Wednesday – Part 1

'Sorry I'm late,' Peter puffs as he runs across the top of the building to where Natasha is leaning against a railing looking down at the street. 'Our physics teacher let us out nearly fifteen minutes late which meant it took ages for me to find somewhere I could change into my suit without being seen.'

'Don't worry,' the Black Widow waves him off, 'it's actually nice to have a bit of time to myself for once. How was school?'

'You sure we can't convince May and Tony to let me leave early?'

Natasha laughs and shakes her head. 'Sorry, Pete. Not even I'm brave enough to try that conversation. Besides even if he did consider it, you know Steve would never let Tony allow you to finish school early.'

'True,' he sighs. 'Ah well. Hey you got a car or bike with you? Because we need to meet someone in like five minutes and I'm not sure you'll be able to run fast enough. No offense.'

'Car,' she answers with a raised eyebrow, 'which isn't going to get us far in that traffic.'

'Alright I'll carry you and we'll swing there then,' he shrugs.

'Excuse me?'

'Come on we need to get to the library before that crazy old woman starts trying to carry everything home herself and breaks a hip or something.'

'Right,' Natasha just blinks and, apparently deciding it's not worth the headache, just does as he says and wraps her arms around his chest and he lets them fall from the side of the building. As they swing along the road he hears her shout into his ear: 'Ok I got to admit, kid, this is pretty cool.'

Peter just laughs. 'Oh yeah, this is the best part about being Spider-Man.'

They manage to arrive before Senora Valdez decides to carry her books home herself. Peter apologises again and again when they land, taking the books from the lady's arms before she has time to think about handing them over. He introduces Natasha, and is turning to explain to the woman in English when she steps past him and begins talking to the old lady in flawless Spanish.

'Of course you speak fluent Spanish,' he rolls his eyes under his mask. 'How come no one taught Cap?'

'Because bringing him up to date on modern culture was deemed more important,' Natasha smirks and Peter laughs. The two of them accompany the woman along the street, Natasha and Senora Valdez chatting away while Peter follows along behind, occasionally some younger children will come up and talk to him.

When they reach the Senora's flat there's two boys sat outside, one nursing a bloody nose. 'What have you two been doing now?' the woman demands, unlocking her door.

'Papa,' the one without the injured nose replies. 'He hit Carlos when he told him he didn't make the first team for soccer.'

'Bring him in and let me see that nose,' Senora Valdez sighs, 'and take those books from Spider-Man. He doesn't need to be waiting around any longer than necessary.'

Natasha helps Carlos stand up and takes him inside, sitting him down and taking a look at his nose as Peter puts the books on the table. 'It doesn't look broken,' she tells them in Spanish, 'just put some ice on it.'

'Thank you,' Carlos says, voice nasally as his brother goes to the freezer to grab a bag of frozen peas to wrap in a tea towel.

'How much had he been drinking today?' Senora Valdez asks them, voice quiet.

'He was already pissed by the time we got home,' Pedro replies, and earns a smack around the head. 'What was that for?'

'There is a lady present,' Senora scolds him, 'watch your language!'

'Sorry,' Pedro mumbles.

'You want to stay here and do your homework before dinner?' she offers the boys.

Pedro just nods glumly and sits down next to his brother, taking their books out of their backpacks and putting Carlos' in front of him. 'I'm not doing Biology though.'

'And why not?' the woman has her hands on her hips.

'Because I don't understand it,' the boy huffs, 'and the teacher is shi- really bad.'

'Let me take a look?' Peter asks, walking over to the table and looking over the boy's shoulder at the textbook.

'Hey guys? Sorry to interrupt the tutoring session but we've got to go do some actual patrolling,' Natasha interrupts, and when Peter looks at the clock he realises they've been discussing Biology for nearly an hour.

'Oh crap! Sorry guys, hey want to continue this next week?' he says, pushing away from the table.

'Hell yes! You're the best Spider-Man, you're going to save my grades,' Pedro says, decidedly less anti-biology now he has a super-hero tutor. 'Hey you any good at algebra?'

'Uh no, sorry,' he answers.

'Ah well,' Pedro sighs, 'thanks man. See you next week.'

'Thank you,' Senora Valdez gives him a hug as she shows both him and Natasha out of the apartment.

'Hey I got to do something to earn my churros,' he shrugs.

'So do you regularly tutor people in your suit, or is it just a one-time thing?' Natasha laughs as they head up the stairs.

'Definitely not normal,' he replies, shaking his head. 'But I'd do anything to help out Senora Valdez, she's awesome. And her churros are to die for.'

