Train Tracks
Peter had officially gone from poor to basically scanning the sidewalks for the loose change stuck between the cracks.
(He did that before but that doesn’t matter-)
Either way, he was now cut off completely from his payments.
Everything that was limited had become even more limited, to the point where Peter was losing weight and muscle at an alarming rate.
His days were filled with nauseating migraines and his nights were filled with sleepless memories.
He was living off filling his water bottle with water from public drinking fountains. A woman had walked past once and mentioned how unsafe and diseased filled the water was, but Peter just smiled and thanked the woman before continuing.
She had just walked away with a shrug. Obviously not too concerned, after all, it was Gotham, if Peter ended up dead it wasnt her problem.
Either way, he was now living off only his savings and they were running lower everyday.
He didn’t do anything the first week, he just told himself that he would sort it out tomorrow. Tomorrow turned into today before becoming yesterday and it happened again and again, with him doing nothing but sit in his car and waste away into bones.
He thought it was probably from isolation and lack of socialising that he had gne downhill again. He had basically muted the group chat, barely popping in with dry responses.
Steph had tried to drag him out, but with a few smart excuses, Peter was able to get her off his back. (For now.)
The only reason he got up to go was because his hair was becoming itchy to the point where he was scratching blood that spread beneath his fingernails.
So, after walking to the local park showers with a backpack full of hygiene products he felt a little more energetic after a thorough shower, he almost decided not to leave and just stand there for hours.
But eventually even with his strength he got tired and bored of standing there and staring at the tiled wall, flip flops squeaking against his feet.
Eventually he dried off and started to think of his plan for the day. He remembered the last time when he was in a slope he had tried to push himself into getting better by throwing himself into hero work.
However, the face Aunt May made when she saw the man in the hospital on the news was something he had always carried with him since. After her intervention with no other distractions he just crashed like a spaceship burning back into the atmosphere. Forcefully, powerfully and loudly.
It was why he knew he couldn't take on too much, but without anyone beside him, supporting him, he didnt know how fine the line was before he had to pull back, maybe he was just forever stuck in a circle.
He sighed as he thought through his options on the wall back to his car he realised that he only had a handful of documents confirming his identity. He knew he would eventually make his life harder by leaving without grabbing the rest but he didn’t even feel annoyed, just stupid.
First he started small and easy and called his old high school, Midtown School of Science and Technology.
The second the receptions picked up he immediately knew this was going to be dragged out to the point where a shoes soles would be burned through.
It was Mrs. Edwards, a posh lady who thought she was working in a business conference room and not behind a high school reception desk.
Peter mostly remembers her constant judgement that had her pointed nose up high and bright red lipstick that would always stain papers when she licked her thumb to part them.
He could imagine the woman typing on her computer while she held the telephone between her shoulder and ear.
The conversation went around in circles, never ending ‘uh-huh’ and ‘hmm’ before she cut in for another sentence that Peter swore he had already heard four times in the past twelve minutes.
“Listen, Mr. Parker. We are a school that only accepts the most intelligent students. Our technology is above mainstream schools.” She uttered.
“I’m aware.” Peter sighed, finding it easier to agree instead of disagree, “However-”
She cut him off, “Clearly you have called the wrong establishment.”
Mrs. Edwards always did that, switch out words for longer ones even if sometimes it made no sense.
“Our records are constantly updated every two minutes.” She praised.
That wasn’t true. Peter knew it considering he had hacked the server before to mark himself present in classes.
“And I would know if it was incorrect or inoperative.”
Again, not true considering the last time Peter checked the data for school phone calls, she had the highest and call rate to the IT department, triple the amount of the name below her.
“So, if you would please not call again-”
“Could you check the filing cabinet?” Peter finally snapped.
Aunt May had taught him patience, but in this case he didn’t have enough time nor the care to give patience to her.
“Mr. Parker, I already told you that all the information in those cabinets are on our server and your name is not in our database.”
Peter almost lost it, the longer this went on the closer he was to just hanging up. However after another fifteen minutes Mrs Edwards finally decided to put Peter out of his misery and check the cabinet.
