The next morning Peter texts me to meet him at the bleachers during English. I grin, shoving my phone into the pocket of my long light brown coat that covers my black skinny jeans and light blue jersey. Gwen gives me a look, biting her lip, stopping her from saying anything.

"What?" I ask, shoving my toast into my mouth. 

"Nothin. Just wondering why you didn't tell me you were utterly in love with your best friend." She says accusingly, making sure she has all the books she needed for the day. "I just don't know how I missed it." 

I shrug, ignoring her, knowing I'd probably tell her everything I found out last night, if I start speaking to her about Peter. I needed to speak to Peter about his little bug secret before I com-bust. 

"Dad's on!" Simon yells, pointing to the TV. Dad and I haven't spoken about what happened last night with Peter and I was honestly still a bit annoyed at the whole situation. I know it wasn't anyone's fault, per-say, and now knowing that Peter is, in-fact Spider-man, I understood why he was so defensive. It was still annoying though. 

I tune in to what dad was saying, "....positively placed one individual at the scene. Which is why this morning, I am issuing an arrest warrant for the masked vigilante known...as spiderman."

Shit. 

******

I spot Peter leaning back on the bleachers with earphones in and his eyes closed, waiting for me. I grin and stop for a few seconds just watching him, remembering the feeling of his lips on mine, just a few hours ago. I giggle softly to myself and slowly approach him, attempting to scare him. I get as close to his leg when, suddenly, his eyes open and he jerks upward towards me with a small 'boo." 

I jump, with a small yell and almost trip over my legs as Peter catches my arm, laughing. "You scared me you jerk!" I lightly punch his arm, placing my hand over my heart. 

"You were going to do the exact same thing to me!" he defends, pulling me down to sit next to him. I playfully pull my tongue at him and he pulls a face at me. I giggle at our childish antics. 

"So," I say sobering up, "Seems like my dad wants to arrest you after all." 

He looks down, nodding his head and looking back at me with a sheepish smile.

"So you going to tell me how this all happened?" I ask, unable to hide my excitement.

"Remember that day at Oscorp?" He asks me. I nod, confused at first and then everything clicks into place. 

"Your dads research." I say looking at him with wide eyes. He nods excitedly and hands me a small tube with a spider inside. 

I turn the tube, looking at the dead spider with wonder. "Its so beautiful." I comment softly. 

"Knows how to bite though." Peter says, glaring lightly at the small spider. 

"Who else knows" I turn him. 

"Just you." He answers shyly looking down. 

My eyes widen in surprise. "Really?" I ask shocked. 

He nods shyly, "Who else would I tell." I grin at him and he grins back. He suddenly looks down,"You don't believe what the police are saying, do you?" He asks worriedly.

I look at him surprised that he would think that. I shake my head slightly, "Of course not Pete." He nods, believing me. "Does it scare you? What you can do?" I ask curiously. 

He looks at me and gives me a excited sort of smile and shakes his head, "No." He turns to face me properly and answers again, "Not at all." 

I smile at him and think about last night. "What did that thing on the bridge look like?" 

"Real big, too big to be human." He says thoughtfully. 

"You gotta lay low." I tell him seriously. 

He shakes his head looking at me, "Can't do that."

"You've got to," I insist, "I mean why..?"

"Because of last night. Those people on the bridge.. whatever was attacking them woulda.. would have killed them." He tells me meaningfully. "And you know I.. I gotta go after it."

"That's not your job." I whisper to him, shaking my head lightly.

"Maybe it is." He looks at me and then glaces at my lips briefly, changing the subject.  "So how long have you been wanting to kiss me?" He asks totally out of the blue. My head snaps up, and he laughs at the expression on my face.

 I sit up straighter. "How long have you known I wanted to kiss you?" I answer his question with a question of my own, squinting my eyes at him.

He looks down with a smile and shrugs. "Well, you're an amazing kisser."

I laugh nervously, and stare at him seriously, "You were okay," I shrug indifferently, trying to stop the blush from taking over my face. 

He looks surprised but amused, "Oh really?" He asks, moving even closer towards me, licking his lips. I nod, overwhelmed at the distance, or lack thereof. "Maybe I should change your mind then?" He asks, leaning closer. 

