chapter fifty-four
breaking news

NINA THOUGHT she had imagined it. The sound all around her became muffled long before she saw it on the monitors▬her hand had been gripping her phone in a shaking grasp the moment she read the post on the Daily Bugle's Instagram page. She didn't believe it at first, but the video could not be mistaken▬his name spoken so loud into the square in front of hundreds of people, raging online and going viral in a matter of mere seconds until everybody in New York and the world was front seat to the horrific spectacle▬

Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Nina stared at his school photo plastered on every monitor across the city, she heard the gasps and the chatter▬the pictures taken of Spider-Man frozen, horrified on the top of the lamppost. Peter Parker was Spider-Man. It was Mysterio's final trick▬his final, last hurrah. Even from the grave he was able to manipulate the world into believing his last plot twist▬and it left the city (the world) gobsmacked.

Nina held her breath in horror, unable to tear her eyes away from Peter's face on the large monitor above the Pennsylvania Station. Even if the chatter was rising, and the streets were still alive with loud, unbearable noise ... Nina didn't hear any of them. All was silent except J. Jonah Jameson's voice and the pounding speed of her heart.

"That's right, folks! Peter Parker," he continued. "A seventeen-year-old high school delinquent▬"

Nina's thoughts were cut off when she suddenly stumbled forward. The crowd around her was getting thicker▬she hadn't even realised until she glanced around, and found people already looking at her. She was pressed shoulder-to-shoulder in a mosh pit of spectators who stopped all that they were doing to rush over with their phones raised and their eyes wide. But their attention was no longer on the news above, but instead on Nina▬who was centred amongst them all.

She stumbled into somebody in front of her. A middle-aged woman who spun around and gasped so loudly, Nina winced back. "Oh, my God!" she cried as if seeing the sight of something so terrible. Nina jumped to the side when she felt a push against her▬she spun on her feet and stared, so shocked she could barely comprehend, right into the lens of someone's camera phone.

"Oh, my God!" the woman was still saying, pointing to Nina and grabbing everyone's attention that still hadn't noticed her.

An entire crowd turned onto the young girl in the midst of it, and Nina couldn't speak▬hunching up with a sickening fear when they all just seemed to abruptly close in. "She knows him!" some where saying. "That's Spider-Man's girlfriend!" others cried. "Are you Spider-Man's girlfriend?" more questioned. More raised their phones, they took photos and recorded videos.

Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her around to face them. Nina forcefully tugged her arm back and stumbled into a person behind her. They freaked out and shouted, "Spider-Man's girlfriend touched me!"

"I▬I'm sorry▬" she held her hands up, starting to tremble. Nina wasn't scared of crowds, or of tight spaces▬but suddenly she felt as if she was in that elevator all over again, pummelling to the bottom of the Washington Monument▬and she could not breathe. "I'm so sorry▬"

The same person grabbed her again and she could barely hear what they were asking her over the buzz of so many different voices▬the loudest, was her own, frantic breathing. She shook her head, trying to get away▬but there was nowhere for her to go; nowhere for her to move.

"Hey! Answer his question!" the first woman told her loudly. Nina spun to her, blinking back the sudden blur in her gaze.

"W▬what?" she choked.

"How can you date someone who's a murderer?!" someone else shouted over the shoulders in the crowd. "What is wrong with you?!"

Nina was shaking. "I▬I don't▬?"

The entire crowd gasped▬those nearby her scrambled back in fear as somebody dropped down from above. Spider-Man landed at Nina's side and pulled her close, keeping his other arm out to shield her from the guy that had been trying to grab her the whole time. "Hey! Hey!" he called out over the shocked gasps and ongoing, frantic chatter.

"Yo!" someone cried out. "It's him!"

Peter pulled Nina away and she could hear his own voice shake. "Whoa, whoa, whoa▬" he brushed the arm of the first woman and she threw herself backwards, screaming out such a ruckus that while no one heard what she had to say, it spiked a sudden anger within everybody around them. "Hey! Please don't touch her, sir▬don't touch her!"

Nina clung onto him, tight. There were so many shouts, and voices, and questions from all around her, that she didn't know where to look. "You're just a kid▬?!"; "▬You murdered Mysterio▬?!"; "▬Did you just hit me▬?!"; "▬He's trying to kill me, like Mysterio▬!"

Peter spun around at that one, very confused. "Wait, what?"

