Frankie stared out at the bleak morning sky, her gut twisting up in tight knots.

She hadn't slept much that night. It was almost impossible with her father finally showing up. She'd stayed quiet- she always did when her dad showed up- but Charlie had been pissed. She could never get why, considering he was their dad's favorite. And so what if he was gone most of the time? It wasn't much different when he was around.

Instead of participating in whatever tense, testosterone fueled half-argument those two would get themselves into, Frankie had retreated into her room and stayed there with Cordelia. Curling in on herself with an empty stomach and the constant thrum in her skull didn't provide much room for rest, so she'd packed a bag of possible tools to help herself and Peter figure out what what happening to them. She'd managed a few fitful hours of sleep, dozing in and out but never really going under. It all made her brain feel fuzzy.

Now, though, her brain felt… alive. Her whole body felt like someone had plugged her in and charged her up. Every nerve was buzzing, every sense cranked up to twelve. It didn't negate the ache in her gut, but what did it matter?

Pressing her hand against her stomach, she could feel the tightness knotting up the lining. It felt emptier than usual, more painful. She hadn't eaten since… well, two days ago. Kind of. She definitely remembered eating some crackers at some point yesterday morning. That legally counted as a meal. Frankie dug her fingers in deeper to her stomach, finding it much firmer than it had been before, less bony. Her brows pulled together, looking down and tugging her shirt up. Instead of a distinct ribcage, a new wall of lean muscle peeked out from her old Cabaret t-shirt.

"What the fuck?" she whispered to herself, remembering Peter mentioning growing a set of abs in the span of a few hours. Her fingers traced the new muscle, the action a little painful as it all felt sore.

Sighing, Frankie tugged her shirt back down, deciding to deal with that particular oddity later. Pushing her hair back, she stepped out of her room into the silent kitchen. Everyone else was asleep and left the teen with no one to tell her what to eat. She tugged the fridge open, looking at the newly stocked food. Spinach, pasta sauce, milk. Plenty of stuff athletes shoved down their throats to bulk up. It was all gross. And anyway, she didn't need anything. She felt too good to weigh herself down with any of the disgusting contents of the fridge.

Without thinking, she reached towards a bag of grapes sitting in the back corner of the fridge before her hand froze. Her fingers felt limp as she thought about actually putting anything in her body. It's not like she really wanted it there. Without making a sound, she popped off one grape and shoved it in her mouth so quick she wouldn't be able to taste it as it went down. If she couldn't taste it, it wouldn't be there.

Spinning back around as quietly as possible, Frankie made her way back into her room. The sound of her father snoring through the wall and her brother tapping on his phone screen were uncomfortably loud in her ears as she shuffled around in her own room and threw on her backpack and sticking a cheap pair of earplugs in. She wanted out of this apartment. The quicker the better.

As she lifted her duct taped window- which let out a particularly painful squeak- her eyes caught sight of the papers Mr. Harrington had told her to pass on to Peter. With a shrug, she snatched up the stack of crumpled up decathlon questions and made her way down the fire escape. It squealed and groaned beneath her feet, making Frankie wonder if her ears would bleed again or if she would ever get used to the constant stream of noise. Soon enough, she was outside Peter's window, looking in on him curled up in some ratty Star Wars pajamas. Pressing her lips together, she started tapping her fingers on the glass erratically to wake him up.

"Hey, Parker," she squeaked, voice high and sickly sweet, "Wakey wakey."

She felt a smirk grow over her face as Peter jolted awake, head whipping around only to see her crouched outside his window. "What are you doing?"

"Issuing a wakeup call," she shrugged, watching him lean forward to see her better, "Get your ass out of bed."

"It's five thirty in the morning," he groaned, rubbing his eyes and somehow glaring at her simultaneously.

"And we've got psycho mutant powers," she responded excitedly, tapping her fingers on the glass again, "I think we can sleep later, don't you?"

With a groan, Peter ran his hands over his face and nodded his head sleepily. "Fine. Yes, I'm up."

"There's a good boy," Frankie simpered, leaning back on her heels, "Now put on human clothes."

"Shut up," he grumbled, sliding out of bed and leaving it a complete mess, "Is this going to be a daily thing?"

That was actually a good question. She hadn't planned that far, thinking only about seeing how tough a surface she could break with her knuckles. Maybe see how long Peter could stick to something. "Let's just start with today. Figure out what the fuck we're gonna do long term later."

Peter nodded, seemingly okay with that plan. She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have any clue what long term meant, either.

