chapter two!
fate's torn string

    BEFORE TODAY, Nina Hart never paid much attention to Peter Parker. She saw him in the halls, watched him dart by on his skateboard with his camera dangling from his neck. But apart from that, she never really took it upon herself to get to know him. But after the fight at lunch today, she was intrigued━she never expected him to stand up against Flash like he had; or take several hits to the stomach.

    As she waited for class, sitting in her usual seat with her textbook out and her pen in her fingers, Nina carefully held a gaze on Peter Parker as he entered. When she thought he'd seen her, she averted her gaze, pursing her lips and wondering why she wanted to say something━and what she'd even say. They've never spoken before today. In fact, did he even know her name?

    Nina glanced over her shoulder again briefly. He sat down at the empty desk behind her and she tensed up. In baggy jeans and a baggy, beige jacket, he kicked his school bag and board underneath the desk with loosely-laced sneakers. Thankfully, he was yet to notice how she watched him, trying to find the courage to say the first word she's ever spoken to him since their entire high school career.

    He placed his broken camera onto his desk and hunched over, supporting some bruises on the jaw and under his eye. Nina quickly looked away again, feeling rather flushed over the thought of being caught.

    But he saw.

    Peter Parker frowned; brows furrowing behind rectangle glasses. Nina flushed again. She pursed her lips━she had been caught out.

    Fiddling with her pen, she lowered her voice and whispered to him, "Um ... I just ... I just wanted to say that ... well, I thought that was great ... what you did."

    Peter's brows lifted, a little surprised. He didn't say anything━shocked that Nina was even speaking to him. She awkwardly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I━I mean," she went on, clearing her throat, "It was stupid, but━like━also great."

    He still stared at her. Nina's embarrassment was starting to fall away, and in replacement, was a flicker of amusement. Peter watched her intently━like she was a picture ready to be taken. He analysed the lights of her eyes, the shadows of her hair, the tint of her cheeks. It made her breath a soft smile.

    "Surely you didn't hit the ground too hard?" she joked, the smile turning into a little, gentle smirk. "Maybe you should go to the nurse, see if you have a concussion."

    Peter's mouth fell agape, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't get the words out. Nina quirked a brow, chuckling. She couldn't help but think it was kind of cute how struck he was all of the sudden. "What's your name?" she continued.

    He frowned yet again. "You don't know my name?" he murmured, sounding breathless.

    Nina stifled her giggles, tapping the cap of her pen against her cheek. He was so out of it. "Yeah, of course, I know your name. I was wondering whether you know your name?"

    Peter's lips twitched into an awkward smile. He pushed the bridge of his glasses anxiously up his noise. "P━Peter," he said. He kept staring and she tilted her head, fighting another giggle. He blinked and shook his head. "Parker," he added. "Peter Parker."

    "Okay, okay," she chuckled. Such a dork. "That's good, then." Turning back around, she tapped her pen once again against her cheek. Another thought crossed her mind. She didn't know why she wanted to talk to him more, but she did━maybe because he looked so amusing being so surprised; he was cute. Very cute. And now that she took a moment to realise and talk to him, she found it all rather endearing.

    So, with that thought in mind, she sent Peter a smirk over her shoulder. "Just might still wanna go to the nurse, though."

    Peter seemed to have gained some courage, and he slipped his arms away from his camera, letting his hands fall over the edge of the front of his desk. "Thanks, um ... You're Nina, right?"

    Nina bit the cap of her pen, smiling at him. "Are you playing with me?"

    Peter managed to send her a small, mischevious grin, and it surprised her because she had never seen a side to him that was mischevious━he always hid away in his hoodie, in his work. It made her chuckle once more; yes, he was playing with her. This side of him━this playful side intrigued her. It made her want to press him, to see more of it, but she didn't. She just turned back around, facing the board. Her lips quirked, amused, before she got straight into her work.

*ೃ༄

    NINA TAPPED her pen against her cheek, frowning over the tip of her text book at the way Peter and Ned were watching Liz Allen fix the Homecoming banner above the cafeteria. She hoped he couldn't tell she was glowering, but she couldn't help it━her jealousy was beginning to boil. And it was horrible, because Liz was perhaps the nicest person to be alive, and she certainly looked it; with her pretty dark brown waves, warm skin and pretty outfits of blouses or jumpers or skirts. No wonder she was the most popular girl in school. She was also captain of the Decathlon team, the Homecoming Team, every other preppy team in the school ...

     She knew Peter like the back of her own hand. She knew he had a crush, and that hurt. It hurt because he told her he was too busy for a relationship. It hurt because he had told her he cared about her so much. It hurt her because despite that dumb mantra Felicia got her repeating wasn't working━she did care.

     Gaze fixed on the Homecoming banner, she felt her stomach twist. Stop it, she told herself, but it was too late. She started to imagine what it would have been like to go there with Peter. To have May fuss over them, get a million pictures, have Nina's mother fuss with her and her father getting protective even though he's known Peter forever. And the look on his face, as she stepped down in her dress ...

     Stop. It!

     "Don't break your pen, Nina," Felicia chided with a click of her tongue. "In fact, I think you're starting to have death rays come from your eyes."

      "Shut up," she muttered weakly, forcing herself to look away. Her best friend arched a feline brow and she decided to change the subject. "Have you got your tickets?"

     Felicia's accussing look switched immediately. She sat up straighter. "Yeah, 'course, hon━but I'm going alone. Well, by going alone, I mean we're going together as single best friends who are actually married and need no one."

