Jackie was not a fan of hospitals anymore.
When she was younger, she'd loved going to the UC San Francisco Medical Center, because that meant she got to see her Mom working. Maggie had usually watched Jackie after school but when Maggie was busy with extra-curricular activities, Jackie went to the hospital and sat in the break room or cafeteria with whoever was off duty, while her Mom worked. She'd loved it. All the doctors and nurses fawned over her. They were all like extended family to Jackie.
She got to watch all the TV she wanted and eat Jello and occasionally she got to do rounds with her mom and cheer up patients. Her mom kept her fairly shielded from the death and emergency aspect of the hospital though.
Now, Jackie equated the hospital with death and being cut into. She'd had to spend so much time in the hospital after the crash, after her reconstructive surgeries, stuck in bed waiting for people to come check on how her burns were healing. Jackie had also had a broken rib and fractured leg so she'd been pretty much bedridden. She'd felt trapped in her hospital bed and although Maggie had immediately flown out to San Francisco after the crash and stayed with Jackie, Jackie felt alone.
"Jacqueline Carter?" A nurse called out appearing at the front desk with a clipboard in her hand.
"Here!" Jackie said standing from her seat in the waiting room.
She'd left school early to go to the hospital and get her scars checked up by a plastic surgeon. She had to make sure that none of her scars were getting infected and make sure her scars were healing properly. Although Jackie knew that plastic surgeons did more than just give people face lifts—without a plastic surgeon Jackie's burns probably would have killed her or her scars would have been much worse, it was still embarrassing to tell people she was going to see a plastic surgeon, so she'd just told Peter and Mia that she had a normal check up.
Jackie followed the nurse into a room with a large chair for her to sit on so the doctor could look at her scars. Jackie took a seat on the chair which was slightly reclined and waited.
"Dr. Montgomery will be in here in a moment," the nurse told her once she had set everything up.
"Ok," Jackie said pulling out her phone as the nurse exited the room.
Immediately Jackie pulled up the list on her phone of what she had overheard. She'd been going over it over and over again since her discoveries. While at The Bugle she would use their databases to try and type in searches for everything she could think of relating to the fires. This wasn't turning out to be very helpful though. Oscorp was in the news so much that there were thousands of articles and although Jackie was filtering through them, she had found none that were relevant so far. Big Man on the other hand came up with only three results and none of them were crime organization related. Jackie was not surprised to find that the fires could not be found in the databases. She guessed that they had been deleted to keep the story quiet. Fortunately she had saved the physical articles and was able to highlight what little information she could extract from them.
Peter had caught Jackie staring at her phone intently the day before and had questioned her but she'd just told him she was reading an email.
Jackie almost dropped her phone when the door swung open revealing a middle aged man with red hair and a red beard wearing dark blue scrubs and carrying a manila folder. Jackie let out a deep breath. She was still a little anxious and paranoid after the whole Big Man ordeal.
"Hi Jacqueline, I'm Dr. Montgomery," He introduced himself entering the room.
"Hello," Jackie said, not bothering to correct him about her name.
"Alright," Dr. Montgomery said opening the manila folder which Jackie knew held her medical records. He seemed friendly enough but very straight to the point. "It says here that you suffered severe burns on your shoulders and stomach after a car crash in August, is that correct?"
"Yes," Jackie nodded, trying not to focus too much on anything he was saying.
"You had six surgeries in August and September including one to remove the necrotic tissues and another where you received auto skin grafts?"
Jackie had a flash of being in the surgeries and tensed, holding her breath. After a few seconds she managed to push out a "Correct."
Dr. Montgomery gave her a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry I don't mean to bring everything back up for you," He apologized, "I'm just trying to get the entire picture here."
"It's fine," Jackie shrugged as if it were not big deal even though it was, "It's just still kind of… fresh."
Dr. Montgomery nodded again, giving her a moment before offering tentatively, "Let's look at those scars then.
"Alright," Jackie agreed. She'd worn a camisole under her shirt so that the doctor could examine her, so Jackie pulled off her long sleeved blue top. Then she pulled up the bottom of her camisole up so that the doctor could look at her stomach. Jackie didn't even bother to look at the scars, knowing they would just upset her.
