FictionWriter453: I don't have plans for Felicia to appear just yet in this season as this season is mainly focused on Peter and Ben and how they approach their identities. I do have an idea of how to bring her back if I get to season 5.

Hey guys, Authors note here. Sorry about the long break, I got hit with COVID and that really screwed me over in everything. Classes are also kicking up a notch so my free time to write has been dwindling. I am dedicated to getting this season out for you, and I have decided to make this arc a 4 parter instead of a 3 parter. Hope yall enjoy this chapter.

Behind the Curtain Part 2

Senior year had turned out to be the best school year of Gwen's life so far. Especially when compared to the craziness that last year brought. She hadn't been kidnapped by any super-villains, she hadn't had to deal with any of her friends becoming addicted to any substance, and best of all, she had someone to go to the Fall Formal with this year.

Last year, she had been so nervous about asking Peter to the Formal that she ended up chickening out. Eddie came with her, and they had a good time, but she couldn't help but jealously watch Mary Jane with Peter. Now, things were different. She had Ben.

For the past month, Gwen had never been happier. Her boyfriend was a hero! While it did get annoying that some of their dates had gotten interrupted, she wouldn't change anything. He was saving lives and working with her dad and Spider-Man. The funniest part of it all was watching Ben Reilly, a person who could stop a bus with his bare hands, shake under her father's gaze.

"Well…sir, I uh, wanted to ask your permission," Ben stammered, picking at his spaghetti.

"Permission for what?" her dad asked, covering his hands with his mouth and looking Ben directly in the eyes,

"Dad," Gwen warned, gearing up to give him The Look.

"It's just a simple question Gwendy," George said innocently, with a smile on his face that said otherwise.

Ben cleared his throat, but as he opened his mouth, his phone buzzed. He looked at it, and his expression morphed into one of determination. "I'msorryIgottagobutIreallywanttotakeyourdaughtertotheFallFormalokaybyeee," Ben said, faster than Gwen had ever heard him. He bolted to his feet and shot Gwen an apologetic look before looking back at George. "Thanks for dinner, sir. It was delicious."

With that, Ben rushed out of the Stacy house, leaving George with a pensive look on his face, and Gwen with a smile.

"You look oddly happy for a girl whose boyfriend moved faster than the RoadRunner," George commented, eying Gwen. "Everything alright between you two?"

Gwen quickly gathered up Ben's plate and hers. "Never been better," she answered, her smile still on her face.

That didn't seem to soothe her father, if anything, it made his expression harden. "Is he treating you well?"

That made Gwen stop in her tracks. "Of course he is," she answered, rounding around to face her dad. "I wouldn't be with him if he weren't. I learned my lesson last time."

"This isn't the first time he's left early," George said. It wasn't a question and Gwen knew it. She could see her father's wheels turning behind his eyes, and it scared her. If she had managed to piece together Ben's secret identity, surely a trained Police Captain could do it in half the time.

Gwen hated lying to her dad. Ever since her mom left, she and her father had kept everything above board. Secrets were what drove their family apart. But this secret wasn't hers to tell, it was Ben's. She may have figured it out, but she didn't say anything about it until Ben told her himself.

"It's not," she conceded, deciding that giving part of the truth could help out her story. "But he always comes back."

George's eyes lingered on Gwen and she got the feeling that she was in an interrogation. She rushed to the kitchen to deposit the dishes in the sink, then tried to bolt for the stairs to her room before she heard her dad say, "I hope you have fun at the Formal tonight, truly, I do."

"Thanks, Dad," Gwen said. She then turned and ran up the stairs for her room, quickly typing out a message for Ben. Dad said yes!

Ben's response took a few minutes to be written. Cool! Sorry I had to bail. Something came uadjf

Gwen furrowed her brow. Typos were not really a common occurrence in Ben's texts, unless… Benjamin Reilly! Tell me you are not texting while swinging! Gwen stared angrily at her screen for nearly ten minutes before her phone rang, with Ben Reilly's carefree smiling contact picture staring at her in the face. "Ten minutes to think of an excuse," she said as she answered the phone, "you're slipping Reilly."

