COLLEEN CAN'T sit still. Her eyes keep darting to look at the clock as she wills time to speed up so the evening will come quicker.  She has never been on a date before, so she has no idea what is in store. Plus, Peter said it was a surprise, so that doesn't help her nerves at all.

During the meeting with the team, instead of focusing on the codes Colleen gets caught up with what she's going to wear. Are they going out for dinner, and if so, is it a five-star restaurant or a burger joint type of place? Does she wear something dressy, or casual? Will she need to dress warm? Or will she get hot?

Natasha notices Colleen's distracted gaze but doesn't bring it up until after their meeting. As soon as they call it a day, Colleen is ready to head up to her floor to get ready. She steps into the elevator and presses the button for the resident floor, but before the doors close, Natasha steps in beside her.

Pressing the button for the ground level, Natasha sends Colleen a suspicious look. "You seem pretty anxious."

Colleen's eyes snap to Natasha. She clears her throat and smiles nervously. "Oh, it's nothing."

"You sure?" Natasha quirks a brow.

"Mhm." Colleen purses her lips and watches as the doors close and they start to travel up the elevator shaft. Colleen's nerves rise as they do and she turns to Natasha. "Actually, it's not nothing. I'm going on a date."

Natasha's eyes widen as she turns to face Colleen. "Parker finally asked you?"

"Yes," Colleen breathes, raking a hand through her blonde waves. "But I've never been on a date before—I don't even know what I'm supposed to wear."

"Hey, calm down," Natasha coaches and sets her hands on her upper arms to make Colleen look up at her. "Just relax. You guys like each other, right?" When Colleen nods, Natasha continues, "So whatever you show up in will be fine. And besides, he's probably really nervous, too."

"I guess you're right . . . but I don't even have any nice clothes to wear. The only dressy thing I own is that jumpsuit I wore to Tony's party a few weeks ago," Colleen admits.

Natasha shrugs and lets her hands fall back to her sides. "No problem, I'm sure I have something you can wear. And besides, I'm sure you don't have to wear anything too dressy. This is Peter we're talking about."

Colleen lets out a breath. "Okay, thanks."

"No problem."

The doors open to the resident floor with a ding. The pair steps out and immediately attract the attention of Sloan sitting at the kitchen table with a bag of Cheetos in front of her, her fingers covered in Cheeto dust.

Licking her fingers, Sloan asks, "What's up?"

"We're going to go pick out an outfit for Colleen to wear on her date," Natasha replies.

Sloan's eyes go wide. Slamming her palms on the table, she gasps, "Date!"

"Colleen's going on a date?" Anna Beth exclaims, popping her head out of the hallway.

Ben walks out from behind the redhead with a look of confusion drawn across his features. "With who?"

"Peter, who else?" Anna Beth retorts, earning a glare from Ben.

The babysitter watching Emmett emerges from the living room with the baby sleeping soundly in her arms. Colleen flashes her a grateful smile as she takes Emmett, briefly thanking the woman as she exits.

Once she is gone, Colleen turns to the curious kids. "Yes, I am going on a date with Peter this evening, so the babysitter's coming back in a few hours."

"And you're just now telling us about this date?" Anna Beth asks with a hand on her hip.

"Yes." Colleen adjusts her hold on Emmett as he wiggles in his sleep. "I need to go get ready. Do you guys want to help me pick out my outfit?"

Ben pulls a face and turns around. "I think I'll leave that up to Sloan and Anna Beth, I'm going back to my room."

"Good, you don't have any fashion sense anyway," Anna Beth teases. Thankfully Ben doesn't decide to feed the fire and just rolls his eyes as he shuts himself back into his room.

The girls—and Emmett—venture into Colleen's room to see what they're working with. Colleen still has the same two pairs of jeans, one pair of jean shorts, and a few tops. Natasha pulls out a pair of jeans without rips and sets them on the bed, noting that she has a top to go with the pants.

Natasha leaves to retrieve the top with Sloan following her like a little duckling. When they return, Natasha hands the clothes over and pushes Colleen towards her bathroom.

After a minute, Colleen steps out in a cropped tan corduroy jacket over black tank top tucked into her jeans. Sloan and Anna Beth are sitting at the foot of the bed with Natasha who is holding Emmett.

