Make Way for the Spiders

"What do you wear to a skate park?" I asked, searching my closet.

"How am I suppose to know?" Mom replied, sitting on my bed. "I never dated a skater boy when I was your age."

I sighed, rolling my eyes at her. "He's not a skater boy, Mom."

"Just wear something casual. And warm," she told me. "It's supposed to get chilly today."

"Warm and casual," I muttered. "Okay. How about skinny jeans and..." I pulled out a black shirt that I had bought earlier this week; it had Spiderman's symbol in red on the chest.

"How is that suppose to be warm?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, and staring at the shirt warily.

"Well, I'll be wearing jeans. I'll be fine." I went through my shoes, and found my white and black checkered DC's. I glanced back up at Mom, and saw that she was still staring at the shirt. "Mom? You okay?"

"Hm?" she asked, looking up.

"Whats up with you today?" I asked.

She shrugged, not taking her eyes off the symbol. "Last night when I came to check up on you, I swear I heard voices. And then I thought I saw Spiderman on the ceiling..."

"I think you were half asleep. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary last night." Seeing Spiderman has become ordinary, anyway.

She shrugged. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I am," I joked. "Now get out so I can get ready."

Mom chuckled before walking out. "I'll be leaving in about half an hour," she called. "When are you leaving?"

"Peter will be here at about noon, for lunch," I said, standing in the doorway.

"He's eating lunch here? And I'm missing it?" she asked, turning around.

I wasn't sure if she was upset about missing lunch or missing Peter. I just shook my head and closed my door so I could get dressed. I straightened my hair and brushed my teeth, then did did my makeup with natural colors. By the time I was done, Mom had left, and Peter would be here in about half an hour.

I sat down on the couch and turned the TV to Looney Tunes, but I couldn't focus on Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. My mind kept wondering to last night. I almost kissed Peter, and then Spiderman kissed me. And I kissed back. I didn't even know who he was under that mask. At least I knew Peter, and saw him everyday, unlike Spiderman who I only see at night.

And when my mom came in... I almost had a heart attack. It was a good thing Spiderman had heard her coming, or I would have been so busted. Which reminds me, I should really find a new place for that mirror...

There was a knock at the door, and I jumped, having being so caught up in my thoughts. I looked at the clock and saw that it was noon. Looney Tunes was over, and Porky Pig was stuttering his farewell. I turned off the television, and walked to the door.

Peter was standing there, with his skateboard in hand. "Hey Rayne," he said, grinning. He looked me over, and laughed. "Nice outfit. Fan of Spiderman?"

I laughed too. "You could say that." I moved aside so he could come in.

He was wearing his usual attire: grey sweat pants and a t-shirt, with a black hoodie over it. His hood was down for once, and his hair was windswept.

"Where's your mom?" he asked, looking around.

"She had work," I told him, "so she won't be interrogating you." I giggled, and lead him to the kitchen area. "What do you want to eat? I can make soup, or sandwiches, or spaghetti... Your choice."

"Sandwiches are fine with me." He shrugged, and sat down on one of the chairs.

"You know what? Scratch that. I'm not making you a sandwich, because that adds on to the stereotype thingy," I said, sticking my tongue out.

He was silent for a few seconds before cracking up laughing. "I wasn't implying that at all," he said. "You're the one that made the connection."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Soup it is then. Want to help?"

"Me? Cook?" He looked shocked.

"Sure, why not?" I laughed.

"Well, I've never really cooked before..." he trailed off, looking unsure.

"Relax," I told him, "you can just chop the vegetables."

He grinned. "Show me what to chop."

I laughed, and handed him a knife, then pulled out some carrots and celery to put in the chicken noodle soup. "Try not to cut yourself," I joked, pulling out the cutting board and giving it to him.

"I'm not gonna cut myself," he mumbled, and started to dice. "I know how to handle a knife."

I pulled out a pot, and filled it with water before setting it on the stove to boil. While I waited for that to boil, I went back to my room and grabbed iPod, and placing it on the docking station that was in the kitchen. 'Thrift Shop' started to blare, and Peter just shook his head, laughing.

