Disclaimer: I do not own anything Marvel or anything I borrowed from other media.

Reflect and Regret

*The following day*

The following day Peter's alarm rings regularly, yet Peter has a bit of a hard time waking up. "Ugh, not feeling so hot, which means I'm not getting better." He groans, slowly getting out of his bed. Wanting to test his body, Peter attempts to stick to the wall only to find himself not sticking on like he usually would do.

"Okay, maybe I better take that advice from Linda to heart and not go crazy with my lack of powers." Peter sighs, still in disbelief that his powers seem to be going away. While he thought his condition was leading to something else, Peter hasn't pondered the idea of any longer having his spider powers.

"What if I did lose my powers for good? Would I be okay with not being Spider-man anymore and stick to a normal life? It's been a while since I had these types of thoughts, yet there's no telling what will happen to me. Might be a conversation to have with Felicia later; right now, I have to face another obstacle." Peter walks over to his closet, pulling out his school attire, dreading the lecture he's about to receive from a certain somebody.

*At school*

"*Smack* Where the hell have you been!? Felicia and I were worried sick about you!" Mary Jane shouts as she gives Peter a slap to the face leading to a tight hug.

I guess I never will understand women for how M.J went from slapping me to hugging me. Peter already knew he would have to face Mary Jane concerning his recent actions, but he wasn't fully ready for that reaction out of her. "I apologize for the disappearing act M.J; Felicia managed to find me, so she knows what's going on, but I had a mental breakdown on top of me dealing with some sickness and needed an escape from reality to clear my thoughts."

Mary Jane relaxes after hearing his explanation but maintains a stern expression towards Peter after letting him go. "Well, you have a lot going on, so I can understand that. However, you need to let the people who care about you in when it comes to this type of stuff. I don't want a repeat of what happen when you were dealing with your aunt's situation a while back."

Peter wince at the reminder of him being under the influence of Venom and how he treated everyone at that time. While he's thankful that his situation doesn't involve the black substance, it's alarming what is happening with him. "Your right, especially since Felicia gave me a similar talk last night about that. I can't promise that I will always do that in the future since I'm mostly used to dealing with my emotions on my own. I will try more for you and Felicia."

"You better tiger. You can talk to me more about it during lunch; until then, let's go to class before we are late." Mary Jane suggests in a calmer mood.

As the two walks to class, Peter's mind starts to drift towards another topic related to his double life. Should I tell Mary Jane about Felicia and me being Spider-man and Black Cat? I know I didn't tell Liz, Gwen, or Harry for reasons; however, M.J seems to have that same fire as Felicia when it comes to me, but unlike Black Cat, she couldn't defend herself if danger strikes her. Then again, I might not have these powers anymore soon, so it might be pointless.

With Peter having a lot on his mind, it becomes challenging to concentrate during his first few classes. On top of the returns of the cramps that pop out of nowhere, he's able to play it off, but the pain makes it hard to do so. Once lunchtime creeps up, Peter heads to the cafe section to get lunch with M.J. Peter receives his food and gets a table for him and Mary Jane and happens to glance in the direction to see Gwen and Harry arriving at the scene. Right before Gwen can lock eyes with Peter, he turns quickly away before sitting down, not noticing Mary Jane right beside him. "What's that look about?" M.J questions while taking a seat across from Peter.

Peter shakes his head in annoyance. "Seeing Gwen reminded me how I went off on her the other day."

"Do you regret it? The shouting, I mean not trying to get back with her." Mary Jane presses, wanting to know where his headspace is at now.

"Trust me. Even if I did entertain the thought of being with Gwen again, I'm pretty sure I burned that bridge. As far as the shouting match, I do wish now it could have gone better, but seeing her for the first time in a long time after the funeral got to me bad." Peter explains, pondering would he want to be back friends with Gwen down the line.

Mary Jane takes a second to process Peter's answer before giving her thoughts on the situation. "I can see where you're coming from since I too feel I was a bit too hard on Gwen considering what went on in her mind when Harry started going down a rough path. One side of me feels it would be nice if you two could become at least friends and Harry, and we all go back to how we were. At the same time, I still don't approve of Gwen deciding to stay with Harry for the sake of when you two came up with an agreement and cutting us off about it."

"Yeah, but with Harry's dad dying, I understand why Gwen would still stay with him, but for both of them to cut me off like that hurt a lot." Peter reflects more still not sure what he wants when it comes to his former friends.

"The best way to probably go about it is to give each other space, and if the future allows it, you two can try to repair the friendship; if not, then move forward. Like I told her, I'm not sure about storing the friendship right now but probably later down the road." Mary Jane offers not wanting to see Peter dwell on the decision too long.

"Sounds like great advice, in my opinion." Peter brings out a small smile.

Mary Jane does the same before switching to another topic. "So, about your meltdown sickness."

Peter gives a brief explanation of his condition without going in-depth about the Spider-man side of things, causing M.J to regret coming off strong about his whereabouts. However, it's because she genuinely cares about Peter more than she realizes. "Sheesh, that has to be rough. Do you think you need to go to the hospital?"

