"You found the light in me that I couldn't find"
- Lady Gaga

  As days passed by, Peter made it his duty to visit the Starks every single day. He always got the same result : Harper didn't want to see him. Every day, he got back home with puffy eyes and couldn't bring himself to tell May about what was making him feel so miserable. Tony opened the door to him once instead of Pepper. At least, he was honest enough not to tell him Harper was sleeping. He told Peter she didn't want to see him yet.

  "Not yet ?" Peter had asked.

  "She's a Stark," Tony had simply answered. "Give her sometime to admit her mistake."

  That night, Tony had spent a lot of time pleading Peter's case to Harper. He'd told her what a sweet boy he was, that he was incapable of hurting anyone. Tony told her how much Peter cared about her but he insisted on the fact that keeping his secret from her was Peter's right. Harper knew her father had asked Peter not to tell her anything and yet, she wasn't mad at her dad. Like Steve, Tony had pointed that out. He'd tried absolutely everything. 
  To come back to Peter, when he came back to his Aunt May, he broke down at last. He flopped on the couch, his eyes still red from crying and May hastened to hold him in her arms.

  "What could this girl possibly do to you ? How could she make you feel like this ?"

  "Nothing, May, she... She's mad at me. That's it."

  "Why ?"

  "I didn't tell her who I really was but...but she did."

  "What do you mean ?"

  "She's Mr Stark's daughter," Peter explained. "It's a long story. I helped her out a few times as Spide-Man. Last week, after the dance, she found out but I was about to tell her, right before that man took her and..."

    "Shh..." She whispered when he started crying again. "Everything's gonna be okay, Peter. How could she stay mad at you any longer ? You already told me that you saved her life."

  "But she's mad at me because of this stupid suit."

  "Did you tell her why you didn't say anything ?" May asked.

  "No, I... Well, yes. I told her Mr Stark wanted me to protect her while staying in the background."

  "Yes, I know that. But did you tell her why you really lied ?"

  "No."

  "Then go. Don't let this go, Peter. Don't let her  go so easily."

***

  Harper went to her room after dinner even though she'd barely eaten anything. A few pieces of meat, some salad... Her appetite had been quickly ruined. She dove into her drawings. That's all she'd been doing lately. Staying home was making her crazy and these walls started feeling like a cage. How long had it been since she hadn't gone for a run ? She could barely climb the stairs without her father rushing to her help.

  "No useless efforts," he always said.

  The pain was almost gone. It was still hard to move, sometimes, but nothing more. Even when she touched the bruise (it had almost disappeared to that point), she barely felt any pain. Stuck to the wall next to her desk were all the drawings she'd made during the week. They made her feel even more guilty. Many of them pictured Peter. In one of them, he was carrying her on his back, just as he'd done that night. In another one, he was waiting for her on her balcony. Others showed him climbing on the roof. Drawing had always been Harper's way of understanding the world and each of those pictures, once on paper, seemed clearer than ever. However, her favourite drawing wasn't the one picturing Spider-Man in action or even the one with the Avengers fighting for her. Actually, her favourite was the one where Peter held her awkwardly against him, looking so handsome in his suit. It was a reproduction of the picture Pepper took of them that night, right before the dance. She stared at it for a while, just as she did every night ever since she'd put it on her wall. It reminded her of the night they'd spent, from their dance to their kiss. She kept telling herself she'd let him know she was fine, someday. She never did. She was getting ready to go to bed : her thoughts were exhausting. She'd just closed her eyes when someone gently knocked on the door to her balcony. She got up precociously and she felt a wave of sadness hit her. Peter was waiting with her back to her. He stood there, in his blue and red suit, wind going through his hair as he faced the sky and New York City. She noticed how the air made his hair move : they had grown out a bit and small curls were forming at the top of his head. His back was arched under the fabric as he leaned against the railing. Slowly and unconfidently, she walked to the glazed door and unlocked it. Alerted by the clicking sound, Peter turned around. He felt more impatient than he'd ever felt. He was seeing her at last. She was there, in front of him, safe and sound. He stopped himself from taking her in his arms. As to Harper, she decided to play tough.

  "What are you doing here ?" she asked, trying – and failing – to hide the shaking of her voice.

  "I came to explain myself."

  "You already did, Peter. You did it when you took off that mask, when we were with Smith."

  "No, you don't understand."

  "Of course I do ! You're gonna tell me that it was... I don't know, to protect me ? Because that's what my father asked ? Or you're gonna tell me you were afraid of breaking the promise you had made to my dad, or..."

  "None of it is true, Harper !"

  She had never heard Peter raise his voice. He hadn't yelled at her, but his voice had slightly changed. It sounded both upset and begging. 

  "None of it is true," he repeated, more calmly. "I was about to tell you everything at the dance. It's true. But I didn't want to, and I'm not gonna apologise for that."

  "You...you didn't want to tell me ?"

