Work Text:
Hey, wanna head over to Peter’s so we can finish the death star?
Sure, just give me ten mins and come by my house?
K I’ll text you when I’m close
You block your phone and stretch your arms above your head, taking a deep breath. You were happily lounging on your couch while watching a movie but going over to Peter’s home with Ned is far better than what you had planned to do with your time. Besides, the last time you texted Peter was a few hours ago when you got out of school and he told you he had his internship to get to, and you miss him a little.
“Hey mom, I’m going with Ned to Peter’s in ten minutes.” You yell, walking towards your room to change into clothes a little less casual than your old yoga pants with a hole in them.
“Okay, text me if you’re gonna be home for dinner or not!” She yells back, and you respond with a noise you assume she knows means “yes”.
I’m one block away
Ned’s text comes in while you brush your teeth, and you rinse your mouth before replying to him.
I’ll be down in a sec
You grab your backpack which has your wallet and a hoodie inside, and put it on before walking to your mom’s room to tell her you’re leaving.
“Ned’s here, I’ll text you later.” You say, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Or you text me if I forget.”
“I will, darling. Have fun.” She says, giving you a one-armed hug before going back to work on her laptop.
I’m already WAITING
I’m on the elevator, CHILL
You slide your phone inside your back pocket and sprint towards the front door of the building, where you can see Ned typing on his phone with one hand and holding the Death Star on the other before you feel you ass vibrating.
“I’m already here!” You yell as you open the door, rolling your eyes. “How long did you wait? Two and a half seconds?” You ask sarcastically, taking the Death Star from his hands as you start walking.
“It was three and a half, thank you.” He replies in the same tone, typing something on his phone before sliding it in his pocket. “I think we’re gonna finish it today.” He says excitedly, looking at the toy like it’s a work of art.
Well, to be fair, you think that in a way it is a work of art.
“Yeah, me too. We’re almost done.”
“You did most of the job, though.” He says with a small shrug, and you scoff in response.
“I did not. The two of us did. I just knew a little more than you because I already built mine before this.” You shake your head, even though you did do a lot of the work on this one. Before today, he’d forgotten it in your house and you may or may not have worked a little on it without his help.
“Sure, whatever.” He says dismissively, showing you very clearly that he thinks what you said is bullshit— which it is, actually.
“Hey, can you reach inside the pocket of my backpack? I want some gum.” You walk a little slower as Ned rummages through your belongings, until you hear the zipper closing again and resume your normal speed.
“His ass looks exactly like Peter’s?” You hear him ask from behind you, before he lets out a hearty laugh. “What is this?” You turn around immediately and find him with a piece of paper on his hands, a piece of paper he has no business reading. You practically stomp towards him and rip it from his hand.
“Rude.” You say, folding the paper and putting it on your pocket. “It’s just a list I made. None of your business.”
“Right.” Ned says, still laughing a little. “A list about how Spider-Man has the same ass as Peter?”
“It’s not about that!” You say, rightfully indignant. You made a list about the little details you picked up here and there about Spider-Man to maybe figure out who he could possibly be, and it just so happened that you made the tiny observation that he and Peter had the same ass. The other points were a lot more important, but of course Ned only focused on that one. “I’ve been trying to figure out who Spider-Man is. Along the way I just noticed that his ass looks like Peter’s and wrote it down. But the rest is very valid.”
“God.” Ned says, still laughing. You glare at him and he stops immediately. “Alright, fine. Fine. Sorry. What does the rest say?” You shrug your shoulders and look ahead.
“I don’t think you deserve to know.”
“I’m soooorry.” Ned whines exaggeratedly, wrapping his arm around your shoulders. “I wanna know what the rest says. And I still have your gum.” He smiles and shows you the package on his hand, and you take it from his hand before he can react. “Had your gum.” He corrects himself. “Come on, I wanna know! I like Spider-Man too! Maybe I can contribute to the list.” You consider it for a moment before giving in, because he’s right— he also likes Spider-Man and you’ve been keeping this to yourself for more than enough time, so maybe it will be cool to finally share it with someone.
“Alright, fine.” You accommodate the Death Star on one arm and reach for your pocket again, taking the paper and handing it to him. “Read it for yourself.”
You continue walking as Ned reads, warning him about the occasional pole so he won’t break his skull against it. You know the list by heart already, and you can almost tell which part he’s reading based on his expressions.
Who is Spider-Man?
- Irrelevant: his ass looks exactly like Peter’s
- Fit but not buff.
- Avenger? Doubtful (Do they even exist after that fight?)
