Starting Life From Zero: Far From Home

Chapter Fifteen

Peter left the spider suit up on the roof to make sure it was fully charged along with the phone so that it could charge. He would crawl up there and collect it at dusk. He really couldn't tell what was going on with him and the Emilia stuff. His tingle hadn't worked for some of that, maybe it was because she used his own body to attack him. Though in the past it had worked when he was threatened by just about anything.

He had laid back on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head lost in thought when there was a knock at the door. The footsteps were petty heavy from the feel of them on the floor. When he was actually thinking about it and paying attention his fine tuned senses expanded beyond that weird tingle.

"Cap, that you?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, can I come in, Queens?"

"Sure."

Steve opened the door and stepped in, closing the door behind himself and leaning on the wall. He glanced around at the place and let out as sigh. "I bet back home your room is covered in posters of the kind of stuff you like, huh?" Asked Steve.

"There was, like, an old academic decathlon poster next to this pretty shitty computer I built from parts..." Peter moved his hands above himself in the bed as he spoke until he trailed off.

"Pete," Steve said.

"Look, I know what you're going to say: I shouldn't be out there leading her on when I'm not planning to be here to...you know," Peter said, sitting up and putting his hands on his knees.

"That's not what I'm going to say, kid," said Steve.

"You're ri—wait you're not?"

Steve came over and sat on the bed next to him and shook his head. "I'm not going to say that because I don't really think you're leading her on," Steve said. "You care about Emilia."

"How can I when I'm not going to be here?" Peter said.

"Peter, we're not even sure that we can leave this place. We don't know how we got here or where here is," Steve said.

For the first time he was hearing Steve really admit this. It was something that he wondered himself and worried about. There was so much scary about being stuck in this world without May or without Ned or any of the other friends. Or without the creature comforts that he had come to be used to.

"What about you and Rem," Peter said. "Like, she really does like you."

Steve stared down at the floor for a moment. "She's a sweetheart and a looker. You know, when I was overseas back in forty-four with the Howling Commandos one of the boys had this crinkled up picture of Betty Page dressed as a French Maid pinned to the wall. I think I never thought about it again until I got here, but there's something about that outfit."

"Who's Betty Page?" Peter asked. "Do you...need the bed to yourself or...?"

Steve pointed a finger in his face. "Hey, I'm here trying to help you." He couldn't keep a straight face though.

"I know," Peter said smiling. "Even if I like Emilia, she's not like Rem and I'm definitely not...you."

"Let me ask you a question, did the girls at your school know you were Spider-Man?" Steve asked.

"Of course not."

"There you go," Steve said slapping him on the back. "One of the hardest things about being you was this huge looming secret that you had hanging over your head that you had to keep bottled up, at least at first. Emilia already knows your biggest secret. So all you gotta do is make sure that she doesn't find out you wet the bed."