Colleen pulls her hair out from under the collar of the jacket and straightens her top, looking down at herself. It feels nice, and she feels like she looks nice, but she still needs Natasha's opinion.

"What do you think?" Colleen asks, still adjusting the outfit in minor ways to busy her mind with something other than anxiety about this evening. "Is it too much? Or not dressy enough? Or—"

"That actually looks great," Natasha cuts her off. Colleen looks up from scrutinizing herself and meets Natasha's warm gaze. "It suits you."

A smile tugs at her lips. "Thanks."

With the outfit done, Sloan somehow convinces Colleen to paint her nails. She's never had them done before, and when she figures out how hard it is to maneuver the little brush, Natasha takes over for her. Ten minutes until Peter arrives back from class, and Colleen is ready: dressed, nails done, and hair pulled up in a neat ponytail, though she's sure her hair will fall from its elastic before the end of the date. 

Instead of calling back the sitter, Natasha offers to stay with the kids. Colleen didn't expect Sloan to grow so attached to Natasha so soon, but the little fiery girl also grew attached to Peter pretty quickly, so it isn't too odd. Natasha assures Colleen that she's good with babies and children; she has watched Clint's children for him many times before. 

Colleen waits in her room, continuously retreating to her bathroom to check her hair and outfit in the mirror, until Friday alerts her of Peter's arrival like she requested. When she gets the alert, Colleen freezes and her eyes go wide.

It's just Peter, she reminds herself, pacing her room. He's not a judgmental person and he already admitted to liking me, I don't have anything to worry about.

This shouldn't be so stressful, yet she's already sweating.

After reapplying some deodorant, Colleen takes a deep breath and gives herself one last once-over in the mirror. She hates the way her eyes automatically trail over the jagged scar carved into her cheek with disgust.

She's about to go out on a date with Peter Parker, she doesn't need to have this stupid insecurity weighing her down all night. Instead of pulling out some hair from the ponytail to help conceal some of her cheek, Colleen leaves all of it pulled out of her face.

It's just Peter. And, as he has said before, he doesn't think it's an eyesore. In fact, he thinks she's pretty.

Before she can revert back to her negative thoughts, Colleen turns and walks out of the bathroom and through her bedroom to enter the hall. She makes sure to keep her breathing under control as she emerges from the hall and enters the kitchen.

Peter's back is facing Colleen when she walks in. He hears her light footsteps and turns, his eyes immediately finding hers.

Like Colleen, Peter wears clothes that are a little dressier than usual, but doesn't stray far from casual. He's clad in dark jeans, sneakers, and a plain black tee shirt with his hair styled back. If Colleen's being honest, she likes the way his hair looks when it's wild and curly more than when it's styled, but it still looks nice. It also causes a spread of warmth throughout her chest when she realizes that he did his hair for once because of their date.

Speaking of which, Colleen still isn't sure what they're doing on this date.

"Hey," Peter says, smile still prominent on his face.

"Hey." Colleen returns the smile as she shyly makes her way to stand in front of him. Trying not to make it obvious that she's checking him out, she adds, "You look nice."

Peter subconsciously runs a hand over his uncharacteristically tame hair. "Thanks, so do you."

"Thanks." She looks down at herself and rocks back on the balls of her feet. "I wasn't sure what to wear since this is my first date and I didn't—well, I still don't—know what we're going to do."

"I didn't tell you?" Peter questions, brow furrowed. When Colleen shakes her head, he mentally face-palms. "Way to go, Peter. Anyway, if it's okay with you, I thought it'd be cool to go around New York and, you know, see the main attractions and stuff."

Despite living in New York for the last ten years, Colleen has never actually ventured out to see any of the things that attract most people to New York. She's briefly passed Times Square once, but other than that, she stayed within a five-mile radius from her apartment in Brooklyn.

"That sounds like fun," Colleen replies, growing excited about this evening.

Before any other words can be exchanged, Natasha emerges from the living room where the kids are watching a movie and Emmett is napping. She leans against the counter and crosses her arms as she looks between Peter and Colleen.

"Well don't you two look cute together," she muses with a teasing edge to her voice.

