I begin the walk home, my emotions a mixture of anger and sadness. Sure Peter was just hurting now and maybe he didn't mean what he said but he said it and his words hurt. I did focus on others to forget about my own life that was falling apart, I just didn't know other people knew that too.
"Shit." I mumble to myself as I see the two obviously intoxicated men making their way towards me. I curse myself for being distracted and I curse Peter for being the reason that I was distracted. I try and keep my head down to just walk past them without attracting any attention but that obviously fails once they whistle at me.
"Hey girlie." Fuck me I should've taken the car. "Girlie." I sigh before looking up not wanting to anger them by continuing ignoring them. "Hey." One thing my dad had always told me was, that if someone ever tried to intimidate you, you shouldn't ever show them you were scared. It gave them all the power and so I stuck to that.
"What's in the bag?" I shrug as I keep walking, "school work." In reality I was freaking the hell out, I had money in my bag but I couldn't give that up no matter what, my mom needed it.
"Give us the bag." I shake my head as the force me to stop walking by blocking my path. "No, why do you want a school girls bag, there's nothing valuable in here unless you wanna do my trig for me?" They laugh making me feel a bit better. "You're funny," the first one says before his face becomes serious. "Give us the bag."
"We won't ask you nicely again." I stop a second and assess the situation, could I run? Maybe I was fairly athletic enough that I could probably turn and run back to May' or Anna's.
Fuck it, I wasn't giving this money up so I guess we'd have to see if I made it.
"Hey!" They yell taking off after me as I sprint like my life depended on it, which it very well did. Maybe I had overestimated on my abilities because with the way the three of us were running it did not seem like I was going to get away, but it was too late to stop now.
Yep I was massively wrong, the first guy tackles me to the ground making me groan as the impact is harsh and I feel my body bruising already. "Look I don't wanna hurt you."
"Then don't." I beg, "just give me the bag." He's pleading with me too, before his friend catches up, "I can't, I need it, my mom is sick, and it's just me and her, this is all I have." I say holding the bag to my chest tightly as he curses.
"Ok go, run and don't stop, I'll buy you some time just-" we're out of time, his friend has joined us, "little bitch." He spits at me as he throws a punch, it sends me back to the ground. "Yo, come on she's just a kid, lets just-"
"Shut up!" He practically screams and I already know it's over for me no matter what I do, he's way too angry to think rationally, I was so dead. "You think you're smart?" He asks stomping over to me and lifting me up by my hair making me cry out in pain, "ok, that's enough Johnny," the one who'd been a bit nicer steps forward and tried to pull his friend off me only to get knocked out with one swift punch.
"No one to help you now." Johnny laughs making me glare at him, he was slow if I could get back up I could get away. He steps back towards me making me spring into action, I raise my legs and kick pretty hard toward his nether regions and smirk at his reaction. "Fuck you," I say getting up, my only mistake is reaching for my bag because it gives him the opportunity to grab my wrist.
He's spitting out all sorts of verbal abuse at me as I fight his grip and pull myself free only to end on the ground once more. "Hey! Get away from her!" Peter?
I look up to see it's not Peter. It's the spider guy from the news, but he sounds just like Peter Parker. I undoubtedly would recognise his annoying voice anywhere, especially since he'd just been shouting at me this way back at his house. I look up to see him fighting the guy with ease and he's being witty as he does so.
He webs the guy up against the wall before pulling his jacket sleeve down to reveal nothing and so he pays the guy no more attention as he runs over to me as I'm still sat on the ground watching him. "Oh m-" it sounded as though he were about to say my name, I hear the soft sound of the j before he quickly corrects himself.
"Oh my god, are you ok?" He asks his hands gripping my face as he looks at whatever damage had been inflicted. "I'm fine." I say softly pulling his hands away from my face making him back away immediately.
"Oh god I'm sorry," I'm confused, "for what?" I ask, "for not getting here faster." I watch him for a second there's no actual way to tell if he's truly Peter, well I mean I guess I could take a step forward and pull his mask up but I doubt that would be appreciated, especially if it were not Peter.
