A/N: one of the couple pre- spider bite/ Spider-Man ideas that I have in my head, and the first to be written down.
*It's Only A Word-Part Five will be up on Sunday!*
Warnings: Peter's budding superpowers leads to a pretty sticky situation. (I'm sorry, but not really) And little teensy bit of language, like, borderline PG-13 language
"I see you staring at him again," Your best friend harshly pulled you out of your thoughts, and you jumped at the sudden thrust back into reality.
"W-what? No, I wasn't staring at anyone." You argued quickly, dropping your eyesight from the back of Peter's head and to your Global Studies worksheet.
"You're such a liar, Y/N, just talk to him!" She laughed, shaking her head before focusing back on her work as the teacher's head shot up and glared at her for talking.
"You know I can't," You whispered back, glancing at her. "What if he doesn't like me?"
Frowning, she waited until the teacher shifted her gaze before speaking. "Are we even talking about the same person? Peter Parker? Y/N, that boy is probably the biggest nerd in the school, have you seen him? He wears glasses, is in band and robotics club, and gets straight A's. Dude, you are so out of his league, he has to like you. Pssh, he probably won't even know how to talk to you, he'll like you too much!"
"That's not what I was talking about," You muttered embarrassingly, feeling your face heat up and you shrank in your seat a little at your best friends smirk.
"Honestly Y/N, I'm not sure why you even like him. He's not even cute cute."
"What?" You heard yourself argue before you even thought about it, and quieted when she raised her eyebrows teasingly at you. "Yes he is," You admitted sheepishly, feeling your face flush even more.
"And here I am, thinking I might've taught you better, but you'd rather stare at the class weirdo instead of the football team with me," She sighed. "But I'm your bestie, and I support any crush you have, so here's my plan."
"Plan?" You shook your head. "N-no, no plan. I don't want a plan."
"Why not?" She turned to you, glancing at Peter quickly, and then the teacher, who was reading. "You've been pining over this guy since 7th grade. I think it's about time you have your first real conversation with him that isn't school related."
"That won't go well. I won't even be able to string a sentence together!"
"You're hopeless!" She sighed, flinging her hands up and bringing them back down on the desk. "Utterly and completely in love with him, but hopeless."
"Shut up, Y/F/N," You mumbled, taking one last look at Peter, who had pushed his glasses up while he stared out of the window, and you had a clear view of the side of his face, and felt yourself smiling before you put your pen back to your paper.
Maybe your best friend couldn't figure out why you had the biggest crush on Peter Parker, but you definitely did. The entire time you've known him, he's always been so passionate about everything he did. He worked so hard in band, being part of the first trumpets (you had joined band the year after he had. Not because of Peter, you told yourself, because you genuinely did enjoy the class), and he was so smart, seemingly naturally. He was always so nice to everyone, and just seemed like an overall great guy.
You didn't know what Y/F/N was talking about, but Peter was probably the most attractive person you had ever laid eyes on. She probably wasn't lying when she said you were out of his league. At least to her, you were. But in your mind, it was the other way around.
She was pretty popular in Midtown. Sure, every kid here was smart, everyone having had to pass the entrance exam, but she— along with you and definitely Peter— was one of the ones to get above 90. She was really pretty too, a cheerleader, so you being her best friend gave you some kind of school popularity as well. You were automatically given the title of cheerleader without you actually being one.
So maybe, Peter did think you were out of his league, when in reality, you were just like him. A band geek and total nerd. Except, he was still so much better than you, you thought.
Your thoughts drifted back to Peter while you were sitting on your bed at home, doing your Global homework. You remembered what you had been thinking about before Y/F/N interrupted you, an alternate reality where you somehow could work up enough courage to actually talk to him.
The days continued on, and you still watched Peter from afar, nothing ever changing. Until it did.
It was the day after the freshman field trip to Oscorp Industries.
You hadn't noticed it at first, but the longer you sat in Global, about five minutes after class started, you noticed Peter was different.
You narrowed your eyes, trying to focus on the boy who was an entire class away. First you noticed he couldn't sit still, his leg bouncing up and down, then that his glasses were gone. Not just off, but nowhere in sight. Then while it was one of the later things, how his shirt seemed more fitted rather than loose. Was something wrong?
Y/F/N pulled you out of your thoughts, and again caught you staring at Peter, but this time, she wasn't teasing you for it.
"What the hell happened to Peter?" She asked in a whisper. "He got muscles overnight or something! Maybe he wore a lot more sweatshirts than we thought."
"Y-yeah," You agreed, but you couldn't care less at the moment.
