Upside-Down

Chapter 4

Peter wakes up to a knock on the door. He rolls out of bed, quickly gets dressed, and walks toward it, carefully. He had expected this. He hadn't known what would be worse. A letter... or in person. He brushes Fish with the top of his knuckles.

Fish was the cat. Last night, while packing up, he had noticed that one of the symbols on its pelt looked like a fish, and the name stuck.

Peter takes a deep breath, not noticing the cat opening one eye behind him, and he and opens the door.

Just as he'd expected, his landlord stood in front of him, an apologetic look on his face. He's holding a letter. Both, Peter thinks somewhat sadly.

"Hello Peter," Mr. Lewis says, looking awkward. "May I come in?" Peter nods, leading the man through a maze of boxes, and into the living room. The cat is not where it was a few seconds ago. Mr. Lewis notices the boxes, and the lack of stuff. He sits down across from Peter.

"I suppose you were expecting me?" The man says. Peter only nods. He hasn't said much to anyone in the past few days, except to Fish. Mr. Lewis continues, "Here's the letter then... please sign it. If you could be out of the building by tomorrow morning?"

Peter nods again, reaching for the pen.

"Peter, I'm sorry about this. I'm sure you've been through a lot... my condolences... I'm sorry about Ma-" but the man is interrupted by a yowl.

Fish leaps onto Mr. Lewis' face, claws flashing, a glint in his eye. Peter jumps to his feet. "Fish!" he yells, trying to pull the cat off of the man's head.

"Get it off!" Mr. Lewis howls, "get this monster off of me!" The gold streaked fur ball doesn't take kindly to that, attacking the man's overly bushy eyebrows with renewed vigor.

Peter becomes more desperate, he can feel himself starting to use his powers... Fish releases the mans head, sending Peter crashing into a pile of boxes, Mr. Lewis in the opposite direction. A box falls on Peter's head, and the cat escapes.

When Peter emerges from the boxes, Mr. Lewis is already moving to the door, his face bloody and missing half an eyebrow. He seems to have forgotten about Peter's situation. "Be out by midnight Parker!"

Peter sighs. The door closes, and Peter stacks the boxes back on top of each other, preparing for the grueling day ahead.

Through out the day, Peter moves all the boxes into a storage unit a few blocks away. He doesn't finish until late at night, and its not until he gets back from the last round when Fish appears again. Peter gets the last morsels out of the fridge, putting some in a bowl for Fish, well he reprimands the cat.

"Common Fish, that got out of here twelve hours sooner than we would've! Now Mr. Lewis hates me..." The cat makes a face at him, an angry face. His emerald eyes burn. Peter leans down to pet the creature. The cats anger isn't directed at him, it's at the horrible man who had just taken all that Peter had left away from him.

"Well, I'll reward you for your efforts." Peter give Fish the last piece of lunch meat.

Peter took everything else out of the fridge, and ate his dinner in the empty apartment. It was then, finally then, that the tears came. He had suppressed them long enough. Aunt May was dead. Peter was being evicted. He was alone. Tears streamed down his face, falling to the table beneath him.

A wet nose nuzzles him, and he opens his eyes, and they meet sympathetic emerald ones.  He strokes Fish, sobbing into the creature's fur. He wasn't alone. Not entirely.

Peter looses track of time, until the oven beeps. It was midnight. He grabs his backpack, and turns out all the lights. He picks up Fish, and walks to the fire escape. He closes the window behind him, and launches himself off the rail.

He and Fish swing their way across the city, until he comes to his perch. He knew it wasn't strictly legal, but he felt safer here than in a shelter. He had set up a camouflaged hideout here last night, bringing things he thinks he needs.

"This is only temporary," He says to the fur ball next to him, "Until I get that internship accepted at Stark Industries. Or anywhere else. Even Oscorp. I'll bring you to the ground every morning, okay? Okay Fish?" The cat nods at him.

"Man, I didn't know cats were that smart." Peter has never met a cat. He's seen some before, and they seemed normal, but Fish keeps surprising him. He lays down in a sleeping bag. "Maybe your magic. Maybe those are runes in your fur... Maybe..."

Peter drifts off to sleep. And the entire night, the black cat watches him like a hawk. Nothing will hurt this boy.

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Thank you so much for reading this story so far! I went back and patched up a few inconsistencies throughout the story so far, and fixed any weird grammar or awkward sentences, but let me know if there is anything I missed.

Thanks again!!!

:)