The sun set on the New York horizon and the colors in the sky were simply magnificent, but Peter wasn't interested. Not even stopping to snap a photo. The Earth still turned, even though Peter felt it stood still as stone. It wasn't raining. Not a cloud in the evening sky, but Peter felt rained on. Peter just didn't feel good, but he still had to train.

It had been a little more than a month since Uncle Ben died, and while Peter and May's relationship was strong as ever, there was a different air permeating the house. An air that reeked of depression. Peter would come home from school, and May would either be there or not due to work. If she were there, they'd chat about their days. If she wasn't, Peter found it hard to concentrate on his homework and training.

2,000 lbs. Thirty seconds...

There was only one week left until the deadline. If Peter couldn't do it by 6:00 AM, January 4th, he wouldn't be able to participate in the entrance exam. And while Peter made good progress with his training, his heart just wasn't into it.

Which had consequences.

"Woah, kid! You okay?!?"

The concerned, yet annoyed tone caught Peter off guard as he held the 2,000 lbs. metal cube above his head. He had just buckled underneath the weight of the cube and was struggling to stand back up.

"Y-yeah!!" he struggled to blurt out. The weight started to take its toll on him, and he faltered. Feeling his knees about to turn into jelly, Peter shifted his weight to his right and let the enormous metal cube harmlessly slide off his shoulders onto the floor. Which made a deafening" thud" that bounced off the walls of the bunker." I'm… fine," he lied in between his deep gasps. His arms, legs, lungs, and back were on fire. He thought he'd get used to the pain from weightlifting by now. But no, it still hurt like hell. "What was…. my…. time?"

Tony sighed and glanced at his watch. "Twenty seconds."

Peter struck the cube. The vibrations of the impact shook the bunker. "Damn it!" Pain stung his fist, but he just didn't care. "I just can't get it above that, can I?!"

Tony walked to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "... Peter, take a break. You've done enough."

Peter swatted away Tony's hand and walked back towards the cube. "No, I want to do it again."

"Kid, that was your tenth time today. You need a break."

"I said, 'I want to do it again'!" he snapped at Tony.

Tony and Peter stared at each other. Even though the bunker was well ventilated and air-conditioned, the atmosphere in that space under twenty feet of soil and rock was as extreme as the sun's surface. One was a young boy who wanted to prove himself, and in that action, he got his uncle killed. The other was a man who just wanted to help a boy achieve his dream.

A silent war began and ended within seconds, and Tony's army won. "I'm sorry." Peter's head hung low and dark shadows cascaded over his eyes.

Tony threw Peter a towel, who caught it without looking. "Look, kid; I get it. It's been a hard month. I'm not gonna tell you I know what you're going through. Even though I do, it's different for you. But, you can't keep overworking yourself. You'll get yourself hurt, okay? Hit the showers and go home."

Peter only gave a dismissing grunt, walked away from the training platform, and into the changing room. Tony watched him as he went and sighed.

"He's still in mourning, Boss. Maybe you should ease up on the weight or something. He's obviously Avenger material." Friday's voice echoed around the bunker.

Tony shook his head and turned around to the computer section of the bunker. "When did I program you to have opinions?" he asked while pointing at the giant monitor.

Her robotic voice sighed. "Boss, I'm not in the monitor. I'm not even in the bunker."

Tony shrugged. "Well, I had to point at something."

"You're an idiot, and to answer your questionably misogynistic question: you programmed me to have an opinion when you missed having your butler nag in your ear on missions."

"Jarvis was quite the nanny…" he muttered. Tony walked towards the computer console and sat down on the computer chair. "Friday, I gave him a goal, and he needs to complete it. If he doesn't, tough."

A short, silent beat echoed through the room.

"But you still want him to succeed, right?"

Tony glanced at the enormous cube solemnly. "More than anything. He needs to."

"Boss… do you think he can do it?"

Tony heard the locker room door open and slam shut. Footsteps echoed through the bunker, and then the sound of an elevator.

"I think he could do anything if he put his mind to it. He just lacks…" Tony struggled to find the words.

