oo. ELEVEN

PETER IS SURE HE HAS MADE A MISTAKE. He's told both Gwen and Margot this, at least a dozen times, and they assure him he hasn't... but the way Margot has laughed so many times during the conversation was the furthest thing from reassuring. In fact, it was actually consolidating his fears.

Meeting Nadine's uncle? What was he thinking? He was very aware of how much she loved her uncle, of how much he meant to her. What would happen if Raymond Holt hated him?

"Peter Parker, get your ass to Nadine, right now!" said Gwen, her hand in Margot's as she told him off. Or encouraged him. He wasn't entirely sure.

He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and he was sure he looked like a stereotypical teenage boy with the way the clothes looked on him — without his camera, his glasses or even his jacket, you could barely tell that he was Peter Parker — these were his signature things!

He'd explained as much to Margot and Gwen, but received nothing except rolled eyes and laughter.

"You have to come with! I messed up, I can't meet her Uncle! Do you know how much she loves him?" said Peter, hands flying around in quick sporadic gestures. Even now, Margot was still laughing at his misfortune.

"We are not coming with." Gwen said firmly, fixing Peter with a harsh look. "You did this to yourself, Peter."

Peter frowned, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes... which definitely didn't work on Margot Allaway, who was coming down from their fits of laughter, wiping at their eyes with their free hand.

"Oh, Peter, you poor sweet thing. You are so not ready to meet Raymond Holt." spoke Margot, and Peter wildly pointed his hands towards them, while fixing his eyes on Gwen.

She smacked them on the leg, giving them a scolding look as she huffed.

"Peter, you'll be fine! Besides, it'd look worse if you didn't turn up."

"She is absolutely right on that one, he will never forget it, or forgive it. You'd be screwed." agreed Margot, nodding good-naturedly. "You better go now, too. Don't wanna be late."

Their voice was sing-songy and Peter gave them the flattest look he could muster, even though he knew they were both right.

"I hate you both." he told them, as seriously as he could — all he got in return was raised eyebrows, and expectant looks on each of their faces. He rolled his eyes as he made a running jump off of Gwen's roof.

It took him just under ten minutes to arrive by Raymond Holt's house, and he had to pull on clothes over the top of his suit. He knocked on the door two minutes before he said he'd arrive — and figured he could use the extra time for Nadine to teach him how not to make a complete fool of himself.

The door swung open quickly, and Nadine stepped outside almost as soon as it had, closing the door tightly behind her.

She was still wearing his jacket, and now Peter wasn't wearing his mask, he had nothing to hide the redness that bloomed on his cheeks.

"Peter, hey," greeted Nadine, almost breathlessly. "I'm sorry, but we don't have much time. You're gonna have to learn fast."

There was a certain anxiety filling his chest, but he pushed through.

For the next few minutes, Nadine taught Peter the proper handshake, words to avoid, and things he probably shouldn't do while in her Uncle's presence. It was a lot, but he got the hang of it quickly.

"You're ready, you've got this." said Nadine, sounding just as nervous as Peter felt — although he couldn't understand why she felt so nervous.

Nadine opened the front door, letting him in and closing it behind the two of them. Immediately, Peter could hear the sound of two people standing up — he was pretty sure his nerves were making his spidey senses far more concentrated.

They walking down the hall slightly, meeting Nadine's uncles in the doorway to what Peter was pretty sure was the living room.

"You must be Peter Parker," said Raymond, his hand out for a handshake. "My name is Raymond Holt, I am Nadine's relative."

Nadine could see from the twitch in her uncle's eyebrow that he was pleasantly surprised by Peter's steady grip, and brief up-down-separate handshake. Kevin, stepping forward, clearly wanted to see for himself.

"Hello, I am Kevin, Raymond is my husband." said Kevin, being much more friendly than Nadine could've predicted. She couldn't help the gentle smile that made its way onto her face, especially as she witnessed Peter perfectly execute the handshake with Kevin, too.

Both of her Uncles were impressed, she could easily tell.

"It's good to meet you both," said Peter, given the fact they already knew his name. He stepped the slightest bit away, back to Nadine's side.

He kept an appropriate distance from Nadine, not being too close or too far. There was a lump of nerves in his throat, and the fact he could talk through it was surprising to even him.

"I understand that you are Nadine's math tutor." replied Raymond, and he had his friendly expression on. Nadine couldn't help her surprise.

