TROUBLE! ━ TASM.

nineteen.

The night was going well and, even though she had dated him, Violet didn't think she had laughed this much around him ever. It's like all the time she had spent away from him had made him funnier. Crazy.

Now, she was babbling to him about everything she had been up to since their departure, going on about how she had been joining Gwen at work and what back-up schools she had applied to. She had just finished telling him the story about how she had knocked chemicals that she still couldn't pronounce the name to all over the floor, and could only stand back in horror as everyone rushed to clean them up with cat litter.

Peter laughed, and she grinned as she went on. "So I did that, and I got completely addicted to this place that has Korean meatballs. God, Peter, I didn't even know Korean meatballs existed until I went there. Have you been there? It's mind-blowing." She turned to look at him while she kept walking, and he nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. That place on Sixth, right? You love it there." He chuckled, brushing off his little slip-up, but she caught it.

Violet laughed quietly, staring at him for a second before looking down to stir her ice cream. "How do you know that?" In response, Peter stared off in the distance, taking a bite out of his own cup, so she pressed more. "How did you know I love it there?"

He rounded around a tree, holding on to the trunk and staring down. "Because... because you told me." He was lying straight through his teeth, and she knew it, especially by the way he couldn't seem to even look at her figure.

Her head tilted, knowing she had caught him directly in a lie. "It just opened last month. During the weeks you weren't around me." Her words were taught, and her eyebrow raised. "Lie to me again, Peter Parker. I double-dog dare you." She let a pause settle over them, and watched as he tried to hide behind a tree. Violet let every moment from the time they had been apart run through her head before she gasped. "Peter, have you been asking Gwen about me?"

The boy stayed quiet, and she laughed. "I knew it! How often?" She exhaled, peeking her head around the tree to look at her.

The look of shame crossing his face made her want to ugly laugh, a large grin pulling at her lips. This entire time, she had thought that he had just managed to push away his feelings and focus on his vigilante-ism, but she had been very curious on why Gwen had been taking so many personal calls recently. Needless to say that that itch was now gone forever, and replaced with pure euphoria.

"Just once a day." He mumbled. "Sometimes. Sometimes more." His eyes stared at her in a way that made hellfire burn in the pit of her stomach, and she looked down to hide her large grin, feeling almost guilty to feel so happy. Hadn't he been the one to make her feel like pure shit?

Looking down, she rubbed at her face, trying to pull out all signs of happiness. "God. Why? To make sure I'm safe?" She tried her very hardest to not spit out the last line with not even a hint of malice, but it was impossible. The more she thought about it, the more irritation bubbled up.

"And..." He trailed off.

"And what?" She snapped.

He licked his lips, biting his bottom one for a second before sighing. "And it's the closest I can get to still being with you." His eyes searched every inch of her face for any ounce of a reaction, but everything had fallen, staring at him with dumbstruck eyes. He had finally managed to make her speechless despite the constant words running through her brain.

Hesitantly, he moved closer until he was touching foreheads with her, his cologne and body warmth taking up every single sense she had. It reminded her of when he had tried to kiss her in his bathroom, trapping her in the allure of his safe presence, and it made her freeze as she let out a shaky breath.