𝐴𝐿𝐼𝐾𝐸 - Peter Parker

4.

Rue's POV

I unlocked the apartment door, and like everyday of the week since I was ten, the apartment was empty. No mom and dad to be found anywhere. In some way I both loved and hated it. It was great because I could do whatever I wanted, including being Spider-woman without getting caught. But the downside was when I took a day off from the whole spider thing, and I was all alone. Most of my relaxing days where I had the apartment to myself, I just watched movies or something with MJ. At least I wasn't completely alone, you know. I had my cat Benjamin to keep me company. God I sound like I was a crazy cat lady.

Benjamin was laying in my bed, when I entered my room and started changing. I gave him a small kiss on top of his head before crawling out the window. I swung around town, looking for trouble that needed to be fixed, and finally I found it. Two cars had crashed together, but one of the drivers was still in their car, unconscious. I swung down there and people made room for me, as I moved closer to the car that was turned upside down. The door was jammed, so I pulled as hard as I could until it broke off. I crawled in and fetched the man that was bleeding from his head. I came back outside, and the paramedics took care of the man, meanwhile I turned the car onto the right side, so it would be easier for whoever had to remove it from the road. "She's so awesome!" I heard a little voice say. To see who it was, I turned around and saw a boy who couldn't have been more than six years old, holding his mothers hand. I walked over to him, and hunkered down in front of him.

"You really think I'm awesome?" I asked and put a hand to my chest, showing how I was moved by his sweet little words. It took him a moment to gather the courage to then let go of his mothers hand, and throw his arms around my neck. I hugged him back, and chuckled.

"Don't tell anyone, but I think you're the best spider," he whispered into my ear, before leaning back from the hug.

"It'll be our little secret," I whispered back, before standing back up. "See ya little man," I chuckled and stuck my fist down for him to bump it. His tiny fist collided with mine and I shot a web with my other hand, and pulled myself up into the air.

I flew around for a little while more, but not much else happened, not that the car accident wasn't enough for one day so I placed myself on the edge of a building, and inspected out on the city. All of a sudden I could sense something behind me. It came closer and closer, but I acted like I didn't know. When I could hear the person was right behind me, I turned around and threw my legs through the air making his legs sweep under himself. I didn't hesitate to jump on top of him with my arm pulled back, ready to knock him out.

"Wait wait wait stop it's me it's me!" Spider-man yelled, while covering his face with his arms. I sighed in relief, and lowered my now more relaxed fist.

"Why the hell didn't you just say hello, like a normal person?" I said, frustrated that I had just attacked someone I didn't have a need to attack at all. He slowly glanced up at me through his arms above his face, and looked up at me. When he saw that I had calmed down, he sighed and let his arms fall down beside him in ease.

"I'm sorry, I thought you could hear me, but you didn't- well it turns out you did but... I thought you didn't, so I wanted to see how far I could sneak up behind you, without you noticing!" he defended.

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" I hissed down at him, with my legs out on each side of his hips.

"I said I was sorry, and to be fair, I'm the one who got my legs swept!" he hissed back still trying to defend himself and leaned himself up on his elbows. "Plus you're sitting on my..." He awkwardly let the sentence fade out, and I realized what he meant.

"Oh christ," I scoffed, while getting off of him. "Next time, just don't sneak up on me okay?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

"Sorry. It won't happen again," he uttered while getting up.

"So what do you want?" I asked, while brushing myself off casually. There had to be a reason why he wanted to talk to me and if there wasn't, I just attacked him and literally sat on him for no apparent reason.

"I want to get to know you," I looked at him in silence, which he took as a 'go on'. "And... I want you to teach me," he continued, with a much less confident voice.

Definitely not gonna do that.

"Pass," I turned to the edge of the building and put my hand up, ready to shoot a web, but he put his hand firmly around mine, so I couldn't shoot the web. Slowly, I turned my head from my target on the other building and to him. I gave him a chance to say something, but when he didn't, I dug my nails into his hand and twisted it downwards, forcing him to kneel down in front of me.

"Ow ow ow stop," he groaned, while I looked at his body getting closer and closer to the ground. I figured that was enough, and let go of his hand in a rough movement, that showed him my irritation. He was doing nothing but wasting my time.

"I don't think your super strength has developed yet," I remarked, as he rubbed his wrist that probably had nail marks in it now.

"No kidding," he sighed, and looked up at me. I gave him a small chuckle, which he quickly returned.

"Fine. What do you want to learn?" I gave in. He seemed alright I guess, and two spiders in the world would just mean double as much safety, right?

"How to be a good Spider-man like you. Or not- I mean you're of course Spider-woman... You know what I mean," he stumbled through that sentence awkwardly, like walking through a room filled with legos on the floor. He could use a little hand, after the things I'd seen.

"Yeah I got it," I raised a hand, stopping him, as he was about to run his sentence further out where it got even more complicated. "First off, you need to know how to defend yourself, so I don't accidentally kill you the next time you sneak up on me," I said chuckling, as I helped him up.

"Trust me. I've learned my lesson there," he exclaimed in a chuckle. I noticed that the golden hour light was gone, so I looked out at the horizon. The sun had just set, and the dark was on its way over the city.

"Look, my parents aren't gonna be home until tomorrow, so I'll be staying out late tonight. You can join me if you want," I said and shrugged.

"I have to go home and do something, so can I just meet you here around eleven?" He asked, seeming to be really into the idea. "It's just, my aunt is cooking and she might actually be successful tonight, so I really don't wanna... Miss that," he explained while backing up.

"It's cool, just don't be late," I said as he reached the edge of the building.

"Gotcha," he quickly said, and then proceeded to jump off the building. I could see him swing his way through the street, and then turn a corner. I pulled out my phone, and checked the time. Six o'clock. I realized that I was really hungry as I thought back on what Spider-man had told me about his aunts cooking. I wondered why his mom or dad didn't cook for him. Maybe they were out of town like mine.