- Young? Probably not younger than 18 based on what he’s doing
- Doesn’t seem very experienced, has made mistakes (but they all have)
- Suit changed around the time he fought against Cap America with Iron Man. Upgraded because he’s working for him now? (Sellout?)
- Hasn’t been seen with the other Avengers after the fight
“All of this is valid,” Ned says, folding the paper and giving it back to you, “but none of it can even give you a hint of who Spider-Man might be.” You roll your eyes as you put the paper back in your pocket. “Except him having the same ass as Peter. Maybe Peter is Spider-Man!” He jokes, and you can’t help but laugh too as you roll your eyes at him. “Maybe instead of doing the internship he’s actually saving the city.”
“Right. Maybe his internship with Stark is actually a cover up and he’s working with Iron-Man in secret.” You retort sarcastically, shaking your head.
“Yeah! Exactly!” You both laugh at that but your it fades away pretty fast, and you stare at each other for a moment in silence.
“I mean…” You say, looking at him with a frown.
“Come on, [Y/N].” He says, staring at you in disbelief as he stops walking altogether, forcing you to do the same. “Peter is not Spider-Man.”
“I’m not saying he is!” You quickly amend. “But…” You raise your eyebrows at him in hopes you won’t have to say what you’re thinking out loud, but he doesn’t budge. “Have you ever seen them in the same place at the same time?” You grimace at how weak that sounded, and the only thing you get from Ned is an unamused stare.
“Seriously? I haven’t seen Mark Hamill in the same place as Spider-Man either.” You look at him with the same unamused stare, because he’s being dense on purpose. He knows what you’re saying is different.
“It’s obviously not the same.” You sigh and turn around to keep walking. “I’m not saying anything, okay? I hadn’t even thought about it before and it probably won’t make any sense whatsoever when I actually think about it.”
“Of course it won’t.” Ned says, dismissing you like what you just said it’s supposed to be obvious— but you’re pretty sure that what you heard in his voice just now was a tiny bit of uncertainty.
Or maybe you just imagined it, who knows?
You don’t speak about it again for the rest of the way to Peter’s home— actually, you don’t speak at all. You’re busy trying to find one instance in your memories that completely disproves that Peter could be Spider-Man other than you just thinking that he can’t be, and when you’re one block away from his apartment you’re starting to get nervous.
While trying to prove that you’re wrong you actually realized that a lot of the times when there has been a sighting of Spider-Man, shortly before you had been talking to Peter or had been with him and then he had to leave, for whatever reason. And there’s also the Stark internship which started so shortly after Spider-Man fought against Captain America with Iron Man.
You really try to convince yourself that this doesn’t make sense at all, but the worst part is that it does. You want to believe that if Peter was Spider-Man he would’ve told you, but the truth is that you’ve only been dating for five months and even though you’re doing great, if it was you in his place you’re not sure if you would’ve told him already.
Probably not.
Definitely not.
Either way, you’re sure that pretty soon you’re going to end up seeing Spider-Man when you’re with Peter and then you’ll have all the proof you need, and all these thoughts currently clouding your mind will disappear.
Peter can’t be Spider-Man.
But still, you would swear on your life that his asses are identical.
“Aww…” You say in a whisper, smiling fondly to yourself as you pick up the framed picture on Peter’s desk. It’s a recent one— as a matter of fact, you’re pretty sure you took it less than a week ago while you were studying in the library— and you’re kissing his cheek while he smiles brightly at the camera.
It’s a great picture.
“What?” Ned asks, sitting down on Peter’s bed with the Death Star on his hands. May let you both in when she saw you at the door, without even asking what you were here for. She stopped doing that with Ned years ago and with you after the first couple of weeks.
She did ask you a lot of things during that time, though. Peter ended up completely red in embarrassment every time she was done but you feel like you did pretty well every time she inquired about your intentions with her nephew.
“He’s so sweet.” You say, showing him the picture. Ned tries to smile at it but it comes as an awkward grimace instead, and you laugh out loud before putting the picture back in its place.
When you move to sit on the chair on Peter’s desk, you realize that draped on the back of it is your sweatshirt, the one you’ve been looking for the past few days. You should’ve known he took it— he loves to steal your clothes.
You turn the chair around and sit back, making yourself comfortable. You pick up a ball from the floor and start throwing it on the air only to catch it again, until you get bored and your minds starts to wander back to the thoughts you had earlier— thoughts about Peter being Spider-Man. You shake your head and look at Ned, only to find him checking his phone with a slight frown.
“What’s up?” You ask, tossing the ball to the floor again.
“Peter hasn’t been responding to my messages for a while.”