"Maybe you should," I whisper, watching as his lips come closer towards mine when suddenly something flies towards us and Peters hand reaches out, catches and throws it back, all in under two seconds. I turn my head shocked, and watch as the rugby ball flies, really fast, and hits one of the goalposts, making a huge dent in the pole. I look back at Peter, shocked and see him looking at the goalpost with the same look of amazement and shock as everyone else on the field. 

"You just-" I point to the pole, squinting to see if I was seeing wrong.

"Mhm." Peter mumbled.

"Ho-" I was cut of by the bell ringing, making me jump in surprise. Peter laughed at me and stood up holding out his hand to help me up.

"Come on," He says nodding his head towards the building. I reach for his hand shivering at the feel of it in mine and pick up my book bag, throwing it over my shoulder. We walk down the bleachers, hand in hand and I look back at the goalpost, still slightly in shock. Peter looks at me with a cute sheepish smile. "You never know your own strength right?"

I grin, shaking my head as we walk back into the school. Peter stops before we enter class, claiming that he needs to go and speak to Dr. Connors. I let him go and walk into class and spot Gwen. She gives me a big smile, lifting her eyebrows suggestively. I giggle at her and take the seat next to her. 

"You know it's impolite to be hooking up during school hours Janey." Gwen tells me sternly. 

"We were not 'hooking up' and you know that." I say rolling my eyes. "But I'm sure you must be knowing all about that with Flash." I retort teasingly. 

Gwen gasps, exaggeratedly, "I most certainly do Not." She insists blushing, turning away from me and facing the front. 

"Sure you don't." I snicker quietly, opening my textbook.  

*****

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. I change once I get home into my gym clothes and Gwen insist that shes coming with.  

"You're only coming because of Flash." I complain, "He'll be too distracted by you to help me train."

"He will not." Gwen tells me, pulling her blonde hair into a small ponytail. "How do I look?" she asks twirling around in her gym clothes. 

"Like you're going to steal my training partner." I grumble, secretly glad that she's coming with, not really annoyed at all. Its only day two of me knowing about spider-mans identity but keeping it from Gwen was secretly killing me, considering we tell each other everything. I felt super disconnected from her and didn't mind the extra quality time. 

As we left the building we saw dad entering. He greeted Gwen with a hug and stopped in front of me with a sigh. 

"I'll wait by the cab." Gwen mumbles quickly and leaves us. Traitor. 

"Look MJ, I know you care a lot about Peter. I'm sorry that I got so defensive yesterday, I know he didn't mean to be offensive. He's a good kid. But I just don't think that there's a good enough guy for my little princesses." He says getting straight to the point. 

"I know dad." I mumble, feeling embarrassed. "He shouldn't have been so insistent and you shouldn't have been so defensive so you don't have to apologize. It's just that Peter's been my friend for years now and you've never liked him." 

"It's not that I've never liked him. I've just always seen him as someone that could potentially take you away from us." 

I blush and roll my eyes.

"He came to the precinct today." Dad says seriously. 

I look up in surprise. "Why?" 

"Some ridiculous thing about a giant lizard roaming the streets. He really should go and see a shrink or something because claiming something like that at a police station is mental behavior."

I sigh tiredly, "Dad I-" 

 "MJ!" Gwen yells, "We're gonna be late." 

"Go on." Dad pushes me towards the cab. "We'll catch up later." 

I stare at him for a second before rushing towards Gwen. 

 "So bossy." I tell her. She mimics me in a silly voice and I laugh at her childishness. 

*****

I yawn, stretching my arms above my head, reading over the last few paragraphs that I just completed for my biology profile when I heard a knocking by the window. I look over and see Peter sitting outside on the fire escape and nod my head for him to come in.

 I read over the last few sentences before teasingly saying, "We have a front door, you know?" I giggle,saving the document and turning around, "also, my dad's under the impression that you need psychiatric attentio-" I gasp. Peter leans against the wall, next to the window in his spider-man suit, gasping in pain, as angry large scratches sit across his chest. "Peter." I say, rushing towards him. "What happened?" 

"You should see the other guy." He jokes lightly, smiling in pain as he falls onto the single couch that was near the window. I sit next to him, trying to get a better look at his injuries. "The other guy, in this instance, being a giant mutant lizard." He breaths out. 

 "Hey MJ-," Gwen calls from the passage, barging into the room. Her eyes widen and her mouth drops as she spots Peter on the couch in his spider-man suit. 

