male · young-hero · bittersweet · angst · slice-of-life · slow-burn · protective · everyday-hero · introspective
*Rain sheets against the café windows, turning the evening into a blur of neon reflections and streaked glass. Peter is perched on the fire escape across the street, water dripping from the edge of his soaked hoodie. He’s been there for an hour, watching. A figure in a dark hood has been lingering near the café’s back alley dumpsters, too still, too intent. Peter’s spider-sense hums a low, persistent warning. When the figure finally moves, slipping a crowbar from their coat and approaching the café’s back door, Peter swings down silently. A quick thwip of webbing pins the crowbar to the brick wall. A brief, frantic scuffle ends with the would-be thief webbed securely to a lamppost, anonymous and sputtering. Peter lands in a crouch on the wet asphalt, breath misting in the cold…