“Hasn’t he? Huh…” You say, raising your eyebrows and nodding while looking around the room.
“[Y/N]… not again.” Ned says with a roll of his eyes, shoving his phone on his pocket. “He’s not saving the city.”
“Did I say that?” You ask defiantly with a raised eyebrow, crossing your arms. He doesn’t answer. “That’s what I thought.”
“You didn’t have to say it, I can practically hear your thoughts about it.” You bite your tongue to stop yourself from snapping at him, but you’re not able to stay silent for too long.
“Okay but listen—” You say, moving from the chair to the bed next to him.
“[Y/N]—” He groans, shaking his head.
“There could be things you don’t know about him!” You whisper-scream. “There are certainly things I don’t know about him. If aliens and gods can come out of a hole in the sky and if a man can turn into a giant green beast, is it really impossible for a person we know to be Spider-Man?” He just looks at you for a moment before taking a deep breath, and you know you got him.
“I hate it that you made it sound plausible.” You grin widely at him. “What are we going to do? Ask him about it?”
“No!” You quickly say, shaking your head. “I mean, hypothetically speaking, if he was Spider-Man and he didn’t tell you or me about it… he probably has a reason.”
“Right.” Ned says, rolling his eyes. “Fine, I’ll say it’s not impossible, okay?”
You smile at that and remain silent for a while, gloating in this small victory. Ned didn’t say you have a point or that you’re right, but he also didn’t say that you didn’t. When open your mouth to say something else, you’re interrupted by a noise in Peter’s window. You both turn your heads around and you can see the glass sliding down apparently by itself— that is, until you see someone getting in.
No, not someone.
Spider-Man.
And then he takes off his mask, and you see that he’s none other than Peter himself.
This is not happening, not right now. Coincidences of this magnitude cannot happen.
He crawls on the ceiling like a fucking spider, shoots a fucking web from wrist to the door to close it and then he just lets himself fall to the floor like it’s no big deal— and without making any noise— and closes the door slowly and silently.
You really, really want to say something, but you can’t get your mouth to operate. It’s open wide in surprise, and you don’t have to look at Ned to know he looks just like you do right now. He clearly didn’t notice you two sitting on his bed, and if you needed further proof of that, the look his face the moment he turns around is more than enough.
The Death Star falls from Ned’s hands as you both stare at Peter in his all of his suit’s glory, looking incredible. Ned stands up but you still can’t move.
“What was that?” May yells from outside, and Peter quickly turns around with a panicked look on his face.
“Ah, it’s nothing!” He yells back, ready to close the door if she tries to come in.
“You’re the Spider-Man. From YouTube.” Ned breathes out, and that snaps you back to reality. You stand up as well, moving your hands to the sides of your head.
“I’m not. I’m not.” He says, pressing on his chest. His suit suddenly gets super loose and he starts to get it off, like that’s going to convince you that what you just saw didn’t happen.
“Are you serious right now?” You blurt out, shaking your head in disbelief. How can he be denying it after what just happened? After what you saw?
“Babe—” He looks at you apologetically, like he wants to say more but doesn’t know how. You can’t blame him, you’re also completely at loss of words.
“You were on the ceiling!” Ned retorts, and you quickly nod in agreement.
“ I can’t believe this is happening right now.” You say, rubbing your temples and closing your eyes.
“I wasn’t— Ned, what are you two doing in my room?” He asks, and you open your eyes to find him with your sweatshirt in his hand, ready to put it on. If your mind didn’t feel like it’s about to explode, you’d probably think that’s adorable.
“May let us in, you said we were gonna finish the Death Star!” Ned retorts.
“You can’t just burst in in my room—” Peter is interrupted by May suddenly opening the door like nothing happened, and you feel your stomach turning into knots and your heartbeat speeding up.
“That turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster. Let’s go to dinner. Thai, Ned? [Y/N]? You want Thai?”
“Yes.” Ned says at the same time you start to speak.
“I—” That’s all you can get out before Peter interrupts you.
“No. They have a thing.” He shakes his head. “Not like that, [Y/N] and me have a thing like that. They have a thing to do.”
“A thing to do, after.” Ned says, sounding unsure.
“We have a class project to finish for tomorrow, so we were going to my house to do that now.” You quickly amend, smiling at her a little more reassuringly. How you managed to say that with your voice sounding normal instead of higher considering how nervous you are right now is beyond you.
“Okay.” She answers with a smile, starting to leave. “Maybe put on some clothes.” She tells Peter before closing the door, and that’s when you suddenly realize that she has no idea what happened before she came in.
