Mercy and Spider-Man had a system.

On most nights, they would meet at their usual rendezvous point, survey the surrounding area, maybe stop a few crimes. Then a lunch break, more crime stopping until it got late and both realised they had lives to go back to. Tonight however, this system took a nose dive as something out of the ordinary happened. Spider-Man didn't show up. In any other case, Nora has the patience of a saint when it came to tardiness, but tonight she was antsy. Spider-Man was never late.

She didn't have a watch, or any way to check the time, but when enough time had passed, it was clear that something was wrong. Worry began to wash over her as she kicked at the ground. What had happened to him, was he alright? Maybe he couldn't make it tonight, that was the hopeful option, the hopeless option was that he was injured or dead in an undisclosed location. Nora didn't like thinking about that option. So instead, she thought about the whole thing in general. Partnering up with the masked hero for little over two months seemed like such a temporary thing at the start. Nora expected him to get bored of her, or big headed from all the attention he had collected over the near six months he had put on the mask. She thought he was a fraud, someone she would get annoyed with but that wasn't the case. She found she could trust him, to a fair amount, obviously she didn't trust him enough to tell him who she was, or anything about her family. What she did trust him with was her life, and the biggest mystery that had been plaguing her long before Mercy was ever a thought in her mind.

Something began to vibrate on her person. Her mind went to the beacon in her pocket. Finally, after weeks of it staying stagnant, she could put it to use. Spidey had upgraded the beacon to actually warn them if the other needed help. First, it was just a light, now it was a vibration to be discreet. Nora had to laugh, boys and their toys. She pulled it out, the red flashing rapidly. "Come on, Spidey, where are you?" she said to herself, worry striking her like a hot poker at her chest. The beacon lit up with a schematic of a street, the little red light blinking in the spot where Spider-Man currently was. It wasn't too far from where she was, she could make it there in less than five minutes. What was wrong with him, if he was so close, why hasn't he shown up?

She watched the light carefully, it stayed deadly still. Her need to get to him increased.

Nora didn't want to go out into the streets, not wanting to attract attention. She wished she had something like Spidey's web shooters, so she would be able to keep up with him(and having to wrap her legs him like a koala did wonders for her self esteem). If Rafe was still up when she got up home, she'd need to ask about getting something like a grapple hook.

As the red dot stayed still for another few moments, Nora threw caution to the wind and took off into a sprint to get to her hopefully alive partner. 

Climbing up the ladder to the roof his beacon claimed to be, Nora spotted a flash of red and blue in the corner, splayed across the stones. He was clutching his arm, which blood staining his fingertips and seeping through his fingerless gloves. It was as if someone punched her in the gut at his pained gasps, like someone was clawing at her heart as she hopped over the ladder and onto the roof, running over to him. "Oh, Spidey," she breathed. "What happened to you?"

It took him a minute to register that she even there, but with a lazy blink of his lens goggles, she had his attention. "Hey, Mercy." he said breathlessly. If she could've seen his face, he was smiling. "Got a little banged up."

"Were you—?" she couldn't finish the sentence, a bile rising to her throat at even the thought of her friend getting stabbed. He nodded, knowing what she implying. "God."

"I was only grazed, it isn't deep." a weight the size of a truck lifted off her chest as she sighed in relief. "Still hurts like hell though."

"I don't doubt it." she said, although it was more to herself than to him as she was already thinking about how she was going to heal him. Spidey called it her paramedic mode, where nothing mattered except the person she had to heal. If going into paramedic mode meant she could heal him, than that was fine with her. Nora held a hand up to the hand he had secured over his wound. Taking the hint, he let it down, the blood shining against the street lamps around them. Nora felt herself pale at the sight of his arm, an ugly gash had torn his suit and left his skin open and exposed. Blood seeped from the cut, enough to make her worry about him passing out on her. "How long have you been here?" she asked, feeling her power surge through her veins.

He shrugged, a dangerous move as he hissed in pain moments after. "I don't know. All I knew was that I was late to meet up with you."

She gave him a look, a hint of a smirk hitting the corners of her lips. Her hands glowed as she placed one on the cut, the other being held by Spidey in a bone crushing grip. He let out a groan, the lenses shut. "You were stabbed and all you worried about was me?" something weird began to tingle in her chest at that.

He had opened his eyes again, looking down at the wound that was beginning to cauterise and the skin around it began to spread over it. "Yeah, I'm sorry about this?"

Nora stared at him for a few seconds, unable to comprehend that after getting stabbed, his first thought was her. So, she ignored it, changing the subject. "So, how did you get this?" Nora asked, gesturing at the now healing wound.

