chapter sixteen!
who is spider-man?

    NINA DIDN'T let go even once she felt his feet touch solid ground. She clung on even tighter at the feeling, head completely buried into the nook between his neck and shoulder. She had stopped sobbing, but tears still spilled, and her throat was hoarse from her screaming. She still shook, legs wrapped around his torso tight. Nina was terrified that as soon as she let go of him, she'd fall all over again━again, and again, and again. Nina didn't know what she had seen, but it terrified her.

"Hey," said Spider-Man softly. She didn't realise how familiar his voice sounded, but she felt it; she felt how calm it was. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay."

She shook her head, gripping the fabric of his suit in her hands. Spider-Man didn't force her, he didn't tell her to get off. Instead, he just wrapped his arms back around her, rubbing her back soothingly. Nina's breath hitched, surprised, but she didn't stop him. Instead, she just slumped, her grip falling. He smelt of ash, but it was in a way comforting ... just the way he held her, letting her calm down ... Nina has never felt someone hold her in such a way yet.

She stopped shaking and she heard his voice better, "I got you," said the superhero, "you're okay."

Slowly, Nina dropped her legs. She felt the grass between her toes. Spider-Man held her arms, rubbing them as she took a deep, shuddering breath, opening her eyes and stepping back so she could see where she was. Her legs were still feeling like jelly, and there was a rip in her dress. Her feet stung, as did her cheeks, her small injuries from earlier finally showing themselves.

She couldn't find herself able to say anything, just staring at Spider-Man. He was only just taller than her, stronger, but at the same time, it felt like he was just a normal guy. Behind those unblinking lenses were caring eyes, she just knew ...

Then, his head dipped a little, and she heard a cheeky, "Don't look, I think we interrupted something ..."

Nina glanced briefly to her left, and barked out a chuckle to see a couple watching them from a nearby bench, hair messy, clothes a little straggled. Realising what she did, she gasped and quickly covered her mouth, going bright red.

"Don't mind us," Spider-Man said to them, holding up a hand, "the lady here just needed to use the elevator."

And as if they had been shot, the couple got to their feet and ran away, rushing towards the stairs back down towards St. Patrick's church. Nina couldn't hold it in any longer, she laughed through her fingers, suddenly feeling so much better. The jelly to her legs disappeared, and the beating of her heart slowed back to normal. She heard Spider-Man chuckle at her lightly. 

"You okay?" he then asked her.

Nina's laughter faded. She expected her fear to return, but now, it felt easier to take a deep breath. She nodded, "Yeah," she said, and she meant it. "Yeah, I'll be okay. Thanks to you. You saved my life."

"Anytime," said Spider-Man, and Nina had a feeling he meant it. It sounded like a promise.

"How did you know he was going to be there?" Nina then asked, her curiosity piquing.

"I didn't," said the superhero truthfully. He shrugged. "I was just in the neighbourhood."

Nina smiled at that. "Well, then I guess it's just my luck you showed up."

She wondered whether he was smiling back at her. There was some part of her that told her he was. Nina didn't know why, but there was something about Spider-Man that felt so natural ... so familiar; like she was talking to an old friend.

Spider-Man gave her a nod. "Stay safe," he told her. Then, he went to leave. An impulse decision made Nina reach out to stop him, grasping his arm. He froze, glancing back at her.

"Hey, wait," she said, "who are you?"

"You know who I am," replied Spider-Man.

Her eyes widened. She didn't expect him to be so blunt. Her heart fluttered in surprise. "I━I do?"

She definitely knew there was a cheeky grin behind that mask now, "I'm your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man," he said and before she could ask anything else, he took off into the afternoon down Fifth Avenue. Nina watched him go, her scoff turning into an incredulous smile, unable to believe all of that just happened, and how in seconds, Spider-Man made her feel better.

The sound of her phone ringing made Nina jump. She gasped, looking away and bringing it out. A wave of relief washed over to see Harry's name and she answered, more than ready to tell him the story of how Spider-Man saved her life.

*ೃ༄

"I'M FINE, Mom, I promise," Nina hugged her legs to her chest on her bed in the motel room that night, still not over what had happened. She still shook, her legs still felt like jelly, and her heart still pounded a thousand miles per hour to think that if Spider-Man hadn't been there, Nina would be dead. "I'm okay, I swear, I'm okay."

"When are you getting home?!" her mother demanded, sounding as though she might cry.

Nina had to hold back her own tears, "Soon, Mom. We're heading back soon. I'll be home really early in the morning."

"We can come get you if you want, honey," her father spoke up. "I can leave right now."

She smiled, tearful. "No, no, it's okay, Dad. That'll probably take longer. I promise I'm okay. Spider-Man saved me ..."

There was silence on the other end. Then, her father said wearily, "Spider-Man saved you?"