The surprised silence on the other side was almost satisfying, if it didn’t take half an hour to get here in the first place.
There were a lot of awkward apologies and excuses but Peter didn’t care. After confirming everything she said she would scan the pages and send them to the email he provided.
“I apologise for before, there must have been something wrong with our server.” She muttered surprised.
One thing about Mrs Edwards was that she was a firm believer in karma, almost to the point where it became a blessing and fear to her.
So Peter, without any hesitation said, “I hope bad karma finds you for how rudely you treated a innocent person just trying to find documents that rightly belong to them.”
The flustered gasp with more frantic apologies made Peter’s feel nothing. Not even the smallest hint of satisfaction.
He just sighed and said it’s fine. The call was silent as the email was sent. He has a fleeting thought that Mrs Edwards from probably uncomfortable but he couldn’t be bothered to care, why should he anyway?
As the email finally came through he said a thank you before hanging up. It was weird, seeing all husbands grades again. The pride he once felt at the constant A’s wasn’t even there. Just letters and numbers.
He saw the names of his old teachers and the comments on his report card.
’Great work, Peter! Amazing year and I can’t wait to see you succeed. Continue aiming high and remember to work on your Spanish!’ - Miss Durand.
‘Good job. Very professional work, make sure to continue working hard.’ - Mr Taylor.
’Hi Peter! Very proud of your work this year. I was very interested about your thoughts and theories you mentioned. With a mind like that you will go far!’ - Mr Martin.
There were so many more.
As he read he could see all his past teacher’s personalities come through like sunlight through windows, bright and open.
Miss Durand’s bubbly personality filled with praise and happiness, along with Mr Taylor very stoic hard love and Mr Martin, someone wise beyond his years, always seeing things through other people’s eyes.
Mr Martin was someone that Peter always went to whenever he had something to discuss. He was Peter’s Mr Stark at school.
Now, he couldn’t even be bothered to smile.
He just scrolled until he got bored and switched to another tab.
He almost decided to not go and visit the bank tomorrow (supposedly) until he saw that the last battery he was using was almost flat.
When the green light turned red, letting him know it only had an hour left he finally scraped himself together and left.
The walk was about forty minutes. He doesn’t remember much of it. Just that he had stopped processing time after a random moment and just kept walking until he finally found somewhere familiar to him from his last visit with Mr Stark.
Eventually he made it to the steps of the bank.
It wasn't a modern building like you see in cartoons, there wasn't any marble steps with water fountains or large pillars with useless texture and designs, I was just a medium sized building shoved between a deli and restaurant.
As soon as Peter entered through the doors he was immediately hit with the chill of the cold air-con. He always hated the air-con in buildings that wasnt his home, it made him feel like he was in a steralised hospital or morgue where they keep bodies from decay.
It made his sin prickle.
The second thing he noticed was the security guard twitch, his hands that were clasped behind his back were now at his sides near his gun. He thanked his useless Spidersense for not picking that up, then again it was probably his fault for not caring enough to have appreciated it.
The man was clearly on a power trip, with his bright, fluorescent yellow vest, and a security band dangling around his waist, it was obvious that he liked the control.
When he noticed Peter's gaze he glared and tightened the grip on his gun before turning his aquiline nose up at him in disgust.
If Peter wasn’t so tired he would have honestly been stufk between being offended and feeling compl5mented.
At a glance Peter was 5’4 and loosing muscle mass at an alarming weight.
Even though he still had the power to lift at least a two story building the security guard didn’t know that.
Peter looked like he could be rolled over by a small bowling ball and this man had the audacity to see him as a danger.
It was plain to see that the man towered over Peter's small form.
Maybe it was Peter's dishevelled appearance or perhaps it was his dead eyes.
In the end it didnt matter. Peter just shook his head and went up to a macine to grab his ticket sat down in one of the cusioned chairs that had access to a power point. Then he waited.
He wasn't sure know how long had passed since he had first sat down, but it was long enough that one of the batteries was almost %30 charged by the time his number was called. Considering he had spent most of it just staring at the beige wall, he had almost missed it, but after taking a moment to shift his gaze he followed the directions called out.
