At first, Peter was pretty sure Bambi Moody was not ignoring him. Just because she didn't say hi to him in the hallways like Mary Jane, Gwen and Harry did, it did not mean she was ignoring him.

Nope. She was doing much worse.

She was avoiding him.

When she saw him in a hallway and when he actually began to walk towards her, she did a full 180 turn and rushed to the nearest bathroom.

Then, during the english class they have together and where she usually sits in front of him, she decided to sit on a completely opposite side of the classroom.

And the worst part was, Peter had absolute no clue why.

He guessed she was still pissed because of what happened at the New Year, even though it had been two weeks since that and they were already back in school. She barely spoke with him.

"Hey, is Bambi avoiding me for some reason?" Peter asked Gwen lowly during the lunch when Bambi got up to get herself a snack from a vending machine.

"No. Why would she?" Gwen asked confusedly, barely tearing her eyes off her girlfriend.

Yup, Gwen and MJ were officially dating. They got even more closer after New Year and went on couple of more dates. Peter was surprised any of them had the courage to confess their feelings, even though it was pretty obvious to everyone.

"Doesn't matter." Peter murmured and slumped down in his seat.

"Hey, don't worry. She has been acting pretty weird to all of us for a while now, but it'll be alright." Harry jumped in the conversation. "She's just really stressed lately. Her birthday is coming up soon."

Peter remembered the story of her grandparents dying on her birthday. He couldn't imagine your own birthday turning into anniversary of death of someone you loved.

In that moment, Bambi returned to the table, sitting down next to Mary Jane. She barely looked Peter into the eyes. She looked awfully tired, with dark circles under her eyes and no dash of make-up at all, what was unusual since the girl loved doing make-up.

She looked like she might collapse and fall asleep any second.

Everyone continued to carry on with their conversations, yet Peter couldn't take his eyes off the girl. Something about her gave the different energy than before, and he couldn't put a finger on it.

Later that day during the P.E. while they were running laps, Peter tried to catch up with Bambi, who was weirdly far up ahead even though the girl had asthma and coach was literally yelling at her to slow down for her own good.

"Hey, what's up?" Peter asked once when he was close enough. The girl was running breathlessly with the look in her eyes as if she was determined to run a marathon. She glanced at him from the corners of her eyes.

"Nothing much." She panted, sweat dripping down her forehead.

"Oh, alright. I've been wondering how you're doing lately." The boy admitted.

"I've been fine." Bambi answered, struggling to breathe properly.

"Don't you have asthma? You sure you can run this much?" He asked worriedly.

"Peter, I'm not a helpless little girl!" She snapped at him, picking up on the speed. "And as you can see, I'm doing a pretty good job at not dying because of lack of oxygen!"

After that sentence, a hoarse cough escaped her mouth, then another one, then two more, and she was forced to stop due to her uncontrollable coughing.

Peter had to bite down on his tongue hard not to ask her if she was alright. He watched her pull the inhaler out of the pockets of her shorts (she was probably always carrying it around during P.E.) and she took few puffs. He calmly waited, making sure she was alright and wondering if he was the cause of that, since he did make her angry.

There was anger written all over her face, but the boy realised it was not because of him. The girl looked unbelievably angry at herself, as if not being able to run was her fault.

"Sorry," she apologised once when she was done taking puffs. "That was mean."

"I am sorry too for making you angry, I was just worried. You haven't talked to me for weeks." He admitted, his heart beating crazy mad because it was always hard for him to confront people.

Her brown eyes quickly ran over him, holding some kind spark of mystery before the girl just shook her head, the strands of her hair that fell out of her ponytail swaying at the motion.

"Sorry for that too," she apologised again. "Please don't take it personal."

They both sat down at the bleachers. Bambi's eyelids looked heavy, and her face was pale.

"Have you been sleeping?" Peter asked.

"Yes."

A lie.

There was no proof that she was lying, but something in Peter told him she was. Maybe Spidey sense became a psychologist along the way, but somehow Peter just knew.

"Do you want to go to my place after school?" He gathered every single ounce of strength to ask that question, regretting it instantly. "I mean, not in, you know, that way. I mean just hanging out and..."

