{ Peter }
Peter closes the window with a soft thud, and lowers himself to the floor. Every part of him aches from sifting through rubble all night and he wants nothing more than to throw himself into bed and pass out. He turns to do just that but immediately stops himself.
Julia lies on the lower bunk of his bed, fast asleep.
Peter feels his shoulders relax in adoration at the sight.
She stayed up for him.
Well, tried to stay up for him.
It's the thought that counts.
Peter moves to the edge of his bed and gently shakes Julia awake. "Julia. Hey. Julia, wake up. It's time to wake up, sleeping beauty."
"No," she grumbles into the pillow.
"Yes, it's time to go home."
"What time is it?" She asks, lifting her head and squinting at his alarm clock.
"Nearly one."
Julia quickly looks up at him. "Why are you getting back so late?"
Peter smiles a little at how concerned she is but he waves it away. "Don't worry about me," he says, grabbing her backpack from the floor. "C'mon, let's get you home."
Julia dredges herself out of Peter's bed and he helps her slip on her backpack. She wanders toward his bedroom door and Peter asks, "Where are you going?"
"Home?" Julia says, confused.
"You're not walking home alone at this hour. C'mon, I'll take you home the express way," he says, throwing the window open.
Julia's eyes are wide, incredulous. Peter may as well have asked her if she was the Incredible Hulk. "You mean the certain death way?" She quips.
"Aaand now she's awake." Peter sighs and holds out his hand for her. "Would you just come here please?"
Julia makes her way over to him, slowly, begrudgingly, but she comes to his side and takes his hand. And although the suit stands between his skin and hers, he feels lightning surge through him like when he held her close on the rooftop and he never wants that feeling to go away.
He pulls on his mask with one hand, never letting go of hers, and guides her arm toward his neck. Julia wraps her arms around him and he keeps his hand on hers to hold her there or to comfort her as he climbs through the window, he doesn't know.
"Alright, now just hold on to me," Peter tells her, perching on the window frame.
"No, I'm actually gonna let — "
Peter shoots a web onto a nearby building and flings them into the air.
" — gooOOOAAAAAHHHH!"
Peter laughs at Julia's screams that turn into yelps every other time he shoots a web and they swing through the city.
"Peter," Karen says into his ear, "who is this with you?"
Peter freezes for a second.
"Uh, nothing! It's no one!"
"My censors are having a hard time scanning without visual contact."
"That's okay!"
"I'll read their vital signs."
"Karen, you really don't have to do that!"
"Both of your endorphins are incredibly high, and I'm detecting strains of oxytocin in your bloodstreams — "
"Karen, I gotta go!" Peter shouts, quickly arriving at Julia's apartment and swinging them onto the fire escape outside her bedroom window. His chest heaves up and down a bit, either from nerves or exhaustion, maybe both, but finally Karen isn't pestering him with questions and overloading him with information that he's able to help Julia slide off his back.
She looks a little pale. Her hair is blown back from the wind and her eyes are wide with what could either be fear, excitement, or pure terror.
"You okay?" Peter asks, his hand still outstretched toward her in case she faints.
Julia looks from him back toward direction they came. "You do that every day?" She asks. "That's amazing!" She beams, the ever-growing smile on her lips somehow outshining the stars.
"Yeah," Peter breathes, looking out at the city still lit with nightlife. "Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool." Swinging through the city, flying through the air, it's become second nature to him. He hasn't stopped to think about how amazing Spider-man is.
"I should probably go inside," Julia says, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. She has her arms wrapped around herself and he instinctively acts, remembering how cold it is out here.
"Uh, here, let me get that," he says, pushing her window open and lending her a hand as she steps through the threshold. "Watch your head," he adds, using his other hand to shield her head from the frame so she doesn't bump into it.
"Thanks," Julia chuckles, finally safe inside. She flips on the lamp on her desk and sets her backpack on the window seat.
"Uh, I — I'll see you at school?" Peter asks, not knowing what else to say but not wanting to leave either.
Julia leans out of the window to talk to him. "Where else would I be?" She smiles. And with the soft lighting behind her and her bright eyes staring up at him, she looks like… an angel.
"Julia Carpenter," comes Karen's digitized voice. "If this is the same Julia you've told me about, she's everything you said and more."