     "You're the best wife."

      "I better be your only wife." Felicia picked up a fry from her tray, waving it in Nina's face. "Which means we gotta go dress shopping. So, you got Decathlon, I don't care, so I'll raid the candy store and meet up once you're finished?"

      Nina nodded. Then realised, "Wait━wait," she took one of her own fries. "When you say raid...?"

     Felicia didn't answer. She just bit into her fry with a mischevious glint in her eyes. Then, she snagged out her phone and ear-plugs. She chucked one end to Nina who caught it. "Have you listened to the new episode of Just The Facts with J. Jonah Jameson?" She shook her head and her best friend gasped. "Babe, seriously! Keep up! Come on, we're listening to that and then we're listening to the next before lunch is over."

     As she fixed the earphone in, Nina didn't realize a pair of familiar eyes were watching her just like she had been watching him.

     Peter was torn. Torn like two ends of the knitting threads his Aunt May held when she tried to knit him that sweater one Christmas. Torn between his feelings, his responsibility, and everything else. It wasn't like he didn't see her. He did. He saw her scowls, and the way she chewed the cap of her pen, or how she grumbled to herself. She thought he didn't notice, but Peter Parker knew her better than he did the back of his own hand.

     Nina Hart had been ... it. She was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Someone his little self had seen at first glance and delcared to his Aunt May: "That's an angel." With her pretty sandy-blonde hair, her intelligent eyes and gorgeous laugh━she was way cooler than him. Too cool. It almost didn't make sense that Nina Hart had befriended Peter Parker, but she had, and she stuck with him since. And to think she liked him, and she went on a date with him, and actually found the old, dorky, un-cool version of him worthy of her time made every day since Berlin an ache to Peter's chest.

      He hadn't wanted to lose her. He hadn't want to say those dreaded words: "We should break up." Peter didn't want to spend his lunch time watching her, wishing more than anything to walk over and try to explain why he had done it just so he could have one of his closest━if not the closest━friends back, but he couldn't.

     With great power, came great responsibility. And if Nina somehow got hurt from Peter's actions (because━like━he's basically an Avenger now), then that would be far worse than feeling his heart shatter from afar. At least she was okay; alive. That made his pain worth it. It had to.

      "Did she get a new top?" Peter asked, unable to stop watching her frown in next to her friend Felicia as they listened shoulder-to-shoulder to whatever was on her phone. Probably Just the Facts; Nina and Felicia were obsessed with that podcast.

     "No," answered Ned, frowning. "We've seen that before, but never with that skirt ..." He realised Peter was no longer gazing at Liz and leaned in close to see who he really was looking at. He sighed, "Dude. Seriously?"

     Peter jumped. He looked away to meet his friend's brown gaze. "What?"

    Ned's wide shoulders slumped, exapserated. "You broke up with her! C'mon, man, you made that choice, you gotta stick with it. Move on."

     Peter pursed his lips. Ned didn't really know the full truth either. His eyes darted subtly back to Liz, and Peter felt that strange feeling again. Liz was pretty, and she was nice, and she was lovely and so out of his league. (Definitely his type). But his gaze just kept drifting short of her, down towards the two girls shoulder-to-shoulder, watching sadly as Nina frowned at something she heard, incredulous with a soft scoff and a shake of her head.

     Ned sighed all over again. "Dude."

     "I should stop staring before it gets creepy," Peter mumbled, but his eyes did not tear away from his ex-girlfriend.

     "Too late."

     Both friends jumped. Frowning, they spun in their seats to arch brows at Michelle Jones, who had been scowling, suspicious at them for the past minute and half. Dark brown eyes under messy brown curls peered over the edge of her hardback novel. She was an odd-bird. Peter never really understood anything she did, but at least she didn't care what people thought. He had to admire that about her.

     She rolled her eyes and turned back to her novel, saying: "You guys are losers."

     Peter threw up a hand, very confused by her actions.

    Ned was dubious, "Then ... why do you sit with us?"

     She met their gazes, unwavering. "Because I don't have any friends."

    And neither boy could find an answer to that, most definitely. Peter and Ned shared a slight exchange before simoultaneously, they shuffled a little bit along the bench, leaving Michelle Jones to her peculiar━and slightly (very) intimidating━self.

    Peter glanced back at Nina. He wondered whether his new inhuman strength and senses made him feel pain even worse. Because the guilt he felt struck far harder than any high-speeding car he stopped in front of a bus. Ned told him to move on, but every time he thought about it, that feeling only grew worse. He only held a heart for Nina Hart, and the pain and guilt from breaking hers was his to bear. Another weight onto his responsibility.

    With great power, his Uncle Ben had said before his death, comes great responsibility.

    No matter the pain. No matter the want to fix it. To change it. To just explain. Peter couldn't. He couldn't.

*ೃ༄

      a/n: i get out the chapters of new books quicker than barry allen--

     and yeah, here and there i might add little snippets into nina's story from the other moves/video games. it's a cool thing to do i think, because i can add connections, etc because the plot of this book allows me to reference to my heart's content.

     even better, let me know what you guys might want to see from the previous movies and the spider-man ps4 game (because i love that game with an unhealthy obsession ...); i could reference or add little scenes of things you want to read! 

     hope you guys are enjoying this fic so far!! it's been a while since i wrote a peter parker fic. and i'm determined to keep going with this one. 

     also, felicia and mj are like icons. they are the moment.