Peter Parker opened his mouth and then stopped. He was about to ask the natural reflex question of "How did you get in here?" only to realise how much of a waste of breath that would be. The wall crawler doubted there was a single lock in all of New York, be it high-tech or low, that could keep the Black Cat out for long, so what hope did his old, unlocked, bedroom window have?
He instead mentally shifted gears and asked the second most natural question in a situation such as this. "What are you doing here?"
Crossing the room, Felicia sat down on his bed, momentarily ignoring the question until she got comfortable, and then casually glanced up at Peter. "I came to see you. Duh."
Tired and feeling like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, Peter Parker was in no mood for what he perceived to be another one of Felicia Hardy's games. "Well now you've seen me." He muttered spreading his arms wide before letting them flop down uselessly at his sides. "So can we skip the pleasantries and get to the point?"
Felicia's stare was colder than an artic wind, but Peter didn't shudder. He instead met her gaze with silent apathy, waiting for her next move.
"I know that you're still mad at me." She started, her voice cool and steady, a startling contrast to the brazen fury burning within her green eyes. "And I get it. I do. You trusted me to be better and I let you down. I'm sorry." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. "But you need to know that I wanted to help you today. I came to you with the best of intentions and how did you act?"
"I don't recall asking for your help-"
"Like an angry pig-headed child." Felicia continued, cutting off the rest of Peter's remark. "You didn't want to listen, you didn't give me five minutes to tell you what I had to offer, no, instead you just went off the deep end and threw a tantrum."
Peter was so exhausted that he couldn't muster up more than a few sparks of anger for his retaliation. "Look, I've got a lot on my plate right now and I really don't have time to deal with your crap on top of everything else so if you're done whining..." He pointed to the window, his assumed means of her entry into his bedroom. "Get out."
Felicia crossed her arms in defiance. She had chased after Peter all day and wasn't anywhere near close to finished with him yet. For a few brief seconds the pair remained silent, sizing each other up as they collected their thoughts in preparation for the next round. It was Felicia who ended their short ceasefire by rising to her feet, bringing them to a near even eye level. "After you ditched me back at the Coffee Bean, what happened?" Peter blenched and the Black Cat pressed her attack. "I followed you, I saw what you did to those lowlifes, and after seeing the amount of damage they caused, I kind of get it, but since when did you start acting like Frank Castle? How long have you been throwing guys off rooftops?"
Taking in a deep breath, Peter tried and failed to steady his nerves as Felicia's accusing words cut him deep. "It wasn't like that… I just needed them to talk."
"About what?" Felicia stepped forward, closing the gap that existed between them. "What did they say?"
"Nothing." Peter lied and turned away from her. "It was just some punks in ski-masks." Even to his own ears he knew that lie sounded lame.
"It's the Green Goblin isn't it?" Felicia probed. "You thought those guys were connected to him and so you wanted to know where he was." She didn't get an answer but the Black Cat continued, having finally cornered Peter she wasn't about to ease up now, they were getting things straightened out even if it took them all night. "Something big happened between you two. Something that isn't going to be in the papers or on the forum sites."
Peter tilted his head a little to one side, a minor action that might have gone unnoticed by anyone else, but Felicia was examining him with an eagle's eye, looking for any stray clue he might throw her. "He hurt you." She said, realisation dawning upon her. "That's why you're acting like this, pretending to be something you're not, to get back at him."
"You don't know what you're talking about." He whispered, still not looking at her.
"I know you."
Peter felt as if he had just been struck. After everything that he had been subjected to today, every doubt, every fear that had left him reaching for answers. After every shameful act he had committed, Felicia had the nerve to claim that she knew him? In one short day the ghost of Norman Osborn had pushed him to the breaking point. Peter wasn't sure he knew himself anymore.
Unwilling to continue subjecting himself to this torment any longer, Peter reached out and grabbed Felicia's arm. Seizing his wrist, Felicia tried to break Peter's hold on her, while grounding herself with a well-honed fighting stance.
It didn't matter.