"Self-esteem, self-forgiveness, self-worth, self-confidence--"

Tony cut her off before she diagnosed Peter with something. "Okay, he lacks a lot of things. But, he lacks creativity. He's smart, but the kid doesn't know that there's an 'outside' to his box.'" Tony stood up from his chair and pointed to the giant monitor again. "Do you know how many things I would come up with if I had an endless supply of rope?"

"Again, I'm not here, and I actually do. Technically speaking, I'm just an extension of your consciousness and personality manifested via a computer A.I."

"A lot of things, Friday. A lot of things-"Tony's arm fell back to his side as he felt slightly disturbed by Friday's comment. "Friday, you're not thinking about raising and dropping a city on the Earth, are you?"

A groan of annoyance came from the A.I. "Boss, you didn't program me to protect the world. You programmed me to assist you. Also, you're not a closet sociopath… I think."

Tony's face darkened. "Great, now I'm reminded of that..." Tony trailed off.

"... Sorry, Boss."

"You seriously lack emotional awareness, Friday."

"I'm an A.I."

"Whatever…" Tony sunk back into his chair and cupped his face. "God, I need a drink."

"Reminder: you are five years-"

Tony dismissively waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Doesn't mean the urge isn't there." Tony leaned towards the powerless monitor and stared at his reflection. A man with dark and sullen eyes, sickly pale skin, and thinning and gray hair stared back. He held his arm over his heart, feeling nothing. "I doubt I could even get drunk anymore."

He needs to succeed. He has to. He can do it...

"Reminder: Boss, you promised to spend the week with Morgan starting tomorrow. I'd suggest getting on a plane and heading to Los Angeles. You might be able to say goodnight by the time you get there."

"Right, that's right." Tony got up from his chair and grabbed his coat, his cap, and sunglasses. He didn't like people recognizing him in public. "Friday, make sure you text Peter and Riri that they can use the bunker for training. I won't be back until the day of."

"Got it, Boss."

Before Tony called the elevator, he stopped. "Oh, and Friday? Make sure Peter doesn't kill himself from lifting the damn thing."

There was a small chuckle from the robotic voice. "For sure, Boss."

It was Friday, December 27th, 2030. Winter Break was still in full swing, and the only thing that Peter could think about was the entrance exams in exactly one week's time. The exams weren't just physical tests, there was a written part to it too. Tony said it was a difficult exam, he made it himself. Peter would lock himself in his room and spend countless hours studying his butt off. Math equations, literature theories, applied sciences, and heroic history. Peter studied so much that he felt his head was going to explode.

As he was ripping through textbook after textbook, he heard his phone vibrate on his wooden computer desk.

I thought I put that on silent…

He lazily pulled his phone towards him with a web and caught it in his hand. Luckily, he only webbed the back of the phone instead of the screen. He looked and saw that Wanda texted him.

Wanda Maximoff :P (11:17 PM): hey u up?

Peter was stunned by the time. Was it that late already? He didn't even remember talking to May that day.

Me (11:18 PM): Yeah. I've been studying all day, what's up?

Peter went back to his book… for about ten seconds until he got another message.

Wanda Maximoff :P (11:18 PM): tbh same i was just wondering if you wanted to talk for a bit? we've hardly seen each other lol

She was right. Peter hadn't been hanging out with Wanda or Pietro lately. Since Ben died, all Peter did was wake up, go to school, study, work out, and sleep,.

Peter looked back at his open textbook. A twinge of guilt tightened his chest. He missed them a lot, but he had to study.

Me (11:20 PM): I'm sorry Wanda, but I gotta keep studying.

Peter threw his phone behind him on his bed, as if it was suddenly as hot as the surface of the sun.

God, I'm a horrible person.

He fought his own guilt as he tried to go back and read his textbook. As he read, the words just started to look the same, letters were muddled and mashed with each other. He closed the book and slumped on his desk. He had a headache. He felt like he was going to cry. He was tired. But he couldn't stop. He had to keep going.