"To watch those Star Wars movies?" The girl said, her lips tugging into a small smile. It was weird because Bambi's smiles used to light her entire face up. That light would reach her eyes and make them narrow, her nose would scrunch up, her cheeks would seem to get bigger. Peter couldn't remember the last time her smile was that big. For months now all she ever did was have the smallest smile possible tugging at the corners of her lips.

He smiled widely at her but not too much because he didn't want to look like a creep.

"Y-yeah." His voice cracked and he really wanted to get run over by a train.

"That would be awesome."

Peter continued to have his goofy smile glued on his face as he just stared at the brunette, before coach yelled at him to get his arse back down and continue to do laps.

***

Peter was feeling like his soul was out of his body for the next three periods. His eyes kept glancing back to the time on his phone and his leg kept bouncing. He wasn't sure why was he so happy or why was he so nervous about it either, they did have a double date once.

But this was their thing. The whole 'Star Wars buddies' was the beginning of their friendship in the first place! Plus, seeing how sad and sleep deprived Bambi looked like, he wanted to do everything he could to make his friend feel better. He texted aunt May, letting her know about their little guest as he waited in front of the school for Bambi to come out.

When she did, she said goodbye to her friends and joined Peter having that tiny smile on her lips again.

They earned couple of weird stares from Gwen and Harry, but neither of them noticed as they went home together, deciding to take a subway.

Bambi seemed nervous. Her palms were sweaty and she kept tapping her fingers against the screen of her mobile phone that was turned off.

"Why are you nervous?" Peter decided to ask even though it was not his place to ask that since he was feeling as nervous as she was as if they were about to do something illegal. It was hilarious because Peter could fight bad guys and rescue people with no pardon but he couldn't have a girl over.

"Oh it's just that I haven't seen your aunt in a while." She admitted.

"Don't worry, you're her favourite human being." He reassured the girl.

"How do you know?" Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she realised. "Do you talk to her about me?" She grinned teasingly, enjoying every second of Peter's flushed face.

"Wha... what...? No..." he tumbled with his words awkwardly, his tongue twisting in his own lies.

"Alright." She shrugged, still grinning. Peter just then realised she was at least smiling more than usually, and the fact itself pleased him enough to get over his embarrassment.

They finally arrived. May looked unbelievably happy and excited. She crushed the girl in bear hug when she saw her.

"Hey Bambi! It's been a while!" May said excitedly. "How have you been?"

"I've been fine, and you?" Bambi said, still nervous about something that made Peter confused since the girl basically just broke the ice.

"I'm doing great! Glad Peter finally invited another friend at home." She said and bolted to the kitchen to get a bowl full of cookies. Peter was glad she didn't say 'Peter finally invited a girl over'. He happily accepted the bowl of cookies and another bowl of popcorn, smiling at his aunt because she was the sweetest and the best woman in the world. "You're gonna watch some movies, yeah?"

"Star Wars." Bambi nodded, her eyes glued to the cookies.

"Really Pete? Star Wars?" May rolled her eyes. "Have fun you two, alright? I'm here if you need anything."

The way she said have fun made Peter's insides burst. He hoped it didn't sound like that to the girl next to him.

"We will, thank you." Bambi said gratefully before the two headed to his room. Peter prayed to dear God that it didn't look as bad as usual.

Weirdly enough, room was clean, what meant May was the one who cleaned it up. That woman just wanted everything about this to be perfect. Peter made a little mental note to thank his aunt later.

Bambi looked around his room. "So this is your depression cave." She noted, smiling at the baby picture of Peter.

"Yep..." Peter said, hoping the girl wouldn't judge him. Him and May never really got the luxury of living in a fancy big house, so his room was literally twice as small as Gwen's guest room. He never minded because well, he was thankful for what he had, but he just worried the girl would judge him for some reason, even though it would be very unlikely of her to do that.

"It looks cozy." She commented. "I like it."

"Oh... really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it basically screams Peter Parker." She chuckled, then went to sit on the bed next to the boy.

