Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

96. Animals

...

Daphne whips her head carelessly to the beat. Request hour just started, so there's more than just pop music blasting through the speakers. Daphne's jacket had been tossed aside ages ago. She's unsure where it is, but she doesn't care right now. Her hips sway to the beat and she ignores the stinging cold and all the people around her. When someone approaches her to ask her if she was Daphne 'from the kidnapping' she'd simply say: "Nah, but I look like her, so I get that a lot." Most people would leave her alone. After all, it made her a whole lot less interesting. And it's still New York; most people actually didn't care. She opted not to invite any of her friends or classmates to this outside disco thing. She just wanted to let go and not have to deal with any questions. Or people. The less interactions she has, the less time she gets to think about...

"Daphne!" Her face contorts when she hears his voice. She sniffs once and turns away from it, not halting her movements and pretending to be un-bothered. "Daph!" He's nearing her, but she still doesn't want to talk to him, so she closes her eyes. The longer she doesn't have to look at him, the better. Daphne's eyes open abruptly when his hand touches her shoulder and turns her towards him.
"Daph, we've been trying to reach you!" Peter stares at her with wide eyes and Daphne blinks a few times, unhappy with the fact that he threw off her groove.
"I'm busy," she says simply, before trying to turn away from him again. However, his grip on her arm tightens and he jerks her towards him. She yelps softly at his brashness and stares at him wide-eyed.
"David's on the loose." The look in his eye is intense and Daphne's breath is stuck in her throat. His irises are dark and his jaw is tightened. Is he... Being protective? Confusion spreads through Daphne's body. She was convinced he didn't care about her anymore and now he's acting like this? Daphne scoffs.
"Oh, so you don't say a word to me, go on with your life, but now that David's lurking you're suddenly back to being the hero?" Peter immediately lets go of Daphne and takes a step back, slightly offended, glancing around to see if anyone noticed her outburst.
"I'm sorry, okay, I just need you to not be in public until we catch-"
"Nah," Daphne says while shaking her head. A sarcastic laugh falls from her lips. "Nah, you don't get to exclude me from this." She puts her hands on her hips. "Call Fury, or whatever. If you want David caught, I'll lure him out."

Peter lets out an exasperated sigh as Daphne turns to walk away from him.
"He's dangerous, Daph." He follows her through the crowd of dancing people. "Strange taught him some basic magic tricks and now the guy can teleport!" Daphne's head whips around and looks up at Peter defiantly.
"I'll lure him out," she repeats determined, enunciating every word. "He gets jealous easily, so all I gotta do is get the attention of a few guys and he'll be out in no time." Daphne cocks an eyebrow. "You're the big, strong man, right? I'm sure Spider-Man can restrain him." Daphne continues her strut towards the DJ and she nonchalantly steps up the small stage to request the next song. She arches her back and sticks out her butt as she leans over the sound system. Peter can do nothing but stare at her, defeated. He knows she has every right to be frustrated with him for breaking up with her the way he did, but she's been evading him constantly. He wants to talk to her, but she doesn't give him the opportunity and now she's saying this? And doing... That?!

Jealousy creeps up on Peter when he spots a few random guys also staring at Daphne. Or, more particularly, at her behind. Peter looks away, pretending to not be bothered by it, but his blood is slowly starting to boil. He sucks at his teeth and ends up looking around for the reason why he went to find Daphne in the first place. If David knows magic, he must be able to find her quite quickly and easily. Maybe he can disguise himself, like Loki can. Doctor Strange explained what he'd taught David, but if he learned how to teleport without Stephen's help, there's no telling what he's capable of.

The current song swiftly transitions into something that seems to have been inspired by Indian music. Daphne slowly lets herself glide off the stage as she winks at the DJ and mouths a short "thank you". Peter frowns, trying to recognize the song, but it's not landing. In any case, he can't keep his eyes off Daphne anymore. The way she elegantly saunters over to the other people on the dance floor is strangely captivating. she takes the tie out of her hair and shakes her head a few times, letting loose her long wavy hair. The song starts with the chorus and Peter finally realizes what they're listening to. His face contorts. "Come and get it" by Selena Gomez.