her eyes crinkling and they almost disappear in her squint. The pudding is creamy, sweet, and cold. It tastes refreshingly of lemon. 

I'm back out again into the maze of buildings and just like that, suddenly I'm screaming. It completely escapes my throat and goes bursting through my lips just as a solid figure comes crashing into me and my feet aren't touching the ground anymore. I watch as my pudding falls out of my hands and down twenty feet below me. "My pudding!" I cry. My feet wiggle and kick everywhere in every direction I can possibly manage while the cold wind just keeps hitting me in the face until I am unable to breathe. What the hell. 

"Keep still!" I hear over all the wind. That's when I realize that my eyes are shut; I slowly open them and catch a familiar sight of brown hair in the corner of my eye. That is all I can manage until my eyes snap shut again but my screaming continues, until the wind stops abruptly and I feel something solid beneath my feet.

"You can open your eyes now." The familiar voice says. The voice is warm, and reassuring as my eyes begin to open and the first thing I see is the top roof of almost every building in New York. My eyes fly down to the hand that is wrapped securely around my waist, which would make me blush if it wasn't for the fact that I can't feel anything. The arm loosens but I feel a rush of panic rise through me and I can swear my knees are about to turn to liquid. My hands tighten around the arm until I can breathe evenly, and until the tight, stiff knot in my stomach unties itself and unravel. Then, after a full minute of my 'inhale exhale' routine, I shake off the arm and push as hard as I can against the body beside me. 

"PETER!" I scream at him. Peter Parker pulls off his mask and there it is; a slight amused expression on his face as he tries to hide his smile, but fails miserably. I grab my handbag that sat on the floor beside me—although I don't recall holding onto it before—and start thrashing it at him whilst yelling, "PETER. BENJAMIN. PARKER." and hitting him again at each name. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT DOING THAT? YOU KNOW HOW IT MAKES ME FEEL."

"Whoa, whoa!" he dramatically puts his hands up and chuckles. "I just wanted to show you something."

I give him a glare and he sighs. "C'mon, Mere, what are you afraid of?"

I raise my eyebrows.

"Do you really think I would let you fall?" he says as he takes a step closer to me. "Would I drop you?" another step.

"No."

"Exactly." He smirks. "Although I could drop you but of course I'd catch you aga—"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT."

Last thing I hear is his laugh, and then I'm on his lap at the wall of the building. His body is sticking against the glass building and I shift to face him, leaning my back against his arms that wrap together behind me.

"Okay, that wasn't so bad. But, I'll always remember you owe me pudding." I look at him and he's smiling at me in that geeky way he always has, and if I ignore the fact that I'm over three hundred meters off the ground, he almost just looks like Peter, despite the red and black suit that continues from his neck down. The one who took the photos of all our classes, the one who would always have his camera dangle from his neck wherever he went and occasionally took the photos for our school newspaper. Before he was Spider man. "What are you thinking?" he asks me.

"Nothing, nothing. You know, we haven't had this much spare time in a while."

"Mere—"

"No, no. I'm not complaining. It's just, its nice." I look up and I see the remaining white webs that dangle from the top of the building. "That's kind of gross." I point out.

He looks up to where I'm looking. "What? It's not like it comes out of my ass."

I laugh and lean my head against his. The side of his mouth quirks up and he kisses me.

"You—you just kissed me."

"Yeah, I know. How'd you like it?"

"Felt a little bit rushed."

"I know I know but..."

There, the sound of police sirens—which have progressively become the most annoying sound to me now. I resist the urge to roll my eyes or sigh, and force a straight face as Peter gives me an apologetic look. I can see his guilt in the way his brows pull in.

"I know, I know... you can go." 


"You know I can't stop," he says softly, as if reading my mind. He pulls me into a tight hug and rests his chin on top of my head. "These people need me."


I need you more, I thought. But of course I don't say it, I wouldn't dare. I also won't be that selfish, whiny girl who needs him all the damn time. I understand all the dangers in New York City, and I would never put him in the situation of choosing between the people or myself. Loving Peter is worth loving Spider-Man as well, which despite its disadvantages—like his absence, or his time—the advantages overpower them. Spider-Man comes with Peter Parker, and that's worth it to me.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise." He says.

"No, don't worry. It's fine."

He stares at me for a moment longer, before slowly bringing me back down off the building... and with a blink of an eye, he is gone. I see crowds of people chanting, cheering and pointing to their famous hero, "Spider-man! Spider-man! Spider-man!" I look and watch as the red and blue figure fly with incredible speed through the city...
 and he stops, and looks back at me... then he's gone again.