Eloise's eyes flutter open, grogginess weighing them down as she blinks a few times. Her blue eyes focus on the ceiling fan whirring above her head. A quiet clicking sound comes from the spinning fan.
She yawns and turns, snuggling her face into what she assumes is her pillow. Eloise feels herself slipping back into a deep sleep. But then her pillow moves.
Her eyes shoot open and Eloise realizes that her head wasn't on a pillow, but on a chest—Peter's chest, to be more specific. She looks up from his chest to his face, his eyes closed peacefully, pink lips parted. Eloise lets her gaze linger on his face. He looks so at peace and the most relaxed she's ever seen him. She doesn't want him to wake up and have his face get all creased from stress and worry. She wishes he didn't have to deal with all he deals with on a daily basis.
Eloise suddenly realizes how creepy it would be if Peter just woke up and saw her staring at him with her head on his chest and pushes herself up into a sitting position. Peter makes a soft noise and his head moves to the side, but he doesn't wake. Circumspectly, Eloise reaches over his body and grabs her phone from the nightstand, turning it on.
She almost loses her balance and falls off the bed at the time on the screen.
"Peter!" Eloise shrieks, hurriedly shaking him. He stirs and his eyes flutter open like hers had for a few seconds before they focus and zero-in on Eloise. He sits up, yawning.
"What's wrong?" He asks, voice surprisingly deep and gruff. Eloise doesn't let her mind settle on how attractive it sounds and instead shoots up from the bed, rushing to the window in one long stride.
"It's 7:50," She rushes out. School starts at 8:00 sharp and she still has to get ready, plus the next public bus doesn't come by until 8:30. The realization of being late to school again hits her like a brick wall; she's going to get another detention and she'll never hear the end of it from her parents.
Peter sits up, still a little disoriented from just waking up. Eloise ignores his insanely cute bedhead and opens the window, then strides over to her dresser where she pulls a random outfit out. She doesn't check to see if it matches before pulling the jacket over her arms, leaving her t-shirt from the day before.
Peter rolls out of bed and stretches. He glances at the window letting in cold air.
"You know," He rasps in his pleasing morning voice, "I'm Spider-Man."
Eloise sends him a look from over her shoulder, not knowing where he was going with this . "Uh, yeah. I know."
"What I mean is, you don't have to be so rushed. I can just swing you to school with my webs," he explains as he mimics shooting webs from his wrists.
Eloise pauses. Oh. "Good idea." She puts her hands on the waistband of her pants, but before she can ever ask him to, Peter turns around.
"I just need to grab a new shirt, my backpack, and my web-slingers and I'll be set to go," Peter says with his back turned to the girl. "What do you still need to do? We need to leave as soon as possible if you want to make it on time."
A thought strikes Eloise as she's pulling her jeans over her legs. She zips and buttons them up. "Am I going to make you late?"
"Maybe," He says. "But don't worry about it."
She frowns.
"Can I turn around?"
"Yeah," Eloise says, still frowning at him. He sees her face when he turns and waves it off.
"Seriously, it's fine."
Eloise kicks her discarded pants into the pile of laundry as she takes a hair tie from the top of her dresser. She pulls her bird's nest hair up into a ponytail. "Are you sure? I don't want you to get into trouble or anything," she fusses.
"The worst I'll get is a detention, but May doesn't really care about that as long as I didn't, like, get in a fight or something," Peter says, watching her put her tangled hair in a bigger knot than before with amusement.
She lets out a huff of frustration and shakes out her hair before tying it up again. "I wish my parents were like that. They go crazy over that kind of stuff." With her hair successfully up and off her shoulders, Eloise grabs her backpack and slings it over her shoulder. She never finished her homework, but she'll probably work on it during study hall or lunch. Just about ready, Eloise pops a mint from the front pocket of her bag. Peter watches her movements, so she tosses him one, too. He catches it midair and smiles a thanks as he unwraps it.
Eloise wipes off the corners of her mouth just in case she drooled in her sleep, then heaves out a breath of air. "Okay, I'm ready."
🕸
The cafeteria is full of its usual lunch chatter as usual. Some people are quietly playing card games at their tables, some are having heated conversations, and some are actually eating. Whopping laughs come from a table over from where Lucy, Alev, Elena, Cliff, and Eloise are seated, distracting Eloise from her overdue homework. It was due last class period, but since she didn't do it last night, she's going to have to turn it in late.
Lucy is working on some project she has in her animal science class. She colors in some shapes, hoping that the teacher will bump up her score for "creativity." As she's coloring like a maniac, her elbow knocks into Elena's plastic water bottle.
Elena's hand shoots out and catches it before it can knock over and spill.
Cliff's brow raises. "Nice reflexes, Rodrìguez." He pops a chip into his mouth and washes it down with a gulp of Red Bull.