She watched as the doctors eyes appraised her burns. For a moment Jackie thought he might make a comment but instead Dr. Montgomery put on his latex gloves and began running his hand lightly across her shoulders, checking to make sure the grafts were still in tact and that none of them were infected.
"Are your parents here?" He asked as he examined.
"My older sister and her boyfriend are out of town actually," She informed him. She'd taken the bus to get to the hospital. Maggie had felt awful for being able to go with Jackie but Jackie didn't really mind.
Maggie and Elliot had gone down to North Carolina for the weekend because Elliot's parents were not going to be able to come up for Thanksgiving and Elliot and Maggie wanted to have their first Thanksgiving in their new house special. Jackie had opted to stay home as she had a lot going on between school and college applications and trying to figure out what was going on with the fires.
"You are so lucky that the burns didn't get to your chest," Dr. Montgomery commented shaking his head as he moved his hand down to look at the burns on her stomach.
"Right," Jackie said looking forward into the distance.
Jackie knew what he meant. She'd heard it before that she was "lucky." The people that told her this were talking from a medical standpoint. They meant that she was lucky that she didn't get more burned because it would have meant more surgeries. However Jackie didn't really feel lucky. If she were lucky, the crash never would have happened in the first place and her mother wouldn't be dead and she wouldn't have nightmares every night and not even be able to light a candle without freaking out about fire.
Removing his gloves Dr. Montgomery turned to write something down in Jackie's folder, "Your scars don't appear to be infected and the skin grafts look fine," He informed her and Jackie let out a sigh of relief. She pulled her camisole back down and put her shirt back on. "Next time you have to bring a parent or guardian. If they had been infected you would have needed surgery," Dr. Montgomery warned.
"Okay," Jackie agreed, glad that she was cleared. She did not want to need surgery anytime soon.
"Looks like it's going to storm," Dr. Montgomery said pointing out the window.
"Oh yeah," Jackie nodded, propping herself up on her elbows to peer out the window. Dark clouds were circling closer and closer, threatening a storm at any moment.
"The weather channel predicted lightning and thunder," Dr. Montgomery said, watching the storm, "Do you have a ride back home?"
"I'm taking the bus," Jackie told him, "But I don't live too far away so I should get there before the clouds do."
"Okay," Dr. Montgomery warned, "Go straight home. It looks like it's going to be a big one," and then turning his attention back to Jackie he said, and Jackie appreciated his concern, "If that's all then I'll set up a follow up appointment for you in two months."
"Alright," Jackie agreed, slipping out of the chair, and heading for the door, "Thanks Dr. Montgomery."
"Call me if you have any questions or come in if you have any complications," He told her.
"I will," Jackie assured him, giving him one last smile before exiting the plastic surgery unit.
Jackie heeded Dr. Montgomery's advice and went straight home. Two minutes after she got home it started pouring.
It got dark especially early because of the storm.
Earlier Jackie and Mia had made tentative plans to go see a movie but after the storm started both of them decided it was probably for the best that they rescheduled.
Curling up on the couch with a blanket and her computer Jackie poked at a slice of microwaved lasagna that Elliot had left. Despite only being gone for two and a half days, Elliot had left her a whole lasagna, a pot pie, and an entire grilled chicken along with countless baked and grilled vegetable medleys.
She was continuing to filter through the "Oscorp" keyword section The Daily Bugle database. She was beginning to feel like it was a little hopeless though. So far she had found nothing of relevance so far. If she had more details or a name or something it would help but despite Oscorp's obviously sketchy history she hadn't been found anything that fit into the list that she had. She needed more.
She had already gotten all the way back into the Curt Conners news from last year. Jackie was somewhat surprised that they hadn't deleted those too. For about a two weeks, last year after Curt Conners had terrorized New York, every single article from The Bugle was about either Dr. Conners or Spider-Man.
Jackie couldn't really understand how even though there were a lot of pictures of Spider-Man fighting the Lizard, The Bugle had still spun the story to be anti Spider-Man. Jackie had a feeling that even though Jameson had opted for the stories to show Spider-Man as the villain, Robbie Robertson had tried his best to still show Spider-Man in a good light.