"What?" I asked. "You don't like my music?"

"Your music taste surprises me, that's all," he said, going back to chopping the carrots.

"You're not the first one to tell me that," I chuckled. We were silent for a bit, and it was a while before I knocked up the courage to ask the question that's been bugging me lately. "So, erm, Gwen..." I stuttered.

The knife in Peters hand slipped, and he cursed as his palm was cut.

"Are you okay?" I asked, rushing over.

"I'm fine," he said, trying to hide his hand, but I took it anyway, and saw it wasn't that bad. I turned the sink on, and placed his hand under the cool running water, to clean the wound.

"I thought you said you could handle a knife," I teased.

"Yeah, well... I got distracted," he said, avoiding eye contact. "Anyway, what were you saying?"

I bit my lip, and grabbed a bandaid from one of the cabinets. "Nothing," I said, gently placing the bandage over the cut. "It's not that important."

He studied me, and made no move to take his hand away from mine. "If you have a question, I'll answer it."

My eyes got caught in his, and I remembered last night, before Gwen interrupted us. Peter seemed to have power over me, and against my will, my words tumbled out. "I was just wondering... 'cause Gwen told me that you used to be thing... and-"

"Gwen told you that?" he interrupted.

I nodded.

"What else did she say?" he asked.

"Nothing, really," I rushed. "All she really mentioned was that you guys went out for a while." And that you kept secrets, and to be careful around you.

For obvious reasons, I kept that last part out.

Peter held my gaze for a little bit longer, before narrowing his eyes. "I don't believe you," he stated.

I blushed, and forced myself to look away. "Um... if we don't get this soup ready soon, we'll never get to the skate park," I said, returning to the food. Peter tried to finish the vegetables, but I pushed him out of the kitchen, making him watch TV while I finished up.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

We finally made it to the skate part, and within the first five minutes, Peter had to pull me out of the way of not one, but two guys doing tricks.

"I told you I'd get injured here," I told him, sticking to his side.

"You haven't gotten hurt yet," he chuckled, grabbing my arm, and yanking me to the side a split second before I would've gotten run over.

Small tingles were running down my neck, both warm and cold. However, I was used to the warm chills that I got when I was around Peter; not only him, but Spiderman as well. When I asked Spiderman about the tingly sensations, he explained that it was spidey senses. He told me about how he always got cold tingles down his neck when he was in danger.

My guess was that I was in a lot of danger here.

"The only reason why I'm not dead yet, is because you keep pulling me out of the way," I sighed.

He shrugged. "True." He placed his skate board on the ground, and stood on top of it, rolling towards a ramp. "Want me to teach you?" he asked.

"I'll just end up on my face," I warned. "Maybe later though, when there's less people to embarrass myself around. For now, I'll watch."

Peter laughed at me, pointed out a line of benches where a few other girls were sitting. "You're not the only one who comes here without knowing how to skate," he teased.

I stuck my tongue out, then winced as my 'spidey senses' seemed to scream at me.

Peter all of a sudden got tense, but soon relaxed. "I'm gonna go say hey to some of the guys, and I'll be right back, okay?" he said.

I nodded, and went over to an empty bench sitting down. I pulled out my phone to check the time, but before I could look at the screen, a commotion started up across the park. The girls around me all looked up at the same time, to see a woman levitating in the air, with electricity sparking all around her.

The woman had long, straight blonde hair, and her eyes were glowing red. She wore a long, black, mermaid style dress, and the electricity around her made her hair stand on end. Her red lips were laughing evilly, and everyone around me began to scream in terror.

I was frozen in fear, and my feet refused to move. Everyone was long gone, and I lost sight of everything around me. Everything was black out, and the only thing I saw was the evil, flying lady.

"Rayne, what are you still doing here?" someone shouted. Whoever it was shook my shoulder. "Rayne, move!"

I blinked, and turned to see Spiderman. "W...what are you doing here?" I asked.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?" he asked, disbelieving. "I'm doing my job. What are you doing here?"

