It's around 9:30 PM in Queens, and for any guy and girl, it would be a perfect time to take a late-night stroll. One pair in particular, was doing just that not on the sidewalks, but in the air. A costumed Peter and Felicia flew swiftly through the cool summer night. They had just finished interrogating at weapons dealer about the whereabouts of the two boys that had been making there lives difficult lately. The outcome of the conversation kept Peter questioning what Felicia had in mind for sabotaging their plans.

As he swung after his partner, a loud alarm sounded from inside one of the buildings below. Peter's head snapped in the direction of the noise as he swung upward. It was a neighborhood bank and he noticed some customers with their hands above their heads in surrender, indicating that they were being held at gunpoint. Thinking quickly, he released his left hand from his web-line and fired another one directly to his right. As it attached, it pulled on Peter's left side, causing his body to rotate a full 180 degrees. He let go of his second web and used his initial web to swing back to where the bank was.

Three convicts came running out of the bank, each carrying large bags of cash. The first two that came out aiming their weapons down the sides of the streets, making sure that no one would stop them. The third convict appeared and was immediately webbed in the face from above. It happened so fast, that he lost his grip on his bag, causing it to fall to the ground. His partners reacted nervously, thinking that he had been shot or something. Seizing the opportunity, Peter landed behind them, tapped on the far shoulder of one of the two remaining men playfully. The man spun quickly to find nobody standing there. Meanwhile, Peter shot a web at the other man's weapon and tugged it out of his hands before webbing his face as well. He returned his attention to the man that was fooled by his shoulder trick. Peter flipped above him as the man turned back to find both his partners completely immobilized. His eyes went wide as he felt the hero's hand tapping his shoulder once more. He snapped his head to the side this time, finally seeing the source of this annoying humor. "Ha ha," Peter chuckled, "you got me." Peter followed his comment with a low sweeping kick that took the final convict off his feet and cowering on the sidewalk.

Peter webbed each one of the convicts to the car they had rode in on and returned the bags of cash to the clerks behind the bank stand. He hears the police sirens approaching and propels himself into the air. He swings around the block before landing on a roof that is overlooking the scene. Sitting in a crouch, he watches as the cops check each one of the convicts for any I.D. and ask questions about the incident. Peter smiled behind the mask, knowing that he had done another good service to his community, but the thought was interrupted when a pair of feet landed behind him. He turned his head only to find his partner walking up from behind.

"Do you ever take a break?" Felicia asked, to which Peter just retuned his gaze to the scene below. Felicia came to the edge where he sat, shifting her looks between him and the convicts. "My goodness Spider, you need to go home and take a nap or something to get you away from the job for a while?

Peter chuckled, "Sure, I'll do that when you go home to watch Friends or Riverdale or whatever show girls in our demographic like to watch."

Felicia smiled that he finally opened. "More like Fuller House." Peter's spider-eyes went wide in shock. "Really, Fuller House?!" he exaggerated. "No, I'm just kidding," she laughed, "that show sucks."

"Oh good," Peter sighed in relief, "I thought I had to disclose how childish it is."

Felicia smirked and climbed up on to the ledge he was crouched on. She lowered herself to the surface and sat down next to Peter with her legs dangling over the edge. "Well, you're not wrong about that" she said as she shifted her body to feel comfortable. "But seriously, no time to decompress? No time to yourself? No time with your girl?"

Peter was quick to defend his position. "She's not my girl," he said hastily, "and by the way, why were you even at the diner? Just to toy with me?"

"I told you I'm not patient, and I'll do anything to get answers." Peter shook his head as he let out a frustrated exhale and resumed observing the police activity at the bank. The flashing red, white, and blue lights on their cruisers created a unique display on the sides of the buildings and across the two vigilantes faces. The three convicts were escorted into one of the cruisers and were soon driven away to whatever consequence was waiting for them. "Anyway," Felicia continued after a long silence, "who is Michelle?"

"A friend," Peter said bluntly, "a friend you shouldn't be asking about."

"I'm just asking. Don't need to get all offensive about it."

"I don't mean to be rude."

