author's note: hi i'm stars4redvines and i'm the one bringing you this multi-chapter story which is dedicated to my lovely wife, littlemissdreamergirl who i love very much. roxie is so wonderful and supportive of everything i do and this is just a small gift for christmas. i will update this as soon as i can but i will be writing other stories, so i may not update as soon as i want. i am not great at writing characters as they would act in their respective fandoms, so i apologize for the oocness of these characters. i hope you enjoy the first chapter of everyone deserves their chance to fly.
unbetaed because i've been sneaky with these presents. so, any and all mistakes are my own which i will fix once i find them.
dedicated to: my lovely, beautiful, amazing, fabulous, any and all other nice adjectives internet wife and best friend roxie or littlemissdreamergirl for christmas.
warning: spoilers for glee and spiderman. sorry!
disclaimer: i do not own the worlds of glee and spiderman. i also do not own any characters associated with these fandoms. i do not even own the laptop i'm using to write this story... oh well. :P
Peter was in his element as he swung through the air. He could feel his anxieties and worries fade and disappear as he let his instincts take over. He didn't have to think as he was swinging; he knew when to shoot his webbing, how much pressure he could put on it, when to release his webbing and just free fall through the air.
He knew what it was like to fly.
Peter was crawling up the side of a building when he heard the screams. With his sixth sense screaming in his head, crawljumprunwebswingreleasejumpwebswing, he sprung into action. Soon he was swinging to the source of the panicked screams; a diner off Broadway which was filled with ruthless gunmen and scared hostages. He gritted his teeth behind his mask as he saw terrified children cling to their parents and petrified waiters and waitresses huddling together. Peter's heart stopped as he saw one of the waitresses tending to another with gunshot wound in her arm.
He studied the diner in front of him and took note of escape routes. He took in a deep breath before pushing off the wall he was clinging onto and swinging through the window of the diner. He broke the glass and cause the screams to begin anew as the gunmen shot in confusion. He quickly managed to knock out two of the four gunmen in the confusion of his entrance.
People were scrambling out of the window as he fought the other two and distracted them from the fleeing hostages. "Oh come on," Peter said as he easily avoided their attacks, "My grandmother fights better than you! May she rest in peace."
His sixth sense hollered at him as he dodged their punches and bullets, duckkickpunchdodgejabkickkneeduckgrabthrowpunchkickflipdodge. Peter listened and fluidly attacked his opponents with swift kicks and powerful punches. Soon there was only one left, clutching his gun in desperation as his eyes frantically searched for an escape. Peter couldn't help but smirk in grim satisfaction as he stared at him; there was only one way out and it was behind him.
His grin slipped off his face however as he saw the gunman reach into his pocket and pull out a trigger. His eyes widened as he backed away from the man and looked behind him. He froze as he saw the waitress from before helping her friend out of the window. He spun around and faced the man before whispering, "Shit." He ran to to the window with his instincts shrieking at him to hurryrunsprintescape!
Rachel had woken up that morning with a terrible headache. Her day had steadily gotten worse as she and Santana had to rush to get ready for work, end up running the last few blocks to the diner to try to be on time, end up being late there anyway and she still hadn't heard back from the director of Funny Girl.
"Rachel, they're going to call you back," Santana insisted, as she attempted to comfort the anxious brunette, "They'd be idiots not to."
Rachel smiled at her friend and whispered, "Really? You think so?"
Santana placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "I know so."
Of course it's during that heartwarming moment that a bunch of gun wielding maniacs enter the diner.
Rachel huddled along with the other waiters and waitresses as she desperately tried to remain calm. Which was difficult as she was trying to stop the gunshot wound in Santana's arm from bleeding too heavily. She could feel herself hyperventilating as she heard children crying and felt Santana's blood underneath her hand and between her fingers.
Santana whimpered as she applied pressure and Rachel hastily whispered comfort, "It's okay Santana, we're going to get out and get you to a hospital, I promise okay, just focus on my voice, focus on my voice!" Tears slid down her face as she looked around the diner. One of the gunmen leered at her and she felt, rather than saw, the waiters and waitresses close around her and Santana.
Her head jerked up as she heard a window breaking. She spun around as the waiters and waitresses around them dispersed and ran towards the escape. She was in shock as she saw the red and blue blur fighting with the gunmen but was jolted out of it as Mark, a fellow waiter, put his hand on her shoulder and whispered, "Rachel? Rachel! Snap out of it!"
Shaking her head quickly, she stood up and gently grabbed Santana's legs. She nodded to Mark and he picked Santana up by her shoulders. Between the two of them, they carried her to the window while avoiding the fighters. Rachel winced as a bullet flew by her head and sped up as she hurried to the window. She was lifting Santana out to Mark when she heard Spiderman whisper, "Shit."
