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“I think I love this partner thing,” Peter said.
Him and Felicia were walking back to his place after a fight with the Shocker. With her help, he didn’t break a sweat and there was actually no damage at the vault he had broken into. Peter tried, once again, to coax him into giving any information about his employer, and there was a second when he thought Herman would finally give him something to work with, but then he just ran away.
“It’s kinda fun,” Felicia admitted with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Aw, you two are back together?” asked a lady that seemed to be in her early sixties. “You make a lovely couple.”
Peter blushed and thank God he was wearing a mask. He cleared his throat. “No, ma’am, it’s not like that.”
“Yeah, we’re partners in crime, though,” Felicia said.
“Crime?” the lady asked, her eyebrows knit together. “Please, Black Cat, stay away from it. I’m tired of seeing you on the news like that.”
Felicia lifted an eyebrow. “Okay?”
The woman seemed satisfied with that. She dag inside her tote bag and offered a Snickers to her. “Good. Here, take this,” she said and walked away.
Felicia waited for about five seconds before speaking. “Nutjob.”
Peter chuckled. “You’d be surprised at how many people have given me snacks. I’m convinced they saved me a few times.”
Felicia just looked at him.
“It’s not crazy to care about others,” Peter continued.
“She doesn’t know me,” Felicia deadpanned.
Peter shrugged. “So?
Felicia exhaled deeply. “Are you going to change sometime soon? Or do you want people to see Spider-Man walking into Peter Parker’s apartment?”
“I’ll just say I’m cosplaying him,” Peter replied. “It’s worked before.”
When they got home, Peter ran to the fridge and inspected it for anything that he could eat without cooking. The only thing available was Walter’s junior yogurt.
He’s not going to mind, he thought and grabbed a spoon.
“These are really good,” Felicia said as she walked in behind him.
Peter almost choked. “Sorry, I didn’t offer you anything.”
“It’s fine, but I’ll take one, too,” she said before obtaining the food and leaning against the counter next to him. “It’s the ultimate parenting experience, you know. Eating your kid’s food.”
Peter cracked a smile. “Yeah?”
Felicia nodded. “Yeah. You eat leftovers, of course, but you also steal some of their food because it’s so good and it’s unfair that they don’t make it for adults but when you’re shopping you think No, I’m going to buy grown-up food, I don’t need dinosaur-shaped nuggets but then you go home and dang it, turns out you actually wanted some.”
“Dinosaur nuggets, huh?” Peter asked with a smug smile.
Felicia’s expression turned serious. “They make them different, I swear.”
Peter stepped on the trash can mechanism and paused for a second, as he was about to throw the spoon and not the empty yogurt container. “I believe you,” he said. “I’m going to change real quick and then we can start, yeah?”
Felicia squared her shoulders. “I want to change, too.”
Peter smiled. “Fine, I’ll give you my oldest, rattiest clothes.”
Felicia threw the plastic container at him, and he didn’t bother to catch it.
“Pick it up and come upstairs,” he said with a wink and took off.
The plan was to paint his old room a new colour as part of its renovation to become Walter’s bedroom. He didn’t really need help with it but he was excited to do it with Felicia, and he couldn’t be happier that she offered when he mentioned it to her a few days ago.
Peter stripped his suit and got into a pair of sweats that had a huge bleach stain from the first time he cleaned the kitchen on his own and a faded blue T-shirt. He fished out for something Felicia could wear and, even though he didn’t pick anything without a hole in it, they weren’t actually his most worn-out clothes.
When she walked in in her new outfit, something stirred inside him. Peter couldn’t explain it, but he always liked it when she wore something of his. He wasn’t possessive or anything, but it felt like he was offering a little thing to her and she accepted it, even though it wasn’t that deep.
Felicia tightened her ponytail and glanced at the buckets of paint on the floor. “So, we’re doing yellow?”
It took Peter a while to answer. “Yeah, but white first because otherwise it won’t show much against the blue.”
Felicia nodded in approval and opened the lid of one of the white paints. “Why didn’t you just choose another blue?”
“I wanted something different,” Peter explained. “It’s kind of poetic that Walter’s going to grow up where I grew up but I don’t want it to be identical. I thought of green, but it’s his least used colour on his drawings and I considered pink but I don’t want to push him into disregarding all the stereotypes because then he might grow up to be a pick me boy.”
