Welcome to New York

Chapter 22

I pressed my forehead against his after our lips had let go of each other. My thump rubbed his cheek and I felt him smile. The whole ambience, the kiss, everything... it was so overwhelming. In a good way of course!

"Natalie..." he whispered.

"Yeah?" I whispered back.

He stayed silent for a few seconds, then suddenly let go of me, stood up and rubbed a hand through his hair. "We should probably go home, you had a lot of homework, right?"

I was perplexed.

"We can finish the nuggets when we get home," he said while putting the box of nuggets in his backpack.

"Peter...?"

"Or we can finish them on the train."

"Peter..."

"May should be worried we're still not back home."

"Peter..."

"Let me check when the next train to Queens departs."

"PETER PARKER SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, WILL YA?" I shouted.

He stared at me, phone still in his hand. "What?"

"I said, sit down."

"But..."

"No 'buts', Parker. You can't kiss me and then get going just like that."

He sat down on the blanket and mumbled: "You're right."

I grabbed his hand, he looked away.

"I'm so sorry, I'm just not good at this," he mumbled.

"Me neither," I reassured him, squeezing his hand. "But I'm sure this is not the way you treat the girl you just kissed."

I paused and took a deep breath. "I really like you, Peter."

His eyes widened and he looked at me. "You do?"

"Yes, Peter. I really do. And I'm sorry if I scared you by kissing you or anything..."

I got cut off by Peter pressing his lips on mine once again.

"I really like you too," he whispered.

I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" he asked.

I opened my eyes straight up, grabbed his shoulders and pulled away from the hug. "Are you being serious?"

"Yeah," he chuckled.

"If you're joking, I swear, I will..."

He shook his head. "I'm not joking."

He grabbed my hands, which were still on his shoulders. "Natalie, do you want to be my girlfriend."

I kept staring at him, mostly in disbelieve. How on earth could the kindest, cutest, sweetest guy in existence want me to be his girlfriend? Me? What did I have to offer? Well, a rich family actually, but Peter certainly wasn't aware of that. And I didn't consider myself a pretty girl. I mean, I was alright, but not really pretty or anything. And I had my bad habits. I liked shoarma on pizza! Nobody likes shoarma on their pizza! And then we haven't even started talking about my horrible taste in music.

"Natalie?"

Oh right, we were in the middle of becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. All I had to do to complete this awkward situation was to respond to his question with a simple 'yes' or 'no'.

I took a deep breath.

"Yes."

We both smiled and hugged each other again.

"What have you guys been up to?" May asked as soon as we got back at the Parker-apartment.

"Eh... nothing..." Peter stuttered.

"Wow don't make such a big deal out of an adventure at MacDonald's." I winked at him.

Peter followed along: "Yeah, yeah... MacDonald's."

May looked like she didn't buy the story, but she left it for what it was. "Kids, I hope you didn't eat that much, I was just about to order Italian pasta."

After diner I remembered I had a huge amount of homework to do. Peter went to his room to work on a computer he had found in the garbage a few days ago, and I sat down at the dinner table with my books and laptop. I'd put my headphones over my ears and played my favorite Spotify-playlist: 'don't judge the Nat-vibez bitch'.

Kesha was boosting me, and I was halfway done within an hour. I decided I deserved a little break. I grabbed my crutches and hopped into Peter's room. But he wasn't there.

"Peter?" I called. No reaction.

I heard May was still in the shower, so he couldn't be there. When I checked the shutter on the ceiling I had my answer. The spider-suit was gone.

Then I got scared by the sound of AC/DC and picked up my phone.

"Hey there Natalie."

"Well, hello beloved uncle."

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"Never. What's up?"

I heard Tony sigh on the other side of the phone. "There's a lot going on here, I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Oh, I'm doing fine. I'm staying at Peter's place."

"Have you guys fucked yet?"

"No, of course we haven't..." I swallowed. "What is the real reason you're calling me?"

"Like I said, checking if you're okay."

He sounded like he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"What's going on, Tony?"

I heard him sighing again. "Cap has escaped. He has Barnes. We're really stressed right now."

"Wow, Tony, slow down." I spoke. "Barnes? As in the terrorist?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Holy shit."

We both paused for a moment.

"Look," Tony continued. "Don't tell anyone about this. I am not even allowed to tell you."

"Well, they don't know I exist, so you'll be alright."

"Natalie..."

"Yeah?"

"Stay safe, okay?"

"Tony, what the fuck is going on?"

"I'm afraid this will end in a fight."

"Well, get your Iron Man suit and rip them apart or something."

"That's not enough," Tony sighed. "Steve has Wanda and Clint on his side."

"Who?"

"Witch and arrow guy. And God knows who else he has recruited."

"Oh, that's bad."

"Yes, that is bad," Tony yelled. "If... if this may end in a fight, we'll probably lose."

He sounded terrified. I wish I could help him, but I couldn't.

Or could I?

"Tony?" I spoke carefully.

"Yes, Natalie?"

"I know a guy..."