Newspaper scandals + death = your typical blooming romance... right?
Raimiverse!Peter Parker story.
Book [2] of the Paracosm series (but can also be read as a stand-alone).
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⋆ twenty-six ⋆
The entire trip to the airport feels short and sorrowful, and even more so when they arrive through the doors, Lily's suitcase gripped tightly in hand.
Not for the first time, Peter sighs. "Do you really have to leave?"
Lily turns back to him from where she was checking her flight time on the screen, only for the smile to grow on her lips at the sight of his pout. "Aw. Are you going to miss me? I'm only gone for a couple of weeks. Maybe a month, if there are issues. But I'll be back before you know it. Then both of us will be going on a plane for our holiday."
"We still need to figure out where we're going."
"How about this? You pick. Pick anywhere you want. Tell me and I'll organise it. And we'll call, and text, and Skype sometimes if we can. That month is going to whizz by."
Peter nods, ignoring the knot in his stomach saying I don't know if I can last a month. He's not going to make her feel more guilty about going. Couples make it through more than this, with further distances and longer times. He can last one month.
"But the world still needs improvement," he's saying as he stands with Lily in the economy class queue for a boarding pass, ignoring the gawking of a couple of little kids at the sight of the two famous people from the news. "How are they going to get that?"
Lily gives Peter a pointed look. "Well..."
She pauses for a long while, eyes conveying everything she doesn't say aloud. She always knew Peter would join Oscorp, having the capacity to do great things in the science field. Even Norman saw that in him, recognising Peter's great potential, better than Harry was. If it had to be anyone – anyone – that rose up from the ashes to create something good, who would be better than Peter Parker?
Parker Industries. Now that has a nice ring to it.
But Peter doesn't catch on to any of it, sounding more puzzled than before. "'Well'? 'Well', what?"
Lily just shakes her head fondly. "I love you."
She grabs his hand, pulling him through the rapidly-moving queue to the desk, handing over her passport. But he doesn't let go of it, gears in his brain still turning as fast as possible to try work it out. "Wait, but who were you talking about?"
"No one."
"Hang on... it was me, wasn't it?"
"I didn't say anything."
"That's why you were–"
"Come on, Parker. Send me off."
Time passes. First a few days. Then a couple of weeks. Then one month ends up stretching to two, much to Lily's irritation, but Peter's had to constantly remind her that there's no reason to apologise. With how busy Lily's become trying to organise the formal dissolve of Oscorp – plus the time difference in the different places she visits – they've barely had time to do anything more than exchange a couple of texts here and there.
