Searching, searching
Peter would usually be thrilled to go to gym class.
He would obviously pair with Ned for the most part, walking around the gym talking about whatever with MJ not too far behind adding in a couple words when necessary. Well necessary for her anyways.
But that was then, this is now.
Before his biggest worry was making it in time for deacthion practice. Now, his biggest concern is saving enough money to feed himself every night.
But right now, Peter sits down on the ground with his head laid back on the cool wall of the gymnasium.
His migraines haven't been getting any better.
It's a Good thing the Coach gave them free play today but sadly it's a Thursday so Peter will not be getting that sweet relief so walking to the lab with the cool autumn blow in his face on Friday afternoon.
Coach Wilson seems to have blocked out his entire class and is now fast asleep at his small desk in the by the only working air conditioner in this gym.
Most kids are playing either basketball, jogging around the gym or just texting on their phones.
Tim, Duke, Steph and Cass are playing volleyball with a beach ball. By the looks of it Tim and Duke are in the lead with Steph and Cass not too far behind.
Well to Peter it seems as if they are winning. He doesn't know jack about sports let alone Volleyball
Peter winces as his head aches more and more. He heads someone plop down next to him but he doesn't bother looking because he already knows it's Felicia.
She takes something off the top of her head and hands it to him.
He sees the heart shaped sunglasses and snorts "thanks".
He takes them and puts them on. It doesn't do much but it's slightly less unbearable. Pain levels were 7 but they are now 6.5.
She slightly smirks and flips her platinum blonde hair on her shoulder
"Yep". she replies snarkily.
He doesn't have the energy to butt-heads with her right now
They sit in a somewhat comfortable silence excluding the loud basketballs slamming against the ground and into the baskets.
God he's just both dreading and praying for when that coach blows the whistle.
Dreading for when the sound burst his ears but cannot wait till next period's quiz sweet silence.
Sadly it's the only class he doesn't have with the Wayne cult but still good because it's the only class he has with Felicia.
"So who do you thinks gonna win Cass and Steph or Steph and Cass" she questions out of boredom
He turns his head to see one pair high- fiving and another dragging their hands down their faces groaning.
"Maybe Tim and Duke will surprise me" he snickers
"They've literally lost the game like four times already." she resorted
He shrugs, smiling like an idiot.
_____
When the bell finally rings Felicia gets up and out of the kindness of her heart offers Peter a hand
He sees it and smacks his palm against his which results in her smacking her forehead. She grabs his arm and yanks him to his feet.
"Ow. Why" he whines somewhat dramatically.
"The bell just rang, idiot. Unless you want Mr. Smith next up your ass I suggest you get up" she glared
He groaned and headed to the locker room for his clothes to head out.
He stops at the water fountain about to take a sip but gets interrupted.
"I wouldn't". a familiar euphonic voice spoke
He turns to see Tim standing before him smiling with a coffee in his hand and holding his notebook in the other with a slightly concerned look in his eye
He smiles tiredly but then frowns "Um, why wouldn't you"?
"Well, the news stated another one of Scarecrow's chemicals leaked into Gothams water supply. That's why everyone is carrying the plastic water bottles"
He points to the many students who are in fact carrying plastic water bottles instead of their own.
"Most "Gothamites" have their own in stock just in case. It should be fixed by tomorrow " he adds
"Ugh" he smacks his forehead feeling lightheaded. "They should have at least had a sign or something" he mutters and backs away from the fountain.
"With the amount of times it happens, I just think they don't even care anymore". He goes in his pocket and hands Peter an unopened water bottle.
"You sure? I don't wanna-"
"Go for it. Steph has a bunch In her bag". he gives it to him
Maybe water will help his head from its unyielding throbbing. Right now the least of his worries is getting a beat down from stealing Steph's water bottles.
He chugs almost all of it in a matter of seconds. It's not to cold but it still feels nice enough to place the bottle on his forehead
"Thanks" Peter sighs in relief.
"So, nice sunglasses" tim grins
Peter takes them off and looks at them fondly "Oh yeah, they're- " peter gets shoved forward
"Will you walk please we're gonna be late" Felicia scowls
He looks at her then back at Tim. He wanted to talk to Tim, but he'd rather not get screeched at by Coach Wilson asking for a late pass.
Not that he can blame him. It probably be Peter's fault entirely if he was late. He's almost certain Mr Wilson wants nothing to do with this school as a whole.
He darts across the hall and up the stairs but not before waving goodbye to Tim who happily returns it.
–
They end up making it there just in time.
By the end of class Peter is happily asleep with his head on the cold desk in the back of the room.
Well he's not really asleep but simply resting his eyes.
No matter how hard he tries he can't fully fall asleep on a school desk. His body will shake himself awake if he does.
He opens his eyes and looks at the clock. They're about to be dismissed. He sits up and gets ready to walk out of this place.
He moves to grab his notebooks from the ground but something bounces off his head and into the ground.
