This Is Me Not Being Able To Decide Whether Peter’s A Gryffindor Or Ravenclaw

Do you have a best friend too? I did. You did? He died in my arms… after he tried to kill me.

just andrew in the background of this conversation

Omg your Peter Parker Hogwarts Au 🥺 I love love love it! Can’t wait for part 2 💛

Thank you bb 🥺 made my morning to read this I’m really hoping I’ll have part 2 up within the week I finally hammered out exactly how I want it to go I just need to start writing it

Peter Parker is my favourite frenetic Jewish boy with anxiety and beautiful hands who is also bisexual 🕸

Do you have any daddy Andrew!Peter headcannons?

Lol gonna assume you mean as a father with kids and not in the other daddy sense.

But of course I do!

Infant and Toddler Years:

Peter cried happy tears the first time he ever bottle fed his baby.

He insists on trying all of the baby food! He says it’s because if he thinks it’s gross, the baby will think it’s gross, but really he’s just curious. 

Peter never let’s his kids fall. He catches them every time. To the point that his partner has to remind him it’s okay for kids to fall down sometimes because they have to learn to get back up.

When he’s too lazy to put up baby gates, he just shoots webs over the open doors instead.

Uses his webs like a baby leash whenever the kids runs too far ahead 

All of his kids have him wrapped around their finger and they know it

Has the baby shark song and dance memorized. Gets stuck in his head all the time. Has 100% caught some bad guys while singing it under his breath. 

Young Kiddos: 

If he’s ever out late and misses bedtime, Peter will crawl into their beds and snuggle with them until he falls asleep too. So many nights his partner has been looking around the house for him only to find him passed out next to their kids

His kids ask him for Spider-Man stories for bedtime every night. He makes them child-friendly and often adds things like dragons into the mix for fun.

“Don’t tell mommy that I let you have three bowls of ice cream for dinner.” *later that night* “I swear I have no idea why they’re throwing up! Must be something going around the school.” 

His daughter has a fascination with bugs. Peter takes her on bug hunts through Central Park to see what they can find every weekend. They bring nets, jars, and magnifying glasses to study them. 

Always has his nails badly painted and in rainbow colors because his daughter wanted to do them.

Can braid his daughters hair better than any of the other dads

Makes all their Halloween costumes by hand. Makes the whole family have a theme each year. His favorite was their Addam’s Family one. (Baby number three was made that night.) 

Dresses up as Spider-Man and fully commits to pretending to chase the monsters out from under the bed whenever the kids get scared. 

The kids first sleepover ever is at Aunt May’s house. Peter calls to check in on them every hour. 

He’s the first one to volunteer as a helper for any of their school field trips. 

Pre-teens:

Brings them on movie dates every week and takes them out for dinner afterwards. Each kid gets their own special week night with dad to make sure that he stays a trusted person in their lives.

His kids are never afraid to tell him anything. 

When they go through a period of being bullied, Peter let’s them skip school and sleep in. Then he puts on their favorite music and forces them to have a dance party with him until they’re laughing again. 

His son loves the Percy Jackson book series so Peter reads them all too. That way he can have conversations with his son that speak to his interests. 

Peter often brings flowers home for his partner. His daughter mentions how pretty the flowers are one day. Peter then makes sure to bring her home a bouquet every time too. 

Teaches his kids how to skateboard. 

Teenagers:

When they’re too stressed out with all their high school classes, Peter will sneakily do their homework for them some nights. 

Spider-Man will watch over any first dates to make sure everyone is behaving themselves! 

Treats all their friends as if they’re his kids as well. Basically just adopts all the strays esp if they have crappy parents. 

Loves their emo phase. Listens to all their emo music. Knows the members of all the bands. 

He gets so excited when his daughter tells him that she’s into photography. Buys her a brand new camera. 

His daughter calls him drunk from a party one time. She says that her friends all got in the car to drive home but she knew better. He immediately goes to pick her up. Tells her how smart she was for calling him and brings her home safely. He takes care of her hangover the next day and waits until she’s recovered before talking to her about the dangers of drinking. He never yells at her. Never raises his voice. 

Will spend hours roaming the museum of natural history with his son.

Cheers the loudest at his daughter's volleyball games. She gets so embarrassed but he loves it. 

College:

Holds it together while dropping off. Lifts all the heavy stuff for everyone when rearranging the dorm room. Sobs the whole way home. 

Calls his kids every single night and insists they tell him all about their day.

If he doesn’t hear from them all day, he starts panicking and threatening to drive up to the college. His partner has to calm him down and remind him that they are adult now. They need a little space sometimes.

Peter doesn’t do well as an empty nester so he starts volunteering at a local youth group. He becomes a mentor to many young kids. He’s also conveniently absent on the one day Spider-Man comes to visit the kids. They excitedly tell him all about it the next day though while he sits there and smiles.  

That was fun! Give me more headcannons! 

The Adventures of Spider-Man and Moonlight

A/N: this is arguably my favorite chapter so I hope you like it!

Summary: In which we see just how much tension is between Spider-Man and Moonlight and how their new partnership is going

Word count: 3.1k

Warnings: violence, injury, sexual innuendos 

Chapter 3: Hot Dogs and Quesadillas

Moonlight stared at Spider-Man from the roof she was on and wondered what he looked like under his mask. She had no idea what he looked like at all. He had some semblance of her face since her mask only covered the upper portion of her face and he knew her hair color, though she wore a brown wig anytime she wasn’t home or running around New York as Moonlight, so he a pretty good idea of what she looked like but Luna knew nothing about his face. Did his face match his voice? Was he as good looking as she pictured in her head? She pictured him with a wide set, strong jaw and blue eyes, she loved blue eyes, with pitch black hair that was a little lengthy, maybe grazing the bottom portion of his neck but as she got to know him her image of his face evolved. At first she thought he might have blue eyes but then as she got to know him she decided he was a brown eye kind of guy because of the way he loved cats and dogs equally and didn’t prefer one over the other. She had wanted to think he had black hair but she was starting to lean toward blonde lately because of the way the sun always seemed to bathe him so beautifully.

Of course, this was a fantasy based on his voice and it took her back to the point of: she had no idea what he looked like. They’d been working together for six entire weeks now and she knew as much about him as the people of New York did. 

Luna smirked as she floated down onto the roof of the Vanderbilt, being as silent as she possibly could. Spidey was overlooking the city with his arms crossed, a slow night hitting them for the first time since Moonlight had fought with Spider-Man the night she got shot. It had been a whirlwind ever since.

Moonlight was on the front page of every paper and magazine in New York City and the people loved her. Little girls everywhere were wearing crescent moons on their chests and masks just like hers, claiming that they wanted to be a superhero just like Moonlight. It was something she hadn’t anticipated and it made her strangely emotional- in a good way. She’d gone her whole life without very much attention, save for one crazed scientist from Florida, so to be the current topic was a lot. There were, of course, some people who thought she was a menace just like Spider-Man, but for the most part the public loved her. The one thing she could go without was the catcalls from men she got when she was Moonlight and the vulgar comments and propositions made to her. It really bothered her and she tried to ignore it and she would never let it show just how it made her want to shrink away but it always put something in the pit of her stomach. 

So things were going well. For the first time in her life Luna felt like she knew what she was created for and what her purpose was and why she was given her powers. It was to help people. 

Having a purpose had changed her. She was happier and lighter and she was starting to actually make friends with the people at work. She laughed more and there was a perk in her step. She’d started singing in the shower and genuinely meaning it when she told people to have a nice day. She didn't know she could ever feel so good. She’d never felt that way before and it made her just know that she was doing what she was meant to be doing. 

As Luna floated over to Spider-Man she held her breath, really wanting to catch him off guard and maybe even scare him a little. He was always prepared and she wanted to catch him unprepared for once. 

Right when she was about to put her hands to tickle his sides, he spun around and captured her wrists in his hands tight, almost a little too tightly, making her gasp. He was so close to her that she could almost see through the tinted eyes of his mask and feel his breath on her lips. 

They stood there for a second, staring at each other with Spider-Man holding her wrists. Luna was almost wondering if he was going to kiss her. She wanted him to. She hated how she couldn’t read a thing about him. Did he feel the same tension she did? The only thing that told her maybe he did was the rise and fall of his chest being just a little faster than normal.

“S-Sorry.” He exhaled. “I didn’t know that-that uhm it was you.”

He dropped her wrists and turned back to the city. 

“It’s okay.” She shook her head, trying to get the feelings to go away. “How did you know I was there? I made like no noise.”

“Spider sense.”

Luna was quiet for a second. “Come again?”

“You know how spiders don’t have to see you to know you're coming? It’s kind of like that but it’s this feeling kind of like anxiety. I felt you coming. I knew you were right there.”

“Maybe Manheim should have invested in spiders.” Luna mumbled before plopping down to the edge of the building, feet swinging off the side. “So Spidey what does your sixth sense tell us about tonight?”

“That it’s gonna be a slow night.”

“Oh good.” She groaned. “You know when I decided to get into the hero business I didn’t realize how exhausting it was going to be. It’s like I went to sleep for ten hours straight the other night as soon as I got home. I just crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow which is nice because I kind of have trouble sleeping but I don’t know if I like sleeping that much because when I woke up it was already like one and the day was mostly gone. And you know what sucks?” She looked up to him but spoke before he could answer. “We don’t even get paid for this. Like I knew that going into this and it’s not why I’m doing it but the city could at least offer to pay our medical bills or something.”

“You don’t have medical bills.” He snorted, arms still crossed.

“Well no, but the government doesn’t know that! For all they know we could be spending thousands a year on ibuprofen!”

Peter stared down at the small ball of energy who was talking his ear off and he was smiling so hard behind his mask that his cheeks hurt. She was so damn adorable and he thought the way she rambled was cute. So cute that it made his stomach flutter. 

He had to admit that when Moonlight first came on the scene he was very hesitant and unsure but as they worked together over the last handful of weeks he found he not only wasn’t bothered by her but he actually liked her. She was a strong fighter and actually really helped him. They worked well together. Plus, when he found out she had the power to heal people he hadn’t gone home beat to hell anymore which let him sleep a lot better which gave him more energy for patrol the next night. It was a new rhythm that he welcomed. 

Moonlight’s company was something he welcomed as well. He was a little lonely before she came along but now he looked forward to going on patrol at night. He would be counting down the hours until every single sun ray was gone and he could go meet his new partner in fighting crime who would talk his ear off all night and refused to let him go home without knowing he was pain free. 

Luna’s chatter was interrupted by the sound of sirens. They looked at each before nodding and heading in that direction, Luna running at comet speed and Spider-Man swinging on his web. 

It hadn’t been anything too crazy- only a grocery store robbery that ended with the robbers putting their hands up and dropping the gun as soon as they saw Spider-Man and Moonlight show up. 

“Hey are you hungry? I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who makes the best hot dogs in the city.” Spider-Man suggested as they left the crime scene parking lot. 

“Street meat? No thanks, I actually really enjoy keeping my intestines in my stomach.”

“I’m serious!”

“No.”

“Come on!”

“No way, Jose.”

“Just try it!”

“Spider-Man, for the last time I don’t want your meat in my mouth.”

Spider-Man inhaled, ready to argue only to process what she had said and he clamped his mouth shut, Luna throwing her head back in laughter. “Now I know how to make Spider-Man speechless.”

Under his mask, he was blushing furiously, trying to fight back a smile. She was good, he had to give her that. 

After a second, he felt like he could speak properly. He would have to get her back some other way later.  “Just trust me.” He mused. “I’ll let you pick the next place.”

Luna pushed back a smile at the idea of a next place.

“Fine but if I get food poisoning and die I’m getting “Spidey did it” on my headstone.”

“I’ll even autograph it.”

True to his word, the hot dog stand was just around the corner and Luna had to admit she was starving so everything smelled extra good. She got one with mustard and relish and one with just mustard while Spider-Man got four with quite literally every condiment known to man on his. 

“Are you really going to eat all of those?” She asked as they found a roof to sit on.

“Nah ones for Herman.”

“Who’s Herman?”

“My pet spider.”

Luna bit back her laughter. “Well tell him to stay away from my hot dog.”

He nodded. “Got it.” Then he looked down to the ground beside them and whispered so softly Luna couldn’t hear before he looked back up to her. “He says he doesn’t like relish anyway.”

This time Luna chuckled, biting into her hot dog. 

She watched as he started to lift his mask and for a second she wondered if she was about to see his face but he stopped at his upper lip, resting his mask there. The mental image of his face that she had in her head matched at least his jaw. It was a strong jaw that looked like it could cut glass and had the start of a five o’clock shadow, something she adored on a man. His lips were a soft pink and slightly chapped, the upper lip deep set but his bottom plush. 

Seeing part of his face fueled her theories that behind the rest of that mask was a strikingly beautiful face. 

They ate in silence, Spider-Man somehow finishing all four of his hot dogs in the same time Luna spent on hers. It was…disturbing to witness to say the least. 

She put her hand on his stomach, swallowing when she felt the rock hard abs. “Spidey, I got some bad news. I think you might have a black hole in there.”

“A curse of being Spider-Man. You should see the size of my grocery bill.”

“I have a feeling it might scare me.”

Spider-Man’s mind went right into the gutter and he knew what he wanted to say but he hesitated for a second before deciding that he felt like he could.

“Do big things scare you?” He asked, teasing in his tone.

“Not really…?”

“Good to know.” He hummed with a light chuckle. 

Luna put it together and she dropped her jaw with a gasped chuckle. “You sicko!”

“You started it!”

Luna fell into hysterical laughter and Spider-Man joined, falling back to lay down. Luna mirrored him and they fell quiet. 

“You know Moonlight I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” Spider-Man mused. 