Even then, this will all be for nothing if I don't make Mr. Stark's goal…

There were so many different factors to consider for the entrance exam. He had to get stronger to lift the cube, lift the cube to even get into the exam, study to pass the written, and even then he didn't even know what the physical portion had in store. There were so many variables that it overwhelmed him. His mind kept racing through all of the possible scenarios, and it just couldn't stop.

A knock on the window to his left jolted him into sitting up. His tired gaze went to the window, and instead of a horrible monster haunting outside his window that he initially expected, it was just Wanda. Her body steadily floating in mid-air as red energy swirls around her.

Woah!

Peter bolted towards the window, grabbing his hero notebook as he did. "You can fly now?" he asked with the notebook open to her page and pen in hand.

She let out an exasperated whine. Her face looked strained. "No. Floating. Really stressful. Please let me in. Before I fall."

After Peter's life flashed before his eyes at the thought of Wanda falling from such a height, he hurriedly lifted the screen and carefully pulled her in. Although, Wanda did hit her head on the frame of the window a few times. Eventually, she was in the room and plopped herself down on Peter's desk chair.

"So, studying, huh?" Sarcasm was dripping from her words. "'Cuz from what I saw…" She knocked on the desk behind her. "... You were taking a good nap."

Peter rolled his eyes at her quip. "I was until you rudely interrupted me."

Wanda winked and stuck out her tongue. "Uh huh, sure, bud."

The two fell silent for a bit, not knowing what to say to each other. It'd been a while since they've seen each other face-to-face. Peter played with his thumbs, desperately grasping at anything to say to her.

"So, uh, how's your training going?" he innocently asked.

Wanda crumbled into a giggling fit and held her hand up to her mouth. Peter couldn't help but blush in embarrassment.

"What?" he asked with genuine confusion.

"Jesus, Pete. A pretty girl is alone with you in your room at," she checked the time on her phone, "Almost the middle of the night, and all you have to ask is how my training is going?"

"It's a legit question!" Peter exclaimed. "And I'm not gonna humor your ego by being nervous that we're alone in my room. We've been in here alone plenty of times." Peter smiled with pride.

Wanda pouted. "So… you don't think I'm pretty?"

Peter felt his heart jump up to his throat.

"U-uh, n-no! I-I do! I mean speaking as a guy and your friend you're very pretty, beautiful even and-" He was losing this battle hard.

Wanda laughed again, which cut Peter's ramblings short. "Ha, got you." She booped his nose. "You humored my ego. You called me beautiful."

Peter squinted his eyes at her. "Why do you feel the need to tease me?"

Wanda reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Because, teasing you is so easy."

Peter brushed off her hand. "Evil woman," he said with faux resentment.

She spun around with the desk chair. "Nah, I'm actually training to be a hero. Which is going well, thank you for asking." She stopped after spinning three times, then adjusted herself to face Peter head-on. "I mean, Pietro and I are training together just fine, but we really want you to join us."

Peter averted his gaze. "I'm sorry… I can't train with you guys. The training program that Mr. Stark gave me is specifically catered to me. My inexperience, my fitness, my previous Quirklessness, everything."

Peter could feel Wanda's eyes on him. He really didn't want to have this conversation. He shuddered to think about what she was going to say. He didn't want to turn his head back.

"Peter… you're not really good at lying."

And there it was.

She took his hand. "What's going on? I think I know what's going on, but I want to hear you say it."

Peter didn't dare look at her. "Nothing's wrong."

"Peter. Stop lying to me."

He could win this fight if he just doesn't look at her.

"I-I'm not lying, Wanda," he lied once again. His hands shook in hers.

Wanda sighed. "Give me a second." Peter felt Wanda's hand pull away from his, a small part of him wished she kept it there. Her hand felt nice. He heard rustling coming from his periphery, and Wanda muttering to herself, saying phrases like, "Why do I tie this thing so tight?" and "Ow!"

T-tight?

Peter felt a blush rush to his cheeks.

About thirty seconds worth of vague mutterings and rustling came from Peter's left until Wanda spoke again.

"Okay, can you turn your head towards me? You can keep your eyes closed," Wanda assured.

