The Void

Chapter 40 - Communication

(Your POV):
"I mean, this is just a little bit ridiculous, isn't it?" I asked Peter, looking at our notes sprawled out across his bed. We were both lying on our stomachs, staring at the papers and trying to make the methods come together into one system. "I mean, why can't we just dump some cereal and milk into the bowl and call it quits? Seriously, this is unnecessary."

Peter laughed lightly at my frustration, wrapping his arm around me, "who would have thought that our valedictorian was trying to find the easy way out of a project."

I rolled my eyes, "it's not the easy way out, it is the most efficient way to get a bowl of cereal. These Rube Goldberg projects are unnecessarily complicated."

"Well I can assure you that with your genius, we'll be able to come up with some miraculous way to pour a glass of cereal," Peter assured me, squeezing me lightly with his arm. "So we have pulley systems, water wheels, fans-"

"Fire," I added with a glint in my eyes.

"Woah, hold up for a second. We don't want to destroy the school, do we?"

"Of course not, because our project won't malfunction," I teased, kissing his cheek lightly. He blushed lightly at my touch and I panicked for a second, wondering if I had gone to far. I mean, he had kissed my cheek before, so I thought it was acceptable.

Not wanting to make the moment any more awkward, I picked up the ideas that we had so far, "so if we started by lighting a candle underneath a string that was keeping a domino upright so that the flames would burn the string, causing the domino to began the chain reaction until hitting a marble, which would travel down to hit a string, knocking over the bucket or water-"

"And you said that you weren't a fan of this? Please slow down, I can't keep up with all of your ideas," Peter interrupted me, frantically scribbling on a new piece of paper.

Hours later, we had a full sketch drawn up (by Peter, of course) of our design so that it could be approved by Ms. Warren the next day. I was quite proud of our design and I couldn't wait to build it, mostly because it was incredibly complicated which meant longer days spent with Peter. I took the design in my hands to give it one final look and Peter glanced down at me.

"So, what do you think? Is our design ridiculous?"

"Well, it was created by the most skilled person in physics that I know, so of course it's not ridiculous," I replied, rolling my body over to face him.

His cheeks pinked as I complimented him, shaking his head slightly, "I'm not actually that great, I-I just read and study."

"So do I and the only reason why I have as high of grades as I do is because Ms. Warren partnered me with you," I assured him, not understanding why he didn't just admit that physics was one of his areas of expertise.

"You know, not a day goes by that I am not thankful to Ms. Warren for sticking you with me," Peter spoke, inching his body a little closer to mine.

"I-is that so?" I stuttered slightly, finding it difficult to breath in such a close proximity to him. My stomach filled with butterflies and I wondered if he was ever not going to have this effect on me.

"Yes, because then I wouldn't have the smartest, most beautiful woman as my girlfriend and I wouldn't be looking at her right now," he elaborated, leaning his face in a little closer and my gaze lowered to his lips for a second, wondering if we were to finally enjoy our first kiss.

He lingered there for a moment and I gazed into his gorgeous brown eyes, just wanting him to kiss me already. But I soon grew too impatient with him and decided that if he wasn't going to kiss me, then I was going to kiss him. I no longer cared if we were "taking things slow," I just wanted to feel his lips on mine. I closed my eyes as I closed the distance between our lips, but only letting them linger there for a moment before pulling away.

Nerves immediately washed over my body and I found myself falling into a ramble, "oh my god, Peter, I am so sorry. I probably shouldn't have done that, was that ok? I-I just have wanted to do that for so long, but I haven't been sure-"

Peter broke me off by placing his lips back onto mine, this time letting them linger. I melted into the kiss, moving my lips in sync with his. My senses were overwhelmed by the sensation, the only thing in my mind being the feel of his slightly chapped lips, the minty taste that lingered in his mouth, and the scent of him that I had grown to love so much.

A bit hesitantly, Peter opened his mouth a bit more, allowing for my tongue to explore the new territory. I had no idea what I was doing, nor did I imagine Peter did, but it was perfect. I was sharing this moment with the first man who made me feel, the man that I loved with all of my heart.

Finally, when we were both light headed and desperate for breath, we pulled away from the kiss, panting slightly. A smile was spread across Peter's lips and I knew that my expression mirrored his.

"I've been wanting to do that for so long," I confessed, taking his hand in mine. "I wasn't sure how soon was too soon."

"I was waiting for you," Peter replied, making me realize that I probably could have kissed him earlier than this. "I just want you to be comfortable with the pace that we're taking this relationship, so please don't feel embarrassed telling me how far you want to go."

I could feel my cheeks heat up at Peter's openness and I stammered, "I-I don't really know h-how to do that. I-I mean, I've never really thought about dating before, wh-when do people normally advance their relationships?"

"I think it's different for every couple. Would it make you more comfortable if we used bases?"

"Bases?"

He looked at me in shock for a second before replying, "right, you haven't been in or known anyone in a relationship before. Ok, so there are four bases, like in baseball I guess? I mean, I don't really do sports. But anyway, the first one we just got to, which is kissing. The second is touching above the waist, the third is touching below the waist, and home base is, well, sex. Um, if it would make you more comfortable, if either of us feel ready to take our relationship further then we can say a number or home and there would be no pressure on the other person to do that, but we would at least be on the same page."

I nodded slowly, although a bit uncertain about laying my feelings bare like this, "Yeah, that doesn't sound too hard."

"I think this way we don't have to feel embarrassed to tell the other how ready we are for the next step and we can always be in communication?" Peter added, cupping my face in his hand.

I smiled at him, "yes, I like that."

Peter leaned in towards me again and I immediately closed my eyes at his touch. I never wanted this moment to end, I had never experienced so much happiness before in my life. It was like a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders and I vowed that I would protect Peter Parker, my idiot Spider-Man, from any harm, particularly from my parents. Whatever it takes.

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(A/N): Lowkey almost forgot to post this because I'm watching the Golden Globes (please let Adam Driver win best actor I swear to god that man deserves it so much), but look I remembered! And you're first kiss, yay! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!