DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SPIDER-MAN OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS USED IN MY STORY.
"The party was great man, you should have been there! I mean, the crowd was full of hotties, it was like being in heaven!"
"All right, all right, you don't have to repeat that for the bajillionth time. So tell me, did you ask any of them out?" Peter asked though he got a good idea of what the answer was going to be.
Harry scowled. "No, but it's a first step!" He replied defensively. "All right enough about me, what was going on last night that made you miss this party?"
"Um...nothing much. Just took a little stroll in the park, then a late evening run." Mary Jane couldn't help snickering softly at Peter's excuse. Well, technically it wasn't totally a lie.
"WHAT! AND YOU WOULD RATHER DO THAT THAN ACCOMPANY YOUR BEST FRIEND TO THE PARTY OF THE YEAR?"
Peter merely shrugged. "I'm not exactly the party kind of guy, you know?"
"Can't you make an exception just one time?"
Laughing, Peter retorted "I don't think it would improve your chances with the girls if they see you with nerdy Parker. But if it makes you happy I will accompany you next time."
As they walked into the classroom to take their seats, they noticed the stares of the boys on someone they haven't seen in school before. They were gawking at her as if she were a goddess and frankly, Peter couldn't fault them. Long platinum blond hair flowed to one side of her neck like a silver waterfall. She had a beautiful face and curves which models would die for. Trying her best to ignore the stares, she rested her chin on a hand and looked straight at the whiteboard.
"I think I found the future Mrs Osborn, guys!" Harry whispered as he gazed dreamily at her from his seat.
Shaking her head, Mary Jane leaned to Peter. "I really pity her. First day of school and she's already surrounded by a ravenous flock. She looks really uncomfortable with all this attention too."
At that moment the door opened and the Math teacher, Mr Cole came in, ready to drone the class to sleep once again with his monotonous voice. However, if there's one student who will stay awake throughout the whole lesson, it would be none other than Peter Parker, who took learning very seriously. In fact, he was the one boy who did not constantly gawk at the new girl's beauty, instead preferring to direct his attention to the math formulae and diagrams on the board.
Halfway through his lesson on trigonometry, Mr Cole couldn't take it any longer. "Will you guys please take your eyes off Ms Hardy for a moment and pay attention for once?" Normally the students would at least pretend to pay attention and Mr Cole, oblivious as he is, would genuinely believe that they were interested in his lesson.
The girl's cheeks reddened, no doubt clearly embarrassed by the situation. Peter felt bad for her; she clearly just wanted a normal school life, and didn't expect to receive such attention already on her first day of school.
"Hmm... maybe I can try and help her adjust to this new school life," Peter thought before immersing himself into the world of math once again.
During lunch time, Peter took his tray and joined Harry, Gwen and Mary Jane at their usual table. Harry was staring dead ahead which earn a puzzled look from Peter. "What's up with him?" He said as he took a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich.
"Isn't it obvious?" Mary Jane replied as she rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb in the direction of his gaze. There was the new girl, sitting alone at a table and picking at her lunch.
"Well, I've decided!" Harry finally said as he stood up, "If nobody's up to it, I'll be the first to ask her out!" That earned a snicker from the three of them and Harry departed from the table with a scowl, muttering something under his breath.
"Oh, this will be good!" Peter said as he rubbed his hands together and turned to observe Harry's trademark "smooth moves". The only thing that would make this better was if he had a bowl of popcorn. To his disappointment, the table was too far away and he couldn't hear a thing they said so he settled with just observing the scene with his eyes.
Harry went over to her and gestured at a seat. After a nod from her, he sat down and put on his most pleasant smile before conversing with her. While Harry seemed genuinely interested in the conversation,she looked kind of bored and did not pay much attention to him. Gwen pointed this out, which made Peter and Mary Jane burst out laughing as this was the epitome of "unrequited love". Not long after, she shook her head and from her mouth movements seemed to say "sorry", leaving Harry with a face of dejection as he left to return to his table. Seeing Harry's failed attempt, Peter immediately turned back around and returned to his sandwich, acting as if he totally didn't witness his failure.
"So how was it?" Peter asked, even though he knew the answer already.
"Don't act dumb, I know you saw everything!" Harry replied hotly.
