Going to school with only four hours sleep was not a good idea.

Originally she was going to wait it out. Her nose was the size of a baseball, and her body was worn out from using her powers. But she realised she needed to go. Her attendance was spotty anyway, and she was supposed to stay after school for an hour. Whether she wanted to or not, she had to go.

Sarah took her, trying to convince her to wear the bandages on her nose, but Lucy wasn't having it. The hacker had told her that she would be calling more attention to herself by walking into school with an untreated nose rather than bandaged. Lucy just exited the car without an argument.

Sure enough, Sarah was right. People stared and whispered about her as she went through the halls. Classes were awkward at best but Lucy honestly couldn't care. She was too busy already thinking about the shift she had to take tonight, and the walk she had promised Poppy, her new corgi puppy.

All day her nose throbbed, all day she tried to push away the thought of the robber who, by Sarah digging, was shot dead after he pulled the trigger in the place where she should've been. That plagued her mind throughout chemistry so she could only hope that someone in her class was nice enough to give her the notes.

Math came and went, being the last class of the day. Ms. Daniels packed away her things, but walked up to Lucy. "Your tutor is waiting for you in the library. I except to hear good things, Ms. Connors."

Lucy smiled at her, but scowled when the teacher had her back to her. She was not looking forward to this. She had had tutors before, but all of them were hopeless. They either thought she was too stupid, or they were just horrible teachers. Today though, according to Ms. Daniels, her tutor was supposed to be a gifted student. Lucy hoped he wasn't one of the egotistical ones like Flash Thompson and his group.

So, she slung her backpack around her shoulder, making her way to the library. When she got there, she was the only one in the room, save for the sixty year old librarian Mr. Reynolds. "Hey, Mr. R."

The older man looked up from his books. His smile went from ear to ear at the sight of her. "Hello, dear, long time no see."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Schools been kind of hectic nowadays." She put her bag down and walked to the small desk littered with classics. "Anything new to show me?"

"Oh, its been the same here all the time. Teenagers actively trying to avoid this place. I was beginning to think you were becoming one of the masses."

Lucy gave him a look, smirking. "Please, I know where my loyalties lie."

Mr. Reynolds laughed. "That is very apparent, Ms. Connors." He input something into the computer before closing the book in his hand. "Now, what can I help you with today?"

"I'm here for most of the afternoon, Mr. Reynolds, tutoring session."

He nodded. "Well, just be sure to tell them the rules."

Lucy nodded, grinning at the man she had grown rather fond of. When she first started at Midtown, she hadn't any friends, and so spent her lunches curled up in the library eating her lunch and reading anything that interested her. She knew this library inside and out, so she picked her favourite spot and sat, waiting for this anticipated tutor.

She actually found herself waiting for about ten minutes. The only sound she could hear was the clock ticking and her nails drumming against the table. She had already opened the math book, was starting other homework of hers. Lucy just began to read her French questions when someone came barrelling through the door.

"Hi, Mr. Reynolds, is Lucy Connors here?" a boy asked the librarian. When he pointed to her table, the boy followed his finger, chest heaving and a bewildered look on his face. Then, a relived look washed over him when he caught sight of her. He thanked the older man before making his way over to her. Lucy stood up, smiling at the boy who threw his stuff down on the table. "Hey, sorry I'm late!"

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show." She said, arms crossed. "What were doing?" his eyes widened a bit, but she couldn't hold her serious facade any longer. "Just kidding, it's no worries, man"

He visibly relaxed, laughing breathlessly. "My name's Peter."

"Lucy."

The boy, now Peter, sat down across from her, pulling out his textbook and pens. "So, Ms. Daniels said I have to help get to about a B average." Lucy grimaced, he caught it. "Not a fan of math?"

"Numbers in general really," Lucy said, making Peter still. "I've got dyscalculia." she said quietly, as if it was a big secret. "I know, I know, cue the laughing track."

Peter blinked at her, this was the part where the tutor usually laughed at her, or hadn't an idea of how to teach her. But all Peter did was frown and tilt his head to the side. "Sorry, why would I laugh?"

Lucy hugged out a breath, waving her arms animatedly to insinuate her point. "Because, I don't know, people usually do!"