"It's ok," she assured, pulling her left leg up from dangling in to a crunch, "I get it. From what I can tell, you like being with her..., and you were clearly surprised that she let you come out with me."

"It's that obvious, huh" he said shyly, to which she nodded with modest smile. Peter sighed and adjusted himself to sit down with his legs crisscrossed. "I just don't get her sometimes," he vented, "she's been cynical for most of the time that I've known her, and now she's different. She wants to be friends with me and I like that, but it's hard to tell what kind of relationship we have?"

"Well," Felicia suggested, "considering that you two are complete opposites, it will be difficult for both of you to determine what kind of feelings you have for her."

"Wait," Peter said with his head slowly turning in realization, "why would you say that?"

"Because you need to know why you have feelings for someone, and not just be good with what you have. That's how it felt dating J-Mac." Peter's body perked up a bit. Turk had told him that she had dated one of the higher-ups in the gang but didn't know the circumstances. Felicia broke eye contact with the eyes on Peter's mask and stared down to the empty street below, reflecting on her experience with J-Mac.

"What happened between you two?"

"When I first met him," she said, "Jason had a completely different attitude about the way things went. I met him a month after my dad was sent to prison. Lost in my own emotions, he made me feel like I was a part of something, and I spent almost every second with him trying to forget how lost and broken I was. In that time, I learned more about his ways and adopted his bad luck for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

At this point, Peter was listening more intently, observing that their relationship was so lopsided in many different ways. Felicia paused for a moment, letting the weight of her mistakes take their toll. She took a heavy breath and continued, "And because we were a thing, he thought he could use me in any way he wanted. He used me like a diamond necklace on a woman's neck. I probably couldn't even tell somebody how many times he..." She stopped abruptly, closing her eyes to avoid seeing Peter's reaction, even though he had the mask on. Either way, Peter fell into complete sadness from this reveal. It was clear that she did have some emotional stakes in this, but sadly for all the right reasons. Felicia's eyes quivered open as tears started to tear up. "I thought I could get him to stop, get him to see that I was someone worth having in his life, but he kept getting worse." Felicia shifted her body around to face the rooftop and hopped off the ledge to her feet. She walked a few feet away, holding her stomach to comfort herself.

Peter turned his body in her direction and pulled his mask off. His face encompassed every thought that was going through his mind. He felt sorry for her, wished he could change everything, and punch J-Mac's face in until there was nothing left.

He walked slowly to the side of her, making himself known to her subtly. He could see in her face a life of grief and regret. "Felicia I...," he hesitated, "I can't begin to say how sorry I am for you." Felicia shook her head after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't say this to make you feel that way Spider," she said looking up at his face, "I just know how difficult feelings in a relationship can be." Peter nodded his head with an uncomfortable yet understanding look on his face. "And if a small piece of you has any feelings for a girl," she continued, "even Michelle, just make sure they're for the right reasons."

Peter felt his body freeze and he felt the need to swallow his pride. "Thanks" he said softly. He never knew where it would come from, nor did he think that someone would tell him what he was feeling, but Felicia was right. He was starting to have feelings for Michelle, feelings that made him smile whenever she would laugh or make him feel like the only person in the world when she wanted to spend time with him. He had thought about it in moments but had never considered them as a full possibility. The question was, how would Michelle feel about his newfound feelings.

Suddenly, there were a series of flashing lights coming from Peter's hand. The pair of teens look to see that the flashing was coming from Peter's mask, particularly the eyes. Peter swiftly slipped the mask halfway on to see what was going on. A new message displayed on the in-mask screen, from May.

"Everything ok?" Felicia asked, starting to recollect herself.

"Uh, yeah," Peter answered under the mask, "it's just that I forgot to let my aunt know what I was doing."

"Your aunt?" she said with a questioning tone that lead to a laughing smile. Peter threw his head back in annoyance, seeing how she was essentially making fun of being under adult supervision. "So," she continued giggling, "Spidey's got a curfew."

"It's just my aunt," Peter stressed, "it's not that funny." He slipped the rest of his mask on and walked back to the ledge, leaping onto it.