Colleen sends her a pleading look—she is flustered and nervous already, she doesn't need any teasing to make it worse. "Thanks, and thanks for offering to watch the kids for me."

"It's no problem, you two just go have fun," Natasha brushes off with a small shrug. "You both are always carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, go be young for a while."

•••

Their date starts with a walk through Central Park. The large expanse of greenery is filled with other New Yorkers and tourists enjoying the July evening. Kids are running around with a frisbee, and there are a group of middle-aged women doing some sort of yoga with birds chirping in the background. There's some dogs, too, and Peter and Colleen point out cute ones to each other while they walk side-by-side through the park.

Unsurprisingly, Peter does most of the talking during their walk. He shoves his hands in his pockets, but he moves his hands a lot when he talks, so he's constantly slipping them back out as he speaks.

She and Peter look like a normal pair of young adults walking through the park. No one spares them a second glance. Little do they know one is Spider-Man and the other is a result of a Hydra experiment.

Glancing at Peter beside her, Colleen wonders how she got so lucky to be able to walk through Central Park beside one of the most golden-hearted people she's ever encountered. Not to get too emotional or deep, but she never thought she'd be out on a date in a million years. That just wasn't an option a few months ago.

But then came Natasha, who ultimately brought her to Peter. There are still things Colleen doesn't know about him, such as his favorite movie or his ideal future, but she looks forward to learning more about him.

After their walk through Central Park, Peter leads Colleen to the world-famous Times Square.

As expected, the street is packed. There's a wide range of people with a wide range of fashion styles. The pair come across a woman with her body painted a turquoise color and wearing a robe matching her skin to imitate the Statue of Liberty. Colleen points her out to Peter, and he insists they should get a picture with her.

"A picture? Wouldn't that be weird?" Colleen asks, her brow furrowed.

Peter takes her hand and pulls her over to Lady Liberty. "Nope! People usually dress up to get their pictures taken, come on!"

Peter asks the woman for a picture, and when she agrees, she stands between Peter and Colleen while Peter holds out his phone in selfie mode. He opens his mouth wide in a silly expression while Colleen laughs at him before smiling at the camera. After thanking the woman and giving her a few dollars, Peter looks down at his phone to see the picture. Colleen leans in to get a good look as well.

The picture captured the moment before Colleen turned to the camera, so she's looking at Peter with a frozen laugh and crinkled eyes.

"I wasn't even looking at the camera," Colleen says, disappointed that she ruined the picture.

"That's okay, I like it better this way anyway," Peter admits.

Colleen's blush is concealed by the bright lights of the street tinting her face different colors as the digital billboards flash from one advertisement to the next.

Since neither have had dinner yet, Peter buys them both some food from vendors. He gets himself a hot dog and Colleen the biggest pretzel she's ever seen.

"How am I supposed to eat all of this?" she laughs, holding it up to compare its size to her face. "It's bigger than my face!"

"I believe in you," Peter says with teasing encouragement.

Colleen rolls her eyes and bites into the soft pretzel.

The pair come across a street musician playing guitar and singing with an open guitar case in front of him. His melodic voice is simultaneously rough and soothing. Peter keeps walking, but Colleen takes his hand and stops in front of him. Peter stops in his tracks and looks down at their connected hands before glancing up at Colleen. She's watching the musician with a light in her eyes she has when she's listening to music sigh Peter.

He smiles and stands by her side as they watch the street performer sing and strum his guitar. Colleen's hand slips from his as she reaches up to tear off some of her pretzel. Peter had finished his hot dog a while ago, so Colleen offers him some of her pretzel. He gladly takes it.

Foot tapping to the beat, Colleen stays mesmerized by the music until the musician gives one last strum and the song ends. She immediately digs into her pockets for any spare change and drops a few quarters into the case.

As Peter and Colleen continue walking down the street, Colleen still sharing her large pretzel, she gushes over how good the musician was. She stays on the look-out for any more street musicians, and when she spots another one, she grabs Peter's hand again and drags him over.

This musician is another man. He's a bit older than the first, and his dark hair is done in heavy dreadlocks. The song he was playing ends just as Colleen and Peter approach, so he starts up another when he notices them. His fingers adroitly pluck at the ukulele strings as his voice starts the song.

"Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can't help falling in love with you."

