Intertwine

104 - The World's First Sentient Maze

ADITI

"Come on you two." Natasha hissed at us as she continued down the dark and damp underground alleyway, her handgun out, hands steady.

"We're coming." I shot back. "Peter just needs a little more time than usual, okay." He was lacking the energy that normally made him the bounciest and most enthusiastic of us all.

"I'm okay." He muttered, as I pulled his arm tighter around my shoulder.

"I know you are." I looked at Nat who was gesturing for us to hurry up. "We do need to speed up though Peter, okay."

Together we caught up to Natasha who looked me up and down.

"You're going to need stitches in cut next to your chin." She noted before carrying on down another alley.

"Didn't even know I had one." I looked at Peter. "Is it bad?"

He shook his head. "You look like a videogame character. It's very cool."

"Which one?"

"You look like Inigo Montoya."

"Peter he's not from a videogame, we literally watched Princess Bride last week " But still I smiled. He knew that Inigo was one of my favourite characters. But then my smile fell. "Is it that big?"

"Come on you two!" Natasha had stopped again as Peter paused to examine the cut.

"Coming!" I yelled back, my feet planted in place.

Peter reached out a hand and with a gentle finger touched my face. I tried not to flinch from the slight stinging that came from it. Very carefully he traced along the cut from nearly halfway down my cheek all the way to just next to my chin. His touch was featherlight, and he made sure not to go too near the open wound so as not to hurt me.

"It's not too bad Ti." He whispered. "It just looks painful."

I shook my head. "It isn't. I didn't even realise I'd got it."

He took my hands from my sides, holding them in his. I could feel his web shooters pressed against my palms. "You've been the bravest of all of us Ti." He looked into my eyes with those beautiful dark brown orbs, like coffee in the morning, like old library books that smell of knowledge, like leaves in the fall. Just two brown eyes looking into one another's souls.

"You were awake, weren't you." I breathed. "You were awake the whole time."

He nodded, not breaking eye contact. "You couldn't feel me?"

"I was so busy feeling my own emotions I never even thought... God I'm so sorry Peter. I should have checked. I've never had to use them like that before."

"It's okay, as long as you don't say you're sorry again." He smiled. "Cause you don't have anything to apologize for. I was so relieved when I heard your voice, I knew then I'd be safe."

I felt my face heat up, but I could tell he was sincere. As soon as he saw me getting embarrassed, he started to get embarrassed as well, and dropped my hands. I brushed my hair out of my eyes. I was taller than him, I realised now. I'd never noticed that before.

"Hey, where's Nat?" He asked, glancing around. "NAT!"

"Give me one sec." I closed my eyes and fell, or at least my body fell. My consciousness rose upwards as Peter grabbed my body before it could hit the ground.

"Aditi." He hissed, tapping my face. Then he sighed. "If you can hear me, I hate you. What am I supposed to do if we get attacked and you're not in your body?"