A few days after the dinner with Aunt May, I was sitting in an outdoor cafe waiting eagerly for John. He had just returned back from his space flight the day before and it was my job to write a glowing article about J. Jonah Jameson's astronaut son.

Since I was a few minutes early, I got out my phone and texted Peter.

I miss you

I had barely put my phone back in my pocket before it vibrated. I smiled broadly and fished it back out. It was from Peter.

I miss you too my gorgeous girl. Want to see a movie tonite?

I quickly typed an enthusiastic "yes!" Before I could hit send however, a hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped and spun out of my chair, preparing to land a punch on the person who grabbed me only to see John's stupid face grinning down at me. I puffed out a frustrated sigh.

"Thanks for scaring the shit out of me, asshole," I grumbled but smiled anyway. He chuckled and patted my head.

"Nice to see you too, crazy," he said. I rolled my eyes but pulled him into a hug.

"I'm glad you're home safe," I said when we both sat down. I handed him his coffee I had ordered for him. John accepted it with his thanks.

"Yeah, it was pretty wild up there this time," he said. "Off the record, we found some really incredible new stuff." I raised an eyebrow, pulling out my recorder and setting it down in the middle of us.

"And on the record?" I said nonchalantly. He laughed.

"On the record," he began professionally. "It was a routine expedition to collect data on nearby asteroids. I had a very experienced crew with me whom without their help the whole thing might have been a disaster on multiple occasions." I groaned.

"Yes that's all great John," I said, frustrated at his lack of information. "But can't you tell me more? What happened up there?" He paused.

"I wish I could tell you, Emily," he said earnestly. "But this is confidential shit. I could literally get arrested." I scoffed playfully.

"I mean, I guess that's fair," I conceded. "But it's me. Come on!" He shook his head.

"Sorry, crazy," John said, taking a sip of his coffee. "I've been imprisoned more than enough in my life already."

We spent the next hour going over the basics of his mission. He was up there for a total of eight days, circling around the planet and cataloguing asteroids. He hinted that there was something huge that happened while he was in space. I tried to pry it out of him using my investigative skills but I was unsuccessful. Eventually, I gave up and put the recorder away in my purse which was also in between us.

"Ahh, done interrogating me now?" John grinned.

"I know a lost cause when I see one," I said. He steepled his fingers together. "What?"

"So," he started innocently. "How's the spider infestation in your life going?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Nice." He shrugged.

"Sorry, should I have been more direct?" John said. "Hey Emily, how's Peter aka Spi-" I clamped a hand to his mouth before he had a chance to finish revealing my boyfriend's secret identity.

"The fuck, Jameson?!" I hissed. He laughed and pushed my hand aside.

"Calm down, I would never do that."

"Sounds like you were just going to," I countered quickly. He shrugged again.

"It's fun to piss you off," he said. I grumbled some choice words making him laugh again. "But seriously, how are you guys?" I blushed.

"Really good," I said. "He took me to Gwen and his Uncle Ben's graves a few days ago." John knew the basics of Peter's traumatic past so when I told him this his eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Wow," he breathed. "He's really serious about you then Emily." I smiled.

"I'm really serious about him too, John," I admitted. "I know it's only been a few months but this kinda feels like this is it for me, you know?" John fiddled with his watch for a moment.

"Just don't get too attached," he advised. "I'm scared of you getting hurt around him." I opened my mouth quickly but he interrupted before I could say anything. "I know he would never purposefully hurt you but you can't deny that people close to him tend to get in trouble somehow. I mean, for God's sake you've already been kidnapped once and you were barely even dating then!" I shuffled my feet uncomfortably.

"I mean technically that was my idea-" I broke off when I saw the sharp look on John's face. "Yeah okay, I guess that's true, but he saved me! He saved both of us!" John nodded.

"He did, and I'll always be thankful for that. But he can't be everywhere. I'm not saying to break up with him, he's a cool dude and I like him too. Just be careful." I snorted.

"You sound like Peter," I said, avoiding his eyes.

"Emily."

"Yes alright, I promise to try and stay out of trouble!" When I turned to finally look at him he had his pinkie held out to me seriously. "Come on Jameson, we aren't five."

"Promise me, Emily!"

"Fine, fine." I took his pinkie with my own. "I swear to try and stay out of trouble. That good enough for you?"

"That will do."

Thirty minutes later, I was walking home from lunch a smile on my face. It was nice to have friends I could count on with John and Betty. I realized I still had a strong taste of lunch in my mouth so I reached into my purse looking for a mint. To my surprise, there was a small black spot that looked like ink on the handle. I stopped for a moment to look at it. It seemed to be . . .moving?

"What the hell?" I murmured to myself. I was about to try and scratch it off when the purse was yanked suddenly out of my hands. "HEY!"

I took off running after the person. They pushed everyone out of their path and I tried to follow as quickly as I could while saying "Sorry! Are you okay?" to each person I passed. They were faster than me. There was no way I could catch up to him. I cursed loudly and grabbed at the stitch at my side. To my (somewhat) surprise, I heard a gentle thwip coming from behind me. I turned to see my boyfriend swinging from his webs after the individual who had stolen my bag.

"Don't worry, random citizen!" He shouted down at me. "I will retrieve your purse for you!" I laughed.

"My hero!" I called after him. Spider-Man pointed a finger gun back in my direction before swinging into an alleyway after the person. I leaned against the wall patiently.

It was no more than three minutes before my bag was dropped onto the ground in front of me. I chuckled and didn't bother to look up before saying, "That was faster than normal, Spidey." The man himself jumped from the wall above me and casually leaned against it.

"Couldn't leave a damsel waiting, now could I?" He said cheerfully. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm a damsel now?"