“We’ll see how the hot dog sits and then we can talk about friendship.”

~~~~~~~

Moonlight dodged the punch thrown by Kraven. “Listen dude! Why can’t you just chill out!” She dodged another punch and hit him with an energy blast. “Why can’t we be friends? Kumbaya and all that shit!”

“Kumbaya my lord!” Spider-Man sang from a few feet away where he was fighting with one of Kraven’s men. “Kumbaya!”

“See!” 

Letting out a loud grunt or irritation, Kraven pulled a machete from the straps on his back. It was sharp and big. 

“Okay fine! I was just trying to make friends!”

The knife had made things harder and Luna was very narrowly missing blows as she tried to subdue the man three times her size. Her size was an advantage and a disadvantage. She was small and fast so she avoided a lot of hits but that also meant her enemies were usually big enough to crush her and once they had her would really do some damage. Like right then the Hunter grabbed her by the throat.

“You are a little pest.” He hissed, lifting her up, making her kick her legs as her hands clawed at his. She wasn’t getting any air because his grip was so tight. 

“But I’m the spider!” Spider-Man whined, shooting web onto Kraven's eyes, forcing him to drop Luna who was gasping for air as she hit the ground. 

Spider-Man took the advantage to knock Kraven out by shooting a line onto his head and pulling it down to bash it into a pipe. 

Luna got back on her feet, hands at her throbbing throat and pulling down the neck of her suit.

“You okay?” Spider-Man asked, trying not to seem too concerned as he jogged over. 

“I think so.”

She pulled her hands away and Spider-Man could see the red marks in the shape of Kraven's fingers. It rubbed him wrong and bothered him to see. 

“Lemme see.” He reached up, tilting her chin back so he could inspect her neck. His hands were on each side of her neck and his fingers brushed gently. “That’s going to bruise.”

“Not with my…super powers of healing!” She boisterously said with a chuckle.

He dropped his hands and watched as she healed her neck. When she pulled her hands away the redness was gone and Spider-Man was put at ease as she fixed the neck of her suit. 

The clean up was easy and soon all the suspects were in squad cars and headed for the station. 

“Where to?” Spider-Man asked. “We’ve still got time to kill.”

“Okay so just hear me out.”

Spider-Man groaned. “Hell no.”

“Why?!”

“Because I know I’m gonna hate it.”

“No you won’t! You’re gonna love it!”

“I think it’s time I go solo.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna regret this.”

Ten minutes later and Spider-Man was absolutely regretting every choice he’d ever made that led up to that moment in his life.

He was sitting in a Mexican restaurant wearing a sombrero that Luna had put on him the moment they walked in the door and wouldn’t let him take it off. 

“I look ridiculous.”

“I know.” She gushed. “It’s great.”

“You’re the worst partner in fighting crime ever.”

“You love me.”

“I really don’.”

“You do. Couldn't live without me.”

He shook his head but didn't argue further because really he knew she was right. He couldn't imagine going back to being a lone wolf.

“So I’m thinking of the arroz con pollo but I don’t know if you know this but rice does not sit well with me but I really do love it and the chicken. Maybe they can change it out for beans or something but not all places will do that. I once asked them to do that on this place on seventh and they just really didn’t take that question well so you never really know ya know?”

Peter, grinning behind his mask, hummed as he looked over the menu. 

“Buuuut there’s also the chicken burrito which sounds so good. Four types of cheese? Sign me up. What are you gonna get? You’re a quesadilla guy aren’t you? No shame in it.”

“I am indeed a quesadilla guy.”

“Knew it.” She triumphed under her breath.

They ordered once Luna finally decided what she wanted and Peter slid the hat off his head, Luna not noticing. 

“Okay I gotta pee I’ll be back.” She announced before jumping up and heading for the restroom. Peter definitely did not watch as she went and he definitely did not love the way the suit hugged her figure. He was a gentleman and definitely did not let his eyes glance as she walked away.

When she came back he almost choked on air. The zipper that was always right up the collar on her suit was so far down her chest was visible and her cleavage was very out in the open. He couldn’t look away for a solid five seconds before forcing his head down to the chips he was eating, his mask resting on his top lip. 

Moonlight acted as if nothing had changed and chatted about whatever. Peter couldn’t focus because all he could do was make sure he wasn’t looking at her chest. He tried not to speak too much, knowing his current mental state would make him sound like an idiot. 

Except that he wasn’t an idiot. He knew that Moonlight was insanely beautiful. Only half her face was visible but it was plain as day that she was stunning. It was something that anyone with eyes could see so of course he was attracted to her but he couldn’t be attracted to her. For one thing, he promised himself he would never put another person in danger because of who he was, not after what happened to Gwen. He wouldn’t do that to someone else. Another thing, they were partners in fighting crime and mixing business with pleasure never ended well. They were strictly co-workers and co-workers didn’t look at other co-workers' boobs. 

“You okay, Spidey?” Moonlight asked, sipping from her drink. The condensation of the cold glass dripped down the side of the glass and into her chest, making it glisten. Peter gripped the table. 

“Y-Yeah yep yeah. Just got a um a headache coming on I think. I’ll be right back.”

He jumped up from the table and made his way to the bathroom, ignoring the looks he was getting as he went. He knew someone had tried to ask for a picture but he couldn’t let anyone see the state he was in. 

It had never happened before but he had a hard on in his suit; his very thin, revealing suit. 

At their table, Luna was laughing silently, shoulders shaking as she dipped a chip in some salsa. She knew what she was doing the whole time. She had been wanting to know if Spider-Man would be affected by her in that way. They were so flirty at times and she didn’t know if he was just messing around or not but if they were going to play games she needed to know what kind of hand she had. 

The Sun is a Blue Moon

A/N: So this started out as a headcanon thread that was hella long until I eventually decided to just write the thing. This may be one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. Let me know what you guys think. Oh, and yes there will be a part 2 ;)

Summary: A Hogwarts AU where Peter Parker falls in love with a Hufflepuff and it’s just tooth rotting fluff the whole time really.

Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings: social anxiety 

“Just breathe.” y/n exhaled, staring at herself in the mirror. 

It was her first day of sixth year at Hogwarts and she was a tangled knot of anxiety and nerves. Part of her still couldn’t believe she was actually there once again. It seemed like just yesterday someone was knocking at her door and telling her parents that she was a witch and was accepted to Hogwart, a school for witchcraft and wizardry. It had been a bumpy ride at the beginning, her parents not fully believing it for quite some time but eventually couldn’t deny the obvious. It was true and they all knew it. Y/N had always been different her entire life, with strange things happening around her that always made people stare at her. It was what made her such an anxious child and what made her social anxiety bloom into what it was. 

Smoothing down her robe and adjusting her yellow tie, she left the restroom and headed for her first class, keeping close to the walls and head down and continuing on with the same routine she’d had for the last several years. Sometimes she wished she could blend in with the walls and go unseen.

Divination was her first class and she found a seat further toward the back with no one in the companion seat and she headed right for it, hoping that that companion seat would stay empty. It had happened a couple times before and she hoped that she would get lucky in her second to last year and would have at least one class where she didn’t have to worry about talking to anyone. 

It wasn’t that y/n couldn’t speak, she could, really, but she just didn’t want to. She had a hard time with attention. Public speaking? All eyes on her? Saying something that would make people think she was a freak? Taking too long in line at the grocery store? Wearing something that would make her stand out? All a huge hell no with a capital H. Some nights she would hear girls laughing in the Hufflepuff commons and wish she could be part of that but she just didn’t know how. She was sure comradely was something she’d never attain.

As she was getting settled in her seat, the chair beside her that she had been vying for to stay vacant was pulled out with a scrape against the floor and she looked to see a girl with a red tie and corkscrew black hair that fell just past her shoulders smiling at her with perfect teeth. She wore large round glasses and her fingers were covered in rings with different gemstones in them. She looked like she listened to Stevie Nicks and drank black coffee and stared up at the stars for guidance. 

“Hi! I’m Winifred but everyone calls me Win!” She chipped as she sat down, setting her books onto the table with a small thud. The scrape of her chair made y/n cringe internally at how loud it was and the books had really made her worry. She glanced around the room to make sure no one was staring and relaxed a little when she found no one was. 

“I’m y/n.” she stated with a small nod, looking back down to her book that she was opening to the page listed on the chalkboard.

“Oh my god that’s, like, the cutest necklace I’ve ever seen! Did you get it in Hogsmeade?” Win asked, eyes bright. 

Swallowing, y/n wet her lips as her hand wrapped around the golden heart shaped locket she wore everyday for the last six years. “No. It was a gift from my dad. I don’t know where he got it.”

“It’s way cute.”

“Thank you.”

The entire class, Win talked and talked, going on and on about anything. She had talked about how her father was in the ministry of magic but her mom was her best friend. She talked about how hard sixth year was going to be but how excited she was to finally be a sixth year. Y/N was silent through most of it, only giving small nods and little hums. She appreciated that Win was more than happy to provide the conversation. Her favorite kinds of people were the ones who monopolized the conversation and Win was definitely one of those people.

“You should eat lunch with me and my friends!” She gasped as they were packing up for the next class of the day. “We’re all in different houses but we don’t have a Hufflepuff yet! Do you know Gwen Stacy?”

“Oh uh I know of her but I don’t really know her.” Y/N murmured, tucking her hair behind her ear.

“Well, she’s awesome and everyone will love you! We sit at the end of the Ravenclaw table. See you then y/n!”

Y/N was left blinking as Win floated out the door. She had no idea how she got roped into that and she was terrified but bubbling with excitement at the same time. She had no idea how long they would let a girl who would sometimes go days without uttering a single word sit with them in their group but she would enjoy it, if just for the one day. She usually ate lunch in the library so this would be different.

Half convinced that it was all a joke by the time lunch came around, she was ready to see no such group at the end of the Ravenclaw table, but there were several students with different colored ties right where Win had said there would be. It was real and she couldn’t back out now.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, y/n headed for the end of the table and felt a twinge when she saw that there was an empty spot next to Win.

“Y/N! Hey, girl! Come here!” Win called, eyes excited and a half eaten cookie in her hand. 

It felt easy to sit next to Win, but she struggled to keep a small smile as everyone in the group stared at her as she sat down. There was one boy in particular who she couldn’t even glance at because she knew she would be sporting red ears if she did. 

He sat directly opposite her and was a Ravenclaw, the blue tie half open and his robe falling off one shoulder. His mahogany toned hair was messy and floppy, like his hands were constantly in it but she liked the way it looked. She wanted to study his face and find the freckles she hadn’t seen in her glance at him and really find the accurate shade of his eyes- she had a thing for eye colors and finding their perfect shade. He was really beautiful and she wondered how she had gone six years without ever having seen him before. There was no way she would have forgotten him if she had. 

Win introduced y/n and explained that they had divination together. While Win chattered on, y/n’s hand wrapped around her locket, thumbnail toying with the clasp that kept it closed.

“Y/N, this is Gwen Stacy, Flash, Harry Osborn, MJ Watson, and Peter Parker.”

She waved, avoiding Peter’s stare before finally looking at him. True to her thoughts and her ears got hot and her stomach filled with butterflies. She worried if she opened her mouth they would fly out and tell Peter that she liked him so she merely waved and looked back to Win.

True to who she was, y/n stayed quiet most of lunch, nodding at times appropriate and trying to keep a smile on her face. She wanted to try and make friends and this was the best opportunity she had ever had so she was going to try and not completely fuck it up. She was almost seventeen years old and needed to try and overcome some of her shyness and social anxiety.

But she did take the risk a few times and looked over at Peter, taking in his square round glasses and the ink stains on his fingertips. How the sleeves of his wrinkled white button up were cuffed up. She had to put in effort to not pass out when he had taken off his robe and revealed his veiny forearms and rolled up sleeves. She could see the faintest bit of stubble on his chin that he must have missed when shaving. She took in the way he looked at everyone in the group, with a lax smile and warm eyes. She had decided they were the same color of the hazelnuts that grew on the tree in her parents front lawn.

It was on the third day of sixth year that y/n realized that Peter was in her astronomy class. He sat on the other side of the room with MJ. She didn’t think he noticed and she didn’t want to walk up to him randomly so she decided to wait and see if he noticed and if he cared at all. Even though she spent most of the class staring at his side profile whenever she knew he wouldn’t catch her. 

Two weeks later and y/n was walking into astronomy and Peter Parker was sitting in the seat next to hers where Romilda Vane had been sitting the last week. She stared at his back, her brain short circuiting. Maybe had wanted to talk before class started, she usually got in early since astronomy was after sunset and after dinner. She had no idea he even knew they had the same class together. They had just been sitting together at the same table not even an hour ago. He had smiled and waved at her like he did everyday. Why was he in the seat beside hers?

She walked up to her seat and as soon as she pulled her chair out, Peter looked up at her with that beaming smile that made her feel like a little bit of the sun had found its way into Peter Parker.

“Hi.” He greeted.

She bit her lip, trying desperately to find her voice that was so often lost at sea.

Peter seemed to sense your shyness. “Romilda asked to switch so she could be closer to the professor so she could hear better.” He explained. 

She nodded, sitting down and looking down with a wide grin. She knew that Romilda could hear just fine because this was the second time they were partnered in a class and she also preferred to sit toward the back of the room. 

Y/N felt like she was going to start floating at any minute because Peter, the boy she would daydream about and draw hearts around his name in her notebooks, had wanted to sit next to her and was going to be her astronomy partner for the rest of the year. Three nights a week they would spend an entire class together, and not just any class but her favorite class. She loved the night sky and the stars and she got to share that with Peter for an entire school year. 

Though she never spoke, Win’s group kept welcoming y/n to eat with them and she had even been invited to sit with them at the first quidditch game of the year. She bundled up in her Hufflepuff scarf and thickest coat but she had forgotten her gloves and her fingers were freezing shortly into the game and she blew into her hands, trying to keep them somewhat warm.

Peter was sitting directly beside her and nudged her, making her look at him in question. Wordlessly, he offered her a pair of gloves, an eyebrow raised. “I won’t need them.”

Opening her mouth to speak, she thought better and closed it before taking the knitted gloves hesitantly at first, but then mouthing a thank you with a soft smile and slipped them on. Peter smiled back at her and she tried not to notice that his fingertips were red with the cold.

The first time y/n finally spoke to Peter was in astronomy several days after they started sitting together. They were supposed to map out a specific constellation and since Peter was so smart and y/n really good at astronomy, they finished early and were sitting together by a large oak tree, y/n with her arms around her drawn up knees and Peter leaning against the trunk of the tree.