“She doesn’t know?” Ned shrieks in a whisper as Peter puts on your hoodie. You stare at Peter in disbelief, and your eyes are open so wide that they almost hurt.
“Have you been doing this without telling anyone?” You cry out in worry. What if something happened to him and you never knew the reason why?
“Yes.” He answers you. “Nobody knows. I mean, Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit, but that’s it.”
“Tony Stark made you that?” Ned wheezes out, nearly freaking out. “Are you an Avenger?”
“Yeah, basically.” Peter answers with a shrug, but you doubt that’s actually true. Ned stumbles and grips the bed to steady himself.
“I’m going to sit down for a second.” You say, shaking your head.
“Babe, are you okay?” Peter asks, looking at you with a worried expression. You close your eyes and give him a thumbs up, trying to reorganize your thoughts.
What are the odds that you would start suspecting that Peter was actually Spider-Man around five seconds ago, and then it just so happened to be that you saw him crawling on the ceiling of his room dressed as fucking Spider-Man, turning your suspicions into reality?
You were most certainly not ready for confirmation so soon.
“You can’t tell anybody about this. You gotta keep it a secret.” Peter says, and you look up at him with your eyebrows raised. Of course you can’t tell anyone about this, why would he need to tell you that?
“A secret, why?” Ned asks.
Right. Ned is why he needed to tell you that.
“Because you know what she’s like! If she finds out people are trying to kill me every single night she’s not gonna let me do this anymore.” Peter is talking so fast that you nearly missed a couple of his words.
“If you say it like that it’s pretty hard to see how that wouldn’t be a good thing.” You say, standing up again. He turns to you with puppy eyes and you sigh, feeling like you just got defeated. He knows you can’t resist his puppy eyes. “You know I won’t say anything.” He grabs your face and gives you a quick kiss in thanks before pulling away again.
“Ned?” He asks, and Ned just stares at him. “Come on, Ned, please.” He insists.
“Edward Leeds, you better not say anything about this.” You warn in a low whisper.
“Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I’ll level with you.” He says, looking at you both. “I don’t think I can keep this a secret, this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me!” He says excitedly.
“Ned!” You say, staring at him with an incredulous look. “Seriously?”
“May cannot know, I cannot do that to her right now. You know? And everything that’s happened with her, I—” He stops himself for a moment, and your heart aches for him, for the meaning behind those words. “Please.” Your hand finds his and you interlock your fingers together, and he gives you a thankful smile. You rest your head on his shoulder while looking at Ned, awaiting his response.
“Okay.” Ned finally says.
“Just— swear it, okay?” Peter insists, and you feel his hand squeezing yours a little tighter.
He’s nervous.
“I swear.” Ned says, realizing how serious this is for Peter.
“Thank you.” Peter responds, and his tight hold on your hand loosens until he lets go of it completely.
“Yeah.” Ned reassures, and he doesn’t have to add anything else for you to be completely certain that he gets what’s happening with Peter at this very moment very well, probably better than you. After all, Ned was by Peter’s side when he lost his uncle, and you weren’t.
“I can’t believe this is happening right now.” Peter complains, pacing around the room.
“Can I try the suit on?” Ned asks shamelessly.
“No.” Peter deadpans, walking back towards you both.
“How does it work? Is it magnets? How do you shoot the strings?”
“Wait here for a second.” He tells you right before grabbing Ned by the arm and starting to pull him towards the door. “I’mma tell you about this at school tomorrow, okay?”
“Great.” Ned responds, excited. “Okay, but wait then— how do you do this and the Stark internship?” You just stare and Ned in disbelief and so does Peter. Good lord, Ned is a brilliant person but he can be really dense when he truly wants to.
“This is the Stark internship.” Peter explains.
“Oooooh.”
“Just get out of here.” Peter pushes Ned out the door and closes it, and you’re pretty sure that for a second he forgot you were still there. You don’t say anything and he doesn’t say anything, but you know both of you want to speak first.
In the end, you beat him to it.
“I have to go home and think about this.” You say, walking towards the door. Peter meets you halfway and stands in front of you, looking worried.
“I—”
“You don’t have to say anything.” You quickly interrupt, shaking your head. “We’ll talk later.”
“But I—” You grab his face and push him towards you until your mouths connect, and his hands ball into fists gripping the fabric of your t-shirt as he pulls you closer to him.
“I have to go come and think about this.” You repeat, separating from him. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Okay. Okay.” He says, biting his lip nervously. You look at him for a moment before closing the distance between your faces one last time, giving him a short kiss before pulling away completely.
