The World Is Quiet Here | Peter Parker x Reader

V. A Quick Mission

Sorry this is late. I haven't been feeling well.

//

When Peter woke up, he was startled. He sat up too fast and saw the girl laying at the other end of the room, curled up with a thick quilt around her body. He calmed down. He couldn't remember if he was having a nightmare or if he was just used to waking up horrified, but he felt a little sick it his stomach. 

He scooted all the way against a shelf and then read the spines. There was a mix of books, from sci-fi to romance. There were a couple of history and some mystery. He picked one up and held it in his hands.

"Peter?" a soft voice whispered, making him jump. "Please tell me that's you sitting up across the room."

"Sorry," he said. "I can't sleep."

She sat up and stretched. He saw the outline of her arms reach above her head. "Bad dream?" she said. 

"I don't remember," he replied.

"I've gotten a nightmare every night since the start of all of this," she said. "I learned not to get scared of them though, because honestly... they're just as bad as life when I'm awake, really."

He sighed. "Yeah." He put her book back on the shelf. "Sorry, I was bored so I... I started looking at the books you have."

"Oh, that's okay. Like I said, anything here is yours." She got up and walked over to him. She sank down on the pillows and looked up at the shelves with him.

"You don't have any horror books."

"What? Sure I do," she said. "What do you think is layered on the walls with the newspaper?"

He snorted. "Really?"

"There's not much use for Stephen King nowadays, is there?" she asked. "Not that he was a good author, anyway."

"What's your favorite genre?" he asked. 

She took a deep breath in thought. "It changes, really, depending on what I miss most about the world. Lately it's been summer, so I've been reading a lot of contemporary novels."

"Yeah," he said.

"Wanna see my favorite?" she asked. She got up and hurried to a shelf. Peter was amazed that she seemed to know where each book was. She picked one up and sat back down, grabbing one of the candles and lighting it quickly. She placed it in front of them and put the book halfway in his lap. 

"The Unexpected Everything," he read aloud.

"I know it sounds stupid," she said, "but the romance in this was really cute, and the summer feeling was there. I missed it while I was gone." She smoothed her hand over the cover. "The character had really great friends and honest fights and the relationship was super adorable."

"I'm not much of a reader," he admitted, laughing.

"Right," she said, smiling shyly. "Well, you like science, don't you?" She got up and walked to the other shelf. She picked out two books and brought them to him.

"These are the most nerdy books I have," she said. 

"You're calling me a nerd?" he asked. 

"Peter, I've known you for only a few days but I can easily say that it is painfully obvious." 

He laughed and took the books from her. She sat back down and looked at him.

"Oh, I've heard of Ready Player One."

"Good," she said. "I think you'll like it."

He flipped through the first dozen pages. "Hey, they mention Spider-Man! I love that guy."

"Yeah, they mention a lot of pop culture things," she said. 

He looked at her and grinned. "Thanks for letting me borrow these," he said.

"You're welcome," she said. 

She stared into his eyes for a second too long and he did the same. He really liked her eyes, he realized. They were the prettiest things he had seen since the world fell apart.

A loud noise from outside - one that echoed through the tunnel they crawled in, made them break apart. Peter gasped and grabbed her arm without thinking as the creatures began to chase after whatever made the sound.

She got up and grabbed the candle. He looked after her in shock, stumbling on his feet to get up. He followed her to the opposite wall where she pulled out a shoe box. Inside was a pile of knives. She handed him one. 

"Keep it," she whispered.

"Really?" he breathed.

She nodded and grabbed a knife of her own. She walked over to the opening and leaned her back against it. He stared at her, wondering what he was supposed to do - and they both listened intently. 

The wet noises of the creatures tearing into a body of some kind made them both wince.

Peter walked to the tunnel and started to crawl through it. 

She grabbed his shirt and he looked back at her. She shook her head quickly, fear in her eyes. "What are you doing?" she hissed. "They're out there!"

"There's a chance they'll move in on this staircase and sniff us out," he said. "I don't really want to live in a place where we have to be quiet all the time again."

"You can't kill them with a knife!" she said. "I just gave you one so you'd feel safer!"

"I'm not going to kill them with it," he whispered. He got on his knees and grabbed her hand. She stared down at it in shock. "I need you to follow me out and keep hold of my shirt. I have an idea but they might hear me, and I need you to pull me inside if they do."

"Peter," she said, shaking her head. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you can! You're so awesome." He smiled. "I'm scared, but I can do it. If we get this out of the way, then we can live happy for the rest of our lives."

She smiled in amusement and nodded. "Okay," she said. "Go ahead, I'll be right behind you."

"Awesome."

He crawled through the opening and she trailed behind him. The noises of flesh being torn apart got louder as Peter got to the end and slid the wooden board away from the hole.

He peeked his head out and saw two of the creatures on top of a person. His eyes were wide; he had no idea so many people were left in the world, and in the past couple of days, he had seen three. 

He pulled his knife out and very slowly placed it on the floor in front of him. He turned it towards the staircase. Narrowing his eyes, he knew that if he angled it just right, the knife would slide down the stairs, hit the wall, and then slide down the next staircase, too. They would chase after it and he could cover the hole back up and they would move on, and everything would be okay.

Peter couldn't breathe. Sweat poured down his face. He angled the knife with his shaking fingers and then, with the turn of his wrist, let it fly down the stairs. 

The creatures turned their heads towards the stairs and, as he hit the wall and bounced down the other one, scrambled for it. They screeched and screamed and slipped in the blood of their victim.

Peter kicked ___ gently and she tugged him harshly inside of the tunnel. He pulled the wooden plank in front of the hold and they quickly backed up. 

When Peter landed on his back in the pillows, he drew in a gasping breath. She was kneeling by his head. He looked up at her and they both let out nervous, relieved laughs. He got up and threw his arms around her. 

"You did it," she breathed. 

"Yeah," he whispered. "Wasn't so bad."

She leaned back and looked at him, still holding him tightly. "Thank you, Peter," she said.

Dang it, he thought. He was really starting to like the way she said his name.

He was really starting to like everything about the girl that he saved and that saved him in return.