thursday 28th of april 2016

"Peter?" J.D grabbed Peter's arm when she saw him walking out of school. It was the end of the day, and students poured out of the building, steering clear of the teenagers in the middle of the courtyard. Peter sighed and clutched his backpack straps tighter, staring at the ground. "Hey, I haven't seen you all day. What's up?"

"N-Nothing." Peter muttered quickly. "I just want to go home."

"Is everything okay?" J.D asked, clearly concerned for her friend. He had been ignoring her for the past week and she was getting both annoyed and worried. "You haven't talked to me."

"It doesn't matter." Peter snapped, before pulling away from her grasp. J.D stood, shocked, before she grabbed him again and looked at his face. She gasped and pulled him to the side of the crowd.

"What the hell happened?" She hissed, and forced him to sit down on the bench. She held his face in both hands and inspected it carefully. He had a black right eye and bruised left cheek, and had been poorly covered with make-up. Her expression went dark. "Was it Flash?"

"No." Peter grumbled, trying to look everywhere but her. Yes he had been ignoring her, but that was only because Mason said it was the only way for him to get over his feelings that weren't being reciprocated.

"Who was it?" J.D demanded, and Peter sighed, closing his eyes.

"Can you drop it?" He scowled and J.D rolled her eyes.

"Don't give me that shit, Peter." She retorted. "Your teen angst doesn't phase me. I care about you a hell of a lot, and if you don't tell me how you got these bruises, I'm gonna find out. You can hold me to that."

Peter didn't respond, and J.D sighed deeply. Most of the students had cleared out and were gone, excluding the few that were lingering in the courtyard.

Another moment passed, and Peter could still feel J.D's steel gaze burning into his face. He was caught off guard when she placed one hand onto the back of his head and pulled him into an embrace. She clutched him tightly, and Peter stayed frozen for a while before finally wrapping his arms around her. He was extremely confused. She wasn't one for physical contact, and now she was hugging him?

J.D rested her head in the crook of Peter's neck. "Whatever I did to make you hate me, I'm sorry. I don't want to lose you."

Peter smiled softly at her apologetic tone. It wasn't her fault that she didn't return the crush. He squeezed her a little tighter and kiss the side of her head. "You didn't do anything, I'm sorry for ignoring you. How about we get some ice cream?"

"And you can tell me what happened?" J.D asked hopefully as Peter stood up and offered her his hand.

Peter scrunched his nose up. "Eh, maybe not. You've already punched enough people for me to last a lifetime. Besides, the other guy got it much worse."

J.D chuckled and shook her head, the pair leaving the school together, arm in arm. "You're insane, Peter Parker."

+++

J.D's control over her force fields had improved tremendously. She was able to create what seemed like bubbles with her mind and move them around, above, below or to the sides of objects. She had tried with soccer balls and furniture in the sanctuary of her room, but nothing ever serious or life-threatening.

She was jogging down the street with her dagger in hand, and bag of chocolate coins in the other. She chewed her candy as she ran around the corner, where she had previously heard sirens. Her eyes widened when she saw police and fire engines and ambulances surrounding the OSCORP building. She quickened her pace and cut through the police tape holding people back, before placing her dagger back in her scabbard and unwrapping another chocolate coin.

"He's gonna jump!" She heard someone scream, followed by several other yells. A policeman tried to talk to the civilian at the top of the building with a megaphone, other officers setting up a giant inflatable pillow. J.D's eyes widened when she realised what was happening. She saw the familiar webbing and Spider-Man climbing up the windows, and she, along with everyone else gasped when the man at the top let out a yell and jumped off.

He came flying down at an incredible speed, and J.D wasn't sure if the pillow would be able to safely catch him. Her panicked eyes flickered at the officers and citizens of Queens, and she quickly thrust her hands out and felt the blue energy surge form her hands, forming a pale blue barrier between the man and the ground.

Everyone around her gaped at the sight of the man floating nine feet off the ground with some strange power holding him up. J.D gently lowered her hands, bringing him down carefully where he was quickly aided by officers and paramedics. From what she could see, his eyes were bloodshot and he was trembling, with a dark brown stain on his shirt.

J.D let out an exhausted breath and fell against the police car, unaware that she was visible to the civilians. Someone in the crowd pointed and screamed out at her, and she curled away when she saw the flash of a camera. Before she could process what was happening, she felt herself being lifted up and carried away. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the red ski-mask of Spider-Man. A tired smile fell onto her face as he landed on the roof of a nearby building. "Hey, Spidey."

"Hey, Blade." He greeted back and rested her head against the rooftop entrance wall. "Was that you that did that? Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine." She muttered and raised a hand to feel her head. "I've never used one that big before."

"I didn't know you could produce force fields!" He exclaimed, suddenly excited. "Do you know how incredible that is? It defies the laws of physics, and not only is it impressive, but also way interesting to scientists. Maybe we should sneak you into OSCORP one day and use their tech."