When some girl launched forwards with a furious: "Come on, kid, let me see your face▬!" it was then that Nina could hold enough jarring thought in her to step around and shove her hand away from Peter.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted.

Peter grabbed her tight at that, immediately pulling Nina away when the girl started to cry out: "HE HIT ME! SPIDER-MAN HIT ME!"

"Come on!" Peter Parker forced his way through the crowd, tugging Nina with him. "Come on▬" as soon as they found even just an inch of space within the growing mob, Spider-Man threw a wild aim▬his web latched onto overhanging stop lights and Nina felt her stomach twist when they were launched upwards in a low arch. They swung over the heads of hundreds of onlookers▬Nina squealed and wrapped her legs back around Peter's waist when some lunatic leapt off the roof of a car in a failed attempt to catch them. Some cheered him for his effort.

"All this time," meanwhile, breaking news continued from the mouth of J. Jonah Jameson, "people looked up to this boy and called him a hero. Well, I'll tell you what I call him: Public enemy number one!"

"OH, NO, NOT AGAIN▬!" Nina's voice trailed off in a loud scream as she was tugged sideways at a painful jolt when Peter took them down another street at lightning speed.

Down below, she saw everybody stop walking. If they weren't looking at the news broadcast on their phones, or on the billboards that had all switched to the same picture of Peter's face, they were pointing and staring at Spider-Man as he sped past with a screaming girl clinging on tighter than a koala. She saw unblinking, gaping faces blur past behind windows; someone dropped their lunch break coffee in a work tea room. A guy poked his head out of a window to shout: "RUN SPIDEY, RUN!"

Nina hid her face, eyes clenched shut▬she held onto Peter wherever she could and he made a strangled noise when her hands brushed across his lenses. "Nina! Nina!" he cried out and they narrowly missed turning into squashed bugs on the side of a Starbucks billboard. "Nina! I'm so sorry, but I can't see anything with your hand in my▬"

She gasped and quickly removed it, returning to her bone-crushing grip around his shoulders. "I'm sorry!" she cried. "I'm sorry▬!" Nina shrieked when they swept dangerously close to the flashing monitors of Peter's face halted beside Spider-Man's mask. PUBLIC ENEMY #1! "Sorry!" she said again at the way she felt Peter wince. "Where do we go? Where are we going?!"

"I don't know!" let out Peter, breathing heavily. "You're house?"

"No!" exclaimed Nina.

"No?!" he echoed her, startled.

"No! No!" she said again. "We can't go there, my dad will kill you!"

"What? Your dad loves me!"

"Yeah, well, not anymore▬!"

The Queensboro Bridge came into sight and Peter sped towards it with Nina still screaming at all his sudden turns and low swoops. They arched up high towards the very top and Peter landed down. He waited only a few seconds for Nina to steady her balance on a strip of metal just wide enough to fit her feet on. She stayed unnaturally still, wanting to scream all over again and kick Peter's shin but he was already rushing away▬he scrambled his phone out of the pocket he had put in his suit where he already had fifty missed Snapchat video calls from Ned, MJ and Cia combined.

He answered the first one that popped up from Ned: "Dude▬"

"▬Dude," Nina heard Ned exclaim.

"Dude▬!"

"▬Dude▬!"

"▬DUDE▬!"

"▬DUUUUUUUDE!"

Nina lost her shit: "DUDE!" she yelled.

Peter froze. His lenses widened. He realised with a horrified breath and flung his arms out. "Oh, my God▬!" he cried and ran back to where she was crouched, trying very hard not to fall to her literal death. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay▬?"

"No!" Nina wrapped her arms around his chest, desperate not to look down at the busy bridge below.

He glanced down at his phone again, "MJ's calling me!"

"Don't answer it now!" Nina reasoned, quite frantic.

"Felicia's now calling me▬"

"▬Peter!"

"Yo, Peter!"

Both of them glanced over their shoulder. Nina and Peter shared a quick, incredulous exchange to see families of tourists waving back at them with bright smiles on their faces as they travelled past on the Roosevelt Island tram. Her hair started to fly into her face as helicopters hovered low in a circle above▬the loud sound of their choppers only just muffling the excited shouts from apartment balconies nearby the river shore.

"Oh, my God," whispered Nina. "What is going on?!"

"I don't know!" answered Peter in the same tone.

Nina eyed more helicopters in the distance. She heard sirens down the street▬police cars were pushing through the growing traffic. Public Enemy #1 they had stamped across Peter's face on the news. They were calling him a murderer▬it started to only just occur to Nina now how much trouble they were suddenly in.

