𝐏𝐀𝐖𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝟓 | 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐊𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

—♟—

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐈 wear this?" Kara questioned as she pulled out a navy blouse from her closet, but her attention quickly caught on to a black sweater, which she then pulled out. "Or this? Or that pink one? Or should I wear a dress? But that's too fancy, right? What if I wear—"

"Just wear whatever you normally wear," laughed Liz as she sat on the edge of Kara's bed, amusedly watching Kara frantically look through her closet. "You guys are just watching movies at his place, right? It's nothing fancy, you'll be fine."

"But what if I wear something that makes me look bad," Kara said with worry as she turned to face the other girl, "and then he'll realize that he never liked me all along?"

"First of all, I won't let you wear something that makes you look bad," Liz promised with a small giggle. "Second, I doubt that he'll realize something like that. It took me two seconds to figure out that he had a crush on you. Even Ned told me he knew right away."

"You talked to Ned about it?!" Kara questioned in horror, her eyes widening and her eyebrows lifting.

"Yeah, during the decathlon meetings." Liz shrugged. "That's what all the whispering was. Well, that, and him telling me his theory that redheads are secretly aliens. I know he's wrong, but . . . it was pretty convincing."

"That would explain why Jean is so perfect," Kara mumbled to herself. She sighed and took a seat next to Liz, a frown settling on her lips as she looked towards her open closet. "Can you help me? You're the fashionable one."

"I've been waiting for you to ask that." Liz grinned as she rubbed her hands together and stood up from the bed, her eyes wandering over all the options while she headed toward the closet. "Any colour or clothing preference?"

"Anything you think looks good," Kara sighed, watching as Liz began to rifle through the clothing.

"This looks cute." Liz slid a mauve, square-necked top that had lace sleeves off of a hanger and tossed it over towards Kara before taking a pair of black jeans and giving them to her as well. "Those two together, plus some gold jewelry, and he won't regret a thing."

"You sure?" Kara sighed as she gathered the clothing, looking up at Liz with a small frown.

"I'm sure that even if you wore a taco suit, he wouldn't question it," she laughed, walking back over and giving Kara a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Just put it on and go. You have ten minutes until you're supposed to be there!"

"You're a lifesaver." Kara gave her a grateful smile as she got up.

"Yeah, yeah, what's new?" Liz grinned, picking up her phone from the desk. She headed towards Kara's door before stopping and pointing a finger at her. "You better call me afterwards and tell me how it went."

Kara laughed, "I will, don't worry."

As soon as Liz left, Kara quickly changed into the outfit Liz had picked out for her and brushed her hair one more time. She had already applied her makeup beforehand—eyeshadow, mascara, lip gloss, the works—so she was more than ready to go.

A knock came on her door. "Kara? We better leave now if you want to make it there on time."

"Yeah, I'm ready," Kara called as she grabbed her phone and tucked it into her pocket. She quickly strapped on her Bond Touch bracelet and, out of habit, gave it a small tap, grinning when she felt her bracelet vibrate in return a moment later.

She left her room, and her mother immediately gasped. "Oh, Kara, you look wonderful."

"Thanks, Mom." She smiled as they headed towards the door.

Helen kissed the top of her head. "My little baby's all grown up, huh?"

Kara shrugged. "I wouldn't say grown up."

"Don't tell any of your uncles that you've got a boyfriend now," Helen chuckled. "Especially your Uncle Steve. Ten-hour lecture. And your Uncle Sam, oof, he would tell Peter to run."

"He's not my boyfriend," Kara giggled nervously. "And, trust me, I would never tell them willingly."

Helen laughed. "Let's go."

After her mom had dropped her off at Peter's apartment building, Kara took a deep breath, trying to rid her stomach of all the butterflies that had emerged.

She went up to his floor and approached the door, now feeling more nervous than ever as her fingers unconsciously adjusted her shirt and fixed her hair. About thirty seconds later, still kind of feeling like she was going to throw up, Kara lifted her fist to the door and knocked carefully.

"Hey, Kara!" A wide grin was on May's face as she opened the door and beckoned for Kara to come inside. She turned around, cupping a hand around her mouth as she called out, "Peter, the most beautiful girl in the world has arrived!"