Rachel spun around to see the remaining gunman holding a trigger and Spiderman running towards her. She hastily scrambled to escape through the window as her mind screamed at her to sprint as fast as she could.
Peter didn't think as he saw the waitress struggling to escape the diner. He just scooped her up in his arms as he felt the rush of air and heat and debris at his back. He could hear her screaming as he swung away from the exploding building. He cast one look behind to see that the hostages were a safe distance from the diner and the police were talking to them. He continued to swing as his instincts roared at him to jumpwebswingreleasejumpwebswing. He could feel the girl in his arms hyperventilating and his brain finally realized that he had a passenger.
He swung onto the nearest building and gently set the girl down onto the roof. He knelt in front of her and asked quietly, "Are you okay?" She stared at him with wide eyes and seemed to be having trouble breathing. "Hey, hey!" Peter said, alarmed, "Just take in a deep breath. In, two, three, out, two three. In, two, three, out, two, three. In, two, three..." He put his hands on her shoulders and repeated the mantra until she was breathing normally.
"Better?" he asked.
She nodded and gave him a tentative smile that relieved him, "I'm fine thank you." There was a pause where they stared at each other and she then said, "You're Spiderman."
"Yeah," he nodded, "That's me. I'm your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman." She blinked up at him and slowly reached out her hand to cup his face. He tensed up, thinking she was going to try to remove his mask but when she didn't move her hand, he eventually relaxed.
"You saved me," Rachel whispered, frowning to herself before she looked at him with these big brown eyes that did weird things to Peter's heart that he was not thinking about. No sir, he was not thinking about how pretty she looked and how nice her voice sounded. Not at all.
He looked at her and sighed before saying, "It's my job. It's what I do."
Peter swung through the city as he carried Rachel back to her apartment. She was behind him with her hands around his neck as they soared past the many buildings of New York city. He could feel her twisting her head around to stare at the passing skyline. She rested her head between his shoulder blades and his brain went to that place where he thought she was pretty and her voice sounded nice and... He shook his head as he took a sharp turn around a skyscraper. He couldn't think like that; he wouldn't.
Rachel sighed as they reached her building and they landed on the fire escape outside her building. She released her arms from around his neck and stepped away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself as he rubbed the back of his neck feeling awkward.
"Thank you... Again." Rachel said quietly.
Peter nodded at her, "It's not a problem. Well I'll see you around..." He trailed off not knowing what else to say and berating himself for being so awkward.
He turned to shoot his webbing and swing away when a hand stopped him. He spun around with Rachel's hand moving from his shoulder to laying over his heart. He blinked as she stepped closer to him until she was directly in front of him, looking up at him under her thick eyelashes. He swallowed as his mouth became dry and he could feel his heart beating quicker under her touch.
She bit her lip and he averted his gaze as she said, "That feeling... Of being weightless and your feelings just evaporating in the air... Do you get that feeling when you're swinging?" She was looking down at her hand that was over his heart as she continued to talk, "It's the first time I've felt free in so long... Since everything with Finn and Brody and everything and I just..." She looked up at him with tear filled eyes and whispered, "I just wanted to know if you felt the same when you're in the air."
He looked down at her and he slowly placed his hand over hers, "Yeah. I forget all my screw ups when I'm in the air. I'm free from my worries and insecurities..." He swallowed the lump in his throat as images flashed before his eyes; Uncle Ben bleeding underneath him, Captain Stacy lying in front of him, Gwen looking at him with desperate eyes as she fell... "I forget my mistakes and my guilt," he whispered quietly, as if afraid that this girl; this girl with the big brown eyes and soft voice and gentle hands was going to disappear when he confessed his secret, "I forget the people I've hurt and the people who have died for me."
The guilt crashed onto him as he saw the faces flash in front of him again and again until Rachel interrupted him, "You also forget all the people you've saved like the customers in the diner, the waiters and waitresses and me. You saved me." He ducked his head as she looked up at him earnestly, "No listen. You saved so many people and I'm sure that the people you've lost... I'm sure that they understand that you feel guilt for their deaths and that you miss them and... I'm sure they're proud of you."
Peter looked down at this girl who couldn't possibly know him or his inner turmoil but. But she was willing to try for this hero who had saved her, this boy who talked to her about flying. He swallowed as he thought about how he had shared more with her than he had with Mary Jane or Harry or even Aunt May and he felt something crack within him as she whispered quietly, "They would want you to know how proud they are of you."
