Half a heart (Peter Parker)

Chapter 1: Bad Times to Better Times

Sydney's POV*
***: trigger warning

     Backstory: My name is Sydney Knight. I'm a sophomore in college at NYU. Cliche I know but I have powers: invisibility, force fields, super senses, elasticity, energy blasts from my hand or eyes, and slight super strength and speed. Basically the entire Incredibles fam in one lol. I was abandoned by my parents at 15, they still pay for my school but I haven't seen them since then. To be honest I think they were scared of what I could do but jokes on them, I have complete control over my powers. Now listen, I'm not a vigilante or anything like that. I don't go out looking for crimes or assaults but if I happen to be out at night and see something going down than I'll discretely help out. I don't have a name for myself or anything but if it's happening right in front of me and I can do something about it than I'm not just gonna walk away. Another thing, I don't really have any friends outside the dance studio I work at downtown near Avenger Tower/SI. Though I do have a crush on this guy named Peter Parker in some of my Gen Ed classes but I think he's dating this girl named MJ. Him, mj, and Ned are a tight little group and I don't wanna intrude on their vibe. ALSO, I've been getting harassed by this asshat that calls himself Flash for a few weeks now. I haven't reported him because one, I'm African American so I'm sure I'll get blamed somehow. Two, because if he's too busy harassing me (and Peter from what I've heard/seen) than he won't harass some other poor girl who can't handle it. Anyways onto my story.

     It's the last class period of the day and of course I waste it by staring at Peter Parker. I sit in the back corner and he sits about two rows forward, diagonal from me so it's perfect so he doesn't catch me. I mean not like he would look back here for any reason.
     The bell rings and we can FINALLY leave the stupid hell hole. I don't even remember what class that was I was so bored.
     I start to head out through the campus towards the subway . I don't have work for another 2 hours so I take my time going to the other side of campus. The hallway is empty as I'm walking cause it's almost the weekend. As I'm heading out I start hearing footsteps. Thinking nothing of it I continue, how stupid of me right? As soon as I pass the deserted library the head sleezeball himself, Flash Thompson, is standing there with a disgusting grin on his face.
     "Hey sweet cheeks" Flash says.
     "Go away Flash." I snap.
     "Aww come on babe, is that anyway to talk to your Prince Charming?" Flash says as he starts blocking my path after looking around the hall for teachers or cameras.
     "If you're Prince Charming I'm jumping off of a cliff. There's no hope for the female race if you're a so called prince." I say as I push him back and try to escape down the hall.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

     "HEY" he snaps, grabbing my arms and pinning me to the lockers with his knee in between my legs.
     "You aren't going anywhere before we have a little fun" he says as he pins both my hands in one of his and starts painfully kneading my one of my boobs. I start to thrash against him trying to get him to let go but i think it starts to turn him on more.
     "Stay still bitch, you're making this more difficult than it needs to be" he snarls while unbuttoning my jeans. I begin panicking and breathing heavy as I really start putting up a fight but he just pushes harder on my wrist. Slowly trailing his other hand down my stomach he approaches my undone pants and fingers the top of my underwear. He's never gone this far and I feel tears coming to my eyes as he starts kissing from my cheek down towards my neck. Just as I take a deep breathe to start screaming I hear an unfamiliar voice.