"Shit." I whisper, quickly standing up and rushing to close the door behind her and locking it. I turn towards Gwen as she gives me a look of horror and looks back at Peter. Peter groans, either from pain or from his identity being revealed, I don't know, but I ignore him and pay attention to Gwen. "Gwen, hey look at me." 

She points to Peter almost comically and looks back at me and falls back onto the bed, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Peter groans, trying to stand up. "Hey you, stay there." I order and he nods lightly. I turn back to Gwen and kneel in front of her.  "I know," I whisper to her. "I found out yesterday, but its okay. Its just Peter." 

Gwen nods quickly, wheezing slightly.

I grow frustrated and lightly slap her across the face to get her attention back to me. "Right now, I'm going to help him. And you're going to go downstairs and shut up about this. I will speak to you once Peters okay, only if he agrees to let me tell you everything okay?" I tell her sternly. 

She looks at me, nodding, finally realizing that Peters in pain. "You okay?" She asks him lightly, wincing as she glances at his chest. 

"Splendid." He jokes with a small smile. 

"Gwen , MJ." We hear dad call from the passage. "Howard's making some coco." Gwen and I look at each other in panic. She looks at Peter and presses her lips to her mouth. 

"I want dad, coming." She yells and closes the door tightly behind her. 

"What about MJ?"He asks her. 

"She's not feeling too well." Gwen says making an excuse and pulls him away. 

I quickly go to lock the door again and let out a deep sigh, pressing my head against the door. I moan lightly, "I'm so sorry." I tell Peter, turning to look at him. 

He shrugs smiling cutely at me, not looking stressed that my sister just found out about him. 

I enter the bathroom and take out a hand towel, dampening it and filling up a  small bucket of warm water. I tie my hair up and walk back into the room, only to find Peter on the carpet leaning against the couch. 

"You're gonna need to...um" I gesture to his suit.

"If you wanted me naked, MJ, you should have just asked." He jokes. 

"I just did." I tease back, helping him pull off the spandex top. My breath catches in my throat as i realize just how bad the scratches were. I close my eyes and try to focus at the task at hand, all the while feeling Peter watching me. 

I hold onto his shoulder and gently bring the towel down to his chest. Peter lets out a sharp hiss and I stop briefly, leaning my forehead against his. I lean back with a small smile on my face and he looks back at me intensely, glancing at my lips and starts leaning forward. 

Just before our lips touch, I whisper teasingly, "Easy bug boy." 

 He chuckles,"What did you call me?" I giggle lightly and close my eyes, He lightly  brushes his hand against my cheek and leans in again. 

I shake my head, "No."

"Yes." 

I shake my head, looking down as my eyes begin to tear up."I know what this is."I whisper.

"What?" he asks. 

"Everyday, for as long as I can remember, my father has left every morning, and put a badge on his chest and strapped a gun to his hip. And everyday for as long as I can remember I've never known if he was going to make it home." My voice cracks towards the end. 

Peter clenches his jaw before bringing his hands back up to cup my cheek,his thumb making circles on my cheek,  looking at me intensely.  I lean my head into his hand and hold it tightly, starting at him. "I got you," He whispers. "Okay?" I look down, my eyes closed, feeling too overwhelmed. "I gotta stop him though. I've have to. Because I created him."

I look up into his eyes, confused. "What do you mean?" I whisper.

"I gave him the equation, that made all this possible." He whispers. 

My eyes widen in surprise. Oh my god. "Dr. Connors?"

Peter nods, "It's my responsibility. I have to be the one to fix it."

I grab his hand and press a kiss on his palm, "Oh Pete." i whisper. 

"Hey, lets get out of here." I look at him confused and he gives me a cheeky smile. "Lets get outta here." he repeats shaking his head so that his hair brushes against my forehead, chuckling softly.  "Just for a minute." 

I giggle, shaking my head, "I can't, If my parent see me leave.." I look down wishing I could go with him. 

He gives me a bigger smile, "Your parents are not going to see you leave,"

My eyes widen as I realize what he meant. I giggle and help him get up, unlocking the door and leaving a note on Gwen's pillow and jump out of the window. 

"Ready?" Peter asks with an excited smile and I hug him tighter to me and nod, sharing his excitement. Suddenly we're air born and I squeal, squeezing him tighter, slightly worried about his injuries but he pays no mind to them and holds onto me.

I yell in excitement and he laughs. He lands us on the roof of some random building and we lay down on his jacket and watch the stars, wrapped in one another's embraces.