⸝⸝₊ ┊afterglow
── some protector ♰ ‧₊˚ ⋅⩩

────── ♰ ──────

⁰︎⁰︎ °. "Midtown takes the championship!"

The group was practically buzzing by the time they had jumped their way to the Washington Monument. They had taken National's as easy as they had practiced for weeks on end. Well, if they were being honest, Michelle had won it all for them. The winning question she had answered with ease before the room erupted into cheers and the group was celebrating.

It was an easy victory. One that Maisie should've seen coming, but she had been on edge since they left and Ned had said Peter was staying back. Shocking. Another issue with his stomach. Peter wasn't one to get nervous to the point of getting sick, so unless he had some crazy stomach bug all week — even though he looked perfectly fine — he only came to DC just to bail on them.

Not only was he bailing, he was also ignoring Maisie's phone calls. Every time she had called him that morning before the competition and even now, it just went straight to voicemail. She'd try one more but after that, she was done —

"Maisie! Is Ned there?" He'd finally answered. And he was every bit of frantic as he could be. "I need to talk to Ned."

"Really, you ignore me all day and then only want to talk to Ned?" Maisie scoffed slightly. "He's busy —"

"This is really important, Mais! Please get Ned on the phone. I'm sorry, I'll explain everything later, but I really need to talk to him."

Maisie hesitated for a few seconds, her steps slowing outside of the Washington Monument as she watched the rest of the team walk into the monument.

"They're in the Washington Monument," she finally gave in. "Just walked in."

There was a quiet groan on the other line from Peter. It wasn't one in anger, he knew there was no way Maisie was going with them, not with that elevator ride up, but he really needed to talk to Ned.

He also sounded really out of breath. Peter wasn't one for cardio as far as Maisie was concerned, so why in the world had it sounded like he'd been running for miles.

"Thank you —" the line went dead when Peter hung up the phone.

Maisie stared at her screen, seeing the dozens of calls she'd made to Peter during the day before she shook her head in annoyance and shoved it into her pocket.

Mr. Harrington had hung back from the rest of the group, looking over at Maisie and Michelle as the two girls remained far away from the monument.

"Taking it all in, Michelle?" Michelle still had her nose shoved in a book, but Maisie was watching the top of the monument carefully.

"Oh, yeah, I just, um —" Michelle rambled on. "I don't want to celebrate something that was built by slaves," she shrugged.

Maisie finally looked away from the monument to reach Michelle's unamused gaze. Mr. Harrington looked as confused as ever as Maisie snorted quietly with a shake of her head.

"Oh, I'm sure the Washington Monument wasn't built by —" Mr. Harrington tried to defend, but the security guard he had caught wind of a few feet away seemed to prove him wrong. "Okay. Enjoy the nice day," he gave up, walking back towards the monument as Maisie waved.

Maisie couldn't help but keep her eyes on the monument. God was it tall. No matter how much Ned tried to convince her, no way in hell would she be going up there.

"You're not going?" Michelle had questioned as she sat on the concrete benches surrounding the monument, looking up at Maisie as the redhead just shook her head gently as she stared at the top of the building.

"No," she revealed, squinting against the sun with the smallest of nervous swallows to follow. "No, this is how all my nightmares start, so I'm not trying to make those actually happen."

"You have nightmares of falling from the Washington Monument?" Maisie could hear the twinge of amusement in Michelle's voice, it was teasing, enough to make it seem like she hadn't actually thought that.

"Not the Washington Monument," Maisie grumbled, sitting beside her on the bench while the team all made it inside finally. "Just...tall things. Had one falling from the Statue of Liberty once."

"Why on earth would you be on top of that?"

Maisie just shrugged.

She hadn't known why she was up there, how'd she gotten up there, or even what was happening. And she can't figure out why she's always falling. Without fail, Maisie was falling forever in those dreams. It was never those ones where you fall asleep and startle yourself away, no, she had the gut aching feeling of falling for what felt like hours on end.

"Why would you go on top of that?" Maisie rebutted, pointing to the top of the monument as Michelle just snorted quietly to herself, mostly in agreement.

Michelle wasn't going to argue with that because it made perfect sense.

This had been the least stressed Maisie had been all month. It was nice to actually be on a trip and enjoy what they were doing. She didn't have to worry about studying anymore, all she had to worry about was...Peter.

It was stupid to worry about him as much as she was, she knew that, but she couldn't help it.

Worrying about Peter had been her life since she had been able to take care of herself. He was like an extension of herself, if she was bad, Peter could tell. If Peter was lying, for sure Maisie could tell.

nickleback

so????

so?

c'mon track team. how'd it go?

no clue what you're talking about

no way
you won????

