The Wolverine & The Black Cat

30 // Mask or no Mask

C H A P T E R   30  :   M A S K   O R   N O   M A SK

❝ That is the question.❞

"Am I out of touch?
Am I out of my place?
When I keep saying that I'm looking for an empty space
Oh, I'm wishing you're here
But I'm wishing you're gone
I can't have you and I'm only gonna do you wrong

Oh, I'm going to mess this up
Oh, this is just my luck
Over and over and over again"

F L A S H B A C K S

"Fucking hell." I whispered as I felt the gentle summer breeze caress my skin. It was the first time in months that I stepped foot outside and the moonlight was pouring over my body as if baptizing me. "I've missed this."

Peter was outside his window already, waiting for me. He turned around and his mouth fell agape, his eyes running my suit up and down several times, making my legs tremble. I felt like a teenager in a teen fiction movie, except I didn't feel butterflies in my stomach. I felt spiders. That intense, maddening, consuming feeling we couldn't take off our systems, like an infection nobody asked for. Like a disease that could heal me.

He swallowed once, then twice. Then looked away, up at the stars.

"This is going to be hard."

"The zipper isn't even pulled down." I said, a smirk dancing on my lips.

"Yeah, let's keep it that way." He muttered under his breath. "How are you feeling? Being outside?"

"Surprinsingly, I'm good. I'm not gonna snap and do something stupid, if that's what you're wondering."

"No, I just... I don't want anything to happen to you. If you feel disturbed, you tell me, okay?

"That goes for you too, Spidey. Don't forget I'm here for you."

***

"Oh my God, that was incredible!" I shouted above the wind as Peter made us land softly on a rooftop. We had just saved a bunch of people from a robbery in a hotel. It was ironic, the cat burglar now stopping theft.

"I know, right?" Peter agreed excitedly. My body was shook from all the adrenaline, the thrill still pumping in my veins, begging to be released. "We make a hell of a team, Party-Hardy."

I raised an eyebrow at him, a full smile on my face.

"Party-Hardy?"

"Yeah, it just slipped out of my lips."

I grinned at him. I was pretty sure my eyes were sparkling. Or maybe it was the world. Or maybe everything. I didn't know. This feeling was not very familiar to me. Vast and overwhelming and liberating. I felt like I could do anything at that moment. Like the whole world was at my feet.

"I like it." I said. "I like it a lot. Call me that. Whenever you want." I looked down, at the streets below. We could see so much from here, all the buildings and all the people and all the life in the city that never slept. "Dammit, now I know why you can't stop doing this. This feels amazing. Did you see the faces of those guys when we surprised them from behind?"

"Yeah, I definitely saw how they feasted their eyes on you."

"See? It worked! They got distracted and that bought us time. It was so easy fighting them, wasn't it? Damn, it felt good, kicking their asses. And did you see how those people thanked us when we saved them?"