Picking Up The Pieces

52. More Than Just A Friend

(I never do authors notes first but DAMN this lil' chapter's for all of you who have managed to stick through the years of my bad grammar and inconsistent updates...)

I could feel rubble cutting into my bare feet as I ran into the broken building, my lungs burning. Giant pieces of rubble were piled on top of each other, sticks of metal sticking out of openings. "No," I shook my head, trying to keep from crying. "Please, please, please be alive!" There was no response. "Peter, this isn't funny! Say something! Anything!"

A piece of metal scraped against my right leg as I climbed over a chunk of concrete, causing me to clutch the injury in pain. I sat down, wincing as it began to sting. Gingerly, I lifted my hand from the cut, only to find it covered in blue tinted blood. "Damn it!" I screamed, hitting the concrete with a metal fist and splitting it in two. At that point, I didn't bother holding back my tears. "Damn it! Damn it!"

I pulled my legs into my chest, hugging them tightly. I didn't know what to do. Peter was dead. My identity had been revealed to one of my classmates. I had a major injury, and for some reason my blood decided to go crazy. What was going on? Couldn't I get a break just once?

"This isn't fair," I sobbed to myself, wiping away my tears. "He... he didn't deserve to... I never even got to tell him how I felt about him!" Even though there was no one to hear me, it felt good just to spill everything. "I literally went to space and back and I didn't get to say goodbye!"

There was a dull silence in the room, and I could feel my emotions starting to clear a bit. "He saved my life, more than once. An-an-and he always found a way to be there for me. All he wanted to do was make sure I was safe..." I looked up at the roof, torn in some parts to show the sky. Despite the rising dust, I could see a few stars. "I loved him."

I sat there for a few minutes, just staying on the concrete. I wasn't thinking, I wasn't planning. I just sat there in pain. Slowly, I started to slide off the concrete, wincing as ever small bump made a jolt of pain go through my leg. As much as I wanted to stay, Liz's father needed to be stopped. And that's when I heard it: a shift in the rubble. I turned around, my eyes scanning over the mess. I thought it was my ears deceiving me, but then I saw the concrete move again. It was lifting off of the ground, and then I heard the pained yells.

"Oh my god," I said with wide eyes, covering my mouth with my hands. The concrete chunk rolled over, and I saw a figure climb out, breathing heavily. "Oh my god." He ripped his hood and mask off, staring at me with joy.

"Belle!" he called out to me, his voice raspy, He jumped off the pile, his eyes tearing while a smile as he made his way towards me. "Belle!" My eyes began to tear up again as I limped as fast as I could to him. I flung my arms around his neck; he picked me up in a hug and pulled me in.

"I was so worried!" I whimpered, my fingers reaching and running through his hair instinctively. "I-I thought you... you.." Our eyes met and my words trailed off. Peter let me back to the ground and his hands slowly began to cup my face. I mirrored his action, moving my hands from the upper area of his head to the lower. My heart was pounding; it felt like the world was moving in slow motion. And then he kissed me.

The feeling of his lips pressing against mine had a small shock run through me. There was a passion erupting from him, and I responded with a passion of my own. His cologne was faint from being put on hours ago but was still there, mixed with the smell of chemical adhesive from his web shooters, and I loved it. I had been waiting for this moment for so long, and it was finally happening.

After what seemed to last hours, Peter finally pulled away, his hands still resting on my cheeks. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," he smiled softly, his thumb giving a quick stroke.

"I kind of do, actually," I smiled back, moving my arms back to around his neck. "Did you... hear everything I said?"

"A little bit. Since space, huh?" he asked me, tilting his head slightly. My cheeks pinked, but I didn't care. "Crushing phase?"

"Loving, actually," I corrected him. "Crushing during that taxi ride to the airport." I looked away from him at at the rubble he had climbed out of. "That seems so long ago."

"Isabel, you're bleeding," he realized, looking down at the long cut on my leg. "Or something."

"We can deal with it later; what we need to focus on is stopping Liz's dad," I shook my head, crossing my injured leg behind my good one. Peter rolled his eyes and picked me up bridal style. "Hey! I didn't- ow," I hissed as his hand brushed against the cut. "Ow, ow, ow."

"We aren't going anywhere until we patch that up," he told me, setting me on a piece of concrete and pulling my leg straight. He turned his hands inward towards each other and began to shoot his webs, creating a meshy cloth-like material and placing it over the injury like a large bandaid. "It'll dissolve in two or three hours, but it should do the job for now." I said nothing, watching as he rubbed the adhesive to stick to my skin. It was just like when I first woke up in his room, him helping me.

"Why... why did you ignore me?" I asked him, rubbing my hands against my arms as a chill went through the room. Peter lowered his head and sighed.

"After Mr Stark... your dad asked you to leave on the roof, he told me to stay away from you. He said my recklessness from using the suit was going to hurt your chances of the United Nations letting you sign the Accords."

"And you listened to him," I nodded.

"I didn't have a choice. Told me that if I disobeyed him, he'd put a restraining order. I couldn't even tell you that I couldn't speak to you anymore." He moved his hands away from the bandage, sitting down by my feet with his legs outstretched. "And then I saw your face when I asked Liz to Homecoming."

"I thought you were crushing hard on her."

"I was," Peter admitted. "All freshman year, and then I met you. Like, I'd heard of you and seen videos of you and almost got killed by you, but then I got to know you during the summer. Coming back to school with her there was weird, especially considering not all of my feelings for her had gone away. But then when I went asking Liz to Homecoming and saw you there... I knew."

"You knew what?" I smiled, swinging my legs around and sitting beside him. Peter wrapped his right arm around me, pulling me in close. I set my head on his shoulder, and he set his head on top of mine.

"That I loved you too."