He was looking up at the sky and she kept looking at him, bathed in moonlight, fingers weaving in and out of the grass. She was starting to trust him like she’d only trusted a few people in her life. He made her feel seen and for some reason, she didn’t want to run away from it. Her entire life she had been running out of the spotlight and trying to hide in the shadows but Peter saw her and she didn’t want to hide in the shadows. At first, he made her more anxious than anyone else in the group because she liked him but now she didn’t feel anxious around him, instead she just felt safe. He didn’t ask her why she didn’t really talk or what was wrong with her and he didn’t push her to talk, either. He just took her as she was.

“What’s your favorite constellation?” She asked, eyes on the grass that she was still running her fingers through. 

Peter whipped his head down to her, lips parting and shock clouding his face. It was the first time he was hearing her speak ever. The words fell like bubbles from her rosy lips, each word careful and delicate, her voice a little rougher than he had imagined- but he still loved it just as much. He had been dying to find a way to get her to speak to him but didn’t want to push her because he knew she was just shy and probably had some kind of anxiety so he was fine with waiting until she was ready to speak. Even if she didn’t talk to him, he just wanted to be around her. Hufflepuffs always had good vibes but y/n had a warmth about her.

It was no secret within the rest of the group that he had a big giant crush on y/n, something Flash loved to tease him about. In fact, Peter had almost gotten into a physical fight with Flash when he first started teasing him about liking y/n because he thought he was making fun of him for liking her. Sure, she was quiet and didn’t really talk but he didn’t see anything wrong with that. Some people were so worried about being able to say what they wanted to say that they didn’t hear what others had to say. Y/N heard everything people needed to say, her twinkling eyes focused solely on whoever was speaking and her focus on what they were saying. She cared about what people had to say and truly listened. He had seen her kindness when he had been walking back to the Ravenclaw tower and watched her pick up a small caterpillar and find a nice home for it in the bushes, being gentle with it and patient. Maybe she didn’t speak very much but her actions spoke loud enough for him to get to know her. He always thought Hufflepuff’s were the purest of heart of all the houses.

Adjusting his glasses, he peered his head down to try and catch her eye so she would look at him. It worked and their eyes met. “It’s Perseus.”

Y/N rested her chin on her knees and nodded, one hand coming to tinker with the locket that rested below the hollow of her throat. “It’s a good one. I think mine’s Andromeda.”

“It’s a good one.” He retorted, making her chuckle. The silence took over and Peter couldn’t help but smile at her before looking at the sky again. 

“Have you seen Snape’s new haircut?”

He looked back down at her, thrilled she said something else. 

“Yeah.” He chortled. “Went a bit too short this time.”

“He’s giving Lord Farquad.”

The laugh that boomed out of Peter made y/n jump at first but then she remembered no one was around and she relaxed again, smiling wide because she had made Peter Parker laugh. It was deep and boisterous and she would probably never forget it.

“I wish everyone else knew how funny you are.” Peter mused, the remnants of his laughter still in his voice. “But I’m honored that I get to know.”

“Technically, you don't. I only said one funny thing. Maybe that’s all I’ve got.”

“Nah I know that you’re funny. Just a feeling.”

“Whatever you say, Parker.” She shrugged.

“Can I ask what made you finally talk to me?” 

Y/N thought for a moment before wetting her lips. “I guess I just really, like, trust you now. I don’t know. I’ve never felt safe around anyone before you. I feel like I could say anything to you and you wouldn’t judge me for it or think I’m weird, no matter what it is.”

“I like you too much to think you’re weird.” He blurted, before his eyes went wide and he cleared his throat, hoping she wouldn’t think too much into it.

But Peter had never been lucky and bit back a groan at seeing her eyes grow brighter and mouth fall open. “You like me?”

He couldn’t deny it, especially not to her. Not with the way she was looking at him with hopeful eyes and red cheeks and those stupid yellow finger-less gloves she wore that he always made him want to groan because it made her hands look ridiculously cute and small. Especially not under the stars when there was no one around and it was just them, the constellations ready to harbor their secrets.

“I have since I met you.” He bit his bottom lip, knowing his heart might be completely crushed in the next two seconds. “Do you…like me?” 

Y/N wasn’t afraid to open her mouth now because she could let the butterflies out. “Yeah. You make me feel safe, Peter.”

The moment was broken when they heard the call for the students to return and they stared at each other for a moment before getting up and gathering their papers that were off to the side. As they started walking back, Peter slipped his hand into hers and she looked up at him with a smile and squeezed his hand that was laced with hers. 

Peter walked her as far as he could go which was the same corridor as the kitchens. She stopped and turned to face him before pushing up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. It made his heart thump in his chest and he barely processed when she pulled her hand from his and left, heading through the corridor and down the hall. His heart felt like it might burst in his chest. 

Y/N was feeling the same, even stopping when she knew she was out of sight of Peter to lean against the wall and just stand there with a love drunk smile, Peter taking over her head and her heart. She knew they had a lot of talk about like were they boyfriend and girlfriend now? Was she allowed to hold his hand whenever she wanted? But for that moment she just wanted to hold onto the glow coming from her heart over the fact that Peter Parker liked her and he had held her hand and she had kissed his cheek. She had spoken to him and now he was her best friend and she was completely in love with him.

To her surprise, the next morning when she left the corridor to go to her first class, Peter was leaning against a wall, blue tie loose and hair messy like she loved. He caught her eye and smiled at her, letting her make her way to him.

“Can I walk you to your class?” He asked and she couldn’t help but beam and nodded, reaching up to fix his tie. “You have Mcgonagall first and you know she’ll get you for your tie.”

When it was straightened out, she slipped her hand into his. She knew a few people might look at them holding hands, but she had also laid in bed the night before preparing for a few looks if they held hands or showed any small displays of affection. It wouldn’t last forever and that was the only thing keeping her from having an anxiety attack: it was just a few people and it would only be for a little while. She could get through it.

Peter walked her all the way to Divination and parted from her with a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Meet me in the library at lunch?”

“Kay.” She agreed, knowing she would meet him in the boys bathroom if he asked. 

Her classes passed at the pace of a snail. All she could think about was meeting Peter in the library. She knew they would probably talk about…them and she was beyond anxious but in a good way. She knew they would leave that library as boyfriend and girlfriend and if she was lucky, she would have had her first kiss because she was going to kiss him. She didn’t know how or when but she would kiss him if he didn’t kiss her first. It was nerve wracking to think about but she was going to try and be a little bit more bold when it came to Peter and their relationship, whatever that may be. 

When lunch rolled around, y/n headed for the library, small chips in her white nail polish from picking at it due to nerves. She looked around, trying to find Peter and shoulders falling into repose when she saw him in an aisle, robes off and hands toying with an open book.

She made her way over and he didn’t hear her coming until she was a couple feet from him. The smile he gave her made her melt.

“Hi.” She greeted. 

“Hi.” 

He slipped his hand into hers and she pulled him with her toward the cushioned window sill, the glass cold on her back. 

“Do you want some jellybeans?” He asked, pulling a baggy of jellybeans out of his pocket. It made her giggle in amusement that he just had a bag of jellybeans in his pocket at random but she nodded, taking the portion he poured into her hand and starting to pop them into her mouth, examining the handful.

“Wait? Are these the every flavor beans?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, putting several into his mouth. “But I made sure there weren’t any gross ones for you.”

“How?”

“Got a friend who came up with a way to find out what ones were the gross ones and he showed me how this morning.”

Her mouth was parted as she looked back down the handful of sweets, beyond touched that he had sorted through the jelly beans to pick out the gross ones just in case she wanted some of them.

Looking back to him, she splayed her hand on his cheek as he swallowed and leaned in. His breath hitched in his throat and she could smell the sugar on his breath before their lips even touched. She hesitated, giving him a second to stop her if he wanted as well as give her a second of doubt before that mental “fuck it” crossed her mind and she kissed him. 

It was soft and chaste, the small sound of their lips filling the silence around them. 

With buzzing lips, she pulled away just enough to break the kiss but brushed their noses together, Peter’s hand finding her neck, his thumb grazing her jaw. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He breathed, giving the corner of her mouth a peck. 

“What’s in it for me?” She mused, sarcasm lacing her tone. 

Peter picked up on it and smile softly, brushing hair hair behind her ear and pulling back a little bit. “Safe jelly beans for one. There’s also unlimited free kisses, I’ll help you with all of your homework, I have a very impressive collection of books that you’re free to at anytime.”

“Well how can I turn down the books?”

The laugh that slipped out of him made her kiss him again. She didn’t think she’d ever tire of kissing him.

Peter and y/n were inseparable after that. Where she went, Peter was right behind her, that lovesick smile on his face because let’s face it he was head over heels for her. He walked her to all her classes and they sat together at meal time, his arm around her waist or her leaning against his chest, his arm around her still. He wore her spare yellow and black striped scrunchie on his wrist pretty much always. When she forgot her robe, which was often, she wore his. He picked up the habit of speaking for her when she really, really didn’t want to. Like when she had a question in class but could barely think about raising her hand to ask and have everyone look at her, her voice being the only sound in the room. So when she had a question she would write it down and nudge Peter. He would read it and ask the question for her. Punch drunk love had nothing on Peter. He was well and truly gone for the Hufflepuff girl that most people didn’t notice. And while she barely said a word to anyone that wasn’t Win or Peter, she was herself when it was just her and Peter. She had a strong sense of humor and would make the most out of pocket, dry comments that always had him in stitches. She was affectionate with him, kissing the corner of his jaw often and calling him baby. He was special enough to be allowed to really see her and it was a gift he cherished. 

She did her little things for him too like keeping wipes on her for his ink stained fingers and always reminding him of where his glasses were when he couldn’t find them; they had been on his head one time and she could only put them back in place with a small smile and kiss the tip of his nose. She had put his picture in the empty side of her locket, the other side holding a picture of her mother and father. The day she had shown Peter he knew he would love her forever.

 She was there to clean his wounds when Peter punched a kid named Draco for calling another girl Mudblood, thus starting a fight. With a bloody rag in her hand that had just cleaned his bleeding cheekbone, she confessed to him that she was a full muggle-born with no magic in her family tree. He had kissed her and told her that he didn’t care if she was related to he who shall not be named; as long as she stayed who she was he would love her no matter what. She was the sunlight in his life to which she reminded him he was the moonlight in hers.

Y/N was slowly starting to come out of her shell through the school year. It started mostly with the group in small comments that she could add in. Everyone always simmered down to be able to hear her speak when she did, and Peter could always see how big of a deal it was for her. He knew all about her social anxiety and would squeeze her hand, letting her know she could do it and that he was right there if she needed him.

In their sixth year, Peter and y/n couldn’t have been happier. That was before all hell broke loose in Hogwarts.

V, girl, I don’t even know where to start with this! I have so many feelings about it like ugh the Sunflower nickname? Every time he called her that I melted inside. The way you used the flowers for the feeling to show the way their relationship was evolving was pure genius I’ve never seen anything like that before. Also these two:

 “Peter expects you to argue, to spit venom from your lips as he knows you’re perfectly capable of doing. So when your shoulders slump and your face falls, he feels his heart shatter because watching you close in on yourself like that is worse than anything he could have imagined.”

“See,” Peter responds cooly, running a hand through his hair, the other slipping into his pocket, to stop them from shaking, “When you’re making her cry like that, it does concern me.”

Yep just put me in a grave because there’s nothing I love more than some protective Peter Parker and you wrote perfectly from the the heart shatter to the shaking hands. Also him giving er her first tattoo? I’m obessed. You’ve done it once again lovely.

The Spider and the Sunflower (tasm!Peter x Reader)

Summary: The questions continue, long past twenty-one. The more you find out about Peter, the more you want to know—he tells you that if he found a hundred dollars on the street he’d donate it to a food bank and that the TL;DR version of his life is “Art, panic, loss, and student loans.” When he asks you if you have any tattoos, you wink coyly before laughing and telling him you don’t. Then, when you ask the person he’d love to tattoo more than anyone else in the world, he returns your teasing smile and replies that it’s you. -> or, tattooartist!peter meets florist!reader Words: 9.8 k (i'm sorry!) A/N: inspired by the incredible @pardonmydubstep whose idea this is entirely based on. her own AU will be dropping in April but y'all i've read it and it's brilliant. 18+ only fem!reader; cursing; mentions of: food, tattooing, cheating, debt, grief, drugs; implied masturbation; shitty boyfriends (not peter); arguing; peter and reader are both pining idiots; sexual innuendo; smut (fingering, oral, shower sex) inexperienced!peter; there's a whole ass plot in this; not proofread. please validate me.

wisteria for welcoming

The sign goes up on a Saturday afternoon, just as you’re returning from delivering bridal bouquets to three different addresses. Ink Trails. The lettering is unassuming; the logo, simple—a black spider with extended legs that give off the impression of dripping ink. Perhaps you’d been expecting something more…gothic or biker-esque, so you’re pleasantly surprised by the artistry of it, the delicate lines and soft curves of its insectoid body.

You stifle a yawn, air conditioning barely keeping your eyes from drooping, watching from the driver’s seat of your car as an older woman carries navy blue and grey throw cushions as well as large canvases filled with photography of various New York landmarks into the shop next door. Surely, she can’t be your new neighbour. She looks far too delicate, too quintessentially motherly to—you stop yourself from the pending judgement; you know it’s unfair and decide that you’ll have to introduce yourself.

“Hello?” You step delicately into the shop, hoping you’re not intruding, immediately noting the absence of a bell or chime to announce your arrival. Briefly, you cast your eyes around the interior of what had, up until last month, been a dry cleaner’s—it’s much more aesthetically pleasing now.

To your left is a small waiting area with mismatched wingback chairs and a small table strewn with a collection of coffee table photography books. A few titles stick out to you: Dogs!, Sneakers x Culture, and Hubble. It’s an eclectic collection, to say the least, but it stirs your interest. Behind the front desk, where you stand now, is an open area with two black tattoo beds, each beside a workstation with its own metallic cabinet topped with various tools and implements you don’t know the name of.

“Can I help you, dear?”

