Peter

"Peter?"

He stared at his friend through his mask, his eyes wide. How had she figured it out? More to the point, what the heck had she been doing over here? Okay, Peter had this. All he had to do was lie his way out of this.

"Uh... no?" He answered, and then realized how stupid that sounded so he added, "Who's Peter?" He adjusted his voice so it sounded a bit scratchier.

Alexandra looked at him with an expression that clearly said, You've got to be kidding me, right? She wasn't falling for it at all. But Peter wasn't going to give himself away that easily. He cleared his throat. "Is he a friend of yours or something?"

"Peter. Stop it. I know it's you," She said, folding her arms across her chest.

"I don't know who this 'Peter' guy is, but I can assure you that I'm not him." Peter held his arms up.

"Really?" She asked. When Peter nodded, Alexandra pulled her cell phone up and showed him the screen. She had his contact information pulled up and Peter realized what she was doing. Dammit, he had his cell phone with him in case Mr. Stark or May tried to call him! When Alexandra hit the 'call' button, Peter held his breath.

He heard his phone start to ring and Alexandra gave him a look. He laughed a bit and pulled his ringing cell phone out. "Heh, excuse me for a second..." He turned around, holding the phone up to his ear. "Hello?" He answered.

"Peter!" Alexandra snapped.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was a wrong number?" He asked, and Alexandra glared at him. Peter sighed and pulled Alexandra into an ally where he was sure no one could see them. He pulled off his mask, revealing his face. Even though she already seemed to have figured it out, Alexandra still looked shocked when she saw his face under the mask.

"Oh my God..." She murmured.

Peter smiled awkwardly. "Hey..." He said. "So, uh... you'll never believe this, but... I'm Spider-Man," He said. When she didn't respond and just stared at him, Peter glanced away before looking back at her. "So... yep. Woohoo? Hooray?"

Alexandra took a step closer to Peter and then slapped his arm. "I can't believe you!" She exclaimed. "You've been running around Queens getting beat up by criminals for what, a year?!"

"Ow!" He rubbed his arm. "Well, more like ten months—and technically, I'm doing more of the beating up than getting beat up." Except for that one time with the knife and oh man Mr. Stark had been so worked up over that one, there was so much blood—

"You were in a freaking plane crash on the night of Homecoming!" She said, throwing her arms up. Oh, right—and that part. "You could have died, Peter! Oh my God, what if you had died?" She ran a hand through her hair and looked at him.

Peter held his arms up in surrender. "But I'm fine, see?" He gestured to himself and then sighed. "Look, I know this is a lot to take in... so how about this? How about we go back home, where there aren't guys with mechanical arms trying to kill us, and then you can yell at me all you want?" He suggested.

Alexandra looked at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not any of this was a good idea before nodding. Peter smiled and then pulled his mask back over his face. "Cool. Let's go." He offered her his hand.

"You're not gonna swing us home, right?" She asked. "I don't think that's very safe..."

"I'm really good at it, though!" Peter exclaimed. Alexandra shook her head again and Peter sighed. "Well, then how do you want to get back?"

🕷

It must have been an odd sight for passengers on the subway, seeing Spider-Man standing in the middle of one of the train cars with a teenage girl.

Peter looked over at an older woman who was staring at him. He nodded to her and then looked straight ahead once again. When the train came to a stop, Alexandra and Peter got off the train and the other passengers just seemed to shrug it off. They had seen stranger things in New York City.

🕷

When they got back to their apartment building, Peter shot a web up towards the fire escape and looked at Alexandra. He offered her a hand again and Alexandra looked at him like he was crazy. "Your dad thinks you're in your room, right?" He asked. "Wouldn't it look kinda weird if you came waltzing through the front door?"

She sighed, taking his hand. "I hate it when you're right."

He grinned under his mask and shrugged. "Hang on," He said before swinging up to the fire escape in front of their bedroom windows. "See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked her.

Peter climbed into his bedroom, Alexandra followed him and then began to pace his room while Peter quickly changed into a t-shirt and a pair of gym shorts. He turned to Alexandra and shrugged. 

"Okay, go ahead." He squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the inevitable yelling, but then slowly opened them again when she never yelled. "Uh... no yelling?"

Alexandra stared at him for a moment. "You're Spider-Man," She said. "You've been Spider-Man for almost a year and you almost died the night of Homecoming. All great things to learn."

"Yeah..."

"So... Ned knows?" She asked.

"Ned knows."

"Who else?"

"Uh... well, Mr. Stark knows, he's the one who made my suit, and May knows, but she never really says anything about it." Peter shrugged in response. She was taking this a lot better than he had expected her to. She was really calm... it was kind of freaky, if Peter was being honest. "Are—are you mad?"

He knew it was a dumb question, but Peter couldn't help but ask it. He didn't want for Alexandra to be angry with him again. Especially over something like this. "What? No." She shook her head and an invisible weight was suddenly lifted from his shoulders. "Why would I be mad at you for being a superhero?"

Peter paused a moment and then shrugged. "I dunno," He replied.

"I'm not mad," She repeated. "I don't think. I mean, yeah I'm upset you lied about it for so long, but—I get why you did. I guess." Peter winced slightly. Yeah, the lying thing was never good. "I just... you're being careful, right?"

