Spider Girl: Origin Story (Cimorelli)

Joint Birthday

Two weeks after your fight with Green Goblin is your joint birthday party with Dani. She's only a week older than you, so you always celebrate with a single party between both birthdays. You've done that since you were nine and realized how close your birthdays were and moving in with the Cimorellis only made it easier.

Christina didn't end up really grounding either of you, but you're both spending the rest of the school year helping her grade papers every Saturday. It definitely could have been a lot worse.

The birthday party is pretty laid back, as usual. Katherine and Amy come over with pizza and drinks and you spend most of the day watching movies. You always celebrate your birthdays over a weekend so school doesn't interfere.

Everyone gathers in the living room so you can open your presents.

"Wait, I forgot something." You say, running up to your room. You go to your closet where you put the box from Aunt May and tuck it under your arm.

You go back to the living room and hold it out to Dani.

"Is it a skateboard?" Lauren asks, eyeing the box as Dani lays it across her lap.

You shrug as Dani rips open the wrapping paper and pulls off the lid. Her jaw hangs open as she softly grazes the surface of the hover board. It's smaller than the Goblin's and Aunt May said it should be easy to learn how to control.

Christina turns to narrow her eyes at you. "Y/N. Why would you not ask me first?"

"Well," you can't hold her gaze, "I knew you would say no."

"This is so cool!" Dani jumps up, holding the board out in front of her.

She sprints out the front door to try it out on the sidewalk. Lise and Amy follow but Christina is still glaring at you.

You give the oldest girl a small smile. "It's got tons of safety features, Chris. It's designed to catch her if she falls off and it doesn't even go that fast."

Christina stands up. "Fine, but I'm taking it away the second either of you gets hurt on it." She goes outside to watch Dani on the board and this time Katherine follows.

That just leaves you and Lauren to look at each other across the coffee table.

"I'm going to give you your present while everyone else is gone." Lauren says. She pulls a small box out of her jacket pocket and stands up to walk over to you.

You get up too and she hands the box over. You flip open the lid and see a necklace inside. It's silver, and there's a small spider charm.

She picks it up and reaches out to clasp it around your neck. "I figure this can be your reminder that you are a hero, even if you're not wearing the suit." She steps back as the charm falls against your collarbone.

You reach one hand up to touch it. "Lauren, I love it. Thank you."

She smiles as she cups your cheek, slightly pulling you toward her. "I just don't ever want you to forget how amazing you are." Her lips find yours.

The kiss is soft and quick, and she's pulling away before you've even gotten to process it. She lets her hand fall to grab your wrist.

"Come on. Let's go see how Dani is doing."

Lauren leads you into the front yard where Dani is doing spins on the hover board. She's actually doing really good.

"Dani, let me try!" Lisa calls.

Dani zooms over a pile of snow, sending flurries into the air. "Get your own, Lise!"

Lisa turns to lock eyes with you. "I expect a board for my birthday."

You just grin at her. "I make no promises."

A police car suddenly flies by, followed by two more. Dani brings the hover board to a stop and turns to look at you.

"Let's go see what that's about." She suggests.

"What about the cake?" Amy asks as you disappear inside.

"Sorry, Aimes." Dani says. "It'll have to wait." She steps off the board and grabs it with one hand. "I should go get some web packs."

Christina shakes her head as the youngest sister runs after you into the house. "I really don't like this."

Katherine places a hand on her shoulder. "I think they'll be okay, Chris. They look out for each other."

Christina watches as you climb out of your bedroom window and swing onto the roof. You jump from roof to roof after the cop cars. Dani zooms through the front door, already on her hover board, and she cuts through the yard to fly over the sidewalk.

Christina pulls her keys out of her pocket. "I'm following them."

"Chris," Lisa says, "maybe you should just trust that they'll be okay? It might not even be anything dangerous."

Christina glances down the street where the cop cars disappeared. She can see red and blue lights dancing on the brick buildings.

She sighs and puts her keys in her pocket. "I'll give them thirty minutes before I go see what's going on."

It only takes twenty minutes for the both of you to get back. It turned out to just be three guys trying to rob a bank. They decided to cut through some alleys and you were easily able to knock out two of them with your electricity. Dani caught the other one with a web pack.

Once you get back to the house, Amy is immediately making everyone sit down for cake. As you're eating you realize Dani probably needs some kind of suit.

It looks like you're the new Spider Man and if Dani is going to be your sidekick she'll need the proper equipment. You make a mental note to ask Aunt May what she can do.

And you still don't know if Mike and Dr. Gale are truly gone. At least Green Goblin was locked up again but you wonder how long that will last this time.

But you just want to spend the rest of the day getting to enjoy your birthday party.