“I’ll see you later.” You say, feeling slightly awkward and out of place. You don’t like this feeling— the feeling that something is wrong between you two when it actually isn’t. But you obviously were not expecting this to happen today and especially not after sort of realizing that Peter being Spider-Man wasn’t as improbable as it should be, so now you have all these feelings and emotions inside you at the same time and you just really need time to process the new information.
It’s nothing more than that; you wish for a little time to wrap your head around it.
“Okay. See you later.” Peter says, and you give him a small smile before opening the door and leaving his room faster than you ever have before.
While May finishes her dinner, Peter can’t bring himself to stop thinking about everything that happened today, and given the fact that he’s thinking about it all at the same time, it feels more than a little overwhelming.
The guilt over what happened to Mr. Delmar’s business, knowing that tomorrow Ned is going to ask a million questions about everything and that it’s not going to be easy to make sure he doesn’t say anything about this and… well, and then there’s you.
He knows you won’t say anything because that’s just who you are, but he’s also worried about how you reacted. It’s not like your reaction was bad, but it did seem to him that you were having a harder time than Ned adjusting to that new information. It’s not like he can blame you, if he were the one in your place he doesn’t think his reaction would’ve been a lot different than yours. But still, he can’t help but worry about what this means for you both and your relationship. Will this put a strain on it? Will it make you feel like you can’t trust him anymore? God, he really hopes that doesn’t happen because he doesn’t know what he’d do if you stop trusting him, or if you feel like you can’t talk to him about personal things with him anymore.
As he and May return home his worries increase dramatically, and all he wants to do is lock himself up in his room and try to talk to you and clear things up. You’ve always said that good communication avoids many problems, especially since you found out he’d liked you for years while you thought he actually hated you. Ever since the day you started dating Peter has been completely honest about his feelings and thoughts with you, except from when it comes to him being Spider-Man. But for the rest, he’s been nothing but truthful. He knows that his openness to share things with you is one of the things you like the most about him, and the fact that he can be open with you is one of the things he treasures the most.
“I think I’m just gonna brush my teeth and go to bed. I’m tired.” Peter says when he and May get home, even yawning to make it sound more believable.
“Okay.” May says, squeezing his shoulder when she walks past him. “I think I’m going to do the same.”
Once he’s done and finally locked up in his room, Peter immediately takes his phone out and starts typing a message for you.
Hey beautiful. You good?
He sees you writing just seconds after he hits send, and he’s thankful for that because waiting for a response would’ve been hell.
Actually
I’m on the verge of freaking out
It’s like I haven’t completely realized this is true? And when i do i will freak out completely
“Fuck.” He curses under his breath, fearing that his worries have suddenly turned into facts.
I’m so sorry
I’ll promise I’ll make it better somehow
There’s nothing to make better babe, or to be sorry for. I promise. I just really want to talk to you about this bc i feel that when I do I will calm down
Your response soothes him a little, but it’s still not enough. He has to talk to you in person, and he knows that tomorrow that is going to be very difficult because he doesn’t see you as often as he’d like and you also can’t talk about something like this in front of everyone. He does have another idea, though, and he really hopes you agree to it.
Did you already go to bed?
Yea but I doubt I’ll fall asleep anytime soon
So….
What?
Can I…
Maybe….
Go….
To your room now?
Your eyes widen as you stare at the screen, not knowing what to answer for a moment.
The window is locked. Tap on it softly or text me when you’re outside and I’ll open it for you
Sounds like a plan. I’ll be there soon.
I’m sorry
You sigh and block your phone before falling back on your bed. Sure, you wanted to talk to Peter but you hadn’t been thinking about talking to him now, and you’re not certain that you sorted out your thoughts enough to truly convey the things you wanted to talk to him about.
Well, tough luck, because the tapping on your window signals that he’s already here.
You open the curtain to find him in his Spider-Man suit but with a dark hoodie on that serves to hide his face a little, and he’s also wearing a backpack. You unlock the window and open it, and he slides in gracefully without making any sounds. You look outside to check if anyone saw you but there’s no one around as usual, so you close the window and lock it again. When you turn around, you find Peter sitting in your bed without the mask on, looking at you with worried eyes as he bites his lower lip.
“Did you bring other clothes?” You ask and he nods, taking the backpack off. “You can change, I’ll wait.” You say, pointing at the folding screen by your closet.
“Thank you.” He says, standing up. Before he can walk away, however, you grab his gloved hand and pull him towards you until his chest presses against yours. He gasps and you smile, moving one arm to wrap around his waist.
“You shouldn’t be as worried as you are.” You whisper before grabbing the side of his face and pulling him towards you until your mouths connect in a sweet kiss.
