Love Of My Life - Harry Styles
Take a walk on Sunday through the afternoon
We can always find something for us to do
We don't really like what's on the news,
But it's on all the time
It had been about a month since Amara had informed her father of Spiderman's identity. Cooper Lila and Nathaniel went home with Laura and Clint decided to go home with them. He said he'd be here if we needed him. Amara hadn't got the chance to talk things out with Cooper because he had been avoiding her since she turned him down, so she still felt pretty guilty about that. Jane decided to stay in New York, though. She said that she wanted to find an office in New York, like a base for her research lab. Even with all of these things happening, Amara still couldn't help the growing guilt she was experiencing in lying to Peter Parker.
He was, after all, a sweet and caring guy who seemed to trust her, whether he met her as Spiderman or Peter Parker.
Their patrol together was going pretty well too, he finally trusted Aura almost as much as he trusted Amara. For some reason, he found a teenage girl more trustworthy than an actual superhero. Which was odd seeing as "Amara" hadn't seen Spiderman since the incident in the alley, a month ago. But that was partly because Amara hadn't felt the need to go to Queens unless she was going on patrol as Aura.
Not only did she feel bad about lying to Peter, but she also felt awful for lying to MJ and Ned as well. They had all become her best friends and she felt like a horrible manipulative bitch keeping everything from them.
But as much as Amara wanted to tell them the truth, she knew that it could jeopardise everything. So she continues working on homework, complaining about teachers and helping to bring Peter and Liz together - regular teenage stuff.
Today was especially different, though; Amara could feel it before she even got to school that morning - something good was gonna happen today.
So she spent the day waiting and waiting and waiting until she was just about to doubt herself. Maybe my powers are just acting up.
That was until MJ came up to Amara in her last period and asked, "Hey, do you wanna come over to mine for a sleepover this Friday? It's nothing special, my mom just wants to meet you, don't ask me why, I won't tell you."
As soon as MJ said this, Amara's face lit up, because no matter how hard she has been trying to hide it, she actually was excited by the prospect of some normal things, a sleepover at a friend's house being one of them. And while this might not seem like that much of a big deal to warrant a feeling, to Amara, it was a huge deal, considering she had spent her entire life with friends that already live with her.
"Yeah! Sure! After school?"
"Yeah. Is that okay?"
"That's awesome."
—————
When Amara got out of school that day, she waited for Peter to show up at the bench just outside of the school gate where they usually waited for each other to walk to the subway station. She only had to wait a few minutes, though; not because Peter arrived, but because Amara had received a message from him saying that he was staying at the school library to study after school.
He quickly followed the message up with, "Don't worry about me, I'm picking up a few books that's all." Which Amara, just as quickly, translated to, "I'm starting my Spiderman patrol early today, so I can't come on the subway with you." And Amara was totally fine with that, so she got up and started walking in the direction of the station.
Amara rounded a corner and came face to face with Spiderman, who landed directly in front of her and she smiled, "Hey."
He reached up to scratch the back of his neck and said, "Hey, where you been? I haven't seen you around here in a while."
"Well, I have other things to be than be an acquaintance to a superhero," she replied flashing her sweetest and most innocent smile at the superhero.
"Just acquaintances? Really? I thought we were friends?" Spiderman replied with fake disappointment.
"Fine, I have better things to do than be a friend to a superhero," this earned a nod of agreement from Spiderman. "And what about you? You haven't exactly approached me either."
"I was out, being a hero."
"Right, you work with Aura now, right? She teach you morse code, yet?"
"Morse code?"
"Yeah, morse code. It's the most commonly used code by superheroes and spies," she clarified.
"Says who?" He asked, confused.
"Uh... every superhero and spy movie to ever exist?"
"No, she hasn't," he said, smiling.
"Well you better start learning," she shrugged.
"Why don't you teach me?" He challenged.
She scoffed, "Yeah, right! As I know morse code," she exclaimed, crossing her arms. "Besides, you don't need me anymore, you upgraded," Amara playfully smirked.
"What?! N-no! I would never..." Spiderman saw the growing amusement on Amara's face, "...And you're messing with me."
Amara feigned seriousness, but couldn't stop the smile plastered on her face, "No I'm dead serious, I feel really hurt."
"I think I might know something that'll make you feel better, you feel like having another swing across Queens with moi?" he tilted his head, playfully, to the side and held his arm out for her to hold onto.
