"Peter Benjamin Parker, you better have a good explanation for this." May demands with her eyes still wide, but then she notices me. "Oh my gosh. You're—you're Phantom! Wait, that's really her, right?"

"Yeah—yeah, that's her." Peter softly replies before turning to me again. "Phantom, this is my Aunt May; she's a fan of yours."

"Huh, that last part I didn't know." I turn to may, giving her my full attention as I extend my hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Mrs. Parker."

"Oh, please. Call me 'May.'" She replies with a beaming smile as she shakes my hand fervently. "I can't believe I'm actually getting to meet you."

"May," Peter whines as he drags out the sound of her name, "please, don't embarrass me in front of her."

"On the contrary, I think it's sweet." I tell him with a smile that he can't see. "I do apologize for intruding, but I needed to return Peter's suit and speak to him about something. Although, I'm sure you two have a lot to discuss, and I don't want to overstep."

"Oh, no. Please, stay." May quickly stops me and look to Peter for a quick confirmation, "Maybe you can help me understand all this."

I look to Peter, hoping to gauge his reaction on the situation, but he looks between May and I with wide eyes as his hands nervously fiddle with his mask. "All right, I'd be more than happy to help where I can."

Peter's eyes soften at the words, and May leaves with a comment I can't quite catch. "So—um. Th-thanks for bringing my suit back."

"You're welcome," I smile and nod to where May just was, "you're aunt seems pretty cool with everything—all things considered."

"Yeah, I guess so." He mumbles and looks to the hallway where May disappeared down. "You said you had something to talk to me about?"

"Yes, I did." I pause for a second and fall into chair and feet propped on the desk. "Now, just going to start off by saying that I don't need an answer right away, and you shouldn't feel pressured to agree."

"Okay." He draws out the syllable and sits on his bed.

"I should also start off by explaining, there's a new threat in New York—one that targets people like you and I. These past few months, it's come to my attention that someone—who I can't quiet tell you about at the moment for your own safety—has been conducting a series of human trials on unaware or involuntary subjects. Their goal is to modify the DNA of humans and REMs alike with the hopes of creating or enhancing abilities.

"These people are unimaginably dangerous—both to people like us and the general population. Especially since the closer they get to attaining their goal, the more desperate—and therefore dangerous—they become.

"Which brings me to what I wanted to talk to you about. Tony and I have agreed that this is not the kind of mission done alone. So, seeing how—shockingly—well we work together, I came to ask you if you'll become my partner?"

Peter stays eerily quiet and still for a long moment. "Wait—you—you want me to be your partner? Like team up together for missions and patrols and such?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Can I ask you something?" He questions softly with that look on his face that always makes my heart melt and ache. It's the expression he gets when he's doubting himself, but I nod anyway as if I don't know what he'll say. "Why me? Why not Mr. Stark or one of the other Avengers?"

I drop my feet from the desk and lean forward on my knees as I speak, "Because despite the fact that I normally do things best alone, I work better with you. Plus, you said it yourself. 'Someone's gotta look out for the little guy.' There's bigger worries for the Avengers to handle." I look up at Peter, wanting desperately to take off my mask so he can see in his eyes how serious I am. "Not to mention, I've kept an eye on you since I tracked you down before Germany, and I've seen the person you are both in and out of the suit. You're the kind of person I can respect and want in my corner. I chose you, Peter Parker. So don't doubt yourself."

"So you're serious. You—you want me to be your partner?" I let out a chuckle and nod. "Okay."

"Is that an okay like you're still processing? Or an okay like you're—agreeing?"

"Okay as in in 'yeah.'" A smile breaks across his face, and it makes my heart suddenly race.

"Oh thank goodness. I'll admit, I was nervous you would say no." I stand up and walk over to Peter. "If I'm being honest, I've also started to realize how much bigger this situation is than me, bigger than a lot of us. But, I do believe if we can get enough information and proof, together, we can put a stop to them before they get too far."

"Yeah, together." He whispers with an odd look on his face.

"Okay, so dinner is on its way. Hopefully, pizza is okay." May calls as from the dining room. Peter and I follow her out and sit down next to her at the table.

I shift in my seat, uncomfortable at the mere thought of taking my mask off. As much as I want to, Dad gave me specific instructions to not tell anyone yet. Peter and May seem to pick up on my sudden discomfort, and her eyes widen when Peter whispers to her. "Oh, don't worry about taking off your mask, sweetie. We won't tell anyone your identity."