Peter walked with a slouch to the desk. He knew he looked like shit but the reaction of the lady behind the glass was not appreciated.
“Hi, my name is Sarah. How may I help you today?” She smiled as she gave his scungy figure a subtle glance up and down.
Peter opened his wallet. “Hi, uh...I’m just here to look into a inheritance.”
The woman nodded before she started to type on her computer. She asked for certain documents and Peter provided them from where he had them stashed in the inside of his jacket.
Birth Certificate, Drivers License, You name it and it was required.
Finally he pulled out the will and handed it to the lady.
She read over it before her eyebrow furrowed, then she looked back at his drivers license.
“It says here that you gain access to the inheritance at 21.” Sarah said as she stared up at Peter, “There isn’t much I can do at the moment.”
Peter sighed. “Did you read the form from the lawyer and executor? They said it would help me gain early emergency access.”
She pushed her black square framed glasses and nodded her head. “Yes, however it may take longer to come through because the bank needs to evaluate your situation first.”
Peter didn’t even know if that was legal. “I literally have a form from a lawyer, wouldn’t that be enough?” He says as he runs a hand through his hair.
This overwhelming sense of dread and stress crash over him at tge clueless situation he found himself in. It’s too much too fast and he didn’t know what to do.
He silently wished Aunt May was here, someone who would have supported him, even when he would deny the help, Aunt May always knew when to step back and step in. He really wished she could step in. At least the would have been clueless together.
“It is.” Sarah said as she typed on the computer beside her, fingers typed in numbers without even looking at them, Ned used to be able to do that. Peter always struggled with remembering the number keys despite them being in a line. “You are already half way through, it won’t be too much longer.”
“How long exactly?” Peter asked as he rest his head against his hand.
“Within three months to eight months.”
“What?” Peter said as his head jerked painfully at the words. “Does emergency mean nothing? I’m 21 in four months, this might not even matter!”
Sarah looked at him with pity. “I understand that, sir. But-”
Before she could continue a voice sounded from behind him.
“Sir, I’ll need you to leave the building immediately.”
Peter’s forehead literally bangs against the desk.
“That’s not necessary, Henry.” Sarah voiced to the person behind him, but the man didn’t budge on his stance.
Peter already knew exactly who was talking to him.
He lifted his head to stare blankly at the man behind him, bright, glowing yellow, vest in all its glory and hand on his gun, it’s non other then the security guard from before.
“He is causing a disturbance, Sarah. He needs to leave immediately or I’ll have to get cops involved.” He said as he tried to order her into submission while he reached for his radio.
“Henry, you’re way out of line right now.” She hissed, however Peter had enough for the day, he didnt want to fight.
“It’s fine, I’ll go. Just to confirm quickly, three to eight months?”
“Yes, we will call you along with sending an email.” Sarah reluctantly replied as she shifted her gaze between Peter and the security guard, obviously disgruntled and unhappy with the outcome.
Peter just ignored it. “Ok, thank you, Sarah.” He muttered quietly before he was lead out by the gun wielding man.
“Don’t return for forty-eight hours.” The security guard said before the automatic door shut behind him.
Peter just nodded, defeated.
He felt fatigued as a sensation swamped over him like a tidal wave.
Ashamed. His brain provided.
He felt so ashamed. Aunt May, MJ, Ned, Gwen, Mr Stark...They never would have let someone walk all over them like that. They would have stood their ground and fought back.
Aunt May would have shown confidence, voice steady and sassy as she gave him the reality check of a life time. Talked to him as if he was a toddler crying over not getting a chocolate in the candy isle. Tapping her foot as she pulled out the disappointed mother mode until the guy would have coward into himself. If she was feeling petty she would ask for the manager and pull a 'Karen.' Never demanding for a lost job, but instead proper training and guidance be provided. (Of course she whispered it to make everyone around them shit themselves.
Hell, MJ would have probably threatened to have the man fired before flipping him the finger. Not because she wanted to ruin the man, but because she wanted to succeed with no one holding her back. MJ didnt do second chances, she would give you the world, however if you wronged her she would put her best interests first no matter what.
