CHAPTER SEVEN; SPIDER MAN

❝ they were incredible together, but when their differences came out? it was hard to see what they did have in common at all ❞

[ songs to listen to during this chapter ]

❝ sk8ter boy, avril lavigne / feelings are fatal, mxmtoon / crush culture, conan gray / ❞

･ ｡ﾟ☆

❝ alina's apartment ❞

ALL WEEKEND PETER HAD WONDERED IF HE AND ALINA WERE OKAY, when they last spoke she was so upset. He had never even seen her be so reckless, not like she was when she nearly killed those men. And he'd certainly never thought she would destroy one of Tony's suits, he didn't;t even know she could do that. He wanted to talk to her the next day but she was about with the others and he couldn't reach her. 

Plus, Peter knew she was right, she deserved to have a fun moment especially when he had ruined the party for her. But it was Monday now so he went to her apartment to pick her up just like he had been doing. He exited his apartment walking down the hall to the elevator taking it up to her floor. Getting out of the elevator he held onto her smoothie May had made but his smile fell seeing a note on her door.

Peter,

Gwen surprised me and picked me up this morning, I'll meet you at school. 

–– Alina

He sighed reading her message crushing it in his hand as he made his way out of the apartment complex. Peter wasn't mad but he felt a twisting kick of worry that she was still mad at him. 

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❝ mid-town high school ❞

Peter made sure that the first thing he did when he got to school was find Alina. Which had to wait until after homeroom because he'd only just gotten there in the nick of time for it. As soon as it was over he rushed into the hallway going straight for her locker. Though once he got closer he halted in his path seeing her grabbing things from inside while Connor spoke with her.

If he hadn't known better he would say she always seemed normal, happy even. Like he'd seen Liz look hundreds of times around everyone else but him.And of course, she just had to be around Connor. He would somehow have himself get involved with her, but it was her life and she was starting to live it. Who would he be to tell her what he knew?

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❝ mid-town high school [ shop class ] ❞

Alina was sitting at one of the tables trying to finish polishing her lantern. She had to get credit for it and it was peaceful enough especially with her headphones on. At least it was until she felt a tug on her shirt from someone trying to get her attention. She turned seeing Peter, she didn't mean to be avoiding him but after the other night? She was ashamed of herself for how she had acted, especially since she always wanted to at least to pretend to be good around him.

And the second she pulled the headphone helping her block out everyone else emotions, she felt his like a wave. He was nervous, but then again he almost always was riddled with anxiety. "Hey, missed you this morning," he said gripping his bag tightly.

She took a deep breath trying to block out his, and by extensions everyone else emotions. "Yeah I wanted to walk with you but Gwen showed up and I didn't really know how to say no," explained the girl.

"No it's cool," he said unconvincingly before adding, "I just wanted to know if we're okay? I know the other night...we were both angry and said some things we didn't mean." The moment she had gone that night he hated how bad they had left it and all the stress he'd caused her.

Alina reached for his hand telling him, "I have to be honest with you. Peter, I was going through some stuff that night that you couldn't have known about. I was angry at everything, I hold more of the blame here. I just...needed a minute that's all."

"Well on that note," he began looking for the weapon letting her catch a glimpse, "How do you feel about experimenting on this?"

Alina stood from her stool answering, "I'd say, you finally said something cool enough for me to want to help."

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Peter swatted the weapon core casing with a hammer causing the core to emit purple light as it was partially freed from the metal casing. Once he stopped Alina used a screw driver to force the pieces off pulling it apart. Approaching them from the side Ned begrudgingly said, "Hey, thanks for bailing on me."

Peter cast a glance over his shoulder saying, "Yeah, well, something came up."

Ned spotted the glowing core gasping excitedly asking them, "Oh, what is that?"

As she struggled to take the machine apart Alina answered, "I don't know. Some guy tried to vaporize us with it so before I vaporize them with it I'd like to know what I'm using."

"Is she seriously," pondered Ned.

At the same time Peter said, "Of course not." Alina answered, "Kinda."

Ned looked at them both as Peter stared at her disapprovingly, "Awesome," he said nodding. Peter immediately turned his attention to him at his approving it all.  He immediately corrected himself, "I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of that guy and we cannot do the same. So scary."

Peter shook his head somewhat amused as he continued to work at the casing telling him, "Well, look, I think it's a power source."

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. That's an inductive charging plate. That's what I use to charge my toothbrush," said his friend pointed at the complex-looking charging mechanism connected to various wires.

"Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours. It's-- it's the same thing Hydra used after the battle of New York," explained Alina not meeting their eyes.

Ned wanted to question how she knew that but he decided she was private enough, if she wanted him to know she would say it. So instead he said, "That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"

Peter who was not listening to a word they were saying brought the hammer up and hit the core really hard. The core popped out from its place, glowing making Alina put her hand up to block it from hitting it absorbing the vogue power. Not even having a. second to bask in it the three of them  immediately look at the teacher who hadn't even looked at them. He was too busy reading a book, sitting in his chair, "Keep your fingers clear of the blades."

The three shared confirming looks before turning back and look at the core which popped out. "We gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it," said Peter looking directly at Alina.

Ned nodded offering up, "We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests."

Staring at the glowing orb Alina warned, "Let's do it. But we should be careful, we don't really know what it is and we can end up blowing a whole in the lab." As she casted her eyes up towards them she saw the end of them sharing a complicated secret handshake.

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During lunch the three of them snuck away to go back to the lab to test the core. While they walked Ned said, "First, I say we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer."

"First, we gotta come up with a better name than 'glowy thingy,'" countered Peter.

Just as Ned had agreed Alina stuck out both her arms stopping them from walking any further. "Go, go, go," she ushered as she yanked Peter by the hand forcing him to duck behind the closest wall to them. Seeing Ned hadn't gotten the hint she waved him over quietly urging, "Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on."

