Spider-Man Imagines I

You Save People | Peter Parker [TH]

Peter swung off the web and landed on a bare branch of a giant tree. His fingers pressed against the bark, making his landing stick without rustling the tree too much. He was just about to ask Karen to do a quick scan when he heard the scuffling of boots against snow.

Peering down between the branches, he saw the back of a girl all bundled up in winter coats. She had a hat pulled way down on her head and mitted hands were tugging on a strand of twinkling rainbow lights.

She climbed up a few rungs of the ladder and hoisted the strand far above her head. She seemed too little to be holding them up and driving a hammer and nail through the wood on the roof, but she was doing it just fine.

Sometimes her legs would wobble, or she would grip the ladder in panic, giving Peter a view of her face, all lit up by the lights, cheeks rosy with the cold and eyes wide with the fear of standing so high.

"She's pretty," he accidentally said aloud, and he clamped his hand over his mouth when he saw her turn her head.

After a silent moment, she turned away again. Peter took a deep breath.

"You like her, Peter?" Karen asked.

"I-I- no," he whispered. "She's just pretty." He started to feel nervous and itchy. "This isn't creepy, is it? I think it's creepy. We should go, I think-"

He started to climb off the branch, moving slowly to keep quiet.

"Hey!"

He gasped in surprise at the new voice and tipped backward, his feet sticking to the branch and his arms hanging above his head.

She was halfway across her yard, arms crossed as she walked toward the tree. "You just gonna hang there, or you gonna help me?"

"W-What?"

"You are Spider-Man, aren't you?" she asked. He nodded. "Okay, then you help people. Can you help me?"

"Um... yes?" He scratched the back of his head. "Yes. Yes. I can help, s-sure."

"Good," she said, flashing a dazzling smile, "I appreciate it."

He followed her to the side of the house. Ignoring the ladder, he climbed up the wall and she handed him a strand of lights. He draped them over the nails and she gathered the wires and held them.

"Thank you," she said.

"Uh-huh," he replied, using a heavy New York accent. "Just doing my job, ma'am."

She laughed. "What's with the sudden accent?"

"U-Uh... I don't - I don't know," he said.

"Okay," she said, still laughing. "Well, when we're done, I can make you a cup of hot cocoa."

He froze and turned his head towards her.

"What?" she asked. "I make really good cocoa, honest! I crush up candy canes and sprinkle them on top of the melted marshmallow-"

"Y-You would invite someone inside after you've known them for literally thirty seconds?" he asked.

She scoffed and laughed. "Um, no. But I would invite Spider-Man inside, since he's trustworthy." He didn't say anything. "I've seen videos of you rescuing people. You're a hero, and I seriously doubt you'll murder me." She looked down at her feet and stifled another giggle. "I'm sure there's even a reason you were spying on my from my tree..."

From the inside of his suit, he blanched. This was embarrassing. It was the most embarrassing thing to ever happen, even more so than Flash calling him by that name in the middle of the party, and calling him and Ned out for not belonging...

"Hey, it's fine," she said. "Typically, I'd beat a guy up for staring at me. But you're Spider-Man. It's not like you're obsessed with me or anything." She gave him a silly look. "I mean, right?"

"Right! No, uh, I'm not obsessed with you," he said. "I was just doing patrols and landed in the tree for a break. I saw you and watched and - that sounds creepy. Sorry."

She laughed - like really laughed. Her head tipped back and her voice came out all bubbly, her hair falling off her shoulders and cascading down her back like a curtain.

"I wish I knew who you were in real life, Spiderman, 'cause you're funny," she said. Her smile was warm now. "I haven't laughed like that in a while."

He was silent as he stared at her, his heart doing weird flips and things inside of his chest. It had happened so fast, but he really liked this girl.

He went back to doing the lights. It was silent, as if the last sentence she had spoken had reminded her of something dark. Maybe it had.

"If you don't mind my askin'," he said, accent still going, "what are you doing putting lights up on the twenty second of December? I mean, isn't that a little late?"

"Oh, maybe," she said, staring at the flickering bulbs. "Christmas has been a little... different this year."

"Different?" he asked.

She nodded. She looked sadder.

"I see," he said. "You know, I had a Christmas about two years ago that was different. Someone really important to me had just passed away and it was hard. But... with every year, you find a new normal. And it always hurts and it always feels a little different, and you long for what was before, but... you find new things to enjoy, too."

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded.

She wiped a tear from her eye. "Thank you."

"Just doing my job," he repeated from earlier.

She nodded. "And I was right," she said. He gave her a weird look. "Spider-Man saves people. You're... you're saving me."

If his mask were off, she would have seen how red his face was. How wide his grin was. How alive his eyes were.

But she couldn't.

"The lights look great," she said. "So how about some hot cocoa?"

He slid off the cold wall and planted his feet in the snow. "Yeah, I'd love some."

She paused, then snickered.

"What?"

"No more accent," she said, and he burned red. "C'mon, Bug Boy. Your secret is safe with me."