Now, Peter's mind officially went from zero-to-one thousand once Wanda finished that sentence.

What the hell is she doing? What was she untying? What? What?!

So many theories and possible answers raced through Peter's mind at a lightning-fast speed. Many of those theories and answers were infected by his hormones. Peter immediately and desperately kicked those mental images out of his mind.

Wanda's just a friend. Nothing's happening. Stop making things weird. Stop. Stop. Stop. Wanda's just your best friend. Your incredibly gorgeous best friend. Who is currently in your room at midnight- Damn it, I humored her again!

Peter's whole body stiffened as he could practically feel her own gravitational pull affect his.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Stop. Stop.

His heart skipped a beat. He felt her fingers graze his cheek.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Peter couldn't take it anymore, and his eyes shot open. "W-Wanda, what are you-?!" He cut himself off when he saw that Wanda was standing in front of him and tying something around his head, and she was really close. He could see every little detail on her round face, and her eyes were as bright red as ever. His face, however, was also red. Hers too, but that's normal for Wanda. She always had a light permanent blush on her cheeks. She was always mocked for this, even though it was nothing big. Flash was the king of finding the smallest details to torment you with.

So close!

Peter remembered when her eyes used to be brown like his. But that was before her Quirk awakened. He recalled being ecstatic at the fact that he now had two best friends with awesome Quirks.

Also, red eyes very much became one of Wanda's most striking features, and they happened to make Peter melt whenever they looked directly into Peter's. Something about her was off, though. Something was missing.

She smiled at him. "'Sup?"

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

"Just hold still, okay?" Wanda looked at her hand and made a grossed-out face. "Jeez, you're sweaty."

Because of you!

Peter kept fidgeting, he really couldn't keep still. She lightly hit Peter's head. "Stop squirming! It's really hard to tie this around all this messy hair…"

"What are you even doing?"

"You'll see, geez!" Wanda scolded. Peter felt a tightness around his head. "And done!" she exclaimed while flexing her arms out, as if to say, "There you go!"

Peter felt worn-out cloth on his fingertips as he touched what Wanda tied around his head. It felt so familiar, but he couldn't remember why.

"You just look like you need some help."

Peter finally figured out what Wanda was doing and kicked himself mentally for being so stupid. What was off about Wanda was that she didn't have her red bandanna tied around her head in a pretty bow. The same bandanna that he gave her when they first met.

Peter's eyes immediately started to well up with tears as they usually did, and through small hics and sobs, he playfully insulted her. "You're horribly cheesy, you know that?"

Wanda shot him a genuine and caring smile. With his chest heavy, filled with regret and guilt, he suddenly lunged at Wanda and pulled her into a tight hug. He couldn't even breathe through his nose, it was all clogged up due to his constant crying.

The heavy 2,000 lbs. weight on his chest had been lifted. Luckily, Wanda was there to help him share the load.

"I just feel so… scared."

Wanda tilted her head with curiosity. "Scared about what?" she asked.

Peter idly played with his phone as he searched the words to speak with. "I'm scared of getting someone else in danger. You. Pietro. Aunt May. Anyone. And… I'm scared that someone's gonna find out what really happened to Uncle Ben."

Wanda put her hand on Peter's shoulder. "Peter, Pietro and I can handle ourselves. We'll be fine! And besides! There have been no crimes of villains targeting heroes' family members." Then, she tilted her head to the side with an inquisitive look. "And, I thought Iron Man's friend was able to cover it up."

"Director Fury did the best he could to change the narrative around Ben's death. He was still found at a warehouse used as a fake checkpoint, you know? People talk. May's been lying to keep the cover story real. But someone's gonna find out. Someone who wants to hurt me, or worse: hurt the people I love to get to me."

"Pete…"

Peter brushed off Wanda's hand. "I mean, what if Tombstone remembers? What if those gangsters remember? They saw me with my mask off, Wanda. They know what I look like." Peter buried his face in his hands. The tears yet again flooded his eyes. "If May died because of something I did? I… I don't know what I'd do."