Raymond Holt was protective by nature, wary of unknown people and places — it wasn't like him to be so welcoming, especially when it had to do with his niece. Nadine was relieved, though, she'd been worried about this moment. It wasn't like she needed her Uncle's approval for who she hung out with, but it meant a lot to her.

"I am," said Peter, and he looked over to Nadine with a proud smile, "She's amazing, really."

Nadine couldn't take her eyes away from Peter Parker, so she didn't see the proud twitch at her Uncle's lips, the slight movement of his eyebrows — even if his teaching hadn't worked out, he knew Nadine could do it.

"She is." agreed Holt, with a nod, and because she knew how much her Uncle hated small talk — and she didn't want to traumatise Peter too much, she gave her Uncles a quick hug, before practically pulling Peter out of the house.

The duo left with a quick goodbye, and Nadine was giddy even as they walked down the path from Captain Holt's residence.

"You did so well, they love you!" cheered Nadine, and she looked over to see a matching smile on Peter's face.

"Are you sure? They didn't seem all that impressed." said Peter uncertainly, his eyebrows raised as he looked over to see Nadine scoffing.

"Trust me, Pete, you did really well there, Kevin came over to shake your hand because he saw my Uncle's response to it." she replied, grinning as she avoided stepping on cracks in the pavement.

Peter smiled, and put his arm around Nadine's shoulders to pull her out of the way of an oncoming cyclist — why you'd be cycling so late at night, they had no idea. Even when it passed, he decided to leave his arm around her, subtly pulling her the slightest bit closer.

She noticed, but elected not to say anything.

They walked on for a little while longer, with Peter soon joining her in minding the cracking path, and they chatted idly about whatever came to mind.

It was only when they were a little ways away from Raymond's house that Peter stopped her, and pulled on his mask in the darkest area he could find.

Given the way Nadine slapped his hands when he tried to lift her, he decided to crouch down, and wait for her to get on his back with a roll of his eyes — she struggled, but quickly managed and squeezed herself close to him, arms loosening just slightly around his neck.

With a gentle warning to hold on tight, Peter took off, swinging them into the night.

oo

NADINE WAS NEVER GOING TO TALK ABOUT PETER PARKER, EVER AGAIN. And definitely not in front of Margot and Gwen, who had decided to spend the day trying to get her to have some sort of epiphany on her supposed feelings for the boy.

It had started just that morning, with Nadine just subtly mentioning the fact that Peter was tutoring her later on that day — it's not as if she made a big thing out of it! She just decided she ought to tell them, in case they wanted to make any plans.

And despite all of Margot's accusations, Nadine definitely wasn't quote unquote flustered by the thought of the man.

No, in their friendship, Margot was the one who got flustered by crushes, who got warm cheeks the second they thought of Gwen Stacy — and although they had just barely moved past that stage, given they were dating now, that didn't change the dynamic!

But even despite these firm thoughts, Nadine couldn't help the way her cheeks flushed as they teased her, it was almost embarrassing, and she was sure she could never look at Peter Parker again.

Nadine didn't even like Peter, in that way! So why she was getting so worked up over their teasing, she didn't know. Her and Peter were friends, they had only just moved past tutor and tutored.

Honestly, she called somebody cute one time and suddenly that means she's in love with them.

"We're not saying you're in love," refuted Gwen Stacy, her right hand firmly held by Margot in between them, as she held an uncapped bottle in her other hand.

"I am, for the record," interrupted Margot, cheesy grin on their face, "I am saying that."

Gwen rolled her eyes at their behaviour, although their was an endeared smile pulling at her lips — Nadine almost threw up from their lovey expressions.

"—But whatever is going on with you and Peter is definitely not platonic." Gwen finished after her partner's interruption, and Nadine scoffed gently in disbelief — not platonic?

Nadine stood up, throwing the packaging from her lunch into the trash, and slinging her bag over her shoulders as Gwen and Margot started to do the same.

"In what way is anything about us 'not platonic'?" asked Nadine, using her fingers for quotation marks. She was sulking and huffy, she knew it, but she couldn't help it! She just couldn't see their point.

She was so busy staying in her huff, she didn't even notice the look Gwen gave Margot, a tilt of her head and raise of her eyebrows, in an I've got this fashion.

Before Nadine could even blink, Gwen had her hands on either of her cheeks, cradling her face in a way that shouldn't have been as weird as it was. But her hands were too small, and they were too soft compared to Peter's, or his gloves, and it was just... different, she settled on.

