Every Day ── PETER PARKER²

36. Cool Dude

"Mia had a crush on you," Luna thought aloud, the memory replaying in her mind. When the words first left Mia's lips, she couldn't deny there was a distant feeling of utter disgust there, an image of her best friend and her boyfriend intertwined in an intimate manner manifesting in her mind, but now the thought was hilarious to her. Judging by the way Peter's face screwed up, she could tell he also didn't like the idea of the two of them together, which settled an unknown fleeting feeling in the pit of Luna's stomach. "Well, she had a thing for Spider-Man, but she said she's over that now that she knows that's you."

"Mildly offended, but deeply relieved," Peter mumbled more to himself. "Did she believe you guys easily, since you had no proof or anything?"

His words made Luna suddenly conscious of the photo folded in the back pocket of her jeans. Peter could feel her tense up, her fingers no longer gently scratching at his scalp with each twist around a strand of hair. He stared up at her questioningly, hands gently squeezing her hips as a silent way of asking what happened. Without a word, Luna retracted her hand from Peter's hair and pulled the photo out of her pocket.

Her eyes trailed over the image one last time before turning it for Peter's view. She watched as his eyes went from confusion to shocked, to downcast in a matter of seconds as he processed what he saw in the photo. His eyes dragged up to hers eventually, a deep frown resting on his lips. "Where did you get this?"

"Danielle," Luna answered immediately, allowing Peter to pluck the photo from her fingers and get a better look at it. "Do you remember that?"

Peter's frown deepened as his eyes scanned over the photo, taking in every detail about the scene. How could he possibly forget what was happening the moment this photo was taken? He could practically see Luna's chest rising and falling rapidly as she tried to get her words out with a confidence that just wasn't there. He could still feel the ache in his chest as she spoke to him, desperately wanting to tug her forward and wrap her in a hug, yet knowing she'd want him to do anything but.

"Vividly," Peter breathed out. Forcing his eyes away from the photo, he focused on the Luna in front of him, the one that wasn't angered at him for his carelessness, and instead stared down at him with knitted brows and eyes of concern. "So, Danielle knows, what are we gonna do?" He expected Luna's face to morph into one of thinking, where she pulls her lip between her teeth and her fingers tap aggravatingly on any flat surface. But that never came, instead she stared down at Peter with... remorse?

Then it dawned on him.

"You knew she knew," Peter breathed out, Luna wincing at the astonished tone. "Seriously, Luna? You didn't ever find it necessary to tell me that someone outside of the inner circle knew my identity?"

"I found out when we weren't in a good place; you can't blame me for that," Luna retorted.

Peter's eyes narrowed. "And what if she told everyone? Then I could have blamed you?"

"Well, she didn't," Luna quipped back, Peter biting the inside of his cheek to keep from responding with an equally snippy remark. "Besides, I wasn't going to let that happen. As long as I did what she told me, she wouldn't dare tell a soul, or else I'd ruin her entire life."

While Luna intended for the words to comfort Peter, all it did was further irk him. "She threatened you?"

"Are we going to let this girl cause a fight between us when we have her only piece of proof in our hands right now?" Luna pointed out, gesturing to the photo that'd been discarded to the side. "C'mon, Peter, let's not do this right now."

Peter fell silent, his eyes darting between Luna's pleading eyes before ultimately heaving out a sigh. "You're right..." He picked the photo up from where it lied beside them, eyes not lingering for a moment longer than necessary, the scene in it bringing back nothing but negative memories. "We should get rid of this, though."