"... It still hits hard, doesn't it?" Her words cut through Peter's world like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Peter lifted his head up from his hands. "What?"

"Ben's death. It's still haunting you."

Peter felt absolutely bewildered. "I mean, it's only been a month. It's really hard to… move on from that. Life doesn't exactly stay the same."

"Pete, that's not what I meant. You still feel guilty." Wanda leaned in closer to him. "Have you seen a therapist yet?"

Peter shamefully looked off to the side. She figured it out.

How does she always read me like an open book?

"We can't afford one. We, uh, lost Ben's medical insurance." Peter exhaled deeply. "Who'd want to cover a dead man's family, right?"

Wanda spun around and stood up quickly as she let out a swear underneath her breath. Peter glanced down to the carpeted floor, feeling bad as Wanda cursed every swear in English and Romanian. He flinched at every word uttered.

After Wanda finished her filthy speech, she suddenly calmed herself down. Like a performer getting ready to go on stage in front of a full house, she held her right hand in front of her face and slowly closed it. This is what she usually did when she had to calm herself down. Peter witnessed it many times before due to Pietro's various antics and jokes or Flash's bullying. She then clasped her hands together, fingertips touching fingertips, staying silent and still.

"Uh, Wanda?" Peter asked, confused.

"Shush," she quickly responded. "Thinking." More time passed. For Peter, it felt like an hour, but in reality, only three minutes had passed. Peter was on his phone, looking at social media when Wanda finally snapped out of her deep thought. She struck a pose and pointed at the sky as if she was the model for a classic sci-fi movie poster.

"I got it!" she exclaimed at the top of her lungs.

Not expecting a sudden loud noise to expel from Wanda's mouth, Peter jumped and shot off a web accidentally. The web traveled across the room at blistering speeds and splattered on the Iron Man wall-poster directly behind Wanda.

"Wanda! You can't just-!"

Peter's head was suddenly rocked by Spider-Sense, and all of the hairs on the back of his head stood up in attention. Something was coming.

Oh no!

The closed-door that led out to the hallway suddenly swung wide open, and in the doorway stood a disheveled and very tired looking Aunt May.

"Peter?! Are you okay?! I heard a scr-!" She suddenly stopped herself mid-sentence. Seeing the web currently still stuck on Iron Man's face and Wanda's presence, the girl next door. She let out a small, "Oh" under her breath and slowly closed the door.

Peter felt lightheaded as he practically melted of embarrassment. His cheeks were lit aflame, and his heart dared to burst out of his chest. He didn't know what was worse, Aunt May walking in on the compromising scene, or Aunt May assuming the worst and not doing the "parent" thing and yelling at both of them, but just leaving them alone. Alone to do things.

A silent air permeated the room. The two teens stood in utter disbelief.

"A-anyway…" Wanda finally spoke and broke the reign of the awkward silence. "So, I just remembered that A.A. offers counseling services! They have the budget to do that kind of stuff."

"So you're saying that I should go to A.A. to… get psychological help?"

"Well, that isn't the only thing. Pete, you really want to be a hero. But you still feel so much pain because of Ben. And you should." She met his eye level and took his hand in her's. "But, you can't keep dealing with it yourself. It's seeping into your life. Distracting you. Making you think less of yourself. I know it's happening to you. I know how it feels…" Peter felt her grip become tighter. As if she was clinging on to something abstract. "You need to have someone to talk to about this stuff, okay? Not only that, someone who knows what they're doing. Like a professional!"

Peter giggled. "That's a funny way of saying you don't know what you're doing."

"Th-that's not the point here, mister!" Her face burned with embarrassment. "The point here is, for you to get help, you need to get into A.A. It's not just about us anymore. It's about you."

Peter shifted into his seat and glanced at the floor with sadness. "If I can even get to the Entrance Exam. I can't lift the cube for that long."

Wanda bit her lip. When Peter raised his head to take a gander at her face, he could tell she was in deep thought. "Well, hmm. What is your current time?" she asked.

"Twenty seconds. Every time."