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     "FLASH!" the voice bellows. Both Flash and I snap our heads towards the voice. There standing in the middle of the hallway is none other than Peter Parker. Fuck.
     "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Peter continues as he stares in disgust. Whether it be at Flash or the both of us I'm not sure, but I'm hoping for just Flash because that would really just kill my soul if he was disgusted of me.
     Pushing aside the negative thoughts of OF COURSE the first time Peter Parker looks at me it's when I'm being assaulted, I take advantage of Flash being distracted and slam my foot on his as hard as I can. He lets out a girlish yelp and loosens his grip enough that I can wiggle out of his hold and run down the hall towards Peter.
     "It's none of your business what I do Penis Parker, stay out of it." Flash snaps as he recovers. As he's talking, I've made it to Peter where he grabs my arm and pulls me behind him. Although I know it's a serious moment I can't help but silently freak out. THE PETER PARKER JUST GRABBED MY ARM, PURPOSEFULLY!!! I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW!!!
     Peter retorts "That's absolutely disgusting man! This is a new low, even for you!"
Flash's face turns red as he starts to stomp towards the both of us. Knowing that he would have no problem beating both of us as we're his favorite victims, I grab Peter's arm and start running, pulling him along heading toward the front doors.
     "C'mon Peter we gotta go!" I pant as we turn the corner towards the door. Flash, being the dumbass that he is, doesn't take into account the momentum he has going and slams into the lockers trying to turn the corner. Both me and Peter let out slight giggles as we burst through the doors of the school. Knowing that Flash would still try to come after us even though there's still one car outside I see out of the corner of my eye. A fancy black car with a man standing outside the drivers door in wearing sunglasses. I pay the car no mind as I drag Peter around the corner and stop us against the wall out of plain sight.
     Silently panting, we wait for Flash to pass us by before we both sigh in relief. As a moment passes I suddenly remember who I'm with and I immediately let go of his wrist and start blushing (not that you can see it well with my complexion, THANK YOU MELANIN GODS).
     "I'm so so sorry for dragging you like that! I just knew that he would come after both of us and I-" I start to rant before I get cut off.
     "No no no it's perfectly fine! Thank you for taking me with you, to be honest I probably would have just stood there and taken it." He slightly chuckles, wow even his laugh is gorgeous.
     "Well then you're welcome I guess." I smile.
     "I'm Peter. Peter Parker. I've never seen you before are you new here? Is that why Flash was harassing you?" He questions with a little head tilt, kind of like a puppy.
     "I know.....sorry that sounded stalkerish. But Um.....no..no actually we've been in the same classes for the past year." I mumble as my smile fades a bit.
     "I'm Sydney. Sydney Knight. And Flash started targeting me a few weeks ago." I continue.
     Peters eyes widen and he immediately looks guilty, like he had broken someone's WiFi router or something.
     "I am so sorry! Oh gosh that sounded so rude! I've just never seen you before, and trust me, I would remember if I'd seen you befo........." Peter slowly trails off while his face reddens. DID HE REALLY JUST SAY THAT?! OH MY GAWD I'M GONNA PASS OUT.
     I blush and look down at my two year old dirty Adidas that I won in a contest. Peter clears his throat and starts rubbing the back of his neck and oh wow I need to sit down after seeing that.
     "Well, I have to head to work but are you gonna be okay? Are you hurt? Do you have a ride?" He questions with his little head tilt again.
     "I'll be fine, just a few bruises on my wrist. And I'm actually heading to work too, I'm taking the subway downtown." I explain, even though he didn't ask for details. Stupid brain.
Peter's eyes widen, "I'm heading downtown too! Are you going near SI? Do you need a ride?" He asks rapidly while my heart starts beating faster. THE Peter Parker just offered me a ride. With him. I might pass out. I wish I could take the offer...
     "You don't need to go out of your way! I'm okay with taking the subway, it's no trouble!" Except that it's disgusting and kind of creepy when you're alone and female.
     "Are you sure?" Peter continues. "Where do you work at?"
     "I work at Lights On Dance Studio, it's actually right down the street from SI." I answer.
     Peter gasps dramatically "We've been in the same classes for a whole year AND work near each other and we STILL never met?!?! This is outrageous!"
     I giggle at his overdramatized performance and respond "I guess you've been pretty busy"
He smiles and says "Yeah it's been a crazy few years." Shaking his head remembering the time       "It wouldn't be any trouble, are you sure you don't need a ride?"
     "I'm not sure how you're driver friend would feel picking up a stray" I respond, peeking around the corner to see the same guy from earlier looking around talking on the phone.      "He seems a little annoyed already".
Peter chuckles "That's Happy and he always looks like that." Oops...
"Listen I know you have to leave but thank you for saving my ass back there. You didn't have to do that but I'm extremely grateful you did. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" I say, knowing that our time together is coming to an end and he'll probably forget about me tomorrow.
"That was nothing, I basically just stood there as a distraction haha. But actually I really am curious as to why Flash has suddenly started targeting you, could I....maybe....get your number and we can talk about it later...?" Peter mumbles out, blushing.
This.Is.The.Best.Day.Of.My.LIFE! Peter Parker just asked me for my number!!! I feel like I'm gonna faint!!! Again!!! Okay Sydney, answer him!!! Give him your number dummy!!!
"Uhhh yeah! Yeah totally! Of course you can have my number! That's absolutely no problem at all!" Smooth Syd, real smooth. I scold myself as we exchange numbers. As we hand each other our phones back our hands brush on another and our heads snap up. Looking into each other's eyes for about 3 seconds, both blush and turn our heads.
"Okay well please be safe on your way to work and I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" He says backing away.
"Yeah of course, I'll see you tomorrow Parker" I reply back as I start walking my walk down the sidewalk.
As I glance back, I see Peter and the man I now know as Happy getting into the fancy black car and speeding out of the parking lot.
Wow, if someone would've told me this morning that in a few hours I would be getting saved by Peter Parker and exchanging phone numbers with him, I would've sent them to a mental hospital. What started out as a boring ordinary day has honestly turned out to be one of the best days of my life. I can't wait for tomorrow.