"What are you talking about? You were already here!" Kara joked, her cheeks colouring a little as she stepped inside.

"Oh, trust me," May laughed as she closed the door, "I am not the most beautiful girl in the world, according to Peter."

Kara quickly shook her head in refusal, a small giggle escaping her lips as she exclaimed, "I'm sure that's not true!"

"Really?" May gave a slight scoff of amusement as she crossed her arms. "The first time he told me about you, he literally described you as the 'most beautiful girl that he's ever seen.'"

The blush Kara had was quickly deepening in colour. "I'm sure that he was just exaggerating."

"Who was exaggerating?" Peter stepped into the living room, looking cute as ever. He was wearing the blue sweater that had the gold MidTown Tech logo in the middle, along with a normal pair of jeans. It seemed as if he had put more effort into taming his hair than usual, but a few strands stuck out in defiance.

Kara's nerves were increasing with every moment that passed, and the nervous (and totally adorable) smile that Peter was giving her was not helping in the least.

May turned to him, and her smile was somehow bright yet sinister as she told him, "Oh, I'm just telling Kara about the time that you first told me about her, and how you said that she was the most beautiful—"

"Aunt May!" Peter exclaimed with a reddening face, his voice dropping to a whisper as he stepped towards her. "You promised you wouldn't say anything embarrassing!"

"I say a lot of things," May said dismissively as she waved a hand through the air and slowly began to step backward. "I'll go off into my room now, call me if you need anything!" She sent Kara a small wink before disappearing into her room.

"How m-much did she say?" Peter asked nervously, taking a seat on the grey couch in the middle of the living room.

"Not much, don't worry," Kara reassured him as she sat down next to him, her hands shyly clasping together as she shifted a little closer to him.

Peter, whose cheeks had grown redder from the lack of distance between them, gave a small nod. He picked up the remote from the coffee table in front of them, and gave a quick glance at her as he asked, "Wh-what do you want to watch?"

Kara smiled, shrugging her shoulders as she responded, "Anything, I don't mind."

Peter scrolled through the options, glancing over at her to gauge her reaction as the movies passed. His eyes suddenly lit up and a grin came onto his face. "Wanna watch Man of Steel?"

"Sure!" Kara nodded, feeling some of her nerves begin to calm as Peter pressed on the movie and put the remote back onto the table.

He smiled, his cheeks still red as ever as he leaned back on the couch, and his eyes nervously flitted between the television and Kara's face, seeming almost unsure on which to rest.

His eyes then focused on the screen as the movie began, and it wasn't long until they found themselves watching the opening scene.

They exchanged humorous comments and small yet outrageous theories as the movie continued, and it wasn't long until two and a half hours had passed. Peter quickly exited out of the movie as the credits began to roll, and began the search for a new one to watch.

He pressed his lips together as he scrolled through the movies again, and his eyes narrowed as each cover passed. He turned his attention over to Kara, who was watching mindlessly, and asked, "What movie do you want to watch now?"

"Again, I don't mind, whatever you want to watch." Kara shrugged. Although, she did kinda wanna watch Harry Potter (but when did she not want to watch Harry Potter?).

"Do you want to watch Harry Potter?" He raised his eyebrows, grinning as the remote hovered over the first movie.

He knew her so well.

Kara laughed, "Of course."

With a small smile, Peter pressed play onto Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone before setting the remote back onto the coffee table and leaning back.

"I wish I could turn into a cat," Kara sighed, watching as Professor McGonagall returned back into her human form. A small grin came onto her face as she turned towards the boy and questioned, "Would you still like me if I were a cat?"

His eyes widened and his cheeks pinkened, and he seemed nervous to answer as he tentatively said, ". . . No?"

She gave a dramatic gasp. "Why?"

"Because you would be a cat," he pointed out with raised eyebrows, his cheeks returning to their normal colour as he realized that she really didn't care. "I don't want to date an animal, that'd be weird. Beastiality, you know?"

"Good point," Kara giggled.

Hesitantly, Kara leaned her head onto his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his sweater against the side of her head as she did so.

Her eyes fluttered upwards to see Peter's reaction, and a small smile came onto her face as she registered the cheeks that had flushed with colour yet again.