"So you have to find out how to gain ten seconds, right? Okay. Let's think about this critically, okay?"

"I've been doing that, Wanda. I can't figure it out. It's impossible."

"Wall-Crawler, I think you and I should both prove that anything is possible." Peter was surprised by her when she called him by that name. She had been sprinkling in that word in past conversations for the past month, but it still sounded weird to Peter. "I got a Quirk by just waking up one day, and you got a Quirk by getting bit by a radioactive spider. Two Quirkless kids suddenly getting Quirks by complete happenstance. Pretty cool ones! You thought getting a Quirk was impossible, and now you have one!"

Peter thought about her point for a while. "I mean, you have a point, but..." Peter's gaze took a small tour around his room. Hero memorabilia was everywhere. He could list them all by heart if he wanted to. His wandering gaze glided from left to right, trying not to make eye contact with Wanda, and fell onto the Iron Man poster he had accidentally shot a web at earlier. He remembered when he got it, his eighth birthday. Drawn on the poster was the first documented picture of Iron Man. The lighting was dark, and fire burned the village's houses to the ground, and on top of a pile of rubble stood Iron Man in his Mark 4 Armor. Eight civilians held on to his back for dear life, and he held two more in his arms. Wanda then joined Peter.

"One-hundred people, right?" she asked.

Peter nodded his head. "In ten minutes…" He looked to his friend, now sitting next to him on his bed. He had to look away before his face would turn beet red.

"Do you think we'll be like that?"

"I know you will." Peter wasted no time in answering her question. "I can see the Daily Bugle headline now," he outstretched his hands as if he was the director for a movie, "'Crimson Sorceress Defeats Returning Villain: Thanos!'"

Wanda pushed Peter, the force tilting Peter to his side by a few inches, and laughed. "Seriously? Thanos? You think too highly of me, Mr. Parker." She jumped off the bed, made a faux camera with both index fingers and thumbs, and positioned so Peter was in the picture. "Mr. Spider-Man, sir! You just saved a little girl and an elderly woman from a burning building! How do you feel tonight?!"

Peter groaned and swatted away Wanda's imaginary camera. "Spider-Man? Really?"

Wanda put her hands on her hips. "It's accurate! Better than 'Street Sentry!' You're a man with spider powers! Not some robot who stalks the streets at night!"

Peter's stomach couldn't help but be infested with butterflies at Wanda, calling him a man. "I-It's cool!" he stammered.

Wanda winked and stuck her tongue out. "Sure, Peter. Whatever you say."

"Jerk! No sarcasm!" Peter flexed his arm and shot a web. The web flew through the air until it splattered on thin air. Gravity took its course, and the strand of web slowly fell to the ground. Wanda stood with her arms outstretched and legs spread as a wall of red energy stood between her and Peter.

"Oh yeah! I can create energy walls now."

Peter jumped up from his bed and grabbed Wanda's hands. He then jumped up and down like a young child, excited to get candy.

"That's so cool!"

Time passed as Wanda and Peter continued their conversations. Thankfullym May never showed up again. However, that didn't stop Wanda from having small bouts of anxiety. That was so embarrassing; she couldn't believe she didn't faint on the spot. However, they both started to tire. Unfortunately, Peter started to yawn, which then led to Wanda yawning, and then Peter yawned again. An invisible ping pong match played as they both couldn't stop making each other yawn. Eventually, Wanda decided to call it a night. She and Peter said their goodbyes, and she opened the window where she would float to her house.

Before she stepped out, Peter's voice grabbed her attention. "Wanda? Who do you fight for?"

Wanda smiled at him and gave a simple answer. "My family."

Peter smiled back and chuckled. "So do I." He untied the red bandanna around his head and held it to Wanda. "Don't forget this."

Wanda took the headwear from Peter's hand and tied it around her head. Wanda bid Peter one last goodbye, pleaded with him to actually answer her texts, and stepped outside the window. The red of her irises bled out to the corners of her eyes as Hex activated. Her entire body felt weak as she shortened the distance between herself and her bedroom's window. After hoping to God that she wouldn't fall, she grabbed on to the window sill and pulled herself into her room with all of her might. She hit the floor face-first and almost lost consciousness. Not from her face having a wonderful conversation with the floor, but from how much energy she used by floating.