Dragging her towards the window, and ignoring her protests, Peter just wanted this day to end. To have no more thoughts about the Green Goblin, no more Felicia toying with his mind, no more guilt, and no more secrets. He just wanted peace.
For a second she fought him, just as she had back at the Coffee Bean, but upon remembering how well that had gone, the Black Cat changed tactics. She couldn't outmuscle Peter, and he was still in no mood to listen to reason, so it would appear that the only way to proceed was to be underhanded. A practice that suited Felicia Hardy just fine. "Okay, okay you've made your point." She snapped, causing Peter to slow, but not stop in his efforts to drag her towards the window. "I'll leave if it'll make you happy."
"Nothing would bring me more joy." Peter responded dryly, he then released his hold on Felicia's arm, marched across the room and threw open his window as wide as it could go. Turning back to face her, the wall crawler was dumbfounded when he saw that Felicia was walking away from him and towards his bedroom door. "What are you doing?" He slowly asked, momentarily perplexed. "You said you'd leave."
Resting her hand on the door's handle Felicia threw a withering glare his way. "Some of us use the traditional way to get in and out of places Spider."
Biting back a response, Peter shut his bedroom window, taking solace in the fact that he was about to see the back of another of today's problems, when Felicia continued speaking. "I should probably say hi to May before I go, have a quick catch up, let her know how I've been, what I've been up to, what you've been up to…"
Without waiting to see how he would respond, Felicia opened the bedroom door. Only to have Peter Parker slam into her, forcing the door shut as she was roughly pinned against it. "You can't say anything about what happened today." He insisted in a rushed breath.
The Black Cat would have smiled at how easily Peter had played into her hands, if he hadn't driven most of the air out of her lungs when he had tackled her. "Get off me." She growled, trying and failing to shove Peter back.
"I'm serious." He continued, unaware of the discomfort he was causing her. "I cannot put her through this again."
Filing that titbit of information away for future use, Felicia tried to once again free herself from Peter's crushing embrace. "You're hurting me."
Realising what he was doing, Peter immediately jumped away, giving Felicia some much needed space. Turning around, so that her back was now to the door, the Black Cat took in several deep breaths while giving Peter the dirtiest of looks. "And here I thought you wanted me gone so badly."
"I'm sorry." Peter apologised, the day's exhaustion seeping into his voice. Taking several unsteady steps backwards his legs hit the side of his bed, causing him to sit, or rather fall, down onto the mattress. "I didn't mean to… it's just this is a rather complicated situation and aunt May has been through enough and I can't... I- I'm sorry."
The Black Cat had Peter right where she wanted him. His earlier pride and anger had deserted him, leaving only guilt and regrets. Peter also looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown, today's events, plus whatever else he had been up to after he'd given her the slip, had clearly taken a toll on him. Then there was that titbit regarding May Parker, if she had been dragged into this it was no wonder why Peter was taking it all so personally.
It was now time for Felicia to get some answers. Before she left the Parker's home tonight, she wanted to know everything that had happened between Peter and the Green Goblin. But first she had to mend some fences.
"I know you're probably getting tired of hearing this, but I didn't come here to fight you Spider." Felicia Hardy explained, taking her time to slowly cross the room. "I just wanted to help."
"Hmm." Peter replied as he hunched over and hid his face in his hands.
"And despite you being a stubborn, self-righteous jackass, who seems incapable of letting go of the past…" Felicia continued, taking a seat next to him. "I still care about you."
"Was that supposed to be a pep talk?" Peter asked wearily, removing one of his hands from his face so that he could glance sideways at her.
"No." Felicia smiled, throwing an arm over his shoulder. "That was me telling you I am not about to sit on the side-lines and watch you walk down a path of self-destruction. So you have a choice to make, you either start talking to me." She waited a beat before continuing. "Or I go and talk to your aunt May."
Faced with such an ultimatum, Peter removed her arm from around him, fell back on his bed, and stared up at the ceiling. "I hate you." He whispered in defeat.
Mirroring his action, Felicia sought out Peter's hand and gave it a not so gentle pat. "I know."