Peter wished he could say her room screams Bambi Moody as well, because he did see it few times. It really represented her, with all that artwork, sketches and pictures sticked to her wall. Of course, he couldn't say that because Peter Parker was never in that room unlike famous friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

The boy pulled the laptop into his lap, turning it on to search for a movie. He had an urge to make a small talk, but what was there to talk about? Mentioning her birthday would be just hurtful, mentioning anything about the last time they hanged on, on the New Year's eve, would just remind her that he left. He always wondered how did Bambi and the rest of their friends spend the rest of that night while he was gone. Was Bambi able to hang out with anyone except from Ned since the rest of the group were couples that were probably kissing in a dark corner? Who knew, really.

He felt guilty about it. He wanted to apologise, but again, reminding her of it probably wouldn't be a great idea.

"Your aunt is really kind." She broke the silence. "Honestly I was so stressed out."

"Well, it would be hard for her to hate you. She was inviting your parents over for coffee couple of times and she really liked them." Peter commented.

"Yeah, too bad they don't hang out as often as they used to." She nodded.

Peter never really thought about it. He remembered almost two years ago, when the Moody family just moved in Queens and May used to talk about them a lot. Sadly, Peter wasn't really interested in that time because he had bigger problems, like just getting bitten by a radioactive spider and trying to make sense out of it all.

Then, uncle Ben died and May stopped being such am extrovert so she stopped communicating with a lot of people she didn't know too well at that time.

"Maybe we could invite you two for a dinner some time, yeah?" Bambi suggested as the two settled. Since Peter didn't have TV in his room they had to watch on his laptop, and they both had to sit shoulder to shoulder in order to fit both on the bed. The laptop was placed partly on Bambi's right leg and partly on Peter's left.

"Y-yeah that would be awesome." The boy swallowed down, somehow not really liking the idea of meeting Bambi's parents.

And so the movie started. The two teens watched together as they ate popcorns and cookies, enjoying the moment. Bambi's side was literally pressed to his, and Peter was feeling warmer than usual.

He couldn't say if the girl really enjoyed the plot or not, but at least she wasn't constantly checking her phone or not looking at the screen, so he guessed that meant she was interested.

Few months ago, Peter couldn't even imagine being friends with her. She was always like a daydream for him, like a celebrity crush you know you'll never meet. He would do anything to befriend her.

Now once when they were actually friends, Peter realised there was more to Bambi Moody than he thought.

She was keeping her friends in a close circle. She had no 'school friends' or people she would hang out with at school and then not outside of it. If you were her friend, you were her real friend. She did anything in her possibility to help her friends out even though when she was the one struggling, she would become distant. He didn't see her now as just a crush. Sure, he admired the girl and got butterflies when she hugged him, but she wasn't just a girl he fancied.

She was a friend with whom he was forming a deep connection, something more pure than simple crush like Liz. Looking back to it, Peter didn't know a thing about Liz. Sure, he knew she was super smart and little things like that (and that her dad was a maniac), but he never got to know her in depth. To know what made her lie awake at night, to know what she desired for and what were her dreams. Even though Peter didn't know all of those things about Bambi Moody yet, he knew that it was only matter of time. And that's what made his crush even better.

If not, he might be actually falling in love with her.

He reached for a cookie, and felt a warm hand against his. The two teens locked their gazes together as red colour tinted their cheeks. Bambi removed her hand, looking kind of embarrassed that they just happened to reach for the same cookie at the same time, and Peter slowly but nervously glanced back at the screen, trying to ignore the way his chest was exploding.

Halfway through the movie, Bambi fell asleep. At first it was unnoticeable because even though Peter had watched the movie many times, he was still paying close attention to it. Then, her head fell on his shoulder, and first he got pretty alarmed with the thought that the girl just felt like leaning in, but then he realised she was actually asleep.

He smiled at her, his heart beating painfully fast but this time out of pure happiness. He had sympathy for the girl since who knew when was the last time she closed her eyes to get the rest she needed, so trying not to shift too much, he lifted the laptop for a few seconds as he pulled the blanket closer to the brunette with other hand.

Bambi just exhaled through her nose and snuggled even closer to the boy, the strands of her hair tickling Peter's neck. He felt his own eyes starting to be heavy and he let himself close his eyes and enjoy the moment for a while while the sound of lightsabers played in the background.