You glance over in time to see the older woman from outside come out of a private room at the back of the shop, her hair falling from the loose bun that’s tied at the nape of her neck.

“Hi,” you greet her with a small wave, using your free arm to balance the arrangement you’d popped into your own shop to grab before heading over here. “I own the shop next door—The Greenhouse—and I just wanted to stop in and say welcome.” You hold out the arrangement in her direction as she walks over smiling so warmly it reminds you of summer afternoons spent with your grandmother.

“That’s very kind, dear, thank you.” She takes the flowers from you and sets the vase on top of the front counter, right by a list of rules that begins with Tattoos are by appointment only. “Peter is lucky to have such a friendly neighbour.”

“Peter?”

“My nephew,” she explains, “This is his place, of course, I’m just here to help him tidy and get everything set up.”

As if on cue, a young man, about your age, stumbles through the door carrying a large box labelled Random Crap and sets it down on the counter next to your arrangement. He notices it and tilts his head to the side, an amused expression tugging up at the corner of his mouth.

“Flowers, May?”

He’s talking to the older woman, his aunt, and she purses her lips at him, eyes flickering toward you in something of a warning. Peter turns to look at you and seems to notice your presence for the first time. His gaze makes you run your suddenly clammy palms over the skirt of your sundress under the pretence of smoothing non-existent wrinkles from the bright yellow fabric. His honey-amber eyes dance with something like mischief as he notices your own eyes sizing him up. He’s tall, almost unfairly so, and lean, with broad shoulders and muscled arms that are on full display given the ribbed white tank top he’s wearing. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the characters that adorn his right bicep—recognizing them as Hebrew, but unsure what they mean.

“So, you’re the flower girl?”

His aunt—May—makes an exasperated noise in her throat and you’re certain she’s about to tell him to be nice when he holds out his hand. You notice the spiderwebs that are inked onto his knuckles, stemming up his hands and culminating on his wrists where they swirl into a stunning pastiche of photorealistic images and carefully lettered text.

You take his offered hand and can’t help but to notice the way the rough edges of his fingers slip into smooth palms. His handshake is gentle but firm, his larger hand nearly swallowing yours. You focus instead on the way his messy brown hair sticks up at odd angles as if he rolled out of bed looking that good.

“I’m Peter,” he grins, his index finger playfully tapping at your delicate wrist, “Nice to meet you, Sunflower.”

carnations for fascination

Peter doesn’t mean to watch you, but in the week since Ink Trails opened, he catches himself staring every time you’re out front of your shop, fixing up the planters you keep by the entrance. There’s something about you—something that makes him feel as though you’ve enchanted him; like you put some magic spell to ensnare him in the flowers that still sit, slightly wilted, next to his register.

It’s the swing of your hips and the way you smile kindly at him every time you cross paths. The way the sunlight catches in the silver rings you wear has him fixating on your fingers, on your hands. He remembers how tiny they were in his own on that first day and the memory sends his mind into a gutter full of shame and self-reproach. It’s not helped by the sundresses you wear, seemingly designed to test the limits of his sanity with their floral prints and their curve-hugging bodices and the way the breeze ruffles them around your thighs.

Yeah, he’s under your spell.

It’s been years since he felt like this—sure, he’s found people attractive, but he’s never been attracted to them—and he blames the way you carefully tend to your plants, gently pruning them and cutting away every bit that’s no longer growing, every bit that’s stagnated into something ugly that leeches off of all the good parts. He finds himself wishing you’d do that for him—take him into your arms and tend to all the things he wants to be, rid him of all the haunted thoughts that snake around him like suffocating tendrils every time he starts to feel happy again. He blames the splash of colour, like the petals of your flowers, that you are in a world that’s otherwise been black and white for nearly a decade.

Peter almost feels guilty. Because he shouldn’t be thinking of you in that way, shouldn’t be thinking of anyone in that way, not since he chose loneliness to be his most trusted companion. If you avoid falling in love you avoid the risk of getting hurt. Of having your entire life ripped out from under you like a rug. Loneliness is safe. So he watches from a distance, ever more fascinated each time you pop open the door to his shop to tell him good morning, a cup of coffee proffered, and to wish him a good night at the end of the day.

It’s the night nine days after he’s opened that Peter lies in bed, his phone buzzing with an Instagram notification. He checks it, sees that it’s from you—a request to follow his personal account. From your personal account. He accepts, too quickly perhaps, and returns the request and no more than ten minutes later he’s scrolling through your photos.

The two of you instantly followed one another’s business accounts, that was a given. But these photos are so very different than the ones of you posed with beautiful arrangements, floral walls, blushing brides and grinning grooms. Instantly, he regrets scrolling through them. It feels invasive to see you like this—laughing and smiling in the woods, on the beach, at Coney Island; living a life outside the confines of where his days intersect with yours.

Frustrated and confused by the needy feeling in the pit of his stomach, Peter tosses his phone aside, ignoring as it clatters to the floor. He tries to sleep, truly he does. But as his hands creep below the sheets, slide under the waistband of his boxers, he can’t get your smile out of his head.

lilies for disdain

Peter’s client tells him, in a quivering voice, that they feel lightheaded. Their partner, looking quesy, meets Peter’s eye as if to say do something. Sighing, Peter pauses in his work and goes to the back of the shop, emerging moments later with an oversized tub of sour keys.

“Have one,” he offers his client—and their partner, for good measure, “The sugar helps. And it’s good that you told me. We’ll take a few minutes and then try again, yeah?”

The pair nod and Peter smiles until something outside the window catches his eye. He sees you pacing the same four sidewalk panels with enough force to erode cement. Your ear is pressed to your phone and from this vantage point he can see the way you’re wringing your hands in the sleeves of your cardigan.

“I’ll be back in a minute, okay?” Peter says, “Just outside if you need anything.” He stands, slipping into the back room once more, quickly, to grab a bottle of orange juice for his client, before he takes the sour keys and heads outside, stepping into your path. It makes you stop in your pacing, but the conversation you’re having with whoever is on the other side of that call continues and Peter can hear the frustration laced in your voice.

“What do you mean? No. No, I specifically ordered the calla lilies. Eight dozen. For Friday. Are you not hearing me?”

Your hand has travelled up to the back of your neck and Peter can see the way your fingers are trembling. Smiling softly, he holds out the sour keys to you as an offering. You glance down at them and, without reacting, turn away from him to continue your pacing.

“Listen,” you’re saying into the receiver, Peter thinking he’s never heard you sound so firm before, “If I don’t have those calla lilies I will never order flowers from you again, do you understand?” There’s a pause in the conversation and Peter watches as your brows knit together, creasing your forehead. He finds himself wanting to pull you close and smooth away your worries with his thumb. “Yeah,” you mutter finally, “3 p.m.? Perfect. See you then.”

The call ends and you slip your phone into the pocket of your cardigan, noticing that Peter is still there, a large jar of candy held out in your direction. You feel heat rise in your body, embarrassment bubbling in your veins that someone witnessed you losing your cool, even if only slightly.

“Everything okay?”

Peter asks the question with such calm earnestness that your stomach lurches and you suddenly feel annoyed at him standing there, being so…goddamn chill and holding out candy like it’s supposed to make you feel better. You ignore the fact that all you need to do is reach out and grab a sour key, roll your eyes and laugh about shitty suppliers. Instead, you’re fixated on the way Peter is looking at you, like you’re some sort of frightened animal he needs to placate. It makes you feel silly, makes humiliation rise in your throat like bile, coating the words you spit out at him.

“Don’t worry about it,” you mutter darkly, fingertips pinching at the bridge of your nose to smother what is surely an oncoming headache.

“I know candy isn’t much,” Peter chuckles, “But in my line of work, sugar helps and—”

“It’s fine,” you snap, holding your free hand up to stop him from saying anything else. There’s ice creeping into your tone, a defence mechanism you’re trying desperately to melt. “And honestly, Peter, it’s really none of your business.”

He blinks at you, surprised, then licks his lips, holding his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. “Okay,” Peter frowns, “Sorry I asked.”

You don’t reply, turning on your heel to head back inside, too shame-faced to look at him. Peter, never one to not have the last word, calls out to you with that damn nickname he always uses—the one that sends curls of delight coursing through your body, though you’d be loath to admit it. “Let me know if you do need anything though,” Peter says, eyes narrowed, “Like help getting that stick out of your ass.”

“Bite me, Parker.” You throw up your middle finger at his retreating figure, slinking back into your shop with tears in your eyes.

geraniums for folly

It’s a couple days before you see Peter again and you notice that the tattoo shop stays dark. Part of you is still annoyed at yourself for your behaviour earlier in the week, but you find yourself also worrying that he’s sick and wondering if you could get his number from the landlord so you could check in on him.

As it turns out, there’s no need.

You’re running late Thursday morning and are entirely frazzled, realizing only as you’re getting out of the car to open the shop that your jean jacket is mysteriously missing two buttons and the client who you’re rushing to meet had sent you an email cancelling while you were weaving in and out of traffic. Fucking hell. Sweat trickles down your spine, partly from the urgency you’d been feeling and partly from sheer frustration. You reach the door of your shop and remember that your keys are buried at the bottom of your purse.

“Hey Sunflower.”

You glance over at the entrance to the shop next door to yours, pausing in your fumbling for your keys. It takes all of you not to roll your eyes at the man standing lazily against the wall, a coffee in his tattooed hands. His easy stance, his soft voice—it’s like he’s entirely forgotten the last time you’d spoken to him.

“Hi Peter,” you mutter, going back to rummaging in your bag, trying to ignore his gaze, which you feel burning into the back of your neck.

“Need a hand?” His question is light, teasing.

“Not from you,” you retort, perhaps more harshly than you mean to. In an effort to soften the blow, you look pointedly at his fingers as they tap a frenetic beat on the paper coffee cup and try your best to sound cheeky. “With all the coffee you drink, I don’t know how you even manage to tattoo anyone.”

“That’s not very nice, Sunflower,” Peter mocks, a grin playing on his lips. His perpetual grinning drove you crazy—in more ways than you’d care to admit. “My hands are always steady…when it matters.”

His comment sends a shiver down your spine, makes you want to douse yourself in cold water. Thankfully, at that moment, your index finger loops around your keyring and you pull it unceremoniously from your purse.

hyacinth for jealousy

Peter isn’t thrilled when he finds out you’re seeing someone, a picture of you and a dark-haired man showing up on his Instagram feed and making his jaw clench. He wonders, with a stab of embarrassment, how long you’ve been with this guy and how much of a fool he’s made of himself by trying—and failing—to get your attention.

He’s even less thrilled when he meets the man in question, distaste instantly coursing through his veins as though he’s got a sixth sense to detect assholes.

It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon when a man in a well-tailored suit enters his shop. Peter glances up from where he’s working on a large dragon piece for a regular. He instantly recognizes the cold eyes and sharp angles of your boyfriend’s face, but he pretends not to, pausing in his work to greet this would-be-stranger.

“Hey man,” Peter gives a short, cordial wave, “Can I help you?” He notes, with some satisfaction, how the suit looks uncomfortable in his tiny shop with its buzzing needles and cheap furniture. Good.

“I’m waiting for the girl next door,” he says with an arrogant grin, “You’re Peter?”

Peter nods, rotating his stool back toward his client. “That’s me. You know Y/N?”

“Harry,” the suit introduces himself, “Y/N’s told me about you.”

Peter has to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying Funny, she’s never mentioned you because that would be petty. Satisfying, sure, but petty.

“You’re her boyfriend?” Peter asks casually, the hum of his tattoo gun hiding some of the bitterness that’s woven into the question.

“Recently back together,” Harry replies, hands in his jacket pockets, “I called, she answered kind of thing, you know?”

Peter nods, silent and tense because, no actually he does not ‘know’. He returns to his client, tongue poking out of his lips in concentration as he begins to shade the dragon he’s inking onto the man’s back.

“I have to ask, how’s the money in this business?”

Peter exchanges a swift glance with the man in his chair, who looks over his shoulder in disbelief, a knowing grin peeking out from under a bushy grey beard.

“Enough to pay the bills,” Peter answers vaguely. Sometimes, he tacks on as an afterthought, as if he hasn’t been sleeping in the back of the shop and showering at May’s. No designer suits for him.

daffodils for uncertainty

“Did you take these yourself?”

You’re on one of the wingback chairs in Peter’s shop, a blue pillow resting atop your thighs to cover your lap, the length of your skirt making you a little self-conscious.

Peter’s latest client has just left—a chatty young woman, clearly enamoured with the lithe man inking her ribs. You’d been sitting there long enough to see that even though she was stunningly pretty, Peter did not return her advances, either uninterested or entirely inept and picking up flirty social clues. The woman had shot you a withering look on her way out as if you were to blame for Peter’s aloofness. Whatever. You’d tried not to be bothered, but it was that icy glare that had sent you reaching for a pillow to hold over your legs.

Peter glances up from tidying his work station, following your pointed finger to a large canvas of the Brooklyn Bridge. A smile tugs at the corners of his lips, something like pride making his eyes crinkle with delight.

“Yeah,” he replies, a little sheepishness creeping into his voice, “I was super into photography for a while. They’re all mine.” Vaguely, he gestures around the shop and you let your eyes linger briefly on each of the canvases.

“They’re really good,” you smile, “You’ve got a good eye. Ever thought about doing wedding photography?”

Peter snorts at the suggestion and you cross your arms over your chest, somewhat miffed at his dismissal. If he notices, he doesn’t let on, instead standing from his stool and stretching. You try not to look at the stripe of skin that’s revealed as his arms go up over his head, his Henley riding up to exposing jeans slung low on his hips and a small, scruffy patch of hair below his belly button. You decide to change the subject, distract yourself.

“She was flirting with you, by the way,” you smirk, jerking a thumb out the window even though the woman was long gone. Peter shrugs, coming over to the front of the shop and taking the seat across from you. “What?” you continue, tone light, “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice!”

“I did,” he replies, nonchalant.

You narrow your eyes at him, then nod with understanding, a teasing smirk on your lips. “You already have a girlfriend.”

“No. I don’t.” The sharp tone of Peter’s words takes you aback and you mumble an apology, suddenly feeling a stab of guilt in your chest.

delphiniums for fun

The lights flicker once before going out entirely, shrouding your workspace in darkness and making you prick your thumb on a boutonnière pin in your surprise. Hissing, you stick the injured digit in your mouth for a moment, the taste of blood metallic on your tongue. It’s not worth complaining about, so you sigh and head to the retail area of the shop where sunlight from the street streams in through the windows. There’s already a line of cars on the road, the traffic light outage clearly causing problems.