News articles about her infamous full-ride scholarship offer fills Peter's vision along with photographs from robotics lab and awards and achievements and more awards and everything that qualifies her as an astounding individual but despite computing all of that, Karen will never be able to understand everything that Julia is.
Peter blinks a few times, realizing that after staring for what was probably too long, he should leave. "Well, I should, uh, let you get back to sleep," he says, edging away from the window.
"And you need to go to sleep," Julia says.
"Right," he quietly laughs, turning away from her. "Goodnight." He aims at a tree across the street and is about to shoot a web when Julia calls out, "Peter?"
He looks over at her, her sweet voice and velvet lips pulling him in, begging him to stay.
"When can we go flying again?" She asks.
Peter smiles. "Tomorrow. If you finished my english paper."
"It's on your desk."
His smile deepens. "Tomorrow it is then."
"It's a date," Julia says.
It's a date.
"Goodnight, Peter."
It's a date.
It's a date.
IT'S A DATE.
"Usually that's when you leave."
"Right, sorry, bye," Peter says, turning around and swinging from the fire escape. His once exhausted mind and body in desperate need of sleep now feels like he could do this forever.
It's a date.
She called it a date, that's gotta mean something.
His heart thumps in his chest and he lets out a whoop of delight, feeling lighter than usual as he zips through town back to the apartment because it does mean something.
Peter arrives back at his bedroom window and quietly climbs inside, pulling off his mask and flopping down onto his bed that now smells like her sweet perfume.
"It's a date," he whispers to himself, already counting down the hours until he can see her at school again, until he can hold her close and show her the world he sees every night through his mask.
Peter walks down the hall the following morning with a spring in his step despite it being project presentation day. Everyone is pretty much on edge as they make last minute adjustments to their projects but Peter's not worried. Things are going really well for him. He's got a date with his best friend, Queens is relatively quiet, his homework is all in order, Julia even has their presentation ready for class unlike everyone else scrambling to finish theirs. Peter doesn't know what he'd do without her.
He goes to stop by her locker but between the bobbing heads of students walking past, he doesn't see her standing there. She's not standing anywhere, actually. Not by Michelle's locker, not by Nicole's, not even by Flash's (thankfully).
Peter glances at the clock on the wall. Five minutes until class starts.
Maybe she's just running late.
Yeah. Yeah, she must be running late.
But Peter knows better, and a pit forms in his stomach. This is a huge project and Julia knows everything about it and has everything for it. He's been so busy over the past week with Spider-man's life, he hasn't had time to think about Peter Parker's.
He tries not to get ahead of himself, though, and takes a deep breath as he walks to the library and finds Ned bent over a table, cutting paper for his poster board.
"Ned, have you seen Julia around?" Peter asks him.
"No, I'm a little busy," he says, carefully gluing the paper down.
Peter sighs and looks over at his partner, reading through their presentation. "Michelle, you seen Julia yet?"
"No, why?"
"Dammit," he whispers. "She's got everything for our project."
Ned laughs. "You better pray for a miracle, my friend."
Peter exhales deeply through his nose, his mind now racing with ideas about how to get out of this assignment, but mostly —
Where is Julia?
The bell rings for class and Michelle yells at Ned to leave their poster alone before he ruins it and she practically drags him down the hall to history. Peter follows, hopeful that Julia will show up, and he anxiously watches his classmates file in through the door to their seats but then the final bell rings and the desk next to him is still empty and his worry only grows even more.
What happened to her?
He pulls out his phone and quickly texts her while Mr. Kendler is busy taking attendance, but she doesn't respond. And she always responds. Especially right away.
Peter can't seem to focus the rest of class, not even for Ned and Michelle's presentation which they ace with flying colors, and it comes to his turn to present but he explains to Mr. Kendler that since Julia's absent, it's unfair to take credit for all her hard work. He seems to buy it, (because it's true, isn't it?) but insists they present the day she returns.
Peter agrees, and that afternoon he tries calling and texting her dozens of times but to no avail. That night he goes out web-swinging, hoping something good will come from today, but he nearly gets himself killed in the process by his distracted thoughts. Peter swings through midtown and eventually finds himself outside Julia's apartment. He lands on the fire escape outside her bedroom window and peeks inside.
She's not there, and it looks like she hasn't been all day.