Her smile only grew bigger as she felt Peter wrap a cautious arm around her, his grip strengthening after she didn't object.

Harry was now eleven years old, making breakfast for the Dursleys on Dudley's birthday. Get you a man who can cook, right? Although he did drop the bacon, so his coordination, on the other hand, was not that great. How did he do so well in quidditch? Especially with that eyesight?

"Wow, I wish Aunt May could cook like that," Peter sighed, enviously looking at the bacon in Harry's frying pan. "Y'know, bacon that isn't burnt to a crisp."

"What are you talking about? May is an amazing cook! Gordon Ramsey could never," Kara joked, giggling.

Of course, Kara's had her fair share of experiencing May's food. There were the gingersnap cookies that tasted like cardboard that was sprinkled with cinnamon, pasta that tasted like rubber tubes, and pizza that had tasted like raw dough and expired cheese (whether or not she got salmonella from that is still unknown).

Then, the tons of Hogwarts acceptance letters began to burst into the house. This scene has always made her so angry every time she watched it. How dumb was Harry? Honestly! Why didn't he just grab the letters on the ground? Why on Earth did he think it would be better to just frolic around and try to snatch one from the air?

Peter moved forward and grabbed the remote, pausing it with Harry mid-jump, zero letters in hand, but thousands on the ground. "Kara . . . I, uh, wanted t-to ask you something."

"Hm? What's up?" Kara lifted her head to look at him, her eyebrows raised as she watched the corners of his lips turn upwards into a nervous smile.

His gaze, although at first on her, was now on his fingers as he fumbled with a loose string that hung at the hem of his sweater. "Listen, I . . . I really like you, and I was just wondering if . . . if you wanna be my g-girlfriend?"

Kara smiled. "I would love to."

His timid expression changed into one of relief as a grin crept onto his face. "Really? Good."

"What," she giggled, "you thought I was gonna say no?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, maybe."

"You're such a smart boy, Parker, use some of that brain," she chuckled, tapping his forehead lightly. "Oh, Fred!" She quickly turned to see the red-headed twin that she loved so dearly, who was now on the screen.

He rolled his eyes in amusement as Kara leaned her head onto his shoulder once more.

After the movie finished and Voldemort was dead (but not really), she yawned and checked the time, her phone showing her that it was almost ten in the evening.

"I should get home, I need to sleep before tomorrow's math quiz," she said as she gave him a tired smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Don't remind me of that," he chuckled as he turned the TV off. "Is your mom gonna pick you up? I could ask Aunt May to drive you home if you want."

"No, my mom is still working at the Compound. I can walk home, don't worry." She stood up from the couch, straightening the bottom of her shirt.

"Are you sure? It's pretty dark out." He frowned, glancing over to the window that showed only darkness beyond the glass. "I'm sure Aunt May wouldn't mind."

"It's only ten minutes, I'll be fine." Kara smiled.

"All right." He nodded, although the frown was still quite prominent on his face. "Make sure to text me when you get home, though."

—♟—

As soon as Kara had gotten home (by teleportation—there was no way she was going to walk), she texted a quick reassurance to Helen that she had made it home safely before doing the same for Peter.

While Kara walked into her room, she tapped against her Bond Touch bracelet, asking if Amelia was available to Facetime—she had promised her (and Liz) that she'd call afterwards.

She felt the buzz of her bracelet as Amelia instantly responded, saying that she was available, and she grinned.

Kara took out her phone and pressed the Facetime button, listening to the shrill ringing as she sat down on her bed.

Amelia picked up after a couple of rings, her phone obviously propped against the wall so that Kara had a good view of her and the bedroom behind her.

"Hey, Karamel, what's good in the hood?" She grinned, clearly proud of the old lingo that she was using.

"Ames, you'll never—" Kara paused after she fully processed the name that she called her, and her face expressed clear disgust as she echoed, "Karamel? I told you not to call me that! That just reminds me of that . . . time!"

The time she referred to was when they had binged a whole bunch of caramel snacks when they were kids, which Kara then proceeded to regurgitate. After she swore to never eat caramel again, Amelia and Peter made it their duty to call her that.

"Deal with it. You called me Dracula Simia once," Amelia pointed out with raised eyebrows, "I think you can handle Karamel."