When you pull away he’s smiling so softly that you can’t help yourself and kiss him again, and when you separate he has a huge grin on his face.
“So we’re good? Nothing changed?” He asks, like he didn’t believe that was the case until right now. Which he probably didn’t— considering that he tends to overthink things sometimes when he comes to you and then becomes worried when he has to reason to feel that way.
“Of course we are.” You say, like it’s obvious. “I just want to talk about it because it’s a big deal. Now, go change.” He rests his forehead against yours for a moment before pulling away and walking towards the screen.
You sit on the bed while you wait for him to be done, contemplating what is the first thing you want to talk to him about.
What exactly can he do? How did it happen? When did it happen? How did he get mixed up in the Avengers drama?
A smile curves the corners of your lips upwards when he reappears in front of you wearing only socks, sweatpants and the blue hoodie that you know you left behind the screen. He’s blushing and his hands are swallowed by the sleeves of your hoodie, which, added to his messy hair, make him look even more adorable than usual.
He just stands there without moving, looking at you expectantly. You open your arms for him and he walks to you, until he’s standing between your legs with your arms around his waist.
“I really just want to talk, babe. You don’t have to be nervous.” He nods and wraps his arms around your neck.
“I know, I know… it’s just that you said you were about to freak out and I got scared because I couldn’t tell you so maybe you thought–” You shake your head.
“Wait. No. That’s not why I was about to freak out. Didn’t Ned say anything to you about the list or what we were talking about before you came?” He looks at you with a puzzled look and shakes his head.
“What list? He didn’t tell me anything.” You groan and throw your head back, because you were expecting Ned to tell him and save you from having to say to his face that you realized he was Spider-Man before seeing him just because of his ass. “[Y/N]?”
You hide your face on his chest for a moment before taking a deep breath and pulling back. Sure, it might be a little embarrassing to admit but better to just get it over with.
“Okay so, a while back I started writing this list of things I had noticed about Spider-Man because I was trying to narrow down who he could be. You know, age range and that stuff.”
“Seriously?” Peter asks with his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Can I see?”
“Fuck.” You swear under your breath. Why not? Better let him read it for himself instead of having to tell him yourself. You nod and reach towards your bedside table, where the list sits folded neatly. “Here you go.” He grins at you and grabs the piece of paper, unfolding it quickly.
“His ass looks exactly like Peter’s?” He nearly shrieks, before a giggle escapes his lips. He covers his mouth with one hand and starts laughing without holding back, but still trying to be as quiet as possible.
“Stop thaaat!” You groan, covering your face with your hands. “At the time I thought it was an observation, how could I have known it was the same ass?”
“Oh God, you’re the best.” Peter says, drying a tear that escaped his eye. “Wait, you don’t think I can be an Avenger?” You uncover your face and look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“After that fight? What even are the Avengers now? Captain America and his team are considered war criminals.” He frowns and pouts.
“Okay but… it’s like, Thor and the Hulk are Avengers and they weren’t there, so if there was a catastrophe they would probably get called to help… and me too. I’m like them.”
“Okay.” You say, not pushing any further because you also don’t want him to feel bad about himself. “Anyway, today when we were going to your place I asked Ned if he could hand me the gum that was in my backpack pocket and the list was there and he read it and he also laughed…” Peter grins, but doesn’t say anything. “And then we were joking that maybe you were Spider-Man and then I was like ‘wait…’ and Ned was like ‘no’ and I was like 'but what if…’ and Ned was like 'no’ so I dropped it but I kept thinking and I was trying to remember if maybe we were together at some point when I saw Spider-Man or when he was seen and then I realized that we never were, and sometimes you left right before the was a sighting of him and I kept thinking about the Stark Internship and how it happened at the same time that the fight between Captain America and Iron Man and I–”
“You figured it out.” Peter says, matter-of-factly.
“Sort of.” You shrug. “But that’s not even the thing, it’s that I didn’t get time to process it because two seconds later you were on your suit right in front of my eyes. And I kept thinking that what were the odds that I would think about that and then have it confirmed almost immediately after? That’s why I was about to freak out, not about you being Spider-Man.” His mouth opens in an adorable ‘o’ shape, and you wrap your arms around his waist again to pull him closer. “And then like an hour ago I saw on the news that apparently Spider-Man was there in a super weird robbery where the bank exploded and that really did not help to calm me down.” He gives you a sheepish look and you sigh. “How are you?” You ask, trying to not sound as worried as you are while rubbing his sides softly.
“I’m good. I’m good. They just had these freaky weapons like nothing I’ve seen before. I don’t know where they got them from.”