"Uh, Gwen? What are you doing?" asked Nadine, before Gwen could say much, a look of confusion very clear in her expression — and she tried to suppress any other thoughts from reaching her face, but that obviously didn't work.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry, is this weird?" asked Gwen, eyebrows raised as she let her hands stay for a moment longer before retracting.

"A little? I mean if you'd done that two years ago—" said Nadine, seeing Margot's laughter at the reminder of two years prior.

"Oh my god," laughed Margot, their eyes crinkling as they almost doubled over from their cackling, "I forgot you had a crush on Gwen!"

Gwen, who had moved back to Margot's side, whipped her head around to stare at Nadine with her mouth agape, face full of surprise — honestly, the fact Gwen didn't know was surprising.

"Really?"

"Gwen, you're literally every girl's gay awakening."

"I would very much like to come back to this, but you're deflecting!" said Gwen, after spending a moment opening and closing her mouth, Nadine could see the somewhat flustered blush on her cheeks, and couldn't help but snicker.

Nadine shook her head in denial, beginning to make her way towards her locker with her two best friends following behind her.

"So is it weird when Peter does it? The face thing, I mean." asked Margot, following Gwen's queue, with a smirk covering their face.

"No? It's— it's a platonic thing?" replied Nadine, although even she didn't sound sure of it, her forehead furrowing as she thought over her own words — it was platonic, right?

"But it's not a platonic thing when I do it." said Gwen, eyebrows raised, staring at the back of Nadine's head as they made their way through the hallways.

"It's— no, Peter's just— I'm... I'm not talking about this." Nadine stuttered out.

They arrived at her locker, and Margot and Gwen stood to her left as she rifled through it to locate the books she needed for her next two lessons, math and physics — the worst lessons, in her completely correct opinion.

She really needed to clean out her locker, she didn't even have space for all of her books anymore, with all the various paper scraps and little things she'd somehow collected cluttering the space.

Before Margot could open their mouth, which the smirk on their face made it obvious they were going to, the man of the hour showed up at Nadine's side, his signature grin on his face.

The instinctive smile tried to fight its way to her face, and she had to push it down as she noticed Gwen and Margot's smug faces.

"Hey, Nadine," greeted Peter, sounding almost breathless — thinking of it, Nadine hadn't seen Peter during lunch, and was that a new bruise on the side of his face?

"Yeah, hi, Peter. We're here, too." drawled Margot, giving the boy a half wave with their free hand. His cheeks reddened, a blush warming his face as he smiled nervously.

"S—Sorry, hey, guys." he attempted, cringing as Gwen snickered to herself.

"Is this new?" asked Nadine, placing her hand on Peter's jaw and turning his head so she could see the purpling mark on his face. That was definitely not there, this morning — not that she was staring at his face, or anything. She was going to kill this boy, what was he thinking? Spider-Man duties over lunch? He really needed to start taking care of himself, as much as he took care of the city.

Margot rolled their eyes, although they kind of related to denying feelings, ignoring them — then again, they weren't sure Nadine even realised. She was smart, but she could really be stupid.

Gwen squeezed their hand, giving them an exasperated look, and the matching look on both of their faces said it all.

"I'm fine," muttered Peter, putting his hand over Nadine's and pulling it away from his face slowly, gently. "I'm okay." He held her hand tightly, securely, and wow, he could get used to it.

"Y'know what? Let's just go, you'll do a better job at teaching me math than Mr. Jenkins, anyway." said Nadine, thinking about the frozen pepperoni pizza she had stored away in her freezer. He hadn't eaten lunch, yet.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, let's go." replied Nadine, not even fighting the smile that came to her face — skipping school was bad, yes, but it was math! Besides, Peter would teach her whatever she needed to know. He was part of the reason for her passing grade, after all.

Nadine had seemingly forgotten all about Gwen and Margot's presence, her eyes only on Peter until she turned around, towards the exit, and there they were. They both had their eyebrows raised, with a look that was both judging and I told you so. She couldn't help the way she swallowed guiltily — it was only when Margot's eyes were drawn to her hand that she realised Peter was still holding it. Or was she? She wasn't sure, but she cleared her throat and decided that she wouldn't let go until Peter did.

"Uhh, see you guys tomorrow, then?" laughed Peter, using his free hand to scratch the back of his neck, feeling the clear skin of where the spider had bitten him. He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to be scared of spiders, given everything, but the idea of one being near one after that... was not a good one.

"Mhm," hummed Margot, a knowing tone to their voice as they glared at Nadine, trying to communicate through each other's eyes. "Sure."