"Can you at least turn your back while I change?" he asked grumpily, eyeing her warily.

"Whatever you say, princess," she waved him off, sliding the window open and slipping through while keeping her eyes off the boy who was trying to change behind his closet door, "Oh, by the way, I have your decathlon notes."

"What?" he piped, his voice a little deeper than it had been before the whole super spider bite thing.

"From the practice you missed," she explained, pulling the papers out of her backpack, "Harrington wanted me to pass them along. I was going to before… yeah, before all this shit."

He seemed to understand if his lack of a comeback was any indication. "Well, uh- just put them on the desk, please."

Frankie felt herself chuckle a bit as she dropped the stack of papers down on Peter's messy desk. "Please, so very polite."

"Someone has to be."

"Whatever," she scoffed, turning around to see Peter donning an old AP Bio shirt and some ratty jeans, "You ready?"

"Do you know where we're going?" he asked tersely, crossing his arms and looking Frankie in the eyes.

A slow smile crept over the pink haired girl's face, something she knew was pretty Grinch-like. She crossed her own arms, mimicking the curly haired boy in front of her as she smirked up at him.

"I have an idea."

"This is a terrible idea."

Frankie scoffed as the two of them looked up at the old abandoned building, the sound of traffic and wind muffled but deafening against her plugged up eardrums. The place was far out of sight, blocked off by shut down bodegas and apartments that were infected with asbestos. No one ventured out here, making it the perfect place to test out some secret super powers. Particularly, how high up Peter can climb.

"Maybe," she shrugged, tossing him a look over her shoulder, "Do you have anything better?"

"No…" he grumbled, lips pouting nervously as he looked at how high up the building went, "Why can't you start?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because I'm not the one who sticks to things."

Sighing, his pout turned into a glare. "This is so not fair."

"Life isn't fair, sweetheart," the blonde simpered, pointing a finger at the grimy building in front of them, "Now climb."

Peter kept glancing nervously at the building, no doubt judging how far a fall it would be if he didn't manage to stick as well as he hoped. "I- I don't know how."

Frankie was not about to let Peter Parker and his stupid nervous energy get in the way of her figuring all shit shit out. She was too wired, too excited to let any of this deter her. So she raked her eyes over the boy beside her and tried to figure out what would force him up.

"Well," she said, pointing towards his whole body, "Do clothes get in the way?"

"Uh-" he drawled uncomfortably, eyes landing on her, "What?"

"I mean shoes and stuff," she clarified, pointing more clearly towards his feet, "Is it easier with just skin?"

Peter's eyes went down, brows pulling together curiously. "Oh, I- I haven't really thought about it."

"Well, let's err on the side of caution then," Frankie lilted jovially, crossing her arms over her chest, "Shoes off."

"Don't tell me what to-"

"Shoes off, Parker. For science."

"Well, if it's for science," the brown haired boy rolled his eyes, already bending down to untie his worn out sneakers. As he did, he looked back up at the pink haired girl above him. "What about you?"

Frankie tilted her head curiously. "What about me?"

"What are you testing out?" he asked, tossing his sneakers aside.

Instead of answering, the girl quickly ripped her backpack off of her shoulders and unzipped it. She plunged her hand in and started digging through the notebooks and tools she'd packed before letting out an excited little squeak and removing a roll of boxing wraps. She proudly lofted the old black fabric and held it up in front of Peter's eyes.

"I'm gonna see just how much I can bust up before I break my hands," she smirked, feeling tufts of pink hair fall over her eyes.

Peter, unfortunately, did not look as excited as she did. His mouth fell open, eyes squinting in concern as he shifted on his feet. "Okay, that's definitely a bad idea."

"Don't worry, I brought you some wraps too," the girl quickly waved him off, dropping her pack and beginning to wrap up her knuckles, "Figured we might test out how much you can break."

"You look way too excited about this," the boy pointed out worriedly.

She knew, somewhere in the back of her head, that he was at least a little correct. This was an upswing. A bright spot, like her brain was buzzing with chance and sunlight. She could break a wall with her bare hands. She was a goddamn freak of nature. But damn, did it feel good. And fuck Peter Parker for making her feel bad about it.

Instead of answering, she shot him a wide smile. "Shut up and climb, spider boy."

Peter looked at her again, wary and off putting before he slowly nodded his head. He glanced back at the building- which Frankie thought wasn't even that tall at four stories- before making his way over. The candy haired girl followed him. Running up the side of the walls was a series of fire escapes, but Frankie didn't necessarily want to climb them. Without thinking, she shot out her hand and grabbed onto Peter's shirt.