The more Jackie read and scanned the news stories, the more amazed Jackie became. If a giant lizard could take over Manhattan, the fires could be caused by anything. Maybe something not even human. She secretly wondered if Spider-Man knew what was going on, like he seemed to with the Lizard. Maybe Jackie didn't need to be doing all of this research because Spider-Man knew what was going on. He had been present at both of the fires and witnesses had seen him saving people from the fire. However, somehow Jackie knew that she couldn't depend on Spider-Man, she had to keep looking. She just hoped something would come up soon, she was becoming discouraged.
Jackie jumped as a streak of bright light cracked through the dark sky followed by a loud rumble of thunder. She shivered a little bit noticing for the first time the loud pounding of the rain and the rattling of the windows. She'd gotten so caught up in her research that she hadn't even realized how bad the storm was getting.
Setting her computer to the side, Jackie walked over to the window and peered out just as another strike of lightning shot through the sky. The street was pretty empty with no cars passing. The rain was beginning to fall even harder, spattering everywhere.
Jackie was surprised to see the living room light was on at the Parkers house. She couldn't see if there was anyone inside though and May's car wasn't there.
Suddenly there was a snap and all of the lights in the house suddenly shut off. Jackie didn't react for a moment, so srprised at what had happened. It wasn't just her house either. The whole block was pitch black. The power was out.
"No," Jackie groaned.
She didn't know where the flashlights were in the house. Of course she knew where the candles and matches were but using them was out of the question. She couldn't. She couldn't do it.
She felt alone. Alone in a big house. And it was so dark.
Backing away from the window, Jackie made her way back to the couch and sat for a moment. Of course, there was not internet so she just shut her computer.
Lightning flashed again and thunder followed and Jackie realized she didn't know what to do. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep alone through the storm but she had no light in the house to do anything else.
The house creaked as a large gust of wind shook the house and Jackie jumped up off the couch in surprise. The windows rattled threatening to swing open. Crossing her arms over her chest defensively Jackie began to back away to the stairs. Maybe she could just go upstairs and lie in her bed and wait for the lights to turn on again.
As another flash of lightning cracked, Jackie leapt sideways and she felt her leg twisting around something and then she felt herself colliding into something and falling. She let out a scream of shock as she fell and then she heard something next to her shattering. Although she still couldn't really see she knew she'd gotten caught in the cord of the living rooms ceramic lamp and had knocked it over. She'd fallen on her hands and knees and her left hand instantly began to hurt. Without taking a beat, Jackie stood and ran. Opening the front door she headed outside.
The moment she stepped off the porch, she was drenched by the rain. Her hair plastered to her face and her clothing was soaked. There were giant puddles everywhere and it was cold. She ran straight for Peter's house, wishing that she had grabbed a jacket or boots but did not want to turn around.
Running up the stoop to Peter's house she prayed that someone was home as she reached the door.
Peter opened the door the second Jackie was going to knock. "Jackie! Come in!" He quickly ushered her inside and closed the door behind her. Jackie stepped inside panting and shivering but stayed close to the doorway not wanting to get the house wet,"I was just coming over to check on you! I heard you scream. Are you okay?" He asked sounding very concerned.
"You were coming over to check on me?" Jackie repeated, her teeth clattering.
"Your hand!" Peter's eyes widened as he pointed down at Jackie's hand which she hadn't noticed was bleeding. There was a long but shallow cut running across her palm.
Peter quickly walked over to her and grabbed her hand and began looked at the cut, "I knocked over a lamp on accident and tripped and must have cut myself on something," Jackie informed him trying to ignore the instant shock she had felt when he touched her.
"I knew I should have gone over the second the power went out," Peter said more to himself then her. Jackie opened her mouth to protest but before she could, Peter let go of her hand and quickly said, "I don't think it's deep enough for you to need stitches," he told her, Jackie bit her lip and nodded, although she already known that she didn't need stitches. She also knew that it was going to leave a scar on her palm. Great. Another scar.
Peter turned and began to run upstairs, "I'm gonna go get some bandages." Jackie couldn't really put her finger on how, but Peter seemed different. He seemed more assertive and older but also a bit distressed at Jackie's injury.
"Okay," She said knowing better than to argue with him now. She kept her hand slightly elevated trying to decrease the chances of swelling. She didn't have anything to apply pressure with yet but fortunately she couldn't feel any ceramic or glass in her hand so she was probably in the clear, it was just bleeding quite a bit.