Alev points to the can skeptically. "That is not permitted in school?"
Cliff shrugs. "No one really cares if I drink it."
Lucy gestures towards the table of students nearby that are laughing wildly. "They have vodka in their water bottles, so I think Red Bull is fine."
Cliff downs the rest of the can and crushes it against the table.
"¿Qué pedo, wey?" Luis chirps from behind with a bright smile pulling at his full lips. He reaches over Elena's shoulder and swipes her water bottle, taking a swig. His Adam's apple bobs when he swallows. As soon as it goes down, he pulls a face and sets the water bottle down on the table again.
Everyone turns and looks at Luis. He cocks his head. "That water tastes weird."
"That's probably because that's not water," Elena says, flipping the cap of the water bottle closed.
Luis licks his lips in thought. "What is it then? Stale lemonade?"
Elena rolls her eyes at her brother. "It's tea."
"¡Puaj! I thought we were American."
Elena pauses. She turns her head and looks at him like he just suggested they all shove forks in power outlets.
"We're Mexican, Luis."
He smirks, "Yeah, but we live in America." He takes a chip from Cliff's bag and pops it into his mouth. "Anyways, I got a promotion at the shop and you all are invited to celebrate with me at Grove Park tonight. I'm bringing the s'mores, hot dogs, and alcohol."
"I thought Mama Rodrìguez grounded you," Lucy queries.
Elena turns to her and rolls her eyes. "She did." She addresses her brother, "And when she finds out you're throwing a party at the camp site with alcohol ..." Elena takes a sip of her tea. "It was nice knowing you."
Luis laughs. "Whatever, she's not going to find out. Anyways, I gotta go invite some more peeps, see ya." He steps away from the table and throws his arms up. The students that were laughing wildly earlier stop and look at the weird kid in front of them.
"Eyy, what's up bro?" One of the students, Howie, pipes up.
Luis grins at them and rubs his hands together. "How would you guys like free alcohol?"
Elena shakes her head at her brother and rubs her temples. "Pinche idiota," She grumbles.
"When is it?" Cliff asks. "If it's after six I can swing by."
Alev purses her lips. "I do not think I can come. I have no ride."
"I can take you, I have my permit and my mom isn't using her car tonight," Lucy suggests. Alev smiles and thanks her. Lucy turns to Eloise and takes her pencil out from her grasp, keeping her from finishing my homework. "What about you, El? Carpool?"
Eloise hesitates. She already made plans to help Peter and Ned out after school, which is probably going to last all night again. She doesn't have any time to go to a party. Besides, parties with alcohol aren't really her scene.
"I can't," Eloise admits, but doesn't explain, not having an excuse.
Lucy gives her a flat look. "You're not busy."
Eloise falters. "Y-Yeah I am," She stutters. When Lucy raises her brow, she makes something up. "Family plans?" Eloise says slowly, more asking than stating.
"Yeah, right," Lucy snorts. "And I'm dating Harry Styles."
"That's illegal," Elena cuts in. "Just saying."
Lucy shoots her a look. "I turn eighteen in seven months."
"Still."
Lucy forgets about Eloise's lying and argues with Elena about how she and Harry are soul mates, going as far as bringing up star signs and height differences—apparently Harry Styles and Lucy are perfectly proportionate height-wise. Eloise tunes out of their conversation as Elena brings up the seven year age difference and tunes back into her homework. However, as she's reading the question, her mind wanders and she has to re-read the question four times over before giving up and just getting lost in her thoughts. First Eloise thinks about how her parents won't be happy about her grades, but then, as always, her mind goes to Peter.
What's he doing right now? Does he have lunch at this time too? Did he make it to school on time? Did he regret telling Eloise about his parents last night? Surely he knows that he can trust her without having to worry about judgement. She hopes she didn't push him into confusing in her; Eloise just wanted to understand him better and become closer. Something about him makes her feel at home, and she doesn't feel that way a lot. She hopes she makes him feel that way, too.
"Eloise."
She jumps, her eyes darting up. They land on Lucy.
She taps Eloise's work sheet and says, "Put this away and let's go." She flips the text book closed. "The bell rang."
🕸
On the way home from school it snows hard. Eloise can barely see three feet in front of her from the pelting snow falling from the gray sky above. As always, with snow, there is slush. The snow in the busy streets of Queens turns into a mushy brown color as cars zip past. The snow on the sidewalks is more compact than that on the roads, but it's still dirty and makes Eloise's shoes and socks all wet. The gross slush seeps into her once-white socks and freezes against her frost-bitten feet. Unsurprisingly, however, Peter and Ned are having fun in the awful weather. They scoop up snow with their bare hands and pummel each other with snowballs.
Wanting to be enveloped by the warm apartment as soon as possible, Eloise speed-walks past the boys. They don't notice her urgency to get out of the dreadful snow until her foot slips out from under her in the slush.
