Chapter 18: Keep Holding On
"I was holding onto you, but all you did was let go"

After the ransom situation, Ember decided she had to talk to Peter. Maybe he wasn't into her and that was fine, but she couldn't keep waiting for him if there was nothing there she wanted to know, instead of keep hoping for something that might never be.
It was about seven thirty and the night was young, she wanted to get it over with before she freaked out and changed her mind. Without giving it a second thought, Ember started walking towards Peter Parker's apartment, it would have been easier to just slide or fly over there but she felt a bit drained and it was nice night in Queens.

Ember was nervous as she stood in front of the boy's door, the whole walk there she kept imagining all the possible outcomes of this situation. The best ones ended with her happy and with Peter actually returning his feelings, and the worst ones lets just say she was hoping she wouldn't get all emotional to the point of turning the whole building into a freezer. It probably wasn't a smart idea to give some much thought to the situation, Ember didn't feel anything but her nerves eating her away. Either good or bad, things probably wont go as planned, and lets face it for her they never tend not to do so.

She raised her fist, clutching onto her purple sleeve anxiously, just as she was about to knock the girl chickened out and put her arm down.

"You can do this, he's just a boy" she muttered to herself, raising her arm once more only to out it down after less than a second. "Come one Ember keep it together, you just saved twenty people from blowing up and you cant talk to fifteen year old kid?!"

Instead of actually doing as she said, the girl turned around ready to make a run for it while still quietly scolding herself for being such a coward. When she looked up she noticed an elderly couple, a couple doors down, staring at her oddly. Realizing she looked like a mad girl mumbling to herself each time she treid to knock on a door.

"I-i was just..." she trailed off in her explanation, pointing at the door, trying to convince the couple that the situation wasn't as weird as it probably looked.

The old lady, got close to her partner and whispered something to his ear, and then both of them turned to look at her a bit worried. Ember fidgeted nervously with her sleeve trying to walk away from the situation, her cheeks burning red from embarrassment. The blonde was to busy trying to come up with an explanation that she wasn't watching where she was going, until she suddenly was falling. Turns out that in her distraction, Ember didn't notice the stairs and she went rolling down the squeaky steps. After a couple rolls, the short teenager finally managed to stop as she came crashing onto a wall.

Ember groaned, her back hurt and she felt like her head was still spinning. She could hear hurried footsteps coming down the deadly stairs and she decided she needed to sit down. When the girl made an attempt to grab the wall to help her stand up, her head began to throb and on second thought laying down a bit longer sounded way better that actually attempting to move. It wasn't that bad of a fall and it was mostly her pride that really got hurt, still, she knew if it weren't for her healing abilities she would definitely have a nasty bruise in the morning.

"Ember?" a familiar voice exclaimed above her head.

Ember opened her eyes and found herself looking directly at May Parker's brown eyes. The woman had come out from her apartment once she heard the commotion, and from the whispers the blonde could now hear she wasn't the only one who came out to look at the clumsy girl laying in the ground.

"Oh, god" Aunt May got down and helped the girl sit down "are you alright, hun?" May watched the blonde closely, trying to look for any visible injuries. Ember tried to assure her that she was fine, but her words were ignored as the woman's stare laid on her forehead

"You are bleeding" The nice aunt touched the small cut on her cut lightly, before grabbing her arm and carefully guiding her to her apartment, ignoring Ember's protests. "Let's get that cleaned up"

❅

The blonde teenager sat on the grey couch, holding an ice package to her head, while May Parker was on the kitchen attempting to make her some tea. No matter how many times Ember insisted she was perfectly fine, the woman insisted on patching her up. Her green eyes scanned the room, she had only been to Peter's apartment once but it was such a long time ago that for Ember it was like watching the place for the first time. It was a perhaps smaller apartment than her own, but it was nice and it felt homey. There were lots of pictures around and it was decorated pretty nicely. It was cozy.

"Here you go" Aunt May interrupted her thoughts as she sat down next to her and handed her a cup of tea, warning her that it was still hot. May waited for her to grab it and take a sip before turning to talk to her "Now, what happened?"

"I, uh, wasn't paying attention and I, eh, tripped" Ember said, looking at her cup of tea, her blonde locks hiding her red cheeks from sight.

"What where you doing here in the first place?" May asked softly, before a grin spread through her features "Where you looking for Peter?"

"No!" Ember's head snapped to look at the woman, her eyes wide open as her mind raced trying to come up with an excuse as to why she was there. May was still smiling as the blonde began panicking at how she just reacted. "I mean yes. B-but it's because I wanted to, uh ask him for some, uh," The more she talked the more May Parker caught onto what happened, and she just grinned. It was funny watching the teenager trying to come up with some excuse as to why she was there, an excuse that didn't imply she actually just wanted to talk and hang out with her nephew. Ember's green eyes scanned the room trying to find something that would help her, when she finally found the bookshelf next to the TV "some books I leant him the other day"

May nodded skeptically but the blonde felt quite proud of her lie. But, Ember Snow wasn't a good liar and May Parker could see right through her.

