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Peter was never the first move sort of guy, and not because he didn’t want to be but simply because for some reason he could never get the balls up to do it. He could swing through the city, flying high above the concrete streets below, take on gods and demons and men with guns any day. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask someone out on a date. It felt silly in the grand scheme of things, holding himself back like this. He honestly wasn’t even entirely sure what it was that had him so scared. Rejection didn’t quite cover it, rejection he could deal with, after all he was quickly learning that it was actually better for him to have as few attachments as he could. Perhaps it was the pain then, it wasn’t one that could be bandaged up and given a day or two to heal. Or maybe…well it didn’t really matter, at least not right now. He shouldn’t be thinking about this when she was sitting right next to him.
“Thank you again, by the way,” she said, breaking through his chaotic train of thought. “You could have just left me back there…but you didn’t.”
“No I couldn’t,” he laughed slightly, looking over at her, the wind whipping her blonde hair about her face until she reached up to tuck it back behind her ear again. He’d wanted to do that, almost felt his fingers reaching forward to do so. “You could have gotten hurt, what were you doing trying to run out into the middle of the fight like that?”
“I don’t know, I thought I could help, feels dumb now,” she admitted, resting her elbows on her knees, watching the cars pass. The sun was going down, the golden hour, the perfect time to take photos. And all Peter wanted to do was get a shot of her right now, just like this. That soft smile, her hair still a little wild, all painted in gold like the world around her. “I could ask you the same, running out between two gods? What were you going to do?”
“Hey, not the point,” he waggled a red clad finger at her, his grin hidden behind his mask. “We’re talking about you right now. I’m used to this, but you–you’re just a civilian. You gotta be careful.”
“You gotta be careful too, you’re not invincible you know,” she shot a grin right back.
“How do you know?”
“I think I’ve written enough articles on you now to know more than you do.”
He watched as she stood up, stepping back off the raised ledge of the roof and pulling her jacket tighter around her. “You must get views like this all the time, wonder how Peter gets up here so easily to get shots of you like this.” And all he could think was, oh if only you knew. “You mind putting me back down on the sidewalk?”
“Oh yeah, of course,” he hopped up, holding his hand out to her, the other already shooting a string of web to latch onto the crane left up from construction earlier that day. “Hold on tightly.” The moment she took his hand he pulled her into his chest, lifting her up off the roof and jumping off. He swung down, landing gracefully on the sidewalk below setting her down. “There you are, safe and sound.”
“Thank you, Spider-man.”
“Hey, what can I say?” he grinned already pulling himself back up. “It’s my job!”
“See you at work tomorrow?”
“What?” he breathed, stomach twisting in fear. Had she pieced it together? Did she know it was him under this.
“Just prepping for another interesting day of watching you swing in to save the city.”
“Oh-yeah-duh. I mean it’s not like I do anything else,” he laughed before waving and quickly pushing off the building to swing away, nerves coiling in his stomach. “Bye Birdie,” he muttered to himself, again wondering if he’d ever get the courage to just ask her.
“Bye Peter,” she smiled to herself.