???

i know you're not stupid hudson
just spill

okay gossip girl

🤨

uncultured

giving the attitude, im assuming you won
which is insane. (so good job.
never had any doubts)

and i know that's insane cause i looked up
how many schools try for this
and it only proved my theory that you
in fact are freakishly smart

doesn't mean i answered any of the questions

yes you did
you can't help yourself
so which ones you answer

none
being serious

liar

whatever

ill find out
don't doubt me

i won't
i just like making you work for it 😁

ha ha.
so what else does this trip to dc entail? anything fun?

"Did you hear that?" Michelle had interrupted Maisie before she could respond to Jake's question. She was finally looking away from her book, blocking the sun from her eyes as she looked towards the monument where their friends had departed not even 10 minutes ago.

"Hear what?" Maisie inquired, looking from Michelle to the monument before she flinched when a rock was plummeting into the ground in front of them.

"That," Michelle stood up quickly as Maisie ducked when someone was practically jumping over her on the bench. "Our friends are up there!" She shouted worriedly to no one really.

"What?!" The one who had toppled over Maisie turned towards the pair quickly, regaining his composure before running towards the monument. "Uh, don't worry ma'am, everything's gonna be okay!" He rushed out before reaching the monument.

Maisie had wanted to focus on the fact that Spider-Man just happened to be in Washington DC and not New York where everyone knew he was from, but she was too worried about her friends in the monument.

Maisie finally shot to her feet when she realized that something was happening. There was a faint sound of sirens coming from the entrance of the building as Spider-Man continued to climb up the side. Each second that passed had Maisie's heart beating faster.

"Oh my god," was all she had managed to whisper with a grip on Michelle's arm.

It had felt like hours watching everything play out. Not even a few minutes later were officers trying to get everyone to back away from the monument, but they were all focused on Spider-Man coming to the rescue.

There was a helicopter circling another minute later, just as he reached the top of the monument to the small windows that had lined the top.

Maisie couldn't watch much longer if she had wanted to keep her lunch down. Even without being up there the nerves were racking her body.

"Return to the ground, immediately!" They could hear the faint call of the officers from their helicopter.

"They're gonna shoot him," Maisie whispered worriedly, the vice grip she had on Michelle's arm only tightening the longer it went on.

Police sirens and the sounds of the firefighters and the ambulances arriving had drowned out anything else the officers in the helicopter had shouted. But it didn't drown out the way Spider-Man had jumped straight off the building and managed to swing himself into the small window that was blocking his way into the failing elevator.

"Girls, please back into the grass," an officer had gently pushed Maisie and Michelle back away from the monument. Trying to get them out of harm's way, but the best they could do was stumble a few steps back as they stayed focused on the building.

They were left as sitting ducks at the disappearance of the masked hero, with no choice but to watch anxiously from the ground for what felt like hours.

Maisie couldn't compose herself no matter how hard she tried. Those were their friends up there. One of her best friends was up there. The only reasonable reaction was to freak out.

It wasn't like there was anything she could do off from the ground anyway – and she hated that. She hated that she couldn't do anything to make sure that they all made it out safe from whatever was going on up there. She couldn't even try to tell what was happening by listening, because the sounds of sirens and the circling helicopters above had ruined any chance of that.

She wasn't even sure when the ambulances had arrived or when they had taped off the entire monument, she just knew it was a long time. A long time of pacing in front of Michelle aimlessly, staring at the monument like if she stared at it any longer than it would magically all be okay, and it was an even longer time before she had managed to stop her mind swimming a hundred miles an hour.

"Maisie," someone had called out to her suddenly. It was quiet, but she had managed to hear it. "Hey," it sounded like a breath of relief from Peter, to see that she was actually okay, but Maisie was just mad.

"What the hell, Peter?" Peter stopped in his tracks when he had gotten closer to the two girls. Stammering for an answer quickly, but Maisie beat him to it. "Where have you been all day?"

"I was – b-back in the...in our room," was the lie he decided to spew out that time.

Maisie scoffed lightly, shaking her head lightly. It was getting old.

Michelle standing up beside them caught their attention quickly. Maisie looked over her shoulder when Michelle had grabbed her arm to turn her towards the entrance of the monument to see the group finally walking out.

They were okay.

"Ned, oh my god," Maisie broke out into a run quickly when she saw their friend break off from everyone towards her. "Ned!" She tried to go further but an officer had stopped her, holding her back gently to stop her from going past the line they had created before Ned had hurried over. "Are you okay?"

Ned seemed awfully excited for having almost died.

"Yeah," he had let some of the excitement out through a laugh, ducking under the tape after the officer had lifted it to let him through. "It was crazy, Maisie. You should've seen it. There were lasers and then there was an explosion —" Ned had carried on about how crazy and awesome it was. She hadn't really listened, she was trying to keep along with him, but there was so much talk of the falling and something about Spider-Man saving them that she had lost track of what part they were on.