He didn't have the best thoughts on the web-slinger. Nina nodded, "Yeah," she said, holding her phone tight to her ear. She glanced over at the other end of the motel where MJ was sitting, reading her book. She had called her parents, but there was little conversation. Nina had heard fighting, but didn't push. Michelle didn't look as though she wanted to talk about it. "Yeah, he saved me, Dad. He saved us."

"What was Spider-Man doing in Washington?"

Nina didn't have an answer. She glanced over at the window, wondering whether Spider-Man might visit, even if he didn't know where she was staying, and even if MJ was here. She just wanted to see him.

A knock on the door made her glance over. Michelle put down her book, confused.

Nina pursed her lips and turned her attention back to her parents as MJ got up to open the door. "I'll see you guys soon, okay? I love you."

"We love you, too, Nina," replied her mother, emotional. "Just please, text me when you get onto the bus."

"I promise," said Nina before hanging up. She glanced over at the door, standing up to see who it was. She stopped when she saw honey-brown hair under a blue hoodie.

MJ turned her nose up at Peter, "What's the password?" she asked him stiffly.

Peter tried to glance around her, "Uh, Michelle, look, is Nina━?"

"Password," MJ cut him off, not moving an inch. He met her gaze, looking a little intimidated.

Nina wanted to be satisfied. She wanted to slam the door on him herself, but she instead just sighed, "MJ..."

Her new friend arched a dubious brow, but rolled her eyes as stepped aside. She eyed Peter suspiciously as Nina walked up to him, not even meeting his gaze as she stepped outside with him. MJ closed the door once they did, giving Peter a final accusing side-eye.

Nina crossed her arms over her chest, peering at her ex with an exhausted, but still angry glare. He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, not meeting it either.

"So," she decided to start awkwardly, "Spider-Man."

Immediately, Peter's gaze shot up, wide and startled. His breath hitched, "W━what?"

She frowned at him, taken aback by his abrupt fear. "He's here in Washington ... just our luck, right?"

Whatever he had been so stiff about released and he shrugged, letting out a nervous chuckle. "I guess he must've just ... been in the neighbourhood."

Nina continued to frown, finding something off━he wouldn't meet her gaze, he kept his hands in his pockets. Was that ... was that a bruise on his forehead? Her heart jolted with more than anger, or worry, but that same feeling she receieved whenever she stared into Spider-Man's mask ... and feel as if she had met him many times before.

"Where were you?" she decided to ask.

Peter shuffled on his feet, "I thought Ned told you I was━"

"Peter, please," Nina couldn't help the short, exasperated sob that escaped her lips. It made Peter's gaze snap up, alarmed. Her hair was all over the place, she was still pale, and hadn't stopped shaking since the Monument. Nina slumped, shaking her head at him. Her voice was a pained whisper, "stop lying to me."

Peter just pressed his lips together, brows furrowing. Nina watched him, throat aching over the fact that even now, he still refused to tell her anything.

"Where were you?" she asked him again, voice breaking. "Because ... because you just keep disappearing, and I'm trying to be angry at you, a━and I want to be angry at you but I can't! I'm so worried about you when I should be worried about myself! I━I mean, I almost just died, for god sake!" Nina broke down, tears falling down her cheeks and she couldn't stop them.

Peter watched her cry, wanting to just hug her, but he couldn't. "I━I'm fine, Nina," he croaked. "I promise."

"You're lying to me again," said Nina through her tears. "Peter, we've known each other since we were kids, I know when you're lying. Why ... why are you pushing me away? Why won't you let me help?"

For a moment, she thought he was tearful, too. Then, he swallowed them back and muttered, "I━I just have to. You ... you can't help me, Nina..." Peter took a deep breath. "I don't need your help. I'm fine."

Nina sighed, gaze shooting to the ceiling, hoping to hide how much those words hurt. "Everybody needs help sometimes, Peter ..." she told him, genuine.

"Yeah, but sometimes it's better off if they don't get it," Peter said━perhaps the first truthful thing he's said to her in ages. Nina's shoulders slumped, confused. She sniffled back her tears. Peter tugged his hoodie a little. "I ... I'm glad you're safe, Nina ..."

He turned around and walked away back to his and Ned's room. Nina watched him, wiping away her tears and sighing out a whimper, hating this so much. She kept her gaze on his retreating back, the question of where he went still on her mind. And it stayed on her mind the entire trip back home.

She kept glancing over her seat at him on the bus ride home. Sometimes he caught her, and he'd look away quickly, setting his gaze on his fingers in his seat beside Ned. Around Nina on the way home, people whispered where he had been, and it just made her curiosity grow. MJ arched a brow at her over the brim of her book, as if knowing exactly what was going through her mind.

Nina started to grow sick during the four hours back home, her head swimming with horrible possibilities that made her unable to know what she thought anymore. Was she worried, was she angry, was she confused?

