Peace of mind

The Winter Soldier

Peter was tired. But who was he even kidding, he was far more than just that. He was exhausted. Juggling school and his shifts at work seemed like such a doable thing. But he guessed it was not. Quitting wasn't an option though since someone had to pay for his bills and the chances of him winning in the lottery were pretty much slim.
He threw his backpack on the ground when he entered his small apartment and locked the door. His legs were only seconds away from giving in and the boy realised that maybe his spider powers weren't a cure for everything. At least not his exhaustion.

All Peter wanted to do was bury his stressed body under his covers, wrap himself up like a burrito and sleep. But there was no time. Homework needed to be done, projects needed to be finished and he promised his boss that he would be going over all the numbers again just in case. It sucked. It really did. He had so much to do that he barely had any time to himself anymore which meant his duty as Spider-Man would go down the drain.

He sighed and dragged himself through the dark living room, not even bothering to turn on the lights. When he finally reached his door he pushed it open. Peter didn't move. Instead he stood motionless in the doorway, his eyelids heavy and his gaze looking at nothing in particular. There was an empty feeling inside of him that kept pulling him back into darkness. The thoughts in his head louder than ever.
But without saying a word he took a few steps forward again, stopping right in front of his cozy bed and letting himself fall into the cold fabric. He let out a small grunt as his head collided with his pillow.

"Just a few minutes." Peter mumbled more to himself than to anyone in particular, his eyes already closing. "'s only a nap, I promis'." and he was gone.

It didn't come as a surprise when the boy woke up a couple hours later, the sun barely shining over the rooftop of the building in front of his apartment complex. He looked at his alarm clock that was standing on his nightstand-or well, rather the multiple books stacked on top of each other.

5am.

Peter sat up slowly, trying to get rid of the sleep still lying in his eyes. When his method of rubbing the sleep away didn't work he made a mental note to get make himself some coffee later on. As anyone would after waking up, Peter checked his phone. Surprisingly he found a new message from Ned.

'Hey, Peter! Guess what they closed school for today for a SHIELD mission!! Isn't that cool?! They wouldn't tell us why but we got an email. See you after the weekend and don't forget to do your projects!-Ned'

Peter frowned in confusion? The weekend? 'It is already Friday then', his mind concluded.
He pushed himself out of bed and slendered to the kitchen.

"Great. No school. No work. Means more time for assignments then." he sighed and grabbed his backpack from the spot on the floor where he had dropped it off the night before. Just as he was about to get his books out he heard a panting coming from the hallway, followed by heavy footsteps and a loud bang against his door. The teen flinched as he saw the door slightly bend inwards. The breathing of whoever was behing that door was now clearly audible, Peter was even sure he could hear a soft wince coming from said person.

"Oh my god, what am I supposed to do?" he whispered as he stood in a panicked state in front of the door still with his open backpack hanging from his right hand. He felt like his feet were glued to the floor, he wasn't able to move a single inch.

The weight from the other side slowly adding to the decreasing stability of the wooden door. If Peter was correct he could even hear metal scratch against the material. He gulped. His mind went through multiple scenarios and multiple options on where to possibly hide but none of them seemed good enough for the teen. Under the table? Too obvious. His room? No, the doorframe is weak, they could easily break in if they wanted to. The ceiling? No it- wait, hang on.