"We should go," she blurt out. Nina turned to Peter. "We need to get out of here, now!"

Peter stared at her, dumbstruck for a moment. "But you don't like swinging super fast▬"

Nina gushed for a moment, "Oh, my god, that's so thoughtful of you▬" then she stopped herself, "▬But that's the least of our problems here, Peter!" She held out her arms and clenched her eyes shut. "Swing me. Just do it. Just swing me!"

"O▬okay!" he held his arm out and she jumped her legs back around his hips. Nina immediately hid her face into his shoulder as he readied to leap off the side of the bridge. "We can take the subway!"

He jumped off at a dive. Nina shrieked so loud her throat turned raw.

She didn't even glance up when the lights of New York disappeared into darkness as they dropped into the underground. Peter swooped them through narrow subway corridors lit only by dim yellow lamps; until bright headlights blinded Peter's lenses and Nina screamed: "LOOK OUT▬!"

Spider-Man flung them sideways at the last minute and Nina's ears rang from the echoing sound of the train's furious horn even after it was gone.

When they finally made it to Queens, Nina was sure they had almost died at least ten times. She helped Peter push aside the grate and scrambled up out onto the road outside Mr. Delmar's sandwich shop. Peter rushed an apology when he shoved her to move quicker and accidentally touched her backside.

Nina sat on the road and pulled Peter up beside her by his hand. "That was so much worse!" she told him as she did. He landed beside her and the two teens took a moment to breathe. "So much worse."

"I'm sorry!" Peter said and kicked the grate back into place. He stood up and pulled her with him. "You okay? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah▬"

"Come on, come on, come on▬" he turned her to face him and she understood. Nina leapt up into his arms once again. "I'm so sorry▬!"

They made it to Aunt May's apartment very quickly. Nina could feel her phone going off in her back jeans pocket▬different tones told her that nearly everyone she knew had tried to call her or text her at least once about what was on the news. Her mother was calling her the most, and Nina knew she had a lot to explain about to her parents about all that she was doing the past few years when she said she was at extra-curricular activities. Especially her father, who did not like Spider-Man ... like at all.

Nina tried to think about what they were going to do once they made it to Peter's room. But she was blank▬she did not know. She didn't know what this meant, or what was going to happen next; right now, it seemed all of New York was after them; in just seconds, Peter Parker had become the most infamous person in the city (and probably the world).

She supposed all they could do now was get somewhere they could momentarily escape▬just to breathe before they even began to think of a plan.

When the window to Peter Parker's bedroom came into view, Spider-Man made a wide arch around the side of the building▬he stopped them from hitting splat! by pressing his foot against the brick wall. Nina jolted at the abrupt halt.

"Go, go▬" Peter urged her towards the window sill. He kept her with the strength of one arm as she grasped the window pane▬her toes shuffled on the edge of the sill and Nina grunted as she pushed it up.

Nina's heart was still racing once she crawled inside and nearly fell down onto the hardwood floors if she didn't catch herself on the side of his desk. Peter hurried in after her▬she rushed to push the window back down and locking it. He reinforced it with a quick web around the lock.

And finally, Nina and Peter could stare at each other and breathe. (And very much freak out).

"What the hell just happened?!" cried Nina in a frantic whisper.

"I don't know!" said Peter again, his arms flying around. With a heave, he tugged his mask off his face. His hair stuck up in a curled mess. "I don't know! I seriously do not know!"

He struggled to try and get his suit off▬and while both of them knew it was no use to hide it to protect his identity, they did it anyway. "I didn't▬" Peter was saying as he pressed his palm to the spider on his chest and the suit loosened its grip around his skin. "That didn't happen! I did not set those drones on those people!"

"I know, I know▬" Nina reassured him, grabbing a random shirt from the pile on his bed. "He must have like made it up▬like everything else."

"I don't know what to do▬shit▬Nina, Nina, I need help I can't get this off▬"

She spun back to him and noticed his suit caught on his elbows. "Oh!" Nina hurried back over and helped pull, not even noticing his bare chest in front of her. "What is your suit made of?" she grumbled as she did, struggling, too. "Webs as well?"

"No, it's not, it's just▬"

"It just sticks to you▬"

"▬Well, that's sort of the point▬"

"▬Don't you ever use something just to make it easier to get off▬?" Nina managed to drag his suit down with his help past his knees▬

And that was when the door opened.