Nadine smiled slightly, a half smile, like she wasn't sure what to do with her best friend eyeing her as if she'd taken the last pop tart in the box. Even then, Margot stepped to the side, letting Peter and Nadine walk past them without complaint.

Margot and Gwen were back to their shared looks, as if they knew something Nadine didn't, and as she felt the rough skin of Peter's palm, she decided that for right now? She didn't care all that much.

oo

PETER'S CAMERA WAS WEIGHING HEAVILY ON HIS CHEST AS HE AND NADINE WALKED THROUGH A PARK. They may have had to swing over the gates outside of school, but nobody saw, so Nadine decided that her warm cheeks were unnecessary — although, she supposed that it could've been the way Peter's hands gripped her.

Instead of immediately cracking on with math, with Peter swinging them through the city, they decided to take a bit of a walk beforehand.

Nadine had insisted on Peter buying a hot dog so he actually ate something, because even if they were going to stay out, she couldn't get rid of the concern that had pressed against her chest.

He hadn't argued with her.

But now, he was sort of wishing they'd gone straight to Nadine's, because his heart was full and his chest was warm just by looking at Nadine Holt. Every time she moved, the light bounced on her skin in a way that was ethereal, and Peter was hooked. He was fighting against all urges not to pull his camera up to his eye and capture this moment forever.

In the end, he didn't win. He took tons of photos, the button pressed almost every other second. He didn't want to miss anything, didn't want to forget anything, and he was sure these photos would cost a fortune to develop, but... somehow, it felt worth it.

She noticed his camera on her, and had rolled her eyes multiple times, whilst in others she posed, hands framing her face, cheesy smiles, and arms up in the air. Peter couldn't help but hope that he'd caught the fits of laughter he'd seen her in.

There was a silence between them for a while after, wherein everything felt surreal, it all felt so much like a dream — the sky seemed bluer, and the world so much brighter, but Peter supposed that was just what Nadine's presence did. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know her thoughts behind it.

He kept up pace with her as they wandered around, finally leaving the park and strolling down the grey streets of their city. He was almost lost in the world they'd created, in this little bubble. It was only when he heard Nadine's gasp that he started to pay attention, let his senses focus in on the real world, and he followed Nadine's gaze to see a cat hanging off of a fire escape, its claws just barely keeping it up.

"Oh my god, Peter!" gasped Nadine, her voice full of fear, she didn't know what to do! She couldn't reach the ladder to climb up the fire escape, and even then she was pretty sure she wouldn't reach the cat in time.

Her heart was beating so loudly that she couldn't even think logically, her ears full of a whooshing sound that definitely wasn't heard by anyone else — except maybe Peter, she wasn't sure if the extent of his spider senses.

For Peter, it was easy to see Nadine's panic, but he figured the best way to actually help her, would be to help the cat whose claws were slipping off of the grated metal it was gripping so desperately.

With a quick glance at the street behind them, Peter sprung himself forward to climb up the wall on the other side of the fire escape, keeping half an eye on Nadine whilst his main attention stayed focused on the small black and white cat.

Nadine was sure she was going to throw up, her throat closing as she watched the poor cat slip, almost going in slow motion — if she wasn't feeling so overwhelmed and physically ill from the sight, she might've realised that she could have just made a portal underneath the cat.

She'd never felt more lucky to have Peter than when he webbed just above the cat, swinging and grabbing it just as its claws slipped off of the last section of the grate.

He swung into the level of the fire escape below, and clutched the cat in his hands, warm and safe.

It made the most pitiful meow as Peter reached the ground, a shaking little cat held against his chest as it whined. He handed it over to Nadine, figuring she was probably better off to hold the cat — it'd probably help her feel better.

She cradled the cat against her, brushing gentle fingers against his head as she held him like he was a baby — he didn't seem to mind, if the way he purred told her anything. She felt around his neck for a collar or microchip, but came up empty — they'd have to keep an eye out for missing cat posters.

"Let's get you home," cooed Nadine, and she thought of her mother's reaction to her bringing home a cat — even if it might be temporary.

Peter was sure he had hearts in his eyes as he watched her cuddle the cat against her, and he'd never been more glad to have his superpowers... okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. The Lizard incident was very much up there in reasons why he was thankful for that stupid spider.

The three of them made the journey to Nadine's apartment, with Nadine telling Peter that the cat had already had enough trauma for the day, and didn't need to be swung around the sky by a teenage boy.

Although it took longer, he agreed with her.