The Bite of the Spider: Spider-Man

Chapter 16

Once again, it was time for Y/n to go back to school. Oddly enough, she was glad of it, especially since it allowed her to get out of her house. Things had only gotten worse since the Christmas party. Because of their spending on the occasion, they were unable to pay off their credit cards that month, sending both her parents into a flurry of rage and desperation. They still had their home, luckily enough, but the amount of brick-a-brack and trinkets lining the walls of the house slowly began to disappear with the days of January. As much as (Y/n) knew her parents needed to be brought down a peg or two, she herself was starting to worry. Sure, she wanted them to get a taste of reality, but she wanted a home to do it in.

Y/n was a little surprised to see the lawyer Matt Murdock in her home again, except this time her parents were begging him to help them out. Another client had filed to sue them, giving them just another court date to appear at. The first one had already gone through during winter break, and the L/n family had lost their appeal without Matt. Now, having heard he was taking larger scale jobs and winning more often than not, they brought him back to beg him to try and consider their case. Y/n watched the entire exchange from the stairs, as she remember vividly, and while she was shocked he agreed to help them, the surprise ebbed away when he pulled her aside and told her he didn't want her to suffer for the mistakes of her parents.

The only solace she got during the days was when Spider-Man would turn up at her window. Every once and a while, she wouldn't be in the mood to talk, and he would just sit there with her to give her company. Their hands always found each other, and no matter how much Peter wanted to rip off his mask and tell her the truth, he knew he couldn't do it now. A secret like that on top of everything else going on in her life would only cause her to reach her breaking point. But he knew if he didn't do it soon, it would only be worse than if he did it later.

Now, as (Y/n) sat beside Peter in Math class, well into the month of February, she played with her pencil instead of listening closely to Mrs. Richmond's lecture like she normally would. The brown haired boy glanced over to her slightly, worry in his chocolate eyes as he looked her over. She was more sullen than before, and under her eyes had started to show dark circles that weren't there before.

Careful not to draw the attention of the eagle eyes of Mrs. Richmond, Peter leaned over in his seat and gently nudged her with his pencil. Given their new ground of civility, it felt good to be able to see her look at him without annoyance. "Hey," he whispered, and she jolted slightly as she was snapped from her trance. "You okay? You seem a little out of sorts today."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just didn't sleep very well last night," she answered back with a dismissive wave. She let out a forced chuckle and said, "These schools wake us up way too early, huh?"

"Yeah," Peter absentmindedly agreed. He knew there was something more going on. He had heard rumors going about the school that her parents were in deep trouble, and that she was slowly losing everything she was holding on to. She hadn't told Spider-Man about it yet, but he assumed it wouldn't be long before her crisis at home became too much for her to bear alone. But maybe I don't have to wait for her to tell Spider-Man anymore Peter thought before whispering, "Hey, you wanna hang out after school today?"

She turned to him in surprise, a brow raised as she asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I mean, we could go get ice cream or... something. I don't know."

"Ice cream?" she repeated, and when he nodded his head, she waited a moment before following. "Yeah, okay. Ice cream it is, then."

"I know a pretty good place not far from here. Never had a better scoop of ice cream," Peter told her, causing her to let out a slight laugh. It was music to his ears. He was glad he was able to help her and make her smile as Peter Parker, but it was becoming a burden on him to keep his superhero alter-ego a secret from her.