"Aw come on Harry, cheer up! There are so many other girls in the world, I'm sure you'll find the right one!" Mary Jane consoled.
"Yeah...I guess you're right."
"Come on buddy, I know just the thing that will cheer you up!" Peter said through a mouthful of sandwich.
"Oh yeah? I highly doubt you do."
Peter smiled as he took his time to swallow before continuing. "Liz's birthday party is next week, and you have a voucher to take me to any one party you want. That is if you still want the school's biggest geek to be your wingman."
Harry's mood lightened up instantly. "Are you kidding? Of course I do! Beside you, I would look like a total heartthrob!" He joked, which earned a glare from Peter.
The school day went past fast enough for Peter as he prepared himself for his night patrol as Spider-Man. After refilling his web cartridges, he slipped into his suit and put on his mask before sliding his window open and slinging into the cool night air.
Scouring the city for a good two hours, Peter couldn't find any major crime, only stopping a masked man from mugging an innocent lady. He felt really proud of himself. Since he took on the role as the masked vigilante for the city, crime rate has dropped significantly. While the Daily Bugle has been consistently trashing his reputation, he couldn't care less as what mattered was that the innocent were safe.
Just as he thought of wrapping up his patrol and swing back home, a blaring alarm rang, cutting through the silence of the otherwise still night. Sighing, Spider-Man swung to the source of the sound as he thought of making quick work of this robber and getting home for some well-deserved rest.
The jewellery store had its window crudely broken to pieces as he swung in through that hole. Turns out that the robber threw a rock to break the glass, setting off the alarm. "Rookie" thought Spider-Man as he tried to navigate his way through the dark store. Luckily for him, his spider-sense served to give him a general idea of the environment around him in addition to warning him of impending danger so he didn't have as much trouble finding his way.
"Well,well, look what the cat dragged in.."
He froze at that statement. It was a smooth female voice and it came from behind him, which was weird as his spider-sense would have warned him of any impending danger. Nobody has managed to catch him by surprise during his time as Spider-Man but she was the first exception.
"Look lady, why don't you just return the jewels you stole and follow me to the police station so nobody gets hurt. I don't want to fight a girl, even if she's a thief."
Laughing, the thief replied "You seem pretty confident of your abilities, hero. We'll see if you really live up to your reputation!" At that, she threw a smoke bomb. The chemicals irritated his lungs, his mask only doing so much to block his inhalation of the smoke. Coughing as he fanned away the gas, he made his way to the broken window. He looked up just in time to see a black figure swing away to a nearby rooftop with the aid of a grappling gun.
"Wow, what a copycat!" He can't help thinking that the move was so similar to his web slinging.
Firing a web line to the same location, he gave chase without hesitation.
"Wow, she's fast!" He thought as he tried to catch up with the thief bounding across the rooftops.
"Aw come on, why are you running away? Do I really look that bad?" He called out while swinging after her.
She smirked at that joke. She knew Spider-Man had a tendency to come up with such quips when dealing with his foes. Majority of them thought he was irritating but she thought it to be an intriguing part of him.
Glancing back, she discovered the hero slowly but surely catching up with her. With running not an option, she decided to resort to Plan B.
Pretending to dive off the edge of the rooftop, she remained on a ledge not far below. Not long after, she heard footsteps above her and she leapt from her hiding spot, giving the unsuspecting Spider-Man an uppercut, causing him to stumble and fall flat on his back.
"Owww, that hurt..." Spider-Man said as he rubbed his chin. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw the thief rushing straight at him, not giving him a moment's rest.
He managed to block all her attacks with ease, not retaliating at all. She may be trained in martial arts, but even that is no match for the spider's superior speed and agility.
"This isn't any fun if I'm the only one making the moves, you know?" She said, pouting her lips while continuing her relentless attacks.
"Didn't I say earlier that I wouldn't hit a woman?"
"What about Shriek?"
"Fine, I wouldn't hit a woman who isn't out for my head. You know, it's kinda easier to talk when I'm not constantly trying to avoid my face being smashed in."
"Well then you only have one option, because I'm not stopping." She grinned.
"Is she enjoying this?" Spider-Man thought when he saw her grin. "I guess you're right," he said, giving a dramatic sigh. Blocking her next roundhouse kick, he grabbed on to her raised leg with his lightning quick reflexes. He then proceeded to sweep her remaining leg with his and cushioned her fall with his free hand.