Jackie took a hesitant step inside grateful to see light. Peter had lit some candles and had a camping lantern set up in the living room. The thunder and lightning had appeared to stop but the rain was still pounding and the wind was still howling. However, Jackie hardly noticed. The house was significantly warmer than hers and for some reason felt safer.
When he reappeared, Peter was carrying towels and a first aid kit. Peter draped one towel around Jackie's neck and then took her hand again and with the other smaller towel applied pressure to Jackie's cut. His hand was so warm holding Jackie's cold shaking hand. Jackie watched as the white towel on her cut began to turn crimson.
"Come to the kitchen," He instructed and Jackie followed him. Her shoes squeaked on the hard wood floor as she walked and she could feel water droplets sliding off of her and falling to the ground. Peter still had her hand and was leading her to the kitchen while applying pressure and even though Jackie could have easily done it herself, she appreciated how diligent Peter was being and didn't mind the physical contact.
The kitchen was still pretty dark as there were no candles or lanterns but Jackie could see the sink and lightly pulled her hand out of Peter's,"I'm sorry Peter," Jackie said running her hand under the sink, washing off the cut. She knew the drill. First apply pressure, then clean, then Neosporin, then bandage and then elevate. She was glad that her mom had taught her basic first aid. Although Jackie had no interest in going into medicine or health, she knew how to take care of herself and she wasn't squeamish about cuts or bruises.
"Sorry for what?" Peter wondered leaning against a nearby counter, his eyes following Jackie's every move.
"I didn't mean to come over here and bleed all over the place and get your house all wet," she explained pulling her hand out of the sink and looking at the cut for herself, not wanting to make eye contact with Peter and show how embarrassed she was, "I just… It was just…" she trailed off unable to fully express how she was feeling.
"It's fine Jackie, " Peter shrugged, watching her intently, ready to help if she needed him.
There were a few seconds of silence before Jackie asked, "Do you have Neosporin?"
"Ugh…" Peter said digging through the first aid kit, "Yeah here," he told her handing her the antibacterial salve.
"Thanks," Jackie nodded opening the Neosporin and dabbed it onto her hand.
"Let me do the bandage," Peter told her walking towards her with a roll of elastic bandage in hand.
"Okay," Jackie agreed. Even though she had put elastic bandages on before, she knew it was easier and faster for Peter to do it and held put her palm face up for him to wrap it. Working quickly, Peter wrapped the bandage around her wrist twice and then diagonally, passing it through her thumb and pointer finger, "You are pretty good at the first aid thing," she admitted to Peter as he continued to wrap.
"So are you," Peter told her finishing the bandaging by applying some adhesive tape.
"Nurse Mom," Jackie reminded him inspecting his work. It felt secure and covered the cut and gave her full use of all of her fingers, which in Jackie's book was all that mattered.
"Nurse Aunt," He told reminded her grinning and finally seeming more like himself.
"Where is May?" Jackie asked looking around the house, as if May was going to pop up out of nowhere.
Peter sighed, "Still at the hospital. She had to switch shifts with someone. Usually she doesn't do the night shift. Her shift goes until two a.m. but if the weather doesn't let up she'll have to stay overnight probably. I hope she didn't try to head home in this weather."
"I'm sure she didn't," Jackie comforted, "May is smart. She would know better then to drive in this weather."
Peter nodded but peered out the window, looking to see if the storm had let up at all, which it really hadn't.
"You need dry clothes," Peter said, quickly changing the subject.
"What?" Jackie questioned, looking down at her jeans and blue top and camisole. They were all still soaked and clung to her body.
"You look cold," Peter clarified, "You should put on some dry clothes."
"Oh" Jackie nodded, wrapping the towel Peter had put around her shoulders earlier tighter around her body. She was cold. She wasn't quite sure what to do with this information though. Did he want her to go back to her house and get some dry clothes? Was this his polite way of trying to get rid of her?
"Here," Peter said turning to the laundry room which was adjoined to the kitchen and pulling out a pair of flannel green and blue pajama pants and a large navy hoodie and the offering them to Jackie, "They'll probably be too big for you but they're probably better than nothing."