"Well, I won't." He told her truthfully. "Just because it takes you longer doesn't make you stupid or something."

"I know, right?" She said, thank god someone that wasn't her parents or sister thought the same thing. "Ms. Daniels is all about good class averages and I'm over here like 'hey maybe some of us can't actually read what's in the board'!"

Peter laughed, surprised at this girls ability to make someone smile. By the way she moved like she came right out of a cartoon, or the humour she didn't know she possessed. But still, they had work to do. "Okay, so, tell me where you find most difficult."

Then, the session began.

Turns out, Peter was quite confident when it came to maths, so teaching it was nothing to him. He was able to explain things she barely got the concept of so that she got some idea of what to do. The hour went by in no time and it was only when Peters alarm went off did they both realise that it was over.

"So," he began to pack away his things, "think you've got it?"

Lucy thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "I think so. At least I can say I'm better than before."

"Well, it's gonna take awhile. It's a lot to cover."

"About that," Lucy said, an idea coming to her head, "my family own a pizza place downtown, maybe we could meet up there sometimes."

Peter froze, gazing at her with unblinking brown eyes. "You want to meet up?"

"Is that okay? I mean, if you have things on–"

For a good while, Peter was silent. His brow was furrowed as he seemed to be going over what he was doing throughout the week. "Downtown?"

"Yeah, just near Stark Tower, is it too far away?"

His face tried to hit the elation bubbling up inside of him. "No, that's great! Perfect, actually. I've got an internship there so..."

She laughed. "Perfect! Now I can tell my dad we've a new customer!" She joked, making Peter smile. "So, I'll see you on Friday?"

"Friday works for me."

"Awesome!" She got up, standing confidently. "Peter Parker, I believe this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

"You think?"

"I know. My gut is telling me so and my gut doesn't lie." She waited until Peter was done before she started again. "Well, see you later."

She was nearly at the door when he caught up with her. "Can I ask, what happened you?" he pointed at her nose, now turning a disgusting blackish purple colour.

"Oh, I, uh, fell down the stairs last night."

What the hell was that? She fell down the stairs? He would call that out in no time.

But he didn't. All he did was hiss. "Jeez, that doesn't sound fun."

She thought of the real reason and shook her head. "No, it wasn't."

And then, the two parted ways. Peter descended down the stairs into the subway, taking out his phone and scrolling through the news bulletins. One caught his eye, clicking it. The headline read:

Mysterious black and yellow vigilante, Flicker, makes reappearance.

He frowned, enlarging the photo that came with the article. It was blurry, obviously taken by a crappy cell phone but from what he saw, it was a girl in a cat suit, a mask on, in the 7/11 the criminal had taken hostage. He had been meaning to pay that guy a visit last night. He had been a pain in Spider-Man's ass for about a month, but he was otherwise occupied with coming home from trying to beat up half the Avengers. Yeah, it's rather a long story.

This girl, however, he remembered. Flicker, they called her. He'd seen her on the news, and how she wasn't exactly doing the greatest job at trying to help people. A thought came to his mind, mostly because he wanted to take the new suit he had acquired for a run.

He was going to try and find Flicker.

-

"Poppy, I know we have a good thing going, but I'm going to need you to stop peeing at every pole we pass."

The corgi stopped sniffing at the traffic light, staring at her owner incredulously. The seven month old puppy blinked, tilting her head to the side. Lucy stared right back, as if expecting her to answer. She shook her head, tugging the leash slightly. "We're going to have to discuss your contract."

Poppy just hopped along. Nights like this were quite common for Lucy and her dog. Poppy was only seven months old, Ella having bought her as a birthday present for her younger sister. Poppy adored her, and Lucy adored her. She was her confidant. Despite being a dog.

New York was alive and kicking at nine in the night. Times Square was lit up like a Christmas tree, preoccupying Poppy at any given moment. Her walk started a eight thirty, and she was still here. "You know," she started, taking an ear bud out of her ear. "On a night like tonight I'd be up there." she pointed to a random rooftop, Poppy didn't look up. "Trying to stop crime..." She paused for a second. "Didn't always work, but I tried."

