By Moonlight (P.P + M.J)

8. Things You Shouldn't Know

"So, what brings you here, Webs?" Michelle asked as she inspected her photo, "looking for me or something?"

Peter let out a breathy laugh, then took on his disguised voice, "yeah, actually. I saw you at the crash."

She gave him a peculiar look, "how'd you see me from where you were?"

"You're pretty hard to miss," he pointed out, his disguised voice making it sound like he had a cold.

Never would he ever admit that he had a crush on a Michelle. As much as Ned had teased him, Peter would never confess to something he didn't believe to be true. But while Peter Parker was a dork to Michelle, he thought maybe Spiderman could be something more. Sure, Peter didn't have a crush, but Spiderman definitely did.

Does that even make sense?

Looking back down at her picture, Michelle cleared her throat and asked, "what do you want, Websy?"

"Like I said, I saw you at the crash, and I was wondering if you saw anything," Peter said.

"Did you follow me or something? What took you so long to catch up?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow at Peter.

"Well, I kinda got lost and thought you could help," Peter replied with a shrug, "and I knew you were going to the Bugle so I thought I would-."

"How did you know that?"

"What?"

"How did you know that I was going to the Bugle?"

Peter remained quiet, seeing that he had just made a crucial mistake.

"I never told you where I was going before," she continued, giving me a quizzical look as she crossed her arms.

Crap, she was right. She had only told Peter and Ned that information. Realizing he was giving himself away, he scrambled for a believable excuse.

"Well, I just kind of figured," Peter blustered, and then he remembered what Michelle had said about an ad from Bugle, "I saw the article too, you know."

She didn't seem convinced by his answer, but she nodded anyway. He silently kicked himself when he thought that he could've said that Peter had told Spiderman. At least that would've made sense.

"Okay, so again, what is it you want know from me?" She asked, moving away from the subject as she looked at him. How many times had she asked that? He must have told her twice already. But he kept messing himself up and deviating.

"Did you see what crashed the bus?"

"No, but everyone was talking about it."

"What were they saying?"

"Some thought it was the Hulk. Others thought it had a tail, a big black thing that rammed the bus's bumper."

"But did you see it?"

"I saw it jump on a building, but there was too much smoke to pinpoint what it exactly looked like."

None of this was exactly helping Peter. He sighed heavily, drawing a hand over his masked face. Shaking his head, he leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

"What do you think it is?" Michelle asked him curiously.

"I don't know. That's why I came looking for you," Peter answered.

There was another moment of silence, and Peter felt like he was losing Michelle's interest. Apart from meeting just days ago, he didn't think he'd quiet caught her attention. Besides, if he wanted to get to know her, he wanted her to know him too. Spiderman couldn't get all the love. But he couldn't do that without Ned constantly poking fun at him, and that's something he'd want to avoid. But so what if Peter had a slightly, microscopic crush on her? That didn't mean anything.

Right?

"Could I, maybe see you again?" He chanced, and he got a raised eyebrow in response. He stuttered in an effort to clarify, "you know, outside of a crime thing that just happened?"

She seemed to think for a moment, and Peter feared she'd say no. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised. Like, who was he to ask such a thing? He was a masked vigilante! He could be anyone! That's not particularly someone you trust right off the bat.

"Fine, sure," she agreed, tossing her bangs out of her face. He liked when she did that. "Top of the library tomorrow night at eight. Bring me Starbucks."

"Hot chocolate with half-and-half, right?" Peter said instinctively. He didn't know how he knew that in exact detail, but he did know that she had that every morning in school. Wow, he must have been paying more attention to her than he though. Maybe Ned had a point.

But Peter knew that, not Spiderman. He'd slipped up again.

"Peter told me," he added quickly before Michelle could say anything, and she frowned slightly, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I'm aware of you, Webs," she said, walking away backwards, pointing to her eyes then at him, "you're on my radar."

When she had disappeared down the street, Peter heaved a sight, releasing the tension that had built up in his chest. But, he smiled to himself. Whether Michelle saw it that way or not, she had a date with Spiderman.

You're terrible at keeping yourself a secret, Peter.

He rolled his eyes at Karen's condescending tone as he shot a web and returned to the air.

How have you managed to even keep a secret identity?

"Not appreciating the sarcasm, Karen."

This might be the last chapter for a while. College just started so it might take more time for chapters to flow, but it may vary. But don't worry, I'm far from abandoning this fic. I like writing it, and it's far from over. Until next time! :)

~Fargone5