"Well, you certainly couldn't catch up to him and I gave you plenty of time," Spider-Man quipped back. There were a few people who had stopped briefly to listen in to our conversation, so I said the next part quietly so only he could hear.

"Were you following me?"

"It's a distinct possibility?" His voice raised at the end of the sentence as if he were asking a question. I sighed.

"You know I can handle myself," I said, stepping closer and crossing my arms.

"I know!" He said holding his hands up. "That's why I tried to give you space to handle it!" I smiled.

"I appreciate it," I said. I noticed the increased number of people watching so I hugged him as thanks while whispering in his ear, "You let me know if there's anyway I could repay you Spidey." I heard him choke slightly which made me grin. He backed away quickly.

"Y-yes, well, ma'am here's your purse." Spider-Man grabbed the handle of my bag and handed it to me. "You get home safe!" I laughed.

"Always."

He waved at me before swinging off again. There were a few moments where the people around me asked a multitude of questions, including, but not limited to:

"Are you Spider-Man's girlfriend?"

"It seemed like he knew you!"

And my personal favorite:

"Is his ass also that great when he's naked?"

I shot the woman who said that a confused look before addressing everyone's questions.

"Sorry to burst your bubbles," I started loudly. "But my relationship with Spider-Man is strictly professional. I am a reporter so we've met on several times, nothing more than that." Everyone groaned in disappointment and slowly dispersed from the area. I sighed.

I was about to start walking again when I felt my phone buzz. I took it out and read the message.

"Strictly professional," huh?

I laughed and wrote a quick reply.

Stalker.

I was about to put my phone back in my bag when I remembered something. Twisting it around, I looked everywhere for the strange black spot that was just on my purse a mere ten minutes before. But no matter how hard I searched, the spot was no where to be found.

"Strange," I murmured. I shrugged, chalked it up to my imagination and began walking home.

At 6:30 that night, I stood outside the movie theater. Peter had told me he would meet me so I arrived early to get tickets. I watched other couples hugging onto each other before entering the theater. Sighing, I checked my watch again. 6:35. He was officially late. I wasn't too surprised, it was one of the drawbacks of dating a superhero. He was always late.

I sat on a nearby bench and decided to answer a few work emails while I waited. When I opened my inbox, I was surprised to see at least fifteen new emails, six of which were from J. Jonah Jameson. I groaned but read through them, responding to all of them in his latest email. One was from one of John's colleagues from the expedition answering a few questions I had sent. I thanked her, telling her how much help she had been for my article. Another was from John himself, who had sent me a picture myself talking to Spider-Man earlier today. Apparently, someone had posted about it on Twitter. I chuckled and wrote a response to him as well.

By the time I had answered all of my emails, it was nearly 6:50. The movie had started now. But there were still a good fifteen minutes before previews started. A pit began to grow in my stomach though. Usually if he's this late, he at least texts me to let me know he's okay and on his way. I hadn't received anything from him besides a conformation for the movie we were going to see. I bounced my knee anxiously.

I finally decided to call him at 7:15. He answered distractedly.

"What's up, hun?" He said. I let out a sigh of relief knowing he was at least safe.

"Did you forget something?" I asked.

"No?" He said confused. I gave him a moment for him to try and remember. "Oh. Oh shit. Em, I'm so sorry I totally forgot!" I blinked. He forgot?

"Ah," I said trying to keep my voice light. "Well I'm sure you had other things going on." I heard wind through his side of the call.

"I'm on my way, we can still see it!" Peter called. I checked my watch.

"The movie started already," I said. "It's fine, we can see it another time. I'm tired anyway."

"Em-"

"It's fine," I interrupted. Before I could say anything else, the sound of sirens blaring came through the phone. I smiled sadly. "Duty calls. Stay safe, Pete."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise," he said. I didn't respond and hung up. I rubbed my eyes.

"This sucks," I muttered.

When I got home, I flopped onto my bed. Pumpkin mewed questioningly and immediately placed himself directly on my back. I chuckled into my pillow.

Realizing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep quite yet, I called John. He answered with his normal "Hey there, crazy!" And I cut straight to the point.

"If a guy says they 'forgot' about a date they made earlier that day, what does it mean?" I asked. John was silent for a moment.

"We talking guys in general or a specific one?" He said finally.

"Specific one," I mumbled. He hummed.

"Well, considering this side job your man has," he began. "It's not too surprising. Has this happened before?"

"No!" I said at once. "He at least always texts me, but I had to call him and he didn't even remember at first." I could almost hear John frowning through the line.

"Yeah, that's not like him," he agreed. I took a breath and asked him what had been bothering me all evening.

"Do you think he doesn't care about me as much anymore?" I asked softly. John gave a short bark of laughter.

"Definitely not. We were just talking about how earlier today he took you to his dead girlfriend and uncle's graves. That's a huge step, he wouldn't have done that for just anyone." I nodded even though he couldn't see me.

"That's true," I said, brightening a bit.

"More than likely he got distracted by some baddie and lost track of time," John said. I nodded again.

"Yeah, you're probably right," I said.

"Of course I am, I'm an astronaut."

"Heh. Not sure what that has to do with dating advice but, okay, sure," I chuckled.

"Got you to laugh though."

"Thanks, John," I murmured.

"Anytime, Emily."

When I woke up the next morning, there was a small bouquet of flowers that looked suspiciously hand picked and a note on my table. I smiled and read it.

Em,

I'm so sorry I forgot about our date. Something really weird happened last night, I have to show you later. If it's okay, I'd love to bring you lunch today to make up for my stupidity?

Lo

Always,

Peter

I grabbed my phone quickly and sent a text to Peter.

See you at lunch

It wasn't long before I got a response.

As you wish

Here's another (longer) chapter! Two in one day, holy shit! I felt bad for making you guys wait so long so I wanted to make it up to you!

Much love!