Eloise lets out a shriek and falls straight onto her back painfully. You'd think that the snow would've cushioned her fall, but she's pretty sure her spine hit a block of ice.
It isn't until Peter and Ned each grab one of Eloise's hands to hoist her up to her feet that she feels the coldness seeping in through her coat. Snow runs down her neck and into her shirt against her skin. Eloise shivers violently and hugs myself closer, her skin feeling like ice and her nose and ears stinging from the cold winds.
"Woah," Peter says as he and Ned steady the shivering girl. "You okay?"
She hugs herself closer. "Yeah," Eloise breathes, her breath visible in the brisk air. "Let's just get home."
Their trek takes forever in the whipping wind and pelting snow, but eventually, they make it. As soon as they step foot inside the front lobby Eloise feels her body react to the heat. All three of them kick the snow off their shoes—Eloise's feet are so numb at this point that you could drop a car on it and she literally wouldn't feel a thing—and head up to the sixth level.
Eloise parts from Ned and Peter when they reach their neighboring doors. Eloise was going to go straight to Peter's apartment with the two, but the dirty ice that soaks her body makes her skin crawl and she has the urge to take a hot shower.
So, when she enters her apartment, that's what she does.
The shower thaws her icy feet and burns her back, but Eloise welcomes the stinging; it's so much better than the sting of being frozen. Eloise scrubs all the germs from school and whatever was in the slush from the sidewalk she landed in off her body, and after shampooing and rinsing her hair, she turns off the shower and steps out. Eloise dries and dresses into sweats and a sweatshirt before walking over to Peter's.
Eloise doesn't bother knocking on the front door because A.) Peter always forget to lock the door, and B.) May isn't home and the boys are in Peter's room, so no one would hear her knocking.
When Eloise steps inside Peter's bedroom, Ned has the Spider-Man mask on and Peter's reading something on his laptop. Ned hears Eloise enter and tears the mask off his head.
"Hey, Eloise."
"Hey." She slumps back on Peter's bed next to Ned. She takes the mask and examines it. "Whatcha boys doing?"
"I was just looking back on some of the film Karen recorded to see if we missed anything," Ned replies. "And Peter's doing some research on the government facility that Russo was set on breaking into."
"I can't even find coordinates," Peter mutters to himself. "It's like Area 51, but ten times more secretive. I wonder what they're hiding."
"Aliens?" Ned proposes.
Eloise hands him back the mask. "Why would they be hiding aliens from us? Everyone already knows they exist," she counters. "I mean, some are Avengers, like Thor."
Ned's forehead creases. "I don't think he counts as an alien."
Eloise just shrugs.
Peter groans and sets his head in his hands, rubbing his eyes. "I can't get anything," he grumbles. "It's just useless. I can't find out what they're hiding, Russo's motives, or where he's going to be next."
"Don't you have a tracker on him?" Eloise asks.
"He must've found out about it," Ned answers. "It stopped moving a few days ago, and Peter found it in an alley under a dumpster."
Eloise frowns and crosses her legs. "So what's the game plan now?"
Peter turns around in his chair and sits back, heaving out a long sigh. "I don't know." His pink lips turn down in a frown as he concentrates on his thoughts. "I think the only thing we can do is wait for him to strike again?" He rubs his temples. "That's an awful plan, but it's all we've got. I could probably go out and survey the streets for any signs of him, but ... but I doubt I'll ever find anything. For all we know, he could be across the world." He tosses his pencil to his desk in frustration.
Ned slips the mask back over his face. Eloise looks at him expectingly, waiting for his idea, but then he just sighs.
"Well, we're screwed."
"No kidding," Peter mumbles, defeated
Ned scratches his arm and stands from Peter's bed. He faces Eloise and Peter and, hesitantly, he suggests, "Maybe we should call Tony Stark."
"He never listens to me," Peter shoots down his suggestion. "Plus, we don't have enough evidence to convince him, if he did listen, that the whole world could be at stake and not just a few streets in Queens."
They all fall silent. Eloise tries to rack her brain for any other ideas, but she comes up dry. They seem to be at a dead end—until a lightbulb goes off in Peter's mind.
"I'll be right back," Peter says, striding over to his closet and pulling out his Spider-Man suit. He suits up and swipes the mask from Ned's head before pulling it over his own.
"Wait," Eloise blurts, causing Peter to halt his rushed movements. He turns and looks at her expectingly with his mechanical eyes. Eloise's heart beats fast in her chest at the uncertainty of what Peter's going to do. "Where are you going?"
"Upstairs," Peter replies curtly. He takes one long step towards the—repaired—window and slides it open. Before jumping out, he says with determination, "I'm going to get answers from Hank."
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Attached Song: Never Be by 5 Seconds of Summer
Guys I can't wait for Far From Home I heard some rumors about it and I am so pumped
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