Falling Slowly

7. Road Trip

1.3k words

Emma ate away at her doritos, not a care in the world. Sam and Bucky left her in her apartment alone for today. She looked around at how plain it actually was.

"I need to visit S.H.I.E.L.D. and get some of my things." Emma stood up and grabbed her phone to tell Peter. She ended up inviting him to come with her.

Emma grabbed her coat and beanie before heading to Peter's apartment. The cold wind almost blew her over as she headed down the almost empty sidewalk. Normally, it was packed with people trying to get places, but the snow kept everyone inside for the most part.

Emma finally made it to Peter's apartment and knocked. He told her to come in from the kitchen.

Emma gasped when Peter's living room was almost spotless with maybe a couple bottles on the TV stand. She cautiously walked into the kitchen to see it was also just as clean.

"I started a grease fire the other day." Peter put a plate in the cabinet after drying it off. "I used all of my baking soda on it, so I figured I'd clean up just in case."

"I'm honestly surprised you knew to use baking soda." Emma leaned against the now clean counter.

"Rude." Peter put his hand on his chest. "I agreed to go to D.C. with you and you insult my intelligence."

"You just wanna come with me to meet Fury." Emma crossed her arms.

"Jokes on you, I already did." Peter mocked Emma's stance.

"No, that was a skrull." Emma scrunched her nose up. "The real one is back at headquarters now."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Peter hurried to his room and came out with a suitcase in one hand, his suit in another.

"You don't need your suit, we're just going to D.C." Emma tried to take it from him, but he moved away defensively.

"I also said I didn't need it in Europe, but guess what?" Peter cocked an eyebrow. "A grumpy loser tried to kill me and my friends."

"Well, did they kill your family and send you into another universe?" Emma's eyes grew wide as she realized what she said. "Well, um, me neither."

Peter gave Emma a weird look before waving her statement off. "Come on, can you drive?"

"Can I drive? Of course I can drive." Emma scratched the back of her ear and mumbled, "in another universe."

"What was that?" Peter absentmindedly hummed, pulling the door open.

"I said you might need a coat." Emma quickly grabbed Peter's coat off the coat stand. "It's like negative two degrees and snowing."

"You're smart, Emma." Peter patted Emma on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I've been around." Emma pressed her lips together in a line.
_

"Peter, give me the aux if you're gonna play this shit." Emma grabbed at Peter's phone, keeping her eyes on the road.

"No!" Peter moved his phone away from Emma. "I don't care what you say, Queen is fantastic and you should never judge them."

"I don't fucking like Queen." Emma grumbled. "Play Nick Hope."

"Emma, who the hell is that?" Peter crossed his arms. "Do I need to drive?"

"No, I don't fucking trust you driving in snow." Emma gripped the steering wheel possessively. "Just play something else."

"No." Peter pursed his lips. "I agreed to ride with you in two inches of snow, so I deserve music rights."

Emma began to roll her window down. "What the hell?" Peter hissed, curling up.

Emma grabbed the aux cord and ripped it from Peter's phone and the radio. She chucked it out the window and glared at Peter.

"Your phone is next, bitch." She huffed.

"Em, eyes on the road." Peter gulped, nervously glancing at the road. It seemed as if the snow was making a path just for them. He brushed it off and looked back at Emma.

She had her eyes back on the road, but her jaw was clenched. Peter sat straight in his seat and looked out the window. There was nothing but snow for miles. He thought about asking Emma if she knew where she was going, but she still looked pissed.

"So, the weather is nice." Emma slightly looked over at Peter, then back at the road. "Really cold."

"More like below freezing." Peter nodded, afraid Emma would actually take his phone and throw it out.

"Chill, I won't throw your phone out." Emma smiled playfully. "Actually, I was gonna charge mine earlier, can you plug it up?"

Peter took Emma's phone out of the cup holder. He opened the middle compartment and cocked an eyebrow as he looked for a charger.

"Where's the charger?" Peter looked up at Emma.

"It should be right there." Emma hummed, turning to go through the mountains.

"No, I think I would see it." Peter rolled his eyes.

"Shit." Emma frowned. "I didn't charge my phone because I thought I had a charger in here."

"I didn't bring one because you said you had one in here." Peter huffed. "Why don't you check for things?"

"Why don't I check for things?" Emma slammed the brakes right at the bend of a curve. "You're the one with heightened senses!"

"I can't sense whether you brought a charger or not!" Peter held his hands out defensively.

"Well, maybe if you would've-"

Peter's hand covered Emma's mouth, muffling what she was trying to say. Emma ripped his hand off her mouth, ready to rip his face off. Peter put his hand back and held his finger to his lips.

"Something's c-"

Before Peter could finish his sentence, the back of the car went up in the air with a loud bang. A wall of ice stopped them from being able to go off the ledge. It did break the window on Peter's side, knocking him out.

Emma grunted as she tried to unbuckle her seat. She couldn't get it to come loose, so she looked over at Peter to make sure he most definitely couldn't see what she was about to do.

With a little bit of straining, Emma put her hand to the seatbelt and turned the small section into ice. She waited until the ice had made its way through the threads of the belt before turning her fist into ice and punching it. The seatbelt shattered and Emma was able to punch through the window.

She climbed out and looked for the source of the explosion. No one was around, so she went to the back of the car where a small bomb-like thing had been stuck to the bottom of the car.

Emma turned her hand back to normal and tore the weapon off the now charred back end of the car. She stuck her tongue between her teeth as she examined it.

"Stark Industries?" Emma ran her hand across the label on it. She looked toward Peter's unconscious body. "Isn't Stark dead?"

Emma hurried to Peter and broke his seatbelt the same way she did hers. She dragged him out of the car and laid him on the ground. To wake him up, she covered his face in snow.

"Ah, what the fuck?" Peter jumped awake, shaking the cold snow off his now red face. "What the hell happened?"

"Stark weapon on the bumper." Emma dropped the bomb on Peter's stomach. "It must be controlled to blow up when we got in a tight spot."

"How did that ice wall get there?" Peter stood slowly, examining the bomb for himself. "How did you get me out so easily? Why is there ice in the car? How-"

"Peter!" Emma clamped her hand over his mouth. "I'll explain later. We need to call Fury and tell him we're on foot now."

"I can't walk in the snow all the way to D.C." Peter's eyes grew wide dramatically.

"Doesn't your suit have a heater or something?" Emma raised an eyebrow.

"What about you?" Peter asked.

"Trust me." Emma half smiled. "I will be fine."