"Wait!" she said excitedly, grabbing the boy's attention, "Wait- can we see if I can stick?"

"Uh-" Peter stammered, looking a little relieved that he wasn't going to be the first one to test something out, "Yeah, sure. How do you wanna do that?"

Her hazel eyes lifted up to the first fire escape, not too high and definitely within reach. She pointed up at it, keeping her eyes on the prize. "Give me a boost, I'll see what happens."

"Maybe-"

"Do it!"

"Fine!" Peter bit back, his eyes widening in exasperation and hands tightening at his side before he gestured haughtily towards his shoulders, "Get on, then."

Frankie didn't need to be told twice. She quickly clamored onto Peter's shoulders- she noted that yes, he'd developed some serious muscle and would never stop giving him shit about it- and threw her hands up to grip onto the metal railing above her. She could feel it adjust to the shape of her hands, the metal feeling softer than usual. She mentally attributed it to her new strength.

"Okay, dude," she said excitedly, "Please get out from between my legs now."

With a few muttered curses, Peter complied. Frankie could feel the absence, keeping her grip tight as her legs swung under her. Bringing her eyes up, the blonde took a few deep breaths to try and steel herself for what she was about to try.

"Okay," she whispered to herself, loosening her grip, "Three… two… one-"

And she fell right to the ground.

With a cry and a thud, she hit the concrete below. A sharp pain radiated through her hip where she landed and the sound of Peter barely muffling a snort making her quickly stand up in spite of the pain.

"No super stick, then?" he questioned haughtily, his soft face turned up in a smirk that was reserved only for her.

"You're kind of a dick, Parker," Frankie pointed out, still feeling like she was on a high, "Did you know that?"

"Only when necessary," he responded with his arms crossed, "And only with you."

"You suck," she grunted, pressing her hand to her bruised hip and pointing towards the side of the building, "You gonna climb or what?"

Peter didn't need any more prompting than that. Frankie watched as he carefully pressed his hands to the wall, pulling himself up just a foot off the ground before he stuck his bare toes to the brick as well. The girl felt her jaw drop open as he ascended, one careful inch at a time. She couldn't stop the laugh of disbelief that fell out of her mouth as he rose ten- fifteen feet up.

"Frankie!" he yelled out, a smile clearly ripping through his face and mop of curls falling over his wide eyes, "Look! I'm- I'm doing it!"

"Fuck yeah you are!" she yelled right back, cupping her mouth with her hand to make sure he heard her.

The two teens whooped in celebration, unsure of what they had discovered but deeply glad that they had at all. It only took Peter a minute to descend, a little more reckless on the way down. He skipped back over to Frankie, his chest heaving and smile wide.

"Dude-" he gasped, pointing up to where he'd climbed, "That's awesome!"

"Don't get too cocky, Parker," she pointed out, barely containing the excited buzz in her voice as she pulled out a notebook from her backpack, "We've still gotta collect the data. What was that? Fifteen feet?"

"Uh, yeah," Peter nodded, watching as Frankie scribbled some notes carefully, "What about you? How's the… y'know."

The candy haired girl looked up to see the boy pointing towards his ear. Quickly getting it, Frankie shrugged and pointed towards her own. "Still hurts like shit. Earplugs don't help. Already put that in the notes."

His lips pressed together awkwardly. "Oh, well… sorry?"

"Whatever," she waved him off, snapping her notebook shut, "Anything else you wanna test out?"

The boy looked down at her, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I forgot how weirdly excited you got about stuff."

"Can the sentimentality," Frankie snapped at him, "Keep with the program."

Peter seemed to think about it pretty hard, his arms folded over his chest and eyes going up towards the sky like they always did when he needed to consider something. Frankie even noticed his jaw tightening as he bit down on his tongue like he did when they were kids. She was about to point it out when the boy's eyes widened, an excited look passing over his face.

"What if we can fly?"

Frankie couldn't stop the snort of disbelief from falling from her lips. "Why the hell would a spider give us the ability to fly?"

"Why would a spider give us any abilities?" he pointed out smugly.

"Fair point," the blonde shrugged, dropping her notebook down on the concrete by her feet, "How exactly do you plan on testing this flight theory?"

That seemed to stump Peter, who looked over at the wall he'd just climbed like it should have the answers. "What if you… jumped really high?"

Frankie rolled her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be some sort of super genius."

"Well, I'm not exactly studied up on the science of discovering superpowers," Peter griped, sending her an annoyed look that only made the girl smirk.