For a minute or two they lied side by side, each silently considering what was to be said in short order, and how best to present certain facts. Then, feeling that she had given Peter enough time to adjust himself to the new world order, Felicia bumped her shoulder against his, hoping that it would get the ball rolling. "So…"
"Ow." The Amazing Spider-Man grunted.
"Ow?" Felicia repeated as she turned her head towards Peter and watched as he reached out and started rubbing the shoulder that she had just bumped against. "What's ow?"
"Nothing." Peter said, carefully rolling his injured shoulder. "I got shot earlier today and-"
"You got shot?" Felicia sat up and stared down at him, her cocky demeanour now gone.
Peter winced at the pitch of her voice and, not for the first time that day, immediately regretted opening his mouth. "It wasn't serious. The bullet just grazed me." He tried to mitigate the situation, but the damage was already done.
Swinging a leg over his torso, Felicia Hardy straddled Peter and began pulling at his shirt. "Let me see."
"I said its fine." He argued half-heartedly, wondering if this was just his life now, fighting every step of the way with Felicia. It wasn't like he hadn't been shot before. An odd sentence for most people to think, sure, but then again, most people weren't bitten by a radioactive spider when they were fifteen years old.
"Oh yes, because you do such a great job of taking care of yourself." Felicia countered, growing increasingly annoyed at how he blocked her every attempt to remove his top, and how they were both probably in-turn doing more harm to the wound. "Did you even think to clean it?"
"I have done this sort of thing before." Peter growled. Back when they had been dating it had been no secret that Felicia was far ahead of him when it came to first aid and other useful medical knowledge and practices. Given his busy life as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, there had never really been time to take a full crash course in first aid, although he had made several futile attempts to do so. What he had managed to learn over the years had been useful, sometimes even lifesaving. But the gaps in Peter's knowledge were vast, and Felicia was always quick, almost to the point of nagging, to course correct the wall crawler whenever he made a misstep during an after battle patch up.
Climbing off him, Felicia let out a huff of frustration and took a look around Peter's messy bedroom. "Where do you keep your first aid box?"
It took Peter several seconds to think of the answer. He had a first aid box, somewhere, given his daily brushes with death he would be crazy not to. But thanks to his never ending struggles with money Peter had never managed to keep it well stocked after the initial purchase, despite its constant use. Also the thing seemed capable of growing legs because it was never where he thought it should be. He knew that he had seen it recently, but where exactly…
"Under the bed." The wall crawler muttered, giving up any form of resistance. He was too tired to keep fighting with Felicia over such a trivial thing. Besides, something told him that he needed to save any strength he might have left for the real battle.
Ducking down, Felicia quickly found the well-used white box. "Shirt." She ordered as she placed it on the bed.
Obeying, Peter sat up and pulled off his shirt, followed by the top half of his Spider-Man costume that he had worn underneath it, and threw both articles of clothing into a corner. "And here I thought you just wanted to talk." He said with a forced smile as the Black Cat gave him a quick once over.
"Very funny Spider." Felicia retorted coolly. She then opened the first aid box, which proved that Peter's mental assessment about it had been correct. "There's not much in here to work with. Big surprise."
"Good job I'm taken care of then." He pointed towards his right shoulder and his earlier handiwork.
The Black Cat frowned but said nothing. It looked like a typical Parker patch up job which meant she would be kept busy for the next several minutes. Sitting back down on the bed, Felicia pulled out what little Peter had left in his first aid box and got to work on cutting away the excess amount of tape he had used to cover the dressing on his right shoulder.
"So, how did you and the Green Goblin meet?" She asked, unwilling to let Peter's wound distract her from what she came here to accomplish.
"Well there was this bowling night for lonely singles…" Peter started in that annoying, fake jovial tone that he used on the bad guys when he didn't want them to know just how tired or hurt he really was. Felicia was having none of it.
"Kill the jokes and stick to the facts."
"Are you sure?" Peter asked, turning to look at her with a stupid grin on his face. "This version has a much happier… well, everything."
"Don't make me hurt you." The Black Cat threatened.