Amara seriously couldn't wrap her head around how confident he was with her and how nervous he was with Aura, but she was somewhat impressed by how smooth he was being, so she walked up to him and allowed Spiderman to pull her in and hold onto her waist, She looked up at his masked face and realised that they were millimetres away from their noses touching, "Okay, bugboy, let's do it!"
They were so close that Amara could feel the superhero's pounding heartbeat through the fabric of his suit. He broke eye contact and laughed at her previous remark, "What'd you just call me?"
"You heard me," she smiled innocently as the superhero lifted them off the ground and swung them across the skyline of New York.
—————
The swinging wasn't as hard this time for Amara as it was last time because, for some reason, she felt as if she trusted Peter to not drop her - or at the very least, catch her before she hit the ground if he did. And because she trusted him, she actually had her eyes open this time, and it was exhilarating.
Amara watched the world come into view and fade away just as quickly, looking up at the low-hanging sun, almost as if they were chasing it, not allowing it to sink below the horizon; to freeze this moment so that it would last forever.
Spiderman finally let them down on a roof, which Amara instantly recognised as the same roof she took Spiderman to when he first met her as Aura.
"I've been wanting to bring you here for a while, you know, because you spend almost as much time on random ass roofs as I do," Spiderman said, looking down at his shoes.
Amara looked around the roof and then the view, even though she had seen it all a million times before, "It's so pretty. I can't believe this has been here for so long and I didn't even know!" Of course, that was a complete lie, she had known how amazing this roof was because she was the first person to find it. She looked back at Spiderman, "Thank you for bringing me here! You were right, I guess I'm not really hurt anymore."
"That's good. Can't have the prettiest girl in New York being upset with me, your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman."
Amara tilted her head playfully and smiled, "Are you flirting with me, bugboy?"
"Now, hypothetically, if I was... is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Oh, it's a very bad thing! Awful!" She said trying her best to hold her laugh in while looking over at the hero.
"You're right, it's awful! So hypothetically, if I were to ask you to dinner, what would you say?"
Amara turned to meet her Spiderman's eyes in amusement, genuinely shocked at Peter's new found courage, "I... would ask if this dinner would be with the mask on or off."
"I...would reply...that I'm not entirely sure."
"Then I'd say no, hypothetical Amara can't have dinner with a guy who doesn't know what he wants," Amara smiled, challenging him to go further.
But Spiderman just shrugged and said, "You're right, let's change the subject. Okay, go!"
"What? Me?"
"Yeah, go!" He said in feigned exasperation.
Amara tried to think of a worthy question, she had thought she already knew everything she needed to know. She looked at his costume, all red.
"Why red?" After seeing the confusion on his face, she clarified, "I mean, for your costume, why'd you pick red?"
"Honestly?" He shrugged, "Red's my favourite colour."
"Seriously? That's it?" Amara asked. He nodded in response.
"What's your favourite colour?" The hero asked Amara.
"Wow, I guess I've pushed us down a rabbit hole of really deep questions," Amara said, sarcastically.
"Just answer the question, it's all I could think of!"
"Alright, alright!" She thought for a moment. She thought about the navy night sky that comforts her, about the blue oceans that calm her and also the fact that she had never seen a bad shade of blue in her life. After a moment has passed, she said confidently, "Blue."
"Really? Any particular reason?"
"It's just pretty. Anything pretty I've ever seen in my life has been blue, so I started to associate it with... happy memories? I don't know," she laughed at how weird she sounded, "Sorry, that's really stupid."
"No, it's not. I asked you why and you told me. It's a better answer than I could've given."
Amara couldn't figure out what, exactly, it was about this man that she felt comfortable with. It was like she was with Pietro, but it feels... different, somehow? Why? She didn't know the answer to that just yet, but she will, with time.
After a few more moments spent in silence, Spiderman said, "So, I've been meaning to ask, How are you finding Queens?"
Amara playfully smiled, "Honestly? Not as boring as I thought it'd be. I mean you guys have a superhero mascot! Let's just say you don't get a lot of that where I'm from."
"Of course not! I'm one of a kind!"
"Really? I should probably stop talking to that guy in his 'Spiderman' suit, down there, huh?"
"Probably," He said, shrugging in amusement, "But don't worry, you can talk to the real guy anytime you want."
"Nah...It's not the same. That guy was my friend," she looked at Spiderman accusingly, "He kept me company when my other superhero friend was too busy making friends with other superheroes to allow a simple civilian to talk to the real guy anytime she wants."
"Amara Rogers, are you jealous of my new super friend, the Aura, herself?"
"No way!"