Poppy barked at a passing plastic bag. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I mean, I'm doing everything Spidey's doing, I have powers, I have a suit. I even have a sidekick! He doesn't have a sidekick!" When someone gave her a look, Lucy shied away, dipping her head. A sigh left her lips, stopping again as her dog sniffed the corner of an alleyway. Lucy peered down it.

After peeing for the billionth time, Poppy wandered into the alley. "Hey maybe we shouldn't come down this way. I think someone tried to rob me of my Flicker gear." The corgi yapped again, making Lucy raise her head to see what her dog was so interested in. What she saw, made her jaw drop.

Spider-Man was less than two feet away from her. He hadn't noticed her as he scaled the brick wall, stuffing something into a bag. His suit looked different than what she saw on the tv. It looked more high tech. Gone were the massive camera lenses for eyewear and the hoodie was replaced with what could only be described as a onesie. While he spoke to himself in a hushed voice, Lucy just stared at him, rooted to her spot. She would've stayed silent, if her dog had liked the look of someone climbing up walls. She barked, loud and warning. Lucy's mouth formed an 'o' before she pressed her finger to her lips. "Shhh, Poppy, it's okay!"

The superhero's head shot up, slanted white eyes rimmed with black widened almost comically before his hand reached upwards, his infamous webbing shooting out of his wrist propelling him upwards onto the roof. "Hey!" she called, her legs taking her down the alley. "Come back!" when she couldn't see him anymore she groaned. "Had to blow my cover, huh?" she sighed at Poppy who was busy scrapping at the wall. Then, a thought came to her head. She picked up her dog, rubbing the scruff of her neck. "Sorry, sweetie." Poppy tilted her head again, confused as to why they were back at their house so quickly. Her owner put her down, opening the door and leaving her there.

"Poppy?" her owners mother called as she whimpered, scratching at the door.

Lucy had teleported from her house to the rooftop where Spider-Man had escaped to. She spun around, trying to locate the crime fighter. How she wished she had her mask right now, she would be able to find him in a second. "Happy," she heard distantly. "not now!" she took a step toward where she thought the voice was coming from. "No, I don't have time to pick up Tony's laundry. Look, I need to go, okay? I think someone's following me."

A smirk hit Lucy's face when she watched Spider-Man rise from his crouched position and turn, only to come face to face with her. His mask was on, unfortunately, so she didn't have the pleasure to see who was actually under the mask. She wasn't going to lie, he screamed, all high pitched and girly. "Don't—" he panted, hands on his knees as he tried to compose himself after a near heart attack. "Don't do that?"

"You know, you're lucky I'm not a criminal or something." Lucy commented, folding her arms.

Spider-Man let out a breath before getting up again. "I'm usually better at that."

"What, you got some sensor or something?"

"You could say that. It tells me when I'm in danger. You're not dangerous." Lucy tried not to look offended by that. "Look, I have things to do, if you're looking for a picture of something, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to decline."

Lucy opened her mouth to explain why she had tried to follow him, but she had a thought. She would look like the biggest maniac if she told him she wanted to know who he was, and it's not like he would agree anyway, he'd just swing away again. "I just wanted to..." she sighed, shaking her hand dismissively. "You know what, it doesn't matter. You said your busy, it can wait."

He hesitated a moment, white eyes squinting in confusion. "Are you sure? I mean you got here really fast."

She laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. "Yeah, it was stupid anyway, forget it. Go safe the day, or night, I guess."

His wrist flicked outward, webbing shooting out of some odd mechanical dispenser. Lucy raised a brow as he jumped off the side of the roof, swinging off into the New York skyline. "At least that stuff doesn't come out of him." she muttered to herself, shivering in disgust at that thought.

Knowing he was out of sight, Lucy transported herself to her door.

"Lucy Connors, don't you dare leave like that without telling me!" her mother said the moment she went to knock. "Where the hell did you go?"

"I went to go and try and settle something."

"And how did that go?"

Lucy pushed past her lightly, walking up the stairs to her room. "How do you think?"

Her mother just laughed, making Lucy groan dramatically and slam her door. Poppy scurried out from the living room.

Her owner was kind of a drama queen.

-

not edited

A/N: Lucy you big idiot, what did you think was going to happen when you met him out of costume?

Imagine the cutest corgi puppy ever, that Poppy.

Comment, vote & follow! - Emma