The wall crawler sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Fine." He said softly. For a moment he was quiet, the false smile faded from his face and Felicia watched as his body grew tense, every muscle on display to her swelled as if under great strain, momentarily putting her medical examination on pause as Peter slowly gathered himself. Then he started to speak.
"The day I first met the Green Goblin started out pretty normal, well normal for me I mean. I was out on patrol, doing the usual, trying to be a good, helpful, friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man wherever I could. Things had been pretty hectic at the time what with Vulture and the Liza-uh, this new guy, running around, so I figured there was plenty I could sink my teeth into. I had just finished gift wrapping this purse snatcher when a fleet of cop cars raced by, sirens flashing and whining, putting pedal to the medal."
"And you thought to yourself that sounds like my kind of party." Felicia encouraged, hoping to loosen Peter up with some playful back and forth.
"Yeah." He nodded slowly. "My kind of party. Anyway, off I go and it isn't long before I heard the shooting. About a small army's worth of it actually. I swing over a rooftop and bang, there he was," Peter paused and took in a breath. "The Green Goblin."
"What did you think, when you first saw him I mean?"
Peter shook his head. "Here we go again." He then smiled, another false one, but Felicia would take it over the stand-offish attitude he had been giving her. At least now he was talking to her somewhat honestly, which was a vast improvement over Mr. Sourpuss. "Seriously he looked goofy, dressed like a guy who was really into D&D. Sure he might have been throwing bombs around and flying like a lunatic on top of a giant metal bat thingy, but it's New York. We've both dealt with much stranger things than that, right?"
Felicia nodded. Interesting lives they did both lead and it meant meeting no end of weird, colourful, and more often than not crazy characters.
"Anyway, the Goblin's target that day was Caesar Cicero, a big time lawyer who worked for the Maggia. The Big C got ambushed on his way to an important lunch date, and his small army of bodyguards weren't holding out too well against the Goblin. But good old Spidey was there to save the day."
Peter nervously drummed his hands against his knees for a few seconds and then continued. "I underestimated him, right from the start. I thought he was just another nut in a costume, fancy toys aside, nothing that I hadn't dealt with before. So I came in cocky, celebrating my victory before the first punch had even been thrown." Peter sighed bitterly. "Big mistake. He was fast, really fast. And almost as strong as me. I should have known right then and there that he was going to be another late night headache, but he was so much worse than that... I could have saved so many people if only I had …"
"Hey," Felicia laid a hand on his. "Don't go beating yourself up for what he did."
"Yeah. I've been told that before." Peter muttered. He then took in a deep calming breath. "Long story short. We fought for a bit, traded some blows, I then cracked the left wing of his glider and he decided to take off. He even gave me the cliché line of 'We'll meet again Spider-Man!' I meant to follow him but as it turns out Big C wasn't feeling much gratitude towards me saving his life and ordered what was left of his goon squad to turn me into Swiss cheese." Peter crunched his hands up into tight fists. "I should have gone after the Goblin. But no, I stayed behind and helped the cops clean up the small fries first."
"What happened next?"
"I webbed Caesar Cicero upside down to a lamppost and then went looking for my new playmate. Unfortunately the Goblin had made good his escape and the next time we met… he was more than ready for me."
Putting down the iodine swab that she had been using to dab at Peter's gunshot wound, Felicia reached out and began to pull at Peter's tightly curled fingers. For a second he resisted, but then opened his hand to her. Slipping her fingers in-between his, Felicia gave Peter's hand a gentle squeeze. "I can see this isn't easy for you, going down memory lane." He nodded slowly. "And I'm guessing you still want to throw me out the window and pretend like today didn't happen."
"Oh yeah." Peter smiled wearily and closed his eyes.
Smirking, Felicia continued. "Well too bad. I still want to know everything and I'm not leaving until I do. So take as long as you need Peter." She gave his hand another squeeze.
Staring into her green eyes, Peter gave her a slow nod. "Thank you." He whispered.