"Or, I was rescuing a cat from a tree," his muffled voice responded. "Or saving a kid from a burning building, or stopping an old lady from getting mugged."

Gwen snorted and cocked an eyebrow. "So which one was it?"

"Dunno, which one gets me out of trouble?"

Silence fell between the young couple as the only thing that could be heard between the two was the sound of air whipping past Ben as he swung through the city until finally, Gwen rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you're cute."

"That is the Reilly Luck in action," he answered.

Gwen sat down on the windowsill and stared out her window into the city. "You and Spider-Man still haven't figured out a new schedule yet?" She heard Ben grunt over the phone and knew this was a disgruntled one rather than a grunt of exertion. Ever since he revealed his identity to her, Spider-Man had been a touchy subject for him. It had even bled over into his life at school as the news came out that Hobie Brown was the Prowler.

She could remember just how much the school had buzzed that day with rumors and speculation about him, and it was also the first day she had seen Ben's temper finally explode. It was honestly scary how quickly it happened, and it became even more bewildering when he shoved Peter–who had stepped up to hold Ben back from Flash Thompson–back against the lockers so hard it dented them.

Since that day, Ben had been on the outs with his cousin. Mary Jane had tried with the help of Gwen to get the two to talk, but they seemed equally stubborn and opposed to talking. The only time in the last month that Gwen remembered seeing the two cousins interact with each other was perhaps the tensest dinner of her life. Mrs. Parker had invited her and Mary Jane over for dinner and if Gwen didn't already know how strong the old lady was, she wouldn't have believed Mrs. Parker could wrangle two teenage boys, especially one with superpowers.

The two still hadn't made up, but if she was honest, Gwen didn't find that she minded all that much. Ben's sense of responsibility and life as The Scarlet Spider–not to mention his recent disagreements with Spider-Man–meant that they didn't have much time to spend together. She knew it was selfish to want to keep Ben to herself when he had other friends, but Gwen really enjoyed having him all to herself. It was nice.

"We haven't really had time to talk," Ben finally answered. Gwen huffed. "You know I can't see The Look over the phone right?"

"I know you have to go out there, but when you disappear so suddenly—especially in front of my dad—it's hard to think up an excuse," she said.

"You don't think he's on to me?" Ben asked.

"You're dating his only daughter whose last relationship wasn't the healthiest," Gwen said in a deadpan voice. "Of course, he's on to you."

"I meant about my little red secret."

Gwen paused; she figured out Ben's secret because she spent so much time with him; she recognized the hoodie, the mannerisms, the coincidental timing. But to someone on the outside, there was no reason to believe this unassuming kid fought supervillains and crime in his free time. Not even her dad, with all his police training, would be able to piece this together.

Ever since Gwen and Ben started to date, Ben and her father had only met twice. It was just what happened when one was a superhero and the other a police captain.

"Honestly, I don't know," she said. "But, let's not worry about that, we need to get you a suit mister!"

"You were serious about that?"

Gwen nodded her head vigorously. "It's a formal party, Ben. Just ask Peter if you can borrow one of his dress shirts."

"I'll check with May," Ben said quickly. "Can I please wear tennis shoes? I can't move in dress shoes, my feet hate fancy things!"

Gwen giggled. "Well, I wouldn't want to restrict your movement on the dance floor, especially since you've hyped yourself up so much."

"Can't wait m'lady," Ben said, and Gwen could practically see his smirk behind the phone. Then, she heard a siren through the speaker. "Duty calls! I'll see you tonight!"

"Be safe," Gwen said. The line cut as she heard Ben give a shout of joy. She smiled at herself as she thought about her blonde superhero boyfriend. Their time together may have been short so far, but it was shaping up to be the best of her life. Especially when she compared it to her time with Harry.

It wasn't like she hated all the time she spent with Harry. The beginning had been nice; they went out to dinner, had walked in the park, even went to the Osborn beach house in Long Island, but everything started to sour when the school play drew closer. Harry didn't start as a bad boyfriend, but he also wasn't a great one. She knew it was wrong of her to blame his bad behavior on his father's death, but it was like Harry didn't want to move past it.

