HOPELESS ☾Peter Parker - 1

THIRTY TWO

"Penny, I'm sorry," Stanley Blue spoke softly to his five year old daughter. "But it's raining. We can't have a picnic in the rain."

The girls small bottom lip was poked out in a pout as she looked up at her father with her best puppy dog eyes. 

"Please, daddy!" She looked up at him and clenched her hands together in a pleading manner. 

The man sighed and bent down to the small girl's height. "I'll tell you what angel, how about me and you go play in the rain for a bit. But you can't tell mom, you hear me?" 

The girl's face lit up and she nodded up and down enthusiastically. "Let me put my boots on!" 

She sprinted to her outer space themed bedroom and grabbed her bright blue rubber shoes from her closet. In an excited haste, she threw on her rain jacket--which was also a light shade of blue--and skipped back to her father who was waiting by the door in his own rain gear. 

The man peered around cautiously before opening the door and ushering his daughter out. 

The two played in the puddles for hours. Their laughter filled the air and neither of the Blue's lost their smile. 

Aspen's little heart was full of joy. She was rolling in mud puddles and splashing her dad--she was living the life of a happy child.

In that moment it didn't matter that she was considered "strange," or that her brain was far too full of knowledge for a child her age. In that moment she wasn't labeled, she was just Aspen. 

That moment ended, though, when Marie slung the families blue front door open and put her hands on her hips. 

She scolded both Aspen and Stanley for playing in the rain where they could've gotten sick. And when she yelled at them for getting all muddy the two embraced her and smeared the dirt all over her clean figure. 

They all sat together with mud on their faces laughing, and to Aspen, the world was a little bit brighter. 

She was wrapped in the arms of her wonderful parents, and the youthful Aspen was completely and utterly happy. 

Aspen Blue's eyes fluttered open to the sound of an alarm going off. She looked at the table next to her and saw that it was four thirty in the morning, meaning that she had to get up and get ready for the day's adventure. 

The dream she had surprised her. She hadn't had a pleasant sleep in a long time, and that was one of her favorite memories from her childhood. Maybe it was a good sign; maybe it meant that everything was going to go well today. 

Aspen groaned loudly and tried to move to shut off the annoyingly obnoxious sound. No matter how glad she was that she didn't have a nightmare, the girl still hated waking up early and this was the epitome of waking up early. 

Her actions were halted when something held her back. She was confused at first, but as she looked around the room, she remembered the events of the night before.

It was then that she realized the thing holding her back was Peter Parker's strong arms. 

Aspen leaned forward as much as she could and shut the alarm off before turning around and facing Peter. She sat up and rubbed her eyes then looked down at the half asleep boy beside her. 

His arms were still wrapped around her, only now at her waist. He mumbled something under his breath and pulled his body to hers, his face burrowing into the girl's side.

Aspen admired how cute the sleeping boy looked for a few minuets before deciding that that was creepy and averting her gaze.

"Peter," Aspen said, "It's time to get up."