Spider-Man: Close To Home
Chapter 5: Testing Things Out
"Hey, Peter! How was school today?" Aunt May asked as Peter came in, quickly but semi-casually making his way towards his room.
"Uh, yeah, it was great, Aunt May. Just got a lot of homework to do. I'mma get right to it, so…" He quickly explained, pointing back towards his room with his thumb.
"Oh, of course, okay. I'm gonna go out and pick up some stuff from the store. Back soon, okay?" Aunt May said with a smile as she grabbed her keys to the apartment.
"Alright. Love you!" He said.
"Love you too!" Aunt May replied. The words had barely come off of her tongue before Peter shut the door to his room.
Now in the privacy of his bedroom, he tossed his backpack onto his bed, removing his jacket and outermost sweater. He paced around his room, his mind racing and his body full of jittery energy.
The ride home from school had been like a nightmare or a fever dream. With so much noise and movement, his brain couldn't focus on everything his senses were taking in. He must've looked psychotic to those around him.
"Ok… Ok ok ok, this is, uh…crazy. This is crazy, what the hell?" He said to himself in a low whisper, shaking his head and rubbing his face with his hands. Finally, he took a few deep breaths, stopping himself from doing anymore pacing.
"Okay…" Peter sighed, looking up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He hopped up, tapping it with the fingertips of both of his hands this time.
He jolted a bit as he stuck to the ceiling. He looked down at his feet a bit with a chuckle. It was weird how he was feeling a measure of comfort just by doing this. He flexed his arms, lifting himself up a bit as if doing pull-ups.
He extended his arms out again, letting his left hand fall. He dangled by his right arm, his dominant arm. He looked down at the floor just a foot or two below. He opened up his hand, landing on the floor with his feet spread shoulder-width apart.
"I am a superhero…!" He said out loud, chuckling a bit to himself as this realization was now cemented in his brain. He turned around, looking out the window.
"I need a mask," He said to himself, opening up his closet and beginning to rummage through different boxes of old clothes.
"Every superhero needs a mask, right? Secret identity, everyone knows that. Like Iron Man. Iron Man has a mask, right? Well, it's more like a helmet…and everyone knows who he is…
"Captain America has a mask! Well, ish…and everyone knows who he is…
"Black Widow: no.
"Thor: no.
"Hulk: Definitely not.
"Hawkeye…?
"We need more superheroes with masks man, wow." He said to himself, finally pulling out a black cotton mask with three holes for his eyes and mouth. He held it up.
"Just call me the amazing bank robber! God, what am I doing?" Peter said to himself with a doubtful exhale, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand before proceeding to pull the mask over his face, aligning his eyes and mouth with the holes in the mask.
He went to the window now, opening it up slowly. He threw a leg over the edge, fixing his shirt as he did so. He looked up the outside wall towards the ceiling, letting his eyes run downwards. Looking down, it was quite a drop: about 7 or 8 stories.
"I can do this… I have powers. Yeah." He said to motivate himself. He placed his hands on the brick wall and pulled himself up, placing his feet on the wall now.
He lifted himself up off of the edge by placing his hand out on the outside wall, completely supporting his own weight on it. He moved sideways as though scaling a rock wall, maneuvering himself so that the window frame was no longer underneath him.
"Oh my god… It's working!" He exclaimed, beginning to crawl up slowly, "I'm climbing up the wall…like a spider does." He said, realizing now what the proper comparison to make was as he thought back to the spider that had bitten his hand.
He took a few strained breaths as be made his way up, occasionally glancing downward. No one was noticing him clinging to the side of the building, which was good. He continued to make his way towards the roof of the building.
Just then, a window next to him opened. He froze up, looking to his left and watching as a woman leaned her head out to take a puff of her cigarette. Moments felt like hours as Peter stayed fearfully still.
However, inevitably, the woman caught sight of him clinging to the side of the building. Her eyes widened, and she dropped her cigarette in shock.
"What the?!" She screamed in shock. Peter immediately pushed himself up instinctively and held his hands out to try and explain himself.
"Woah woah hey listen, I'm really sorry, lady…" Peter began to apologize before looking down and realizing that he was standing sideways on the building with now only his feet on the wall supporting his weight; he was completely sideways.
"Oh my god…" He said lowly.
"Oh my god!" The woman screamed again, ducking back inside and shutting her window.
Peter quickly crawled back down to his room. He swung his legs in through the window and pushed himself into his room. He closed the window behind him and threw the mask off. It hit the door of his closet.
"Stupid stupid stupid!" He grunted, shaking his head again as he began to stress-pull at his hair. He took in a deep breath.
"I need to figure out someplace to figure this out…"