Chapter Text
“It all began when she was twelve.” a tired voice mumbled drunkenly as his friend sat next to him in the empty bar. “You saved her from those traffickers and stopped her from being preyed upon by pedo f******!” The Wolverine, his cowl hanging off of him like a hood, sighed as he took another sip of beer before breathing in on his cigar. “It all started from there. First, it was that sort of ‘wow, he saved me. He’s so cool!’ thing that everyone gets after being rescued for the first time. Then, she got older, and it got worse and worse.”
“What do you mean, Wol- Logan.” Spider-Man corrected himself as he curled his mask up around his nose and mouth.
“When she turned thirteen, she had just begun to open herself up some more, and she began blushing whenever you were on tv or at the mansion. Then, Jubilee found a secret shrine dedicated to you in her closet when she was looking for a leather jacket. Kitty saw her look at a Spider-Man plush at the mall before blushing briefly. When confronted, Laura shrugged it off and acted more reserved than ever before. She kept that facade up for the next four years.” At this, Logan banged his metal skull into the bar, denting it and causing his beer to jolt slightly. The ashtray where he had left his cigar flew behind the bar and scattered ashes everywhere. “Then, you just had to be the one to administer CPR to her when she wasn’t breathing. That’s when everything went critical.”
“What do you mean? She slapped me for giving her CPR and yelled at me for doing it.” Spider-Man asked, confused by Logan’s reasoning.
“She was embarrassed that her crush had indirectly kissed her, and reacted in a way that kept her facade up. She doesn’t know how to express herself properly.” Logan explained as he got another beer. “According to Jubilee and Kitty, Laura’s gotten a lot worse since you saved her again. Tell me something, Webs.” Logan sat up at this and looked the wallcrawler dead in the eyes. “Have you received any gifts recently? Any anonymous gifts of food or handmade blankets or clothes? Anything like that?”
“Uh, yeah.” Spidey said after a few moments of thought. “There was a plate of my favorite cookies, snickerdoodles, on my kitchen table when I got back from patrol. They were in a tupperware container to keep them warm and everything. The next night, I had a late night patrol and crashed on my couch. I woke up to find a soft knitted blanket covering me with a note asking me to sleep better in the future. My backup suit was draped across the nearby chair and everything.”
Wolverine facepalmed at that before turning to Spider-Man. “Webs, it’s worse than I thought. You accidentally domesticated Laura.”
“What?” Peter asked dumbly after he webbed up the cameras and doors. He fully took off his mask, revealing his messy brown hair and his astonished brown eyes. “How did I domesticate Laura? She barely even likes me!”
“That’s the thing, Pete.” Logan began. “She likes you too much. In the beginning, she simply didn’t know how to express it, but after time with Gambit and Jubilee, she changed. She knew how to express her feelings, but felt unworthy of them. She tricked herself into believing herself to be undeserving of love and care. I certainly didn’t help any with that. I’ve never been great at the whole comforting thing.” Logan sulked as he drank his beer.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Peter asked as he looked at the seams on his suit that had been repaired while he was asleep last night. ‘Probably shouldn’t mention this to Logan.’ he thought as he examined the needlework. “What should I do?”
“Laura’s eighteen now. She’s an adult, and can make her own choices. Kitty, Jubilee and Gambit will be trying to convince her to ask you on a date. I just wanted you to know all of the facts before making any judgments.” Logan explained. “Now, how do you feel about her?”
Peter thought to himself for a moment and looked back on all that had happened over the last few weeks. From the surprising housekeeping that Laura had done for him to the quiet conversations over patrols where Laura decided to show up. She had quickly become someone that Peter could look forward to seeing and talking with. It wasn’t like when he was on patrol with DD or Logan or even Torch, it was like being with a mix of MJ, Gwen, and Felicia. Gwen’s reserved demeanor and quiet confidence, MJ’s gift to understand and accept all of him, and Felicia’s ability to keep up with him and keep him on his toes at all times. And yet, she wasn’t like them either. Her quiet confidence wasn’t backed in intelligence, but rather in experience. Laura’s understanding of him was not out of forced acknowledgment of both sides of him, but out of acceptance due to her similar status as a mutant. And she did not keep him on his toes due to teasing and flirtations but through incisive comments and thought-provoking dialogue. All in all, Laura, while in ways similar to his great loves, was her own wonderful person who Peter could see himself spending his life with forever.
“I’m not sure, Logan.” Peter admitted honestly. “I treasure the time that I spend with her, and I look forward to it every week. But, I don’t know whether this is attraction or merely strong friendship.”
“Just go on a date with her and see how it goes, you introverted jokester.” Logan mumbled as he left the bar.
Peter put his mask back on before swinging away from the bar and back into the heart of NYC. ‘Wow, what a talk.’ Spidey thought as he swung through the city. ‘I wonder when Laura’s going to - oh! Spidey-Sense!’ he thought as a blur of black and gray tackled him causing him and the blur to land on the rooftop. He inhaled the scent of the forest and slight perfume with the hint of something wild underneath. “Laura?” he asked.
“H-Hi, Peter.” Laura stuttered as a blush overtook her features. Her long black hair, normally unruly like her father’s, was combed and pulled back into a ponytail to guard against the wind. She took off the hairband and let her hair fall naturally around her shoulders as she bashfully looked at him with her stunning green eyes. She stood slightly shorter than him and fiddled with her gloves as she swallowed several times before speaking up again. As Peter looked at her, and waited for her to continue speaking, he saw that she had dressed up more than usually. Her usual goth/Hot Topic look was replaced with a slightly less goth version. Her black tank top was replaced with a gray one that had a black leather jacket over it. Her black leather pants were replaced by cloth ones with tears in the knees. Her combat boots were still there as were her fingerless gloves. She had chipped black nail polish on her right hand that had fully faded from her left hand. She had some low-key makeup on her face that seemed to be more at home on Jubilee than Laura, but it brought out her eyes, so Peter still appreciated it. “W-Would you g-go on a date with me?” she stuttered out before quickly turning around and quickly adding. “I understand if you don’t! I haven’t been too nice to you, and I have a tendency to hit you when you do something I don’t like and-” she was cut off as Peter wrapped his arms around her in a hug.
“Laura Kinney,” he said as he rested his head on hers. “I would be more than happy to go on a date with you.” As he said that, the girl in his arms immediately turned around and tackled him in a huge hug with a blazing blush on her face. She buried her head in his shoulder as Peter laughed slightly at her behavior. “Where do you want to go for our date?” he asked.
“I don’t know, I never expected to get this far.” Laura admitted as she buried her face deeper into his shoulder.
“Using memes against me?” Peter asked rhetorically. “I’m so proud.” he wiped a fake tear from his eye as Laura giggled in his embrace. “How about we start with that hot dog stand and see how the night goes?” he asked the bashful girl in his arms.
“Sounds…alright, Peter.” Laura tried to keep her calm as she smiled broadly in his embrace.
Peter laughed again as he felt her smile against him. ‘Even now, she’s trying to save face. She doesn’t need to do that with me, but I’ll let her do it for now.’ he remarked. “Well, then. Let’s swing to my apartment so I can get changed.” With that, he swung the two of them into the city lights with a joyful shout from both parties.
The End.