He was either talking about the actual falling – which Maisie had to remind was her literal worst fear – or he was more excited about being saved from Spider-Man.

Ned always had his priorities askew Maisie had to admit.

He didn't seem all that worried as he immediately turned towards Peter to start telling him the story.

Peter hesitated for a second, wanting to stay back and just tell Maisie everything. Tell her this big secret he was keeping from her. But this wasn't the right place.

Would it ever be the right place?

He hadn't thought that far ahead honestly.

And if he was being brutally honest, he wasn't sure he would ever tell her.

It was easier that way.

At least that's what he wanted to think. That's what he told himself anyway.

"Oh, thank god," Maisie had barely any time to look up before Gen was tackling her in a hug and sending the two stumbling back a few steps. "Are you okay?"

"Oof—" Maisie grunted softly from the impact, hugging her mom back and finally pulling her eyes away from Peter as he looked towards May who was running towards him. "Hey, mom."

"Jesus, we were so worried," Gen pulled away from Maisie finally, letting a hand rest on Michelle's arm to comfort the two girls. "Are you both okay? No one's hurt, right?"

"No," Maisie shook her head, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and crossing her arms over her chest like she was protecting herself. "We were down here the whole time," she explained softly.

The lights from the ambulances and firetrucks had illuminated the area as the sun had paid its respects for the day and departed.

"The rest of the team's okay," she nodded.

Gen breathed a little easier at the news, a hand on her chest in relief as she turned to see Harry talking to Peter and Ned behind them — just double checking that everyone was truly okay.

As soon as that report had hit the news channel, they'd all gotten in Harry's police cruiser and were speeding off towards DC and had made it in record time. He may have broken a few laws, but were they really being broken if someone's life was in danger?

"Uh, can we..." Maisie swallowed a little harshly when she saw Peter laughing at something Harry had said. "Can we go home?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay," Gen breathed again, wrapping Maisie in another hug. This one was a little tighter than the last — it was longer too. "Do you need a ride, Michelle?"

"My dads on his way," she sent a tired, lopsided smile their way.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Maisie muttered, seeing Michelle nod before Gen was finally leading her back towards the other group. "I'm gonna wait in the car," she mumbled to her mom quietly, breaking off from her before she could protest and walking straight past Peter and Ned and securing her spot in the back seat.

It had been an incredibly awkward car ride home. Mostly silent. Two exhausted teenagers in the back seat and equally as terrified guardians in their own seats.

Peter had been stuck in the middle seat the whole drive back, stuck between Aunt May who had berated him with endless questions that he couldn't answer, and an ignorant Maisie on the other side who was tuning out their entire conversation.

She practically been on the edge of falling asleep before they had pulled into their parking space in front of the apartment building. The car bristling to life as everyone got out.

Maisie didn't make it very far before Peter was grabbing her wrist gently to stop her from getting out of the car.

"Hey, Mais?" He called out softly, feeling a little grateful that she had even turned towards him to listen. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" She questioned.

"Everything, I guess," he muttered, letting go of her wrist and fiddling with the end of his hoodie, eyes glued to his fingers that fiddling aimlessly. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you today."

Maisie took a careful breath. Slow and deep. She had wanted to just accept the apology that easily, but this wasn't the first time this happened.

"I appreciate that, Pete," she made sure to let him know. "But you really let everyone down today by bailing on us again. And I'm not saying you didn't have a stomach...thing, but it's not the first time you've done this." She saw the slight clench of his jaw, like her saying that had hurt him. "I mean — Liz's party, every practice we've been having. You've always been there but you haven't...been there," Maisie tried to explain as clearly as she could.

"I know. I know," Peter rushed out his apology, turning towards her quickly. "I'm sorry."

"You keep saying that, Peter. But you haven't actually shown me that you're sorry, 'cause you keep doing the same thing. Can you..." she took a deep breath. "Can't you just be honest with me? I know you think I haven't noticed, but I know you're lying. You lied about where you went at the party, I still think you're lying about this Stark Internship —"

No she wasn't. She actually just didn't have any idea on what Peter did when he was with Mr. Stark.

"— I just want you to be honest with me. Is that so hard?"

"Mais..." he wasn't gonna tell her.

It was hard. It was hardest damned thing he'd ever have to do in his life is just tell her what he's been obviously hiding from her

"Right," Maisie mumbled quietly to herself as she opened the car door again. "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow, I guess."

The door shut behind her, leaving Peter to sit in silence in the middle of Queens.

────── ♰ ──────

gracie's getaway //
foreshadowing goes crazy

and so the downfall of maispete begins

— gracie xx