Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

39. Close Call

Spider-Man and Daphne have been chatting for a while now. It's already past midnight, but Daphne doesn't want to go to bed just yet.
"I'm too awake," Daphne complains. Spider-Man's eyes go a little smaller.
"I can, eh... Stick around a little longer if you want?" Daphne snorts.
"Did you actually just say that?"
"What?" Spider-Man laughs and puts his hands up as he shrugs. "I got a theme, I'm trying to sti-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence!"
"-ckkkkkkkk..." The word dies in his throat as Daphne punches him in the arm. It doesn't hurt, but he can't help but rub the spot. They both laugh.

"You're awful," she says as she looks at his suit. The spider logo on his chest shines proudly. "Speaking of sticking..." Her gaze moves to his hands. "How... does it work?" Spider-Man cocks his head and raises his hands.
"It's honestly super complicated. I don't even understand it all that well myself."
"But you control it, right?" Spider-Man nods.
"Yeah." He squeezes his hands into fists and then relaxes them again. "I stick if I want to and I let go when I relax."
"Wait, so-" Daphne re-positions herself to sit cross-legged. "If you're super stressed you stick to stuff without wanting to?" Spider-Man laughs.
"I only did at first. I got the hang of it now, but yeah, my first few months as Spider-Man were, eh... Interesting." Daphne reaches out to him.
"May I?" She asks politely. Spider-Man nods and reaches back.

Time seems to slow down when they open their hands to each other, their fingers pointing to the ceiling. She can feel the fabric of his suit tickling the tips of her fingers. Their palms come together slowly. She notices him activating the stickiness. It feels kind of weird.
"Me, Tarzan. You, Jane," Spider-Man quips with a distorted voice. Daphne snorts and lets her head fall back.
"Way to break the moment, Tarzan." She tries to pull back her hand, but it's stuck. She looks at their connected hands, amazed at how it feels. "Woah," she gasps softly. Spider-Man chuckles.
"So, if I relax my fingers now..." One by one their fingers disconnect. There's no force behind it whatsoever. Their palms are still stuck together.
"That's so cool," she whispers.

Daphne's eyes are glued to their hands. She can feel the muscles in his palms relax too and without warning their hands are released. She slowly pulls her hand back in and looks at it, rubbing her fingers together. There's a strange residue left behind. She looks back up at Spider-Man.
"And you can stick with any body part?"
"Yep." Spider-Man stands up. "It's something that comes out of my skin."
"Gross."
"Kinda, yeah."
"The suit must be disgusting."
"Stark made it machine washable."
"Thank fuck." Spider-Man laughs softly and walks to the wall next to the window. He puts his forearm that's not hurt against it. He easily lifts himself, so that he's just hanging from his arm.
"Ta-da!" He wiggles his jazz hands.

"How do you go against gravity like that?" She comments on him almost being horizontal again.
"25 tons, remember?" He says shortly as he twists to put his feet on the wall now. His knees point outward and his hands join his feet against the wall. He twists his neck so he can look at her before standing up straight and horizontally again. "I don't weigh all that much to myself." He walks up towards the ceiling until he's hanging upside down, just his feet holding his weight. Daphne gets up and puts her hand on her hips.
"You must be the jock everyone wants in their team at school, then?" Spider-Man laughs.
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"I'm not telling you about my private life." Daphne groans dramatically.
"I was so close to getting answers!"
"You really want to know who I am?"
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
"I can't," he says simply.
"Why not?" He steps towards her.

Their faces are suddenly very close, but it's a weird situation. She can't feel his body heat because his body is literally above her. His eyes are at the height of her own. Just upside down. Spider-Man sighs.
"Being a hero... Gets you a lot of enemies." His eyes go a little smaller and he looks away for a second, trying to figure out the right words to say. "Anyone who knows about me ends up on their radar."
"So it's self-preservation? You don't want anyone to snitch?" Daphne frowns.
"I don't want anyone to get hurt." He takes a deep breath. "Because of me." Daphne looks down. She doesn't reply. He takes a small step back and raises his hands. "Think of the people you care about in your life." She looks back up at him, seeing her own reflection in his lenses. "If you know that they could die if they know your biggest secret..." He cocks his head slowly. "Would you tell them?" Daphne sighs defeated.
"No."
"Exactly."

Peter releases from the ceiling and he twists mid-air, landing on his feet gracefully.
"So, yeah. Secret." The word bounces in her head like a screensaver. Secret. Peter has a secret too. Her thoughts halt for a second.
"Shit!" She yells. Spider-Man takes a step back.
"What? What is it?"
"Peter!" His heart beats fast.
"What?!" Spider-Man yells back.
"I was supposed to call him!" Spider-Man freezes, the sudden weight of an identity reveal falling off his shoulders. She still has no clue. His eyes are wide. "Fuuuuuuuck!" She rushes past Spider-Man to grab her phone from the bed. "I need to let him know I passed!" His body doesn't get time to come down from his initial panic. His phone is connected to Karen. Karen is still on speaker mode. If she calls Peter, he's done for.

Spider-Man thwips instinctively, stealing the phone out of her hand with his webs.
"Hey!"
"You-" he pants. "-need to calm down." She rushes towards him, trying to get back her phone. He holds her away from him with ease, keeping her phone in his free hand.
"I promised him I'd call him, give me back my phone!"
"Take a second to breathe! I'm sure he's not angry with you!" She stomps back and crosses her arms.
"How would you know?"
"He's your friend, right?" Spider-Man says. "If he would be angry with you over something as trivial as a phone call, he's not worth your time." It feels super weird to talk about himself like that. But the more he can distance his alter ego from Peter, the better. Daphne groans and sighs.
"I mean, yes, but I really do need to call him."
"Alright," Spider-Man says as he nods. "I'm gonna head out then. Don't want to intrude."

Spider-Man steps towards the window and opens it swiftly.
"Spidey...?"
"Hmm?" He turns back to her mid-climb out of the window.
"My phone." He lands on the fire escape.
"Ah, right! Here you go!" He hands her back her phone. "Sorry," he stutters. "That was a little weird." Daphne scoffs.
"Spider-Man has been in my room twice now," she says. "That's what's weird." Spider-Man shrugs awkwardly.
"Can't argue with that." She pulls a face at him and raises her arms to close the window.
"Well, mister Man..." She chuckles at her own remark and Spider-Man laughs too. "Night!"
"Night!" He jumps off the fire escape and swings to the other building. He sees her looking for Peter's contact in her phone. "Karen, turn off speaker mode and incognito mode," he says quietly.
"Done. Welcome back, Peter," Karen says. Daphne puts her phone to her ear and waves one last time to Spider-Man. He waves back. "You have an incoming call from Daphne." He smiles and runs to the other side of the building to jump off and swing home.
"Answer the call, please."