Chapter 10: She Knows

She didn't exactly know what she would do when she found him. The guy she liked. The guy who saved her twice in three days. The guy who thought of having Oliver meeting his idol. Peter Parker. Also known as Spiderman. My next door neighbour.

She had arrived at the toilets where Peter had jumped into. She approached the wooden door to the men's room, and started banging it with such vigour. "Peter! Peter! Let me talk to you! Please!" The door to the women's room started to open up, revealing... Peter.

"Sorry, I jumped into the wrong set of toilets. First time that's happened." He tried to keep the mood light, but he could tell Lucy wasn't impressed. "Soooo...you wanted to ta-"

"What the hell?!" Lucy just wanted to let her anger and confusion out, and unfortunately for him, Peter was the target. "What's this whole thing? Is it some kind of joke, or-"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...interrogating me and-"

"In fairness, you wanted to interrogate me first."

She couldn't say anything. She had no idea what to ask first. "Right. There's only one way of fixing this. You, me and Oliver, talk about this. Tonight. No buts."

"What's there to talk about?"

"I don't know," she replied in a hushed tone, "maybe 'cause of the fact that you're Spiderman!" She then had another thought. "But there's something we need to talk about now. Something I need to do now. Something to do with the other day, when you asked me all those questions about Oscorp and the attacks-"

"Well, be quick then, 'cause your family's waiting, and also I'll need to patch up my mask, and my face, an-"

Not even Peter's spider sense predicted that she would lean in and kiss him. Her red lips tasted of strawberries, and for a moment it was like all the recent troubles floated away. It was almost like he was normal. Once she stepped away, he was put back in the real world, now feeling as guilty as he was happy. "I-" But before he could say anything, she had walked out of the door. His face was as red as her lips were. He could still taste the strawberry in his mouth. Any normal person would be happy- someone who they like likes them back, enough so to kiss them. But Peter's not normal. He knew that he would have to decide quickly if he was going to move on from Gwen or not.

Outside, the police had started talking to the people at the scene, whilst barricading the press. Suzanne and Oliver were talking with Lucy when Peter found them. "Hey guys. I heard what happened with Oliver. Is he OK?"

Suzanne looked worriedly at Peter. "Yeah he's okay, but are you? What happened to your face?"

Lucy replied quickly before Peter could respond. "He was just telling me that a piece of rubble caught him, and he lost concussion. Right, Pete?"

Smiling, he nodded in agreement. "But it's fine, seriously."

"OK" she slowly let out, sensing they were hiding something. For now, considering what happened, she decided to leave it be. "We should probably make our way back home, guys. Peter, you joining us?"

He really would like to right now. He'd really like to talk it out with Lucy and Oliver quickly. But there was something he had to do first. "Actually, I have a couple of errands to do, but I'll be back as soon as possible. Do you all need me to guide you anywhere, or-"

"We'll be fine, Peter. Thank you for today, and sorry 'bout your...face." With that, she took off towards the boat harbour, dragging Oliver with her. Lucy took one last look at Peter, before following her mother. If I'm to decide if it's time to move on or not, I'll need some help.

Peter had gotten on the boat ride after he Falcons, so that they didn't see where he went. He then found an empty alleyway, climbed up the building, and started to swing across the town. But this time, for some reason, Peter wasn't enjoying it as much. Instead, he was too busy having an internal conflict about Lucy and the feelings he'd started to have for her. Is this even real? Do I actually have any reason for liking this girl? If I do, where do I start?

After ten minutes of crawling on walls and swinging in the breeze, Peter made it to his destination- an old apartment block. But not just any apartment block... He walked past the doorman, contemplating how scary he looked compared to the last time he saw him around a year ago. Instead, he looked solemnly at the boy, as if to say he's sorry. Peter walked straight for the lift, pressing the button for the top floor as the doors slowly opened. The wait was almost excruciating, particularly when at every two floors someone stopped the lift asking 'are you going down'. Peter always hated that. A DING signalled that he was here- floor twenty, an age she'll never make now. He slowly walked down the dull grey corridor, staring intently at all the doors. 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,... 2016. Here we go. Cautiously, he knocked at the door, slightly afraid at what reaction she will have to him being here. He could hear the faint creaking of wooden floorboards as she made her way to the door. Her head peered out as the door gradually opened. The woman looked to be in her late-forties or fifties, with pale blond hair and more distinct wrinkles than he remembered. "Peter?"

"Hello Mrs Stacy."

Mrs Stacy- or Julie, as she pestered Peter to call her- poured out the tea she had made into two mugs- one for both of them. "So, how are the boys doing?"Peter asked, as she took a seat next to him on her grey couch.

"Good." she replied, despite a pause beforehand. "They're still getting used to what...happened, but life goes on for them, whether they like it or not." She could see that Peter had a dilemma on his hands, and that he was trying to hide it slightly. "So tell me it then."

"Tell you what?" he quizzed.

"What's troubling you? Something to do with Gwen, definitely, but what are the details?"

"How do you know there's a problem?"

She chuckled a bit. "You forget, my husband was one of New Yorks finest policemen. Some of the magic rubbed off."

Peter was a bit nervous- this would be the first time he'd admit he had feelings for someone since nearly three years ago. "Well...there's this girl-"

"Ohhh. Is that all?"

"Hold on. You can't just know what I-"

"You have feelings for this girl, but you're afraid of pursuing it because you feel guilty about Gwen and moving on from her."

Peter was speechless that Mrs St-Julie-had worked out his problem so quickly. "How-"

"A woman's intuition, Pete." She then smiled friendly at him. "And a bit of experience."

"So what do I do?"

"Well, first of all, I've got to ask the obvious question: does she like you?"

"I think so." Julie stared at him, knowing he was keeping something back. "Fine, I know so. She kissed me."

"Looks like to me you've already chosen."

"I didn't kiss her though. At least, I didn't start it."

"But did you stop it?" He paused, before shaking his head. "See, you've already chosen what to do. Let me guess- you still remember what her lips tasted like too." He nodded again, almost embarrassed. "Listen, I know that you've been grieving for the best part of a year now, but if Gwen could speak to you right now, she'd probably tell you to man up and ask her out. She wouldn't mind. She'd known that you'd need to move on at some point. So Peter, what are you going to do?"

After a while, and a sip of his tea, Peter asked to go out to the balcony for a minute before he left. The same balcony that Peter first kissed Gwen on. The first time he told anyone he was Spiderman. Before anything went wrong. He looked down upon the street below, listening to the hubble and bubble of the civilians. He had made up his mind. He would take the leap, and move on.

Inside, Edward Stacy- Gwen's older brother and Julie's oldest son- had just got home from his daily job. To make some money, two years ago, now that his father was gone, he became a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Not only did it earn him some money, but it gave him a chance to one day meet his enemy, the man responsible for so much pain in his family- Spiderman. "Mom, I'm home!" No response. He decided to make his way to the balcony- his favourite place in the city. So quiet. So peaceful. He stopped at the doorway once he saw Peter there. He was shocked that he was standing on the edge. Is he going to jump? He did. But then, to Edwards utter shock, he started to swing away. WHAT?! Peter is Spiderman? The man responsible for his girlfriends death? It makes sense now- two years ago, when he tried so hard to defend Spiderman from Dad. He was defending himself. All this time, he's the one who killed them. Edward felt a surge of pain and anger fill him. And now he'll pay.