Walking the Wire | PETER PARKER [1]

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Eloise's eyes blink open at the sound of knocking.

Yawning, she glances at her bedroom door, but when there's another knock, her tired eyes trail to the window.

On the other side of the glass is a smiling Peter. His hands are full holding a box as he points to the lock on the window with his eyes.

Eloise glances at the clock. She was only napping for a half hour before Peter woke her up. After school, the last day of finals, Eloise trudged all the way home and collapsed on her bed for a nap that was supposed to last until dinner. Apparently, Peter had different plans.

Groaning, Eloise peels her blanket off her body and steps over to the window. She rubs her eyes and unlocks it, pulling it open.

Peter climbs in one leg at a time. He almost falls and drops the box, but he balances himself before he can. He lets out a breath.

"Hey," he greets, his eyes lifting to Eloise's hair. "Your bedhead's cute."

She pouts and pats down her hair. "Don't make fun of me, you woke me up from my nap."

He smiles and shakes his head. "Anyways—" He drops the box and digs out some folders and papers. "I did some snooping around and found some people that have black neck tattoos. Since the guy I fought in the cafe was wearing a mask, I have a collection of pictures I took of the people I found with neck tattoos. I also did some digging and found that about half of them have pre-existing criminal records."

Peter opens a folder and takes out a stack of pictures that are paper-clipped together. Taking off the paperclip, he spreads them out on the floor and kneels next to them.

Eloise sighs. "Peter—"

"Can you point out which guy has the tattoo you saw?" He asks.

Despite not wanting to deal with this right now, Eloise looks down at the pictures and sits in front of them to get a better look. Yawning, her eyes scan over the pictures scattered over the floorboards. Honestly, all of the tattoos look the same, and she can't even remember what the neck tattoo on the suspect even looked like. All she remembers is that it was black and ran up the side of his neck like a snake.

Eloise leans back on her hands. "I don't know."

Peter licks his lips. "Try to remember. How much of the tattoo was exposed? How far up his neck did it reach?"

"I don't know, Peter." Eloise stands and looks down at him sitting on the floor. His posture is slumped, and there are dark circles under his eyes. Eloise frowns. "Have you been obsessing over this all day? How much sleep did you get last night?"

"I didn't sleep last night, I was too busy looking these guys up and digging around their files," he says quickly, standing. "But that doesn't matter, I'm so close to finding out who is behind the mask and what he wants—"

"Peter," Eloise cuts him off. "Just give it a rest for a minute. Obsessing over this isn't healthy; you look really tired," She points out with a worried tone.

He runs his hand down his face. "I am this close to figuring it out."

"Just relax, Peter," She says, though she's not even sure if relax is even in his vast vocabulary. From the short time Eloise has known him, she has discovered that Peter Parker doesn't relax, he's constantly doing something. Whether he's out saving lives or being the brainiac he is and working on advancing the technology in his suit, he's never resting.