You’re about to grab your phone to see what’s going on, but then you remember that it’s dead and you’d been meaning to charge it, but every little distracting task had led you to this moment.

Resigned to an unproductive afternoon break, you lock up shop and decide to check in on Peter, hoping his tools didn’t die in the middle of a sitting. Thankfully, you find him alone, scrolling through his obviously not-dead phone and it makes you smirk that Peter was more responsible than you.

You wave as you walk into the shop, taking a seat on the chair that you’ve unofficially claimed as your own. “The power’s out.”

“Really?” Peter scoffs playfully, “I couldn’t tell.” He looks up from his phone with an amused expression and quickly flashes the screen at you, something that looks like a headline briefly entering your line of sight before Peter is pocketing the device. “I think it’s gone two or three blocks out,” he continues, “So who knows how much time will pass.”

“Maybe it’s the apocalypse,” you joke, “And we’re the last two people on Earth.”

“If you expect me to make a let’s repopulate joke, I refuse to be so crass.”

“Such a gentleman,” you tease, heart skipping a beat when you notice the flush in Peter’s cheeks. You purse your lips, suddenly feeling guilty because you have a boyfriend and here you are flirting with your neighbour. Your handsome, kind, looks like his hands could wrap around your neck, neighbour.

“Let’s play a game. 21 questions?” Peter’s suggestion pushes through your thoughts and you let out a short huff of laughter, crossing your arms over your chest. You realize, all of a sudden, that you left your sweater on the chair in your workshop and it’s cold in Peter’s shop, prickly goosebumps forming on your skin.

“Absolutely not.” You giggle, running your hands over your arms. Peter notices and slips his Henley over his head in one fluid motion, tossing it in your direction. He’s left in an old Bowie t-shirt that clings to him in all the right ways. You catch the offered shirt and wrap it around your shoulders, too timid to wear it properly because that would be intimate, right? This is just a friendly gesture. One that smells of cinnamon and fresh baked bread with a whisper of disinfectant.

“I promise I’ll keep it PG,” Peter grins, leaning back in the chair opposite you. “I’m a gentleman, remember?”

“Okay, fine.”

He looks delighted at your agreement and feigns a thinking pose, elbow on this knee, chin propped up on his fist. You try not to stare at the vein you can see running down his bicep but your traitorous eyes will not allow themselves to be pulled away.

“What’s your favourite animal?” Peter’s first question is gentle and you can only hope he’ll keep his promise to not get too personal.

You think for a moment, flashes of adorable creatures running through your mind in a way that makes it impossible to choose just one. “Polar bears. No, tigers. Or maybe horses…”

Peter chuckles, clearly amused by your indecision and you playfully flip him off. “Shut up. What’s yours?”

“Spiders.” He answers without missing a beat.

“Spiders aren’t technically animals.” You pull Peter’s Henley more tightly around your shoulders, still basking in the warmth that it’s retained from his skin.

“And you’re not technically any fun to play this game with,” he retorts.

“Ask another,” you can’t help but to laugh, the sound of it contagious so that Peter is laughing too as he lines up his next question.

“Best place to get sloshed in Queens?”

“Easy,” you crow, “The Jar.”

Peter looks taken aback for a moment, until you realize he’s smirking and there’s something cheeky about to roll off his tongue. “There’s no way you’re cool enough to go to The Jar,” Peter teases and you feign affront, putting a hand over your heart.

“That’s very ungentlemanly, Mr. Tattoo Artist.”

Peter has the sense to dramatically sweep his hand across his forehead, jesting at penitence. “I’m terribly sorry, Madame Sunflower.”

“I’ll forgive you,” you mutter, tapping a finger on your cheek as you think of your next question. It pops into your head from a now-distant memory of the first day you met Peter. “What does the text on your arm mean? The Hebrew script?”

Peter smiles a little ruefully, his hand coming up to brush over the characters you’re referring to. “It says Ben,” he tells you, “After my Uncle. He and May raised me and when he died, it was…it hurt. But I know he’s with me all the time. I’ve got his middle name. Peter B. Parker.”

“I’m sorry,” you frown, sticking the tip of your index finger in your mouth, wishing you could take back the question, “I didn’t mean to ask something so personal.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Peter assures you, smiling wide, “It was a long time ago.”

The questions continue, long past twenty-one. You learn that Peter’s favourite colour is tied between blue and red, that his favourite food is his Aunt May’s latkes, and that he imagines himself to be very useful during a zombie apocalypse. The more you find out about Peter, the more you want to know—he tells you that if he found a hundred dollars on the street he’d donate it to a food bank and that the TL;DR version of his life is “Art, panic, loss, and student loans.”

When he asks you if you have any tattoos, you wink coyly before laughing and telling him you don’t. Then, when you ask the person he’d love to tattoo more than anyone else in the world, he returns your teasing smile and replies that it’s you.

And then the lights come back on and you’re thankful because the air between you and Peter had been starting to get warm and thick with something that didn’t fit well between just acquaintances.

“One more question?” Peter asks as you get up to return to your shop. You decide to humour him and nod, opening your arms as though inviting him to interrogate you. Peter bites his lip, surveying you for a long moment, eyes lingering on your exposed neck. “What do you see in Harry?”

The question surprises you, makes a cool sweat bead at the nape of your neck. You swallow heavily, chewing the inside of your bottom lip. “Peter…” you begin, though you’re not quite certain what words you want to say.

“I mean it, Y/N,” Peter sighs in earnest, “The dude is like every stereotype of a rich kid ever rolled into a suit and hair gel.”

He’s right. You know he’s right. Yet something inside you steels, armour coating your heart to keep it from beating too loudly. “It’s complicated,” you resign yourself to delivering an unsatisfactory answer. How can you possibly explain that you’ve been lonely and you want somebody—anybody—to make you feel less like you’re floating around in the world, untethered as you take the dreams and expressions of other peoples’ love and stitch it together with flowers and greenery. You want that love, want to be like a kite that has someone holding it down to earth, a safe place to return to after every flight.

And Harry has his flaws, you know that far too well—it’s ingrained in your memory with images of text messages and photos shared with other women and seemingly sincere apologies and a grand romantic gesture to ask for another chance. Those flaws nag at you while you try to sleep next to him at night, but you know if you try hard enough you can overlook them. Not forget them, but learn to live with them.

Or so you believed. But Peter B. Parker walked casually into your life with a shabby box of Random Crap and sent you spinning, dropping, scattering into the unknown.

Peter B. Parker, who shakes his head at you now, forehead creased. “It shouldn’t be complicated,” he whispers.

“I should go,” you sigh, “Thanks for the company, Pete.” You turn tail, almost afraid of looking at him for a moment longer, and exit the tattoo parlour.

It’s only when you’re back in your own shop, brewing a tea in the back room, that you realize you’ve still got Peter’s Henley draped carefully over your shoulders.

daisies for friendship

Your shop is closed on Mondays so you can recover from your busy weekends, but that doesn’t stop you from going by Peter’s place with takeout Pad Thai around noon, knowing he’s got a full day of sittings and that he likely won’t think to put anything other than coffee in his system. Because over the last four weeks since the power outage you’ve become Peter’s friend. And friends know these things about each other and take care of one another in ways that are perfectly fit for friendship.

Peter’s face lights up with gratitude at the smell of the takeout and he gives his client a break to come over to greet you, messing his fingers around at the top of your head.

“You’re amazing, Bug,” he grins, ravenously tearing open the paper bag and pulling out the container labelled Chicken, Extra Egg. Extra Peanuts.

“I prefer Sunflower,” you scowl, reaching into Peter’s lunch to snatch a slice of carrot. “Besides, you’re the bug, Spider-Man.”

Peter glances up at you, something sharp and pained darting across his eyes. You tilt your head to the side, concerned, the carrot you’ve been chewing going down sideways. “You okay?”

Peter nods, teeth favouring his bottom lip. “Just, uh, someone I know used to call me that, as a joke.”

“Ben?” You offer the name with a smile, knowing that Peter loves to tell stories about his late Uncle. You’d gone over to Aunt May’s for supper a week earlier and the two of them had reminisced until even you were in tears at the loving way they recounted humorous moments from the past.

But Peter shakes his head once, tersely. “Thanks for lunch, Sunflower,” he whispers. “I should get back to work.”

You nod, watching him walk back to his stool and put on a fresh pair of gloves. You slip out of the shop, and back in not ten minutes later while Peter’s back is to you, a small potted plant in your hands. You set it down gently next to the lunch Peter still hasn’t touched.

Two hours later, when you’ve gone home for the day and Peter’s finished with his sitting, he returns to his cold Pad Thai and shovels it into his mouth. Then, he notices the card attached to the spiny plant you left for him earlier in the day. Curiously, he opens and reads the tiny note scrawled in your hand: Aloe. For healing. The plant receives a special place of honour in the windowsill.

holly for defence

There’s shouting outside the shop and Peter abandons the dusting he’s been trying to get through all afternoon, the distraction not entirely unwelcome—until he sees what it is.

You’re standing in the doorway to your shop, the door propped open against your shoulder. A foot in front of you, Harry stands, rapidly losing his cool. Frowning, Peter steps out onto the sidewalk just in time to hear him berating you.

“—Ridiculous, Y/N, just calm down.”

“Don’t you dare,” you hiss, tears in your eyes, “I am not imagining things.”

“Y/N,” Harry’s voice is terse, angry, and Peter feels the same emotions welling up in his chest, his fingers digging into his palms as he forms loose fists. “You’re making a scene. Let’s talk about this later.”

Peter expects you to argue, to spit venom from your lips as he knows you’re perfectly capable of doing. So when your shoulders slump and your face falls, he feels his heart shatter because watching you close in on yourself like that is worse than anything he could have imagined.

“C’mon,” Harry urges, beginning to usher you into the shop. Peter worries that if he gets you in there and closes the door he may never see you again—not in the same way that he’s seen you up until now. He takes a few steps forward, squaring his shoulders.

“You alright, Y/N?”

Your eyes flit up, meeting his, and Peter notices your bottom lip quiver, the way your lashes become lined with more tears at the sight of him.

“She’s fine,” Harry snaps, “This doesn’t concern you.”

“See,” Peter responds cooly, running a hand through his hair, the other slipping into his pocket, to stop them from shaking, “When you’re making her cry like that, it does concern me.”

Harry rolls his eyes, muttering a curse under his breath before turning back to you. You cast a quick look at Peter and he gives you an earnest look. You’ve never seen him so avid, but you can’t do this—whatever this is. Not here. Not now. You look away, staring hard at the ground.

“Don’t worry about it, Peter,” you mumble, allowing yourself to be led back into your shop, “I’m fine.”

peonies for shame

The next day, Peter is outside his shop when you walk up. You offer him a small smile, a wave, but he turns away, heading inside his door without so much as acknowledging you. It stings, because you’re ashamed. Because Peter saw the worst and weakest parts of you and decided that you weren’t worth even a fake smile between friends. You allow yourself to cry your eyes dry in the flower fridge, emerging ten minutes later shivering and lost.

petunias for anger

“You didn’t sign for the delivery?”

You storm into Peter’s shop, not even caring if he’s with a client. Thankfully he’s not, instead sitting at the front desk, drawing something. He looks up at you as you enter, eyebrows knit together in a nonchalant way that makes you want to poke him in the eye.

“I was busy.” His voice is clipped, more professional than you’ve ever heard it before. That only makes you angrier and you cross your arms over your chest defensively, glaring at him.

“I’m going to need to drive an hour to pick up those urns! We made a deal!” Your voice is growing more hysterical with every word, rage rippling on your tongue. It was a little agreement between neighbours, made a week after Peter moved in—keep an eye on things when the other had to step out. True, it was more often than not Peter watching out for your storefront while you were out on deliveries, but a deal was a deal.

“Like I said,” Peter sits back in his chair, meeting your gaze with cool indifference, “I was busy. Maybe you should ask your boyfriend to help you.”

“Oh my god,” you hiss, “You absolute asshole!”

“I’m an asshole?” Peter lets out a forced bark of laughter, that insufferable grin on his lips though you find nothing about this funny. “Guess you need to fall in love with me, since asshole seems to be your type.”

You gape at him, astounded, mouth opening and closing once, and then again, before you let out a huff, exhaling loudly. “I don’t have time for this!” You turn to leave, anger coursing through you, but Peter’s not finished.

“You’re being so stupid, Y/N!”

You whip around again as his words make you blink in surprise, their harshness at odds with Peter’s soft face, his arrogant smirk gone and replaced with something you can’t quite name.

“Stupid?” you repeat, “Stupid?”

“Yeah, fucking stupid. You deserve better than him! Why can’t you see that?”

“Oh,” you laugh sardonically, eyes narrowing, “And what? You’re better?” Your brain is screaming at you to shut up because you know this is going to end badly and your friendship with Peter has been strained as it is, whittled down to nothing but genial greetings every so often.

“That’s not what I’m saying—”

“You’re insufferable,” you continued, words falling from your lips because you’re so angry that Peter’s ruined your day but more than that you’re angry that he doesn’t love you and that if he’d just ask you to be his you would. “You’re actually a true nightmare, Peter! You don’t like Harry, I get it, but you fucked up my entire day because of it. Do you know how childish that is? How absolutely ridiculous! And then you have the fucking nerve to call me stupid? I must be, for ever trusting you. For thinking you were anything more than—”

“Shut up.” Peter has barged out from behind the counter and has you backed against the door, his face inches from yours, anger suddenly extinguished, replaced by something softer. Longing? Need? Whatever it is, you know it’s the same expression that washes over your face as he puts a strong hand to your cheek, thumb running across the soft skin under your eye.

And then, without a word, he’s kissing you, his lips warm and rough on yours as if he’s trying to communicate with you in a language neither of you quite understands.

He’s kissing you. And it feels like you’re drowning but you don’t ever want to come up for air because you’re so light that you could float away but Peter’s hands, one grasping the back of your neck, the other coming to rest on your waist, are there. Tethering you.

And you’re kissing him back, your lips molten where they melt against his, tongues rid of all their sharp edges as they find one another, give and take and give again.

Finally, as your chest begins to burn, Peter pulls away, his breath still warm on your face, familiar now.

“You taste so good, Sunflower.” His voice is little more than a whisper. You make a noise in your throat, something quiet and desperate. Peter breathes out heavily, his hands still holding you, keeping you grounded. “Let’s go get those urns,” he lets a small smile tug at his lips. “I’ll drive.”

hyssop for sacrifice

Your storefront is dark when you pull up just after midnight, tears still stinging at your eyes but shoulders feeling unburdened for the first time in weeks. On the passenger’s seat beside you is a backpack haphazardly stuffed with items that had collected at Harry’s condo over the last two months—a toothbrush, shampoo, a sweater, a few books, and a bag of decorative stones you’d forgot you bought for a personal arrangement you’d been meaning to work on.

It had been a week since you kissed Peter; since he had kissed you. For the most part, nothing had changed between the two of you. His gazes lingered a little longer on you, a little more hopefully, but he never pushed, not after that day. For six nights, you’d tossed and turned, avoiding Harry’s place as much as you could in favour of your own. For six nights, Peter’s words had echoed in your head, bouncing between your ears as you restlessly chased sleep.