"I do plan on seeing a specialist soon, so hopefully, she will be able to help me out," Peter answers somewhat truthfully.

"I hope so too tiger." Mary Jane said with the two finishing up their lunch to resume their school schedule.

Towards the end of school for the day, Peter's cramps continue to come and go with one moment when he once again was near Gwen alone when it was time to leave for the day. "Ugh, this might be a sign that now is not the time to talk with Gwen. I'm still not even sure if I want too anyways."

*Later at Peter's home*

"Aunt May, I'm home," Peter announces to Aunt May while entering his home.

"That's good Peter. How did it go today?" She calls out from the kitchen.

"Same old same old," Peter responds, rushing up to his room. Once there, he picks up his phone to see that Felicia messages him.

Peter: Hey precious.

Felicia: Are you home?

Peter: Yes mother, I am in my room now.

"Good to see you are honest and obedient," Felicia states out of nowhere from his window, scaring Peter a bit, for he had no idea that she was there.

"Blast, my darn spider-sense didn't warn me you were around," Peter says in a playful tone.

Felicia comes through his window and closes it behind her. "That's become I am not a danger to you, yet. How are you feeling?"

"Cramps came and goes, and this morning, I barely could stick to walls, so I assuming that I'm losing my powers more than anything." Peter lies backs in bed and takes a deep breath from now being off his feet.

Felicia hovers over him and checks his forehead to make sure he's not feeling too hot. "Or maybe your body is glitching out or something. We won't know anything until we hear back from Linda."

"Maybe." Peter sits up to ask his girlfriend a question concerning his new predicament. "Felicia, would you still want to date me if I lost my powers for good?"

Felicia can hear the insecurity in his voice, which hurts her heart because she doesn't want him to have more doubts than he already has in his head. "Peter, please don't start allowing negative thoughts to affect you. Whatever is going on, we are to fight it together, and no matter what the results are, I will stand by your side." She sits beside her man to gently rub the side of his face and softly kisses his lips with him Peter locking into her lips for reassurance.

Felicia never thought about the idea of what if Peter could no longer be Spider-man. At this point, she can't see herself with anyone else but him, and in no way, shape, or form would she want to lose him, especially not after losing her chance to have her father in her life.

She eventually stands up sadly to prepare herself for her official first solo night of patrol". I would stay longer if I didn't have my night of solo patrol later, as you know."

Peter tries his best not to give any hint of resistance to Felicia's decision to go out on her own. "You sure you want to go through with this? Not asking because I doubt you but asking as a concerned boyfriend consider the new gangs in town."

"You mean the Arsenic Candy girls, The Apocalypse, and Monkey Tails? Yeah, I know they are attempting to make their mark in our city, but we won't let them. My focus right now is those Arsenic brats since I dealt with a group of them personally though I will try not to get ahead of myself and take on all three at the same time." Felicia declares with confidence that Peter needs to hear.

"Thank you, and please be careful out there." Peter pleads, extending his arms out for a hug.

"I will lover, and please try to rest for me. I know you rather be out there with me than here." Felicia falls into his arm and gives him a comforting hug.

"It sucks, yet at the same time, it's somewhat a nice change of pace to chill out. Plus, this opportunity lets the city know that Black Cat, the special partner of Spider-man who she's currently, is not the lady to mess with. As far as me sitting on the sidelines, I will only do something reckless if it involves you deal?" Peter states, not taking no for an answer when it comes to Felicia's life.

"Deal." Felicia agrees to the term by giving him one last kiss before heading towards his window.

Before she jumps out, Peter catches her attention by saying, "Go get 'em Cat." Felicia turns and gives Peter a sexy wink and makes her way out to the city.

After switching to her costume, Black Cat makes her way into the city, where she hears that a group from the Arsenic Candy is moving at some warehouse that carries toy bears. Black Cat jumps down to intercept them as the candy girls take from the building, ready for action. "Ladies, coming from someone who used to steal for her my guilty pleasure, it's better to pay though by the look of you all's attires, you all might want to apply for a job. I heard the circus is hiring."

One of the members doesn't take too kindly to the hero's interference. "Keep loading those boxes. The rest of you, send this stray cat packing." The one member orders the group of 4 girls turns their attention on Black Cat, who readies herself for a good fight.

TBC

Author's note: Shoutout to user BlankoWatt from Wattpad for taking the time to make the new photo cover for this story. If you have a Wattpad account and write Spider-man fanfics, try hitting him up to see if he will do a photo cover for you. Sorry for the long wait again; it hasn't been easy to update between writing anxiety and work-life. Again, I want to thank everyone for the reviews and attention to this story and will continue to try and keep this story alive.

Just a reminder, I do not have a plan for Peter and Mary Jane to hook up even though it's been hinted again in this chapter that she has hidden feelings for him. I want to try and establish a close connection between the two while doing the with her friendship with Felicia. Though I will admit the idea of a three-way has come to mind, I'm not sure about going that route, for I never wrote a harem and probably wouldn't do it right. Also, look for Felicia to shine more as Black Cat in the following few parts and what will happen to Peter, which a few yawls have guessed right.