Nina and Peter both froze in that position. Their hands flew away from each other, and his suit piled at his feet. With Nina on her knees, it wasn't exactly the best position to be spotted in. As soon as he saw them, Happy Hogan smacked a hand to his eyes as if they had been burned, "Oh, no▬nope▬I didn't see anything▬"

"No▬" Peter tried to explain. Nina rushed to her feet, shaking her head. "It's that▬"

"▬That wasn't▬"

"▬This isn't what it looks like▬!"

Aunt May poked her head through the door and her eyes widened to see them. Nina continued to shake her head as Peter kicked off his suit from his feet. "May, I promise▬" his aunt huffed a small breath and just waved them off, "▬No, no, no, May▬"

"I don't▬" she started to shut the door, "▬just practice safe▬" she then realised Nina was there and the door swung wide open again. "Oh, my God▬Nina▬!" she broke out into a lovely smile and approached Nina with her arms out. "Nina, oh, how lovely it is to see you!"

Nina chuckled awkwardly and accepted the hug Aunt May gave her. As she was rocked back and forth, squeezed tight by May's hug, Peter noticed something about Happy that made him frown. "Wait, have you been crying?"

Happy slowly peered out from behind the door. His red-rimmed eyes and blotched cheeks gave them his answer. "We broke up," he mumbled, upset.

Nina and Peter stared for a moment, both quite taken aback. Then, at the same time, they exclaimed: "What? No▬!", "▬Wait, seriously?" May pursed her lips, sheepish.

"Hey, Spider-Man!"

Peter webbed his blinds down to the bottom before May or Happy could even consider a thought about it. Lucky for Nina and Peter, both his aunt and the Head of Stark Security were way too distracted by their own relationship status to even hear what was happening outside.

Nina passed Peter his I survived my trip to NYC shirt and he pulled it over his head, mumbling a quick: "Thank you▬" he turned to his aunt. "I didn't know you guys broke up? I thought you were in love, May?" he guided his aunt out of his bedroom with Nina following at an awkward pace close behind. She flattened her hair a little bit. She's known May basically all her life▬this apartment was like a second home, but its only been a week since her and Peter got back together. She was going through the 'Meet the Parents' anxiety phase all over again. "Can we talk about this in the kitchen? Nina do you want anything▬?"

The question was thrown so quickly over Peter's shoulder that Nina didn't get the chance to answer▬the atmosphere outside that was still making her heart race had almost dropped to nothing as Peter murmured in quiet, casual conversation with his aunt through the home. She pursed her lips, shuffling after them with a short glance at Happy who was scratching his head and still sniffling back tears.

"M▬Maybe▬I don't know▬" he started to walk backwards to the front door, "▬I should probably leave. I▬I think?"

"What? No, Happy▬!" Peter hustled them both along▬they were all talking very much over the other; so much that Nina was having a hard time keeping up with the multiple conversations. Peter slipped into Italian briefly with his aunt in reply to something she said before adding, "... I thought you guys were such a handsome couple!" their conversation turned muffled as they wandered down the hallway towards the kitchen.

Nina let out another long breath, closing the bedroom door and hoping she could ignore what was happening outside the apartment for just a moment. She tried to offer her condolences about the relationship to Happy when Peter called out from the kitchen: "Nina, May says all we have is leftovers! You want mac and cheese?"

She wondered how he could suddenly be so casual about everything as if the entire city wasn't out to get him right now. Nina closed her eyes briefly in exasperation but called out, "Yeah, I'll have some, thanks!"

Nina passed the front door. At the buzzer, she gasped and quickly ran over. "I got the door, May!" she called out before Peter's aunt would try and answer it. Their neighbour across the hall waved at Nina: "Hey, is it true▬?" the rest of his question was met with the slam of the door. She quickly locked it.

They travelled to the lounge room and Nina subtly started to close more windows and pull down the blinds while May and Happy were still distracted. Peter didn't have much break in between, for Aunt May immediately took him towards one of the arm chairs and sat him down. As Nina passed by, she heard the whisper: "I didn't know you were so awkward about sex, Peter▬"

He made a face, turning a horrified bright red at the cheeks, "What▬?!" he whispered incredulously, "▬This has nothing to do with sex!"

Meanwhile, their neighbours were still pounding their fists on the door. Nina was leaping up to try and drag the curtains over the windows. Happy was still going on about, "▬Look, I really feel like I should be a part of this conversation. I should go, but like, if you wanna go over it again, I mean▬Wait, what's that sound?"

