I Am Karen - Spider-Man / Peter Parker [1]

Chapter Nineteen - To Be Peter Parker

"Everything" he stated as he lifted his gaze to hers. Maria had no idea what was going on but Peter's eyes were filled with sorrow and regret. "You were right. I wanted to prove myself so much, wanted to be an Avenger ... I lost sight of everything." Maria sighed as she heard his words. They had yet to discuss the topic and the last time they spoke Maria had torn Peter a new one. "Your dad was right to take the suit off me and you were right to not give me it back. I don't deserve it. I became Spider-Man to help the little people and I stopped doing that." Maria however did not agree with that statement all together but it was clear Peter knew she was about to interrupt for he shook his head. "No I did, I stopped wanting to help with the little things like catching a bike thief. I should care about that just as much as I should care about catching 'Vultures', I lost sight of that." In shame, Peter lowered his gaze back to his fingers. Shifting closer to him, Maria reached out and took one of his hands into hers catching his attention.

"You were right to go after the Vulture, Peter" Maria started the moment Peter's shocked gaze landed on her. "It's just you forgot how new and naive you are to this hero gig. I'm just the same. I didn't realise what I was getting myself in for and the DC accident and the Ferry accident were both just as much my fault as they were yours." She had been thinking about it over the time she had been apart from Peter and she realised that she had not actually told him it wasn't just his fault. She had to bear some of the burden too. "Peter you are Spider-Man and you're good at it but you're also human and you make mistakes just like everyone else. As long as you learn from your mistakes then you don't need to feel ashamed." Maria hoped her words brought him some comfort and by the small smile he gifted her she knew they had. Once again, the pair fell into silence, Maria still cradling Peter's hand in her lap.

"So ... you're Karen?" Peter said breaking the silence. Maria cringed and kept her gaze locked on their hands; she knew this question was coming.

"Kinda" she replied unsure of how he was going to react to the news.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Peter asked softly, no hint of anger in his voice at all.  Thankfully he had had some time to mull over the information and potentially wasn't as mad as he could have been since Maria had (technically) completely invaded his privacy.

"I don't really know. I guess I feared what my dad would do if he found out and if I told one person it wasn't really a secret anymore" Maria answered with a frown. There was no definitive answer to the question - just lots of little answers that didn't quite explain it all. "I also didn't know how you would react." Peter nodded in understanding at her words. She was grateful that he did not pry. Maria should have known Peter would just accept the fact, that he realised she was doing prying into his life for sound reasons.

"You were good as the 'girl in the chair'" Peter suddenly said with a genuine smile. Maria laughed lightly at his words whilst she looked towards the ground, hiding her blush. She hadn't expected the complimentary words off of him - she could tell he meant the words as well which had cuased her to blush more. Not knowing what to say, Maria just looked towards him with a smile on her face. Truth was Maria too had thought she hadn't done a bad job at helping him from her computers - being the guy in the chair had been a lot of fun. "You, umm  said you watched me be Spider-Ma-"

"I only paid attention to you whilst you were Spider-Man and whilst you were at school because I had to have a complete profile on you" Maria admitted bluntly in her panic. She didn't want him to think she was a stalker but her words had not helped her case.

"So, the majority of the day" Peter stated, pointing out the obvious truth. He looked towards Maria with a smirk on his face whilst she sat with wide eyes accompanying an expression of great embarrassment.

"Well – you – I – it's not my fault!" Maria twined, her face blushing bright red whilst she gently pushed Peter away. Peter laughed at her reaction, he wasn't an idiot, he understood why she had been watching him. But that didn't mean he was going to let Maria forget about it. It didn't help when Maria pouted as she frowned at the floor, crossing her arms over her chest in mock annoyance. "I had to keep tabs on Spider-Man, if you didn't wear the suit so much, I wouldn't have had to watch you so much." Peter couldn't believe she was trying to put the blame on him, the words just made him laugh more.

"Excuses, excuses." Maria groaned loudly before she began punching and shoving at his arm constantly, trying to get him to shut up but only succeeding at pushing him over onto the floor completely whilst he laughed. This was exactly how Ned found them.

Walking back into his room, he heard Peter's laughter along with Maria's complaints and found Maria kneeling over Peter hitting him lightly on his arm whilst Peter was flat out on the floor. He had to admit; he hadn't expected to walk in to find Maria "attempting" to beat up Spider-Man.

"It's nice to see you two getting along again" Ned commented making both Peter and Maria stop to look towards him.

"He's mocking me!" Maria openly complained before she turned back and hit him once more on the arm, the punch having no affect on the superhero at all. Ned could only laugh as he retook his seat in his room. It was strange how some distance and one conversation had been able to at least begin to mend the bridge between Peter and Maria but it had. Both were grateful for that fact. They were going to live as normal teenagers without almighty cares in the world crushing them down. But like all great things, that was soon going to end.