He didn't say anything else; he just stood on the fire escape as a waitress pointed at the stars and he felt more complete than he had in a long time.
Rachel hummed softly to herself as she waited to be called for her audition. Funny Girl hadn't cast her as their Fanny but she hadn't minded at all. She had brushed off Kurt's worry that she would blow up and simply looked for more auditions and focused on her studies. And now her she was auditioning for one of her dream roles: Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.
As she was called, she thought of standing under a star filled sky and talking about flying with a masked hero. She smiled to herself softly and walked in to the role of a lifetime.
Peter sighed as he sat at the dining table and watched Aunt May cooking in the kitchen. He remembered when she would laugh as she joked with Uncle Ben about what she was making for dinner but now she just looked tired. He thought of the waitress (why hadn't he thought of asking her name?) and what she said and he felt doubt creeping in. Uncle Ben wouldn't be proud of him now; working for the Daily Bugle, leaving Aunt May on her own...
He spoke before he knew what he was saying and said out loud, "He wouldn't be proud of me." He noticed that the noise in the kitchen had stopped and that Aunt May was staring at me. He realized he had spoken out loud without meaning to. Aunt May put down the pot she was holding and walked over to Peter.
He looked down and found himself very interested in the grains of the table as Aunt May sat down beside him and took his hand. She started talking quietly, "Peter... I am so proud of the man you have become today. And I know your uncle would be too." Peter's head shot up to argue with her but she held up a hand and said, "Please just listen. Ben was so proud of you as you grew up and became the man before me. I know you too fought before he..." She trailed off as pain flashed in her eyes and Peter squeezed her hand in reassurance, "But he loved you so much. You were his hero."
Peter looked up at the theatre and asked, "Why are we here again?"
"Because," Mary Jane said as she checked through her bag for something, "Jameson wanted someone to do a review for the newspaper and seeing as someone couldn't be bothered to come to the meeting yesterday, we were given it." Peter winced as she glared and muttered his apologies as he fiddled with his camera. He had been too busy saving a group of firemen from a burning warehouse to attend the weekly Daily Bugle meeting.
Trying to change the subject, he glanced at the poster and said, "So we're reviewing Wicked... Didn't we watch this in high school?"
Mary Jane looked at the poster and smiled wistfully, "Yeah we did. Gwen... Gwen loved it."
Peter looked down and again trying to change the subject, asked, "So we watch the dress rehearsal, interview the actors, snap a few pictures and then we're done?"
She frowned at him as she swept past him into the foyer, "We are not half assing this just because you hate the arts Parker!"
Peter and Mary Jane sat down in a box and watched as the company went through their last dress rehearsal. The director was sitting several rows in front of them as she looked at the crew critically. Peter had snapped a few photos of the stage because it was pretty cool, especially the dragon clock. He had asked the director about how it worked and she had promised that he could examine it after the rehearsal.
He fiddled with his camera and looked up as the orchestra started. He thought that the musical was pretty amazing, especially the actress playing Elphaba. He couldn't help but think she looked familiar but he couldn't place her. Although he was pretty sure the fact she was green at the moment was a factor. Mary Jane wrote throughout the musical but it wasn't until the closing number of the first act that she wrote so quickly.
Peter watched as Glinda glared at Elphaba and said, "Elphaba; why couldn't you just stayed calm for once, instead of flying off the handle." Then she took in a breath and sang:
I hope you're happy!
I hope you're happy now.
I hope you're happy how you,
Hurt your cause forever,
I hope you think you're clever!
Elphaba glared at Glinda and snapped back:
I hope you're happy,
I hope you're happy, too.
I hope you're proud how you,
Would grovel in submission,
To feed your own ambition.
Standing right in front of each other they both sang out:
So though I can't imagine how,
I hope you're happy right now.
Glinda seemed to deflate as their words rung out throughout the theatre and Peter could see Mary Jane frantically writing on her notepad as she watched the two on stage. Glinda reached her hand out and said beseechingly, "Elphie, listen to me. Just say you're sorry." Then she sang:
You can still be with the Wizard,
What you've worked and waited for.
You can have all you ever wanted...
Elphaba looked at her friend and whispered, "I know." She looked away as she sang:
But I don't want it -
No - I can't want it,
Anymore:
Something has changed within me,
Something is not the same.
I'm through with playing by the rules,
Of someone else's game.
Too late for second-guessing,
Too late to go back to sleep.
It's time to trust my instincts,
Close my eyes and leap!
It's time to try,
Defying gravity.
I think I'll try,
Defying gravity.
And you can't pull me down!
Glinda tried to reason with her friend:
Can't I make you understand?
You're having delusions of grandeur.