J.D scoffed and looked over at the building, seeing the blaring lights in the reflection of the glass. "I wonder what made the man want to do that."

Spider-Man went silent, glancing over at J.D, who looked into the distance, seemingly upset.

"Everyone suffers, some people just want a way out of it so they don't have to." He replied, dropping to the ground next to her and reaching for their hand. They had seen each other frequently over the last couple of months, and neither of them could admit the feelings that had grown. It was like an exciting, secret crush that you couldn't tell anyone because you would be deemed crazy. It was like having a crush on a fictional character, except they were right in front of you.

J.D didn't say anything, she just sighed and hesitantly leaned into his side, and he surprisingly welcomed it. She chewed on the inside of her lip, before she felt her breath catch in her throat. "They saw me. I-I saw the flash of a camera. Someone took my picture--"

"Hey, hey." Spider-Man tried to assure her. "It's okay."

"No, it's not." She snapped, panic quickly rising within her. "Everyone's gonna know who I am, what I can do. I-I can't have that, I'm not like you."

"Not like me, what do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"They'll expect me to be some sort of hero, which I'm not." She grumbled. "I don't want--"

"Responsibility?" Spider-Man replied, now sounding slightly annoyed. "You're using your abilities selfishly, think of all the good you could do."

"I don't even want these abilities, I never wanted them in the first place." J.D hissed defensively. "I'm in high school, I've got enough pressure on me already."

"And you don't think I do?" Spider-Man argued. "With great power comes great responsibility, and you don't seem to understand that."

"Don't use your wise words on me, I'm not in the mood." J.D muttered, before pushing herself up and detaching their hands. She walked to the edge of the building, seeing the crowd dispersing, though some were still lingering around the place. She clenched her jaw and folded her arms, ignoring Spider-Man's footsteps behind her.

"You can't keep doing this." He sighed. "Now that people have seen you, they won't just forget. They'll wait for you to come again, or if they see you they'll expect you to do something great."

J.D rolled her eyes and leaned against the concrete barrier. Spider-Man did the same at her side and she smacked her lips, clearly irritated.

"Why don't you want to be a hero?" He asked her softly, and she hung her head, before running a hand through her loose ponytail.

"Because I don't have what it takes." She muttered after a moment, her voice cracking slightly. There was a lump in her throat as she said that, and she quickly turned away from Spider-Man, wanting to leave as fast as she could.

What she didn't expect was for a webbing to latch onto her arm and pull her back, causing her to hit Spider-Man in the chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist and looked down at her, and she looked at the ground, not wanting to hear what he had to say.

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him, but there wasn't much to see due to the mask. "Believe me, you do."

J.D stared up at him for a second, before reaching up and taking the edge of his mask in her hands. She slowly pulled it up just so it moved past his lips. "Smile?"

"Why?" He asked, though he complied as he said it, chuckling. She smiled back and placed one hand on his cheek.

"You have a nice smile." She mused. "It reminds me of someone, but I can't think of who."

He scoffed and pursed his lips together, watching her carefully. "You're gonna walk past your picture in the paper tomorrow, and then everything will change."

"I know." She sighed and a thought suddenly popped into her mind. She swallowed nervously, before pushing herself up onto her tiptoes and leaning closer to him.

He obviously caught onto what she was doing, and he began to lean in as well.

When their lips touched, it was soft and quick, sweet, even. It was a kiss only two awkward teenagers could give one another. J.D thought he tasted like cinnamon, and she instantly felt her stomach fizz and her heat skip a beat. Her first kiss was with a superhero, and boy, was it amazing.

When they pulled away, they both blushed deep red and J.D couldn't help but grin. He returned it and quickly leaned in to give her another peck. "W-Wow."

J.D giggled, but quickly stopped herself and pressed her hand to her mouth. "You suck."

"Why?" He asked with a laugh, and she shoved him gently in the shoulder. "I made you blush and giggle? This is such an achievement."

J.D buried her face in her hands and groaned loudly, but Spider-Man only released another laugh. He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her head.

Bending down so he could see her hidden face, he flashed her a smile. "I'll see you round?"

She nodded her head meekly, and he slowly pulled away, and when she heard his web, a cheerful holler and then silence, she removed her hands from her face and looked up, before beaming, her cheeks tinted pink.

She kissed Spider-Man.

What a night.

CUTIES CUTIES I SHIP THEM SO HARD

ALSO TWO UPDATES IN TWO DAYS WOOOO

ALSO I'M V SORRY I HATE THAT THIS IS KINDA MOVING FAST

btw idk if any of you are confused between the relationship between peter and j.d

so basically peter has a thing for j.d but j.d doesn't really like him back bc she has a crush on spidey and so peter kind of gives bladerunner a chance bc he doesn't think that j.d will ever return the feelings he has

*UNEDITED*