Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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The familiar messy brown hair, brown eyes, crooked sharp nose; realization rushes over Eloise like cold water.

Peter.

Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Eloise forces all the whirling thoughts that invade her mind to the side because she needs to help Peter.

He sputters and clings to the ground, eyes glazed over with panicked caginess as his chest heaves for air but receives none.

Eloise gently moves her hands to his shoulders and looks him in the eyes, even though his are darting everywhere in a panic and aren't focusing.

"Sit against the wall," She leads, softly pushing him back off of his knees. His legs move out from under him stiffly and he cautiously sits down.

"Lean against the wall, Peter," Eloise continues, keeping her voice low and calm and as steady as she can manage under the circumstances.

He nods vigorously and forces his back against the brick.

She hides her own shaking hands and runs them through her hair as she tries to figure out what to do next.

Unsure if it'll work or not but going for it anyways, Eloise takes Peter's trembling hand and holds it against her chest above her heart. She wills herself to calm down, for Peter's sake, and breathes deeply.

"Feel my chest rising?"

Peter gives a jerky nod.

"Can you try to match your breathing to that?"

When he doesn't respond, Eloise squeezes his hand.

"Can you do that for me, Peter?"

He sucks in a huge breath and tries really hard to hold it down for more than a split second. He ends up wheezing and coughing.

"That's okay," Eloise tells him. "Keep going. Yeah, just like that."

He closes his eyes and focuses. His chest rises and falls at a slightly less rapid rate. Eloise keeps holding onto his hand tight.

Finally, his breaths start to match hers. His eyes flicker open and he licks his chapped, split lips.

His eyes scan over Eloise briefly, still slightly glazed over. His hand weakly raises and extends towards her face. His calloused thumb runs over her cheekbone and comes back red.

"You're hurt," He rasps. Suddenly, he tries to sit up and push off of the wall.

Eloise shoots forward and holds him back. "Woah, slow down; you just had a panic attack or something, you need to take it easy."

He groans and sits back. His brown eyes study her face, then trail over the rest of her body covered in little flecks of dirt, scratches, and bruises.

"Are you okay?" He asks, his voice rough.

Eloise smiles. "You're the one who was battling a giant mechanical monster, and you're asking if I'm okay?"