𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

12. 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗼

As a few memories come to mind, Peter chuckles--from the sound of her laugh from whenever Peter says something funny, which is rare; Eszter is usually laughing at Peter rather than his words. From the way Eszter's eyes crinkle closed and the way her shoulders bounce from her loud laugh to the way she covers her mouth to conceal the smile behind it. To the way Eszter's horrible dancing from when they had their mini dance party way back then, though that seemed to have been a one-time thing. Then, it was how she merely ignores the way people look at her; even though Eszter is affected by their words, the enhanced tries to be unfazed. And the sound of her voice--it's soft and silky, yet raspy at the same time.

Peter can listen to Eszter talk all day, and he wouldn't get bored.

"Is that how you feel towards Liz?"

"Yeah," Peter answers in a heartbeat. But as soon as he blurted it out, Peter was quick to take it back. His eyes widen. "Wait, no, no. I mean, I don't know. This isn't about Eszter. This is about Liz." Peter stutters.

The mere thought of having feelings for Eszter was terrifying. Not that Peter made it seem like he didn't like Eszter, the boy has always found the enhanced to be quite attractive, but she's his best friend. He didn't want his confusing feelings to ruin the friendship he built with Eszter. Peter wasn't sure how she'd take it if Eszter were to find out. However, he needed more time to think about this because it felt so sudden; does Peter have feelings for Eszter?

Holy crap, Peter might have feelings for Eszter.

Why is he still thinking about this?

It felt almost wrong, in a way. Imagine dating your best friend, and then they break up; things will surely become awkward and result in an end to their friendship. No, Peter wouldn't let that happen. But who knows, maybe this feeling will go away? But why is his heart beating so quickly? At the mere thought of Eszter, Peter noticed the way he feels giddy.

No longer wanting to think about this topic any longer, feeling a bit flustered, Peter changes the subject. "Hey, how long have we been in here anyway?"

"Thirty-seven minutes."

"What?" Peter exclaims, sitting up. "Thirty-seven minutes? That's insane. I cannot take this anymore. I got--I gotta get out of here."

Peter rolls backward near the edge of the containment, placing his hands on the surface and pushing himself up in the air. The boy lands just beside the containment, landing in his signature Spider-Man pose. He shrugs off both the yellow jacket and the gray sweater underneath that, entering the same containment box that he had just broken out of.

"There's got to be something in here I can use," Peter kneels in front of the bag he had taken from the bird-man. He unzips the bag and begins digging inside. "Okay, let's see." Peter tosses aside a few items that didn't prove to be of any help, but then the hero finds a familiar Chituari energy crystal inside. "Ah, hey, it's like the glowy thing."

As Peter examines the alien object, he rolls it in between his gloved hands. Turning it around, it was brighter than he remembers.

"That glowy thing is an explosive Chitauri energy core," Karen informs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Peter stands up quickly as he discards the Chitauri core back into the backpack, taking a few steps back. His spider-senses were tingling, making Peter feel uneasy at the thought. "You mean, we've been carrying around a bomb?"

"It would require radiation to transform it into an explosive state."

Peter turns around as he pulls out his phone from his pocket, quickly going through his contacts before scrolling down to Ned's name. A picture of Ned pops on the screen as soon as Ned clicks the call, and all Peter can do is wait for his friend to pick up.