Peter walked out into the snow covered backyard. A cold chill brushed against his skin, but not feeling it on his left arm made him a bit nervous. He tried to get used to the new arm as much as he could, but it had only been one day. Bruce told him to give it time, but time was never on their side. He flexed his metal fingers slowly and cringed. The cold made flexing worse and made the metal cold to the touch.
He put red gloves on so he would stop looking at his arm. Self conscious thoughts crossed his mind a few times and all he wanted to do was hide it. Showing the kids the arm earlier was needed because they helped design it. It would have been rude to hide it from them.
Peter's brown eyes scanned the area; a small smile lifted the corners of his lips. Kids played basketball on the snow covered court. They trudged through the snow and tried to be faster than the other team. Other students sat on the benches and talked. The last majority of the students were having snowball fights or building snowmen. Peter noticed a few kids forming a circle on the side of all the events. He eyed them for a few seconds and frowned when he realized what was going on.
A girl grabbed a taller boy by the collar and brought him down to her level forcefully. She spat in his face and yelled about something incomprehensible. The boy's eyes widened and he tried to back up, but she pulled him closer and got ready to punch him.
Peter immediately ran over and tried to intervene. He stopped a few feet behind them and questioned, "Really? We're resorting to this level of immaturity?"
The girl turned around slightly to look at Peter. Her golden eyes glared at him as the wind brushed her dark hair out of her face. She emphasized, "Stay out of this. It isn't any of your business."
Peter held his gaze and didn't stand down. He's been through this multiple times before. He wasn't going to stand by while some innocent kid got picked on. He reasoned with her, "Put the kid down. You're are better than this."
She scoffed and looked back at the tall boy. "Not until he gives back what's rightfully mine. He owes me money."
"I really don't want to report you to the Professor. For all I know, you're probably a smart kid. You should know better than this," Peter declared. He stepped a little closer to her to calm her down. The girl didn't pay attention and outright punched the boy. The boy was knocked backwards, clutching his bleeding nose and falling to the ground.
Before Peter knew it, he threw webbing at her hands and tugged her towards him. Trying to lay low didn't seem to matter now. There was only one webslinger out there. He internally yelled at himself for it and he sighed. "Don't make me drag you there." She eyed him carefully, but nodded. Peter kept her hands wrapped up and let go of his grip on the web. She grouchily walked towards the building. Peter called after her, "If I don't see you in the Professor's office when I get there, I'll make sure the penalty is greater than it would be." Peter went over to the boy and helped him up. "What's your name?"
The boy clutched his nose with one hand and took a tissue out of his pocket to wipe up the mess. His voice sounded muffled and higher pitched since he pinched his nose shut, "Jake. Jake Porter." Jake's short, spikey black hair appeared frozen and stiff. His blazingly blue eyes peered at all of the blood and almost began to hurl.
Peter looked at Jake sympathetically. He remembered what it felt like to be like that. "Do you really owe her money?"
Jake shook his head and cleared up the situation, "I didn't help her with her project and she wanted money out of me. She got a decent grade, but it wouldn't pull her overall grade up to a B." He shrugged and stopped his nose from bleeding.
Peter glanced over at me. I had just watched the whole scenario go down as I stood at the back porch. If I would've gotten there earlier, I would've helped. He waved me over and I met up with him. He motioned to me and spoke to Jake, "My friend can teach you a few things about defense if you want."
I smiled at Jake, but he seemed disinterested and looked back at Peter. He looked at him in amazement and exclaimed, "I want you to teach me. You're Spider-Man!"
My cousin smiled shyly and scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah. Okay, I will." He pat Jake on the shoulder and commented, "One day you'll grow up to be a hero like me, Jake. But..." His face fell and suddenly the light in his eyes dimmed. "I don't think that training seems like the best idea for me right now." I glanced at Peter worriedly and he just shook his head.
Jake saw his mood shift and changed the subject, "Okay. I'm just so psyched to meet you! I'm your biggest fan! I know almost everything about you." He took in a breath before going on one of the biggest rants. Sentence after sentence, this kid just didn't seem to stop to take another breath.
Peter's brown eyes were full of wonder. He hadn't met a fan in person before and his face softened. It felt good to know people looked up to him. Peter smiled in appreciation and changed his mind. "You know what? I'll help give you some pointers. Meet up with me later at the lab."
Jake nodded and left with the biggest smile plastered on his face. He jumped and fist pumped the air when he got far enough away, not caring who saw.
Peter glanced at me from the side and bowed his head, "Did he make a decision yet?"