Happy stopped. At the very same time, May's conversation with Peter went quiet, and both could finally hear the raging noise outside their apartment. Nina went still at the windows, feeling as though she had been just caught red-handed stealing from the candy jaw.

Peter hurried to his feet, "Uh▬" he ran to the remaining windows and webbed the blinds down. "It's▬it's nothing▬"

May turned the television on and they couldn't escape it. The broadcast news channel interrupted their previous broadcast to bring to them something live. Nina held her breath, wincing to herself as she watched the headline: SPIDER-MAN'S IDENTITY REVEALED with a perfect view right outside the apartment complex.

Peter slid across the floorboards to stand in front of it, snatching May's and Happy's phones from their hands that were alive with messages and calls. "Will you get off your phones for five minutes?! I just wanna talk to you about your relationship, okay?"

Nina anxiously pointed to the television that both May and Happy were actively watching now▬they had been found out. "Peter...?"

He frowned at her, "What?"

Realising she was pointing behind him, he slowly turned around. Nina saw Peter's shoulders drop as his aunt and Happy both gasped, "Is that▬?", "▬Is that here?"

Peter tried to explain. He glanced helplessly at the television and then to the closed windows, but it was no use. In the end, he hung his head and slouched towards the nearest window. He broke his webbing with a snatch and the blinds snapped back up. They all crowded by the window and outside, they were surrounded by news and police helicopters. People were watching through open windows and on rooftops. The streets were crowded with spectators ignoring police barricade trying to get a glimpse on their phones. News reporters were already on the scene ...

Peter pursed his lips as a helicopter drew close by, "I▬I mean ... Maybe it's not such a big deal?"

From the kitchen, the microwave dinged a small chime to let Nina know her mac and cheese was ready.

*ೃ༄

NINA WAS on the phone with her parents for the next hour and with MJ and Felicia another thirty minutes after that. She had sat alone in the bathroom at Aunt May's apartment, trying very hard not to cry as she tried to explain to her father that she was okay. Not because he was upset about Peter, or that her parents were angry▬but because she wanted them to come and pick her up; that she wanted to go home and hide under her bed covers, but they couldn't. She had to say to them that it might be too dangerous. That the roads were closed and there were paparazzi and news reporters flooding the streets outside the apartment. That not even Nina would be able to walk out and take the subway home without being hounded and harassed. In just seconds, it felt as if her entire life had been tossed around and she didn't know what to do about it.

May had offered her to stay the night, thinking that maybe the mob would disperse overnight and Peter could take her home. Nina hoped they would▬she hoped it would do more than that. She hoped that the morning will fix things all over to the way they had been, that everything will be normal again. But she knew that wouldn't be the case.

Nina just wanted her parents, and right now, she couldn't even have them. She had to tell her mother who was hysterical with worry: no, in fear of their safety over her own. She had to explain to them that this whole time she had been putting herself in danger for a while to help Spider-Man, who had been her childhood best friend and boyfriend. She had to overfill all of her secrets in just an hour, and how speechless they were afterwards haunted her. Because she knew that she had just made them think to themselves that they didn't do a good job at looking after her▬at keeping her safe. And after the Blip, and them living five years thinking they had lost her forever, it didn't just hurt them, but having to admit the truth hurt Nina, too.

She called her father again after she had expressed how crazy all of this was▬and all that had happened▬to both MJ and Felicia. Nina was sitting on the cold tiles with her back pressed against the wall, picking at the fraying bits of her jeans as she mumbled, "I'm scared, Dad."

She mumbled as quietly as she could, but deep down, she knew Peter was listening▬even if he did not want to, his heightened senses would be able to hear every word Nina and her father spoke.

"I'm scared," she whispered again, holding back tears, "a▬and I don't know what to do."

She heard her father sigh as he sat down▬most likely in his study, away from her mother and brother who were in the other room. "We'll figure something out, Pumpkin," he tried to reassure her. "It's gonna all be okay."

"What if they hurt you guys?" Nina sniffled. "What if they hurt Ian? What if they▬?"

"It'll be fine," her father promised her, stronger this time. "Don't worry about that, not now. You don't need to worry about us at all, that's not your job. I just want you to be safe tonight, okay? You promise me you do not leave May's apartment at all until it's safe, okay? Peter ..." he huffed a breath, still trying to comprehend it all, "... well, I suppose Spider-Man's gotta be able to keep somebody safe."

