A Second Chance: Peter Parker x Reader

CHAPTER 1

Oh man, it's almost 4am, you think to yourself. Rubbing your tired eyes with the sleeves of your ESU hoodie, you decide that it's time to call it a night and leave the library. You cram your textbooks and laptop into your backpack and begin the trek back to your shared studio apartment five or so blocks away.

You step outside and the chilly autumn air bites your skin through the sweatshirt. You wrap your scarf around your mouth and nose and put your hood up. The streets are an eery quiet. The kind of quiet where you hope it stays that way because anything that makes a noise is surely up to no good at this hour. Man, you really need to stop putting yourself in these situations. You were raised in this city. You know better than to walk alone at night. But nevertheless, the situation is what it is and you really need to go home and sleep.

Your about two blocks from your apartment when you hear a cacophonous sound from a darkened alleyway you are passing and a hand swipes at the nape of your neck latching onto your backpack. Shocked, you let out a very undignified and dying cat-like scream as you instinctively pull away from the unwashed man.

In a blink of an eye, just as quickly as the mugger attacked you, he was knocked to the ground by a blurry force, consequently making him release the grip on you.

The mugger, knocked further from the streetlights appeared to be held down by something. I squinted, frozen in place by fear and desperately trying to comprehend why the mugger was struggling to get up.

Then a figure started to emerge from the darkness. Presumably the blurry one that knocked down the mugger. When the figure reaches the light, clearly with intent of walking towards you, you instinctively scream and jump back.

As soon as you do, you feel silly, realizing know that the masked figure walking towards you is a well known Avenger and city crime fighter.

He is taken aback by your scream, swiveling around looking for another threat to fend off. Realizing that there is no one but himself who could have caused the scream, he raises an eyebrow in confusion and gestures to himself.

"I'm sorry... I'm... afraid of spiders" you say, quick on your feet.

Spider-Man bends over in laughter and you crack a chuckle at your own joke. "That's a good one- no one has ever said that to me before," he says recovering from laughter, "Are you alright, miss?"

You take a deep, shaky breath still trying to ease your adrenaline rush. "Yeah, I'm fine I think. Thank you for..." you gesture to the webbed up criminal who has resigned from trying to escape and is now just laying there, "whatever that was."

He seemingly smiles at you and puffs out his chest with pride. There is a moment of silence between you two. You half expect him to bound away to find some other criminal to web up, but it must be a slow night because he lingers. So you introduce yourself to break the silence.

You remove your hood, pull the scarf away from your face and extend your right hand, "I'm (Y/N), by the way."

Spider-Man's eyes widen with surprise and for a second he almost forgets to shake your hand leaving you feeling a tad awkward.

He shakes the surprised look off his face and replies, "I-I'm Spider-Man... I mean- I guess you knew that..." You laugh lightly at his genuine and humble awkwardness. It averts your expectation of what meeting a superhero hero would be like. It is a pleasant surprise. "So w-what are you doing back in New York?"

"Back?" Now it's your turn to be surprised and confused.

He shakes his head, "I-I don't know why

said 'back' that was weird. Sorry."

"Why would you ask me why I was in New York to begin with? How come you didn't just assume I was a permanent resident?"

"I- uh- well- uh... I guess I just assumed that because you were wearing an ESU sweatshirt and you were walking around at night alone that you probably weren't from around here. You really shouldn't walk alone at night, by the way, it's very dangerous. Especially if you're a pre-- a nice woman, like yourself."

You're suspicious of his reasoning but you're also almost certain that he was about to call you pretty. You can't help but feel flattered to be admired by a superhero when your in sweats and have bags under your eyes.

"Well, if you must know...Mr. Spider-Man?... I actually grew up in Queens. However, I moved to New Jersey just before high school, went to community college there for two years and now I am back to attend ESU."

He laughed, "Mr. Spider-Man? Do I seem like an old man to you?"

"No!.. I mean- I don't know.. Maybe your genes keep you young and you're actually like 100 years old- I have no idea! I was just trying to be polite just in case!"

"Well, if you must know... Miss (Y/N)... I am not a 100 years old. I also go to ESU and will be graduating after this year."

"Oh wow, I didn't know Spider-Man attended ESU... you think that would be something they advertise at orientation or something when they mention famous alumni."

"Well- that's because Spider-Man doesn't go to ESU, the uh- real me- goes to ESU."

"Oh," you blush from feeling a little stupid, "of course. That makes a lot of sense. I guess it would be weird if you had to go to classes in your suit and uh- I guess I should get going... it's late or uh- early I guess." You start to bow out of your odd encounter with the masked man.

"Of course- That's right! You probably need to go to bed or something."

You start to scurry on your way down the block when you hear him call, "Wait! Wait! It's dangerous out there! I should walk you home!"

"But what about the guy in the alley?"

"Eh- the webbing will hold until morning when the cops start to sweep the area. He'll be harmless laying there until then." He catches up to you and you both walk in silence for half a block.

"You know my place is really only a block or so away... I promise I won't try to get mugged again between here and there if you have other things to attend to or... other people to save I guess..."

"Nah, don't worry about, it's been a pretty slow night. It's my pleasure to walk you home"

Then the thought occurs to you, "Well, what if I don't want some strange masked man knowing where I live- you could be an imposter and a serial killer for all I know."

"I'm the real deal. I promise- I mean- c'mon- I swung down on a web for crying out loud."

You chuckle, "I guess that's pretty convincing."

"Plus... maybe I want to check-in with you again."

You're shocked and almost blushing, "Wow I didn't realize Spider-Man was so 'full service' to the victims he saves..."

"Well- I mean- not usually. But I just meant that I would really like to see you again. You know- I guess- only if you want to see me again." He says as you two arrive at the entrance of your apartment complex.

You can't hide the grin that creeps up on your face and when you look at him, he seems to return the smile. "I would really like to see you again too, Spider-Man. Feel free to swing by anytime... uh literally, I guess."

You turn away from him and walk up to unlock the lobby door. When he says, "I'm- uh- very good at science by the way! You know... like if you ever needed help with studying or something..."

The dorky desperation in his voice is so comforting and familiar for some reason. "Thanks, but I already finished taking my science classes. But you can come by if you ever need help with writing or life advice or something. I'm pretty good at those."

"That's good to know! I definitely could use some help with both of those things..."

You open the lobby door and step inside, "Goodnight, Spider Man," you call over your shoulder flashing a grin.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)!"