"Well... yeah, Mr. Stark is being sure of that," Peter replied. "After that building collapsed on me the night of Homecoming he made all of these updates to my suit and—" He stopped when he saw Alexandra's face had paled. "What?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She cleared her throat and looked at Peter, her eyes wide. "A—A building collapsed on you?" Her voice was low and smooth. Peter's blood ran cold. "And you were in that plane crash?!"

Peter held his arms up and began shaking his head. "No! Well, technically yes. But I'm fine!" He exclaimed. He then sighed and ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Look, Alex, I know you're worried, May was too when she first found out. But, don't you think that she would have stopped me if she thought it was too dangerous?" When she didn't respond, Peter noticed she was swaying a bit on her feet. "Do... you need to sit down?"

Alexandra nodded. "Sitting down would be good." So, Peter guided her over to his bottom bunk and she sat down, clearly shaken. She was shivering. Peter stood at the ladder, his arms folded across his chest.

Alexandra looked at him for a moment before closing her eyes and sighing. "Yeah, yeah you're right." She nodded. "I just hate that you're right."

Peter grinned. "I know." There was a pause. "Hey... Allie?" She looked up, her eyes narrowed. She knew that Peter only called her 'Allie' when he either needed or wanted something from her, or if he was worried.

"What?" She replied.

"Uh..." He coughed. "You're-you're not gonna, y'know... tell anybody about this, are you?"

"About what, you being Spider-Man?" Alexandra replied. Peter shrugged sheepishly and kicked at the carpet beneath his feet. She sighed and shook her head. "No, I'm not gonna tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me, Peter. Your secrets have always been safe with me."

He smiled. "Thanks."

🕷

The weekend flew by for Peter. It was all just a blur and pretty soon, it was Monday again. When Peter told Ned about Alexandra finding out about Peter being Spider-Man, Ned reacted positively. "Whoa, seriously?! Oh, thank God, I don't have to act weird around her anymore!"

Peter looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow and then chuckled. "I don't think that's why you act weird around her, I think you just act weird around girls."

Ned gasped in mock offense. "How dare you, sir?" He said. "I do not!"

Peter shrugged, grabbing a textbook from his locker and then slamming it shut. "That's debatable." He then lowered his voice, turning to Ned in all seriousness. "Hey, think we can hang out after school today? I need your help with something. Internship stuff."

Ned was grinning from ear to ear. He was just about bouncing off the walls with joy. "Holy shit, dude, sure thing!" He replied.

"What exactly do you need help with?"

Both boys screamed in a very unmanly manner and jumped backwards at the sound of the new voice. Peter just about jumped up to the ceiling and Ned pressed himself against the lockers, breathing heavily. When they saw Alexandra standing there, cracking up, they both sighed and calmed down. Ned glared at her. "Not cool, Alex!" He exclaimed.

"That was the best thing I think I've ever seen." She laughed.

Peter sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What the hell, Alex?" He asked.

When she had composed herself, Alexandra turned back to the two boys, clutching her textbooks in her arms. "What do you guys need help with, exactly?" She repeated.

"Uh... it's nothing," Peter replied quickly. She may have known that he was Spider-Man, but that didn't mean he wanted her getting involved in anything that could have been dangerous. He purposefully kept his aunt and other friends out of this part of his life to keep them safe. With Ned, it was a different story because... well because Ned just wouldn't take no for an answer.

Alexandra obviously didn't believe him. She raised a disbelieving eyebrow and looked at Peter. She looked from Peter to Ned, they were both not very good at hiding things. Ned kept looking up at the ceiling and humming the theme of 'Star Wars' to himself, something he did when he was nervous, and Peter was just grinning like an idiot.

Peter noticed Ned's humming and elbowed him in the side. Ned grunted and then immediately stopped. "Yep, nothing!" He squeaked out.

Alexandra stared at them both for a few more seconds before standing straight. "You two are going to do something Spider-Man related, aren't you?" She asked.

"W-what? No, of course not!" Ned exclaimed. "What an absurd idea, ma'am!"

Peter mentally face palmed.

"Okay, I want in." She looked at Peter.

"What? No! Absolutely not!" He replied. "This stuff can get dangerous and I don't think it's a good idea for you to get involved."

Alexandra looked from Ned to Peter. "But it's okay for Ned to get involved?" She asked.

"That's different," Peter said.

"Yeah, I'm his guy in the chair!"

"Oh, I get it, it's because I'm a woman, isn't it?" Alexandra asked.

"No! Nonononono!" Peter raised a hand and pointed at her. "No. That's not it."

"Then what is it?" She continued. "You don't think I can take care of myself?"

"No!"

Alexandra suddenly smiled and then said, "Great! Let's get going then, Ned's place, right?" She shoved her books into Peter's hands and then turned on her heels, heading down the hallway.

Peter and Ned watched her for a moment and then Ned turned to Peter. "Damn," He said. "So... that just happened." He laughed a little. "She can make you do anything she wants, can't she?" Without waiting for a response from his friend, Ned began to follow Alexandra toward the entrance of the school.

Peter groaned and followed.