"Dad," Nina whimpered with a shake of her head, not wanting to hear it▬not right now. "None of what they're saying is true. Peter saved the world. He's always saved me."

Surprisingly, she heard him sigh once again. She knew her father was rubbing his brows, tired. "I know," he muttered. "This whole time ... that little kid who came to this apartment when you were sick with a hand drawn Get Well Soon! poster all those years ago ... Peter's a good kid, Nina. I know that kid didn't do any of that. And now that kid's Spider-Man ... Honest, honey, I don't know what to think. I just need you to stay safe, okay?"

"Okay," she mumbled. "I will. Love you, Dad."

"Love you, honey."

He ended the call and Nina hugged her phone to her chest, staying in that bathroom for a little longer with her head in her arms. She knew Peter heard everything, and so she did everything she could to make sure she didn't cry.

When she finally stepped out and made it to his bedroom, she carefully pushed the ajar door enough for her to slip inside. Nina caught Peter's eyes from where he sat on the edge of the bottom bunk. He had put on a set of Star Wars pyjama pants and still wore his I survived my trip to NYC shirt.

They stared at each other for a moment, both hesitant on what to say. Outside, even as the afternoon came closer to the evening, there was a large crowd jeering horrible words. They called for Peter's arrest, accusing him of every lie Mysterio told, believing every breath he said in that video.

Peter pursed his lips and muttered, "Everything with your parents okay?"

Nina nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded, too. Another small silence. Then: "Are you okay?"

She went to lie, but stopped herself. She knew Peter heard. Before he could answer, her boyfriend shook his head and set it in his hands. "I am so sorry," he mumbled to her. "I'm so, so sorry▬"

"No..." Nina stopped him, making her way over and sitting down next to him. "No, it's okay."

"It's not okay." He sniffled back his own tears. "This is my fault."

"It is okay," Nina reassured him, leaning in and setting her forehead against his temple. She took his hand and squeezed it. He held on tight. "It's going to be okay because we got each other. I'm scared, but ... are you scared?"

Peter nodded against her head. "Yeah," he muttered.

"Then ... then, we're both scared and if▬if two negatives make a positive, then from that theory, both of us being scared means that we'll be brave together, right?"

He thought about it. After a short while, Peter glanced up to meet her gaze. He swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah," he agreed. "Yeah, I guess."

Nina managed a little smile. "Then, we just gotta stick together and everything will work out. Where you go, I go?"

Peter's brows knitted together. He soon nodded and then, a little smile tugged at the corner of his lips to match her own. Seeing it, Nina shuffled closer and hugged him. She rested her head against his chest when he decided to lie down, and she happily cuddled in beside him. He linked their fingers together and absent-mindedly played with them as she closed her eyes, feeling safe. There, she heard him mumble: "Where you go, I go..." and it made her smile.

She lifted her head and rested her chin on his chest, meeting his gaze. She continued to smile and Peter frowned. He breathed a dubious chuckle, "What?"

Nina blushed as she gazed at him▬his eyes, his slight mischievous smile and his light brown waves; the spider-bite didn't make Peter Parker anymore handsome than he's always been, but right now, he looked breathtaking. "Nothing," she murmured. "I just like looking at your face, Tiger."

He blushed, too. Bright red▬even perhaps more red than her. Peter chuckled again, letting go of her hand to scratch at his ear, "Yeah?"

She nodded and leaned up to kiss him. Peter quickly cupped her cheek▬and his hand was warm and gentle. When she pulled away, he seemed to stare at her with a breath of awe▬almost like he couldn't believe that she even existed.

She flushed very bright at this and settled her head back on his chest in order to hide it. Peter just hugged his arms around her and pressed a kiss amongst her hair▬and the crowd outside, in this moment, did not exist.

*ೃ༄

a/n: no way home act is hereeeeeeeee. are we scared? are we ready? are we not ready? are we all three at the same time? cos same.

the final playlist for Peter 2 and Nina is now out on my spotify. the code is in the intro with the other playlists <333 check it out!!!

also they're so friken cute and sad and I already wanna cry. like I'm definitely fleshing out chapters in this act so we get to see just normal every-day Peter and Nina. just cute moments and just everyday moments. we get a glimpse into their normal lives in nwh. their relationship is super important in this act <33

they friken deserve better.

I am so not ready.

oh and I so messed up the ages last act. if I said Nina is 16 I was lying, she was 17 last act. they're all turning 18 in this act/already 18.