Ned looked around. before shuffling across the corridor to join them by a classroom window. Behind them, the chess club was peacefully playing a game while they peered around the corner. She watched as one of the men said, "High schools creep me out. They got this funny smell, you know?"

They all pulled back hiding with Peter saying, "Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to kill us."

"What," Ned replied in shock, "We gotta get out of here."

Ned tried to move out but Alina grabbed his wrist protesting, "No, no, no, no, no.We gotta follow them. Maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped us in the lake."

"Someone dropped you in a lake," he retorted back in surprised, like he was with almost everything Alina said.

Peter peered around the corner watching as they entered a classroom, "Yeah, it was not good," he explained.

The two young possible avengers shared looks before they agreed to follow silently. Grabbing hold of them Ned protested, "Peter-"

Peter whispered softly telling him, "No. Stay there, Ned." 

As they rounded the corner Alina grabbed Peters hand making her look at her inquisitively. "Don't go too far from me or they'll see you," she warned keeping her voice quiet. Alina glanced around checking no one was there before she rubbed two fingers against her thumb, "Nullum visa laris,"  she said just as Ned peeked around the corner and saw them vanish from thin air.

"What did you do," he asked as they started walking towards the room the men had gone into.

"They can't see us, but they can still hear us so don't talk," she told him as they grew closer to the two men. Silently they snuck down a staircase into the classroom where the two men were rummaging through the room.

Crouched down the two of the snuck down the steps as one of them asked, "Can you imagine what the boss would say if he knew where we were?"

"It's saying there was an energy pulse right here," said the darker skinned man puzzled as he looked around the are.

With his back still turned, Peter slowly took off his bag careful not to make a sound. "There's no sign of the weapon. And even if it was here, now it's gone," explained the other while his companion turned around.

He couldn't see her but Alina was frozen still in front of him holding her breath. She could hear Peter moving around grabbing his tracker, while the man took a step towards her. The brunette backed up until she felt Peter, who had been hiding behind a desk tug on her leg. She, without thought ducked down joining him as they crawled underneath the desk.

But her speed caused the papers by her to slid around the desk, spotting the anomaly, the one man moved closer, putting his hand on his gun. He crossed the room and paused by the worktable, scanning the area. Thinking quickly Alina put her hand up her fingers pulling back before she moved them forward hitting him with a nearly invisible spell. The only thing that reveled her spell was the brief change in his eye color as his hues shifted blue.

"So are we," he replied doing just as she wanted. As the men headed out, Peter shot a tiny robotic spider at one of the men's shoes. It stealthily climbed up the man's leg latching itself on to her.

Alina listened carefully until she heard them leave and she dropped the spell keeping them hidden. "That went well if you ask me," she said crawling out from underneath the desk.

He followed right after her telling her, "That tracker has a direct line to my suit so we'll be able to use it to track them wherever they went."

"Good, let's get through the rest of the day and then after school we can go to my place to find them," Alina replied while they rushed up the stairs. Before he even replied the two of them slammed right into someone, "Shit, sorry," Alina said seeing that she dropped their books.

She rushed down grabbing them only to hand them back and see it was Connor they had slammed into. "Crazy running into you two," he joked making Peter roll his eyes, not that he, or even she noticed.

"Why aren't you in lunch," she asked him the words flying out.

Connor seemed to think for a moment before he answered, "Oh I never sit there, I wander. What are you two doing I shop class? I didn't take you guys for the sneaking off to make out during lunch couple."

Instantly the two said in sync, "We're not a couple."

The taller boy nodded along skeptically saying, "Right..."

It wasn't until that moment Alina realized she hadn't been noticing Connors emotions. He was calm, cool, quiet almost all the time and he nearly always was that way. Until he looked at Peter, he was a mess looking at him. Guilty, jealous, angry, resentful, all negative emotions were trying to peek through.

"Well, fair warning Parker, if you're going to be sneaking around like a bug then you might want to get better at covering your tracks," said Connor trying to seem as if his words meant very little. But Alina had finally noticed, Connor was always trying to throw off her readings but around Peter, he just couldn't.

"Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to take it under consideration," replied Peter with his own anger shining through. 

Connor looked to Alina and just as suddenly as his emotions showed themselves, they were gone. He was calm like still water all over again as he said, "I'll see you around 'Lina."

"See you," she told him as he walked between them making his way casually back down the hall. As he disappeared around the corner Alina looked to. Peter who was lost in his thoughts. Just as she opened her mouth to speak he started down the hall again. After all their time together and knowing all her own secrets, Alina realized she never asked Peter his own.

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❝ train station ❞

"I can tell you want to ask something," Peter pointed out as. he and Alina sat side by side and the train rocked them gently.

"Good. I was trying to be nice but since you've brought it up," she said turning in towards him. "What. happened between you and Connor," she asked making him look to her stunned. Alina chuckled at the look on his face, "Judging by that look it's not nothing."

"As much as I want to tell you, it's not only my story to tell," he replied vaguely.

Alina scoffed countering, "Yeah, and? If it's partly yours why don't you tell me your side?"

Peter sighed looking down at his feet for a moment before he told her, "All I'll say is he and I were friends and differences caused us not to be anymore."

The brunette studied his face seeing nothing but deflection and shame over his face. "You're horrible at keeping secrets Peter," she warned him leaning back against the chair.

"Says the one who hasn't told me anything about herself," argued the teen. Alina wanted to argue with him further but she chose not to. She knew full well there was a ton of information about her she might never bother to say. However, whatever he knew about Connor felt important, and much deeper than she realized before today.

Alinas outfit next chapter

Alina's outfits next chapter