Bullets || Peter Parker

Two

"Concentrate!" Shuri's voice echoed through the speaker. "Imagine shooting a target".

"Isn't that what I'm doing?" Emil bit back sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. He heard Peter snort behind the glass and smiled slightly.

He was standing in a white room facing a row of humanoid targets. The room was a testing area in Shuri's lab, designed to deal with potentially explosive weaponry. Shuri and Peter both stood behind a reinforced glass window watching the scene. Shuri was monitoring Emil's energy levels and physical sensations on the hologram screen produced by her watch with Peter commenting excitedly.

"Don't encourage him", Shuri protested. Peter shrugged sheepishly and she sighed. "Okay, Emil. Let's try this again".

Emil huffed but obediently raised his arm, pointing the palm of his hand towards the target. He felt the energy well up inside him but tried to concentrate on moving it towards his palm. There were a few moments of tense silence before a blue light flashed and a huge bang echoed round the room. Smoke billowed up around where Emil was standing and scorch marks were visible on the floor.

"Not again Emil!" Shuri groaned, gently knocking her head against the glass in frustration. There was a hum as the fans automatically turned on and Emil emerged from the smoke coughing. His black hair was sticking up as if he had gelled it and there were black streaks on his face. Peter chuckled at his boyfriend's explosive look.

"Sorry",  Emil called out with a wave, sounding anything but apologetic. "I got overwhelmed".

Shuri groaned again and rested her head in her hands. "I swear that if you destroy my lab Emil Barnes, you will have a very pissed off Princess". Emil grinned guiltily and scratched the back of his head. Peter snorted at his amused expression but turned it into a cough as Shuri glared at him.

"I don't really think this pose is working", Emil spoke up. "There's too much surface area, it's too easy to get overwhelmed. This is so much harder than just teleporting". He waved his hands at them, trying to convey the problems with firing energy out of his palms.

"Try finger guns", Peter suggested. He comically mimed shooting Emil with his fingers. Emil grinned and pretended to clutch at his chest as if he had actually been shot.

"Can't hurt to try", Shuri muttered, ignoring their messing around. "Give it a shot".

"Okay".

Emil turned his body to the side and pointed his finger at the centre of the nearest target. He folded his other arm behind his back, standing like a secret agent. Peter had to muffle another laugh.

Breathing smoothly, Emil squinted at the target. The energy rose like a wave and spread around his body like a warm current. Furrowing his brows in concentration, Emil mimed cocked his hand like shooting a gun. A small ball of condensed blue energy about the size of a marble shot across the room, hitting the target and burning straight through the wall behind. The force of it sent Emil stumbling back and he gasped at the smoking hole in the wall. Distantly, something exploded.

"Ummm", Emil muttered. "I did it?" It came out more like a question.

"Yeah", Shuri muttered, seeming slightly horrified. "And I'm pretty sure you're made a hole in the wall and blown up the plane I was making next door".

"Oops?"

"That is so cool!" Peter cheered in excitement. "Try it again!"

"Don't!" Shuri said firmly. "I need to reinforce the room first". She glanced gown at her watch. "And you guys should be getting home. It's around ten in the evening in New York and haven't you got that school trip tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah", Emil said as he opened the door to going Peter and Shuri. He was trying to fix his explosion messed hair by running his fingers through it. As soon as it was just about flat again, Peter cheekily reached up and ruffled it up again. Emil playfully swatted at his arm, scowling at his grin.

Giving up, he turned back to Shuri. "We'd better go. Sorry about the wall..." there was another crash from next door "-and the plane". Shuri waved away the apology with a smile.

"Thanks for the interesting data", she replied. "See you next week".

Peter muttered his goodbyes and wrapped an arm around Emil's waist. They disappeared with a flash of blue light. They landed on the top bunk of Peter's bed in a tangle of limbs, giggling at their position. Emil had landed on top of Peter's chest and had managed to get his arms trapped underneath the other boy. There was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal May standing with her hands on her hips.

"Boys really?' She asked. Both boy's giggles faded under her scrutinising glare. "It's ten o'clock and you've got a school trip in the morning. Bed now!" Instantly they tried to scramble apart, faces colouring sheepishly. There was a bang as Peter's knee collided with the metal frame and a curse as Emil hit his head on the ceiling. After a few minutes of struggling, they both manage to tumble down the ladder and onto the bedroom floor.

"Um, thank you for allowing me to stay over again May", Emil said politely.

"Oh, you're welcome anytime Emil", She responded with a warm smile. "Now I don't care that you are both superheroes, bed now or you're grounded. You too Emil", she threatened before shutting the door behind her.

"Can she ground me?" Emil asked, confused.

"You'd better not test it", Peter answered as he got himself a set of pyjamas from the drawer. Emil's stay bag was learning against the chest of drawers and Peter tossed him his set of leggings from it's depths. Although most boys enjoyed wearing baggy trousers to bed, Emil enjoyed leggings or boxers combined with large oversized T-shirt's which dwarfed his skinny frame. He liked the movement that the clothes allowed him, preferring not to be restricted in his sleep.

Both boys turned their backs on each other to change and take turns in the bathroom before crawling into bed. They chose the bottom bunk this night. The two of them curling in the small single under the blankets. Emil had stolen the duvet from the top bunk and they each wrapped a duvet around themselves like warm burritos. Peter was on his back whilst Emil was on his stomach, an arm around the other's chest.

"You know"- Peter began as Emil started drifting off.

"Know what?" Emil mumbled sleepily.

"You know I like you right".

"Yeah", Emil replied, wondering where Peter was going with this. "I like you too".

"Remember when we first met. I was telling you off for vandalism. I never said how much I was stuck by your eyes that night".

Emil was silent, listening to Peter speak. They had been dating for nearly two years now after the fight with the vulture, both boys were now seventeen and happy with each other. They told each other a lot, not everything but they had time for that.

"What brought this on?" Emil asked. Peter turned his head to face him and Emil raised his hand to cup his face, stroking his temple with his thumb.

"I don't know". In the dark, Peter's eyes were black but Emil's glowed a soft vivid blue. "I just had this realisation that I can someday lose you. Lose May. And I just felt very insecure".

"Hush", Emil soothed, pressing a kiss on Peter's nose. "You won't lose us. Where you go, I'll follow. Now go to sleep before we both regret it in the morning". Peter hummed and nuzzled Emil's hand as they both closed their eyes.

Unedited