The next morning, I arrived at the Bugle earlier than normal. I had a lot of work to do on the article I was writing about John and his team and I wanted to make sure I had time to make the evening edition of the paper.

I was working with my headphones in, bopping my head slowly to the beat while I compiled all the data I had from John and his colleague. Without notice, someone slid into my cubical and pulled out the earbud from my right ear. I turned. Eddie Brock, the man who had taken over my roll as main superhero reporter was leaning against my desk.

"Brock," I acknowledged, confusedly. It had been months since he had talked to me, as he had finally gotten the hang of badmouthing Spider-Man and no longer needed my help. Not that I helped him bash my boyfriend to begin with but, whatever. "What can I do for you?"

"I found something interesting yesterday," Brock began, tossing a few photos on my keyboard. "I was hoping you could tell me what this was all about."

Suspiciously, I picked up the pictures and flipped through them. They were all of me and Peter. Well, Spider-Man Peter that is. One just of us talking, one of me crossing my arms in front of him, one of me hugging him, and one of Spider-Man holding my purse. Brock had apparently been tailing Peter yesterday.

"Wow," I said, feigning an uncaring attitude. "You took some great pictures of Spider-Man getting my purse back from a thief. Great investigative skills, man." I handed the photos back to Brock and returned to my keyboard. In response, he leaned over and flipped off my computer screen. "Hey! I was working!"

"There's more to this than you're telling me," he said. I tried to keep my face confused.

"Like what?" I asked. "I secretly have a boner for Spider-Man? Who wouldn't to be fair, have you seen his ass-"

"I'm not talking about that!" He interrupted. "You two seemed to know each other."

"Well yeah, but it's like I told the people there, which I'm sure you heard: yes, I do know him but only as a reporter who's had her life saved by him," I said. "Nothing more. We aren't friends, we aren't together, I don't know him beyond that." He glared at me for a few moments. "Are we done?"

"You're dating Parker, right?" Brock asked suddenly. "Doesn't he take Spider-Man's pictures?" I laughed.

"Good luck trying to get information out of him, dude," I said, trying not to show just how uncomfortable this conversation was making me. "Between you and me," I leaned forward conspiratorially. "I've tried everything to get him to tell me something about the spider. And I mean everything. But at this point, I've just given up. His lips are sealed." Brock nodded, apparently believing me.

"If you can't get him to tell you anything, I doubt I could," he grumbled. "Still, I may give him a call anyway. Just to be sure." I threw my hands up in frustration.

"Do what you want, Brock. Can I please get back to my article now?"

When he finally left, I let out a sharp gasp. I needed to be more careful around Spider-Man or people will start suspecting even more. That was too close for comfort.

I had barely gotten settled when another hand lands on my shoulder.

"God, what now?!"

"Um, hi?"

I turned to see a slightly hurt Betty. I swore.

"Sorry, Betty," I said, rubbing my face. "I thought you were Brock."

"Oh that guy who replaced you? Is he bothering you again?" Betty asked, taking up Brock's spot by leaning against my desk. I shrugged.

"He wanted to know why I was talking to Spider-Man yesterday," I said, returning my gaze to my (still) unwritten article. Betty gasped.

"You saw him again?" She screeched. I nodded. "That is so unfair! How do you get all the luck?"

"Funny enough, I don't really consider getting my purse stolen as lucky," I said evenly. She wasn't deterred.

"Well you got it back right? No problem."

"I worry about you."

"Hmm, Amber says the same thing," Betty said softly. I chuckled.

"I'm not surprised," I said. "Anyway, is there something you needed?" Betty squealed and clapped her hands together.

"Yes! Okay here it goes: I want you to be my bridesmaid!" She said in one breath. I stared at her open mouthed.

"You mean the wedding that's in two weeks?" I exclaimed. She nodded vigorously.

"Yeah that's the one!"

I sputtered in disbelief for a few moments. "B-but there's no way I can get a dress in this short amount of time!"

"That's no problem! My other bridesmaid had to bail, she had a family emergency back home in Australia and she won't be able to make it back in time. You two are the same size and we need an even number of bridesmaids to match Amber's for the walk down the aisle! So please you're my only hope!" Betty gave me the biggest doe eyes I've ever seen on her. I hesitated.

