Youth ➳ Peter Parker

[09] aftermath

  PETER AND MAGGIE STOOD like that for what must've been ages, intertwined with each other, pressed close. No thoughts interrupted their kiss, no internal conflicts broke out in Maggie's head. 

  All was silent when she kissed Peter Parker.

  She pulled away, the two teens gasping for air. "Holy shit." Peter mumbled, running a hand through his hair and looking down at the ground, his cheeks turning a bright red. He was refusing to look Maggie in the eyes, but Maggie decided she was alright with that, because she didn't think she would be able to make any eye contact.

  Her first kiss. Was with Peter Parker. Spider-Man. Oh my god. 

  "I... Sorry. I didn't... I mean, I did mean to, but I'm sorry-" Maggie stuttered, stumbling and tripping over her own words as she tried to apologize to the boy for kissing him. He'd kissed back, but maybe he hadn't realize who he was kissing.

  There were the thoughts again. Maybe she should kiss him to make them go away. That seemed to work last time.

  "I- No. Don't apologize. I'm glad you did that. I wanted to do that the first week I met you. You amaze me. You recognized my voice- no one has done that yet. How, I don't know, because I think I have a pretty distinguishable voice. I've even run into people I know well and I've said things in front of them and I thought they were gonna notice but no one has yet but you have and I think that's amazing." 

  Peter was stuttering now, too, just blurting out words without thinking. Maggie let out a laugh, and Peter finally looked up, startled. She wondered why he had that expression on his face until she realized- she hadn't laughed in front of him before. In fact, she didn't think she had even smiled in his direction. 

  "That's new, too." Peter said softly, and Maggie laughed again. 

  "It's all your fault, Parker." She replied, and his face split into a grin for a brief moment before dropping. 

  "It is all my fault." And for a second, the words coming out of Peter's voice sounded eerily similar to the voices in Maggie's head. 

  "What?" 

  "It's all my fault." Peter repeated, gesturing around the room, eyes landing on Alex. Maggie followed his gaze and was reminded once more of her dead friend, and what would she tell Rachel? How would she be able to explain this? Suddenly, Peter's apprehensions flooded from him to her, and she was filled with sorrow, it bubbling over and turning into tears.

  Peter stood silently, staring at Alex, his brown eyes wide and unblinking. Maggie moved across the floor quickly, enveloping him in a hug. It felt strange to hug him, to hug a teenage boy, because she'd only ever hugged her parents, or relatives. It took him a moment, but he eventually hugged her back, placing his hands on the small of her back, hanging on tight like he was afraid to let go.

  "I'm here. I promise." Maggie told him, and almost laughed again at the ridiculousness of the situation. Maggie felt the urge to laugh at the most inappropriate of moments. But she was comforting a superhero, trying to protect him from the dark thoughts, because that was something she was familiar with and knew what to say in this instance. 

  Peter pulled away from her once more, and took a deep breath. "Let's get out of here." Peter said, his voice loud, and he sounded more confident in himself. Grabbing her hand, he began to lead her across the warehouse floor, but Maggie halted, looking back at Alex, who still lay there on the ground. 

  "What about Alex?" Maggie asked, and her voice broke when she said his name. Peter visibly bristled, and he turned around slowly, brows furrowed. "We- we have to leave him here. We'll put in an anonymous call to the police to let them know he's here." He replied and turned back around. He'd gone still all of a sudden, and Maggie knew exactly why.

  "Peter Parker." 

 And in that moment, Maggie had more strength than she realized she'd had. She was standing up to someone, and it wasn't a bully. It wasn't herself, it wasn't a villain of some sort that Spider-Man had to fight. Maggie was standing up to someone she had a real connection with. This is what the voices had prevented. They had prevented her from messing up with friends, however few she had. The thoughts had prevented her from even having friends or talking to people, because she knew she would mess it all up. She would mess it up like she was doing right now, but she knew it was the right thing to do.

Finally she was confident about something.

Peter turned. He walked back to Maggie, and Maggie thought it was to apologize, or console her, perhaps even hug. Instead, he reached into her pocket and pulled her cellphone out, showing her the screen so she could type in her password. Holding her breath, she let Peter mess around on her phone, unsure of what he was doing. He had gone to her 'Contacts' list, scrolling through the small list of names.

He pressed Rachel and dialed. Rachel picked up on the first ring. "Maggie? Hey. What's up? Are you with Alex? He's not answering his phone."

Maggie didn't know how to respond. She glanced up at Peter helplessly, but he shook his head, gesturing to the phone in her hand. 'You can do this yourself.' He mouthed, and with a heaving sigh, offered her a smile.

Despite what she was about to tell her only friend, she was grateful for Peter. He was letting her do this herself. He wasn't going to baby her. He wasn't going to let her curl up in a ball and let someone else handle the situation. Peter understood her, and he understood what was going to help her.

"Rachel?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"Still here." Rachel's voice was growing increasingly impatient, and she knew she had to tell Rachel the truth.

As Maggie began to explain, omitting a few details, of course, Peter wrapped an arm around her. And as she slid to the floor, crying and listening to Rachel cry, Peter stayed with her, arm still there, not leaving her.