Totally caught off-guard, she gasped as she fell to the floor softly, thanks to Spider-Man breaking her fall. She couldn't believe the speed at which he did all this. Spider-Man had her pinned to the floor and though she didn't give the fight her hundred percent as well, she didn't think he would take her out so fast.
For the first time that night, he saw her features clearly. Even with her goggles and eye mask on, he could tell that she was gorgeous. She had shoulder-length raven hair and her skin-tight leather suit accentuated her curves really well. From her overall look, she appeared relatively young, and he guessed that she was around the same age as him. "Wow..." he let out involuntarily before he could stop himself, putting a smirk on the thief's face.
"Well, you got me hero...now what're you going to do?"
Taken aback by the sultry tone in her voice, Spider-Man was at a loss for words.
"Uhhhhh...I..I.." he stammered, grateful that his mask was covering his face which was blushing madly.
The thief grinned from ear to ear. She thought of how despite the fact that Spider-Man was the guardian of the city, projecting his image as a fearless vigilante, he was also just a shy person underneath the facade and the mask.
Taking advantage of his moment of hesitation, she flipped him around and it was now her who had Spider-Man pinned. While he could have easily turned the tables round, he found himself weak and helpless at the effect she had on him.
"If you don't have any plans for me, I have a plan for us..." she said, lifting her goggles and revealing a set of emerald green eyes.
With that, she started to lift up his mask but he caught on and reached out to stop her.
"Don't..."
"Relax spider, I won't jeopardise your identity," she reassured him and somehow, he believed her.
She pulled the mask up till his nose and planted her lips on his, her hands cupping his cheeks. Peter's eyes widened in shock. Pursing his lips, he was hesitant in returning the kiss. Attractive as she is, in the end she is still a thief and he could not, would not take a step down the wrong path.
Noticing Spider-Man clearly not reciprocating her kiss, she pulled back and gave a puzzled look. "What's wrong spider?"
"What's wrong is that you're a thief and I don't mingle with the wrong crowd. You're clearly too young to be in this business and you've a bright future ahead of you. Tell you what, if you return the jewels, I'll let you off the hook. The police won't even know of your existence."
"As tempting as the offer is, I'm afraid I am going to have to reject it. You see, I'm a world class cat burglar, and it certainly won't look good on me if anyone knows of even one failed heist." She said, caressing his cheek with her gloved hand.
"Look, I really don't want to be enemies with you, but if you're so adamant..."
"Oh poo! You're really no fun at all spider! I guess I'm going to have cut our meeting short then, see ya!"
"You know I can't let you run away with those jewels."
The thief began to release her hold on Spider-Man and make her escape, turning back and replying with a wink "Oh? I don't think so!"
Spider-Man rolled his mask back down and started to give chase but his left foot wouldn't move. "WHAT? SO UNFAIR!" he yelled in exasperation as he realised that it was stuck to the floor with some adhesive that the thief applied without his knowledge earlier. Seeing a helpless Spider-Man, she grinned and blew a kiss to him before leaving behind a note and diving over the edge of the roof, out of sight.
Peter took some time to remove his boot, and decided that he would have to leave it there as the adhesive was too strong. He picked up the note and read it with the thief's voice in his head:
Tonight was really enjoyable for me spider, you sure know how to show a lady a great time. I'm sure we will cross paths again next time, looking forward to it!
XOXO The Black Cat
Stowing the note away into his costume, he returned to the jewellery store, police cars already there and he could overhear a police officer taking the store owner's statement.
"So you're telling me that nothing got stolen?"
"Yes, I'm guessing this must be some prank pulled by the neighbourhood kids, throwing rocks at windows and what not. Thank god it wasn't a thief!"
"Black Cat didn't steal anything? So she was just playing with me huh? I guess what they say about black cats being bad luck is true," Spider-Man thought as he chuckled to himself, shaking his head. He was still in disbelief that she would actually go through so much trouble staging a heist and risk getting apprehended just so she can toy with him. And why did she fight him, only to kiss him later on? "I would never understand women..." he muttered to himself before firing a web shot to a nearby building and swinging his way back home, confused but unable to wipe the smile off his face.