After some time, he heard the girl murmur something quietly against his shoulder.

"Peter..." she said.

Peter hummed in response, his mind too tired to even think of a response,

"I..." the girl started, obviously struggling with something. "I know you're Spider-Man."

Peter expected any kind of statement, but nothing could possibly prepare him for that.

He moved away, making the girl's head almost fall because of lack of support. His eyes were wide staring into her tired ones that held no emotion as if she did not just say an earth-breaking statement.

"No I'm not." He quickly shook his head, eyes wide.

"Peter, it literally can't be more obvious. I've known for a while now." She rubbed her eyes as her sentence was interrupted by a yawn. "Now can you please move back here so I can lean against you and sleep?"

"Bambi, I'm not Spider-Man." He tried again, his voice really pitched and obviously filled with lies.

"Um, yeah you are." The girl's eyes rolled so much Peter thought they would stay somewhere in the back of her head. "I'm not that clueless. I could tell you ten reasons why I think you're Spider-Man, but I think we don't want to go into that."

Peter continued to shake his head incredulously. This was the exactly same scenario like those times Ned and aunt May found out. People should really stop finding his secret out in his room.

"Okay well, firstly, the vending machine thing. No one is that strong." Bambi started by stating the obvious. "Alpha likes both you and Spider-Man. That's a little bit silly to be one of the reasons but I trust the little guy, it could not be a coincidence. Then, Spider-Man called me by my name even though he did not know it."

"Maybe he just made a crazy guess..." he suggested in panic, not even remembering that slip-up.

"Uh-huh. I saw your face bruised multiple times, and you can't be slipping on ice that much." She continued. "Then, you always have to disappear somewhere and you never have a good excuse for it..."

The girl stopped once when she saw the look of defeat written across Peter's face. He didn't know how to feel. He wasn't angry that she knew, he was just... sad. Was he really that obvious? Was he putting her in danger now that she knew? How long would it take for the rest of his friends, like MJ to figure it out? The only crackhead in their group who would probably have a harder time connecting the dots together was Harry. Mary Jane, Gwen and MJ were all as smart as Bambi... and Ned already found out, by accident of course.

"Peter, I won't tell anyone." She sighed. "I mean, I respect that. Believe me I didn't try to find out on purpose, you're just not careful at all."

"You... you are okay with it?" Peter asked, perplexed. The girl looked so chill, so... opposite of excited and shocked. Usually when people find out they get something similar to a heart attack, but this girl kept picking her nails nonchalantly as if she just told him something else.

"What, you thought I would be pointing gun at you or something?" She snorted. "But I am a little mad I told you my entire sob story not knowing it was you."

"Do you regret it?" Peter asked, feeling guilty. He wondered if Bambi wouldn't tell him about her grandparents and about so many things if she knew who was behind that mask.

"Not really," her voice was low, emotionless.

"What's wrong?"

"Would you ever tell me? If I didn't found out on my own?" She asked. "I mean like, after some time. Am I that kind of person you would trust? "

"Of course." Peter said, not missing a beat. "I would, one day."

"Okay then, I am glad." Her face lightened up for a little bit.

"How are you this calm?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"I mean, I went through a shock phase when I figured it out two weeks ago at the New Year party at Gwen's," Bambi explained. "But I wasn't as shocked as I was worried for you."

Peter stared at her, being at the loss of words. He remembered how heartbroken the girl sounded when he came back that night... but she didn't attack him for leaving. Rather than being furious, she was worried.

Now that she knew, she would he worrying all the time, and that's something he definitely didn't want for her. There was already weight on her shoulders, but now she had to carry this as well?

He almost hated himself for it. This was all his fault after all because he deliberately got close to the girl in wish to become close friends with her, both as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. That was stupid because why was he trying to make her like his other self when that automatically meant putting her in danger and at the risk of finding out who he is?  If he was patient, he would got close to her because for him, because for everything that is Peter Parker and not a famous superhero no one could resist.

He just wanted to take a shortcut... and he wasn't responsible enough.

"I am so sorry." He said finally. He felt like bursting into tears what was so ironic because he was supposed to be fearless Spider-Man who doesn't cry like a baby at everything.

