The Weight of The World ｡ Peter Parker [1]

Epilogue

A few weeks had gone by since that fatal night Norman Osborn had met his maker. We had all fallen back into the steady rhythm of normal day life. Harry still hadn't dropped the whole case about Spider-Man murdering his father and we were still keeping that secret from him, but we were slowly putting our lives back together again. The cuts on my wrists had healed, the only evidence of that night were two small white scars, one on each wrist.

It was late one afternoon after school and Peter had joined me at my parent's lab, somewhere I had been spending quite a lot time at. My parent's work had sparked an interest with me and I was trying my best to convince them to let me help out. They didn't like me annoying them regularly but I was just wearing them down. With Peter tagging along, they couldn't turn me away. "Your parents don't mind us being in here alone, do they?"

Worry filled his eyes and I gave him a shove with my shoulder, my hand tugging him further into the lab. My parents must have been down in the basement levels, somewhere I couldn't access without a keycard. "They're busy, okay? Plus they won't mind at all."

I dumped my bag on the bench, scanning the room. I had spent enough time in here to know the codes of the fridges where they kept the good stuff, locked away from others. With a grin sent over at Peter, I moved towards the back of the lab, typing in the codes. I heard a click and the door unlocked. A flash of cool air hit my face as I pulled open the door, grabbing a vial from the rack and bringing it over to the bench where a testing kit had been left by my parents. Peter was sitting on one of the stools, his head rested on his hand as he watched me. I placed down the vial carefully, pulling over the heavy microscope. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Flo?"

"I've been watching my parents do this for weeks," I told him with a shrug of my shoulders. "I just want to show you the makeup of the formula, I think you'll find it really incredible."

He handed over a slide and I let a tiny droplet of the purple serum drop onto the white slap before pushing the slide under the metal clips. I leaned forward, closing one eye and focusing the microscope lens. Slowly the picture cleared and I was beaming. "Come here, Pete. Check it out."

Peter stood, coming around the bench and peering over my shoulder. I moved a step backwards, letting him have a proper look. I waited for him to finally take a look, watching as his shoulders tensed. "They're really doing it, huh? This formula is just insane, but in a good way."

"I know, right?" I blew some air out of my cheeks. "They haven't perfected everything yet but it's really coming along. Soon, humans will be able to access abilities that come from inside their bodies, inside their minds. They'll be able to connect with a pure power that they've had all along, just dormant and unnoticed."

Peter ran a hand behind his head, "How does it work? I'm assuming it would be injected."

"My parents are fluffing around with the details," I nodded, flicking off the microscope. "But injected into the bloodstream seems to be the popular vote. Sounds pretty cool, huh?"

He pushed himself off the bench, moving closer to me. He threaded his arms around my waist drawing me closer. "Really cool, yeah. But not as cool as our biology homework sounds."

He dropped a kiss to my lips before turning away and heading back to his seat. He pulled out his textbook, a handful of notes scattered along the bench top. I reached for them at the same time as he did, the paper slicing across my index finger. "Ow, a paper cut." I moaned, sticking my finger into my mouth before too much blood formed. He gave me a look and I returned it with a quick frown. "You know what? Biology doesn't sound all that exciting."

"Okay, what sounds exciting and fun to you?" Peter asked, giving me a tiny smile.

I rounded the bench, standing close to him. "I think chemistry sounds fun, you know, like our chemistry."

"Really?"

A hum sounded from my throat and I threaded my arms around his shoulders, liking the way he didn't protest. He pushed off the chair quickly, twirling me around so my back hit the edge of the bench. A giggle fell from my lips as a crash sounded from behind me. Already I was cursing myself, watching the vial splash purple serum across the bench. I was already grabbing some paper towel, patting it down dry. "Pete, want to put this back in the fridge?" I handed him the unbroken vial, half of the purple serum still inside thankfully.

He stepped away, hurrying to put it away before we created more damage. The paper towel was nearly dripping wet but I had mopped up all the mess quickly. I heard the door click open, meaning my parents were heading back up from the basement levels. I quickly raced to the bin, dropping in the paper towel and slamming the lid closed. I wiped my hands dry, giving my parents a big grin when they stepped into the labs. Peter was back at his chair already, a pen in his hand. "Hi there. We were just, uh, just trying--"

I fell back into the chair opposite him. Already swooping in and coving for his ability of sucking majorly at lying sometimes, especially to my parents. "We were just catching up on some unfinished homework. Do you need any help with your work?"

My parents exchanged a look but didn't say anything. I turned back to Peter, my shoulders sagging forward as I pushed some hair behind my ears. I was beyond thankful that mess was cleaned up and no real damaged had been done, nothing my parents would cry or yell over. "You know what? I actually think biology sounds great right now."

We may have cleaned up one mess, but that moment everything changed without us even realising it. That moment was the beginning of another story.