Slowly at first but gaining speed and vigour as he went on, Peter recounted the full and terrible history between himself and the Green Goblin. It was a harrowing experience for him, to delve back into those dark memories full of close shaves and senseless violence. No one, not even aunt May, knew the complete story, and Peter fully intended to keep it that way. But to satisfy Felicia's curiosity, and to perhaps rid himself of a few of today's demons, Peter Parker told it all as it had happened, the precious few shining moments of good, amidst an ocean of soul-testing bad.
So far only one truth had been omitted from the story. This was the fact that the black costume that Peter had been wearing throughout the entirety of the Goblin saga was in fact an alien parasite that he had accidently picked up a few weeks prior, when he had been sneaking around Spencer Smythe's laboratory late one evening after the good doctor had seen fit to send another Spider-Slayer after him. The inevitable second omission lurked at the very end of the story.
But Peter still had some time before he came to that grim finale.
Over the course of telling his story, Peter's wounded shoulder had been redressed and given the Hardy medical seal of approval, and now Felicia was on the edge of her seat, or rather Peter's bed, as he reached one of the key turning points of his wretched tale. The moment when he discovered whose face lurked behind the Goblin's mask.
"Son of a bitch." Felicia whispered.
"Yeah." Peter quietly agreed.
"He…" She struggled to get the words out. "Nor- Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin? Norman Osborn is the Green Goblin?" She repeated, her voice growing louder with every word.
"Yeah, that's kind of how I reacted too."
The Black Cat stood up and began to pace around the bedroom, putting Peter's story on pause. "I can't believe it."
"Believe it." Peter muttered. "Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin, had been from the very start."
"Why? How? W-when? What?" Felicia stopped pacing and knelt down so that she was eye level with Peter. "How could… how the hell could Norman Osborn becomes something like…" She trailed off, Felicia wanted to know everything that Peter did but the look on his face told her enough. Now wasn't the time to be digging for details. That would have to wait for another day. For now she just had to be content with the larger picture.
Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin.
Felicia remembered the horrifying pictures of the Goblin on Web-Heads Haven. The bold headlines that immortalised his terrible deeds. Then she tried to imagine Norman Osborn, slimy, smirking, full of self-importance, Norman Osborn, as the face behind it all. It didn't seem real.
She then recalled what Patch had told her, that Norman Osborn's sudden death had marked the end of the Goblin's reign of terror. Killed by the Goblin's glider, his own glider as it turns out. No wonder why Peter had been so quick to brush her off at the Coffee Bean. The man she had been so eager to talk to him about was dead and buried. Gone for good.
"Son of a bitch." Felicia repeated and then sat back down on the bed.
"If it makes you feel any better I never suspected that he was the one behind the Goblin's mask."
"Who could ever suspect Norman Osborn of anything like that?" Felicia asked, throwing her arms above her head. "Yes he has always had that creepy vibe about him, ask mom, but there is a big difference between being a megalomaniac with an ego the size of the Empire State building and being a-"
"Monster." Peter finished for her. "He was a monster. Always had been as far as I can tell. Guess he was just better at hiding it compared to all the other ones I've met."
Felicia was about to chime in on that front when a buried detail rose to the surface of her brain. "Hold on. Isn't Osborn's son your friend? Harvey? Harold?"
"Harry." Peter corrected. "You met him when MJ took us all dancing that one time."
It had been a while since that night, but Felicia could just about picture the confident red head's boyfriend. He had seemed nice, a little shy at first, but well-meaning. But once he had loosened up after a few drinks he had become quite talkative and had made it no secret on how much he loved MJ and Peter. Looking back, Harry Osborn had seemed perfectly harmless, but as it was becoming increasingly obvious to Felicia, things could change, and with his dear old dad dead, Harry Osborn had probably become a very wealthy individual with more than a few issues to work through.
"Does he know about you-"
"No." Peter growled. "Harry doesn't know that his dad was the Green Goblin and that's the way it's going to stay." He then let out a haggard sigh. "He's been through enough."
Felicia waited patiently for a few seconds, letting the embers of Peter's anger die, before she continued. "I was going to ask if he knew you were Spider-Man, but I guess you just more or less answered that question."
The wall crawler shook his head. "No. He doesn't know, I can't tell him… there so much I…" Peter then snorted. "It's a mess."