Felicia turned and followed him. "Do you have a phone on ya?" she asked. Peter turned to face her. "Why, you afraid of being stuck on the roof, need to call the fire department to get ya down." Felicia looked at him so sternly for that comment, he could have sworn she learned that look from Michelle. "No Petey," she argued, "just need a way to contact you if I find anything on Lonnie and J-Mac."

"Oh yeah, right. How silly of me" Peter said clumsily. He reached into the compartment that held his phone and handed it to her. He checked his web fluid levels while she entered her number into his contacts. She handed back his phone and Peter quickly observed her contact profile before stashing his phone away. He noticed that she put black dots on each side of her name, reminding him of how she always wears black. He looked up and noticed she was starting to walk away toward the other end of the roof. "Felicia" he called out.

She turned around and the wind starting to kick her bright blonde hair into its current. "I appreciate everything you told me tonight," Peter graciously said, earning a small smile from Felicia, "be careful out there."

"No problem," she answered, "I've already gone through the worst." She turned around and spoke as she stepped up to the opposite ledge. "Now..., I'm as quiet as a cat." Before they could say anything more to each other, she flipped back into the streets and out of sight. Peter shook his head and snickered. "She's going to be one interesting partner" he said to himself as he leaped into the air and fired a web to start his journey home.

As he soared through the streets and ran across the rooftops, he thought about everything Felicia had said about feelings for another and their meaning. He didn't want to make the same mistakes she and J-Mac did with whatever girl he would start to like in the future. This included Michelle, who's apartment was in view down the street he was swinging down. Thinking about her, he circled the building in search of a her in a window. Most of the windows were dark, some dimly lit, and some so bright that the shadows from the inside were cast on the structures across the street. Finally, he found a window that was moderately lit and showed a young, tan-skinned girl with curled brown hair sitting down in a bean bag reading a book. Peter released his grip on his web and leaped for the wall of the building across the street from hers. He stuck to the wall as he observed her. Her hair was wet, probably from a shower she took recently, she wore a white long-sleeve shirt with a graphic of Joan of Arc on the front, and it looked like she was reading a book called "Siddhartha." She was completely motionless as she read. Peter couldn't help but think of every time he got to be with her in the past two weeks. How challenging, yet strangely fun she was around him and how open they were about themselves with each other. This is crazy, he thought, why can't things with her ever be simple. I think I can say that I do feel something for her, is there anything else that could make this more complicated.

His thought was interrupted by another text from May. Peter grumbled at himself for not texting her back. He typed up a reply and sent it quickly. He started to put his phone away while staring at Michelle, who had put down her book and was now looking at her phone. As he set his phone in its compartment, he felt another vibration. Peter rolled his eyes, thinking it was May giving a confirmation that she received his text. He pulled it out again and saw it was Michelle that texted him. His eyes went wide as he opened the message which read, -Sup, loser-."

He shifted his gazed back toward the girl who had texted him and saw that she was staring back at him. When she saw that he noticed her, she gave a smirk and wave before raising her hand with her middle finger extended. Peter was speechless as he observed her stand up, walk over to the window and close the curtains. Peter knew exactly what that meant. It meant that she was either upset with him for not telling her the truth, upset that he was watching without her knowing, or she was just playing with his emotions again. In any case, he believed that he had out-stayed his welcome, so he shoved his phone away and jumped quickly into the air, swinging home with mind of a million thoughts and questions.

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A/N-  Silver Bells, that was quite a chapter. I hope you all were able to enjoy this, even though the last three were kind of added on last minute as a tag-on.

For those that read the comics, this chapter is mostly inspired by the "Evil That Men Do" limited series. If you've read it, more power to ya, but to those who haven't, I highly recommend this series. This chapter was also a great chance to develop Peter's feelings toward Michelle. I've always liked stories that show the progression of two characters getting together, as opposed to just throwing them into a relationship. 

Again, I hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter. Leave vote if you did, and be sure to express your thoughts in the comments. Feedback (positive or negative) is always appreciated.

Lastly, I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas this week. If you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy (Hanakkah, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day). Just be sure to use this time to be with your families and friends and anyone else that makes you happy. 

Until next time, HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!!!

-amazjc96, (or as my friends call me), Jacob