He let out a strained laugh as he shifted himself to be more upright. "You're gonna kill me." he said.

"I don't kill people, it goes against my character." she chuckled, thinking back to Rafe's words all those months ago.

"Well, you might want to rethink that." he sighed, deciding to just tell her straight out. "I went out to find that guy."

Nora closed her eyes, sighing deeply. "Spidey..."

That guy he was referring to happened to be someone related to the disappearance of Cindy Moon. Nora had trusted him enough to tell him about her, not that she knew her personally, she was a friend of a friend(she was lucky Spidey couldn't tell if people were lying, otherwise she would've been caught straight out). Trying to find leads to her whereabouts was about as hard as you'd think it would be. Obviously the people who had her wanted her to stay hidden. Spidey had jumped on board when he caught her trying to interrogate a guy and failing miserably. 

Since then, they had been trying to find her together.

"I know, but she seems to mean so much to you. I wanted to make sure we got a solid lead."

"And instead you got stabbed for your trouble." Nora said, feeling like a mother disappointed with her child.

Feeling better, prodded the now fading scar. "I just wanted to help you."

"What happened to doing this together?"

"We still can, I just wanted to get the upper hand." He looked up, locking gazes with her disappointed stare. "Obviously I need you around more than I thought."

Again, that fluttery feeling hit her chest, so much so that she took her hand out of his, taking a step back. "Now, all done. Sorry about your suit, I can't stitch fabric back together unfortunately."

He fiddled with the rip at his bicep. "I can do that when I get home."

"Maybe you should." he frowned. "Go home, I mean."

"What, no!" he exclaimed. "We still need to get that guy."

"You're hurt, Spidey—"

"But our job is to get the bad guys!"

She folded her arms, in a stance that made him feel like he was talking to a teacher. "Your job is to make sure no one get's hurt. My job is to make sure whoever does doesn't die, which includes you. So do me a favour, Spidey, shut up, and go home to rest." she hated that she sounded so harsh, so she took a step closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for doing that for me. Seriously."

"But, the guy—"

"Can wait a few hours." she said, softer and happier than before. "I don't want to loose you to this guy. My power only does so much."

"I don't want to loose you either." he spoke, meaning it wholeheartedly. So much so that Nora's breath snagged in her throat. "I don't know what I'd do."

Nora swallowed hard, a strong urge to rip that mask off to do something she knew she shouldn't. Her mouth went dry, but she managed to get out. "I don't know what I'd do either."

They were so close, her hand had moved up from his shoulder to where his mask met his suit. Her fingers curled around the base of the mask, the person in front of her not doing anything to stop her. She could do it, she could roll the mask off his face and kiss him, to relieve the tension that had been building for weeks. He wasn't stopping her, it was almost as if he wanted her to do it. However, just as she got a grip on the mask, something stopped her. "Mercy?" he said, muffled by the mask that she hadn't taken off.

Her hand went back to her side. "Go home and rest." she told him, waves of guilt crashing into her. She couldn't do this to Peter, she wasn't that type of girl.

Even if he was the boy in front of her, and the same amount of guilt started to crush him. "Yes, nurse Mercy."

"And while you're there, maybe you could upgrade this thing?" she held up the beacon. "So if you're late again, I can know where you are."

He smirked. "Now you want to give me a tracker?"

She blushed, shaking her head. "If you didn't have a way of pressing the button, I'd still be waiting for you."

Spider-Man chuckled, taking the beacon from her. "I know, I know. I was thinking of doing that anyway." he walked to the edge of the roof. "Mercy?" he called back.

"Mmm?"

"I'm glad your my partner."

He didn't give her time to respond, for he shot one of his webs out and disappeared into the New York skyline.

When he was out of her sight, both her fists tangled into her hair. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she shouted through gritted teeth. She nearly cheated on Peter with someone she didn't even know!

Was she really falling for Spider-Man?

(Yes, yes she was, and she was falling fast.)

-

She was home early that night, much to her siblings shock.

Nora arrived through the backdoor as usual, with her sister in the kitchen ready to hound her about what she did that night. However, Aliya wasn't exactly ready to see her so early. Nora took off her mask, stomping up the stairs without so much as a word. Rafe was up near her room, again, as usual, with questions on what Spider-Man and her got up to during their escapades. "Hey, Nora, have fun?"

"No." she grumbled, slamming the door and leaving him in the dust. Rafe frowned at the door, Aliya walking up the step and right beside him.

"What's up with her?" Rafe asked.

"I don't know." Aliya said truthfully. "Maybe one of us should go in."