"For what?" Bambi asked confusedly and scooted closer to her friend, putting her hand on his shoulder as comforting gesture.

"I... I just..." he tried, but his voice was wavering, so he cleared his throat and tried not to meet the girl's intense stare. "I r-really wanted to be your friend and I thought if I was Spider-Man I had more chance at that... but now I just put you in danger and now you will worry all the time."

"Hey..." the brunette began quietly, then realised Peter was still looking at his hands in his lap. "Look at me..." Her voice was so gentle  it made every cell in Peter's body ache in lovesickness. A warm palm was suddenly on the side of his face, slowly making him look at his friend beside him. "First of all, I am not in danger, okay?" She started, her palm still cupping his face, her thumb gently caressing his cheek. "Pete, mask on or off, you're still an amazing person. I didn't become good with Spider-Man because he's a hero that only James Jonah Jameson does't like. I befriended Spider-Man because his personality, because your personality. Maybe you feel more confident with that mask on, but... if you came up to me without it, I would still like you for you."

And in that moment, Peter felt the strongest urge ever to kiss her. To just gently put his lips on hers, to grab her face, to hold her hand and let the world and reality melt away. Every substance in his body was overheating, screaming and yelling at him to do it. The muscles in his hands were twitching, desperately wanting to reach her. He felt like if he wasn't going to do it in that very same moment, the world would end... because there was a smile on her face so bright he couldn't recall the last time his eyes got to witness it. 

"And yeah I will probably worry the hell out of myself but at least now I'll know what you're doing and not just watching you disappear without explanation. Now I can be here for you." She finished, still stroking his cheek ever so slightly and gently as if he was made out of glass.

And that's what it took Peter Parker to get sent over the edge.

Million things went through his mind right then and then, how stupid it would be because the girl was still not over her friend, how the girl was feeling confused and not even knowing what she was feeling, but somehow his urge was stronger than those thoughts.

Without thinking it through, he leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips that barely lasted for two seconds, before his mind went into a panic mode and brought him back to reality.

What the hell are you doing?

He leaned away with eyes wide, the peck on the lips feeling like it didn't happen.

The girl looked perplexed too, as if she wasn't able to progress what was happening either. Her lips were slightly apart as she stared at him, not blinking and not breaking the eye contact.

They sat there in awkward silence for what seemed to be billion years and entire Earth's creation, endless number of thoughts running through Peter's mind.

He just ruined everything, everything they built together and everything their friendship meant. He didn't even ask her for consent he just did it because he felt like it. What was he even thinking?

"I am so so—"

His apology was cut off when Bambi leaned back in, cupping his face with both of her hands and pressing their lips together.

You know how in almost every book kissing is described as fireworks and electric sparks and the whole world spinning? For Peter, it didn't feel like that. It just felt like Bambi's soft lips were on his, and that was enough. It was a little bit messy, but it felt as if it didn't matter. Because it radiated warmth and it radiated something like love, even though they weren't anywhere close to that big word. It felt like they both meant it, like they wanted it. Because your eyes are closed and in that moment you feel nothing else.

He instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, not believing a second of what was happening.

Bambi pulled away first, a little smile on her lips with brighter eyes than usual. They both continued to stare at each-other like cows, obviously both new at it.

The girl leaned in again but this time not for a kiss but for a hug, her head resting on Peter's shoulder and wrapping her arms around his torso and just resting there wordlessly.

What now?

Did she regret it? What was going on?

"I meant it." She whispered. "But please give me time, okay? I don't want to pull you down in this hole with me."

"I..." Peter fumbled with his words, still feeling like he imagined everything. "I would give you all the time in the world."

And those words were enough for both of them. Peter knew the girl was probably confused about her own feelings and needed time to sort everything out... but she meant the kiss, what also meant she liked him or was beginning to feel something towards him, and that was enough to know for now, enough to please him and wait twenty years if it meant for her to be ready.

He would wait an eternity and more.

***

Later, Peter went on his usual night patrol, feeling the happiest he ever felt.

