𝑨𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑶𝑰𝑵𝑬 // 𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓

19

"I don't like this one," I say, brushing off the bottom of the bright coral colored dress.

"It's not bad, but... I agree, it's not the one," May shakes her head at the dress. "Alright, let's see the next one now," she shoos me back to the fitting rooms.

I close the door behind me, pulling the next dress off of the hanger and slipping it on after removing the coral dress. I look in the mirror and gasp at the reflection of my body. The floor-length gown is a beautiful red silk fabric that perfectly clings to my body. I've never felt this way, so glamorous and beautiful. I've never even had the desire to feel this way, but it's a good feeling.

I take a deep breath as I step out of the dressing room, afraid of what May will say. The gown is certainly much different than my usual attire of baggy jeans and a flannel.

"Oh my..." May says, bringing her hands to cover her mouth in shock.

Is- is it too much?" I refer to the decadent gown.

"No! No, it's perfect," May says with a smile, and I think for a moment that she is tearing up. She clears her throat. "That's it," May tells me, "that's the one. We're getting it."

I smile bashfully, heading back toward the fitting rooms. I slip the dress of, carefully placing it back on its hanger before pulling my own clothes back on. I exit the fitting room delicately holding the gown, ang gently place it on the cashier's counter.

"That'll be $616," the cashier says as the rings up the cost of the gown. May and I both let out a small gasp.

"Oh, um, I- I guess that's alright," May gulps as she shuffled through her purse for her wallet.

"Here," I stop her, pulling my wallet out of my pocket and handing the cashier a black credit card.

"Oh, sweetie- You don't have to- Where did you even get the money?" May stammers.

"It's an account I shared with my dad. All the money he left me is on it," I tell May. "Don't worry about it," I place a hand comfortingly on her arm, "Really, May. My dad would have loved to see me all dressed up for Formal."

May wraps an arm around me, pulling me in for a tight side hug.

"Oh, your dad would be so proud of you, Felicia," she comforts me, as I'm sure she can tell that I wish my dad was here with me, buying me this fancy dress and pestering me about the boy who's my date.

"Here you go Ms. Hardy," the cashier hands me my card, followed by the dress tucked away neatly in a garment bag.

"Harry Osborn is quite a lucky young man," May smirks at me as we exit the shop.

"Yeah," I respond, but the mention of Harry sparks a tiny notion of disappointment, because all I could think of is Peter.

------

"So," I sigh, plopping onto Peter's bed, "You going out tonight?" I ask him, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Oh! Oh, no, I don't think so. Are-are you?" Peter asks, looking at me nervously from his desk chair.

"No, not tonight. Although I should, considering I dropped six hundred dollars on a Winter Formal dress today," I joke.

"What?! Six hundred dollars?! Fel, that's insane!" Peter exclaims, standing up from his seat.

"It's fine," I assure him, "Besides, it's not like I couldn't afford it," I joke, referring to the fact that I've stollen millions of dollars as Black Cat.

"It's not funny, Fel," Peter sighs, taking a seat beside me on his bed. "Don't you think you should be using that money to be doing good, like donating it to charity or something?" he asks with his big puppy dog eyes that never fail to suckering me into whatever he's asking.

"I do," I shake my head, breaking Peter's gaze, "I- Dad and I- we do donate to charity, okay? Just not all of it."

I pause for a moment, my mind getting lost in memories of my father.

"Fel," Peter says softly, placing his hand on mine. "Do you... want to talk about it?" he asks carefully, knowing it's still an open wound.

"No," I say shortly, turning toward him. "Pete, can't we just forget about all this stuff? Can we just go back to how things were before? Before all of the secrets?" My eyes are begging him to move on, to forget all about Spider-Man and Black Cat, and to just focus on him and I, on Peter and Felicia.

I slowly and cautiously lean in toward him, my lips approaching his at a steady pace, waiting for him to protest, to pull away, but he doesn't. My lips meet his, and Peter's lips immediately begin moving against mine in response.

Our lips move against each others', and I can't help but think about the way he makes me feel.

"Peter..." I sigh against his lips. I never call him by his full name, and I can feel his body tense at the sound of it.

No matter how much I want to escape it, the craziness that has become our lives is all I can think about.

"What happened to us?" I ponder aloud, a half chuckle escaping my lips. "I mean, a few months ago we were just two kids trying our best to get good grades, and now we're feuding masked vigilantes going at each other's throats every other night?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Hey, I am not a vigilante! Spider-Man is a hero, basically part of the Avengers," Peter mutters the last part, knowing that it's a stretch.

"Tell that to J. Jonah Jameson," I intentionally poke Pete's buttons, jokingly nudging him with my elbow.

"Not funny," he pouts.

"Hey, come on Spider-Man, I'm just joking," I comfort him, leaning in and planting a light peck on his lips.

"But yeah, I know what you mean," Peter sighs, "It really does seem like everything has changed, huh."

He tucks a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and I can tell that he means more than our costumed crusades.

Peter is right, things between him and I have definitely changed a lot... but for some reason, I love it.

------

A/N:
I'm BACK (again lol) and this time with a DOUBLE UPDATE