"As much as I'd like to do that, I can't. My identity is one of the Avenger's best kept secrets." In more ways than anyone can ever know. I sigh and fiddle with my fingers atop the table. "I'm not allowed to disclose my identity to anyone without express permission. Especially since there are people who would give anything to know who I am."

"Maybe you could take off part of it?" May offers, and I smile at how kind she's being with the situation.

"I could, but I won't be able to speak without it. There's a voice modulator inside, and I can't allow you to even know my voice." I sigh and wish more than anything that I could take off the mask and tell them. Instead, I swipe down the hood of my suit and let it fall back. "I'll tell you what I can, but I can't guarantee it will be much."

"That's okay. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."

"Does that mean you can't tell me anything even though we're partners?" Peter finally asks, and I nod, which makes my heart lurch.

"I'm working on convincing Tony otherwise." I pause and before I can think better of it say, "I really don't like lying to people."

May clears her throat after a long moment of silence and expertly shifts the topic to Peter being Spiderman. It takes a while for us to explain everything to her, and I do my best to ease her fears and reassure her that I'll do everything to make sure he's safe too.

"So, I—I was going to go on patrol if—if you wanna come to." Peter asks after everything with May is settled. "It's okay if you don't. I know it's late."

"Well, in that case, we should probably get going before it gets much later." I reply and hop onto his windowsill. "I'm excited to see how you operate too."

"Cool. Do you—do you need any help getting down?" He questions as he slips his mask on, and the sincerity in his voice makes me hold in my laughter. "Oh, right. That was stupid."

"I personally thought it was cute, but if you wanna call it stupid, I doubt I can change your mind." I tease, which makes him go quiet and start blushing—even though I can't see it through the mask, I just know. "Now, are we going on patrol or what?"

"Y-yeah." He stutters and follows as I push myself out of the window and shadow morph until I reach the ground. Peter drops down next to me, still acting all fidgety. "So, normally I just hang out and wait for trouble, but we can do that differently if you want?"

"Look, Peter, you really don't have to be nervous. If we're gonna be partners, we're gonna have to get comfortable around each other eventually." I notice the shift in his demeanor and wish that I could just be honest with him. "Maybe, don't think of me as Phantom. Just think of me as a regular person, or—or a friend, if that helps."

"Okay, I—I can do that." He tells me and seems to let out some of the tension from his shoulders. "So I was thinking we could just swing around and keep an eye out for any trouble."

I nod and take a step closer to him, "So it's probably easier for us to just go together?" Peter nods and gingerly wraps an arm around my waist as he shoots a web. A small squeal escapes me as we launch up in the air and swing around the city. It's strange and far different from the shadow flying I do. "That was so cool." I tell him as we settle down on the edge of a rooftop garden. "Is that really what it's like for you every night too?"

"Yeah. Why? What's it like when you do your—um—shadow thing? I'm not sure what to call it."

"I don't know either, if I'm being honest." I reply with a laugh. "And it's hard to explain because I'm not quite there to feel it all. When I'm doing it, I mostly shift into shadow and stay a little bit solid. Here. Give me your hand."

Without a moment's hesitation, Peter offers it, and I can't lie anymore by saying the small things like that don't make me fall even harder for him. I have to push it aside though as I take a deep breath and place my hand in his. "Now, this may not work, but I'm gonna give it a shot."

I concentrate on the feeling go his hand in mine and expanding the limit of my power from just myself to where it envelops Peter's as well. Then, I take a deep breath and phase.

"Woah. That's awesome, dude." Peter chimes after I let go.

"It's how I fly and pass through objects. I kind of just let myself fade into shadow for a moment." I shrug and look at him, my mind is like a skipping record wondering what he'll think when he inevitably finds out who I am. "So, anything on the Spidey radar?"

"Nothing yet."

"Actually, my sensors picked up the sound of a gunshot on 5th and Park." ARTI chimes, and I tap Peter's shoulder before relaying the information. Although, Peter barely gives me a chance to move before his arm is once again around my waist as we swing towards the danger.

It's surprisingly how easily Peter and I work together throughout the night to take down criminal after criminal. After a few hours, we both are exhausted but surprisingly excited for tomorrow night. "Tell Aunt May I'm sorry for keeping you out so late, but I'll see you again soon. You have my number if you need anything." I tell him as I sit on his window sill. "Night, Peter."

"Night, Phantom." He calls with a dopey grin on his face. It's enough to put a smile on my face, but feel like a dagger in my heart. I know it's gonna be worse tomorrow when he's telling Ned and I all about it. So, I decide to try getting Dad to change his mind about my telling Peter.

I only hope I'll be able to tell Peter the truth before it tears our friendship apart.