"Is he the one who placed that bounty on your head? The one Shocker was talking about?" Peter nodded slowly. "You think maybe telling him the truth might get him to stop sending super villains after you?"
"He didn't do that." Peter scolded. "That was a bone headed Shocker scheme if I've ever heard one. Harry is just confused and has a lot of questions about his dad, what happened to him? Why was I in his home with Norman's body? He thinks Spider-Man has all the answers and he's tried being patient and waiting for … something but…" Peter then sighed and stared down at the floor. "Spider-Man isn't being too cooperative."
"Yeah, he sucks like that." Felicia nodded mockingly. "But I think he will agree that talking about things instead of keeping them all bottled up inside is helping. Right?" She playfully nudged him with her shoulder. But Peter remained serious, lost in his own private thoughts. "Or not."
"It has helped." He said after a moment or two of self-reflection. "It wasn't fun, talking about what happened, but I think I needed to get it off my chest, even if it doesn't change anything."
Gently patting him on the back, Felicia took a look around Peter's bedroom. On his desk, amidst his laptop, text books, scraps of paper, and bits and bobs consisting of who knows what, was half a dozen framed photos, each containing the important people in Peter's life. It was no surprise that the pretty red head and Norman Osborn's son occupied several of them.
"I think you should talk to Harry." Felicia advised. "How you do it is up to you, Spider-Man, Peter Parker, whatever. But I think giving him something, anything, even if it is a lie might be all that he needs to let this go and to start moving on with his life."
"Is that what I should do? Lie?" Peter asked, fully aware that he had silently considered the ploy several times himself. "He's my best friend; I shouldn't be feeding him a story, I should try and be honest. Right?"
Felicia bit her lower lip in thought before answering. "Sometimes we lie to protect the people we care about."
"Even if they come to hate us for it." Peter concurred. "I have been thinking about talking to Harry, a lot, but I have no idea where to even begin."
"You'll figure something out. You always do."
"Thank you." Peter said, sitting up straight and staring into Felicia's green eyes. "Not just for that, but for well everything and I… I'm sorry about how I've been acting."
"I'm not going to say forget about it, because I am still mad at you." She threw a scowl his way, but it lasted only for a brief second. "But I'm glad we had this chat, you've evidently been through a lot these past few months and I want you to know that I am here for you. Which does mean I still want to hear how this all ends." Peter opened his mouth but Felicia continued. "But not tonight. We can finish it some other time when you're feeling up to it."
"Thank you." He repeated in a soft voice.
"What I want to know now is this, what are we going to do about today, with those guys and the jack-o-lantern bomb thingies?"
"Pumpkin bombs. And I think I've got a pretty good grasp on the situation." Explaining to Felicia what he had learnt from his interrogation, Peter laid out his plan to begin searching through the countless warehouses of New York in order to find this fake Goblin, all the while watching as Felicia wore an increasingly smug look on her face.
"And how long do you see that brilliant little scheme taking you?"
"Hey, if you've got a better plan I would love to hear it." Peter challenged. The confidence that Felicia radiated immediately made him regret it.
"Well as it just so happens I recently acquired a huge slab of Oscorp's private data and it includes all sorts of fun things connected to their weapon's department. Telephone numbers, business records, government contracts…"
Peter's mouth fell open. "Ho-how did you get that?"
"Employee details, top secret project information…" Felicia continued, listing each item off on her fingers. "Weapon plants details…"
"Seriously! How?"
"And off the book storage locations, several of which are right here in good old New York City." Felicia Hardy grinned triumphantly at the bedazzled wall crawler. "Think any of that might help narrow down our search?"
Peter couldn't help himself. Throwing his arms open wide, he closed any and all distance between himself and Felicia and pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You're amazing." He whispered into her ear.
For a few brief seconds she let herself enjoy the moment. When Felicia had first arrived at the Parker's home she had been fully prepared for war, but over the span of a few short hours, things between her and Peter had mended. They weren't perfect sure, and certainly not back to where they had been before their break up, but there was no denying that this was a huge step in the right direction.
