darling [peter parker]

decisions!

Wendy opened her window just in case.

It was unlikely Spider-Man would stop by after that disastrous kiss. Not that it was particularly disastrous from her perspective. In fact, it was so amazing that she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was consuming her every thought. She really couldn't believe this was happening to her. Wendy had always strived to be an independent, badass woman who didn't need a man's approval for validation. Now she was glancing at her window every thirty seconds, waiting for some guy whose face she had never fully seen to slip in and tell her that he enjoyed the kiss and liked her too.

She busied herself with homework, but she really didn't have that much to do. She plopped down at her desk and opened her laptop. She bullshitted around on twitter for a hot second before a rush of inspiration hit her. She bit her lip, suppressing a smile at the thought of kissing Spidey, and opened the song she'd been messing around with for awhile. Since no one else was home, she unplugged her headphones and played the current version through her computer's speakers. It was good, but now that she'd had her first kiss and understood the joy of romance, she realized it needed more oomph.

Before she knew it, she'd spent forty-five minutes reworking the track and messing around with the instrumentation. Scratching the side of her nose, she played the new version on blast. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, swaying slightly to the beat. She couldn't stop smiling. The lyrics just reminded her of days spent with her Peter Pan, lying on her bed and filling out sudoku puzzles or snacking while talking about anything and everything.

She didn't have an opportunity to wonder if Spider-Man was ever coming back because a voice sounded beside her, "Is that you singing?"

She screamed and nearly fell out of her chair. In seconds, Spidey was by her side, helping her back into her seat. He had his mask pulled up over his mouth again. He sat on the window mantle once he was sure she was stable. They stared at each other for a few moments. Wendy wasn't sure what to say. The last time they saw each other, they'd made out and then he ran away.

"Yes," she stated. He tilted his head. She paused the song. "Yeah, that's me singing. I wrote the song and I created the track. All of it."

"Wow," he gasped. She grinned. There was nothing quite like impressing a superhero. "That's so cool! What's it called?"

She froze. Oh yeah. Her song needed a proper name. The working title was 'but why ribCAGE.' She'd been inspired to write the first few lyrics thanks to a sleepover all the way back in sixth grade, when Erin had suddenly sat up, paused Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and asked, "Why are they called rib cages? Cages are usually meant to keep something in, right? What are our ribs keeping in?" That was back before Angie or Margot or Michelle, back when Wendy and Erin kept the company of girls like Kate Bishop.

"No Words," she decided.

He smiled at her. "I like it a lot." I like you a lot.

"I'm assuming you saw me in the headlines," she joked, switching to an open tab of some article claiming she was just some girl looking for attention. "Fun fact: did you know I baited those boys into almost raping me so I could be more interesting? Well, neither did I. Thanks for the enlightenment mattstatic037. Oh, and thanks to xtina11, I now know that I also did this all for the cash. Because, as we all know, witnesses get paid for releasing statements."

"Ignore them," Spidey insisted, pushing her hand aside and closing the tab for her. "They're just vultures looking for someone to rip apart to make themselves feel better."

She laughed and leaned back in her seat. "Well, I hope it's working for them because I personally feel like shit. I've had to mute words on Instagram and Twitter so I won't see all the nasty comments. I even went private on Insta and they're still somehow getting in. I think some of them go to school with me. I don't get why they don't just walk up and call me an attention-seeking slut to my face."