to build a home
Peter
Their apartment is small.
With it´s two bedrooms and modest living space, the place could at times feel like a little cave, or at least Peter thought so.
But not the creepy, dark ones that would make the perfect backdrop for a horror movie.
No, the kind of cave you would see on the front of a travel magazine, promising culture and beauty by simply observing its existence. This was his space - their space.
The apartment was so much of both of them, it was impossible to not feel the lives of the two people living within it. Peter's legos often scattered the floors - although not as much as when he was a kid - his schoolwork and various projects always ending up in places they didn't belong, like on the dining table.
Or covering half the couch.
Or splayed out on the kitchen counter.
Cassie took up space in her own ways too. Her many books were stored on the biggest piece of furniture in the living room, a bookcase that she and Peter had spent the better part of a saturday carrying back to the apartment and then down the stairs to their basement apartment. It was mahogany, chipped in all corners and probably needed several layers of oil to restore to the original state.
“It has good bones,” Cassie had said. “Just needed someone to take the time to carry it home”.
They never did get around to oiling it though.
Blankets strewn about the place, half burned candles on every table, always at least two sets of dishes in the sink. A year ago the lights broke in the living room, so they just put up fairy lights to light up the room. It is always a little chaotic, a little dim, a little dusty. It is theirs. It is good.
And Peter has to remind himself of that, and how happy he is to have a home like this, as Cassie once again yells from the kitchen to get his ass up for breakfast!.
It had been another late night for him. It was almost like every time Spiderman stopped some rugged mugger trying to steal someone's purse, two would grow in their place. Only when the sun was starting to appear in the skyline could Peter come home.
This was unfortunately about 75 minutes before he had to get up from school. The hour he had slept felt like opening and closing his eyes.
Now, he sorely regrets the last snarky comment he had made about a particularly short robber. Apparently criminals under 5´7 didn't appreciate being told to - “ pick on someone your own size - maybe Bilbo Bagginshas a clutch for you?” - too much. It had landed him with a particularly painful hit to the ribs, his spidey sense weakened by his acute lack of rest.
Now, his muscles screaming at him for the mistake, he wishes, just for a moment, that he could be less of a smart ass.
“Peter Parker, if you don't get up in time to eat this breakfast before school, so god help me!” Cassie exclaims, just as Peter burst through his bedroom door, into the kitchen.
“Glad you could join us” she says, the lack of a us in this scenario goes unremarked by Peter. He has already snarked his way to enough trouble as it is. “Late night?”
“I´m sorry! I just couldn't sleep last night, I had, like, so much homework.” He says, ignoring the glare from his sister.
“Ok buddy,” sarcasm evident in her voice, “i´m going to have to start putting restraints on how much unsupervised homework time you are allowed to have. Wouldn't want you to actually have a normal and socially rich teenage life, now would I?” She says with snark, but her gaze is soft. “I think you should ask Ned if you can sleep over tonight. It is Friday after all. I can give you some cash for snacks or legos or something”.
Peter thinks she looks a little bit guilty for bringing up his status as a total loser. He didn't particularly care though, not with the promise of a night with Ned and new legos (even though he knows that maybe he is a little too old for them now).
“Cas, you really don't have to”,
“Nonsense, I just got that promotion at work remember? I shouldn't be the only one to celebrate” she says, as she stands up and puts 65 dollars in the front part of his backpack. “Now, you have to scarf down those eggs and hurry if you don’t wanna be late”.
He doesn't protest.