"I...I-"

"Nevermind, look out!" Spiderman tackled me to the ground, and I gasped when a bolt of lightning zapped the ground where we were just standing.

The woman laughed, and static claimed the air.

"Rayne, you have to go!" Spiderman demanded, but made no move to get off of me. His voice... I know that voice.

"Who are you?" I asked.

Spiderman said nothing, just jumped up, and began to fight the villainess again.

I boosted up, and leaned on my elbows, refusing to move from my spot. I watched as Spiderman and the mystery woman fought, my eyes wide. The fight lasted fifteen minutes, with neither of them getting the upper hand. Finally, the woman stepped back, studying him.

"You fight well," she said, then turned to me. "I'll get you another time."

Spiderman turned to face me, and I'm sure he saw the panic on my face. Without saying anything, Spiderman turned and jumped to attack the lady again, but she disappeared in a swirl of black clouds.

I realized that no one was left in the park, which was probably a good thing. Spiderman walked over, and helped me up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"What... What did she mean by that?" I asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm going to figure it out."

I shuffled my feet, staring at the ground. I thought about Peter. Where was he? He probably slipped past in the crowd.

Spiderman started to walk away, but I grabbed his arm. "Wait," I said.

He turned to face me.

Without saying a word, I reached my hands up to the bottom of the mask. I started to lift it up, but his hands grabbed my wrists. "Don't," he said coldly.

I narrowed my eyes. "Spiderman, let go of me."

"You don't want to do that," he said, loosening his grip.

I ignored him, and lifted his mask, up above his nose, and off his head.

His eyes held mine, and he looked worried, scared. His dark hair was matted down, but was out of his face, and I could clearly see it.

Peter.

I gasped. "You... you're Spiderman?"

He sighed, and closed his eyes. "I told you that you didn't want to do it."

"You... and you..." I trailed off, shaking my head. "We have a lot to talk about."

I had his mask in my tight grip, and Peter had to pry my fingers off of it. He slipped it back on, and wrapped his arm around my waist. "Come on," he said, shooting a web off onto a nearby building.

Grudgingly, I wrapped my arms around his neck, and we swung into the sky. "Where are we even going?" I asked, having to raise my voice over the wind.

He didn't answer, just landed on the roof of my apartment building. "Rayne, I know you must be shocked," he said.

"Oh, no, not at all," I spat. "I mean, it's only my best friend turning out to be freaking Spiderman, who, by the way, has been teaching me how to use these stupid powers. And, he kissed me!"

Peter was silent, watching me rant.

"Now I know why Gwen warned me about you!" I yelled.

"Wait, warned you?" Peter shouted back. "You told me that she just told you about how we used to date!"

"Well, I obviously wasn't going to tell you that!"

"Well, I would like to know when someone is spreading rumors about me."

"Well, I would like to know when my crush-slash-best friend is a superhero!" I covered my mouth at what I said.

During our fight, Peter had ripped his mask off, and I could clearly see his look of shock.

"I... I didn't mean that," I said timidly. "I just..."

Peter took a giant step towards me, and put his hand on the back of my neck. "Crush?" He smirked. "As in, you like me."

"Now I don't know," I admitted. "It would be nice if you were honest with me. That's probably the only reason why you started talking to me, isn't it? Because you knew I could do the weird web thing."

He shrugged. "Yeah, it is."

I blinked, stung by his answer.

"But that's not the reason why I kept talking to you," he finished.

The warm tingles on my neck intesified, and I now understood why I felt them around both Peter and Spiderman. They were the same person.

"What was the point?" I asked.

He looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you even offer to teach me, that first night we met?" I wondered.

"There's something about you," he told me, furrowing his brow. "Something I can't quite place yet."

His hand on the back of my neck tightened, and I felt him pulling me closer to him.

I shoved him away, and stepped towards the edge of the building. "Don't bother coming tonight," I whispered, before swinging down to my window.

-_-_-_-_-PETER'S POV-_-_-_-_-

I watched Rayne swing down the building, probably going back to her room.

I debated going after her, but I decided that she probably wanted some space. But I would see her tonight.

I wasn't going to leave this unfinished.