"And no glasses?" She laughed lightly to herself. "It's like that jawline appeared out of nowhere." You saw her stare over at you in awe, but your eyesight hadn't left Peter. But instead of drooling over him, you were confused and concerned, and she noticed that. "Is something wrong? Y/N?"
"Not with me, with Peter," you answered, quickly looking over at her before your eyes went back to him.
"Okay, this is a little extreme," She rolled her eyes. "You can't just not have a crush on him now because he's attractive. He's still a weirdo, but now he's a hot weirdo. I would've thought that would be your dream!"
"What? Y/F/N, no! I-I still do, but just look at him!" You gestured across the room. "He can't sit still!"
"So?" She shrugged. "Maybe he has ADHD, and forgot to take his meds today."
"You honestly don't think anything is wrong?" You asked her, and she shook her head.
She dropped the subject for now, not without trying to get you to make your move now "before someone else does", of course. But you were still concerned, Peter distracting you more than usual. He wasn't normal, something had changed, and you knew it.
Your eyes were on him again at the end of the period, and you saw him visibly flinch as the bell went off.
You felt the fear of talking to him, as much as you wanted to, take it's spot in the pit of your stomach. It was basically multiplied by two now.
You couldn't help but to stay focused on Peter as you walked to your next class, only finding more reason to stay trained on him. He was walking as if he was unsure of his steps, almost like he was dizzy. Usually you turned the corner coming to get to your next class while Peter kept going forward, but Peter and you hadn't even made it there before you saw him get bumped into the lockers, and instead of just brushing it off and keep walking, he groaned and slumped to the ground.
Your eyes widened and you had a moment of panic. The few other kids in the hall didn't seem to care that it looked like Peter was having an existential crisis and just kept walking. In a moment, the second bell would ring, and the two of you would be the only students in the hall if you didn't leave him there.
Of course you couldn't leave him there.
The second bell rang, and as you walked closer, you noticed Peters hands fly to his ears to try and muffle the sound. He was in pain.
"Peter?" You announced yourself as you crouched down next to him, your voice making him jump, and he looked up at you, his eyes wide with surprise at first but then they quickly squinted. At first you thought it was because he wasn't wearing his glasses, but then realized that it might not have been that at all, and that the hall light was on the ceiling directly behind you.
"H-hi," He managed to get out. "I'm fine. Do-don't worry,"
Pushing down the butterflies you got from hearing his voice, talking to you, you shook your head.
"I-I don't know if fine is a word to describe you right now," You offered your hand to him, and he stared at you curiously and you tried to stop the red you knew was going to appear in your face for meeting his brown eyes. "Let- let me help you."
You gulped down your heart as you felt it start to do flips when he took your hand and the both of you stood up, Peter more carefully than you. "Really Y/N, I'll be okay," You noticed his voice was unsure of himself, and you bit back the question, you know my name? "N-now you're late to class, because of me."
"I can get a pass from the nurse, come on," You tell him, giving him a small smile, but then unable to control the heat you felt rush to your face when you realized you were still holding his hand. You gaze flickered down, and when you looked back up, Peter was staring at you after having done the same thing, his face a light pink as well but you couldn't tell if it was because of you or what was causing him to be like this.
The both of you let go and your hands dropped to your sides.
"What- what happened? You're really not okay," You asked him softly after the two of you had started walking. You had kept your distance, but when you had turned the corner at the end of the hall and he almost lost balance, you made the decision to walk closer so that you could attempt to catch him if he somehow fell.
"I uh, I got bit? By, um," He paused, and you could see on his face that he wasn't sure what to say. "By something,"
"What the hell?" You exclaimed. "We need to get to the nurse now! Damn it, you could be dying!"
You can tell your reaction took Peter by surprise, especially when you placed your palm on his forehead, reaching up, but you pulled back when you noticed something else. Not only did he not have a temperature, but he was also taller. Not by much, but you noticed.
"I-I don't think I'm dying Y/N," He started. "I just think—"
"Where did you get bit?" You asked, but it was a little demanding. The craziest thought made the two of you stop walking.
"Um, my- my hand—" he started to lift his right hand, but you grabbed it before he could finish the action himself. "It's not as bad as it was last night," He told you.
"A spider bite..." You trailed off, finishing the thought in your head. The two punctures were unmistakeable on the small bump in between his thumb and forefinger. Puzzle pieces were slowly forming in your head, and you hadn't realized Peter was standing a little awkwardly in front of you until you came out of your thoughts, dropping his hand. "You got bit by the missing spider at Oscorp yesterday!" You stated, sure of yourself. "The one they were trying to scale down the severity of it being gone, one of the ones they were experimenting on!"
