Spider of My Dreams

Chapter 16

I was writing my article a few weeks later. I wrote it about Spiderman and his identity, and about how maybe he had a good reason to keep it a secret. But it was garbage. It was exactly like my first article, but the opposite opinion.

I banged my head against my desk, unsure of what to write about. I was gonna lose that internship. The worst part was how close I was to figuring it out. But I couldn't do it. He didn't deserve that.

There was a tapping on my window. I looked over and smiled when I saw Spiderman. But my smile faltered when I saw what state he was in.

I ran over and opened the window. He climbed in and collapsed on the floor. "I didn't know where else to go," he mumbled.

His suit was ripped in some places, and I could see deeper shades of scarlett where I knew the blood was running. "Spiderboy..." I said softly.

He pressed the spider in the middle of his chest, and the suit loosened around him. "Please... just see what you can do."

I nodded and helped him out of the suit, leaving the mask on. There was a giant cut that ran across his torso. "It's going to be okay," I tried assuring him.

I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a wet cloth and a first aid kit, then cleaned the blood from the cut. "There's no need to stitch it," he said. "I heal faster. Just bandage it."

"Okay," I said, carefully wrapping the bandages around his body, careful to make it tight enough, without hurting him. Then, I looked up at his face that was still being covered. It looked like it was being stained with a lot of blood. "Your face..." I trailed off. "How does it feel?"

He groaned. "Not great."

I sighed. "Spiderboy, I gotta take your mask off. I promise you, I'm not gonna tell anyone who you are. I just wanna help you."

"No," he whispered.

"Please. I swear, you can trust me."

"I know I can."

"Then take off the mask."

"You'll hate me if I do."

"I could never hate you," I said, cupping his face with my hands.

"Before you see who I am, I want you to know I'm sorry. And... I think I'm falling in love with you."

I gulped. "I love you too."

His eyes widened.

"Now let me help you."

He nodded, and slowly took the mask off.

I gasped. "P- Peter?"

He nodded. "I know you hate me, but-"

"Stop. I could never hate you."

His face was in bad shape. He had a big black eye and his nose and lip were bleeding.

I ran downstairs and got some ice, putting it in a plastic bag. I cleaned the blood up and dabbed the ice on his eye. "Hold that there."

He nodded. "How does it look?"

"It looks fine," I assured him. "You're gonna be fine."

He nodded and met my eyes. "Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Why do you hate me? Me as Peter, anyway."

"Because last year, after we kissed at that party, you never spoke to me again. Until this year once Liz moved away."

"I didn't speak to you because I didn't think you wanted to speak to me. You could've tried, too."

"I know. Maybe it wasn't fair. But why'd you start up again this year?"

"Because I still had feelings for you. It had nothing to do with Liz. Yeah, I had a bit of a crush on her last year. But I only focused on that so that it'd distract me from thinking about the girl that I knew could never like me back."

"But I did like you back."

He smiled weakly. "I was stupid. I should've just talked to you. Do you think you could forgive me?"

I smiled back at him. I leaned in and pressed my lips softly to his. "Yeah, I think I could. But I have to ask; where do you make your web stuff?"

He smirked. "In chem class."

I snorted. "So while I was trying to figure out Spiderman's identity, you were making your web stuff right in front of me?"

"Pretty much."

I groaned.

I helped him out of my window an hour later, but he didn't leave before giving me another kiss, and whispering, "I love you," before swinging away.

"I love you, too," I whispered after him.