Ned would leave without complaint before getting a the dirt he could on the person. He wasn't callous, instead he would find the most embarrassing thing and send it to their friends and family. Like after that one person who threw their drink at Peter after he accidently bumped into them. A video of her falling of her falling off the treadmill spread for awhile.
Gwen would state her rights along with the consequences of someone's actions if you wronged her. With her dad being a cop she had lots of connections and was very knowledgeable on the law. Only once did she ever go further then just a lesson but the person deserved it anyway.
And Mr Stark...He wasn't like the rest. He was viscious, calculating like a venemous snake. He never lied, however he was neved straight up either unless he trusted you and that was few and far between. He could be a straight up asshole. His words were sharp and his money was even sharper. He was someone who would leave you be unless you tried to outplay him in his games. That was why he pulled out the big guns. He had no problem getting people fired.
As he both seethed and felt disappointed he decided to use public transport to get back to his car. He couldn’t be bothered to spend any longer then he had to outside.
He still wasn’t completely familiar, it was very obvious considering he ended up three stops in the wrong direction before realising the first time he tried, but he had learnt the basics now.
He brought his ticket and waited for the train to come by.
The station was dirty, covered in grime and litter. It was dark and left a sour taste in his mouth. The lights flickered above him as he breathed. It felt as if he could taste the smell, it was like breathing in sand and dense. He was almost pleading for the train.
Since it was around one and not peak hour it was busy, however not crowded to the point where it was a suffocating mess of sweaty bodies, It was silent, everyone doing their own thing. It took a couple minutes before Peter heard the train echo around him before the bright lights appeared at the end of the tunnel.
When it whizzed beside him he felt the momentum of the wind fly against him as it slowed to a screeching stop with the whistle blowing.
Peter immediantly headed towards the second train compartment at the start where it was more empty then the middle.
The seats were lined in twos, all facing the front of the train except for a small section where the seats were instead placed against the wall.
Against those seats was a mother and daughter, the only other two in the compartment. As soon as he entered he saw the mother pull the daughter closer to her subtly.
Peter ignored them and went to sit away near the back.
It was silent as they left the station, the only sound was the train against the train tracks and the quiet conversation of the daughter talking about different cow facts.
As the girls voice drifted around I’m excited chatter with the mother humming along Peter stared out the train window as they finally left the tunnel.
Immediately he was hit with grey sky and clouds that almost looked like smoke and fog.
Cars raced beside them before the train finally turns off to go across a bridge above the bay.
Peter watched small boats zoom in and out of the harbour from afar, while the few rays of sun that barely shined through glisten on the murky water like golden flakes.
He briefly wondered how cold the water would be against his skin before suddenly his spider sense flared painfully. It had been a very long time since it had gone off, let alone this violently.
Before he could even think about it, he is up and out of his seat and reaching for the little girl who was swinging around the pole to pull her into a protective hold.
The girl cried out in alarm and fear at Peter's suddenly tight grasp, amost cutting the air flow from the girl as he clasped her desperatelyagainst his chest.
“What are you doing?” The mother screamed in both fear and anger before it was cut of by a loud exploson. It made Peter’s head bang and ears ring, he could barely hear anything, amost fearing that his eardrums had burst and were now flooding his ea canals with blood. Even though they would heal this wasnt a situation where he wanted his hearing to be damaged.
The mother grabbed onto the seats nearby while Peter clasped the pole beside him that the girl was once spinning around. It left him and the girl dangling in the air as the train compartment starts to forward, towards the water below.
Peter finally glanced down to see nothing but blue below him, the back of the first compartment on the train was slowly sinking beneath the water in ruins.
In the back of his mind he knew that the train conductor along with anyone in the first compartment were definitely dead, yet he didn't focus on it for longer then a millisecond. It was a fleeting thought.
He was too preoccupied with his current surroundings. He had a girl no older then five in his grasp and a pleading mother beside him. He didn't have the time to pay any attention to what was already too late.
They were dead. Gone.