"I can just run home," Jackie suggested, "You've already done so much," She wanted nothing more than to be wearing warm clothes but she didn't want to take anything else from Peter.
"You want to run back in the rain to your dark house where there is broken glass all over the floor?" Peter asked raising an eyebrow.
Looking down and the clothes, Jackie realized that Peter had a point, "You are probably right…" She sighed, "But-"
"Jackie," Peter said interrupting her attempt to protest.
"I just don't want-" Jackie began again.
"It's fine," Peter assured her.
"But what if-" Jackie tried once more.
"Jackie, it's just a pair of pajamas," Peter told her firmly.
"Fine," she sighed.
Peter nodded knowingly and then handed the clothes to Jackie,"You can go upstairs and change," Peter said passing her a flashlight, "I'm going to clean up some of the water down here."
After clicking the flashlight on, with pajama and hoodie in hand Jackie began to head for the stairs to go change. She paused though and turned around. Peter was already bent over, cleaning up the water from the floor from where she had been standing.
"Peter?" She called to him.
"Yeah?" He wondered.
"Thank you," She told him sincerely.
"Anytime," He told her giving her a small smile.
Heading upstairs, Jackie realized it was the first time she'd been upstairs in Peter's house. They usually hung out in the living room and sometimes the kitchen but she'd never been upstairs before. Finding the bathroom, Jackie closed the door behind her and set the flashlight down near the sink. Looking in the mirror above the sink, Jackie cringed at her reflection. Her eye makeup was smeared because of the rain and her typically straight hair was starting to curl and frizz as it dried. She looked like a mess. Washing her face with her unbandaged hand, she washed all of the makeup off her face and then put her hair up into a ponytail.
Peter's pajama pants were pretty large on Jackie. The main problem was that they were way to long on her. She rolled the waist a few times but she eventually just gave up. They were extremely comfortable though, and it felt good to be about of her rain soaked jeans. Shedding her blue top, she left her camisole on before tugging on the navy hoodie and zipping it up. The hoodie was pretty baggy but Jackie felt almost immediately warmer. She hung her jeans, top and socks on the bathtub to dry and then headed back downstairs with the flashlight.
"Don't you dare laugh Peter Parker," Jackie warned as she walked down the stairs, tripping over the leg of the pajama pants which were dragging on the floor a little bit.
"I won't," Peter assured her. The second Peter saw her he burst out laughing, "I'm sorry," he laughed, "It looks like you shrunk a foot or something."
Jackie rolled her eyes but didn't say anything as she headed for the couch, taking a seat. It was so warm and comforting with the dim mood lighting. She pulled both of her legs onto the couch and grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it across her legs to warm her feet. Peter cleaned up the water for a few more minutes before collapsing next to her on the couch.
"How's your hand?" Peter questioned, looking down at her hand.
"It's fine," Jackie shrugged, flexing her bandaged hand a few times to show that she was okay. It really didn't hurt anymore. She'd probably be able to take the bandage off by the time Elliot and Maggie got home.
A silence fell over the two as the house let out a loud creak. "Oh hey," Peter said breaking the silence as he remembered something, "So when I was taking pictures of you the other day while you were working on your essay I think I got a pretty good picture. I've been meaning to show you but you've been kind of busy with The Bugle and stuff," he said. Jackie felt a pang of guilt. "Wanna see it?" He wondered, a smile spreading across his face
"Yes," Jackie nodded eagerly, sitting up a little straighter, her interest piqued.
"I'll be right back," Peter told her, getting up and running upstairs. She heard some shuffling upstairs and then him coming back downstairs.
"Here," Peter said passing her the printed photograph before taking a seat next to her again.
Looking at the picture Jackie was amazed. She almost didn't recognize herself. Her hair was perfectly tousled giving her an I woke up like this look. As Peter had explained when he was taking the picture, the lighting framed her face shadowing and contouring her skin faultlessly. She wasn't smiling but she didn't have on her typical blank resting face. Instead she had dawned a pensive, thoughtful expression, however the corners of her lips looked like they might turn up into a smile at any second. Her dark eyes were almost sparkling in the photo. She was looking towards the camera but wasn't looking directly into the lens. Jackie knew she must have been looking at Peter.