Peter glances at Colleen beside him. Their hands are still connected, fingers interlocked. Colleen feels his eyes on the side of her face so she turns and meets his gaze with a smile as she gently squeezes his hand.

"Shall I stay? Would it be a sin, if I can't help falling in love with you?"

"What song is this?" she whispers.

In the same whisper-voice, Peter replies, "Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley."

Colleen nods thoughtfully. "I like it."

Once the song ends, Peter drops in a few dollars in the musician's hat since Colleen doesn't have any money left on her, and then they're off to their next destination: the Statue of Liberty.

When Peter tells Colleen that they're going to go see it, she assumes they're going to go on a ferry for something. Instead, Peter pulls her behind a building and wraps an arm around her waist.

"You're not scared of heights, are you?"

"No?"

"Okay, good. You might want to hang on," Peter advises with a mischievous grin.

Before Colleen can ask what he means, he thrusts out an arm and presses down on a web-shooter attached to his wrist. Colleen lets out an embarrassing squeak in surprise as Peter swings them off the ground and into the sky. Wrapping her arms tightly around Peter, she tucks her head in his neck on instinct.

When it becomes clear that Peter's not going to drop her, Colleen lifts her head and gasps at the view as they swing above the city. The sun is beginning to set so a warm glow glints off the towering buildings. Below them, pedestrians walk in and out of stores and across streets while the cars stop at the red light. Then, as they swing, the land ends and the water begins. The orange sunshine reflects off the water like thousands of diamonds.

The air feels so much more refreshing as it invades Colleen's lungs and whips against her pulled back blonde hair. She closes her eyes and just breathes.

All too soon, the ride is over. Peter lands on top of the Statue of Liberty's crown but keeps his arm around Colleen's waist to steady her as her feet hit the copper crown.

A breathy laugh bubbles up her throat and slips past her lips as the rush of their swing catches up with her. Peter keeps her within arm's reach to gauge her reaction.

"Was that okay?" he asks, eyes searching hers.

Colleen cups her face with her hands and nods. "Yes, that was—" Another laugh escapes her lips. "That was amazing, Peter."

His eyes light up. "As amazing as this view?"

He throws an arm out to motion at the skyline the sun dips under. Colleen's eyes follow his motion and the breath is knocked out of her.

How did she live in New York for ten years and never realize how beautiful it is?

The array of colors in the sky, the reflection off the glistening water, the boats bobbing in the bay, the birds flying past, the warmth from the sun—it's like Colleen is seeing the world in a new light.

Before moving into the Avengers facility, Colleen's life was dark. She knew pain—both emotional and physical—and she was shown the sadistic side of mankind time and time again. She thought the world was a cruel place. And yes, there are some people who have prominently evil intentions, but not everyone is like that. Peter Parker has helped her see that, whether he knows it or not.

Colleen turns to look at Peter. He's staring out at the view with the sun catching the golden specks in his warm, brown eyes.

"Thank you."

Peter tears his eyes from the horizon. He gives Colleen a crooked smile. "For what?"

"For today," Colleen replies. She wants to thank him for showing her that the world isn't just a place full of evil, for showing her kindness most haven't, for not finding her scars repulsive, for not treating her like broken goods, for making her feel her age. She wants to thank Peter for all these things, but her mouth stays shut.

A silence falls over the two. Colleen looks out at the view again, the gentle breeze blowing through the stray strands of hair that have slipped from her ponytail. Peter looks down at Colleen before looking out at the horizon as well. Colleen doesn't notice his hand carefully reaching towards hers until their knuckles brush. She bites back a smile as they intertwine their fingers.

The rest of the evening is spent watching the sun fall beneath the horizon and the colorful sky morph into a dark void full of glittering stars. Peter points out a falling star, to which Colleen points out is actually just a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.

"Yeah, but shooting star sounds cooler," Peter argues, earning a laugh and an agreement from Colleen.

The world can be a truly beautiful place, but the people make it so much more beautiful than the scenery will ever be able to.

___
So the picture attached at the top is Colleen's outfit. I've never made one of those outfit collage things so I decided to try it out and it was actually pretty fun, so I decided to attach it.

ALSO:
I have never been to New York City so I don't know how accurate their date was. I'm open to any comments/critiques!