She remembered the night where Peter accidentally called her, after leaving the party. She thought he had been in danger. Later that night, Spider-Man showed up at her window, bruised and aching━having fought in the same suburbs in which Peter left Liz's party. They knew each other, they both had said. Before then, Spider-Man knew exactly where Nina's house had been, and she thought he had followed her because he liked her. He found her on her trip home from Moondance Diner, as if he somehow knew she'd be there, scared to walk alone. Those men had been at her school━why else would they be there if not to look for Spider-Man?

Everytime she thought she was talking to someone she had already met; every time she felt that strange familiarity━thought she heard someone else.

And then Peter disappears, and Spider-Man arrives at the Washington Monument━how and why was Spider-Man in Washington anyway?

She didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to think it was true. She didn't want to think that just like that, Peter held a reason for everything━because what does that mean now? That he's Spider-Man? That he's out there every night, facing dangers with the possibility of not coming back. How could Nina live with that knowledge? That everytime she'd say goodbye to him swinging out of her window, it wasn't some boy under a mask she grew a crush on, it was her best friend, someone she cared about despite it all. She couldn't send him off with a Go get 'em, Tiger happily, with no worry, wondering whether he'd make it back.

Nina didn't want to believe it was him. Every time she thought about it, she grew so sick━like her stomach was twisting in on itself up her throat.

She could be wrong. It could all still be just a coincidence. Maybe Spider-Man was in Washington for something else. Maybe she was thinking into it too much.

(She knew she wasn't, but it helped Nina to wholeheartedly believe that she was, because she was scared to think what it all meant if that was the truth).

But no matter what she told herself, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She couldn't stop thinking about it in the back of her mind even when they got back, and Nina was enveloped into hugs by her parents, comforting her mother's sobbing figure. She couldn't stop her eyes wandering over where May gasped a, "Peter━" and pulled him towards her for a tight embrace that he melted into, hugging her just as tight.

She could be wrong.

She had to be wrong.

*ೃ༄

"SO ... this is what gave you your powers?"

Nina turned the small tubed vial around in her fingers, eyes fixed on the dead spider inside. Small, thin in the body and legs, it looked more like an electronically bug than an arachnid; it definitely wasn't something naturally made, but rather a result of what Nina came to intern at OSCORP for: cross-species genetics. This spider had become a genetic carrier onto Peter, somehow, and if Nina wasn't so stunned, she would have been amazed.

Sitting beside her, so close the knees of his long legs rested against hers, Peter nodded with a hum, gazing in close at the spider with her. Nina's heart fluttered to feel him so near after last night, and she hoped she wasn't blushing when she should be giving him her thoughts. He promised he'd explain everything, and so here he was; even with a little show and tell! But while Nina was excited, and giddy, she was also worried. Her morning had been filled with breaking news of what happened last night at Williamsburg Bridge; where Peter had been fighting what eye-witnesses described a gigantic, monstrous lizard. And now, the police were after Spider-Man with intention to arrest. The boy beside her.

She took a deep breath, trying to fit her focus back onto the spider inside the glass. "How?" pondered Nina, meeting Peter's gaze briefly.

"Decay Rate Algorithm," he answered instantly.

Nina knew that name, "Yeah ... that ... that was in Doctor Connor's book, wasn't it?"

Peter nodded, "Yeah, but I'm pretty sure my father had something to do with it. That ... that was why I was at OSCORP that day to begin with."

Her brows lifted, taken aback. She knew what happened to his mother and father; it had been all over the news (not that she remembered, but people always mentioned it every now and then at school, and her mother had said, as soon as Nina mentioned Peter, "Weren't his parents the ones that passed away in that plane crash?"). "Oh," she whispered, not sure what he wanted her to say about it, so she didn't, and instead pursed her lips back to the spider. "I have to admit, this is ... stunning."

"Yeah?" Peter managed to crack a small grin. "That thing also knows how to bite, though."

Nina's lips tugged upwards. They sat together on the bleachers during a shared free period, barely even watching the football practice occurring on the field. Nina saw Flash amongst his team; one of the only places until recently, he had any redeeming qualities. But surprisingly, he's matured quite a lot this year━as all boys do.

"Does your aunt know about this?" then asked Nina. Peter shook his head.

"No, no," he murmured. "I can't do that to her ... she's already worrying about so much ..."

Nina understood; he didn't need to continue. "What about anyone else?"

Peter shook his head again before giving her a shy glance and smile, "Just you."