"Wow Peter this is a really good picture," Jackie finally complimented, meeting his eye, "I don't look terrible! Actually I look kind of good. You were right about the lighting. "
"Trust me it's not the lighting," Peter told her honestly, looking down at the picture, examining it for himself, "It's just you."
Jackie bit her lip to stop herself from grinning and feeling herself blushing, she looked down at the picture again.
However as she looked at the picture it felt like a lie. She wasn't the girl in the picture. She couldn't be. She was lying to Peter about a few things now but how could she lie about something like her scars to him? The scars were a big part of who she was now and she was hiding them from him and until he saw them he couldn't know her, at least not fully. She wanted him to know her and understand her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked. Jackie could hear the concern in his voice.
Opening her her eyes, Jackie looked over at Peter who's soft brown eyes were watching her intently.
"Peter I need to show you something," Jackie whispered, standing up slowly.
"What?" Peter wondered, not having heard her.
"I need to show you something," She said a little louder. Slowly, she held her hand up to the zipper of the hoodie and slowly unzipped it.
"Jackie what are you doing," Peter asked sounding very confused. Jackie slipped off Peter's hoodie so that she was just wearing her camisole. The scars on her shoulder were now visible. Jackie watched Peter blink as he tried to decide if he was seeing her correctly, "Jackie…?" He trailed off.
Jackie could feel his gaze on her shoulders as he studied the light pink indents that covered her shoulders. His eyes widened a little bit as he seemed to realize what the marks were.
"They are burn scars, from the crash. The hood of the car caught on fire and I got second and third degree burns," She explained in a voice she didn't quite recognize, "Earlier today I had to go see a plastic surgeon so he could look at my burn scars and make sure that they weren't infected."
Slowly she lifted up the bottom of her camisole up to reveal the scars on her stomach. Her belly button was extremely deformed because of the surgery and the warped disfigurements showed where she had been cut open for surgery and where the skin grafts had been put in.
Peter opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again not sure what to say.
Slowly Jackie lowered her shirt again. Had she freaked him out? He was still looking at her stomach, trying to piece everything together.
She started again, "I'm not scared of spiders Peter. And people always expect me to be afraid of cars but I'm not," she explained and then taking a deep breath admitted, "I'm terrified of fire. When the power went out I was too scared to light a candle. A little candle. And right now all I can think about is those candles getting knocked over or lightning causing another fire." She said gesturing to the candles on the coffee table.
Gingerly she took a seat back on the couch and met his eye again. He looked sad and thoughtful but still wasn't talking so she continued, "Those fires that are happening downtown give me nightmares. Actually every single night since the crash all I can think about is being trapped in a small place and burned again," she told him. This was the most honest she'd been with anyone since the crash, "I don't know what to do. And I have this constant ugly reminder branded on my body reminding me of the worst day of my life. And I… I don't know why I'm telling all of you this right now but I just… you've been so good to me and I want to be honest with you." She finished, looking away she was scared more than she was sad now.
"Do they hurt?" Peter asked tentatively clearing his throat.
"Not really anymore," Jackie answered shrugging and looking straight ahead, "I just hate them. I hate them so much."
Peter nodded but didn't seem to know what to say.
It was quiet for a second and for a moment Jackie regretted telling him. Maybe he would treat her differently now. Like she was delicate or different. But then the regret passed. Maybe Peter hadn't been ready to see this part of her but at least now she didn't have to hide it from him. And if he treated her differently, he wasn't the guy that she thought he was.
"They aren't ugly," Peter finally said.
"What?" Jackie said turning to him with skepticism laced in her voice.
"The scars," He explained, "You said they were ugly. They aren't ugly."
"Peter…" She trailed off shaking her head in disagreement.
"No I'm serious, they aren't ugly at all," Jackie took a deep breath. She'd expected him to be surprised but she hadn't expected that
"Peter they are giant flaws stamped on my body," She countered.
"Well your flaws aren't flaws to me," He shrugged in a final way, "And I understand that you don't like them but they don't change how I see you at all."
Jackie just looked at him for a moment, studying his eyes which were staring right back at her with an intensity she had never seen Peter have. He wasn't just exaggerating or trying to make her feel Better. He'd said it like it had been a fact. Now she was the one that didn't know how to respond, "Thanks Peter," She finally choked out. She knew it was a weak reply but she didn't know how else to express what she was feeling.
