Spider-Man and the Red Dahlia

Chapter 9

'Okay, so, I came home from school and Mr. Stark is talking to May. He starts talking about me applying for something and that we've been emailing. I was so confused, but he was winking at me so I just agreed. He asked to speak to me privately and we went into my room. He literally shows me a video of me in my old suit and asks if it's me. I deny it, obviously. So, I had my suit in this hatch on the ceiling... he grabbed a broom and kicked it, so the suit came down. I threw it into the closet and tried to play it cool, but... he was onto me. And then he asked me if I wanted to train with the Avengers.'

     'How did he know where your suit was?' I ask.

     'I guess he noticed the hatch, I don't know either.' We both laugh loudly as we walk down the street. 'He gave me a suit, too, you know. It wasn't Iron like yours, but it literally had a training wheels protocol on it.'

     'A training wheels protocol? Really?'

     'Yeah! Ned took it off and... I have so many webs, man. How am I supposed to work with 300 different webs?'

     'Now I'm curious to find out what's in my suit.' I chuckle. 'Must be something nice.'

     'Maybe Ned can find out. He's my man in the chair.'

     'Your man in the chair? What does that mean?'

     'Oh, you know, like, he talks to me and hacks into stuff and... that sort of thing. I don't know.'

     Tonight has been amazing. We held hands during almost the entirety of the movie and now we've been walking around for about ten minutes, just talking. It's perfect.

     'Impressive.'

     'What about you? How'd you get to know Captain America? If that's okay to ask.'

     'Well, when I got back to New York, Steve would check in on me every now and then to see if I could still handle my powers and to talk. It was... nice to talk to someone who understood for once. Someone who didn't look at me like I was the poor girl that got kidnapped.'

     'Honestly, I didn't even know what happened to you until a month or so ago.' Peter says. 'Ned had overheard someone talking about you.'

     I chuckle and slowly move my hand towards his. Our fingers interlace for the second time tonight and I can't help but blush.

     'Mal?' He stops walking and I turn to look at him. 'I need to tell you something.'

     He doesn't say anything else. I wait for him to continue on talking, but he doesn't.

     'Is everything okay?' I ask, getting a bit worried.

     'I really like you.' He says, startling me. I'm at a loss for words.

     'I really like you too.' Is all I can come up with in such a short time. It would really be helpful if I had fifteen minutes to figure out the right thing to say. I've imagined so many different versions of this moment, but I still don't have the right words.

     Peter smiles and steps closer to me, leaning in to kiss me. His lips touch mine shortly and then he pulls away again, leaving a soft tingle behind on my lips.

     'How long do we have until your parents expect you home?'

     I grab my phone from my pocket to check. 'Approximately fifteen minutes.'

     'Okay.' We continue on walking, hand in hand. I just had my first kiss. With Peter. Nothing could possibly ruin this day.

     'Are you cold?' Peter asks, letting go of my hand and starting to take off his coat. 'Your jacket doesn't look very warm.'