He couldn't stop replaying the moment in his head over and over again. He noticed it somehow affected the way he was swinging - he was much faster and full of energy while stopping few muggers and beating the bad guys up as if they were couple of flies, and he was even more sassy with them than usual. His body felt so light, as if he weighted nothing. He felt undefeated, invincible.

The night was going pretty well- he could even say super well, so once when he caught a glimpse of a specific green skinned person, he knew he had to face him.

Well, the Green Goblin looked preoccupied to even realise the certain spider was following him, so Peter knew he had to be stealthy. Sneakily as a cat, he followed the villain that was hovering through the air, not even dropping bombs or anything.

Where are you headed to?

The hero thought to himself as he hid behind the building just in time when the Green Goblin looked around himself, making sure no one was following.

Maybe it's a trap, Peter thought. Maybe the villain purposely wanted to lure him to someplace, but again, if it wasn't a trap, the boy could finally figure out what was he up to. If he didn't follow him, there was a possibility the villain was just heading somewhere to make a mess, and he couldn't risk that, he couldn't just turn around and risk people get injured, or worse.

So he continued to follow him for a while, wondering when and where was he going to stop already. Just as he thought of it, the villain flied towards one very very familiar tower.

The Oscorp tower.

Peter cringed at the memory of his radioactive buddy that bit him there. Ever since that school trip, he hadn't stepped a foot in that building.

Looks like things were about to change.

The Green Goblin casually entered through the window, and somehow Peter knew it wasn't the villain's first time in that tower. He had to be looking for something specific. Maybe that's how he got his abilities in the first place, the boy thought.

He waited for few minutes before cautiously entering through the window too. It was late, past midnight, and there were no employees, as far as Peter could see. The room was dark and it gave a creepy vibe, but the boy's spider senses weren't tingling, so he figured out no one was there, or at least no one he was looking for.

It turned out he was wrong about employees leaving after, because when he peered at the hallway, the lights were on making a person in white coat visible as he was looking at some documents and passed right next to the masked hero, not noticing him. There were few security guards in front of few rooms too.

There was no use in finding out what was the Green Goblin searching for at this hour, specially not as Spider-Man. He wondered how did the Green Goblin, a literal giant elf with a huge flying board and ugly laugh manage to pass through the hallways without being noticed. Plus, there had to be cameras all around the place.

Unless he somehow turned human.

But human or not, authorities wouldn't just let a random person walk through such high secured place.

He decided to get out through the same window he entered the tower, realising it would be better to just wait for the villain to get out.

He perched at the edge of the nearest building, observing and waiting for the Green Goblin.

Hours passed, and there was still no trace of him. Some employees would leave here and there, but nothing else was happening. Peter wondered if the villain already got away, somehow.

He was sitting on the edge with his legs hanging while he played Tetris on his phone, bored out of his mind. The time was three a.m., and he knew he couldn't keep this up for much longer. He had school tomorrow, and it seemed like Green Goblin wasn't planning something big tonight.

He let out a yawn, obviously tired. His eyes were starting to feeling heavy too.

"Jesus Christ, just what is that guy doing in there?"

Another thirty minutes passed before Peter finally decided to call it a night. He would have to investigate the Oscorp tower some other time, maybe he might find out what was the Green Goblin doing in it.

He swung back home, almost falling asleep mid air. On the way back, he made a quick turn towards Bambi's house, just to check if everything was alright. The light in Bambi's room was still on. He got on the building next to her house, watching her from afar.

The girl was typing something on her laptop, possibly homework or some kind of essay. She looked like she was half asleep and didn't even know what she was writing. At some point, her head fell down and she straight up fell asleep on her desk, her head resting on the keyboard of the laptop.

Peter chuckled at that, shaking his head. The girl mentioned she had work to do, but after they... well after they kissed, she stayed at his place for at least another hour, just talking about his Spider-Man life because she was actually interested in how he got his powers. And no, she didn't ask those ridiculous questions about 'spider eggs' and those things that Ned asked.

He took one last glance at her sleeping face before swinging back to his apartment, not noticing that entire time through those few minutes he was watching the girl, someone else was watching him.

Norman Osborn smiled at himself before he decided to go home. He finally found a way to destroy Spider-Man.

Bambi Moody was his solution for everything.