"Then why where you trying to run away?" May asked.

Ember opened and closed her mouth, no sound coming out as she tried to think how she could answer to that. Before the blonde could actually say anything the door opened and a familiar boy walked through the door.

"Hi May" he called out, dropping his keys on a bowl next to the door. Then, he finally turned around to face his aunt only for his eyes to catch sight of the blonde girl sitting on his couch.

In that moment Ember wanted the Earth to swallow her whole. How could she face the boy she liked and explain to him that she fell down the stairs because she was to afraid to talk to him?

For a second Peter forgot why he was even avoiding the blonde in the first place. His eyes landing on the ice package she held on her hand, before spotting the small smudge of blood that was still flowing from the fresh wound.

"What happened?" He asked as he rushed to Ember's side, his brown eyes holding nothing but worry. In that split second, he didn't care about Ice Sorceress or even the vulture, he just cared about the fact that Ember somehow got hurt and he needed to make sure she was alright.

May watched carefully as Peter began scanning the teenage girl for any other visible injury. It was young love and she knew it, for her it was so obvious that Peter had feelings for the young Snow and as far as she could tell the girl felt the same way. It was a beautiful thing to watch two teenagers experiencing their first love, the thing is first love can also lead to first heartbreak and that's when the dream turns into nightmare.

❅

After Aunt May told Peter how the blonde girl fell down the stairs, which was a very embarrassing moment for Ember, the woman insisted on Peter taking the girl to his room, door open obviously, while she called Ember's parents to inform them about the situation. That's how Ember Snow ended up sitting on Peter Parker's bed, as he tried to stay as far away from her as possible.

Now that the initial worry faded, Peter went back to overthinking everything and his mind was still set on cutting ties with the blonde until he was able to make up his mind. It was easier said than done. For Ember it was weird, she was the one who wanted to talk to him, but now that she finally had the chance she didn't even know where to start. The girl wanted to go home and try to forget this ever happened, but both Peter and May insisted on her resting. It was weird how Peter went from caring and worried, to cold and distant in just a matter of minutes.

The two teenagers said nothing for what felt like ages, Ember still holding the ice package to her head, even if she knew it made no difference and that she was already healing. Peter's room was simple, perhaps a bit messy but in all honesty hers was probably worse. Unlike her, Peter inly seemed to have a couple pictures in his room, he had two on his nightstand, one where he was around six years old, hugging a man she knew was his uncle Ben. The other picture was of a couple, a beautiful woman with long brown locks and a guy that looked a lot like Peter himself, Richard and Mary Parker, his parents. Ember knew she had met the pair before, but she could barely remember anything about them.

"You never lent me any books" Peter broke the silence, staring intently at his desk full of papers.

"I know" Ember frowned, at her lame excuse and at the way he was still not even looking at her. "I just wanted to talk to you"

"You could've called" Peter muttered.

"And you wouldn't have answered" Ember snapped, which made Peter turn to look at her "Sorry" she sighed as she began playing with her fingers.

He nodded, letting her know it was fine. Peter didn't know what to do or say. When he saw her on his couch talking he was scared, but she was hurt and that worried him. It took him a minute to remember why he wasn't ready to talk to her, it wasn't until they were alone that he realized he didn't even know what to say.

"I heard there was an explosion near your house" Peter suddenly said, catching Ember by surprise.

The blonde turned to look at him, heart beating faster "What does that have to-"

"I know" he cut her off, he could almost see the gears spinning on her head, unsure of where he was going "that you're Ice Sorceress"

Those words caught her by surprise, but she wouldn't let it show. He would believe she didn't heard him if it weren't for how she clenched her jaw and how her eyes widened for a short second "What? I don't know what you're talking a-"

"Ember I saw you"

The blonde teenager tensed, cursing under her breath, knowing there was no point in denying it any longer "How? When?"

"Does it matter?" Peter asks, he wasn't planning on telling her he knew anytime soon, he didn't have an explanation, he just went and said it.

Ember shifted absentmindedly, it only mattered that he knew, but a little thought began nagging her "Is that why you are avoiding me?"

"N-no. Maybe?" Peter answered, sadly watching how she flinched at his words "I just don't know what to think"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ember asked, standing up from the bed to walk closer to him.

"

I needed some time I guess" he said before silence took over once again. Even when the blonde was standing a few feet away from him, he still refused to meet her eyes.

"It's a DNA thing" Ember suddenly said, watching him closely.

"What?" Her answer caught him off guard, which made him finally look at her emerald green eyes.

"The reason I am like this, its a DNA thing" She started, waiting for him to say something but when he didn't she continued "I was born with a mutant gene, we don't know where it came from but it's there"

"We?"