He looks up to see Felicia minding her own business as if she obviously didn't just throw a paper ball at him.
He flashes her an annoyed look to which she just winks at.
He grabs the paper ball and opens it. It's a drawing of a shovel with a question mark next to it.
He sighs. It was THAT time again and they both knew it. It was time to start searching again. Lately they have been getting nowhere. No hints, no signs, no clues, nothing. They both knew they can't just sit back and wait for something to happen.
Well they don't really know if they're in a time crunch or not. It's just one of those feelings.
Well Peter thinks that feeling could be anxiety and or grive.
Part of him wants to just accept that they are stuck in this Crappy universe but the other part of him is still clinging to the string of hope that they will make it out of here.
So Peter looks at Felicia and nods. She nods back
—----
It's night. The moon is out but so are two teenagers
They both rotate from staying low to jumping from buildings in their stealth gear. And by stealth gear, he means black clothing with a mask to cover his face Felicia brought him.
Maybe if they both switch from low to high they will less likely be seen by God knows who anymore.
They go as fast as two Enhanced human beings pretending they aren't can go.
They end up breaking into a Wayne Enterprises building successfully looking for anything.
"I kinda feel a bit bad," Peter mumbles, disarming the security footage from a computer.
"I don't" she scoffs searching random files "If we know anything about rich guys like Wayne , and we do, is that they are too busy on a night like this partying with their frenemies slowly waiting to take over each other's businesses"
"Remind you of anyone?" She giggles
Peter rolls his eyes with a slight smile. SI's rivalry with Oscorp is not something he wants to think about right now.
"Yeah, well if I know anything about rich guys like him, is that they have people in higher places. Which is why we should be quick , quiet and careful about this". He replied in a hushed tone.
"Oh please, I've been doing this gig longer. You just worry about finding anything" she replies, handing him a USB.
"Besides, when's the last time SI's owner ever shown up when someone broke in" she adds smartly
"Ok, ok I get it I'm just paranoid I guess" he sighs. He really needs some sleep.
"Stop worrying so much. You'll know when something happens" she winked calling out from down the hall
"Hopefully" he sighs.
It's about 30 minutes later and they find nothing.
They both meet up and the window is just out of the camera's reach. Not that it matters though because Peter already disarmed them before they started looking.
They both stair at each other empty handed
"Nothing?" She questions
He sniffs "Nothing".
Felicia sighs then exits out the window carefully followed by peter.
They run and jump low and lower till they get to the ground. He looks up and sees a small continent store that they continue to approach.
He stills and hesitates on whether he should enter or not. He ends up going inside.
Felicia ends up getting a lightly salted can of Pringles and a small water.
The Woman at the desk eyes them unsurprised as if two people in masks and black clothing aren't something that concerns her at 2:00 in the am. .
She scans the stuff and say "that'll be 4.70"
Felicia digs into her buttoned pocket and hands her a 5 dollar bill "keep the change"
She hands her bag and places the 5 into the cash register.
Felicia walks out of the store and starts jogging with peter not far behind
They end up at the top of a building looking down onto Gotham sitting side by side.
She comps on her chips staring at the city before them.
"Y'know the city's not that bad to look at from up here" Peter says looking with his head in his hands.
She looks at him and sniffs dramatically "You smell that? It smells like there's an actual fire right next to us. Wonder why that could be" she sips on her water shaking her head.
"Could be me". He jokes light-heartedly
She doesn't eyes him but doesn't respond
He looks down and sighs. Words can't describe how bad he feels about all this. She's probably missing her family just as much as he is. Felicia of all people shouldn't have to go through this. Not with Peter especially.
He takes off his mask and looks at her. "Leesh Listen, I'm really sorry that we didn't find anything. Again" he speaks sorrowful
She turns her head and looks at him. She punches his arm not soft but hard enough for him to wince.
"Don't be, you moron, it's not your fault" she tells him
He smiles and she turns away crossing her arms so he doesn't see her smile back.
He puts his mask back on and thinks. "Maybe we need to start looking deeper. I know it's a long shot but maybe we could look for Strange?"
"Oh yeah just hop on a bus to New York and go look for a Wizard. As if we have any idea of where he's located." She speaks annoyed
He raises his hands in defense " Hey, It's worth a shot!. Better than breaking and enteri-"
"Oh my God, would you get over that you little baby. It's not like Bruce Wayne has a bunch of assassins on speed dial". she laughs.
She stands up and stretches "But, I don't know. We are both here and I think the answers are too. But we just aren't looking in the right places"
"We'll try again." He states confidently
"Duh" she says obviously
"Well I'm gonna hit the hay" he says yawning
"I'm not" she says and jumps off the building onto another.
He salutes her and makes his way back to the abandoned fire station in Crime alley.
He makes it back and falls down into his sleeping bag before talking of his mask and tossing it across the room.
He sleeps and dreams of Green.