  That world hurt Harper more that she was willing to say.

  "I trusted you and you didn't want to trust me ?"

  "That's not what I meant. I didn't want to tell you because you were at the dance with Peter Parker, for God's sake ! Do you know what I am without this suit ?"

  She didn't answer : she had no idea what he expected from her.

  "Nothing," he said. "I'm invisible without the suit. Nobody knows me, and even if I love Ned, I gotta say we're not really popular with girls or with the other students, for that matter. But you, you...! You chose to go to that dance with Peter Parker. That's the guy you trusted, Peter Parker. The guy you confided in ? Peter Parker. If I'd told you that I was Spider-Man, I... I don't know. Deep down, I told myself he would overshadow the Peter you saw. As soon as I get into that damn suit, Peter Parker fades away. People only see Spider-Man, the friendly neighbourhood vigilante. You saw something else in me. You saw...what did you see ?"

  His voice broke on the last sentence. His question was as harmless as it was appealing. Harper opened then closed her mouth twice, unsure of how she was going to answer that. She tried to find an answer. What did she see in him ? Why did he become so important to her in so little time ? 

  "You...you didn't see me as a monster. Even after seeing me in that field, you decided I was worth it."

  "Because you are worth it, Harper."

  "But you know I would've kept seeing you, not Spider-Man !" she cried. "I would've kept seeing the nice guy I got on with five minutes after we met, the guy who was so sweet to me. You know I would've kept seeing funny and lovable Peter Parker, the one I... The one I saw from the beginning. I don't get it, Peter. I don't."

  "I'm not asking you to understand, I just... I want you to forgive me. I mean, the part where you understand would be great, too," he quickly added. he took a step forward as he spoke. "But – I'm begging you – forgive me. Can you imagine how it felt ? Harassing your parents every day ? Coming here to check up on you and get brushed off ?"

  "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry you couldn't understand the one thing I needed : time."

  Peter had tried to make her admit her mistake and there she was, rolling up into her shell. He had to make this right. He got a little closer to her and cupped her face. 

  "Look at me," he said. "Please."

  Harper lifted her gaze and shivered.

  "Are you cold ?"

   "A little." 

  "Forgive me, Harper," he whispered as he pressed his forehead against hers.

  Their eyes were closed now.

  "Forgive me. Understand me, understand the choice I made by not telling you anything. If you don't forgive me, I honestly don't know what I'll do. I hope what I said made you think about that, at least." 

  "Yes, Peter, of course it did. What you said... I don't agree with what you said."

  "What ?" he said as he slightly pulled away in order to look at her. 

  "You're far from nothing without the suit. You're Peter Parker and, trust me, based on what I got to know about him, he's the bravest, kindest and fairest boy in the world."

  She lowered her eyes. Did she really say that ? Even though she meant it, she wished she hadn't said anything. She pressed her forehead against his and their lips brushed against each other.

  "I don't want to ruin everything, Peter."

  "What ?"

  They were still in each other's arms and their mouths were barely a few inches away from one another.

  "I don't know how that stuff works. I've never... Everyone who gets a little bit too close to me gets hurt. I got my own father in trouble."

  "No, you didn't. Smith is the only one to blame."

  "Peter, I'm a monster that's been created out of thin air. The reason I was born is this," she whispered. "I was born to destroy."

  "I refuse to believe this."

  "I don't want to hurt you."

  "You won't."

  "How can you be so sure ?"

  "I just know."

  He ended this dialogue of the deaf by kissing her softly. Harper quickly felt exactly as she did the night of the dance, in that room where they'd kissed for the first time. She felt the same kind of euphoria, this feeling of wellbeing when Peter wrapped his arms around her. With her thin fingers, she explored his back, his arms and his shoulder, her neck as well as his hair. She let out a small sound of surprise when he lifted her from the ground. She was amazed at her own audacity when she linked her legs around Peter's hip and implicitly invited him in her room. He closed the door with a soft kick and softly dropped her off on her bed as he kept kissing her. He lied next to her and ended their kiss just so he could look at her. Harper stretched out her arm and locked her door, making sure no one would come and bother them. She snuggled up to Peter and put the sheets over their bodies. She fell asleep within a few minutes, soothed by the sensation of Peter's hand on her waist. Peter didn't fall asleep right away : he allowed himself to look around the room, which gave him a few more clues about Harper Stark's personality. The open books spread on the ground were evidence of her total lack of organisation. The sobriety of the wall's colour showed him she was a simple girl who didn't like to overthink (or at least, she didn't overthink about the things most teen did but when it came to giving herself a headache, she deserved a medal). When Peter's gaze fell on all the drawings, he couldn't help but smile at the one picturing him and Harper, right before the dance. Had they known then how the night would turn out... Would they still have gone there ? Probably not. And yet Peter was happy they did. If it wasn't for that dance, he might never have kissed her. And that, he thought, was worth a thousand battles.