A/N: Hello, and welcome! Thanks for reading this far; this story will be the second isntallment of the Homo Araneae series, directly following the events of How to Shed an Exoskeleton. If you haven't read that one yet, I suggest you check it out, as without it this won't make much sense lol.

Also, if anyone's interested, these are the songs I associate with the story:

1) Essentially anything by IC3PEAK, particularlt TRRST (Feat. ZillaKami) , Sad Bitch, and one that's entirely in cyrillic that I can't type here, but basically search "IC3PEAK kerosene and you've got the song.)

2) Teeth: 5SOS

3) I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You- The Black Kids

4) Anyone Else But You- The Mouldy Peaches

5) Play With Fire- Samtinnesz on Soundcloud

6) No Time to Die- Billie Eilish

7) Icarus- White Hinterland

Now, onto the story!

(It's not letting me do page breaks so pretend this is one, whoo ~)

"So what, she just let it go?" Katya asked, ducking to dodge one of Peter's punches. She could grab his elbow from here, press against it, and get him on the ground, easily, but she let it pass. Instead she danced around to the other side of him without hitting back, both of them still in stance.

He'd turned with her so that they were still facing each other. He'd been getting a lot better about covering his blind spots. "I don't know, she said 'under no circumstances are you to keep doing this' and then fifteen minutes later she reminded me to 'be careful.'" He shot forward to take another jab at her, but Katya casually kicked his hand out of the air like she was swatting a fly.

"And she's still letting you out on patrol?"

"And she's still letting me out on patrol- or more, she's not asking me where I've been when I get home late, at least."

Katya shrugged, scanning his current positioning whilst also considering their conversation. "Maybe she's realized that she can't really stop you." His weight was heavy on the left, if she she could just edge in a bit, she could-

With a swipe of her leg she caught his left foot and knocked it out from under him. He fell to the floor, grunting, but scrambled back up almost instantly.

"Good job," she praised. His recovery time was sharpening, too. "Just remember to keep yourself- especially your face- as protected as you can, even if you're on the ground. A real fight won't wait for you to get up before hitting you again, like I do."

"So, is she just like, okay with the fact that I"m Spiderman? I hope she's not waiting to ambush me with one of her talks-" Peter's stance faltered. "I bet she's waiting to ambush me."

"Keep on your toes, pauchok," Katya reminded him sternly, but didn't reach out to take advantage of his momentary lapse. "And maybe she is, but are they really that bad? Or maybe she's avoiding saying anything because she can't outright support your vigilantism."

Peter had since recovered his stance, and seemed to consider this for a moment. "Maybe."

Katya knew he was distracted, he'd been rambling since he'd gotten to the gym, but he had to be able to multitask. She quickly darted out to grab his wrist with her opposite, yanking him towards her - he let out a yelp- and twisting his elbow so it was flush to the small of his back, forcing him to his knees. She used her momentum to lay him out, chest to the floor, her knee between his shoulder blades to keep him there.

"Ow- Damn, Myshka, that hurt-" he grunted. She'd let go of his arm by now but with her leverage on her knee,was able to keep him pinned.

"We need to work on your concentration." she told him, shifting so her knee was off his spine and she was instead just straddling his back. Without the leverage, however, he could easily lift her, which he must have registered as well because he began to do a push up, which she stopped instantly with a heel poised threateningly against his elbow. Not that she would, but if she were to kick through from that position she could easily break it, even if her feet were bare. "Ah-ah. What do we say?" She teased in a sing-song voice.

Peter sighed and dropped back onto his stomach before using said arm to tap out. Katya laughed mischievously and rolled off his back, rocking herself upwards into a standing position. Once Peter'd rolled over,she offered a hand to help him up, which he took, but not before sticking his tongue out at her. She stuck hers out back, before beginning to unroll the gauze from her knuckles. "I think it'll blow over with May, pauchok, you'll see."

Peter sighed, shoving his sweaty hair out of his eyes. "I hope so."

It'd been a couple of weeks since Peter'd rejected Tony's invitation into the Avengers, but he'd been allowed to keep the suit, which apparently May had walked in on Peter changing into, and she'd flipped. Katya knew both firsthand- Katya had watched May watch the news exactly one time,while they'd all been out to dinner,and her reaction to it was less than relaxed- and second hand from Peter's stories that Aunt May was a champion worrier, especially since Peter's uncle had apparently passed not too long ago-sometime within the last few years- but he'd never elaborated,so she hadn't pushed. But everything else she read off of the woman was very laid-back and flexible-it wouldn't surprise Katya in the least if she was struggling with how to react.

"So we're done for today," Katya said, more to break the silence that she knew Peter was filling with overthinking. "You going back for patrol?"

Peter shrugged, glancing outside at the darkness that already consumed the streets. It was transitioning from fall to winter, and the days were shortening with it. "I could- do you want to come?"

Katya finished unwrapping her feet as well. "Do you want me to come?"

"That's not what I asked."

Katya huffed a bit as she went to deposit the used bandages in the trash can between the boxing ring and combat mat. Ever since he'd turned Tony down, Peter seemed to be extra cautious whenever asking for her help. It was no secret that Tony had made her a suit , too, probably right after she moved in, but she'd been so steadfastly against involving herself with anything surrounding the Avengers that the day he'd brought them both to the compound, the day that he'd asked Peter to join, he hadn't even bothered to involve Katya in the conversation. And she knew Tony'd said something to Peter about it, too, she just wasn't sure what.

But with Peter it was different. It was helping the little guy, it wasn't for glory. She thought her position- and his understanding of it- had already been firmly established., After everything they'd been through - they were partners.

"Well, I'd like to, if you'll have me." Her voice was teasing,but her thoughts were strained. "And we can knock out the history homework at your place after?"

Peter grinned. "Sounds good."

Katya smiled back. "Let me just grab a jacket."