Looking back, it was obvious to Gwen that he had overheard her and Peter's plan to break up with Liz and Harry so they could be together. She wasn't proud of it and knew Harry's anger with her was justified, but she couldn't forgive the way he showed her off like a prize and how he manipulated her to stay with him.

Ben was the polar opposite. They rarely went out to dinner at a fancy place, not just because Ben and Gwen didn't have that much money, but because it wasn't their preference. So long as Ben was with her, Gwen didn't care where they ate.

Her phone rang, and she pulled it to her ear to hear Mary Jane's eager voice saying, "Girlfriend, you better get your keister over here! As pretty as we are, beauty does need the occasional push."

Gwen grinned. "Don't worry, I'm on my way." She moved around her room, collecting her shoes and dress.

"I knew your dad would say yes," Mary Jane said victoriously. "Though, I didn't think he'd wait till the last minute."

"I think he just wanted to test Ben," Gwen admitted as she left her home and headed for the subway to take her to Forest Hills.

Mary Jane giggled. "I'm sure Ben liked that," she said.

"Probably the only time I've ever seen him sweat," Gwen said, agreeing with Mary Jane. "I'm about to get on the train, I'll text you when I'm close."

"See you then girlfriend!"

Somewhere in Manhatten

Spider-Man swung through his city with a heavy head as the sun began to droop across the skyline. It had been a hard month for the original wall-crawler. He and The Scarlet Spider had barely spoken in and outside of the mask ever since The Prowler a.k.a. Hobie Brown had been taken into custody. Spidey didn't really know what to do to get Scarlet back on his side. He tried to extend the olive branch several times, but Scarlet had dismissed it every time.

They'd barely gone out on patrol together, in fact, tonight would be the first night in a month that the two would patrol together. The Midtown Fall Formal was tonight and they both had dates.

God, that's a weird thing, Spidey thought as he landed on the side of a building. My cousin and Gwen are an item! How did that happen, and how did I end up with MJ as my date for the second year in a row?

MJ, he thought. She hadn't said anything, but Spidey knew something had been bothering his girlfriend. There had been this…tension in her shoulders and eyes, however, he could only ever see it for a second before it was replaced by her usual vivacious smile.

She was hiding something from him, but he couldn't exactly get mad at her for keeping a secret from him when he kept the mother of all secrets from her. However, if he was honest with himself, it hurt to think that she couldn't trust him with whatever was bothering her.

And so began the aggravating argument in his head regarding his identity. If he should reveal the reason behind his constant disappearances. But how would she take it? Would she be mad at him for not telling her sooner? Would it only make things worse and cause her a greater sense of worry and stress knowing that it was really him fighting all these superpowered criminals that wanted to kill him?

It also hadn't helped that for the last month he'd watched Ben and Gwen's relationship go off without a hitch. It seemed like The Scarlet Spider hadn't caused their lives any problems, so why was it that Spidey's life was destined to be a pain in his ass?

BZZZ! BZZZ!

Spidey reached into the pocket in his suit and pulled out his phone. "It's Peter, what's up?"

"Honey," Aunt May said, "it's nearly six o'clock. Ben just got home, and Anna told me the girls are almost ready, where are you?"

Spidey cringed as he tried to quickly change direction mid-air so he could swing for home. "Sorry Aunt May, I got er, caught up at work."

Aunt May huffed over the phone. "I swear, those models run you more ragged than Spider-Man ever did."

Oh, if only she knew the truth of it, Spidey thought wryly. "Don't worry, I'll be home soon. Just make sure Ben doesn't hog all the hot water, will you?"

"I will try," Aunt May answered, as Spidey shot himself onto the train headed for Forest Hills. "Just get here soon, alright?"

"I'm getting off the train now," Spidey said, "be there soon." With that Spider-Man bade his aunt goodbye before he flipped off the back of the train and webbed the back as he landed on the tracks. The web line strained to its breaking point and Spidey let go, slingshotting himself at an unprecedented speed for his home, changing out of his suit as he flew through the air.