"And you're sure you want me to do it?"

"Yes, of course!"

I thought for a moment before finally answering.

"Alright, if that's really what you wan-" Before I could finish, Betty had flung her arms around my neck excitedly.

"Thank you, thank you, this is going to be wonderful! I'm so happy, we are having a bachelorette party on Saturday night, I understand if you have other plans since it's such short notice but it would be so great if you could come and meet the other girls!"

Betty continued on for another ten or so minutes before I convinced her to leave. It's not that I didn't love hanging out with her or talking to her, but I had to have this article done before the end of the day. I checked the time. It had already been an hour and a half since I had arrived in the office. I groaned. At least I had a few hours before Peter got here for lunch. If he came.

A couple hours later, I had a good chunk of the article written. It needed to be done by 3 pm so the designers of the paper can put it in the appropriate spot for the evening publication on the website. I was just about to turn off my computer for lunch when a familiar face appeared over the wall of my cubicle.

"Hey," Peter said softly, rubbing the back of his neck. I was still peeved at him, so I responded with a monotone "Hi." He flinched slightly at my tone and came around to kneel next to my chair.

"I'm so sorry about last night, Em," he said. "Truly. I messed up." Peter gently took my hand and held it. "I brought your favorite sandwich from that deli you love down the street!" He pulled out a bag from behind his back and placed it on my desk. I sighed.

"Don't let it happen again," I grumbled. He grinned widely and plastered a messy kiss to my cheek.

"Absolutely not!"

During lunch, we caught up on what the other had been doing since we had last seen each other. It was then that Peter told me the reason he had forgotten our date.

"Wait, what exactly happened to your suit?" I asked confusedly. He ran a hand through his hair quickly.

"It changed. I don't know how or why but it's different. Here-" Peter lifted up the sleeve of his jacket to show his suit underneath. It had turned from the normal bright red and blue to a dark grey and black. My mouth fell open. Slowly, I traced the silver webbing that ran up his forearm. My brow furrowed.

"This happened just last night?" I asked, meeting his gaze. He nodded.

"I was resting on a web hammock waiting for to hear something happening," he began, shuffling his sleeve down before someone walked into the lunch room. "I had my eyes closed and I thought I felt this tingling on my arm. I opened my eyes because I thought there was a spider or bug but it wasn't. It was like I had dipped my suit in ink and it spread throughout my whole body." I frowned.

"Are you okay? I mean have you experienced any other side effects?" I questioned.

"Not that I know of, but it made me stronger. I don't know how, but I'm stronger than I've ever been. It's incredible." I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat.

"This doesn't feel right, Pete," I confessed. "Maybe you should make a new suit, get rid of this one." He stared at me for a moment.

"Is it the black? Is it too dark?"

"No, Pete it's not the color. You don't know how this happened, what if it's a trick by one of your enemies or something like that? You don't know where this came from it could be dangerous!"

"I've already been wearing it for hours and I'm fine!" He argued. "If it was dangerous wouldn't something have happened to me already?"

"I don't know babe, but do you really think it's worth the risk?" I leaned across the table to grab his hand. "I don't want to lose you, Pete." He kissed my hand.

"I promise if it starts hurting me I will take it off," Peter said. "I will." I eyed him suspiciously. "Honest!"

"If you say so," I conceded. He grinned widely.

"I do!" He wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed the top of my head profusely. I playfully pushed him away.

"We are at work! Act professionally!" I tried to seem stern but I knew I was smiling. He chuckled.

"Fine, fine," He said. "Reject my affection."

I rolled my eyes. Stuffing the last bite into my mouth, I checked my watch.

"I gotta go, hun, thanks for lunch!" I gave his lips a quick peck.

"Anytime," he responded. "Call me on your way home?" This has become a normal routine for us, as his Spider-Man duties often kept him too busy to meet face to face.

"Always!"

—

Anyone play the new Spider-Man PS4 game? I finished it yesterday and oh man. So good.

Best wishes!