"Well, you should be! She's so cool and badass and has these awesome powers."
"Yeah? I bet I could take her in a fight," Amara internally laughed at how stupid she was being... but she was having fun, so whatever works.
"You wanna bet on that?"
"Oh no, I don't make bets - I'm a sophisticated young lady," she said as she sat in the most uncomfortable and ridiculous position Spiderman had ever seen.
He laughed, "If we did bet... I'd put my money on you."
Amara smiled, "Smart choice."
Amara couldn't understand why everything felt so natural around Peter, what was it about him that made him so... so... likeable?
"What about you? How's it been fighting crime with the big shots?" Amara asked, curious about his real opinions on her superhero persona.
"Oh, you mean Aura? Yeah, she's great, super cool..." He trailed off.
"...but," Amara asked, encouraging him to go on.
He hesitated, "...But, I don't think she likes me."
Amara froze. She was not expecting that! She knew that she had to make Aura and Amara have different personalities in order to keep up her cover, but she hadn't realised that she had made Aura seem so... aloof, "I'm sure that's not true. I mean, what's not to like?"
Spiderman laughed, "Thanks, but I think you'll realise soon enough that everybody, other than you, I hope, finds me a little annoying."
Amara's heart sank. She never meant for Peter to feel that way, and now she felt awful. Peter had been so nice to her when she first started school, taking the subway and making her feel like she actually had friends. Even as Spiderman, he made Amara feel important. And this is how she repays him - he feels this way because of her. It's her fault, and she was going to fix it, starting with Amara and ending with Aura.
She reached out to touch his hand, causing him to meet her eyes. "If that's what these people think of you, then their opinions don't matter, because they're wrong. You're one of the sweetest people I know and I don't even know your real name or what you look like. That's how amazing you are; you managed to win me over with just your charm and I don't even know you. Besides, we're friends and trust me when I say that I would never be friends with someone I found annoying." Amara saw the hero's mask shift around his face, suggesting a smile underneath. "Are you smiling?" Amara asked, playfully.
"Maybe..." he paused as if to think about something and then readjusted their hands so that he was now holding hers, "Thank you... friend."
"You're welcome, superhero friend," they smiled at each other and Amara could've sworn that they held eye contact for a little longer than was needed, so she broke away from his gaze and simultaneously realised that she was still holding his hand. It was odd, how comfortable her hand felt in his, how natural it felt. But she wasn't supposed to be thinking about that, so she took her hand away and stood up, "This was fun, but I kind of need you to take me back down to the ground; I have a curfew and I'm already pushing it."
"Right, yeah, sure. Let's go!"
—————
Peter was still holding Amara in his arms, even after they had safely descended to the ground. He wasn't letting go, and she wasn't pulling away, they simply stood there, looking at each other.
Peter stared into Amara's eyes, he loved her eyes, he thought they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen and ever will see. In that moment, Spiderman thought about revealing his identity to this girl standing in his arms. He had been tempted recently, but today he felt that was seconds away from telling her everything. He was ready for Amara Rogers to know everything about him, he didn't want to lie to her anymore. And if Amara hadn't started speaking, Peter was sure he would have done it.
"Are you gonna let go of me?" She asked.
"Are you gonna pull away from me?" Peter countered.
Time had frozen, or at least that's what it felt like for Peter as the both of them stood, still holding on to each other, still looking into each others eyes and still refusing to pull away. Peter thought this moment would never end, in fact, he prayed it never would.
But that was when Amara cleared her throat and stepped back. All of a sudden, Peter felt the gap between them both and he wanted nothing more than to close it once more.
"I- I should probably go," Amara said, stepping backwards slowly.
"Yeah, see you around?"
"See you around."
Peter watched as she began to walk away, and he was just about to turn and swing away, when all of a sudden, he saw Amara turn around, her eyes landing on him.
For some reason he felt compelled to stay where he was as Amara Rogers walked back towards him.
When she was standing in front of him once more, he asked, "What happened?"
But she didn't answer. Instead she leaned forwards and planted a kiss on Peter's covered cheek, "I'll see you soon, bug boy," she smirked and turned away leaving Spiderman frozen in wonder.
She laughed as she looked back to wave at him and his hand was touching his cheek as he waved slowly with the other.
I'll see you soon, Peter.
(A/N: Hi there! I just wanted to leave a note saying how grateful I am for every reader on this story. And also thank you for being patient with me in terms of updates, I've just been struggling a lot lately but I appreciate the support, no matter how small, from all of you!! Xxx)