Another chapter!
As always, please review :)
Hey, you're home, right? Ned is on his way and I'm at the apartment. – K
Kate sighed as she didn't get a reply to her text and knocked on the door. Listening, she heard someone in the kitchen before the door opened to reveal May, her hair twisted up in a bun.
"Hey Kate." May said smiling brightly. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, Ned and I were supposed to meet Peter here." Kate replied with an easy smile though she cringed internally. Guess that answered her question if Peter was home or not.
As she said that, Ned came around the corner from the elevators, holding the constructed outline of the Death Star.
"Come on in." May said. "Peter should be back really soon."
Wonder what excuse he gave her…Kate thought as they walked into the apartment. "Smells good in here." She commented, though it was a lie. May was not a great cook though she very much made up for it in other aspects.
"Thanks." May said smiling. "I'm trying a turkey meatloaf recipe." She eyed the backpack that Kate was holding in front of her. "Don't tell me he lost his again."
"Uh, he just forgot it on the train." Kate said. "You know how he is."
May smiled brightly. "Well thank you for bringing it back." She said. "You're a good girl Kate."
Kate and Ned left her to her cooking and went to Peter's room. Kate climbed up onto the top bunk in his room, lying on her stomach, head and arms over the edge as she and Ned discussed building the rest of the Death Star while they waited.
"So, have you noticed anything going on with Peter lately?" Ned asked after a minute.
Kate froze. "What do you mean?" She asked carefully.
"I don't know." Ned said. "He just seems to always be busy lately. You're at Stark Industries with him, does the internship really take up that much time?"
She swallowed, not wanting to lie but knowing that she had to tread lightly here. "It can." She said carefully. "You know, despite all the Avengers stuff that Mr. Stark does, it actually takes quite a bit to be involved in the company. Ms. Potts does most of it, but Mr. Stark still owns the company and has to be involved."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Ned said.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a little bit until Kate heard the slight movement of the window. Tensing, she turned her head, half expecting to see a robber. Her heart stopped instantly as she saw the familiar red and blue suit climbing in through the window, Peter obviously not having seen them in there.
Oh shit…
…
Peter kept his eyes on the bedroom door as he slowly, carefully opened the window. May was moving around in the kitchen and the last thing he needed was for her to notice him climbing in through the window in his suit. Removing his mask, he quietly crawled across the ceiling, inching towards the door before he was able to pull it closed part way with his webs. Still holding onto the ceiling with one hand, Peter lowered himself down to land on his feet on the floor before shutting the door the rest of the way.
Considering he had shut his door before he had left for school this morning, it didn't occur to him to think about why the door had been open…until he turned around.
First, his eyes connected with Kate's wide, horrified blue-grey eyes as she sat on her knees on top of the bunk bed, then he saw Ned sitting on the bottom bunk holding the Death Star. Or he was, until the LEGO set fell out of the boy's hands in his shock, making no move to stop the fall.
The LEGO set made the loudest crash in the silence as it hit the floor and broke apart into a thousand pieces.
"What was that?" May called from the kitchen.
Peter spun around with wide eyes. "It's nothing. Nothing." He called quickly before turning back to Ned.
"You're the Spider-Man." Ned said. "From YouTube."
"I'm not." Peter said hitting the spider logo on his chest, the suit falling off him, panic taking over. "I'm not."
Ned pointed up. "You were on the ceiling." He said.
"No." Peter tried to deny at first, noticing Kate put her face in her hands. "Ned. What are you doing in my room?"
"May let us in." Ned said standing up. "We were gonna finish the Death Star."
Peter kicked the suit out of sight. "You can't just bust into my room!" He broke off, stepping over towards Ned and turning to the door as it opened.
"That turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster." May said laughing as she waved her hand to disperse some smoke that had come off her latest cooking attempt. "Let's go to dinner. Thai? Ned, Kate, you want Thai?"
"Yes." Ned said.
"No." Peter said. "He's got a thing."
Ned nodded. "A thing to do after." He said poorly playing along.
"I don't." Kate said.
Peter turned around and looked at her with wide eyes. She just gave him an innocent smile in return.
"Okay." May said not catching the moment between Peter and Kate. He pointed at Peter. "Maybe put on some clothes."
Peter realized that moment that he was standing in just his boxers. He grabbed his grey sweater off the chair and pulled it on as May shut the door.
"Oh, she doesn't know?" Ned said in shock as he turned to
"Nobody knows." Peter said. "Well, Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit. That's it. And…" He looked up at Kate, meeting her gaze for a moment.
"Tony Stark made you that?" Ned said in shock and joy as he missed the last part of the sentence. "Are you an Avenger?"
Peter shrugged. "Yeah, basically." He said not noticing the look Kate gave him.
Suddenly, Ned's brain caught up and he turned to looked at Kate. "Wait, you knew about this too?" He asked.
Kate sent a quick glare at Peter before she cleared her throat. "Yeah, I knew." She said.
"You can't tell anybody about this." Peter said quickly, trying to take the attention off her. "You gotta keep it a secret."
"Secret? Why?" Ned asked disappointed.
"You know what she's like." Peter said in a low, frantic tone as he motioned to the door. "If she finds out people try and kill me every night, she's not gonna let me do this anymore. Come on, Ned, please."
"Okay, okay, okay." Ned said. "I'll level with you. I can't keep this a secret. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."
Peter cut him off. "Ned, May cannot know." He said firmly. "I cannot do that to her right now. You know? I mean, everything that's happened with her, I- Please."
Ned paused. "Okay." He said sensing the gravity of Peter's words.
"Just swear it, okay?" Peter said.
"I swear." Ned replied.
Peter felt relief coarse through him. "Thank you." He said. He paced away. "Ican't believe this is happening now."
"Can I try the suit on?" Ned asked, back to his hyper cheery self.
"No." Peter said.
"How's it work? Magnets?" Ned asked as he walked over to the door with Peter. "How do you shoot the strings?"
Peter stopped the rapid-fire questions. "I'm gonna tell you at school tomorrow." He promised.
"Great." Ned said as Peter started to push him out the door. "Okay, well, wait, then." Peter paused. "How do you do this and the Stark internship?"
Peter frowned. "This is the Stark internship." He said. Realization struck Ned and he grinned. "Just get out of here."
He shut the door behind Ned and leaned against it for a second before he dared to look up at Kate who had jumped down from the bunk.
Kate crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking beautiful but fierce. She was not happy with him.
"Nice job Spider-Man." She muttered before walking past him to join May while they waited for him to get dressed.