"M-maybe," He stuttered. "It's not that big of a deal—"
"Not that big of a deal?" You interrupted him, your crush on him not limiting your speech anymore as you thought about the side effects. "Peter, you do remember what they were talking about, right? They put those spiders through a whole bunch of experimental radioactive therapy! Any one of their venoms would've killed you before experimentation! Who knows what might happen to you!" You started freaking out, and you hadn't realized it made Peter nervous until he grabbed your wrist to stop you from pacing.
"I know what happened. Kind of." He looked you in the eye, and shut his eyes, sighing.
"Tell me now, so we can tell the nurse," you went to turn away, but almost fell back because Peter was still holding onto you. "Can you let go of me please?" You asked him confusedly. "We gotta go."
"Uh," Peter pulled you back and you stumbled towards him. "I can't."
"Peter, let go of me," you repeated carefully. You hadn't thought of him acting like this before.
"I can't!" He repeated, this time, panic filling his eyes.
"Ow!" You exclaimed as you stared down at where his hand was wrapped around your wrist and he had tried moving his fingers but pulled your skin as well.
"I-I'm so sorry! But I can't let go!" You stared at him, the widest your eyes could go, and he started to breath quicker, panicking. "This- this is one of the things that happened. This is a side effect from the spider- I-I told you—"
"Oh gods," you breathed out. "Peter, stop."
"I literally can't let go, Y/N!"
"That's not what I'm talking about. There's a monitor coming!" You whispered harshly, having seen the black uniform flash from around the corner.
"Oh no,"
"Follow me," you told him, as if he had a choice.
"Where are we going?" As the two of you stumbled down the hall.
"Janitors closet," you grimaced as you said it, you only knowing there was one near here because Y/F/N talked frequently about 'hiding' out there.
"O-oh, I'm not sure I really want to—"
"We have no choice unless you want to explain to the monitor why we're not in class and why you're stuck to me," you tell him, opening the unlocked door and stepping in, quickly pulling him in with you and shutting the door.
"Right." He gulped, taking as much as he could of a step back to put as much distance between you, which resulted in the both of you awkwardly holding your arms in front of you. "I'm sorry," he cringed.
"So you're sticky." You stated, feeling around the wall for the light switch and when you finally found it, staring wildly at Peter. "What the hell else happened?" you weren't sure where all this confidence was coming from, but you prayed it didn't go away until you got answers.
"I uh, got taller, um, stronger. Like all of my senses are heightened, I don't even have to wear my glasses anymore!" You saw the smile form on his face, and you forced yourself not to get lost in it. "But sometimes it's a lot and it's hard for me to focus."
"That's great," you said in disbelief. "But why would you even come to school today? If you have all of these new powers, and no control over them?"
"Well, I thought I would be fine with the sticky thing," he shrugged. "After I freaked out about not being able to get off the floor when I woke up in the middle of the night, I figured out when I relax, I can let go."
"So let go!"
"Well, you panicking made me panic, and now I have to calm down first!"
There was silence in the closet before you broke it by laughing, confusing Peter even more.
"This isn't—" you had to stop because another round of giggles had you bent over, laughing. "This is not how I thought the first time we talked would go!" You laughed, having to grab onto Peter's other arm to not fall over and bring him down with you.
"Wha-what?"
"And I was freaking out about not being able to actually get any words out!" You kept laughing, to the point where Peter had to stand you up and shush you, reminding you that you were hiding and trying not to get caught. "I'm sorry!" You giggled. "It's just, I didn't think today I would talk about superpowers and be hiding in a closet with my crush stuck to me!"
"Wha- crush?"
Your head shot up and your smile dropped. "Oh shit," You didn't mean to admit the one secret you were hiding to the person himself.
"You—" Peter grinned, rubbing his neck with his other hand. "You have a crush on me?"
"You have superpowers?" You tried to downplay the situation, get the topic off of you before it started.
"Yeah, yeah, but you have a crush. On me?"
"Yes, on you," you admitted softly.
"That's crazy!" He laughed. "Why would you ever be interested in me?" He met your eyes. "I'm me! I mean, you liked me before today?"
"Well, yeah," you blinked a couple of times. "For a while, now,"
"I like you too!" He blurted with a grin, making your breath hitch for a moment. "I just- I never thought you would ever like me back. I mean, no one likes me,"
"Which is ridiculous, by the way," you muttered. "This would've been a better conversation if you weren't attached to me and we weren't potentially going to get in trouble later."
"Yeah," He smiled weakly and apologetically at you.
"This is crazy, Peter," You shook your head. "You're some of spider, um, spider-boy!"
"Spider-Man," You heard him murmur and you looked at him. "I was thinking Spider-Man,"
"Alright, Spider-Man." You snickered, ignoring the short glare he gave you. "How about we get unstuck and figure things out from there?"
"I like that plan."