I shook my head in defeat and sighed, "No. He might tell me today. I'm just waiting on it. It'll take a day to get everything situated after he decides so...We're only missing out on three days so far. That's enough time to relax."
He scoffed, "Yeah...relax. I'm going to go deal with that bully and then meet Jake." Peter started walking towards the building until I pulled him aside.
When I realized I grabbed his metal arm, I retracted my hand and looked at him worriedly. "Are you doing okay?"
"Never been better," Peter lied through his teeth and kept walking. He needed time to adjust and I had to respect that. This kind of thing wasn't easy on someone.
I stood there for a moment in the cold watching him walk away. I sighed and pulled the blue cap tighter around my black hair. My ears were freezing, but I wanted to stay out here a little while longer. Watching the kids play was calming and reminded me of all the times I had here with Bobby, Kitty, and the others. I had to do something in order to keep my mind occupied. My impatience had started to rise and I yearned for an answer, but good things come to those who wait.
I rested my hand on Steve's chest sleepily. He couldn't sleep alone, so he decided to rest with me, but he immediately fell sound asleep after that. It had been hours since then and I opened my heavy eyelids when I noticed he wasn't breathing. Steve lied as rigid as a plank and his chest didn't move. I sat up and nudged him softly. "Steve?"
"I need to talk to you."
I rubbed my eyes and looked towards the center of the dark room. Professor Xavier turned on the light so I could see better. He sat in his wheelchair in gray pajamas and appeared extremely exhausted. He had stopped time to talk to me. Or...maybe this was a dream. I couldn't tell. "Professor, it's like..." I glanced at the alarm clock on the side table, "three in the morning. Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"I couldn't sleep. I've been contemplating your problem," he answered simply.
I disagreed with him, "It's our problem, Professor. Loki's going to kill a lot of people. Once we're gon-"
He cut me off and nodded subtly, "Don't worry. We're going to help."
YES! I thought excitedly and jumped off my bed. I hugged the professor and ghosted through him. I completely forgot he was using his powers and he wasn't really in the room with me. I stood straight up and ruffled my hair in embarrassment. "Thank you! I really can't thank you enough."
"That's what family does. I've told Storm who is all going, so she is setting everything up later today." He averted his blue eyes and his mouth moved for a second until he could find words, "There is another matter I want to touch upon. I can see you're feeling guilty." I stayed silent, hanging my head at what he said. I was trying to get over it. I really was. He continued, "I don't blame you, you know."
"Blame me for what? Letting millions die? Knowing Loki was murdering all these people and we couldn't stop it?" I rubbed my face in effort to wake myself up even more. I just wanted to fight the villains and make everything right again. I wanted this horrible situation done with.
He responded quietly, "None of that was your fault."
"Then why do I feel like it is?"
Professor Xavier cleared his throat and peered back at me. He lifted his hands to make motions while talking and he began to assure me, "We can only save so many without racking up a death toll. The universe has to be balanced with good and evil, and it has been so far. This is how things were supposed to happen. All in good time, Lilly. Everyone and everything has a purpose. You just have to have patience and wait until the right moment to strike."
Steve woke up, startling me. The lights turned off and we were left in the dark again with only the moonlight streaming in from the window. I looked at him and watched him get up while half asleep. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to get his bearings. I glanced back at the middle of the room and the professor was gone. I turned back to Steve and asked quietly, "What are you doing awake at three in the morning?"
"I need to get ready for a run," he replied and walked passed the edge of the bed. He accidentally stepped onto his newly repaired shield that was lying on the ground and it flipped up, hitting his knee cap hard. He started hopping on his good leg and cursed many times under his breath.
"Steve," I gasped slightly in surprise. I reached over and helped him steady himself. "I've never heard you curse so much in one sentence."
"Yeah, well it hurt." He looked down at me and cringed from the stinging in his knee. "You coming with me? Maybe you can actually win the race fairly this time," he joked and a small smirk played on his lips.
My hazel eyes narrowed at him and I crossed my arms. "You know, I was thinking about giving you a kiss, but now I think I won't. But, I'll go on the run with you just so I can humiliate your running skills."
"You call that humiliating? You're only embarrassing yourself," he chuckled and moved some hair out of my face. His bright blue eyes peered into mine and he ran his thumb over my cheek.
I rolled my eyes and snorted, "Whatever."
Steve kissed my cheek softly before taking some clothes into the adjoining bathroom. I needed to wake up. The Professor's words gave me hope. Everything happens for a reason, like we were destined for some greater purpose. That was something I had to ask someone one day. Do you ever wonder why we're here?