Well, thanks to everyone for the positive input. Each note makes me want to write even more :D Well, without further ado, here's Chapter 4. As far as dialogue and characters go, this is my favorite.

Chapter 4

Peter groggily awoke from his sleep. Shafts of light shot through the window and warmed his face. The sounds of New York's traffic came in through the window. He rolled out of bed and slipped on some jeans. He looked at himself in the mirror. His Spiderman costume had given him an awful head of hair.

"Mask hair," he mumbled.

"What's that?"

Peter spun around to see Harry Osborn standing in the doorway. He was well dressed in an expensive Italian suit. However, he looked just as bad as Peter. Peter glanced around the room and made sure that the Spiderman costume was well hidden under the bed.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" He asked.

Harry smiled. "Legally, I still live here Peter." He looked at his friend, then tucked his sleeve back and looked at an expensive silver watch. "You slept in a little late, didn't you?"

Peter looked at his alarm clock. "10:30. yea, I was up late last night... with some friends."

Harry smiled. "Right." It was obvious that he didn't believe him. "Working, I bet. You know, Peter, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Then, to himself, "like I'm one to talk."

Peter put a shirt on. "I'd better be getting to work. Why'd you come over, Harry?"

"I came to grab a few books that I left here. I'd better get them."

He went down the stairs and started rummaging through the bookcase. He pulled out Boom, Bust and Echo, a book on economics. He flipped through the pages. Many excerpts had been underlined or highlighted by Norman Osborn, his father.

Tears filled Harry's eyes. He missed his father. He had been dead for almost a year now. Just as they were starting to reconcile, his father had been taken away from him.

Taken!

Taken away by Spiderman! Harry turned from sadness to anger. He slammed the book shut and squeezed it between his tense hands. Why? Why had Spiderman killed his father? The whole city viewed him as a hero, but how could a hero kill someone's father in cold blood? Why? Someday, Harry knew, he would face Spiderman, unmask him and find out who he it was that had killed his father. And Harry would exact his revenge. Someday.

"Harry?" Peter Parker was coming down the steps behind him.

Harry took a deep breath, composed himself, and turned around smiling. "Yeah?"

"Could you, um, give me a lift to work?" He asked politely. "If it's not out of your way?"

"Sure. Anything for a friend." Harry said.

Harry drove a red BMW. He preferred driving himself instead of being chauffeured. He had always thought that paying someone to do something he could do himself was a waste of money. Peter sat in the passenger's seat, admiring the car and trying not to break anything.

They pulled up to the offices of the Daily Bugle. As Peter grabbed his things, Harry asked, "You take pictures of Spiderman, right?"

Peter was caught off guard by the question. The whole ride to the office had been in silence. "Yeah, I do."

"How do you get so close to him? I mean, the Daily Bugle's the only paper that gets such good shots of him."

"Well, I kind of have a feel for him. I mean, once you get in his head."

Harry nodded.

"Um, I'd better go. JJ's not going to be happy to see me." Peter said.

"Okay, Peter. Hey, you want to grab a bite to eat tonight?"

"Um, I'm kind of busy tonight. What about lunch?"

"I'll be busy. Some other time, I guess."

"Okay."

"See ya Peter."

"See ya Harry."

Harry drove off. Peter walked into the building, and tried to get to his desk without his boss, J. J. Jameson, seeing him. As he sat down at his desk, Peter thought he had made it, but then.a newspaper slammed down on in front of him.

"Do you know what this is, Parker?"

"It's today's paper, sir."

"It's today's paper, Peter Parker." Jameson paused for a moment thinking about his impromptu tongue twister. "And do you know what this is?" He pointed at the cover photo.

"That's a picture of Spiderman, sir."

"That's a picture of Spiderman taken months ago, Parker!" He was practically yelling. "We must be the only paper in the city that doesn't have photos of what happened with that freak last night! You've been taking pictures of Spiderman doing nothing for months, and as soon as he makes the front page, you're nowhere to be found!"

"Sir, I."

"AND," Jameson added, "You come in late the next day! Are you trying to push my buttons, boy?"

"No sir, I."

"I don't want you to come back here into this office until you have some exclusive photos of Spiderman in action! And you don't get paid until you come back here with some cover page material! Whether I like it or not, that freak sells papers, and it's my job to sell papers! Get out of my sight! And brush your hair!" With that, J. J. Jameson stormed into his office and slammed the door shut.

"Why me?" Peter moaned. He looked at the newspaper Jameson had left. The headline read Spiderman duels with enemy above city streets. Just beneath, in smaller writing, 'Hero' endangers civilians and destroys private property. Peter shook his head in disbelief. Taking pictures of himself while he beat up muggers was one thing, but it would be impossible to take a picture of himself fighting that flying marksman.

"Peter?"

Peter looked up.

"Mary Jane!"

"Hi." A beautiful smile crept across her face. "I came to say hi and see if you were okay."

"Okay? Why would I." Peter tried to find the words.

"Why? Um.well." She seemed just as awkward. "Do you want to go get something to eat? I mean, if you have the time off."

Peter glanced over to Jameson's office. "Yeah, I have the time."

A few minutes later, they were in a café down the block. Peter was gazing down at his reflection in his coffee, and Mary Jane was looking at him.

"Are you still taking pictures of Spiderman?"

"Um, yeah."

"Easy money. You always know where to find him."

Peter looked up at her. "What do you mean.I mean.it's hard.Spiderman's hard to find."

Mary Jane smiled at him. He was nervously drawing circles around the lip of his coffee mug.

"When was the last time we saw each other?"

Again, Peter was caught off guard. "Um, I don't remember."

"At Harry's dad's funeral." She paused and took a sip from her coffee. "You kiss just like Spiderman," she grinned. Peter was panicking and trying not to show it. Mary Jane put her hand on Peter's. "It's okay," she said in a low voice, "I know. I knew then."

"Did you tell anyone?"

"Of course not. My lips are sealed."

Peter breathed a sigh of relief. He had been keeping his secret identity to himself for almost a year. Now he felt relieved that someone else knew, and that he could trust that person with his biggest secret. Now Peter had someone he could talk to about his nightlife, someone to share his stories with. Suddenly, he then felt as close to Mary Jane as he did a year before.

"It's kind of a relief that someone else knows," he said, "and I'm glad it's you, MJ."

She smiled again, and kept her hand on his.

"Once I realized who you were," she said, "our talk in the cemetery made that much more sense. I understood why we couldn't be together. It would too dangerous for me."

"Yea, I cared too much to be with you. I didn't want another incident like on the bridge."

Mary Jane took a sip of her coffee before continuing.

"Since the Green Goblin died, though, not much had happened to you, though. I wondered if it were still impossible for us to be together. Then I saw you on the news last night, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Peter smiled. "Thanks MJ. I'm fine."

Mary Jane saddened. "Well, I guess that I'd better get going. I mean, since your okay and all." She stood and picked up her purse.

"Wait MJ." Peter got up. "I need a favor."

She leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Peter or Spiderman?"

"Me. do you know how to use a camera?"