Rafe nodded. "Let me go, maybe this isn't a Mercy problem."

"Alright, but you better not hound her about Spider-Man."

"I know when to keep my mouth shut." he nudged his sister. "Keep an eye out for dad." Aliya nodded, starting to descend down the stairs before stopping. "What?"

Aliya sighed, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Sorry, I just never thought this is how we'd be spending this year."

"I don't think Nora did either." Rafe said with a small laugh. "But it's the hand we've been dealt."

Without looking up at her younger brother, Aliya shook her head. "We're two months into this and I'm still wondering if it's a good hand or not." Rafe watched her walk downstairs, biting the inside of his lip.

"So am I." he said to himself, before turning around and knocking softly on his younger sister's door.

He entered the room to see Nora on her bed, sitting there in her clothes from earlier, her phone in the middle of the bed. "What's up, Nora?"

"I'm not in the mood to talk about your crush, Rafe." Nora grumbled, eyes not moving from her phone.

Rafe watched her a few moments, sitting on the bed next to her. "Expecting a call?"

"No, I'm just thinking."

"About whether or not someone is going to call you?" he joked in the hopes she would smile. She did, and Rafe felt he had gotten through to her. "Come on, what's wrong?"

His sister let out a breath, hugging her knees close enough to her chest so she could rest her chin on them. "What was it like when you met Leo?"

Rafe was taken aback at the question. He thought she was going to tell him something about being a superhero, not about his love life. "What do you mean?"

"Did you guys kiss before you started dating, did you talk about your feelings?"

He blinked again, before answering her questions to the best of his ability. "Well, I've known him since high school. I didn't always like him, he was actually kind of an asshole when he was younger. But over time, he grew kinder, softer. I didn't even realised I like him until he asked me out and I was saying yes." Nora smiled genuinely at the blush tinging her big brother's cheeks. "Sometimes, it just happens. Why do you ask?"

"I like Peter."

"Pretty sure the world knows that, but go on."

"And a few days ago, I asked him to kiss me."

Rafe frowned. "Did he?"

"Yes, and now I think we're a thing."

"So, what's the problem?"

A pained look passed over his sister's features before she just came out and said it. "I went to all that trouble to get him to kiss me, and now I think I might like someone else."

Rafe nodded slowly, clicking the pieces of the puzzle together. "I see."

"Am I a bad person?"

He shook his head, angling himself so he could face her head on. "How long have you known this person?"

"Two months."

"And how long have you had these feelings?"

"About an hour." Rafe snorted. "Shut up."

"Can I be honest with you?" Nora nodded. "Sometimes I think there's a difference with 'like' and 'love'."

Nora recoiled from him, shock bristling through her. "Woah, hang on, I'm not in love with Spider-Man."

Rafe raised a brow, trying to hide the excitement bubbling in his system. "He's not the one I think you're in love with. But thanks for telling me who you like."

"You didn't hear that. Pretend I said nothing." then, what he said hit her. "I'm not in love with Peter either."

"Yet," Rafe chuckled. "You're guilty about liking someone else."

"Okay, I should've never brought this up. Maybe you should leave." Nora said, pushing him off the bed.

"Nora, Nora!" he said, trying to get her to stop. "My point is. Chase after the one you think you have a future with."

She stared at him a moment, before pressing her lips into a line. "You're not always stupid, huh?"

"Leo calls me a love guru."

She snorted. "Get out."

The door closed on him, but he didn't leave. Instead he placed his ear on the door, trying to hear what she would do. Rafe heard her let out a groan before she dialled a number. He smirked when she began to speak.

"Hey, Peter, I know it's late. Yeah, everything's fine, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out tomorrow. Just the two of us." he heard her giggle. "Yeah, yeah! Meet you at the subway after school." there was a moment of silence, before she let out an excited squeal, giving Rafe the signal to leave. He went downstairs where his older sister was, their dad getting out of his police uniform.

Aliya went over and whispered. "Everything alright?"

Rafe nodded. "Yeah, in fact, I think things are perfect."

In that moment, things were perfect. However, in less than twenty four hours, this perfect state would be torn apart.

-

not edited

A/N: No matter how I tried, this chapter refused to go the way I wanted it to. However, it's slightly filler so I'm not that angry over it. 

Yes, Rafe is super gay for his boyfriend Leo Reynolds(fc Dom Sherwood as I try to keep the domberto fire ablaze) and it actually becomes a big plot point in part two.

Next chapter, someone comes to visit the Mendes household with an offer Nora can't refuse.

Dedicated to @volbeats who is super cool and cries about Tom Holland with me. She's sups cool.