Behind That Mask: Peter Parker x Reader

BTM ALT. STORYLINE II

I'll admit, it's my fault, but you gotta believe me

When I say it only happened once

I tried, and I tried, but you'll never see that

You're the only one I wanna love, oh, yeah

---

Peter barely had time to dodge when the tiger flew at him. 

He couldn't help but think about fighting alongside the very same tiger with markings of a mask around its eyes. He hated having to fight against it. Thank the gods that he had a mask on himself. 

He wore the mask partially to hide his identity, like Captain America. But the real reason he wore it was because he didn't want his enemies to see whenever he got afraid on the battlefield. Would his enemies take him seriously if they knew he was a child?

They took Anima seriously at the bank when she fought them. They'd better take him seriously now. But it was a teenager(?) versus a teenager now. (He didn't know how old Anima was.)

He shot out a web at the tiger, who just shook it off and shifted into a cheetah instead. The hero-turned-villain dashed past him and back again, teeth and claws stretched out. 

"Leave me alone." A voice said, and he realized it was Anima projecting her voice out. She shifted back into herself, revealing her gritting her teeth and clenching her fists angrily. 

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Peter-as-Spiderman replied gruffly. "You caused damage to the city and you must pay for that."

"Pay in what?"

"Imprisonment, maybe, or even your life depending on what you do." 

"I did not kill anyone." Anima said mutinously. She slipped a knife out of her pocket.

"Let me see what you have." Peter said on instinct. Darn the memes.

"A knife." Anima said wryly, smirking. 

"NO!" Peter sprang into action. Despite it all, he was laughing to himself on the inside. The first time he did that with her seemed so long ago...

---

She didn't want to fight him, but if it meant he would leave her alone, she'd do it. She slashed out with the knife, frowning to herself. As Spiderman approached, she kicked sand up at him and shifted. 

She greeted Spiderman in a human form, but with the sleek wings she loved. They were now black. ("Black like my soul!" She thought.) She flew at him and slashed at him with the knife with one hand, and when she missed, cut forward with the knife. 

Spiderman grunted and rolled to the side. She barely landed before she shot up into the air again. 

"Understand that I don't want to fight you." Spiderman conceded. "But please, stop your crimes. You won't be harmed."

"That's a lie and you know it." She spat out viciously. "So many lies. You can't make me stop."

"Why?"

"Because I am nothing without this suit!" She shouted, yanking out her sword-cane. Spiderman watched her. 

"If you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it." He said, colder than she thought he'd ever get. 

"Oh, please. You don't know that." She scoffed. Spiderman sighed.

"Actually, I do." 

---

Peter hit the ground again, rolling away from her sword-cane. The end of it had come off so that just the sword point showed. He watched as she touched the ground and flapped back upwards, like some kind of avenging angel. He tracked her movements carefully. He really, really, really didn't want to fight, but he had to. 

He could understand why she turned to being a villain. It was easier, the costumes were cooler, and they got better music. Otherwise, he didn't know her true motives.

He slung multiple webs at her in the air to try and pull her down, each of with she evaded. When she touched back down, he shot another string of web at her and yanked her closer to him. As she slid to him, he aimed a kick at her torso and hit her. 

"How dare you." She said mildly, ripping the web off herself. She stabbed forward with the knife again, but as he dodged, she swept him off his feet. He rolled backwards on the sand, grunting. 

He quickly stood back up again and shot his web out for something on the sand. He found a piece of slightly buried debris from when he fought Vulture, and he yanked it out. He swung it around him in a circle and released it at Anima, which startled her and knocked her over. She hit the ground and groaned in pain, temporarily trapped underneath the relatively large piece of debris. But she shifted into something small and skittered out from underneath the debris. She glanced at him with a weird look.

"We'll probably just keep fighting until one of us is done, aren't we?" She asked with an amused smile. 

"Probably." Peter replied. He didn't know why he felt like he lost something... or someone.