The World Is Quiet Here | Peter Parker x Reader

VI. Important Things

As many of you have heard, I am leaving wattpad due to unending harassment and Wattpad's lack of privacy options. I am not sure what that means for the future of this book just yet.

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A few days and a stack of books later, Peter hadn't done much other than lay on his stomach and read with her. He told himself it was okay to have normal days. It was weird now, but it was okay, because he deserved it. She deserved it.

She read him her favorite books and in those, he found a few of his favorites. She was right; the books were full of so much noise. When he would read before the world ended, a simple description of a car honk or a baby cry or the flap of a pigeon's wings would pass by him. It wasn't significant.

But now, it was everything.

She closed the book and he shoved a mouthful of peanut butter crackers in his mouth. He handed her the tub and she took a couple.

"You can pick the next one," she said. He was already up and searching the books lined up on the shelves. "Did you like it?"

"Yeah," he said. "It was really great. But I've like most of the books."

She sipped some water and watched where he was choosing from. "Are you picking one of the young adult romances?" she asked him, snorting.

"Yeah, I think it's your turn to get a book you enjoy," he said. He picked one up.

"That's sweet," she replied, "but not that one. Every Day is garbage."

He laughed. "Then why do you have it?" 

"Because it's part of my collection!" She sat up on her knees and shook her head. "Oh, no Paper Towns either."

"It's garbage, too?" he asked. 

"Boring garbage," she said. "Actually, pick up The Knife Of Never Letting Go."

"What's that?" he asked, following the direction she was pointing in.

"Sci-fi, romance," she said. She sat down and crossed her legs. "I think you'll like Todd."

"Yeah?" He took it off the shelf and opened it. "Then let's read this." He went over to her and sat down. She smiled up at him, and as he passed her the book, she pushed it into his hands. "What?"

"I want you to read it," she said. "Read it to me. I've already read it dozens of times."

He looked at her, his expression softening. "Uh, okay."

"You gotta use an accent though," she said. "Todd has an accent."

He laughed. "Are you serious?" 

"Yes," she said. "Come on, it'll be nice."

He shook her head and rolled his eyes. "Alright..." He opened the book and grimaced. "Your favorite book starts off with a dog talking about pooping-"

She held up a hand to cut him off. "Don't make any judgments yet, just read. I promise you'll like it. You'll like Todd a lot." She tilted her head. "Something about him reminds me of you."

"Okay," he said. They settled against the pillows and he began to read. 

...

At the end of the book, he stopped and looked at her. The last sentence was ringing in his head.

"It's kinda like our world," he said. 

"Yeah," she said. "Well, it takes place in the future. I just don't think we were prepared for the future. You think we would be, considering how popular these types of books are."

"No one really expected aliens to come and kill the Avengers," he said. He blinked and sighed, running his fingertips across the edge of the pages. 

"You liked it, right?" she asked, sounding like him liking it was the most important thing in the world.

"Yeah, yeah, just..." He looked at her and searched her eyes. "Is she going to be okay?" he asked. 

She shrugged. "Can't say. Wanna read the second book?" She smiled. "Then you can find out." 

"Can we read something not super emotional? I mean, if she is okay, they'll be separated," he said. "I really, really liked. it. But..."

"You need something super happy, I get it." She stood up and walked over to the shelf of her favorite books she reads during the summer. She picked one up and said, "It's a romance."

"Okay," he said, watching her. As she walked over, he stopped her. "Wait. This isn't going to be sad, right? No one is dying during the book, or anything?"

"What don't you want to read, Peter?" she asked. 

"I don't want to read a story where the girl dies," he said. He didn't know why he said it, or why it seemed like he wasn't thinking, but every time he looked at her, he knew that he just needed her to be alive. 

"The girl doesn't die," she said. "And the boy doesn't, either. That is just as important."

She sat down and this time, they both laid down. His shoulder was pressed against hers and he stared at her as she opened a book and started reading. He watched the way her lips moved and he way her eyelashes came together as she blinked. The world was silent around them and they lost themselves in the book, and as the setting became a field full of wildflowers, they were in it, too. 

It was just Peter and her, and it was perfect. 

She was perfect. 

The world wasn't.

"Hey," he whispered, and she stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked at him. 

"What is it?" she asked. 

He didn't say a word, because he didn't know what to even say to her. He took her hand and she set the book down on her stomach, flipping it page-down so it wouldn't lose their place, and he just held her hand. 

She moved closer and leaned her head against his shoulder. He watched her and she closed her eyes. "Can we finish the story tomorrow?" she asked. 

"You don't want to finish?" he asked, wondering if holding her hand was too weird.

"This is nicer than the story," she said. 

He blinked, then watched the ceiling that was coated in layers of newspapers and pages from unwanted novels. This was their home, and they were family now. It happened so fast, but in a world where there is nothing, something little becomes something important. 

And her being here with him was the most important thing right now.