Sliding Doors ⧨ Peter Parker

27 | The Girl In Green

PETER

_

"What are you doing, a little video diary?"

The car had been silent the whole trip, but I could tell Mr. Stark was trying to lighten the mood. It was obvious neither of us could do that. Happy hadn't spoken either, he just drove.

"Yeah..." I mumbled.

"It's all right, I'd probably do the same."

He held out his hand, and I set the camera in his palm. I watched as he flipped it open, and started to filter through the videos. He stopped for a moment, his face expressionless, and pressed his thumb against the button.

"I'm here with the amazing y/n l/n," my voice rang out from the crackled speaker, "tell us, how are you today?"

"I'm eating a pretzel!"

"That wasn't the question!"

"I know, but I'm still eating a pretzel!"

Hearing her voice was painful. In another life, she'd be in this car with us, but all we had left was a few blurry videos of the past. Tony cleared his throat, pretending it didn't bother him, but I knew it did. It bothered me too.

"Do you think she's ever coming back?" I whispered, staring at my feet.

He didn't say anything at first. Here he was, a man who always knew what to say, saying nothing. He handed me back the camera, pressing his glasses further up to cover his eyes.

"No, kid," he said. I swore I almost heard his voice break, "I don't think she will."

The car came to a screeching stop, and I heard Happy take his foot off the brakes. The familiar view of my apartment was shining from outside of the car's window, but I didn' want to go in. May would ask how the retreat was, and I would get lost in the memories again.

"All right," the man said, "here we are. End of the line."

"Happy, can you give us a moment?" Tony sighed.

"You want me to leave the car?"

"Why don't you grab Peter's case out of the trunk."

I widened my eyes, the only surprising thing I've heard in a while. Happy grunted, popping open the car door and climbing out towards the trunk.

"I can keep the suit?" I stammered.

"Well, she made it for you," Mr. Stark said, "it's only fair you should be the one to have it."

"I-I can't take it."

"It belongs to you."

"It belongs to her."

"Well she's not here to take it, is she?" Tony said, all of his emotions spilling out, "she's gone."

I had never seen him like this, losing all of his composure. This whole time I never realized that he was still a human inside of that metal suit, and it made me hurt even more. Tony shook his head, adjusting his suit and sitting up straighter.

"We'll call you," he said, "when we need you next."

"When will that be?"

"Whenever we call you."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

A few months later

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

Hey Happy just checking in. I'm out of school at 2:45 PM
Ready for my next mission!
It's Peter BTW.
Parker

I stared at my phone screen, my hope dissipating as I scrolled through the long list of unanswered texts. After the day Mr. Stark dropped me off, I hadn't heard anything back from him.

Neither had the press.

It was like Stark Tower had been shut down completely, the lights shut off and silent. I heard rumors that it was relocating to a warehouse somewhere farther from the city, and I didn't deny it.

I would want to escape too.

The music blasting through my headphone speakers was loud enough to drown out the busy train car, but it wasn't loud enough to drown out the thoughts in my head.

The train pulled to a stop, and people started to file off the crowded car. I followed with them, passing by the withering 36th Avenue stop sign, and pulling my phone out again. Recently, all I found myself doing was scrolling through pointless messages for pointless reasons.

Because life was pointless now.

My head was hung low as I re-read my texts, all of them sounding desperate and immature. Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling-

I had been so focused on my phone, I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped head first into someone in front of me.

"Woah," I fumbled, dropping my phone onto the platform, "I'm s-so sorry, I wasn't paying attention-"

"What happened to your Spidey-sense?"

My body froze up as I heard that voice again. The sound that I could only reach from a voicemail, was now right in front of me. My eyes slowly traveled upwards, my heart beat quickening. This couldn't be real.

"Hey there, Peter Parker," she said, "it's been a while."

She was wearing a green dress that barely reached her knees. Her hair was clipped back with tiny, yellow barrettes, and her lips were glistening with the pink chapstick she used to carry around. She looked so different, but was still as beautiful as ever.

"You're back?" I muttered under my breath. It didn't seem real.

She smiled, lifting her hand and patting it against my cheek. She was real. She was so real. Even the feel of her skin against mine was enough to make my heart beat faster. She was here; she was back.

"I'm back," she said, "did you miss me?"

"More than anything."

"Well, that was the old me. I'm a little different now."

"Different?" The words slipped out of my mouth, because all I could concentrate on was her.

Her smile, her lips, her eyes, just her.

"Y/N Banner" she said, sticking her hand out, "nice to meet you."