Bright Blue Skies [P. Parker] [complete]

Thirteen - Soft

While Briar untangled herself from her sheets, Cameron and Peter shot straight up.

Her dad left the room to go see what was happening, and Peter began to pull his spider-suit on.

When Briar caught a glimpse of his abs as he pulled his shirt off, she blushed bright red and looked down.

Milo was fluttering around like a nervous bird. He hovered around the ceiling, muttering in what seemed to be Latin.

Briar was very confused but pushed that out of her mind. She'd deal with it later. When she turned back to Peter, he was holding his mask in his hand and looking down at his shifting feet nervously.

"Peter-"

"Stay here, Bri. I can deal with this," he said firmly, looking up at her now, his cheeks flushed red.

She opened her mouth to protest, then nodded, pressing her lips together. "I- Okay. Stay safe."

Another scream pierced the air. It sounded like someone down the hall of their apartment building.

Peter pulled his mask over his head, but Briar stepped forward, pulled up one corner and kissed his cheek. She lowered the fabric as she saw him redden further.

"Go save the day, Spider-Man." she smiled shyly.

She hoped he was smiling under the mask as he nodded and rushed out the door.

-☼-

Peter felt like he was floating.

He looked down at himself to make sure he wasn't a ghost like Milo and kept running.

Down the hall, another scream came.

His heart thudded in his chest, and he wasn't sure if it was adrenaline, fear or the fact that Briar had kissed him.

Whichever one it was, it made his fingers tremble and his stomach fill with butterflies, but he couldn't afford to be distracted.

He took a breath, ignored the feeling of his wounds opening again, and reached the commotion.

A door had been flattened, half splintered, like something heavy had smashed right into it.

As he stepped through the doorway, he saw exactly what it was.

A woman was floating in mid-air, screaming, just like he and Briar had been only the night before. Beside her, Cameron Drake hung in the same way. They were surrounded by an opalescent pale blue light like they were surrounded by a gossamer sheet.

As he watched in silence from the doorway, he noticed that they looked more and more like ghosts. Like Milo.

He gulped.

A man laughed. "See, Rob? I told you the boy wasn't here!"

"Shut up, Colin. I could have sworn he came in this room..." another man scoffed.

The first man, Colin, snorted. "You're getting old, Robbie. Now come on. We can let these two go and move on. It's obvious the arachnid's not gonna show. Probably nursing his wounds."

Rob hummed. "Perhaps. But wouldn't it be a shame to see all this work go to waste? We could just kill them."

"Yeah, but then the cops would be able to figure us out, idiot. This is why you got demoted."

The beam of light surrounding the woman stopped and she fell to the ground.

"I wasn't demoted." Rob snarled.

Colin laughed. "Please, old man. Everyone knows that you broke some rules, made some bad decisions and now, you at the bottom again. You've dropped back down to newbie standard-"

Cameron fell to the floor, the beam of light around him gone.

A new voice screamed. It sounded like Colin.

Peter edged around the corner and watched as the light pulsed angrily. The man using the gun, Rob, had his back to Peter, so he could see every flash of pain that flickered across the younger man's face.

He screamed in agony as white lines began veining his face. His skin peeled and his hair turned to dust. His clothes caught on fire and then, Rob stopped.

The man fell to the floor.

Then he crumbled to dust.

Rob spat on the ashes. "I've always been in charge here, Colin."

Peter's heart was beating even faster than before, and this time, he was sure it was fear.

Rob turned around, and Peter's heart leapt into his throat. He jumped back but knocked a picture frame off the wall.

He tried to catch it as it fell, but it hit the ground and shattered.

He winced.

A footstep.

Peter felt sick.

Another footstep.

He readied himself.

Another footstep.

Peter stepped out and shot a web at the man, but he simply raised his gun and the web disintegrated.

He shot web after web, jumping around the room, clinging to the walls, and, when he could, dragging the woman and Cameron out of harm's way.

But the man was too fast.

Every time a web was shot, he shot his gun, turning it to dust in mid-air.

Peter was beginning to tire, so he jumped right onto the man (a bad choice, really), and knocked him to the ground.

He might have been on top of him, but Rob shot the gun straight up and into his chest.

Peter was flung from his back and into the ceiling, creating a Peter sized dent in the plaster.

He fell back to the ground and landed with a thud on his stomach.

Rob stood up slowly and began pacing around a groaning Peter.

"Itsy bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout," he sung, circling him. Every few words, he shot Peter with the gun, charring his suit and skin. "Down came the rain and-" he blasted him properly, lifting him into the air. "Washed the spider out." he stopped singing, but Peter screamed as the heat of a thousand suns burned into his flesh. "There's no more to that song this time, Peter. Because the spider doesn't climb again. It gets squashed."

Through the agony, Peter managed to speak: "You really need to work on your songwriting."

Then he was dropped for a moment.

Then he saw white from the agony that gripped his body once more.

~~~

A/N

Poor Peter.

But good news, she kinda kissed him but not really!

Yay!

ANyway, I've been watching Pirates of The Caribbean with my family and I forgot how much I love those movies ugh

But yeah so Bri will be back next chapter guys

ps I'm in English and our first NCEA Internal assessment is soon and I should be working on that but idc rn.

- amy