Toss Up (Danny Rand)

The Spider

As a kid, I would always imagine myself dressed up in super cool clothes patrolling around good old N.Y.C, saving people and fighting crime. I can remember tying a blanket over my shoulders and running around the living room in our old house, pretending to fly while my mom made dinner.

Aunt May would come over with Pete in tow, and we would pretend to be fighting crime together with him as my sidekick. He didn't like it, of course, but we would always switch roles depending on whose house we were in.

Being the hero was something he was always wanted to do and now . . . he could.

"Ari, can you hear me?" his voice rings into my ear as I vault over another rooftop. It's around nine P.M. and we're doing a routine patrol around downtown Brooklyn. 

"Loud and clear Spidey, what's up?"

"Just checking in. Find anything on your end?"

"Nope, it's surprisingly quiet. What exactly are we looking for anyway?" I ask, pausing for a moment to check the map installed on my watch. Looks like he was nearby according to the red and blue light that was flashing on the screen.

"SHIELD noticed a weird pattern of missing kids around our age. Fury doesn't know what's up, so he's been having us comb through the ever-lovely boroughs of New York City."

"That sucks . . . Since when has this been happening?"

"A couple of weeks, it's been bugging me ever since Doc Oc escaped after that episode with Iron Man's armor."

"Another one of your gut feelings? Those don't tend to be wrong . . . most of the time."

"Hey! How was I supposed to know that raccoons make the same sound as alley cats!?"

"Tell that to your aunt's decorative pillows."

"Yeah, yeah she forgave me . . . eventually. Although, I do know another instinct I'm right about~" he lilts as I frown. For the past few days (more like weeks) Iron Fist and I had been assigned teamed missions since my joining the team evened things out in the group, and I was still getting used to all the hero business. It wasn't anything too serious, just recon and a few encounters with a few notorious baddies with him. 

What I haven't gotten used to was my heart wanting to jump out of my chest like a classic cartoon character whenever we were together. Dizzying heights, cornering baddies, and helping civilians I had no problem with, but when he got too close it felt like my life expectancy was shortened.

My face heats up at the thought of him and ever since the day at Coney Island, that hadn't been exactly the end of our . . . outings. They weren't dates. Not even in the slightest (and if you're laughing at me right now, shove it!), he would help me with my concentration since I still had those weirdly real dreams and he would show me a couple of moves since he is our resident kung-fu master. That was especially helpful since Fury was upping the difficulty on my training.

If it wasn't for the fact that I had daily training sessions with the others, I would feel that some otherworldly force was trying to push us together . . .

"Put a cork in it, we're only friends."

"You mean how Coulson and my Aunt are 'just friends'?" he says and I swear I can practically see him making the air quotations. Oh, wait, I can. He's sitting on a roof ledge, looking out into a neighborhood. I feel an evil smile creep up to lips as I tip-toe towards him, my footsteps light and stealthy. "Seriously Ari, you two are always together and it isn't like he's a bad guy. I mean, he's a little out there but—"

"Thanks for the advice, Spider-Cupid!" I shout into his ear as he jumps and flips off the side of the roof. I would have been worried if he didn't catch himself on the edge.