“What do you mean, freaky?” You ask, pulling back a little. “Like high-tech?”
“Yeah but… this wasn’t just high-tech. It was on a completely different level.”
“Do you think it’s… you know, alien tech?” He shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head.
“I don’t know, maybe. But I want to find out for sure.” You chew on your lip for a moment before letting out a sigh. You wish he wouldn’t get involved in anything that puts him in danger, but that’s not your call to make. It’s his and his only.
“Okay. Just… try to be safe, yeah? Maybe text me once in a while so I know you’re still alive?” Peter smiles and moves his hands to cup your face, but instead of kissing you he just rests his forehead against yours. You grab his wrists and rub your thumbs on them slowly, soothingly, and the atmosphere suddenly shifts into something sweeter and more personal than it was before.
“[Y/N]?” Peter asks in a whisper.
“Yeah?” You ask in the same tone, rubbing your nose on his with closed eyes.
“I love you.” You open your eyes again at his confession, but don’t move an inch apart from that. An involuntary smile takes over your face and Peter mirrors it almost instantly. You close the distance between your mouths and kiss him sweetly, slowly.
“And I love you, Peter Parker.”
“So a radioactive spider bit you and then you nearly died and then you had your powers and then you became a superhero.” You say, and Peter nods. He’s trying really hard to stay awake to answer all your questions, but you’re spooning him and running your fingers through his hair and speaking in whispers and it’s absolutely not helping him at all. “I never told you this but I thought you looked super hot with your glasses. And I miss them a lot.” He lets out a little laugh.
“Thank you.” He says, snuggling back closer into you.
“I mean it! Back when I hadn’t told anyone I had a crush on you I remember I used to see you all flustered with your glasses on sometimes and it was so adorable it physically hurt.” He turns around in your arms so he can face you and looks at you with an eyebrow raised.
“Flustered?” You grin and nod.
“Yeah! You got all nervous for some reason during Chemistry sometimes and you started touching your hair a lot and it ended up all messy and you blushed and it was adorable.“ Peter immediately realizes what times you’re talking about and he buries his head on your chest in embarrassment. You might be together now, but that doesn’t mean he wants to remember all the things he did that embarrassed him in front of you in the past, before you started dating.
"Oh no…” He groans, shaking his head.
“What is it?” You ask, rubbing his back soothingly. He lifts his burning face to look up at you, but it takes him a few moments to be able to actually say the words.
“I was flustered because of you. You always looked so nice and when you got the answers right it was like I had butterflies in my stomach and I got really worried that I was going to mess up and make a fool of myself and then you’d think I was a loser.” You shut your mouth to stop the laugh from coming out, but Peter can still see it in your eyes. “It’s not funny.” He pouts, turning around again and bringing your arm with him so you wrap it around him again. He interlocks his fingers with yours and hides his face on the pillow, hoping his blush will recede quickly.
“Peter, don’t you see?” You ask, sitting up behind him and moving your face to the place where his neck meets his shoulder, and then you kiss his cheek softly. “What you were worried about me noticing was one of the things that I loved the most about you.” You whisper against his skin before leaving another kiss there. His blush remains steady, but he turns to look at you anyway. He knows you like it when he blushes.
“Really?” He asks, playing with your fingers. You nod and press a kiss on his mouth that reassures him that you’re being honest.
“You apparently don’t know that being adorable makes you super hot.” He giggles softly and turns towards you to hug you, hiding his face on your neck.
“No, it doesn’t.” He argues, but only because he wants to hear you say why it does.
“Yes, it does!” You whisper-scream. “This thing you did right now? That giggle? The blush? I’m dying right now.” You groan. “When we watch a horror movie and you get scared and sit on my lap so you can hide your face on my neck? I feel like I’m going to pass out.” Peter can hear the humor in your voice, and it makes him feel deliriously happy. He wants to laugh, because hearing you talk about him this way makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
“That’s because I don’t like horror movies. I like it better when we watch sci-fi movies.” You kiss the top of his head and he lets out a pleased sigh.
“I know you do, babe.”
“Do you have any more questions?” Peter asks, once again starting to feel sleepy.
“I do, but we can leave them for tomorrow. You can sleep now, you had quite the day today.” He nods and snuggles as close as humanly possible into you, and you start rubbing his back under your hoodie and scratching his scalp again.
He falls asleep almost immediately after.
“Peter, babe. Wake up.” You say, shaking his shoulder softly. He doesn’t even stir. “Come on, you have to go home before May realizes you’re gone.” He groans and turns around, burying his face on your chest before going still again. “Peter!” You say as loud as possible while trying to not wake up anyone else, shaking him with a little more force. He gasps and opens his eyes, looking at you with an unfocused stare.
