Spider-Man: Duty And Loss Chapter 29: Rest

"You live here now?" Peter questioned half in disbelief. He stood in a lavish penthouse sweet and was staring out the gla.s.s windows that over looked the city below. Staring at the scene for a few seconds he turned slowly to look at the woman who brought him there.

With her back turned to him, he couldn't help but let his eyes roam down her figure. Felicia was back to her brunet hair and had changed out of her usual outfit into a comfortable dress. She was looking through the fridge for something to drink.

"What happened to your old place?" Turning to peek over her shoulder at him, she sent a smile and began to explain as she turned back, wiggling her a.s.s in an enticing manner. Peter knew what she was doing, and so did she. "You know my parents. Once the war, on what was left of Osborn's company started, they made quite a profit."

Pulling out 2 cruisers she walked over with an even bigger smile. "Seeing as they wanted to stay in Europe a bit longer, they wanted nothing but the best security and comfort…." She handed him the drink and flashed a seductive smile. "…You know, because I'm by myself~" She said it in such a way that Peter gulped loudly.

Taking the drink in his hand he looked down at it, and was unsure for a second, he had only drunk 3 times in his life, whenever someone close to him died. Looking up from it, to Felicia, who was still smiling in front of him, he let out a small sigh and popped the top off.

*Clink* Their gla.s.ses clinked as Peter slowly rose the mask on his face so it rested just on his nose. Felicia sent a frown as she watched him drink. "Not going to take the mask off? I know it's you Peter, what's the point?" Peter stopped what he was doing and glanced at her, he really didn't want to take his mask off, but he saw the glint in her eyes she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"…Fine…" Reluctantly reaching up and taking his mask off. *Gasp* Felicia let out a small gasp as she looked at his haggard and unkempt face. The bags under his eyes showed the lack of sleep, and his malnourished face made him look sickly.

Felicia was honestly shocked; she didn't expect it was this bad. "What happened to you? The Peter I know wouldn't be like this. You'd pick yourself up, keep moving forwards." Peter turned away in embarra.s.sment as he saw the look in her eyes. He knew he was getting pretty bad, one of the main reasons he didn't want to see her. He didn't want her to see what he had turned out like, how he let himself go.

Her words registered in his ear and he couldn't help but mumble under his breath, something that she could just hear. "Maybe I don't want to keep going." She froze as the grip on her bottle increased. She stopped for a second before moving back to the fridge. Going into the freezer, Peter looked at what she was doing as he sipped on the drink in his hand.

Rummaging around Felicia turned around with a bottle of vodka in her hand and walked over to the table. Plopping it down, she then went and got two gla.s.ses from the drawer. With that done, she sat down at the table and motioned for Peter to join her. The steely glints in her eyes once again making him walk over slowly.

Sitting across from one another Felicia kept that fierce glint in her eyes as she practically started to interrogate Peter. "When was the last time you got a proper night's sleep?" Peter wanted to lie when he was asked, but he was never the best liar, and something inside him wanted to share his burden, to talk to someone he's close with.

"You know, most days I get 7 hours. Some days a little less." In the end Peter still decided to lie, he was too embarra.s.sed to tell the truth. How do you tell someone, you don't sleep much because of the nightmares? Felicia gave him a look at the words, clearly not believing him.

Before she could continue Peter shot back a question. "So how do you change your hair at will?" She leant back as she poured both of them a gla.s.s of vodka. Peter raised an eyebrow at how much was poured, but shrugged in the end. After gaining his powers alcohol didn't really affect him much, though he was worried about her limit.

She thought about his words and gave a small smile. "Well that's my little secret. I'll tell you about it another time." She tipped her gla.s.s up and downed it, changing the conversation back. "So where do you live now days?" Peter was about to answer with another lie when his eyes caught hers, there was anger ready to burst forth. "Don't you dare lie to me Peter! Look at yourself and think about your next words carefully."

Peter turned quiet, which was all she needed. "You're not living on the streets are you?" He continued to say nothing. "My G.o.d you are?! What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?!!" Finally her anger burst forth and she slammed her hand on the table, almost knocking over the bottle that was placed a top it. She was mad, worse than Peter had ever seen her. "And you still don't want to spend the night here?!? There is a spare room! And it's warm! And h.e.l.l there's a f.u.c.king roof Peter!"

She was practically shouting at him now as Peter continued to say nothing. But Felicia realized quickly that the words just weren't getting through, which p.i.s.sed her off even more. She tried to change her tactics. "You need to be at the top of your game! New York needs Spider-Man to be at his best when crime is happening!"

Honestly she didn't give two d.a.m.ns about him being Spider-Man right now, but it was the only thing that she thought might get through to him. Looking in his eyes, she could see that it sparked something inside him and he finally spoke in an eerily calm tone.

"Don't worry; I'll do my duty for this city…" She could pick up the distaste and hatred in his voice as he voiced the word 'duty', but it was gone in an instant as his voice turned melancholic towards the end. "…But there are so many heroes popping up nowadays, I don't know if New York will still need Spider-Man after a while."

Her eyes squinted as she heard the seriousness in his voice. Her hand under the table gripped into a fist, before slowly loosening. She had gone the complete wrong way with this. "You know, you can take a break for one day, the city won't be destroyed." While saying so she reached down into her back pocket.

Peter's eyes suddenly s.h.i.+fted as for a second he felt his spider sense go off, but it was such a minute thing. But having trusted it for so long, he did scan the room once. "Well…. I wonder some times." He said it in a distracted manner, reaching up to take a drink again.

Realizing his drink was empty he reached for the bottle, but Felicia grabbed it first and motioned for his gla.s.s. Giving a nod, she unscrewed the lid of the bottle, her hand pa.s.sing over the top, before she poured them two gla.s.ses.

Handing it back over. *Clink* Their gla.s.ses met and Felicia skulled the vodka. Peter seeing her challenging stare also knocked back his head and downed his gla.s.s. *Crash* "What?!" Peter body started to loos feeling as his mind started to cloud. Felicia stood up from where she was sitting and moved over quickly, supporting his lolling head.

His eyes widened as he looked at her. "W-why? How?" He had trouble getting the words out as he tried to figure out when his drink was spiked. She hadn't placed anything in his gla.s.s, he would have seen. He thought back hard to figure it out, but he was having trouble thinking.

'The Bottle! But then she too would be drugged' He finally came up with an answer as she spoke to his quickly fading mind. "I promised myself I would never be in 'that' situation again. Pretty easy to build up a tolerance to such drugs…" Her tone turned gentle as she continued. "I think New York can live one day without Spider-Man. And I think you deserve a warm bed tonight."

His mind was fading too fast he couldn't do anything, so he just let it be, he let the blackness that was coming take him. His eyes closed and his body went limp as Felicia bent down and quietly hugged him, whispering in his ear. "Rest Peter, it's okay. It's okay." She felt a small tear roll down her cheek, before she wiped it away and picked him up.

Peter would sleep in a comfortable bed tonight.