The familiar messy brown hair, brown eyes, crooked sharp nose; realization rushes over Eloise like cold water.
Peter.
Peter Parker is Spider-Man.
Eloise forces all the whirling thoughts that invade her mind to the side because she needs to help Peter.
He sputters and clings to the ground, eyes glazed over with panicked caginess as his chest heaves for air but receives none.
Eloise gently moves her hands to his shoulders and looks him in the eyes, even though his are darting everywhere in a panic and aren't focusing.
"Sit against the wall," She leads, softly pushing him back off of his knees. His legs move out from under him stiffly and he cautiously sits down.
"Lean against the wall, Peter," Eloise continues, keeping her voice low and calm and as steady as she can manage under the circumstances.
He nods vigorously and forces his back against the brick.
She hides her own shaking hands and runs them through her hair as she tries to figure out what to do next.
Unsure if it'll work or not but going for it anyways, Eloise takes Peter's trembling hand and holds it against her chest above her heart. She wills herself to calm down, for Peter's sake, and breathes deeply.
"Feel my chest rising?"
Peter gives a jerky nod.
"Can you try to match your breathing to that?"
When he doesn't respond, Eloise squeezes his hand.
"Can you do that for me, Peter?"
He sucks in a huge breath and tries really hard to hold it down for more than a split second. He ends up wheezing and coughing.
"That's okay," Eloise tells him. "Keep going. Yeah, just like that."
He closes his eyes and focuses. His chest rises and falls at a slightly less rapid rate. Eloise keeps holding onto his hand tight.
Finally, his breaths start to match hers. His eyes flicker open and he licks his chapped, split lips.
His eyes scan over Eloise briefly, still slightly glazed over. His hand weakly raises and extends towards her face. His calloused thumb runs over her cheekbone and comes back red.
"You're hurt," He rasps. Suddenly, he tries to sit up and push off of the wall.
Eloise shoots forward and holds him back. "Woah, slow down; you just had a panic attack or something, you need to take it easy."
He groans and sits back. His brown eyes study her face, then trail over the rest of her body covered in little flecks of dirt, scratches, and bruises.
"Are you okay?" He asks, his voice rough.
Eloise smiles. "You're the one who was battling a giant mechanical monster, and you're asking if I'm okay?"
His lips curl up in a weak smile. "Seriously."
Eloise bites her lip and nods. "Only a few scrapes and bumps."
Peter nods, him still looking at her and she at him. A few moments pass where the only sound except for the sirens are their loud breathing.
Then, Eloise rises to her feet, helping Peter up. "Come on Spider-Man, let's get you fixed up."
🕸
Peter holds the package of frozen peas to his knee as Eloise wraps up a gash on his arm. He winces every now and then, making her feel bad and apologize.
Luckily, Peter wasn't hurt too bad during the fight. He escaped with a few gashes and cuts and a sore knee, a few bruises and scrapes littering his skin. It's a miracle, to Eloise, that the villain didn't kill him.
She finishes wrapping his arm and cuts off the excess wrap. As Eloise leans away her eyes flicker up to Peter's, which were already trained on her face.
Eloise starts to lean away, but his hand wraps around her wrist. Her eyes meet his.
"Where are you hurt at?" He asks hoarsely.
Eloise tosses the extra wrap into the trash bin beside his bed. "Don't worry about me."
"How come you're allowed to worry about me but I'm not allowed to worry about you?"
She doesn't respond.
Peter sighs. "Come here."
Eloise leans forward and he cups her face in his rough hands, tilting it. He frowns as he scans over the gash on her cheek. His thumb grazes over a bruise forming under it.
"Can I see the antibacterial stuff?"
Eloise leans over and grabs it from the bedside table before handing it to him. He takes it and opens it, squeezing some of the cream out onto his fingers. His fingers rub it gently over the cut, but the contact causes Eloise to flinch away from the pain.
Peter looks down and sighs sadly. "Sorry."
"It's okay," She says softly.
He bites his lip and then tries to put it on her again. This time, she only flinches a little as he puts it over the gash. He then applies some on the scrape lining her hair line next to her temple. Once he's done, he leans against the backboard of his bed.
"Are you hurt anywhere else?" He asks.
Eloise shakes her head, although there is a dull throbbing in her ribs from the blast knocking her down onto her side. She assumes it's just sore and will subside within a few days.
"Are you?" She asks, even though she's already asked him a million times since she brought him back into his room.
"I think I'm good," he breathes.
Eloise's phone, sat on Peter's night stand, starts buzzing, drawing his attention to it. Eloise already knows that it's Lucy wondering where in the world she is since she never showed up to study at the library.
She picks up her phone. Sure enough, Lucy's spamming her with texts.
Eloise slips off of Peter's bed with her phone in hand, ready to call Lucy.
"Your parents?" He asks.
Eloise clicks on her contact. "My friend, Lucy." As soon as she pushes on her contact she picks up.
"ELOISE I SWEAR I WAS SO WORRIED-"
"Don't be, I'm okay. So, I can't make it to study, obviously," Eloise tells her through the phone. "I was in that attack on Main, but don't worry, I'm perfectly fine, just a bit shooken up so I went home."
There's a pause. She takes a shaky breath. "So many people died, El. I saw the news and all the dead bodies and I was worried you were one of them."
"Well, I'm not," Eloise says, letting out a small, humorless chuckle. "Listen, I'll call you later tonight, okay?"
"You better."
"Okay, bye." She ends the call and sits back down at the foot of Peter's bed, the mattress dipping down under her weight.
"Have you ever gotten a panic attack before?" Eloise asks him.
Peter thinks for a moment. "No. Anxiety attacks, sure, but nothing like what just happened."
She nods. "Do you know what exactly triggered it?"
He plays with his hands in his lap and leans his head against the bed frame. He swallows, his Adam's apple moving.
"I could've saved all those people who died," he murmurs. "I knew he was going to be there. If I had just gotten there quicker, no one would have had to die."
"Peter," Eloise says softly. "It's not your fault."
"I just feel like I could've done more."
"You've done so much," She tells him. He's Spider-Man for crying out loud! He saved those people on the subway and stopped multiple assaults and muggings. She'd say he's done a lot more than any other high schooler has.
Peter looks away. He doesn't say anything.
"Does Ned know?" Eloise asks after a while. "You know, about the whole Spider-Man thing?"
He nods. "Yeah. I should probably give him a call or something, just to make sure he knows that I'm fine."
"Okay." She glances at her phone and sighs when she sees the time. Her parents will be home soon, and they'll be mad if she's not in her room doing her homework. "I've got to go, but I'll talk to you tomorrow."
Eloise stands and tucks her phone away into her back pocket. She gives Peter one last lingering look.
"Like I said before, just call if you ever need anything."
"Thank you, Eloise."
She smiles. "Goodnight, Peter."
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Attached Song: Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons
why am I so bad at uploading on time
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