He didn't even realise he had slipped into his hero mindset yet, instead just surviving on his instinct and skills.
The train paused for a second, Peter carefully listened to the sound of the train compartment, rocking back and forth before he gasped a tight breath.
“Hold on.” Was all he said before they started to fall towards the water aain again as the compartment above them also slips of the broken rails. The watrr was closer, probably half the size of a football field.
Yet Peter knew that even if the mother and daughter did survive the fall they would both drown as he sternly watched the waves below.
The little girl in Peter’s arms is hugging him tightly like a monkey, arms wrapped around his neck while her legs were tight around his waist.
“May!” The woman suddenly yelled from beside them as she tried to twist her head over her shoulder in distress from where she was gripping the seats.
Peter felt his body freeze at the name. He glanced at the little girl named May, she looked nothing like his Aunt. Red hair brushed her shoulders as her blue eyes looked glassy beneath her tears. Hundreds of freckles dotted along her cheeks and forehead.
It doesn’t stop his heart from hurting though.
The little girl in his arms clenched tighter around him before slowly moving her head from Peters neck to his collarbone, as if not wanting a single inch between them.
“Oh my god! May, honey. Are you alright?” The woman chokes out.
May nodded, completely quiet while her heart was rabbit quick. A few sniffles slipped out before she bursts into sobs, whimpering for her mother.
Peter could tell that the woman has no idea what to do in the situation. Whether to leave her daughter's safety in the hands of a stranger or to reach out towards them.
However, Peter had sunk into his hero mentality like his suit. He shut down her thoughts quickly, instead making the decisions for her and taking the burden of her shoulders.
Calm, focused and confident.
“She’s alright. I've got her. I may not look it, but im strong enough to hold her up. Pun intended” Peter reassured the woman before he grinned at the crying girl.>
“Hi May, I’m Peter. I’m going to help you and your mommy out of here, Okay?”
May bobs her head against Peter's shoulder.
“Okay, May. Have you ever been on a swing before?” Peter asked from where he has his other arm wrapped around the girl. He was already going through different possibilitiesand solutions in seconds.
May nodded again. “At school.” She mumbled while she sniffed, her words dragged through her sobs like a stutter. Peter could feel her tears and snot against his shirt.
“That’s awesome! Now the first rule about the swing is to hold on tight.” Peter said. He then took a deep breath.
“I’m going to swing us over to those seats over there so we have somewhere nice to stand. But I need both hands.”
“No!” May sobbed as she shook her head and clawed at his back, frightened at the thought of Peter removing his support.
“You’re alright.” Peter whispered. “You are already doing very well. It will only be for a second and then I’ll hold you as tight as you want. The sooner we do this the sooner you and mommy can get an ice-cream."
“Listen to Peter, May. Hold on tight for us, okay? I promise ill give you a whole tub.”
May’s lip trembled, "The cookie dough one?"
"All the cookie dough ice-cream you want! I promise." The woman rushed round agree. May, with a prize and new determination then used all her strength to wrap even tighter around Peter, clinging on to him desperately.
“Ok, I’m going on three.”
Peter began to swing.
“One.”
He slowly removed his hand from her back.
“Two.”
He reached.
“Three.”
And then he finally let go and swung, with prositionthat only years of practice can achieve he immediantly grabbed the chair on the other side of the compartment, his nails almost bled from his grasp.
Now that Peter had a steady place to stand he let go with one hand to wrap around May, who was shaking like a leafin his hold.
“There we go.”
Then Peter glanced at the mother. “Would you be able to squeeze your feet in between the chairs?” He asked, however he knew she wouldn't be able to get more then an inch on her shoe considering the way they are lined up.
The woman bit her lip, then Peter watched carefully as she lifted one foot up and slowly dragged it down until she found a small gap.
As Peter expected, she can barely get the tip of her shoes between the gap, but by the woman’s shaky breath and the way her arms loosened it seemed to be enough for her to hold on.
“Okay, now we are going to climb like a ladder.” Peter said as he took one slow step after the other, switching between holding May and reaching for the next chair.