When did this become your life?

Parking your car, you grab your backpack and unlock the shop door, only switching on the small pink lamp you keep in the entryway. You probably should have just gone home, but you knew sleep would be elusive and your brain had been so sluggish this past week you were behind on paperwork. Now was as good a time as ever to catch up, right?

Before you have time to even settle in, there’s a knock on the glass front of the shop that makes you jump, but when you look up, you see Peter standing and waving at you with confusion etched on his face. You return to the door, flipping the latch and opening it a crack.

“What are you doing here?” Peter asks.

“Wedding,” you reply, the lie slipping easily from your lips, though you’re not quite sure the calm demeanour with which you speak reaches your eyes.

“Tomorrow’s Wednesday, Sunflower.”

“Right.”

“Why are you really here?”

“I, uh, I left,” you confess. “For good.” If Peter wants to smile or lay down an “I told you so”, he doesn’t let on, instead nodding gently as if he understands. “Why are you?” you ask, “Still here I mean?”

“I was sketching,” Peter shrugs, “Got lost in a design I dreamt up last night.” He pauses, taking stock of your red-rimmed eyes, the dark circles that stretch out under them, and your slumped shoulders. Tentatively, he takes your hand in his, his mind instantly flying backwards several months to when you first shook his hand. It almost makes him laugh to remember how cute you’d looked when he first called you Sunflower—all playfully annoyed, nose scrunched up. But it doesn’t feel like the time for laughter, not tonight. Instead, Peter squeezes your hand softly. “Hey, I’ve got a cot in the back of the shop. You can use it if you need the night. And if you need more than the night, I’m pretty used to falling asleep on my couch.”

You thank Peter and follow him back to his shop, looking around at the cluttered back room and realizing, for the first time, that Peter seems to live here. As though he reads your mind, he shrugs. “Rent’s expensive. And May keeps my bedroom the way it was when I was a teenager, for days when I need it.”

You nod and take a seat on the makeshift bed, the sheets cool and stiff beneath your palms. Peter stands nearby, watching you, not dragging his eyes away when you look up and meet his gaze—not this time.

“Do you have any weed?”

Peter snorts, surprised by the question, and cocks an eyebrow at you.“What, because I have tattoos, I must have weed too?”

You look slightly reproached and begin to mutter an apology. “That’s not what­—”

“I know,” Peter teases, turning toward the small cabinet where you know he keeps his candy stash. “I’ve got CBD oil—helps me sleep.” You glance at him, uncertain. “Anxiety,” he adds.

“Mind sharing?”

Peter smirks and grabs a small bottle and a stopper from the cupboard before joining you on the cot, the thin mattress groaning under the extra weight. “I’d be honoured, Sunflower.”

camellia for longing

“Hold your thumb just there.”

Peter obeys, sticking his thumb at the centre of a bow you’re tying, watching as you focus on measuring the ribbon’s edges just right. He has to swallow the impulse to lean over the arrangement he’s helping you finish and kiss you like his life depends on it.

The two of you have been at this nearly all night and Peter has long since figured out where to put his thumb, but every so often he enjoys having you remind him, guiding his hand to just the right spot. His mind wanders, thinking of all the other things he wants you to show him, all the other places he wants your hands to guide his.

“Peter?” Your voice calls him back to the present moment and, realizing you’ve finished with the bow, he smiles sheepishly at having been caught in his lewd thoughts.

“I want to take your picture,” he says without thinking, eyes going wide as the words tumble from his lips. You smile and Peter feels his heart skip a beat in his chest, his lips turning up at the corners.

“Maybe you can get some new ones of me for next wedding season?” You grin, sticking your tongue out as you strike a ridiculous pose that makes Peter roll his eyes before he shakes his head, suddenly serious again, quiet and composed.

“No,” he mutters, a red hue tinging his cheeks, “I mean I really want to take your picture.” He chances a glance up at you from under his lashes, shy smile still in place. “Get you all posed for me.”

There’s a hint of something suggestive in his words, at odds with the sweet and modest way that Peter’s hand goes to the back of his neck. You catch a glimpse of his eyes as they meet yours, their dazzling honey oozing with something dark and lustful. It makes you squeeze your thighs together under the table.

“And,” Peter continues, plucking an unused daisy from the pile of flowers you’ve been working through, “With you wearing nothing but this.” Gently, he fixes the flower in place behind your ear, his fingers brushing down your jaw as they return to his pockets.

“Peter—” you breathe, voice shaky. He looks at you, hope and hunger in his stare. In an instant, his lips are on yours, his fingers tangled in the hairs at the nape of your neck, tugging at them softly to tilt your head back so he can kiss down your neck, over your collarbone, each time his lips flit across your skin something in you coming undone.

With some effort you sweep aside the clutter from the table, leaving a free spot for you to prop yourself up on, Peter giving you some assistance. Then you’re pulling him close, legs wrapping around his waist, your skirt riding up to your hips. Peter’s hands wander down toward your thighs but hesitate to slip beneath your clothing, instead toying with the hem. You tug at his shirt and he obliges, pulling it off and exposing his chest, which is surprisingly bare of tattoos, save for one over his heart—a circle of delicate ivied vines, done in white ink. You reach to run your fingers over it, but Peter tenses, so you pause, looking up at him for a cue as to what happens next.

“Sorry,” he whispers, ghosting over your waist, “It’s—it’s for someone I lost.”

“It’s beautiful,” you reply softly. Peter visibly relaxes, his fingers wrapping around your wrist and placing your hand over his heart. You feel the steady rhythm of his pulse beneath his skin and you swallow hard, words failing you. Peter kisses the top of your head and for a long moment you both remain still, his chin resting in your hair, your forehead pressed to his abdomen.

“Peter,” you whisper, placing a gentle kiss on his sternum, “Come home with me?”

poppies for pleasure

There’s a trail of discarded clothes from the door of your apartment to the bathroom. You know Peter’s nervous, he admitted as much in the car ride back to your place, his fingers tapping anxiously on your steering wheel while you stared at his hands, imagining what they could do to you, squeezing your thighs together at the feeling of wetness dampening your cotton panties.

Truthfully, you’re nervous too. Peter is somehow beyond your understanding—so marked by loss and grief, yet so giving and kind. He’s sheltered his heart, allowed it to grow weedy and windswept, and now he’s allowing you in, asking you to turn the soil and sow something new.

This excited anticipation is what makes you suggest a shower, warm water excellent for soothing nerves, the small space intimate and dim.

Pressed up against the cold glass door of the shower, you finally take a moment to drink in the sight of Peter’s entire body, desire bubbling in the pit of your stomach at the sight of him, lean and muscled and looking at you like you’re the only thing in the universe. His cock is larger than you’d imagined it, pressed between you as he leans down to kiss you, nipping at the place where your jaw trails into your neck. It’s enough to make you gasp, fingers curling around his biceps, nails digging into the inked skin and leaving tiny crescent moons in their wake.

“C’mon,” you whisper, unwillingly letting go of him for a moment to open the shower door and turn on the water, adjusting the temperature. Peter takes the opportunity of having you turned away from him to run a hand over the curve of your ass, up to your hip where he squeezes, making you giggle.

But under the water, your bodies intertwined, the laughter you’ve shared up the elevator and across the floor of your apartment, turns into a series of groans, a mess of hands and lips exploring skin, eyes roving over unfamiliar landscapes of dips and curves and lines and scars.

Peter has you pressed flush against the wall and he’s kissing you hungrily, as if you’re his last meal—a sacrificial feast to be devoured with zeal. But his hands remain tentative, slipping gently over your boobs, fingers pinching your nipples with care, drawing lines down toward your navel over the curve of your stomach, dancing over your waist and your hips.

“Peter,” you whisper, voice hoarse, “Touch me.” He groans in your ear and you seize his wrist, guiding it to the achingly empty space between your legs. “It’s okay,” you continue, kissing his neck. Your free hand tangles in his hair and you relish the way his eyes flutter closed at the sensation. “Let me take the lead.”

He nods, watching intently as you place his middle finger at your entrance, moving his wrist back and forth a few times so he’s grazing your folds. “Feel how wet you’ve got me?” you sigh in pleasure, the feeling of his calloused fingertip sending a shiver of delight up your spine. “Now, go slow. Listen to what my body tells you, okay?”

“Yeah,” Peter replies, short of breath. He continues to run his finger gently along your core, then uses his index and ring fingers to spread your folds, making your breath hitch in your throat. The sound spurs him on and his middle finger slips part way inside you, swirling gently and making you bite your lip.

“That’s good, Pete,” you encourage him, “Fuck, that’s good. Keep going.”

“Yes ma’am,” he chuckles low in his throat, finger slipping the rest of the way inside you. Peter feels your cunt clench around him and groans at the sensation, imagining how incredible it’ll feel around his cock. It takes Peter a moment to find his rhythm, to find the right angle at which to hook his fingers to elicit that perfectly tight squeeze again, but once he locates it, once he makes your squirm, he’s relentless.

“Your thumb,” you whimper, “Peter…”

He swallows at the sound of his name falling from your lips with breathless pleasure and presses his thumb into you, rubbing gently. “There?” he asks, gazing up at you with hooded eyes. Your legs shake as you spread them a little wider, glad for the way Peter’s free arm supports you.

“Just a little—a little higher,” you whimper. Peter’s hand is careful and steady—though you suppose that’s part of his job—as he probes around until he hears the telltale gasp that tells him he’s found what he’s looking for. He sets a pace that has you keening, panting, crying out because you’re so close, but you can barely stand any longer so you grab at his wrist and make him stop. You want to cum for him, with him.

Peter looks at you with eyes blown wide with lust, lips swollen with your kisses.

“You’re so fucking pretty, Peter,” you whisper, enjoying the way he flushes in response, though that might just be the warm water that’s rolling off his body, making his hair stick flat to his head.

“I want you, Sunflower,” he moans softly, “Please.”

“I’m yours,” you smirk, slipping out of Peter’s grasp and gently prodding him toward the wall, his back against the cool tiles, yours now under the shower stream. You take your time sinking to your knees, kissing down his chest, letting his cock rub between your boobs and over your chin as you settle between his legs. With one doe-eyed look up at him and a quick wink, you take his entire length in your mouth.

“Fuck!”

You smile around Peter’s dick, perhaps a little wickedly, as you begin to bob back and forth, feeling the weight of him on your tongue. He’s too large to fit entirely in your mouth, his tip already hitting the back of your throat, making it clench, so you use two fingers to stroke the parts of him your lips can’t reach.

Within minutes, Peter is mumbling nonsense, his knees shaking. You pull your lips off him with a lewd pop and look up at him with wide eyes, a string of saliva still connecting your lips to his cock.

“You’re so fucking yummy, Peter,” you grin, “I’m just gonna swallow you up.”

“Fuck, Y/N,” he pants out, groaning loud as you run your tongue over the sensitive slit at the head of his cock. Then he’s sliding down the wall, unable to stand any longer, the feeling of pleasure that’s rocking through him too much. Once he’s eye level with you, you press your forehead to his and he kisses the tip of your nose.

“I want to fuck you,” he whispers, breathless.

“I know,” you coo, kissing him again, this time between his eyes, “Gonna let me be a good girl for you and ride your cock?”

Peter glances at you with darkened pupils, but there’s a spark there that tells you he acknowledges the importance of what you just said. He smiles, helping you shift so that you’re straddling him, hot water rolling down your back.

“You’re a goddess,” Peter breathes, rolling your nipples between his fingers, “So pretty and all for me.”

You run your tongue along his jaw, nipping gently at the shell of his ear before you whisper to him. “Tell me what you want, Peter.”

“Be a good girl and let me inside you, yeah?”

It’s your turn to whimper as Peter helps you sink onto his cock, its length stretching you out as your body shapes around him, already clenching at the pleasure of the intrusion. Peter throws his head back against the shower wall as you grip his shoulders, balancing on the balls of your feet as you begin to bounce up and down on his cock.

Peter’s a quick learner because his hand slips between your bodies, finding your clit again, drawing sloppy circles around the little nub as you raise yourself almost entirely off of him before sinking back down. After a few thrusts, Peter is fully sheathed inside you and your legs, tired and weakening, need a break. Peter whispers your name, his free hand coming around to cup your ass, helping you writhe back and forth on him. Your chests are pressed together and the closeness makes Peter’s patterns on your clit tighter and faster. You can feel his cock twitching, feel your cunt clenching around him and you know you’re close.

“Gonna cum for me, Sunflower?” Peter whispers and that’s all it takes for you to cry out in delight, your head in the crook of his neck as Peter reaches his own high, spilling himself inside you with your name on his lips.

roses for love

Peter is perched on your countertop, eating out of the peanut butter jar while you’re snacking on crackers straight from the box, making a mental note that you really need to go grocery shopping.

“Remember that sketch I told you I was working on? The one from that night?” Peter asks, licking the spoon clean before shoving it back into the jar. You nod, tossing a cracker at him, which he catches deftly, smearing it with peanut butter before sending it back in your direction. “Do you want to see it?”

“Fuck yeah,” you exclaim, “I’d absolutely love to.”

Excitedly, Peter jumps off the counter and goes to retrieve the sketchbook in his bag by the door. It’s been a few weeks since you’ve officially considered him your boyfriend, but this is the first time he’s showing you a piece that he’s created himself—one that hasn’t been commissioned by a client.

You wait eagerly as Peter flips through the pages of his book before stopping, running his fingers over the paper, that frenetic tapping ever present. Then, he holds the book out to you and your jaw drops, as does the cracker you’re holding in your hand, falling to the floor.

On the page, there’s an incredibly life-like sunflower, its petals large and swirling, its face detailed with speckled seeds. Wrapped around its proud stem are gossamer strands, a spider dangling from their ends.

“Peter,” you breathe out, “It’s stunning.”

“It’s for you,” he replies quietly, “If you ever trust me enough to let me ink you.”

You roll your eyes, picking your cracker up off the tiles and throwing it at Peter’s head.

sunflowers for adoration

Peter flips the sign on his shop door to Closed. He doesn’t want any interruptions for this. The blinds are closed and it’s just the two of you under the fluorescent lights. You’re in Peter’s chair, in your underwear, a freshly shaved spot on your upper thigh rubbed with numbing gel and stencilled with Peter’s beautiful sunflower design.

“Remember,” he tells you, kissing each of your knees in turn, “Tell me if you need a break.”

“It’s been a year,” you snark, “I haven’t needed a break from you yet.”

Peter scowls playfully at you, returning to your knees, this time to scrape his teeth over their surface, making you giggle. His lips flit up your inner thighs and to your clothed core, kissing you there once, ever so softly.

Then he’s straightening his back and he’s all business once again. “Ready?” Peter asks, grabbing his tattoo pen.

You nod, smiling as you look at your boyfriend in his element. He’s already marked himself into your heart permanently—it only makes sense to have him etched into your skin as well. “Ready.”

Hi folks just wanted to give an update on where I’ve been. My mom was recently diagnosed with an aggressive cancer and I’ve been not only taking care of her and providing support but also struggling with it myself. I’ve just been too stressed and worried and weighed down to write much but I hope within the coming weeks the rocking of my world will settle. Just wanted to give a little update and for you to know I haven’t abandoned this little blog:)