“So, you didn’t put any thought into it,” Felicia joked.
“Yeah. I picked yellow because he’s my son.”
Felicia’s jaw dropped. “You. Did. Not.”
Peter smiled. “Son. Sun. Get it?”
Felicia shoved him playfully. “Don’t talk to me or my son ever again.”
Peter stuck his tongue out and brought the paint tray to her. Felicia poured the white in it and dipped the paint roller, followed by Peter.
Felicia took a few steps back and raised her roller as if it were a glass. “Shall we?”
For a moment, Peter considered shaking the roller and throw some paint on her, but it was way too cliche and he knew Felicia would retaliate.
Which would be fun, but there was always the second coat.
“We shall,” he said and they got to work.
“So, how does it feel?” Felicia asked. “Redecorating the room you grew up in.”
Peter thought about it for a second. “It was strange when I was moving my stuff out, but it’s run its course. Oh, by the way, I was thinking Walt would keep my bed. I got a new mattress for him because the old one had a spring ready to stick out but I don’t know if he can sleep in a twin bed alone.”
Felicia groaned. “Peter, he’s three. He will be fine.” She turned to look at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Where are you going to sleep?”
His lips formed a straight line. “After moving my stuff, I figured it was time to clean up my aunt’s room.”
Felicia gave him a smile. “That’s…”
“Super late, I know.”
“No.” Felicia shook her head. “It’s good you took your time.”
“Yeah, well,” Peter said with a sigh. “I didn’t go through anything, I just put it all in boxes and into the attic. I was cleaning dust for days.”
Felicia laughed as she took a brush to paint a spot at the corner that the roller couldn’t get. “No shit.”
“It’s spotless now,” Peter replied, looking at her over his shoulder. “I painted the walls, fixed the window, felt fancy and got a whole new bed and sheets.”
Felicia’s jaw dropped. “And when I met you you were sleeping with pizza cartons.”
Peter rolled his eyes. “That was once.” He set the roller on the floor, the side with the sleeve on the tray. “I’m done here.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
Peter grinned. “Come on, I’ll show you my room.”
Felicia smiled. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “Do you want me to seduce you?”
She gripped his bicep and looked up at him with a smile. Peter’s heart stopped for a second.
“Pass,” Felicia said finally and walked into the room. “Hey, not bad,” she said with an approving nod. “Love the flamingo comforter, it’s giving summer of 2016.”
Peter groaned. “It was on sale.”
She turned to look at him and then fell on the bed. “I’m exhausted.”
Peter dove next to her. “Maybe you should lay here then because Round Two is waiting for us.”
Felicia stretched her arms. “I will, it’s comfy.”
Peter scowled. “It’s way too comfy. I think I should break it in somehow.”
Felicia turned to look at him. “I know a way.”
Peter’s face paled. “You do?”
She took his hands in hers and lifted him up, so they were both standing on the mattress. “Yeah. Just jump around.”
Peter flashed a smile. “My thoughts exactly. Jumping.”
He didn’t understand how it happened. One moment they were standing there, staring at each other wordlessly, his eyes lost in hers, and the next they were leaning in, without any hesitation.
It was a quick kiss, broken only by a gaze to make sure they were both on board with it. And it was obvious they were, their bodies finding their way back to one another as if not a single day had passed. Peter’s heart was close to explosion, his eyes closed shut as his fingers dug in Felicia’s back. It was all too much, the want and the love and the happiness, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
They fell on the bed with a thud and pulled away to catch their breath.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Felicia whispered, her hands cupping Peter’s face. He could almost see some tears in her eyes.
He gave her another kiss. “Why didn’t you say so?”
Felicia gulped. “Can we not…”
Peter nodded. “Yeah, yeah. Fel, I…” He shook his head in disbelief.
Their limbs were tangled up, their breaths synchronized. Peter had so much he wanted to say, but right then he wanted to take it all in and let himself get warm from the light of his love’s smile.
Somehow, he managed to smile even wider. “In case you’re bad at reading body language, I consent,” he said, thinking back to the night they first met. He was a panting, clueless mess back then, unaware of how his life was about to change. Unaware that he had met the one he would never be able to forget.
Felicia smiled in recognition. “Same.”