The compartment croaks and jerked. May gasped in his hold.
Peter was immediately on damage control, he thought back to the conversation he overheard when he first entered. Cows.
“Did you know...” Peter started as he reacheed up, “That brown cows give chocolate milk?”
May looked up at him, eyes puffy and face red. “No." She mumbled. "That’s not true.”
Peter glanced down at her, he scrunched his brows in fake confusion. “Really? Are you sure?”
She nodded her head. “Brown cows give the same milk as other cows.”
Peter hummed. “Then how do we get chocolate milk?” He asked, his voice light and questioning.
May tilts her head. “They add chocolate in the...facrery.”
“Factory.” The mother chimed in with a fond smile despite her shaky arms. She had probably caught on to Peter's silent plan to distract the girl from the distressing situation.
“Wow! You are very smart.” Peter grinned.
May let out a wobbly smile at him, despite the tremble and a missing tooth bright on display, she seemed to have at least fallen out of shock a little bit. “Thank you.” She syly muttered.
“Why don’t you tell me more about cows?” Peter asked while he silently counted how many more chairs they had left to cimb before the door between compartments.
Nine seats left.
“Did you know cows are good at remembering?”
Peter shook his head, even though he definetly did.
“I once met a cow named Marco when I was little for my birthday.” May started. “I gave it some grass and when I saw it again at my next birthday it remembered me.”
“Really?” Peter said as he played along. “How did you know?”
They had finally made it to the door of the compartment, Peter whispered for May to squeeze tightly before he reached out.
May listend, not even comprehending what was happening as she continued with her story. “When I stuck my hand out it looked for grass.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.” Peter mumbled distractingly, he didnt have the heart too tell her that Marco the cow probably did that for everyone. "Did you give it some grass?”
"Lots, the farmer said Marco's poop would be green."
Peter didn't need to know that, yet he marched on. "I'm sure Marco is a very happy cow.
Finally, after a painstaking few minutes he gets the compartment door unlocked.
“Okay May. I need both my hands again, you know what to do?” Peter whispers.
May doesn’t respond, however she squeezed her eyes shut against him.
Peter then looked at the mother. “I’m going to go first with May, then I’ll pull you up.”
The mother took a deep breath. “Okay.”
Peter then held carefully onto the handle, silently praying that it doesn’t break under his weight.
It tilted, yet staed still. Probably because this is was a train and not a house.
Then he used his strength and pulled himself up with one armmuntil he was up over the edge of the door.
As his finally stood on tthe compartment he carefully placed May down. “Stay still while I get your mommy, okay?”
She nodded but still tightly gripped his pant leg from where she stood beside him.
Peter then got on his knees and reached in.
“Hold on and I’ll pull you up.”
The woman glanced at his hand and then shakily let one of her own go from the seats. She inched closer before reaching out.
No matter how far they stretched towards each other, she couldn't reach. The woman looked to be on the verge of tears.
Peter knew what she had to do. “Grab onto the grab handle then swing to me. I promise, I’ll catch your hand.”
The woman hesitated before she tightly clutched the triangle shaped handle that lightly swayed in her grip, yet as she went to swing she shrunk in on herself.
“I can’t do it.” She whispered.
Peter just let out a small smiled for the woman. “Yes, you can. I won’t let you fall. Just for this single moment trust me.”
A very small sob broke past her lips, however she muffled it so her daughter couldnt hear her mother in distress. Then she took a slow, deep and swung foreward.
The second Peter could he reached out and grasped tightly to her wrist, she wrapped her own hand around his and Peter tugged her up effortlessly.
As soon as she’s on the compartment she croucheed down and swept May in a desperate and tight hug.
She kissed all over May’s head and face while checking her for injuries.
May shook in her arms but doesn’t cry. Without any attention for the few moments alone shehad probably fallen back into shock.
Before Peter could even rush up to open the nex door to the compartment above them it opened itself.
A handsome man with a white streak in the middle of his hair stared at the trio in surprise for a second before he sent them a dazzlingly smirk that left Peter’s knees weak.
He lowered his hand towards them, palm up.
“Need a hand?”