"Are you sure you're ok ma'am." I almost want to laugh, but he's probably thinking I've gone brain dead because I'd been wordlessly staring at him. "I'm fine." I shrug but I think that seems to worry him more. "Uh ok, let's just get you home."
"I can't walk with you so we're gonna have to swing there." I shake my head, "absolutely not."even though I can't see his face he shows his frustration with me perfectly through his body language.
"I'll just walk alone." I shrug, "are you crazy? After what I just saw I'm not letting you walk alone, stop being so stubborn."
"I'm not being stubborn, how do I know that I can trust you?"
"I just saved your life!"
"And? What's to say you won't just swing me somewhere else to torture me, you could be a madman for all I know, the police are after you after all."
"M-" he almost says my name again, "what's your name?" Ok I was like 67 percent sure it was Peter before now I was 97 percent sure it was him. "Michelle." He doesn't say anything for a minute. "Are you lying to me?" I shake my head trying to bite back my smile, "why would you say that?" I ask as he sighs and I have to stop myself from laughing by pinching my leg.
"Ok, Michelle, look I need to make sure you get home safe so just let me swing you home, it's way gated than walking." I nod feeling like I'd messed with him enough, he did just save me after all.
"Fine, but I know I'm going to hate it." He laughs and then tells me I have to hold onto him. "Um, this is very intimate, usually I'd at least make you buy me dinner before hand." I say after I have to hug him as though I were a koala bear, with my arms and legs wrapped around him. "Just don't drop me please." I say making him nod as he speaks softly to me, "I won't, I promise."
I bury my head in his neck as I grip onto him tighter as he takes off, I was right I hated it, my stomach turned immediately and I felt fear clutch at my heart. I almost yelled out Peter to tell him to slow down but luckily I stopped myself. "Michelle it's ok, I've got you, you can relax."
"How much experience do you have with this?" I shout into his shoulder making him laugh, "that's irrelevant." It really was not. "Look I'll stop for a second." He says setting us down on a building ledge. "Oh my." I quickly grip onto him afraid of falling. "Would you calm down, I'm not going to let you fall." He says before I turn to him. "You never asked me where to go." I say, "have you been stalking me spider boy?"
"Uh, no, no I was just going in the general direction that you'd been going, but uh that's why I stoped, to ask where your house is." Smooth.
"Ok before we go again let me just prepare myself." I say taking a deep breath making laugh, "scared of heights?" He teases making me shake my head, "scared of falling from them," he nods and mumbles a fair enough. "I promise I got you," surprisingly that helps ease my fears slightly, his voice did hold sincerity and so I jump back up and warp my limbs around him slightly less fearful this time.
"Don't choke me please, we'll probably actually fall if you do that." He says making me nod and loosen my arm. "Ok sorry."
He takes off and I feel the rush of the wind in my hair and on my face, having done this before it wasn't as frightening this time, it was actually more fun. I peek my head up from Spider-Man's shoulder and look at the ground below in awe, it was beautiful I almost wished I could swing to be able to experience this whenever I wanted.
We get to my apartment block pretty quickly, he lands us on the fire escape outside my room, "ok, so we're here." He says making me nod, "I know, I live here."
"Right, right. Are you sure you're ok?" He asks once more making me nod once more. "I'm perfectly fine spider boy."
"It's Spider-Man."
"Sure it is."
"Well thanks, for helping me and for the cool ride home." I shrug sending him a smile, "take care Michelle."
"Mj, my name's Mj." I say finally giving it up, "well take care then Mj." He says softly, "you too spidey." I say kissing his mask covered cheek before ducking into my room from the window.
So Peter Parker was most likely the Spider-Man, I mean everything made sense to me now, his sudden strength and athleticism, his quick reflexes that came out of nowhere, this had to be the reason.
I decide what I want to do with this information, well it's obvious he didn't want anyone to know it was him, and so if I kept it to myself then I had something to hold over his head always and that could really come in useful. But even if I told him I knew I could still hold it over his head, it's not like I was going to tell anyone else.
I decide that for now at least I wouldn't bring it up, not to him. I didn't see the need in stressing him out, I also figured that I owed him one since he just basically saved my life.
Peter Parker was one confusing person.