Hey guys! Let me know if the pacing of this one is ok, I can't tell if I'm rushing or going too slow or it's just right...
"Wow... Radioactive spider? Really?" Ava raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah! Complete accident. Pretty crazy, right?"
"I always assumed you were a mutant or something. And Harry has no idea that his dad's company inadvertently turned you into a superhero?"
Peter looked a little sheepish.
"I'm not sure telling Harry would be the best idea... Anyway, I told you mine, now it's your turn."
Ava sighed, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face in the process.
"Fine. But mine might take a little longer than that."
"Well, it's not like we've got all night or anything."
She tried to glare at him, but his mischievous grin was contagious.
"Fine. I guess it started when I was a kid. My parents were... oddly matched. My dad was a librarian, and he was probably the kindest and calmest person you'd ever met. My mom.. from what I remember of her, she was a bit of an eccentric. You know, absent-minded, distracted, energetic. She was a biophysicist. When my parents got divorced, when I was, like, five or something, I went to live with her. At first it was great - she let me do pretty much anything I wanted. I wrote on the walls, I spent hours exploring the neighbourhood. But whatever my mom was working on started to... bleed into her home life, I guess. She wasn't well, mentally, and I think it got worse when I was around."
Ava recalled the years painfully. It was hard to remember, because she had spent so many years trying not to think about it.
"She was working on something to do with human enhancement. I don't know any of the details, but she got obsessed with the idea of using human subjects, even in the early stages. Obviously, legally, you can't just jump into that sort of stuff, so she used... well, me."
Peter's face had turned serious, brow knitted in concern. If she looked into his eyes, Ava worried she might start to cry, so she turned her gaze to the window, bespeckled with tiny jewels of rain. It looked sort of like the glass was weeping. Her voice kept steady.
"I don't remember much, obviously. It was painful, and I didn't understand why she was doing it, but she told me that it was ok, you know? And she would always get me my favourite foods after the procedures, and told me how strong I was, so I didn't want to complain, you know?"
"Ava, I'm-"
"Anyway," Ava still couldn't meet his eyes, "My dad found out eventually. He found bruises and... needle scars. When he asked me about it, I pretty much fell apart. I was eight, maybe? Nine? He took her to court and got full custody. Obviously he wanted to press charges for child abuse and everything, but then my mom fell off the grid. Completely. No one's ever seen her since."
She paused, and forced herself to look at Peter. He was still subconsciously hugging his bandaged stomach, but Ava knew that the pain in his face had nothing to do with that. A tear escaped from her eyes not because of the memories that she had attempted to repress for so long, but because she was suddenly incredibly angry at herself for telling the story. For making Peter feel like that. It had felt nice to talk to someone about it, something she hadn't been able to do since her dad had died, but Ava was filled with instant regret by that look. With effort, Peter lurched out of the bed to squat beside her. He took her face in one hand, and wiped away the tear with his thumb. Of course, it was instantly replaced with a dozen more as her eyes welled, until her cheeks began to resemble the window.
"I'm sorry that that happened to you," Peter said softly, "Thank you for telling me."
Ava had heard a lot of "I'm sorry"s over the years. It was her father's favourite phrase when she first went to live with him, and everyone else's favourite once he was gone. She hated the expression. It always made her feel, if anything, worse. Like her existence, her experiences, were only making other people feel worse. Now everyone was suffering. If she had kept her pain to herself, then she could shoulder the burden alone. But, here, with Peter, having heard his story, she felt that they had taken on the weight of each other's burdens. Uncle Ben would live in her mind as much as her father would live in Peter's; his loneliness and guilt danced with her pain inside them both. She smiled, and meant it.
"I'm glad I did."
Peter's eyes were like molten chocolate, warm and soft and kind, and Ava felt suddenly drawn in by them, by some earnest desire in them. She leaned forward, and, with a slight wince, he met her halfway. The moment that their skin touched and their lips met, Ava felt a wave of electricity flood her body. Immediately, he was intoxicating. All that stopped her from desperately pulling him closer, deepening the kiss further, was a small voice in the back of her mind yelling a reminder that the poor guy was recovering from a stab wound. Peter seemed to have forgotten that small fact too, as he gently guided her face into his, but Ava lingered on the thought a little too long. Surprising even herself, she let out a nervous laugh. Peter pulled back slightly.
"What, was it that bad?" his tone was both joking and genuine. Ava smiled.
"Definitely not. I just remembered something funny."
He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I didn't start doing the whole vigilante crime-fighting thing until a couple of years ago, right? And, it's kind of embarrassing now but, the reason I started was actually because of you."
"Me?"
"Spiderman," Ava laughed, feeling her cheeks heating up slightly.
"Wow, so you're making out with your inspiration right now," he grinned. She shoved his shoulder away gently.
"Shut up! I shouldn't have brought it up."
"Aw, c'mon, don't be embarrassed! It's always nice to meet a fan!"
"You wish."
Ava kissed him once more, mainly to shut him up.
"Ok, so, if they were in Washington, and now they're here, and we've run into them like three times already, then maybe they've got some connection to you?"
"What, like they're after me? I don't think so. It's not like I find out anything damning about them before I moved."
"But maybe they think you did? Or maybe it's something else? I don't know, I wish we had something more to go on."
"What are you two talking about?"
Peter and Ava jumped apart from their conspiratorial huddle. Liz and Jake stood over them, the former with a perfectly arched brow, and the latter with a reproachful glare.
"Nothing," they replied as one.
Liz sat her tray down loudly and flipped a perfect curtain of dark silky hair over her shoulder.
"Whatever. You two sure are spending a lot of time together recently."
"We're working on a project for, um, science club," Ava said.
"What project?" Jake asked.
Ava blanched.
"It's, uh, a secret."
"It's just that, we're not sure it'll work yet, so we don't want to jinx it," Peter explained with a pointed gaze at his sheepish partner.
Jake grunted.
Liz was right, of course. Ava and Peter had been spending a lot more time together over the past week or so since that night, both in and out of mask. They had yet to revisit the kiss, but Ava sure thought about it a lot. As Jake and Liz settled, Gwen and Harry joined the table, and Ava was reminded of how strange it was that the two groups had finally integrated. Though, she wasn't sure if it was for the better: Liz and Flash, occasionally joined by Jake, would often make snide comments.
"Gwen, I love that top," Liz smirked. Gwen turned red.
"Thanks." Gwen knew as well as Ava that it hadn't been a compliment.
"Where's Flash today, Liz?" Ava asked. Liz pouted.
"Detention. Mr Sweeney is just out to get him, I swear."
Oblivious, Harry piped up.
"I love Mr Sweeney! He let me make up my midterm like three times last year."
Liz glared ruefully. Ava kicked her under the table. Peter coughed uncomfortably.
"Ava," Jake said, "Are you coming to football practise this afternoon?"
"Can't. I'm going round Peter's to work on the science project."
This was news to Peter, but he hid his surprise relatively well. Ava refused to meet Jake's eyes, and left swiftly when the warning bell rang.
"Hey, wait up!"
Peter appeared at her shoulder nervously.
"Did you actually wanna come over today?"
"Oh, um, yeah, if your aunt is ok with it? We could research?"
"Yeah, sure! And I was thinking actually, maybe this weekend we could, like, since it's Halloween, and that's the last day Coney Island is open, so maybe we could..." Peter's face turned slightly red.
"Why would a bunch of criminals hang out at Coney Island?"
"No! I meant as a, as a date or something. We could get dinner, too. Or something. I don't know, forget I-"
"Oh! No, that would be great."
"Really?"
"Of course! See you after class!"
Ava disappeared into the crowd before Peter could see her blush.