Her eyes widened; a small, excited grin formed onto her face━giddy to think that she was the only one; that this was their secret, and that he trusted her with this after only knowing each other for a short time. It was a privilege, almost. Nina felt honoured. "Really?" she breathed, and Peter chuckled, looking back down. Her smile dropped as she realised how serious this was. It wasn't just a privilege, it was also a promise, a responsibility. She was like ... like his partner in this: Nina and the Bug Boy. But more importantly, Nina now held his secret, and she couldn't tell that to anyone━at all. She nodded to herself at this, mentally telling herself that she was prepared to keep this secret to her grave. She leaned in and promised, "I won't tell anyone. Cross my heart. Your secret's always going to be safe with me, Tiger."

Peter gave her a gentle, thankful look that made her heart swell. A thought then hit him. "Hey, hey━" he watched her carefully put the spider back into the pouch of his school bag, "━you don't ..." he dropped his voice into barely even a whisper, "... you don't believe what the police are saying, do you?"

Immediately, she shook her head. "No," she answered back in the same tone. So soft, so intimate; their secret, their trust, their promise for each other. "No, of course, not."

He nodded before taking her hand. Nina watched him, breath hitched as he brought it close onto his leg, just to hold it, nothing else. But in the way he squeezed her palm, she knew last night was weighing down on his mind. She shuffled nearer; until their shoulders brushed and the tips of their shoes touched. Nina pursed her lips, but risked asking: "Does ... does it scare you?" Peter met her gaze. "What you can do?"

To her surprise, he shook his head and smiled, "No." Her brows furrowed at this, not sure how she was supposed to feel. At the look on her face, Peter's smile grew and shifted so he sat facing her. "No," he said again, more confident this time━or was it cockiness?

"It should," she told him. He titled his head, confused. "I mean ... not that this is a bad thing, that's not what I'm saying, it's just ... what happened on that bridge; I saw some of it this morning. That ... that looked scary. That looked dangerous ... that's something you need to be wary of. That stuff can really, really hurt you ... I mean, that monster they're talking about? You saw it, right?" He nodded. "What ... what did it look like?"

Peter shrugged, not exactly sure how to describe it. He breathed a chuckle, probably because it was so crazy and insane━almost like an alien out of a bad thriller movie. "It's was real big. Too big to be human."

"Well, you got to lay low."

He disagreed, "No, can't do that."

Nina's stomach twisted. "What? But, y━you've got to." Peter sighed and that churning in the bottom of her gut grew.

"I can't," he told her.

"Why?" she didn't mean to sound so demanding, but she couldn't help it.

"Because of last━last night," said Peter Parker. Nina watched his gaze, feeling her heart begin to rise ip her throat in the realisation of what he meant. "Those people on the bridge. Whatever was attacking them would have ... would have killed them. So I ... I━I gotta go after it."

Nina shook her head. She leaned in close, "Peter, that's not you're job."

"Maybe it is," he countered, stubborn. But there was something else, too; a gleam of responsibility━a mature understanding and realisation that he was no longer just a high school Senior. He was now more than that, and he had to take on everything that meant. But that didn't mean he should. That didn't mean that this was supposed to be his responsibility. He should be worrying about school, about finals, about college. And Nina didn't want him to go face that thing, and get hurt ... or worse. But it seemed like he was accepting the possibility of that fate, too. "Maybe I'm the only one who can stop it."

She pursed her lips at this, realising that she couldn't talk him out of it. Noticing her frown, Peter was silent for a moment, just watching the way she brooded at the seat in front of them. Then, he nudged her side gently. Nina quirked a brow, seeing that shy smile back onto his face. "I ... I really liked kissing you," he told her in a mumble. Nina tried not to blush and smile, but there was no stopping it. Peter Parker just had that affect on her, and she would be lying if she said she didn't like it. She hunched up, puckering her lips and not meeting his gaze, suddenly flustered and nervous. His smile grew, amused at her reaction. "You're an amazing kisser."

Nina shrugged, not sure what to say. In the end, she decided with a soft, "Well, you know, you weren't too bad yourself."

"Yeah?"

She hummed, nodding, "Yeah."

Nina felt Peter shuffle beside her. She turned her head, her breath already mixing with his as he leaned in achingly close, teasing her with the nudge of his nose. Her heart raced, and she moved with him, chasing his breath as he inched backwards, tilting his chin to brush his lips against hers━

Peter flung out his hand. Nina glanced over, and chuckled in disbelief at the football lodged into his palm. Not even looking, Peter threw it back out, fixated completely on the way her eyes fluttered closed, and her chapstick that smelt like vanilla ...

The large clang broke them apart. Both teens frowned, glancing over at the goalposts where one side had dented in on itself━from nothing more but the impact of Peter's throw. The coach and team were surprised, spinning on their toes for the culprit. Nina's jaw fell.

"Got quite the throw, there, Tiger," she managed, absolutely bewildered.

*ೃ༄

a/n:

*thinks of no way home*

*laughs evilly then sobs*

^^ just so you know, above can be a spoiler thread, so if you haven't seen it, don't open up the comments beside those two lines.

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