They had both needed to vent, to clear the air. Now they would face whatever came next together, as partners.
But like all good things, the hug had to come to an end eventually, and it did so the moment when Peter realised what he was doing and who with.
"Sorry." He apologised with a wince of embarrassment as he slowly unwrapped his arms from around her and then shuffled back to his original seating position. "I uh… that was a bit… spur of the moment and I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Felicia said with a mischievous smile. "I'll get my own back."
The Black Cat then pounced, catching Peter Parker completely by surprise. Pinning him against the bed, Felicia Hardy straddled the wall crawler, enjoying the look of shock that flashed across his face.
"What are you doing… we can't..."
"Hush." She whispered, and then enacted her two pronged attack. First she leaned in close, bringing her face a mere inch away from his. Second, she grabbed Peter's left arm, that was lying limply by his side, and directed it so that it was now reaching around her, she then released his arm, found his hand and pressed it against her backside.
"Cat!" Peter protested but Felicia wasted no more time and dived in, kissing him full on the mouth.
For a blissful moment, Peter forgot all about the long list of reasons why they couldn't, or rather shouldn't, be doing this. He simply fell into the all too familiar, wonderful, rhythm of kissing Felicia Hardy.
Instinct and memory took over. Felicia released his hand, but Peter didn't need her guidance anymore, as he shook of his inhibitions and started to explore and caress her body. The Black Cat moaned approvingly into his mouth as he gave her ass a playful squeeze.
Then he heard his bedroom door open and the wall crawling hero realised that he had been duped, once again, by bad luck incarnate.
"Peter?"
The sound of May Parker's voice brought the make out session to a sharp end. Pulling her head back a few inches, Peter, paralysed with embarrassment, could only watch as Felicia offered him a sly wink and then turned to face his aunt, who was standing in his bedroom doorway.
It was hard to say what exactly the expression on May's face was, anger, disappointment, a mix of surprise and scorn? Peter honestly couldn't tell. What he did know was that he wanted, wished, prayed, for the ground to swallow him up and drag him deep, deep, deep down into the Earth's core so that he might spend the rest of his life, banging his head against a hard surface, without any chance of interruption. Why did he let her manipulate him so?
"Hey May." Felicia lazily waved, expressing none of the shame that infected Peter.
"Felicia." May acknowledged, her voice dropping several degrees when compared to her earlier inquiring tone. Finding the strength of will to move, Peter slowly sat up, accidently jostling Felicia from his waist and into his lap. Opening his mouth, the wall crawler tried to get his brilliant brain to think up some plausible explanation that might salvage this mortifying situation.
May meanwhile looked down at the shirtless, red faced Peter, whose hand was still tightly gripping Felicia's backside, with a single raised eyebrow. "I just came to tell you that I'm going to bed now so… keep it down." She then turned to leave, closing the bedroom door behind her.
A long second passed in absolute silence.
Felicia Hardy then snorted, tried to hold it in, only to immediately give up and throw her head back and let out a witch's cackle. Falling back onto the bed, and taking her with him, the wall crawling hero let out a loud groan.
"I hate you." He declared, amidst her laughter. "So much."
"Do you though?" She teased, grinding her body against his.
Reaching for her hips, Peter flipped the Black Cat off him, got up, and dashed out of his bedroom with the sound of Felicia's laughter echoing behind him.
May Parker had just opened her own bedroom door when she saw her nephew racing towards her.
"Aunt May it isn't what it looks like-" He started to explain in a flurry of words but was silenced when she held up her hand.
"You're a grown adult now Peter, I don't need an explanation, all that I ask is that you keep it-"
"Down. I got it, but no, that isn't going to be happening. At all. I promise you. We were just talking and-"
"What happened to your shoulder?" May interrupted, pointing at the fresh dressing on his upper arm.
Peter's mouth opened and then closed. He had wanted time to prepare before he talked to May about what had happened today, but it appeared that fate had sabotaged him once again.
"I uh, there was this thing that happened downtown. It was pretty bad." He explained as vaguely as possible.
May reached out and gently stroked his face. "Are you alright?" She asked, referring not just to the physical injury that he had sustained.