"I called you that because I think that that flower looks exactly like you—a monkey with petals!" Kara laughed, thinking of the beautiful flower she had come across when she had been scouring the internet for flower names. The flower looked the same as how she described it, a monkey's face, with three wide petals that were attached to it.

"Gee, thanks." Amelia rolled her eyes before getting back to the topic. "Now, tell me about the date."

Kara giggled before she recounted the night's events, "Okay, so, I was at Parker's house and we were watching movies and stuff. And so, we were watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone—which is a wonderful movie, as you know. So, y'know that letter scene I hate? When we got to it, he paused the movie and then he asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Aw, Karamel! Well, I mean, Vernon Dursley is ever the romantic so it makes sense." Amelia grinned, putting a dreamy look on her face and clasping her hands together as she thought about the poor excuse of an uncle.

"Oh definitely, can't get any more romantic than him." Kara nodded seriously, an amused smile growing on her face as she watched her.

"Dang, so it's official! We both have boyfriends named Peter now! And you're not single!" she squealed enthusiastically, doing a little celebratory dance in her seat.

"Right . . . That's weird to think about," Kara said as she scrunched her nose. "I've never been in this kind of situation before."

"It's gonna be really confusing, oh my God," Amelia groaned as her eyes widened.

"Especially when the two of you come over, that'll suck," Kara agreed, nodding slowly.

"Well, since I call your Peter 'Parker,' then . . . I don't know, do you want to call my Peter 'Maximoff'?" she suggested with her eyebrows raised.

Kara pondered for a moment before giving a small shrug of agreement. "Ugh, that'll take some getting used to, but we could do that. I call him by a nickname half the time I talk to him anyway." She paused as a thought dawned on her and she nodded. "I guess I could call my Peter . . . 'Peter' from now on."

She figured it would be better to call her boyfriend by his first name.

"I'm sure it'll come naturally, you'll be fine," Amelia reassured her, waving a hand through the air.

Kara laughed. "We'll see."

Amelia squinted her eyes, a small frown forming on her face as she stared at the other girl. "Are you happy?"

"Obviously!" Kara nodded quickly, making a point to show her the big smile on her face. "Weren't you happy when Pe—Maximoff asked you out?"

"Well, duh! Actually . . . , I mean, technically we were mad at each other and we both said some choice words that were . . . interesting, but when he kissed me . . . definitely!" Amelia grinned before she narrowed her eyes and frowned once more. "I just want to make sure that this is something you want."

"It is, don't worry," Kara reassured her. "How is Maximoff, by the way?"

"Ugh," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and letting her head fall back. "He's an idiot, but he's cute so it's okay."

"Oh, trust me, I know he's an idiot." Kara laughed, shaking her head. "How's Jean?"

"She's doing pretty good. She's been loving the medical training she's been going through, which I'm so excited about for her. I've been trying to get her with Scott, but I've been failing miserably. They're both just so goddamn stubborn, it's impossible," Amelia sighed, an exasperated expression on her face.

"Just trap them in a room until they confess their undying love to each other. Simple as that." Kara shrugged. "Problem solved."

"Nah, that's not natural. They just need a little push, not a shove off a freakin cliff," she giggled, shaking her head.

"Okay, so, then get Maximoff to stand behind Scott, and you stand behind Jean, and the both of you push them to each other and make them kiss!" Kara exclaimed, using her hands to gesture a collision.

"Because yes, that is an extremely natural way for their first kiss to happen," Amelia said sarcastically.

"Exactly! I think that's the way to go, personally." Kara pretended to not pick up on her sarcastic tone as she gave a grand nod that caused Amelia to roll her eyes.

"Mmm, well if that's what you think then you should just come over here and do it yourself."

"Okay, fine, I will!" Kara said indignantly. "Not too sure how I would pull this off by myself, but I'll find a way!"

"Have fun trying to figure that out."

Kara snapped her fingers. "I'll bring Ned with me, he'll do it. He goes behind Scott, I go behind Jean, and then boom! Kissing!'

"No."

"Fine," she conceded. "By the way, your dad wanted me to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he wanted me to tell you that you suck."

"Pft," Amelia scoffed as she folded her arms and shook her head, "the real Tony Stark would've had the balls to tell me himself."

