Always // Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield)

-13- secrets

After another particularly nasty fight with her dad, Maya sat against her door with her head in her hands.

He was enraged that she had been brought home in a cop car and no matter how many times she tried explaining to him what had happened at school, he continued to throw bitter words her way about how much of a disappointment she was. Maya spat viscous words back at him which resulted in the TV remote colliding with her nose, with more screaming about how she was dripping blood over his carpet. 

So now she sat with fresh tears streaking down her cheeks, trying to steady her breathing. She hated sitting here and feeling sorry for herself, but she felt like she had a front row seat as she watched her life crumble. She wanted out of this house, she wanted better, she deserved better.

Maya wiped the tears from her cheeks and stood up. She made her way to her closet and grabbed random articles of clothing and started packing them in her school bag. Maya had no clue where she was going to go, but she would catch the first train she saw and go from there.

 As she paced back and forth between the closet and her bed, grabbing more things to shove in her bag, she stopped dead in her tracks as one thing crossed her mind.

Peter.

She couldn't leave him without any warning. She couldn't leave him, period. 

Yes, she was upset with him, but it was only surface level. She cared about him too much to just up and leave like that.

Maya slumped down onto her bed as her mind raced. She couldn't stop thinking about him. Ever since prom, ever since they had almost kissed, well she swore they almost did, she still couldn't tell if he was leaning in towards her too.

That's why she was upset with Peter after he blew her off when they made plans afterwards. It made her terrified that he didn't feel that way about her and that this might ruin their friendship. 

She shut Peter out after he tried to talk to her at school today because she wasn't ready to possibly hear from him that he didn't feel that way, or prom was a mistake, or whatever. 

Maya shook her head, maybe she didn't feel anything either. Though, of course she knew that was a lie. She had a crush on him back 6th grade and she had shaken off those feelings rather quickly. As it turned out, those feelings seemed to of stayed stashed in her heart and bloomed again when she least expected it.

She groaned and rested her head in her hands again, she didn't know what to do.

Peter quietly landed on the fire escape outside of Maya's window. He still needed to talk to her. Even if she wouldn't talk back, he had so much he had to tell her. He couldn't keep these secrets from her anymore and though he didn't know how they would impact their friendship, she had a right to know. 

After Maya had asked him as Spiderman to try and find her 'friend Peter', he had to at least let her know he was okay. Sure, he could have just called her, but he wanted to see her. It had only been a few days, but Peter couldn't help but find himself craving her company. 

He peered into her window and saw her figure illuminated by the lamp from her bedside table. He lightly tapped on the glass and watched as Maya jumped at the noise before turning around and locking eyes with Peter.

Maya would have been upset with Peter any other time he had showed up at her house, she had made it known to him that visiting her place was a no-no. But she felt almost relieved as she walked over to open the window for him and decided this would be the one exception to that rule.

Maya whispered a 'hey' as she pushed open the window and Peter responded with a cheesy grin that brought out a slight giggle from Maya.

Peter motioned to her room and asked "Can I-uh, come in?"

"Oh" Maya jumped back and allowed Peter some room to get in. "Yeah, of course"

Peter crept through the window and stood in front of Maya, the hint of a smile he had dropped as he studied her face under the dim light that came from her lamp.

He reached up and wiped the dried blood from her nose with the sleeve of his jumper. Maya initially flinched at the touch, but melted into it as Peter cupped her chin and assessed her face. She wanted to shake him off as she looked into his eyes and noticed how closely he was studying her, but she couldn't.

As Peter looked away from her bruised face and into her eyes, Peter felt his heart drop at the broken look they held in them.

He spent his time as Spiderman protecting people. Yet, he failed to protect his best friend.

"It's him isn't" Peter whispered. "Your dad" He dragged his thumb across the menacing bruise on her cheek.

Maya's gaze dropped to the ground at his words, she choked out a "Yeah" in response.

Peter tensed, he couldn't believe her dad could do this, but he also couldn't believe he had been so oblivious to it this whole time. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"I don't want to talk about it" Maya met his eyes again. "Not right now"

Peter nodded in response and returned the smile Maya forced.

"Oh! I almost forgot" Peter grabbed the bag off his back and unzipped it, pulling out a bouquet of flowers that hadn't survived the swing across town.

Peter looked disappointingly down at the flowers that had petals missing and snapped stems.

"Oh!" Maya giggled. "They're lov-lovely"  

"Yeah, they're beautiful right?"

"They're beautiful" 

Peter chuckled "They were nice" He put the flowers up to his face, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up onto his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I'll just keep these"

Maya shook her head as she grabbed the flowers out of his hand "No, I love them. Thank you"

Maya placed the flowers down on her desk and stood in front of Peter as he anxiously shifted his posture.

"So" He started. "I need to tell you something" Maya looked up at him wide eyed. "A few things, actually.

Maya felt her heart begin to race as Peter took a step towards her. She gazed intently at him, he looked nervous, which made her feel nervous. 

"I just don't know how to say it"

Maya's breath hitched as they heard commotion coming from down the hall along with her father's voice growing louder and louder.

Peter saw Maya's eyes widen with panic at the sound and shook his head.

"Fuck it" He mumbled. "If I can't say it, I'll just show you" He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him through the window.

"Peter"

He pulled her body against his. "Hold on"

"Wait-" Maya's sentence was cut off by her own scream as Peter swung them off the fire escape.