This one fucked me up in the best way

shampoo & heartbreak

Summary: Peter’s superhuman senses make things crystal clear: she got a boyfriend and didn’t tell him. Why else can he smell men’s shampoo in her hair when she’s used the same cherry blossom one for years?

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader (she/her pronouns, no Y/N); fluff, best friend trope, happy ending

Words: 2K

—————————————

Spring is Peter Parker’s favorite season, for a number of reasons: first and most importantly, it has the perfect temperatures to wear the suit in.  Not too hot, not too cold, and there’s no chafing from patches of sweat. Second, it was his girl’s favorite season as well, and the time when she brought out and experimented with her cutest outfits.

Well, his girl - she isn’t really, but it’s hard to think of her as anything else. A lifelong best friend and the ultimate ‘what if’ was more appropriate.

Late afternoon spring walks through Central Park are his favorite because they’re her favorite, and he obliges every time she asks, even if he’s otherwise occupied. His mind rolls a giant wheel of fortune, wondering what top she might wear, or which scarf will bring out her eyes, and he’s trapped. Fashion is his last concern, but with her, he pays attention; he always does.

Like now, for example. He’s paying so much attention to the scent of men’s shampoo coming from her hair that it constricts his heart and etches a frown into his features.

No.

His entire body is protesting by turning inside out. His throat is closing up and his chest feels hot. Whatever concentration he had before this has packed its bags and left.

Keep reading

The Adventures of Spider-Man and Moonlight

A/N: Hi! This is my first posted Peter fic so I’m very excited about it. I haven’t consistently written in a couple of years so I am a little rusty. If you liked this I would appreciate a like and a reblog or message about it would send me over the moon! Thank you for reading if you decide to take the time to do so!

Summary: Luna is trying to master the new life of being a superhero and the best thing for her would be some kind of partner in fighting crime like Spider-Man right? Not like their banter and shameless flirting had anything to do with it of course.

Word count: 2.9k

Warnings: violence, brief mentions of sexual assault

Chapter 1 - No Going Back Now

New York had been home to Luna Carter for almost three years. Three years of feeling like she could blend in. Three years of feeling like she was free. Three years of finding herself. 

When she had first gotten to New York she was beyond lost and scared; she was terrified and on another planet. Now she felt like she had a good head on her shoulders and wasn’t afraid of herself. She was a strong woman who didn’t fear herself anymore. She hated when people talked on the phone so loud the entire block knew their business and she loved when people were so clearly in their own world and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to what was around them. She loved the show Golden Girls, Blanche was her favorite, and hated jelly filled donuts. The last year of her life had been the best because that was when the living had really started and she had felt safe for the first time in her life. She was truly free and had stopped looking over her shoulder and double checking her front door lock and waking up at all hours of the night to look out her window to make sure she wasn’t being watched. She was free.

New York was home and she was happy.

“Five bucks says he pukes.”

Luna looked to Cassidy who was looking at the kid at table four who was scarfing down ice cream after already having had more food than she herself could eat. His parents paid no mind and continued on with their conversation with their friends. It was some dinner to celebrate some business deal. Her restaurant was a five star restaurant in Brooklyn where the cheapest item on the menu was a bowl of tomato soup at 37 dollars- made with organic sundried tomatoes from the garden out back and fresh cream that came from a fairy upstate of course. 

“Glad that’s not my table.” Luna chuckled as she proceeded to clock out on the screen in front of her. “In fact, none of these are my tables. You wanna know why?”

Cassidy groaned. “Cause Robbie cut you?”

“You know it.” Luna snickered. “After that table with the football guy left me a three hundred dollar tip I have been so ready to go. I’ve never wanted to be cut so bad in my life. And you wanna know what I’m gonna do when I get home?”

“What’s that?” Cassidy was amused.

“I’m gonna get into a very hot bath with a glass of rose and watch Mr. Darcy tell Elizabeth Bennet that she has bewitched him body and soul.”

“You bitch. I wanna be you so bad right now.”

Luna couldn’t keep the grin off her face and did a shoulder shake. “I would wanna be me too.”

The sound of a child retching followed by screams had Cassidy groaning. 

“Good luck with that, girl. I hope they tip you good.”

Cassidy rolled her eyes before heading to table four. “Not likely.”

Walking out the back door of Vetro’s, Luna headed home. She worked in Brooklyn but lived in Queens and took the subway every day. She didn’t mind it very much except when it snowed but that night wasn’t one of those nights and she was in a good mood as she headed for the subway. 

It was already dark out and she hugged her thrifted wool coat closer, missing the long summer days when there would still be some form of light out when she got off of work.

The ride home felt longer than normal, her excitement to get there making it feel like she would never make it. Eventually her stop came and she walked off eagerly and headed up, already thinking of what kind of bath bomb she was going to use and dying to get her brown wig off.

She was only two blocks away from her building when something caught her eye. It was a scuffle in an alleyway on the other side of the street. It took her a second to realize a man was being mugged. 

Frozen in place, she watched as she tried to figure out what to do. She knew she could easily help the man but at what cost to herself? She didn’t know if she could keep watching and do nothing but she didn’t know if she was willing to expose herself. 

Before she could figure out her decision, a flash of red and blue appeared and the two men were broken apart. She could only just hear what was said. 

“Didn’t your mother teach you it’s not nice to take things that aren’t yours?”

She watched as Spider-Man webbed the mugger to a wall. She’d never seen him in person before and had only seen him in photos and in the news but she had a coworker who had and Luna now understood what she had meant when she said he was tall looking even if he wasn’t barely six foot.

Not wanting to be noticed and her concerns for the man who was being attacked qualmed, she walked the two blocks briskly. The entire time she kept replaying the moment she did nothing but stand there when the man had been attacked. What would have happened if Spider-Man hadn’t showed up? Would she have witnessed a murder? No. She wouldn’t have let that happen. She wouldn’t have been able to stand by as someone’s life was taken.

As she sat in the bubble bath with a glass of rose, she felt guilty and regretful for not helping the man. She could have stopped it with ease but she hadn’t because she was worried about herself. She wished she had stopped to thank Spider-Man for doing what he did. She never really thought much about it before but he was an extremely selfless person. He gave up his time every day to keep the city safe and put himself in danger to protect others. She hoped he got some kind of compensation for it. 

What she had thought about was where he’d gotten his powers from. Had he been born with them or were they given to him like her? How much did they have in common? He was clearly better than her because he, at least, was using his powers to help people.

But why couldn’t she? Why couldn’t she put on a mask and use her powers to help people? To help keep the city safe? She had weapons built into her hands and she was doing nothing to use them for the greater good. Maybe she could take the curse that had been forced upon her and find a way to turn it into something good. She had had her curse for six years and she hated it every second and wished she could find a way to get rid of it every second. But maybe she didn’t need to get rid of them. Maybe she just needed to do something with them.

It wasn’t like anyone could hurt her. There had only been one person who had ever physically hurt her before and he was a special case and was long gone. The safety thing wasn’t an issue. She truly didn’t believe anyone could not only best her in a fight but kill her. 

As she laid in bed she couldn’t calm her thoughts. All she could think about was if she was going to actually do it; become a superhero. She knew that it wasn’t something she should jump right into but she also couldn’t stop thinking about it and the more she thought about it the more she wanted to get out of bed to make a trip to wherever she could find fabric and sewing kit. Maybe she could track down Spider-Man and ask him what he used to make his. 

Over the next few days Luna crafted her suit. She had quite a few errors and had to start from scratch at one point when she realized she’d mixed up two measurements and had more band aids on her fingers than she could count from the needle pricking her finger. She had hand sewn the entire thing since she didn’t have a sewing machine but by the end of it it fit her like a glove and felt like a second skin.

It was made of black spandex and covered nearly her entire body. She’d given it a collar that wrapped around her neck as well as gloves that she could take off if she wanted, the seem at her wrists nearly invisible, and a zipper that went from her belly button to her collared neck that only she could open from the inside. For her feet she’d had to copy Spider-Man and tried to mirror the way he’d put built in shoes in his suit, which had been the hardest part of all. On her chest was a silver crescent moon. But her favorite part was the cape she had made. It was made of black pleather and had small silver stars on it. She had seen the fabric when she was on her way to check on and just knew she had to have it. She didn’t think of the cape until much later. It had been a last minute decision but she loved it.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she picked up the black mask she’d made. It was in the shape of cat eyes with sharp ends that flicked off and rested on the bridge of her nose. It was without a band and had eyelash glue on the inside. She tested it out and she was able to jump up and down and move around without it budging and felt confident it wouldn’t fall off. She would have to change out the glue every day but she liked the way the mask looked without a band better. 

Wearing the mask and in her suit, her stark white natural hair down and free and brushing her ribs, she felt like she was a real superhero. 

She was Moonlight. 

Her hand reached the front door knob when she froze. She couldn’t go out like this. Someone might see her coming out and know instantly she was Moonlight. How was she going to get out of her apartment? How the hell did Spider-Man get out of his?

Looking to her window, she sighed before walking across the room and opening the window. The cold air hit the exposed parts of her face and she was glad with her decision to line the inside of her suit with fleece. Very, very thick fleece. She would have to make a new suit for the summer but for now this would be perfect. 

Making sure none of the windows that were in the building across from her had their blinds open, she jumped out of her window and onto the fire escape. Maybe she would be able to drop a backpack down into the alleyway of her building and change there. She would have to start doing that in the future when it didn’t take her ten minutes to get her suit on.

Her first night as Moonlight was…disappointing to say the least. Quite literally nothing happened. She hadn’t been able to find any crime or any attacks or anything like that. She had no idea how Spider-Man did any of this and she had even tried to find him to ask him but that had also not panned out. 

It was when she was walking to work the next day that she passed a police officer and his radio was on, allowing her to overhear a call about a breaking and entering. Her head had whipped up when she realized she needed a police radio. She didn’t know if that’s how Spider-Man did it but this would be how she did it. 

That night she sat and waited until she got the call about a bank robbery by a “bird man” only seven blocks from her apartment and she was jumping out of her window and letting her magic do half the work of her run. It wasn’t that she could fly exactly but she could exert the power to carry her body partially. 

When she got there, she halted upon seeing that Spider-Man was already there. She didn’t know what to do. Was there some kind of rule where if one hero was there it was their save? Should she wait on the sidelines and see if he needed help? Or should she just join in on the fight? 

She didn’t have time to decide because bird guy clocked her and headed right for her with his very large wings that looked like they were part of an attachment on his back. 

“Okay I guess here we go.” She mumbled to herself, raising her hands and putting out the energy to entrap the villain. It worked and he was suspended in her magic. Luna had two different parts to her power. There was her energy which she had been given unwillingly and then there was her magic that she believed was an evolved part of her energy. The energy was dangerous and deadly but the magic was good and quite literally magic.

She felt so exposed and like she was naked. She had never used her powers out in public before, let alone in front of anyone that hadn’t been in Manheim’s lab. But she needed to get used to it. 

“What the fuck is this?!” He screamed. 

Spider-Man landed beside her, ignoring bird mans profanities. “Whoa! How are you doing that?” He was in awe but she didn’t have time to explain. She’d never held that much weight in her magic before.

Her arms started to shake as her muscles struggled with the weight. “Magic. I’m going to lose him so do whatever you gotta and do it quickly. He’s like really heavy!”

Just as Spider-Man was about to web him up, he flapped his wings hard enough to break free of Luna’s magic. She felt fear for the first time and for a brief second wondered if she was in way over her head.

A wing shot out at her but she dodged it, letting out a shaky exhale.

The two of them took him on in a fight, Luna learning his name was Vulture and not bird guy. It was intense and they ended up on the freeway where Luna ended up doing a lot of saving rather than fighting which was good because her fighting skills were limited. She had some experience, Manheim having intended on making her powerful in every way but she hadn’t done hand to hand in years.

He was beginning to piss her off. Vulture would knock a car over and Luna would pull the people inside of it out. Vulture would pick up a running civilian fleeing for their life and let them drop as a way to distract Luna and she would end up having to use her magic to catch them so his method was working. It did make it easier for Spider-Man who didn’t have as many people to save and was able to get more punches in. 

The two fought together as a team like they always had been one. There was an unspoken way they could tell what the other was going to do next and Luna was kind of freaked out by it. She’d never really had that with someone before. The closest thing she had to a best friend was her coworker Cassidy. 

Soon Vulture was webbed up, screaming his head off albeit, and Spider-Man was taking the bag full of money from him before making his way over to Luna.

“That was so cool!”

Finally able to take him in, she noted that he seemed much taller in person, his frame easily towering over hers- not that she was by any means tall at five foot three. His voice also took her by surprise. It was...somehow attractive.

Luna chuckled, legs starting to shake as she was feeling the come down from the adrenaline. “Thanks. You were pretty cool too.”

“What’s your name?”

“Moonlight.” She replied, the name flowing out of her mouth as if that had always been her name.

“Well thanks, Moonlight. I don’t ever have help and you were really helpful. I mean your powers are sick! When that stuff came out of your hands I was kind of freaked out at first.”

“Yeah it tends to do that to people. You were pretty great too. I’ve never seen you up close before.” She looked him up and down again and it made the energy shift.

“Oh w-well I’m always around. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” He chuckled nervously. “But I mean seriously what even is that stuff that comes out of your hands? Is it telekinetic?”

She smirked. “A lady never tells.”

Turning to go, she made sure to look back and wink at the masked man before zooming off like the comet she was, her magic carrying her shaking legs.

Ending up on the top of a building, she swallowed down the vomit and breathed through her nose, eyes shut and trying to calm down. It was her first real superhero fight and she was freaking out a little bit. She felt like you were allowed to freak out your first time fighting as a superhero right? 

“No going back now.” She mumbled to herself. 