"Okay, don't shit your pants," she relented, hands going up, "What if we… I don't know, just jump?"

Peter scoffed, hands going down to his hips. "That's literally what I suggested."

"Not off the ground, dipshit," she bit back, pointing up at the top of the building, "I meant from up there."

Realization dawned on Peter, his eyes going wide and jaw going slack. He looked down at Frankie like she was insane- which she might be. His head quickly started to shake, all traces of joking disappearing from his face.

"No."

"Come on-"

"I am not jumping off a building!" he insisted loudly, hands waving around nervously.

"You just climbed a building with your bare hands- and bare feet," Frankie pointed out excitedly, gesturing to his still bare feet, "Besides, what if it's like a fight or flight thing? It won't kick in unless we're about to die or something."

Peter stiffened, glaring at her and pointing towards the building. "If you're so into it, you jump off the building."

Frankie's mouth snapped shut, her head turning. She eyed the building. It was- what? Twenty feet tall? Not too bad. Survivable.

"Fine," she shrugged, stepping around Peter and making her way over.

Any anger was wiped from Peter's face, his eyes widening and immediately falling into step beside her. "Wait, that's not what I meant."

"How else am I supposed to take what you said?" she asked, undeterred.

"Do not jump off the building," he insisted, jumping in front of her with worried eyes, "I'm sorry if I-"

"I'm gonna jump off the building," she insisted, pushing him aside with an incredible amount of strength before she jumped up and grabbed hold of the ladder that connected the fire escapes.

Peter, however, kept trying to stop her. "You don't even think we can fly!"

"You convinced me," she called back to him, climbing up with renewed vigor as she ascended.

"I didn't mean to convince you," he bit back nervously, running over to the brick wall and beginning to climb the way he had before, "Please come down from there."

"There are such things as flying spiders in theory," Frankie pointed out, her hair whipping around her as the wind picked up and she came to a stop on the third story escape, "Just because you're too much of a wuss to try doesn't mean I am. And I'll even compromise. I'm only jumping from halfway up. Totally safe."

"I disagree," Peter tried, voice shaking as he tried to keep up with her.

"Too late," she smirked, stepping up onto the railing in her cheap sneakers, "I'm doing it."

"Don't-"

Peter didn't even have time to finish his warning before Frankie jumped straight off the fire escape.

It felt like flying. There was a moment where she wasn't rising or falling, but seemed to exist between the two. Nothing different, nothing strange. Just a moment before everything went to hell, a perfect moment.

Then- like all things- she had to watch it crash and burn.

A scream ripped through her throat as Frankie fell fast towards the ground. Nothing kept her afloat as she heard Peter yell out her name, barely audible over her own cries. She clawed at the air as if it would suddenly become solid and catch her. The wind rushing through her ears nearly deafened her before-

CRACK!

"FUCK!" Frankie cried out, all the wind suddenly gone from her lungs as she felt her side slam into the concrete and blinding white pain rush through her, "Oh fuck- that… that was awesome."

"Frankie!" she could hear Peter scream, the teen suddenly above her and pulling her up to desperately check for injury, "Frankie, holy- holy shit, are- what the f- are you okay?"

"Peachy," she groaned back, feeling her whole body throb and ears ring painfully. She tasted the barest traces of blood between her teeth.

"Are you- is anything broken?" he asked worriedly, running his hands clumsily over the shoulder that had made contact with the ground, "Does it feel broken? I'm not a doctor, I don't- I don't know how to check."

"I'm fine, dipshit," she grumbled, lazily pushing his hand away. She was about to give him shit for worrying so much about her, but the words died in her mouth when she looked down. Apparently, Peter didn't notice, because he kept staring at her and pressing his fingers to her side to make sure there were no broken bones.

"That was…" he gasped, eyes still raking over her body, "The dumbest thing I've ever seen you do."

"On the contrary, Parker," she half whispered, eyes trained on the ground, "I think we just made a discovery."

"What are you-"

Before he could finish, Frankie grabbed onto the back of his head, threading her hands through his hair and turning it towards where he was looking. Immediately, his mouth shut and he just stared at what Frankie had seen. "Oh, shit…"

Beneath where the girl had fallen, long and deep cracks erupted through the dirty and smelly concrete. An entire section the size of her shoulder was crumbled into thick chunks, practically pummeled under her tiny frame. It was physically impossible, but there was no denying what was in front of their eyes.

Frankie's body broke the concrete.

"I mean…" Peter whispered, unable to tear his eyes away, "I always knew you were hard headed."

"Fuck you, Parker."