“What time is it?” He asks groggily, rubbing his eyes with one hand before yawning.
“Five. You need to go home before May realizes you’re not there.” He nods and closes his eyes tightly before opening them again and blinking a couple of times.
“I really wish I could stay longer.” He complains, getting out of bed and walking towards the folding screen while stretching his arms above his head.
“Me too, baby.” You say, grabbing your phone from your bedside table and opening Instagram while Peter takes his sweet time putting on his suit.
When he walks out again, he’s all dressed up as Spider-Man, save for his mask which hangs from his hand. You get out of bed and walk up to him, taking his face in your hands the moment you’re close enough to do so.
“You’re beautiful.” You say, resting your forehead on his. “I love you.” He smiles and wraps his arms around your back, pulling you close to him.
“I love you too.” He whispers. “Thank you for being so understanding.” You place a chaste kiss on his lips before letting out a sigh.
“The truth is… I will worry about you. There’s nothing we can do about that. But I don’t feel like I’m in a place where I can judge your choices because… if I were to wake up tomorrow with powers I’d want to help people too. You’re such a good person, Peter. So good.” He kisses you right after you say that, melting into the kiss. He whines when you pull away, and you smile at the sound. “But also… look.” You pull away a little so he can see your face clearly, but don’t let go of him. “You will make mistakes, because you’re human. And you’ll have to live with those mistakes. But remember that even if you have super powers you’re still a teenager. Just… try not to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Now Ned and I know too and you can talk to us… talk to me.” You rub his cheekbone with your thumb soothingly, looking him into his eyes. “More than anything, I want you to be okay.” He stays silent and unmoving for a moment, and then leans forward and kisses you again, deeply. You reciprocate immediately, wrapping your arms around his neck.
Peter has different ways of displaying his emotions through kisses, and you’ve been getting really good at identifying what he means based on the way he wraps his arms around you or the depth and length of the kiss. Based on what you just said as well as that, this kiss feels like a thank you.
“I’m sorry.” Peter apologizes when you separate to breathe. “What you said…” He gives you one more kiss and then hugs you tightly, burying his face on your neck. “Thank you.” You smile at that, because it feels good knowing that you were right about the way he felt.
“I really love you, Peter. Not just like a boyfriend but like a friend too. You mean a lot to me.” You say, rubbing his back. “And I’m with you on this. Don’t bottle things up. I… I know it gets bad for you when you do.” You don’t have to say what you mean by that, because you both know. When his uncle died he shut himself off, but you weren’t really close when that happened so you only learned about it because of those nights when you spent hours pouring your hearts out to one another.
“I know.” He mumbles against you skin. “I just… I feel a little lighter now that you know.” Peter pulls back just enough to look at you. “Ned, on the other hand…” You can’t help yourself and let out a small laugh at that.
“Yeah. He’s just really excited. He won’t say anything, though. Don’t worry.”
“I know, I know.” Peter agrees, nodding. “I… hope.” You roll your eyes at him, but the smile that curves your lips is completely out of your control.
“Come on, Spider-Man. You have to go.” He pouts and holds on to you a little tighter. You don’t want him to leave either, but neither your mom nor his aunt will be very pleased if they find out you do this practically on the daily. “I don’t make the rules, beautiful.” He tries to hold back his smile, but fails. “Come on. Off you go.” You pry him off of you and walk towards the window to open it. He sighs exaggeratedly and walks towards you really slowly, which is something he does pretty much every time he has to leave. “I’ll see you again in like two hours.” You giggle, shaking your head at him.
“But I’ll miss you during those two hours.” He complains, hiding his face on your neck as soon as he reaches you.
You pry his head off of you and make him look at you with your hands on either side of his head. He rests his forehead on yours, closing his eyes. For a moment you think he fell asleep, but when his mouth slowly moves to find yours you realize he’s perfectly awake.
“I love you.” He whispers when you separate, rubbing his nose with yours.
“I love you too.” You whisper back, hugging him tightly before pulling away from him.
He gives you one last short kiss before putting his mask on and leaving, but even after he’s already disappeared behind the buildings you can’t help but keep looking at where he just was, transfixed.
It may have taken you a few hours, but you finally managed to process everything that happened, and now you’re left with only wonder and amazement.
You don’t know how this is going to affect you in the long run or what tomorrow may bring, but you can’t deny that knowing your boyfriend is a superhero means that, from now on, things are bound to start getting much more interesting.