"Okay, I want to tell you that you suck." Kara shrugged, playfully sticking her tongue out at her.

Amelia copied the movement. "Well, you suck too, so I guess that means we're even."

—♛—

Kara sat down in the empty chemistry room, an evil grin coming onto her face. It was time to do a pastime that she absolutely loved: annoy Happy.

Going onto the messaging app, she clicked on Happy's contact and began to text him.

Happy!!!!!!!!!!

He responded almost instantly.

Yes? Is everything okay?

Kara giggled.

No!!!!!!

Not even a second later, he texted her again, clearly worried. He obviously still wasn't used to her antics, even though this has happened every other week for the past couple of years.

What?! What's wrong? Should I call Tony? Where are you??

Kara texted back.

I...............

Happy messaged once again.

What's the emergency?!

Kara giggled again. She loved teasing him.

I'm hungry :((

She could practically hear his irritated voice as she read his response.

Kara, are you serious? You scared me. Stop doing that. You know I don't like when you do that, it worries me.

She sent back a simple response.

Never :D

His response, like the others, was almost immediate, leading Kara to wonder how he typed so quickly.

Shouldn't you be at school right now? Get off of your phone! You're supposed to be learning!

Kara shook her head at the text. Didn't he see the time?

Nuh-uh, school starts in ten minutes! I can text as much as I want, which means I can text you as much as I want :D

Happy . . . was not happy.

Great. By the way, when's the next time you're coming to the Compound?

Kara furrowed her eyebrows. Why did he want to know?

Today, after school. Uncle Steve and Uncle Rhodey are training me.

She gave a slow nod as she received his text back. She should've seen this coming.

I'm going to find you and yell at you for ten minutes if you keep texting me these unnecessarily panicked texts. Next time, just say, 'hey Uncle Happy, how are you? Doing well? I love and miss you!'

Kara laughed. She would never text that to him. Only unnecessarily panicked and obviously fake texts. Like the next one she sent.

Ahhhh Uncle Happy!! I'm being kidnapped by robber alien monsters!! :0000

"Hey, Kara." Ned greeted as he and Peter walked into the classroom, leaning on the opposite side of the lab bench as they looked at her.

"Hey, Neddie." Kara looked up from her phone with a grin. She then felt the phone buzz about a thousand times, probably with Happy shouting at her through text. She loved when he did that, it was very funny. "What's up with you two?"

Ned let out a loud laugh, obviously happy to inform Kara of their conversation. "Peter was just telling me about what happened yesterday, and he said that he was so, so—"

Peter elbowed Ned lightly, causing him to stop talking. "Shh! Ned, if you keep blurting things out, I'm not gonna tell you anything anymore!"

"You've already told me that a million times in the past, and, look, you're still telling me all your secrets." Ned folded his arms as he raised his eyebrows.

"How is it even a secret?" Kara laughed. "I was there."

"I mean, still! You didn't hear what my thoughts were!" Peter shrugged, giving Ned a glare that told him not to say anything more. "And you're not gonna hear them anytime soon, either!"

"Mhm, all right." Kara nodded, pulling out the homework from the day before. As she made sure that it was fully completed, she pulled out a red pen to correct any of them if they were wrong. "Hey, Peter, can I see your homework? I wasn't too sure of my answer to question five."

The two boys immediately paused in their conversation and turned to her slowly, shocked expressions forming on their faces.

Peter leaned towards Ned, whispering, "Is she talking to me?"

"I think so, there's no other Peter in this class," Ned whispered back to him, both of their eyes still fixated on Kara as she watched them in amusement.

"But why is she calling me that?" Peter whispered again.

Ned cleared his throat and resumed a normal speaking volume, acting as if that conversation that she definitely heard never happened. "Kara, why are you calling him Peter? Did your other Peter friend die?"

"Wha—no!" she said, her eyebrows scrunching together as she shook her head. "I just figured . . . y'know, since you're my . . . boyfriend now, that I should probably call you by your first name. Unless you want me to go back to calling you Parker, I'm okay with that too—"

"No, no," Peter said as he shook his head, the corners of his lips tugging upwards, "call me Peter."

Kara grinned. "Okay, Peter."