P E T E R      

         After the night of Peter experiencing spider-like symptoms and dealing with both the people in the subway and Aunt May with Uncle Ben, he eventually fell asleep. He suddenly woke up the next morning to the 7:00 am alarm, smashing the clock on his bedside table. 

        He went to his bathroom to brush his teeth but ended up squirting most of the toothpaste on the mirror, broke off the sink knob and one of the bathroom doorknobs. He carefully opened the other door and went out to his bedroom, sitting in his bed in a panic. His new extremely sharp senses heard every small noise in his room like the wind in his blinds. He even imagined seeing a spider crawling on his skateboard collection on the wall. 

        To investigate his newfound symptoms, he went to his computer to search up spider bites and any similar side effects he is experiencing. While typing, some of the keyboard buttons came off and stuck on his fingertips. He couldn't find anything anyways so he decided to read his book by Doctor Connors to see if he wrote about being successful in cross-species genetics.

        Sitting on the balcony roof, he read the book and looked over the formula file, dangling his leg over the edge.

        He is startled when a voice calls out to him. "Peter," He looks down and finds Uncle Ben and Zoee looking up at him from the sidewalk. "What are you doing?"

        Peter glances at the Atkins girl next to his uncle. She waves at him, the right corner of her lips lifting up slightly. He almost falls off the roof as he notices that. He sends back a wide grin before looking back at Uncle Ben.  "I'm uh, doing homework."

        "Be careful," Ben says before walking up the front steps to go inside. Zoee follows him. Peter looks at the back of the book he's investigating, looking at Dr. Connors' picture. He then collects everything and climbs back into his room through the window to quickly search up his home address and then go down to meet with Zoee. 

        Zoee is waiting for him at the bottom of the steps that lead to the second floor. Peter races down the stairs and envelops Zoee into a bear hug, hugging her super tight and smiling big. He kisses her forehead before looking down at her, his arms still around her smaller frame. The corner of her lips lift up again and Peter chuckles. "It's a start, I can't wait to see your full beautiful smile." He kisses her head again before pulling away.

        At his comment, Peter swears that the other corner of her lips started to lift up. He admired her for a few moments and almost got lost in just staring at her before he realized that he had to go.

        He shakes himself out of his loving trance before speaking again. "I have to go but I'll be right back. So stay here, I'll be quick." He scoops her up into another hug before rushing out the door. He glances back at her before he closes the door shut and he sees her face of confusion, wondering why he wasn't bringing her along with.

        Peter knows he is a successful product of cross-species genetics and he doesn't want Zoee to get caught up in anything dangerous, so he wants to keep her as far away from that as possible. At any cost. Whatever it takes. 

Z O E E

        As she watches Peter rush out the door, she can't help but feel slightly down. He always brings her along to anything he has to do so that she can go out and explore. If it wasn't for Peter, Zoee would always be stuck at home whenever she had free time. She quickly brushes off the feeling and stops any degrading thought from forming as she remembers what she came for.

        Holding the white envelope with a fancy red wax seal, she makes her way through the well-known house to wait in the living room. She would go into Peter's room, he has that confidence in her, but she still feels weird going in without his permission. She'd rather wait downstairs so that as soon as he came back from his errand, she will present him with the invitation.

        Sitting on the soft couch, she pulls out another new read, The Giver. The new and unique reads she finds are always at the library or at the dollar store in the book section. She's already more than halfway into the novel, always reading when she has the time. 

        Soon enough, Zoee is missing a chapter to end the book when Peter comes through the door. Shooting him a half-smile, she tucks her novel into her bag before grabbing the envelope again.

        It was almost overnight that Zoee decided to start trying out smiling again, for Peter. She thought that if she wanted to remain Peter's number one girl, as he said, she needed to step up to meet with up with Gwen. She knew that thinking this way wasn't going to help with her insecurities but she needs Peter in her life. He helped her so much so she isn't going to let him go anytime soon. At this point she trusts him with her life, so she also thought it was the right time to start opening up to him, even if it was slowly. Slowly but surely.

         Peter sits down next to her when he arrives, throwing his arm to rest behind her on the couch. Zoee likes to think that he is basically holding her but before she can get lost into her thoughts, she thrusts the invitation into Peter's hands. She fishes her phone out of her pocket to get ready to explain to him what the envelope has inside.

        She watches his facial expressions as he takes out the invitation and reads the fancy detailing and lettering on it. His eyebrows furrow in confusion before he looks up at her for an explanation.

        Zoee moves her pointer finger down to the end of the invitation, pointing at the number of people invited. It said, 3 people (The Atkins + one guest).

        "Ohh!" Peter realizes and before Zoee can explain through text, he starts explaining what she might mean. "So you and your mother got invited to a wedding and you can bring one guest, and you decided to bring me?"

        Zoee nods, quite impressed, and holds her hand out for a high five. They high five each other and Peter pretends to bow. 

        "So, who's guest am I? Yours, or your mother's?" He asks. Zoee gives him a bored look as if saying, 'Who do you think?'. Peter chuckles, "What? Your mother loves me."

        Zoee rolls her eyes playfully and starts to move like if she was going to stand up and leave. Before she does, Peter grabs onto her hand and pulls her back down. Her body crashes onto the couch and presses against Peter's body, his arm now around her shoulders. Now he's holding her and Zoee feels like she's in heaven. 

        "I know I'm your guest, don't worry." He murmurs, pulling her closer to kiss her forehead. "I just have one more question, will this be a date?"

        Zoee's mind goes blank as she stares at him. She wants to say something but she can't, all she can do is look at him with her mouth slightly agape.

        "And I want to. Be a date, that is." He clarifies. "I want it to be a date, so you don't have to ask."

        Her head has a mind of its own because it's nodding up and down. She's saying yes and she can't believe she had the courage to do so. She's proud of herself for the first time in a while. 

        Peter smiles and kisses her temple. "Smile for me." He then mumbles and Zoee purses her lips to stop her amused face. She gives him a half-smile and he shakes his head.

        She knows what he wants so she stares at the wall in front of her before looking back at him. She lifts both corners of her lips up, giving him a genuine smile. Her eyes light up and crinkle as she looks at him, her lips formed in a closed-lipped smile. 

        Peter gives her the same soft smile back and peers into her light hazel eyes. "That's my girl."

        Zoee stares back, getting lost in his baby brown eyes, almost leaning in. She knows she has a crush on him, and that she can get slightly possessive when it comes to him and Gwen Stacy. Now at this moment, staring into his eyes with his arm around her, she starts to fall in love. 

a lil fluffly chapter for y'all. it was time for her to smile and this is the best way she could've, in my opinion. i ship them so hardcore. i need a shipname for my bby's. comment down below some ideas! zeter is the only one coming to mind.