~~~~~~~~~

“Really? You knocked down an old lady for nine dollars and a fifteen dollar Starbucks gift card?” Luna scoffed as she put the money and gift card back into the small brown shoulder bag, the purse snatcher on the ground in front of her groaning in pain. Luna had just given him a solid gut punch moments ago that knocked him to the ground. Her new self defense classes were really starting to show their value.

“Fuck you, bitch.” He whined. 

“Oh how you’ve wounded my feelings.” Luna stated dryly. “How will I ever get over this?”

The sound of sirens came and Luna crossed her arms, waiting for the cops to show. She was standing in the middle of the sidewalk so they wouldn’t have to look for them. 

The one thing she hated about this new side gig she’d recently taken on was the police. Apparently a couple years back Spider-Man made a deal with the police department that he would stick around to at least give a statement on what had happened whenever he caught a thief or attacker so that they could actually put charges on the guys that were apprehended by him. By vigilante default that same rule applied to Luna which she had to learn on her fifth day by way of the police chief tracking her down and personally giving Moonlight the message. So now she had to stick around and wait for the cops to actually show up. 

Giving her statement as Moonlight was quick since it was a quick incident. Some nights it wasn’t so easy and she would have to go down to the station and fill out a signed statement, especially if it was something like an attempted murder or sexual assault- but with those two she didn’t really mind and was willing to do whatever it took to make sure they faced their consequences. 

Something she hadn’t seen coming with the job was the toll it took on a person. 

Luna was struggling immensely with the things she saw every night for the last two weeks. She would go home at the end of the night, sometimes beat to hell and the energy feeling like it had fully drained from her body, and feel unable to get the horrific things she had seen out of her head. She knew the worst of humanity, she had seen it up close and personal, but this was different somehow. 

When she was in Manheim’s lab she hadn’t been the only one there. She had seen dozens go through experiments that might be different or similar to her. Manheim had other visions and desires other than the one he had for her. She had watched a boy only a couple years older than her use his vision to burn a hole in the floor. There had been a girl who had been born with the ability to touch something and either kill it or make it die but she hadn’t been able to control it until Manheim got to her. She had seen them all be experimented on and tortured like she had. Most of them died, a couple escaped and she could only hope they were okay, but some of them had been freed by Luna herself the day she took down the entire building. So she was used to seeing horrible things done to people. She had laid in her bed while she heard the screams from those who were imprisoned alongside her. But this was somehow different. 

Maybe it was because it was happening to her too or because everyone expected that stuff to happen to them but she had never been affected by any of that like the current stuff was affecting her. 

Last week she had pulled a man off a woman in central park who was screaming. He had his pants down and she was crying. Luna knew instantly what had happened and wanted nothing more than to kill the man then and there. She knew she could and she wanted to so badly. No one who sexually assaulted another person deserved to live. But she also knew that she couldn’t do it. She had promised herself she would never use her powers to harm someone, even if that someone deserved it. She didn’t get to play god.

She hadn’t slept that night. The sound of the woman's screams replayed over and over again. 

Then there was two nights ago when she had found a body. That had shaken her too. He was a well dressed man with a grocery bag that had milk, cookies, and a new barbie. It had taken Luna a second to realize that he had had a family. He was on his way home to his family and someone murdered him. She had to call into work the next day because she kept vomiting every time she thought about him.

How had Spider-Man been doing this for years? She didn’t know how she was going to do it another night let alone years like he had. She couldn’t imagine the things he had seen in all the time he had been doing it and yet he was still doing it. 

Maybe she just wasn’t cut out for the hero business. 

It was late in the night by the time she caught a break, it being a busy one after the purse snatcher. But when it was finally quiet she floated her way up to a skyscraper where she could take a second to sit and breathe and have a moment. 

As soon as she sat down on the ledge, she felt the tears prick her eyes and she let them flow out of her and past her mask. Thank god for waterproof eyelash glue.

The city below was quiet and she wished for once that it was loud so that she could let out the cry she wanted to. 

The sound of feet hitting the ground made her freeze for a second before she realized it could only be one person. 

Wordlessly, he walked over and sat down next to her. 

“How do you do it?” Luna choked out, continuing to look ahead. 

Spider-Man sighed, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “I don’t know. It gets less…shocking with time but it doesn’t get easier.”

“I saw someone getting raped.” She sniffed. “She was screaming and he just…didn’t stop.”

“I know. I can’t even count how many…those are really hard. And anything with kids.”

Dropping her head, she bit her lip and tried to keep herself together. She knew what it was like to be a scared child being harmed; she didn’t know how she would be able to handle it when she did eventually see it.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

“You can. I’ve been paying attention to you and I see something there.”

Finally looking at him, her glistening eyes showed how vulnerable she was. She felt like she could trust Spider-Man. He was a good person, maybe the only truly good person she had ever met. 

Spider-Man continued. “I see the way you talk to someone when they're in crisis. It’s like you know exactly what they need to hear. You genuinely care about people. You want to help. I know you can do it because your will to do good is bigger than what you think about when you’re laying in bed at night.”

“You do that too?”

“You learn how to deal with it. Doesn’t get easier to see that kinda stuff but…you learn how to handle it.”

“Thank you.” Luna exhaled shakily. “I really needed to hear that.”

“I could tell.”

It was silent for a while, a breeze picking up and Luna’s hair flowing gently in the wind. Sitting up there in the breeze with the view of New York next to Spider-Man felt so peaceful. They were just two vigilantes who were trying to do their best and no one else could understand that life better than the other. 

“I kind of have a question for you.” Spider-Man spoke, breaking the silence. 

“I mean as long as you’re not asking me to flash you sure.”

“W-What?! Why would I ask that?!”

“You would not believe how many guys have asked me to flash them this week alone.”

“I-I would never!”

Luna started laughing as his panicked tone, his hands up in defense. She could only imagine how he looked under his mask. “I’m messing with you. I know you wouldn’t ask that.”

He groaned. “Sorry that men are pigs.”

“I know you’re not one and I think it gives me hope that there are more out there like you. But what’s your question?”

“How does your mask stay on?”

Luna had several questions in mind that he might ask her like how did he magic and energy work or why her eyes turned black when she used said magic or energy but she hadn’t been prepared for that to be the question. It was the least invasive of them all. 

She couldn’t help but smile. “Oh. It’s eyelash glue. Waterproof of course.”

“Huh. Never would have thought of that. Your mask just stays on so perfect and never looks like it’s going to fall or even move at all. I was so sure it was some kind of high tech adhesive.”

She shrugged. “Just lash glue. It’s specifically the Duo brand. Sometimes I have a hard time getting my mask off at the end of the night because it’s so strong.”

A horn was honked and Luna swung her feet, content with where she was. If Spider-Man wanted to talk they could but if he didn’t want to she didn’t mind either. 

“Can I ask another question?”

“Go for it, handsome.”

Spider-Man let out a stammer that seemed like he had started to speak but he wanted to but was so taken off guard by her calling him handsome that his brain malfunctioned. Luna couldn’t help but let a small smirk grace her lips. She was a huge flirt and had a feeling that Spider-Man was a very good looking man underneath the mask. She was also sure he had an amazing body underneath the red and blue.

He shook his head. “Um I um was going to ask uh why your eyes turn black sometimes but then sometimes they’re a normal brown like right now.”

“I was waiting for that one.” She hummed. “Side effect of the energy is the theory. Not totally sure though. My hair is also a side effect. It was brown before and then one day when…it just kind of turned white. Something about the energy just drains color.”

“Ever researched into it?”

“Nope and I don’t plan too. There’s more research on why I am the way I am than I care for there to be.”

Spider-Man took the hint and nodded, dropping it.

“Can I ask a question?”

“I mean I guess it’s only fair.” He teased, sounding like a smile was behind his mask.

Her eyes scanned him up and down, tongue wetting her lips. “Do you ever get bored on nights like this? Seems a little lonely.”

She heard his intake of breath and decided that if didn’t reciprocate her flirting that she would drop it. 

He leaned in, humming. “I used to but you make things very not boring.”

Luna beamed, letting out an amused hum.

The silence fell upon them again and Spider-Man stood up. “Well I’m gonna make another round of the city and then call it a night.”

“I think I’m gonna do the same.”

Spider-Man was about to swing away when Moonlight called his name, making him look back at her. She walked up to him, feet lithe on the rooftop and hair flowing in the wind. She was right in front of him when she stopped, making him stop breathing but heart pounding in his chest. She took his hand and he watched as she put a small folded up piece of paper in his palm and then closed it for him. 

"For when you might need me to help beat up a bad guy.” She gave him a wink and then turned to go, floating down the side of the building. 

Opening up his hand, he unfolded the piece of paper and felt his stomach fill with flutters at what was on the piece of paper.