"I'm really glad you told me," Peter seemed genuinely grateful and then he wondered, "Did you think it would weird me out?"
"I don't know, I guess," Jackie shrugged, picking up the hoodie that she'd taken off for a reveal and put it back on. Not because she was hiding or embarrassed now though, just because she was cold. "I should have known you wouldn't flip out but… I don't know. I've been trying to cover them up since August so that people won't see me as damaged or broken and I just see the scars as so unattractive and horrible I assumed everyone else would too."
Peter wore a small smile as she shook his head, "Jackie I really don't think you have to worry about being seen unattractive or horrible,"
"Thanks Peter," Jackie said sarcastically, "You mean I'm not unattractive or horrible?"
"You know what I mean," Peter rolled his eyes, casually running his hand through his hair.
"Do you say that to all the girls?" she teased, "It's a great pickup line. Hey, did you know your not unattractive or horrible?"
"All what girls?" Peter wondered laughing a little bit. Jackie scoffed at Peter's rejection of the idea that girls were interested in him. Seeming surprised by her reaction, he explained, "Jackie, you are talking to a guy that pretty much hit puberty last year. I don't think I'm super in with the ladies."
"Stop it Peter," Jackie protested, crossing her arms over her chest, "Girls look at you all the time!"
"Really, like who?" Peter challenged, obviously not believing her.
"I saw Liz Allan checking you out in the library yesterday!" Jackie informed him smugly.
"Liz Allan?" There was obvious shock in Peter's voice. Liz Allan was popular and pretty and according to Mia had been Flash's on and off girlfriend since eighth grade. Apparently they'd been off for a while though because Jackie had never seen them together. The other day in the library, Jackie had watched Liz's eyes follow Peter as he'd come to meet Jackie and Mia for lunch. Peter, unsurprisingly, had been totally oblivious.
"Yes," Jackie confirmed.
"I doubt that," Peter said dryly, dismissing the idea Jackie could tell he was thinking about it though.
"She totally was!" Jackie argued. Peter raised his eyebrows and Jackie sighed before saying, "You are a good guy but you also kind of have the mystery thing going for you! Girls like that!"
"Mystery thing?" Peter reeled, still not believing Jackie.
"Yes!" Jackie nodded, "You are tall-"
"Height hardly seems like a contributing factor," Peter interrupted.
Jackie ignore him and continued, "-and a little bit dark but you've got really nice eyes. And you are a little bit of an outsider but not because you are weird, just because you've kind of decided that you don't want to be part of the 'popular crowd.' And people don't even know how kind and smart you are because you don't show it off but you can still kind of tell," Jackie couldn't help but smile a little bit as Peter blushed.
To Jackie it seemed so obvious: Of course girls would look at Peter Parker. He would be the perfect boyfriend. He was the perfect kind of guy to bring home to the parents, with charm and intelligence. He had kind, thoughtful eyes, a smile that made you smile, good hair and was built but not a total muscle head. He was attractive but seemed genuinely clueless about it. Most importantly though, Peter had substance. He was the kind of guy you could have an actual conversation with and not feel like you were talking to a wall. He cared and made the people that he cared about feel special. Girls probably flirted with him all the time and he misinterpreted it.
When Jackie had finished her speech, Peter scratched behind his neck and responded, "Well, I think that you are making stuff up and that they just think I'm nerdy and lonely."
"Well I hate to tell you this but… you're wrong," Jackie pursed her lips and smiled giving him an apologetic shrug.
"I"m wrong?" Peter said tilting his head to the side and giving Jackie a lopsided grin.
"Pretty much," Jackie informed him in a fake syrupy sweet voice.
Peter watched Jackie, seeming amused, "Wow those are bold words coming from a girl who is lying about Liz Allan watching me in the library!" He accused her in a taunting voice.
"I'm not lying!" Jackie gasping.
"Are you sure?" Peter mocked.
"Peter you are a great guy," Jackie told him honestly, "Any girl would be lucky to have you!" And then she added with a grin, "Also you are not unattractive or horrible."
"You know what I meant," Peter groaned chuckling.