Peter ran through Forest Hills at top speed and opened the door to his home to find two girls sitting at the kitchen table, however, Peter only had eyes for his beautiful girlfriend wearing a stunning black dress with red flames that started at the bottom and raced to the top. MJ's face lit up when she laid eyes on him and Peter felt his mouth go dry and his mind turn to mush.

"Good, you're home!" Aunt May said, walking up to him. When he gave no response, she followed his gaze to Mary Jane then smirked at him. "Time for catching flies later young man, go shower, you smell."

Peter shook his head, then sniffed his armpit and reeled in a totally attractive way. "Noted." He bounded up the stairs, the only thought in his mind was getting clean as fast as possible so he could see her face light up again, this time while he was wearing a suit that actually matched her dress and fit him. It was a gift from the models he worked with at the Bugle.

The moment Peter reached the top of the stairs, his Spider-Sense tingled and he instinctively jumped to the wall to the right as he watched Ben do the same of the wall opposite him while dressed in a pair of casual/nice jeans, a button-up blue plaid shirt, and a red tie.

"Everything alright?" came Aunt May's alarmed voice.

Peter opened his mouth as he dropped from the wall, but Ben beat him to it. "All good May, Pete just stubbed his toe." Without a second word or glance, Ben walked down the stairs to join the girls.

Peter sighed. That was about right for all of their interactions. Short and not necessarily sweet. But his issues with Ben could wait tonight, he had a redhead waiting for him.

One shower and dressing later, Peter jumped the last few stairs in his rush to meet Mary Jane. He rounded the corner of the stairs to find Gwen and Ben standing in front of the fireplace whispering something to each other, but the couple didn't hold his attention for long.

"I think I hit the jackpot again," Peter whispered into Mary Jane's ear. She whirled around, flaring her dress out, and flashing him a brilliant smile as she looked him up and down.

"I think we're both winners tonight, Tiger," MJ replied, wrapping her arms sound his neck. "I just hope the Bugle doesn't call you in again. You owe me at least two dances.

"At least two? A little greedy aren't we?" Peter teased, pulling MJ closer to him. It had been a long while since this felt right, and he breathed an internal sigh of relief as they kissed. Tonight was just what they needed to reconnect.

Midtown High

Ben walked into the Midtown High gym with a smile on his face that felt only a little bit forced. The pre-Formal pictures had been a strained situation to say the least. Gwen had tried to get him to talk to Peter and had gotten increasingly frustrated when he told her he couldn't tell her why they were on the rocks. As angry as he was with Peter, Spider-Man wasn't his secret to tell. It was the first time he actually felt what everyone else felt when Gwen hit him with the Look. If Aunt May hadn't called for pictures, Ben would've spilled the beans.

Luckily for Ben, the dance and his moves on the floor had distracted her. Ben never really did school dances or formal events before this moment, so he was very happy to see Gwen enjoying herself. After a long month of hard Scarlet Spidering, Ben would be lying if he didn't appreciate having a break for one night, and as the night went on and the music got better, Ben felt a large weight being lifted from his shoulders. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last.

The first thing he felt was the most intense throbbing sensation in his forehead, causing him to slip on the dance floor and lose his balance for the first time since gaining his powers. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth, his Spider-Sense was going absolutely haywire, so much so, that he didn't even notice Gwen trying to lead him away from the dance floor or the people pointing and whispering at him.

He stumbled into the bleachers and massaged his head as the throbbing only grew in intensity and a high-pitched ringing floated to the forefront of his mind.

"Ben! Are you alright? What is it?"

Ben looked up at Gwen's concerned face through unfocused eyes, his Spider-Sense was trying to tell him something, but he didn't know what it was. "Somethings wrong," he grunted.

The song that had been playing ended, and in the few seconds of silence between songs, a voice shouted, "Osborn!? When did you get back?"

"Harry?" Gwen said, looking up, slightly alarmed and curious.

Ben's Spider-Sense dialed it up a notch, wailing at him to move. Then, he looked up and as his eyes found the scion of the Osborn empire, he finally understood what his Spider-Sense was trying to tell him.