"Yeah." Peter lied. "It's just a scratch. Felicia helped patch me up and it will all be fixed by tomorrow, you'll see."
May removed her hand from his face and gave him a small smile. She worried about him, of course she did and it broke Peter's heart to lie to her, but protecting her was his responsibility. And right now lying was the best, his only, means of doing that. He would come clean and tell her everything once he got things under control.
"So…" May said, crossing her arms in front of her and leaning slightly against her doorframe. "Felicia's back?"
"Yep." Peter nodded, feeling the blood rush to his face.
"Like I said, you're an adult now and I know you don't want me butting in so I'll just say be careful Peter."
"I will. I mean I don't need to because we're not- uh. I will?" He verbally stumbled to a halt and tried futilely to not let his face get any redder.
Feeling as if she had embarrassed him enough, May Parker pulled her beloved nephew into a gentle hug, taking care to avoid his wounded shoulder. "Goodnight Peter."
"Goodnight May." He replied and then watched as she entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Rubbing the back of his head, and wishing that he had some semblance of control over his topsy-turvy life, Peter turned and headed back to his own room. It was time to put the cat out.
Entering his bedroom, Peter fully expected to find Felicia waiting for him, no doubt wanting to hear just what his aunt May had to say regarding her sudden return into his life. Instead he found the Black Cat rooting around inside of his closet with her back to him. "And just how is May these days?" She asked as Peter shut his bedroom door.
"Fine, why do you ask?"
"You mentioned earlier that she'd been through something thanks to the Goblin." Felicia said, turning away from Peter's closet and giving him a quick glance. "I just wondered how she is holding up."
"May's a lot tougher than she looks." Peter replied after a few seconds. "We got through it together and now I just need to make sure it doesn't happen again." Satisfied with the answer, Felicia returned to her search. "Anything I can help you with?"
"I saw some pictures online with you in that black and white suit." Felicia explained as she continued riffling through his clothing. "I love the colour scheme and wanted a closer look." Swallowing, Peter turned his head ever so slightly and glanced towards his work desk. "You still have it right?"
"No." He lied. "It got damaged, completely beyond repair. Sorry."
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Felicia Hardy abandoned her hunt and turned to face him. "Pity." She pouted, "You looked so good in it."
Shaking his head as she brushed past him Peter tried to figure out the best way to wrap this meeting up. "So…" he started.
"So?" Felicia repeated, taking in his bedroom and all of its curiosities as she strode around it.
"It's getting late and my aunt just…" he indicated his closed bedroom door.
Holding up her hands in surrender Felicia smiled. "Hey, I can take a hint. But what are we going to do about tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?"
"I can pull up my list of all those Oscorp storage locations, and the two of us can try and bag us a fake Goblin…" Peter's heart raced at the suggestion. A quick and decisive means of ending this potential nightmare before it got any worse. How could he refuse such an offer? Felicia then shrugged. "Or we can just hang out here."
"Goblin hunt sounds great." Peter Parker decided adamantly.
"Great. I'll pick you up at nine." Moving towards the window, Felicia opened it and started to climb out.
"You know you can use the front door right?" Peter asked as she effortlessly held herself up on his window ledge.
"This way is more fun." Felicia bantered and gave him a quick wink. "Seya Spider."
She then let go of the window ledge and silently dropped down into the Parker's backyard. "Night Cat." Peter whispered as he watched her vanish into the night. Closing the window, the wall crawler walked over to his bed and fell upon it. "What a day."
Everything that had happened over such a short space of time came racing back to him all at once, the disastrous meet up with Felicia at the Coffee Bean, the pumpkin bomb throwing gang, the copious amount of destruction they had caused, his interrogation, swinging around New York steaming mad, breaking into the Osborn family's Mausoleum, getting definitive proof that Norman truly was dead, only to then run back into Felicia at his home.
It was all too much, surely some of that had happened to somebody else?
Shaking his head, Peter sighed. "I need a vacation. A long one."
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. But don't be a silent reader. Your thoughts mean the world to me and inspire me to continue writing. Please share them.