Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

| 5 |

Sometimes Eloise wishes she didn't live in the city. She dreams of what the sky would look like at night without all the light pollution from the city. The stars would be plentiful, the galaxies just out of reach. She would own a telescope and buy a whole bunch of star gazing books. She knows the constellations and how to find them already, but has never actually been able to go out and point them out in the sky. It's either too cloudy or the lights from the city below are too bright.

The soft breeze runs through her hair and blows it off her shoulders. Eloise is currently on the fire escape outside her window sitting on the thin railing, her sock-clad feet dangling beneath her.

Eloise hears a whooshing sound and turns her head to the right.

The Spider-Man, the one who walked Eloise to the library when it was dark, is crawling on the wall. He crawls over to Peter's window and Eloise wonders what he's doing, but then he looks up at her. He pauses, then leaps over to the fire escape and sits next to the girl.

"Hey, Spider-Boy."

He groans. Eloise laughs.

"Hi. Eloise, right?" He asks. His voice sounds deeper than that last time she saw him, but maybe she's just hearing things.

"Yep." Eloise swings her feet back and forth. "What are you doing? Why aren't you out fighting crime?"

He leans back against the stairs. "I was, but I was just swinging by and saw you and thought that you looked lonely." He looks at her, and although she can't see his eyes, she can feel them studying her face.

She smiles and looks down at the city below. "That's kind of you, but I'm not lonely when I've got all these beautiful stars with me." She motions to the sky.

Spider-Man cranes his neck. "I don't see any stars."

"Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't beautiful." Eloise pauses, thoughtful. "Reminds me of people's minds."

Spider-Man turns to the girl. He doesn't say anything.

Eloise embarrassingly chuckles and picks at her nails. "Sorry, that was weird."

"No, it wasn't weird," he says quickly. "It was ... it was insightful."

She lets out a laugh. "Insightful."

"Hey, don't laugh at me," he teases.

"Sorry." She grins down at her feet. The two sit there in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither of them talking. Eloise gazes out at the city and assumes the superhero next to her is, too, but then she turns her head and realizes that he was looking at her the whole time.

When he sees that he was caught, he clears his throat.

Eloise blushes lightly. "I should probably go to bed now," She whispers, not wanting to end the tranquil atmosphere. "Spanish quiz tomorrow."

Spider-Man nods. "Of course." He stands and, without warning, jumps right off the fire escape. Eloise's heart jumps into her throat and she slips off of the railing herself, but onto the safe fire escape floor. She stares down with wide eyes searching for the boy dressed as a spider, but breathes a silent breath of air when he shoots out a web. It sticks to the fire escape above hers and he spins up the web so that he's hanging upside down right in front of her face.

"I'll see you around, Spidey."

"Good luck on your Spanish quiz, El."

And then he's gone.

🕸

"You two are going to get married," Lucy says matter-of-factly. "I'm calling it now."

Elena taps her chin with her pencil. "Which one do you like better, Spideloise, or Epider?"

Lucy and Eloise turn to Elena. Lucy cocks her head.

"What?"

Elena shifts her books in her arms. "You know, Spider-Man and Eloise's ship name?"

Lucy gives her a blank look. "What the hell is a ship?"

"Nevermind," Elena sighs.

The three girls continue walking down the hall to their next classes. Eloise hugs her books closer to her chest.

"Guys, we've only talked twice. This isn't a Disney movie; we aren't getting married."

Lucy laughs, "Whatever you say, girl."

Luis pops in from out of nowhere and pipes up, "What are we talking about?"

Elena smiles at her brother. "Spider-Man and Eloise's marriage."

Luis's eyes widen as he looks at Eloise in shock. "You know Spider-Man?"

"Kind of?" She replies. "I don't know who he is, but I have talked to him a few times."

Luis is awe-struck. "This is so cool! We are talking about Spider-Man, the Spider-Man from like YouTube and stuff, right? That Spider-Man?"

Lucy rolls her eyes. "How many Spider-Mans do you know, dipshit?"

Luis scoffs. "Sorry, I just can't believe it. Wow, this is cool."

"Yeah, it is," Eloise smiles.

The bell rings over them. Lucy groans.

"If only Spider-Man could save us from this hell hole."

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂
Attached Song: Yellow by Coldplay

Edit: okay so going back and reading this chapter makes me cringe so I appreciate all of you who continue reading even after the cringe.   I mean, I did write this when I was 15-16 so this story was bound to have some level of cringe in it.

I love all of you! Thanks for reading!

Ⓚ