"It just doesn't make sense," he breathes.
"What doesn't?" Karen asks.
"Julia wouldn't just go out of town without telling me, and I would know if she had a vacation planned."
"Would you like me to file a missing person's report with the NYPD?"
Peter breathes deeply through his nose. "That'll just cause more problems. Thanks, though."
"Of course, Peter."
Peter has a hard time sleeping that night, tossing and turning in his bed. His pillow still smells like her from when she fell asleep last night.
Could it really be just last night he saw her?
It feels like a lifetime ago. Her arms around him, clinging on for dear life as her terrified screams fade to nothing as they flew through the air, as she enjoys what he does, what she thinks as amazing…
What if someone from Spider-man's life got to her?
What if she's hurt?
No.
God, no. He can't think like that.
It could be something simple. Something as simple as her phone was stolen and she's staying with her aunt while her dad works. But even Peter doesn't believe his lie, and the next day at school brings the same disappointing answers. And few more students are absent.
"Flu season," Ned says.
Peter nods mechanically, searching the main hall before school once again. "Julia here today?" He asks.
"No, your girlfriend is not here," Michelle curtly responds, snapping her book shut. "Excuse me." She steps away from her locker and moves down the hall, a few freshman scampering out of her way.
"What was that all about?" Ned asks.
Peter frowns, watching her head bob through the crowded hallway. "No idea." And then a familiar face is walking towards him with a camera around their neck and a stack of books in their arms.
"Ey, Kirsten," Peter calls out, jogging over to her. "You seen Julia today?"
"Hi, Peter, I'm great, thanks for asking."
"Have you seen her?"
Kirsten scoffs, adjusting her aviator glasses. "No, and Nicole and I haven't heard from her either."
Peter looks out at the students in the hallway. If Julia's friends haven't heard from her, and he's her best friend, she really is missing. "That's what I was afraid of," he breathes.
"I'm guessing you haven't, too."
Peter shakes his head, pulling his sleeves over his fists, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.
"Don't worry," Kirsten says, tapping his shoulder as if to make him look at her. "Our girl will turn up." She smiles at him then walks a few steps before turning back and saying, "Oh, and a little word of friendly advice? Don't rub your crush into Michelle's face."
"Crush? I don't have a crush. What makes you think I have a crush? What does Michelle have to do with any of this?"
"Oh, honey…" Kirsten sighs, and before Peter gets a chance to ask what she means, the bell rings for class and she walks away.
Peter internally groans to himself as he sits through another boring day, more bored now that he actually has to pay attention so he can do his assignments. Ned makes it tolerable but without Julia, the day is just boring.
And the next day is even worse. Half the students are gone and the students who remain crowd around the TV screens playing the announcements.
"What's going on?" Peter asks, walking up to Ned.
"Apparently we're only allowed to start drinking bottled water. It's a city-wide mandate."
"They say why?"
"Not yet."
Peter looks around at his classmates gathered under the monitor and spots Julia's friends, Kirsten, Nicole, and Gabrielle talking in low murmurs. He worms his way over to them saying, "Hey, guys, what are we talking about?"
"Not you," Nicole remarks.
"We're talking about Julia," Gabrielle explains.
"Gabby, shut up!" Kirsten says. "We don't wanna worry the poor dude!"
"Wait, worry me about what?" Peter asks. "Is Julia here?"
The three girls exchange nervous, almost sad glances with each other.
"You mean you didn't hear?" Nicole gently asks.
"Hear what?"
"Julia is in the hospital."
Peter's heart drops.
"See, I told you!" Kirsten exclaims. "What did I say? I said we shouldn't tell Peter because he'd just be more worried than he already is! And who was right?! I was."
But Peter barely hears her —
He can barely focus —
He can barely get out the word, "Where?"
"What?" Nicole says.
"Which hospital?!"
"Forest Hills," Kirsten says, and Peter looks at her, her eyes pleading him to find her, their girl, our girl, she said, and it's as if she knows…
Peter maneuvers his way out of the crowd and sprints down the hallway, ignoring Ned and Nicole shouting his name, because he doesn't hear them. His brain is in autopilot as he bolts out of the doors he just walked through and swings his way through town, not caring who sees, until he arrives at Forest Hills Hospital.