Before Jackie could really process anything she found herself saying, "Peter, you know you can tell me anything, right?"
Peter took a long thoughtful pause before saying simply, "Yeah."
Just like it had felt right for Jackie to tell Peter about her burn scars, it needed to feel right for him to tell her about whatever he was hiding. Jackie just hoped it would feel right eventually because just like Jackie wanted him to know her, she wanted to know him.
"Okay," Jackie nodded slowly, "Just checking."
Jackie had fallen asleep on the couch. After talking for hours, Peter had gotten up to check if any of the other rooms had power and when he'd come back downstairs, Jackie was asleep. She was currently curled up under several blankets, still wearing Peter's hoodie and sweat pants. The storm had passed but she looked so comfortable, Peter didn't want to wake her up.
Peter was sitting on the ground, nearby the couch, thinking. Every few minutes he'd steal a glance at Jackie to make sure she was okay.
The scars had surprised him. He'd hadn't expected them at all. She had done a good job of covering them up. But he'd been completely honest when he told her that they didn't change how he saw her. She was still radiant to him. If anything, the scars showed him how strong Jackie was.
It was getting harder and harder for him to keep saying that Jackie was just a friend. He didn't want to ruin anything though.
Shit.
Peter couldn't help but smile a little remembering what Jackie had said about him being 'kind and smart' and a little bit mysterious and having 'nice eyes.' He'd never had a girl compliment him so much. He wasn't used to getting that sort of attention from girls and wasn't sure how to interpret everything that she told him. It was weird to think of Liz Allan possibly chucking him out in the library the other day (although he was still skeptical about the validity of this claim).
He felt a pang of guilt though, thinking about Jackie's honesty. Peter could tell that it had been difficult for her to talk to him about her scars and then she had told him that he could tell her anything. It could have been the perfect moment to tell her the truth. However he'd chickened out. There was still a part of him hoping, even though he knew it wasn't realistic, that Jackie would never have to know. She'd be safer. She wouldn't worry about him. She wouldn't loose anyone else. But only giving Jackie half of himself was hard. While she was opening up to him and hoping for some reciprocation, he was covering up his true identity. As Peter Parker he had the people he cared about. But as Spider-Man he was important and made a difference and saved lives. He couldn't just give up one or prioritize the other. But he wanted to be the guy that Jackie described.
Not wanting to think about it anymore he stood, and began to walk towards the stairs. Spider-Man always helped him take his mind off of his personal life problems. When he was Spider-Man everyone else's problems came before his. Now, because the storm had passed, he should probably do some rounds and see if there was anyone who need help or had been trapped. With the power down and the lightning and the strong winds it was inevitable that someone needed help.
"Peter?" Jackie mumbled sitting up slightly, causing Peter to freeze at the foot of the stairs, "Please don't leave." Peter wasn't totally sure if she was awake or asleep but thought it might be a bit of both.
"I'm right here," Peter told her without even thinking. Jackie nodded, accepting his answer and almost immediately fell asleep again. Peter made his way back to where he had been seated on the floor and took a seat.
Taking a pillow from a nearby chair, Peter suddenly realized how little he'd been sleeping and how tired he was. He'd been doing rounds almost every night, watching Osborn and trying to understand the fires. Hearing Jackie talk about her fear of fires only motivated him more to figure out the mystery. However he couldn't do it all. On a good night he got two to three hours of sleep and it was catching up to him.
He knew that he had an obligation to help those in need. But maybe, just this once, the person that really needed him wasn't a stranger or a civilian, but was the girl right in front of him.
Still on the floor next to the couch, Peter laid back onto the pillow and began to feel his eyes droop, "I'm not going anywhere," Peter assured the sleeping Jackie softly before dozing off to sleep.
A/N: HEY Y'all!
Sorry that it's been a while but I have been pretty busy with my summer jobs!
Thanks to Nightingale agent of the dark, Nellie, The Kid, and strongthesameoldfearsx for the reviews! I really really really really really appreciate them
strongthesameoldfearsx, this chapter has been 99% done for like a week now but your review inspired me to finish it :)
Some interesting stuff happening between Peter and Jackie huh? Haha! I hope you all like the chapter and let me know if you have any comments or feedback by leaving a review! THANKS SO MUCH EVERYONE!