I just wanna stay on the floor. Why should anybody care if I sleep on the floor? It's my room!

However, since sleeping on the floor could be detrimental to her health, she reluctantly pushed herself up. She spun around and took a quick glance outside the window to see if Peter's light was out. After confirming that the boy was not at his window, she shut her window and closed the blinds with tremendous speed. She darted to her left and leaped onto her bed, where she buried her face into her pillow and screamed.

"He was so close!"

She started striking her bed in frustration. Her heart had been daring to burst out of her chest the entire time.

"That was perfect confession time, Wanda! Why did I say 'My Family'?! What a cliche thing to say! It's you! It's always been you! Ahhhhhh!"

She hoped her muffled screams wouldn't catch Mamă and Tata's attention, but she continued anyway.

"And then May had to burst in and just ruin it?! Was she ruining anything?! Was there something to ruin?!"

Her phone started to vibrate, but she ignored it as she took in a deep breath… and then continued to scream in her pillow once again.

"He was right there! His face was so close! I held his hand! HE HELD MY HAND!"

Her phone kept vibrating, but she didn't stop.

"Does he even like me like that?! I keep flirting with him, but is he flirting back?! Am I flirting in the first place?! What even is flirting anyway?! IS CALLING ME BEAUTIFUL IN A PLATONIC MANNER CONSIDERED FLIRTING?!"

Her phone finally got her attention as it seemed like it was about to vibrate itself apart. She snatched it up and opened her messages.

Me (2:23 AM): STOP TEXTING ME

Annoying Prick (2:23 AM): STOP SCREAMING YOUR WALL AND MY WALL ARE THE SAME DAMN WALL

Me (2:24 AM): he was so close pietro, i was speaking out of my ass the entire night, he was right there pietro he was right there exfjkdlfjofjk;

Annoying Prick (2:26 AM): jesus you got it bad

Me (2:27 AM): but pietro he was right there i could practically kiss him his eyes were closed pietro

Annoying Prick (2:30 AM): well did u

Me (2:31 AM): no but god jesus christ i almost did

Me (2:33 AM): i still don't know if he even likes me or not

Annoying Prick (2:37 AM): how blind are you he's over the moon for you

Me (2:38 AM): is he though?????? I mean!!!!!

Annoying Prick (2:40 AM): jesus you need to face your fears

Me (2:40 AM): tomorrow tho

Annoying Prick (2:41 AM): you always say tomorrow

Me (2:42 AM): and ill keep saying tomorrow until the day i die, im sleepy gn

Wanda plugged her charger into her phone and tossed it on to her bedside table. She buried herself into her bed, not even covering herself with blankets. She stole a glance at the framed picture of herself, Peter, and Pietro, who was cut off by the frame and smiled. Yeah, she was head over heels for this boy, but so what? She tugged at her bandanna and slid it off her head. She stared at it for a moment before placing it on the table as well. Her body relaxed as she lulled herself to sleep. Before the comfort of the dream world could take her, she had a fleeting thought that soared through her mind.

He's my hero.

Across the road from the Parker and Maximoff households and lying on her belly behind a row of bushes, a young girl observes as Wanda glides across the yard. With binoculars held to her eyes with her right hand and a sub sandwich in her left, she wonders about what she just witnessed.

"Either I'm crazy, or that's not Mary Jane… Scarlet Witch? That's different."

She takes a large bite out of her sandwich, the combination of veggies, meat, bread, and cheese warm collide with the taste buds on her tongue.

"At least the food in this universe is still relatively the same."

Her ears perk up as she senses movement to her left. A masculine voice shouts out, threatening any intruders on the property.

"Aaaaand, that's my cue to leave."

As she sneaks off into the dark blanket of the night sky, she glances over her shoulder to look at the Parker home one last time. A toothy grin flashes on her face.

"I get the feeling I'll meet you very soon, Spider-Man."

To be continued...