THE SHADOW THIEF | peter parker

nine

The slowing of the train caused Peter to wake up, he used his free hand to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. Looking around, he watched as people began to get up, collecting their things. Seeing what had his arm trapped he looked to his right to see Della resting her head against his shoulder. Her mouth was slightly open, letting drool pool out, he clamped his lips shut, trying hard not to laugh. He didn't remember falling asleep, he must have been the first one to doze off.

Reaching over, he shook her shoulder lightly, making sure not to alarm her. Slowly, Della cracked her eyes open, she lifted herself off of Peter's shoulder and let out a long stretch. Wiping her face off she asked, "Did we arrive?"

He looked around before shrugging "I guess so, we should probably hurry before we get stuck without a cab." He stood up grabbing both of their bags, before he could put them both on her shoulder she snatched hers out of his hand.

"I can carry my own bag you know." She narrowed her eyes, she was glad that he wasn't mad, she had almost gotten him killed numerous, she lived in his safe house, and now he was even bringing her to the Avengers for both of their safety.

"I know, I know." He gently told her. In reality, he knew she was tired, it seemed like she was always tired. He started to hate her a little less. Everything made sense now, from her not telling him and thing about herself to shadows randomly moving when she was around. If he were to guess he would say the shadows reacted to her emotions. If he wanted to be sure he could have asked her, but he didn't want to ask any more questions, not when they had a long day in front of them.

They quickly hurried out of their isle, and out of the train. When they got above ground and outside of the train station, Della pulled the tampon out of his nose and threw it into the garbage. She told him that no one could take him seriously when he had a string hanging out of his nose. If he was being honest he had completely forgotten it was there.

He touched his nose once more before turning around. He waved a cab over, and it pulled in front of the two. He let Della get in first and he followed, closing the door. He met the eyes of the driver through the mirror "Where to?"

Peter stuck his hand into the pocket of his sweat pants, after a few seconds he pulled out a slip of paper containing an address and handed it to the man. The driver glanced at the scrap and then back to Peter giving him a strange look. He didn't say anything else before shifting the gear into drive and pulling out of the train station.

Peter had very few memories of his parents, his mother in particular. She is what he remembered most vividly, her nurturing smile, her long chocolate locks, her angelic voice. If he squeezed his eyes hard enough it was almost as though he could see her.

Della had her forehead pressed against the window, her eyes would start to shut and would snap open again "Are you okay?" Peter asked, the worry evident in his voice.

She rolled her neck "Yeah, the window is cool, it feels nice against my forehead."

Peter moved closer to her, he gently placed his hand against the front of her head "My god Della you're burning up."

She hummed "It took a lot out of me to fight and save your ass." she turned to him, looking at him through the corner of her eye "You're very hard to push, do you know that?"

He picked at the skin on his lip "Are you going to be okay? Like are you going to die, is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Well," she paused allowing her voice to drop into a whisper "Drinking your blood might help."

His breath caught in his throat, pressing his lips together, he slowly brought his wrist to her mouth.

She swatted his arm away, letting out a breathy laugh "I'm joking, I can manipulate shadows, I'm not a vampire."