𝙄𝙣 𝙁𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠...

A Coffee And A Smile Makes The World Go Round

"...please," he whispered again before his body collapsed, losing all responsiveness.

At that Michelle felt the panic reignite, and she was struggling on what to do. She knew she couldn't call for any emergency vehicles or take him to the hospital because his secret identity had to be maintained. But she also knew she couldn't just leave him there. So she did the next best thing, hauling him up so she could lift him from the side and dragged him back into her family's shop.

oOo

Hauling items up the stairs and into the loft was one thing, hauling up an unconscious hundred and fifty pound, red and blue clad-and hopefully human-hero on the other hand was something else entirely; and something Michelle hadn't expected to be doing on a Sunday night after her shift. But she was, and she was doing so with a serious lack of grace.

His headache might be worse than he'd imagine once he wakes after the amount of times she'd accidently knocked his head into the wall. She winced for the last time when the left side of his fully unresponsive body slammed into the door frame that she struggled to drag him through. Once she'd dropped him onto the bed (still with a lacking sense of grace), she sighed tiredly before scurrying around the room to find some things he'd need for when he'd wake.

For twenty minutes she had sat on a chair next to the bed, cleaning up the open wounds from his torn suit and staying by his side as she kept a close eye on him until he woke. Finally, the moment had arrived, and drowsiness was winning the internal battle Michelle fought against with sleep. As Spider-Man's lensed eyes fluttered open, Michelle's could barely keep awake. It wasn't until she heard his faint and strained voice that she'd retained her consciousness.

"Where am I?" He asked to no one in particular, too disoriented for his senses to notice the girl's presence as he sat up. The hero winced slightly as he sat up straight, looking down at his bandaged state, and then finally looked up to see Michelle Jones staring at him curiously. Inside the suit, Peter Parker froze at the sight of his secret crush actually in his proximity.

"Uh... hi?"

Michelle awkwardly waved back to greet him.

"W-what happened?"

"You don't remember," she asked, her concern growing even more. He strained a nervous chuckle, shaking his head in response.

"Mm nope. Memory's a little foggy, and my head is killing me," he said as he rubbed his palm onto the throbbing spot. Michelle felt a tinge of guilt, knowing she's partially the reason behind the headache, but quickly set aside the intrusive thought and found an answer.

"Well, you were beaten up pretty badly. I heard you fall into the alley as I went to take out the trash, and brought you back inside. Mind filling me in on what happened to you?"

"Doc Ock and the rest of his circus show ambushed me. Granted, I kicked their butts and sent them back to jail, but not without getting a few bruises and then some."

"That was more than a few," Michelle retorted, a bit surprised at his nonchalance. But after a moment's worth of thinking, she'd reminded herself that he was a hero and he'd probably been used to it by now.

"Mm," he hummed in thought and a silence then filled the room.

Spider-Man's lenses scanned his surroundings to aid his curiosity, but he could feel Michelle's intense scrutinizing from beside him.