Chapter 2: Cloud Fall

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2.

Peter's feet made an odd squelch with every step.

His converses had been soaked through with rain, and the pressure of them against the immaculate Stark Tower floor made them rub painfully against his feet. And squelch.

The sound was equally fascinating and off-putting. Peter found himself so captivated by it that he almost walked straight past the lobby elevator that would take him up to the Avengers' living quarters. And then when he realized, and doubled back, he found himself standing in front of the elevator with absolutely no idea why he was there.

He'd come for a reason. An important one. But then his shoes had squelched, and the homeless man outside had reminded him vaguely of the guy from a Burger King ad he'd seen the other day and –

Peter sagged against the elevator doors. His mind was moving at a thousand miles an hour, and as much as he tried he just couldn't focus.

There was something important. God. Something he had to do...?

His shoes squelched again as he shoved himself painfully upright.

God, why was everything so cloudy? Cloudy. There. That sounded familiar. That was important. Clouds. Clouds were important. Well, they kind of sucked when he was swinging through the city, because they made some things difficult to see, and clouds usually meant rain which really sucked when he was out patrolling because the suit, no matter how many fancy tech gadgets Tony put in it, always chaffed just a tiny bit when it got wet –

Tony. That was important too. Clouds and Tony.

Maybe that was why he was currently standing in the empty Avengers Tower lobby at two in the morning, in nothing but a pair of sweats and stained hoodie. Tony was here. Likely. And so were clouds if he went high enough.

Yeah. That was why he was here. To talk to Tony, and the clouds.

Wait. No. That wasn't right.

Squelch.

God, that was so weird. Such a weird sound. He felt like water shouldn't make a sound. Or was it the shoes making the sound? But couldn't be, because they didn't usually make that sound – but then again, neither did water. It was some mad combination of the both. Physics. So cool-

"Mr. Parker." F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice echoed out in the empty lobby. "Can I assist you in finding Mr. Stark?"

Peter jumped so much that a moment later he found himself hanging upside from the ceiling the elevator. And then the second after that he was on the floor again. Sprawled out on all fours with his head throbbing. His hands and feet felt strangely numb. So did everything else actually. Huh.

"-r. Parker?" F.R.I.D.A.Y's voiced rang out again. "You vital signs are fluctuating. Shall I call Mr. Stark?"

"N-nope." Peter scrambled to his feet – and then promptly face planted back to the floor.

On the third try he was up. Or mostly. He was definitely on his knees – and it was enough to get him to the elevator. He slammed a hand down on the button, dinting the metal framing, before sliding back down onto the floor. The tiles were cool on his warm face. Hot face. Very hot face.

God. His face was on fire.

The elevator doors slid open right in front of his face and Peter began to crawl inside. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was in the lobby – which was nice and all – but probably not worth the trip from Queens. Or, at least, Peter thinks he came from Queens. Probably. He couldn't exactly remember, but it sounded about right.

5 Times Peter Fell, and Tony caught him. And the 1 Time Tony didn't.Where stories live. Discover now