Elphaba grinned as she shook her head and belted out:
I'm through accepting limits,
'Cause someone else says they're so.
Some things I cannot change,
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of,
Losing love I guess I've lost.
Well, if that's love,
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy,
Defying gravity.
Kiss me goodbye,
I'm defying gravity.
And you can't pull me down:
She paused before reaching out to Glinda, "Glinda, come with me. Think of what we could do, together." She sang quietly:
Unlimited,
Together we're unlimited.
Together we'll be the greatest team,
There's ever been.
Glinda -
Dreams, the way we planned 'em,
Glinda took her hand:
If we work in tandem:
They sang together with smiles on their face:
There's no fight we cannot win.
Just you and I,
Defying gravity.
With you and I,
Defying gravity.
Glinda looked away as doubt seemed to creep in and let go of Elphaba's hand. Elphaba didn't seem to notice and continued:
They'll never bring us down!
She spun around and asked Glinda, full of hope, "Well? Are you coming?" Glinda looked at her friend with sadness and whispered:
I hope you're happy,
Now that you're choosing this.
Elphaba looked at her with pain in her eyes and Peter felt like he knew her all over again as she said, "You too." She sang quietly:
I hope it brings you bliss.
Thy looked at each other for possibly the last time and sang together:
I really hope you get it,
And you don't live to regret it.
I hope you're happy in the end,
I hope you're happy, my friend...
Soldiers swarmed the stage as Elphaba took to the air and he could see the smile gracing her face as she belted out:
So if you care to find me,
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Everyone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo,
At least I'm flying free.
To those who'd ground me,
Take a message back from me.
Tell them how I am,
Defying gravity.
I'm flying high,
Defying gravity.
And soon I'll match them in renown.
And nobody in all of Oz,
No Wizard that there is or was,
Is ever gonna bring me down!
Glinda cried out as her friend flew overhead:
I hope you're happy!
The soldiers glared at the flying witch and yelled:
Look at her, she's wicked!
Get her!
Elphaba declared:
Bring me down!
The soldiers yelled as fear and anger took over:
No one mourns the wicked,
So we've got to bring her,
Ephaba sang out and Peter could practically feel the awe from the director and Mary Jane:
Ahhh!
The soldiers yelled as the orchestra came to a crescendo:
Down!
Peter stood outside in the night air as Mary Jane interviewed the actresses playing Glinda and Elphaba. They had decided that it would be better to take the photos when last minute adjustments weren't taking place and so, he had excused himself from the theatre. He was looking at the sky when someone knocked into him. He could hear a squeal as they fell and he reacted before he had thought about it. He blinked at the familiar brown eyes looking up at him and very eloquently said, "Um..."
She stared at him for a moment longer before apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and I didn't see you because I was looking for my phone an-"
"It's fine," he interrupted as he set her back on her feet, "Just take in a deep breath."
Her head turned to him and he could see something flash across her face before she asked, "What did you just say?"
"Take in a deep breath," Peter answered and he watched as she finally caught her breath, "Are you okay?"
She nodded, "Yes, I'm, fine thank you. I've just had a long day and I panicked when I fell."
He glanced at the theatre and asked, "Rehearsals?" She smiled and Peter recognized her as the waitress from the fire escape and the witch owning the stage.
"Yes," She answered, "We open tomorrow so I don't know if I'll sleep tonight out of excitement." She ducked her head out of embarrassment but Peter smiled because he honestly thought it was cute. She blushed at his smile and admitted, "It's been my dream to star in a Broadway show and now..."
Peter wasn't sure what struck him the most in that moment; the fact that he had found this hopeful, wonderful girl that he hadn't been looking for or that they were having another heartfelt discussion under the stars. Then he saw her shiver against the cold and it prompted him to blurt out, "Would you like to get coffee?"
She stared at him for a moment before quickly nodding, "Yes, I'd love to! I know the nicest coffee shop just down the street but... I don't even know your name."
He extended his hand out to her and said, "Peter Parker at your service."
She grinned up at him before shaking his hand and they both looked at each other with bright eyes at the spark they felt, "Rachel Barbara Berry."
He smiled at her before he pulled her down the street and asked, "So where is this coffee shop?"
She rolled her eyes before she skipped in front of him, still holding onto his hand, "It's just down here."
And that was their beginning.
author's note: this is going to have two chapters probably; maybe three if i feel really inspired. roxie, i hoped you enjoyed this and that i didn't ruin petechel for you. reviews and constructive criticism are welcome and will be given virtual spiderwebs while flames will be put out with a fire extinguisher. thanks for reading.
songs used:
defying gravity - wicked
-stars4redvines