Ember nodded, the roles reversed as she now looked out the window, almost lost in her memories "My family, my grandmother before she passed she was helping me, trying to find where the mutation came from, teaching me how to control it." Ember took a deep breath, eyes glistening with tears as she remembered. Out of instinct, Peter gently grabbed her hand and started drawing imaginary circles on her pale skin, comforting her enough to keep going. "It first appeared when I was three, my mother and I were at the park and a guy was bullying me, something inside of me snapped. The next thing I know is, my father starts homeschooling me, trying to help in every way he could, even after my mother..."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Peter cut her off, watching how upset the blonde was getting. His hand still locked with hers, which made a little smile appear on her face.

"Because I trust you," Ember said, looking at him for the first time since she began telling her story. Her cheeks turning a bright red color as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze "because I like you. I like you a lot, Peter"

Peter almost smiled goofily, just becoming aware of the fact that they were actually holding hands. There she was, the girl he spent almost half of his life crushing on was finally in front of him confessing she liked him too. Less than a week ago, Peter would have been smiling from ear to ear. Less than a week ago he could only dream this would happen. Less than a week ago, he would've probably leaned in a kiss her. Now, he stood there like a deer caught in headlights, his mind racing as he couldn't bring himself to do or say anything. Maybe it was stupid, but for him it was hard, he still wasn't sure who Ember Snow was, he wasn't sure he knew enough about her to actually like her.

"I can't" Peter finally, muttered, dropping her hand and taking a couple steps away from her, shaking his head. "this, is just to much, I can't"

Ember froze on her spot, the fear of rejection creeping in the back of her head."Then, let me explain-" she began, walking towards him, only for him to walk further away.

"No!" Peter ssnapped, making her stop trying to get to him. Peter was usually so quiet, she had never heard him snap that way, specially not to her. "I don't want to know Ember, I have a lot going on right now and I, you, this its just too much. I cant" He finished, a bit more calmed. Peter just wanted to catch the vulture, prove himself and impress Tony. Ember Snow was only a distraction and knowing her story would only be more of a distraction, one he couldn't afford right now.

"So thats, it? I'm just too much for you, you won't even give me a chance to explain?" Ember said, disbelief lacing her every word. She wasn't stupid, she knew the truth could be a lot to take in. After all it's not everyday someone you know turns out to be a superhero with weird powers, she knew it would probably take some time for Peter to get used to it, but he wasn't even going to try and listen to her. A thought began forming on the back in her mind. Maybe he was afraid of her.

'She's a monster'

The words of her mother began taunting her. The way he refused to even look at her, how he almost flinched at the sight of her, it made sense. Peter Parker thought she was a monster. Another person close to her couldn't bare the thought of being close to her all because she was born different. It was happening again and Ember Snow will have none of it, another person won't get to break her, he was only someone she was going to prove wrong. "Well, I'm sorry for being such an inconvenience in your life. I wont bother you again, Parker" The blonde said coldly, before she began walking to his door, not even sparing him a second glance.

"Em-" Peter began, trying to at least end things in a better note.

"Oh, perhaps you should ask Liz to the dance. I wouldn't like to ruin your night" Ember grumbled, already out of his room before he could say anything else.

"Everything alright?" Aunt May asked, watching curiously as Ember stormed out of Peter's room with her nephew close on her tail, both teenagers looking sad even if the blonde did a better job masking it.

"Yes, I forgot I promised Angela, I would help close the bakery. I really should get going, thank you for everything Mrs. Parker" Ember said sweetly, grabbing her bag from the couch, hurriedly making her way to the entrance.

"Your father said he would pick you up after work" May argued, looking at Peter for an explanation, but he gave her none he was to busy staring at the blonde girl longingly.

"I'll make sure to call him on the way. Again thank you so much"

Before Ember could walk away, May managed to step in her way, smiling sheepishly. "Well, then at least let Peter walk you"

"Bu-"

"It's late and you have a head injury" May cut her sternly, making it clear she there was no room for arguing.

"Come on" Peter finally said, his voice almost a whisper, as he gently tried to grab Ember's arm only for her to snatch it away once they were out of his aunt's sight.

"Ember..." Peter began, he wanted to apologise to tell he never meant to upset her, he was just trying to save the world and he couldn't do it if all he does is think about her.

"You don't have to walk me, I can handle myself"Ember said, walking out of the building, Peter still following close behind her. "Oh, and if you tell anyone, I'll turn you into a popsicle"

And with that threat, she put on her cloak and Peter watched her transform for the first time before she began sliding away. A part of him begged him to go after her, to try and fix things. Still, the teenage boy stayed out only staring longingly at her fading form, silently cursing himself and wishing for things to be different

It was the second time in Ember Snow's life, where her powers pushed someone she cared about away. The second time someone left her because they thought of her as a 'monster'. But this was the first she'll be the one walking away.

❅
[Word count: 3342]
Gif by yousxna

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