'She thinks the world of you,' Natasha tells him as they exit onto the roof. 'Seems to me you're doing something right with all those small jobs for her.'

'Want to see if there's something more exciting than biology homework out there?' he suggests, turning the conversation to a less awkward topic.

'Lead the way Spider-Man,' she smirks, gesturing across the rooftop.

'Let me know if you need a lift,' he calls back as he leaps to the next building.

They end up having a pretty eventful evening after stopping two robberies, one at a local store and one at a bank. Thankfully no one was hurt in either of them. Peter is about to suggest they find something to eat when he hears a muffled scream from a nearby alley.

'Sounds like someone else needs our help,' he tries to cover up the sigh.

'Getting tired Spider-Man?' Natasha teases.

'Getting hungry more like it,' he grumbles, 'we're so stopping off for food after this.' He hurries along the street to the alleyway and looks around the corner. Three men have a girl, around his age, pinned against the wall and he's not about to wait to find out exactly what their plans are.

Without really thinking he jumps into the alley. 'Hey fellas. I really don't think she's that interested in you,' he says, webbing one of them and pulling them away from the girl, putting him onto the ground with a roundhouse kick. 'However I know a lovely lady who is more than a match for all of you. How about you say hi to my Spider-Mom?'

'Seriously?' Natasha rolls her eyes and downs the one who's running towards them. 'This is not being a thing.'

'Aww sure it is,' he webs the third guy and flings him up onto the wall, very effectively putting him out of the action. He turns to the girl as Natasha makes sure the other two won't go anywhere until the police turn up. 'Hey you ok?'

'Oh my god, you just saved me,' her eyes are wide and her voice breathless as she leans against the wall, 'Spider-Man just saved me.'

'Well Black Widow helped,' he gestures to the woman, realising he knows this girl from school, her name's Lisa and she used to be friends with Liz.

'You're way too modest,' she suddenly smiles and appears to pull herself together, pushing away from the wall and coming up to him. Peter suddenly feels very uncomfortable at how close she's getting and tries to take a couple of steps back, only for his back to hit a dumpster. 'You're such a hero, everyone at school thinks you're incredible.'

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Natasha shaking with silent laughter and knows he's going to get no help from her. 'Uh, well, I'm flattered and everything but, you know, compared to the team I haven't really done all that much and-'

'Hey I know,' she cuts him off and gets further into his personal space, placing a hand on his chest and he's really tempted to fire a web and swing away but he thinks Natasha would have a go at him for being rude, 'why don't I give you my number and we can go for coffee sometime? I mean I have to say thank you for saving me.'

'Uh, I'm really sorry I don't carry my phone on me when I'm patrolling. No pockets,' he says, managing to side step away from her.

Lisa pouts, but soon brightens up again. 'Wait you know Peter right? Peter Parker?'

'Uh… yeah?' he's really worried about where this is going now.

'Well he's always saying about how he knows you,' she continues. I definitely don't actually, he thinks, rolling his eyes behind the mask. 'How about I get him to give you my number when he next sees you? Then you can call me and we can arrange coffee?'

'Uh…' he really doesn't know what to say.

'Ok so I'll hear from you soon. Oh my name's Lisa by the way; can't wait for our date Spider-Man,' she says as she walks off, waving when she gets to the entrance of the alleyway.

'What just happened?' he asks as Natasha doubles over with laughter.

'How did you and Wade end up together when you are that bad in those situations?' she asks, wiping away a tear from her eye.

'Ok for one thing,' he says, leading her up a fire escape and leaving the three men to be picked up by the police, 'I actually like Wade and he's a decent person to me. Unlike Lisa who pretends that I don't exist, and when she does decide to notice me, thinks I'm only good for helping the school Decathlon team-'

'And apparently for getting Spider-Man's number.'

'-and secondly,' he ignores the woman's comment as they reach the rooftop, 'Wade might like to pretend he's all cool and everything, but as soon as the mask comes off he's worse than I am. I literally had to chase him up the side of a building because he had a freak out over me not freaking out over his face.'

'That just sounds all kinds of special,' she laughs. 'That was pretty funny though. You're worse than Steve! I didn't anyone could be worse than Steve.'

'Yeah well I didn't see you stepping in to help me out of an awkward situation. What was I supposed to tell her? Oh sorry I'm going out with Deadpool, even though half the Avengers aren't happy with it?'

'She's going to be expecting a call you know.'

'Yeah well I'll say Spider-Man got called away, or I lost the number or something. Or just avoid her like the plague.'

'Oh the joys of being a teenager.'