There's A Spark

Part 16: Secrets Are Never Kept Well

A series of heavy breaths rolled off Y/N's lips. Her breath warm as her chest ached as if it was being pressed down into the concrete floor. She stood hunched over, her hands on her knees, staring at the black shoes of her opponent. They walked closer to her and she knew that if she didn't move an elbow would land harshly on her back. She dodged to the right, catching the arm that was making its way down with force. With a pull they were turned around, her opponent's hand resting right between their own shoulder blades in a hold that if pulled further would be rather painful. "Can you not once go easy on me." Y/N huffed, letting go of her grip.

"You think this isn't me going easy on you?" Natasha chuckled, but was just as out of breath. She walked toward the side off the room, tossing Y/N her water bottle before getting her own. "You've improved nicely." She complimented with a nod. She had to acknowledge her skills. After two months of propper training she had improved so much that she could beat Nat on one of her off days, and that is still saying something. Nat checked the time quickly, knowing how much they lost track of it during training. "You not going to school today?"

Y/N shook her head "Don't have to. We have a field trip tomorrow so our teachers decided to give us a day off to prepare our assignments. I'm making them after lunch." She shrugged. Nat nodded, taking another sip of water. They sat down on the floor together, as they often did. A moment of silence fell on them without need to trouble about it.

"Your reflexes have been improving a lot as well." Nat said, breaking the silence. "Told you." to which she received a rather limp slap to the shoulder. Being the one that was most skeptic about the girl, she had grown closest to her among the avengers. Maybe it was because her and Bruce trained with her so much but she was glad it had turned out this way. compared to the doomsday scenario she had expected at the start of her arrival. "Not everything is about you Nat." Y/N winked, making the both of them chuckle.

After a while they parted ways so they could go freshen up before lunch. After a shower and a change of clothing, she made her way to her dad's workshop. She was going to call him for lunch and let him be, however as soo as he saw someone coming downstairs he closed what he was working on his screen. He didn't even try not to look suspicious.

"What was that all about?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow. She knew that if he didn't want her to know he wouldn't say a word, but it was worth a try.
"Nothing you have to worry about. Did you want something?" He tried changing the subject.

"I was just coming to ask if you're having lunch with us." She stated simply, giving him a suspicious look. She tried glancing over the small screen but of course saw nothing. "Is this about my powers?" She asked after a while of them not moving out of their spots.
"I said it's nothing you have to worry about didn't I. Now come on, let's have lunch." He finally got up from his seat, urging her to move out of the lab and into the kitchen. They didn't speak another word about it during lunch. They made pancakes together in comfortable silence and had lunch with the other avengers that were there. So yet again, she didn't say a word as Tony spoke to Steve and Bruce.

That evening she lay on the roof thinking. This had been going on for a while now. Rooms falling silent as she entered, odd secret meetings whenever Thor payed a visit and her father returning to his protective self whenever she asked to go somewhere. He didn't even want her going on the fieldtrip. She knew something was going on but she couldn't find out what. She had talked to Shuri about it, and even she knew something was going on as she had heard her brother talk about it. But even she couldn't tell her anything.

"What's wrong?" She shot up at the sound of his voice and looked at the time. He was early as well. "Nothing, just got some stuff to think about." She sighed, pushing herself up so she can face him.

"If you want we can skip practice today." She could hear the empathy in his voice as he spoke. For someone who's face she had never seen, they knew each other well enough. This friendship made her realise that it doesn't matter what someone looks like or how old they are to be able to form a bond. "Thanks spidey, but I'm good."

She already got into position, showing him that she just wanted to train. There was nothing to talk about really, she didn't even know anything so what would she even say. Besides, as her dad said, the less he knows the better. He probably still thinks she doesn't have any powers.

"You ready?" He asked and she replied with a nod. They stood on either sides of the roof, far enough away from the edge so they wouldn't fall if they stepped backward. She already knew the drill as they had been doing the same training a few times already.

As soon as she took off running he shot webs trying to stop her from getting close. This time, he notices, was different. In the past she would try to dodge them as if it were a game of dodgeball, but now she flowed between the webs as if she could do it with her eyes closed. She stepped and turned out of their way as if it were Natasha's punches and kicks coming at her. She inched closer and closer at a steady pace and it made him slightly anxious as she hadn't gotten this close before. She would have taken him down if it weren't for the last bundle of web hitting her foot. She went down, expecting herself to fall to the ground as she had before, but this time she was close enough to catch herself on his shoulders.

"Nicely done." She could hear him breathing heavily with her as he spoke, his chest rising and falling against hers. Her foot was still stuck to the floor but neither of them made a move to get her loose, his hands still holding onto her sides to steady her. She hadn't been able to study his suit this close before. she had noticed the eyes moving as if to mimic his expressions, only now did she realise how detailed it was as the slightest movement got recorded. It was clear but she couldn't read it.

Her fingertips encased in her thin vibranium gloves ran across his mask as to study it before falling back to his neck. She could feel the rim of his mask where her hands rested, her fingertips mindlessly running across it. She didn't know what she was doing when she lifted it enough to show his skin.

He could have moved away, She could have pulled his mask over his face so she'd finally know who the man behind the mask really was. But she didn't even get halfway as she slowly uncovered his jaw, his lips, his nose. She contemplated looking away as she saw his breath quicken nervously. She contemplated pulling the mask back down to leave it the agonising secret for a little while longer. But instead the both subconsciously got closer, until finally she laid her lips to his as if in a trance. Without hesitation his hands found their way lower on her hips, pulling her even closer. Their lips moving slowly, carefully, as if not wanting to make the wrong move. Until she realised all of this was the wrong move to begin with. In a quick movement she pushed him away and her eyes shot open again. His touch falling from her sides left a strange cold sensation. Her mind raced as her fingers weaved trough her hair.

'Holy sh*t, my first kiss is spiderman. Wait, I just kissed spiderman. A guy I know nothing about. He could be 10 years older than me and ugly. Though probably not. He could be mutilated or mutated or something, though I probably wouldn't care about that as much.'

"This is kind of messed up, you know that right?" she finally breathed out, still not looking at him. He had already pulled his mask back down while the bottom half of her face was still uncovered, not really showing much.

"In my defence, you kissed me." He tried to walk closer again, his hands up as if approaching a nervous dog."Oh yeah, that makes it better." She scoffed, honestly not knowing what to do or say in this situation. "I'm so stupid. My dad's going to kill me."

"Hey, hey. It's not that big a deal. We uhm, we'll forget about it .. if you .. if you want to." His voice sounded nervous or sad, she couldn't really read it. But she could read how genuine he sounded, knowing that it was the right thing to do.