PETER PARKER

With a long yawn and a satisfying stretch of my arms over my head and either side of my body, I turned away from the whiteboard to face some of my students who had volunteered to stay late after school. I had organised a last minute exam prep session for two of my AP classes to go over any of the subjects they found particularly difficult.

As much as these kids were all highly capable and highly intelligent, they were just like any other teenagers; easily bored, easily distracted and wanting to be anywhere but school after hours.

"So what kinds of pathways take place in the mitochondrial membrane?" I asked, spinning my marker between my fingers and looking at the students staring blankly back at me across their tables.

We had been studying in preparation for their AP Biology exam next week for three hours now and they were evidently growing restless. The library was relatively busy with other students all studying for their exams so I decided to hold this afternoons session in one of the Biology labs.

Although many of my female students agree to come to the after school study sessions I run, I don't think they focused very much most of the weeks. Today however, given the close proximity to their exams, they had their heads in the books and their priorities on learning rather than blatant flirting.

"Electron transport chain?" Samantha said looking up from her notes and fiddling with her pen against her bottom lip slowly. Was that her flirting with me? God I need to stop teaching at high schools and either go to college or middle school. This was too creepy.

"Yes! And one more? Come on guys, I know it's late but you know this stuff," I encouraged.

Of the fifteen or so students that had volunteered to stay back after school to go through the curriculum, not one of them answered the second part of the question. Not a single one. Because they were tired.

But to be fair, I was far more tired than they possibly could be. Whilst they were staying up late sending nudes to each other or bitching about someone they didn't like, I was scouring New York City trying desperately to find Venom. Wherever I went however, I'd only be met with the aftermath of his crimes, I could never track down the parasite himself.

And the news report I watched with Y/N last week wasn't the only sign of Venom being loose in the city, no no. That only opened up an investigation where police publicly released information about that old Latina woman I had killed whilst Venom took over me and a bunch of people missing. The whole city was on edge now that they thought a new gang was out and about taking peoples heads, so I needed to put an end to it.

Roaming around New York every night this week has taken a toll on me. It's like Venom was teasing me, leaving half eaten bodies around the different boroughs of the city for me to find. I knew he wanted to eat peoples brains but not eating the rest of the body was definitely a ploy to spite me. I know that sounds bad on my part, being like 'oh damn why didn't you eat the whole human' but it would be a lot less obvious to the public eye.

A few nights ago was a particularly difficult night for me because I had called Y/N to ask her on a date and left a voicemail since she was at work. After she finished however, she called back at the worst possible time for me - yet being the simp I was, I still answered.

"Hey! What's up?" I said, trying to not sound like I was struggling to pick up a headless old man from the ground of an alleyway.

"You left me a message asking if I was free Thursday night and I wanted to call you back and say yeah I am," she said cheerfully.

"Ama-zing... I got us tickets to see Rogers the Musical and- Ugh, it's at 8 and I though y- you could meet me at my work and we could- go from there?" I said using my web shooter to open the dumpster bin in front of me to let the man roll off my shoulder into it.

"Are you okay? You're grunting and there's heaps of loud bangs," she asked worriedly.

"Yeah! Yeah just at the gym. Lifting heavy weights," I lied, closing the lid of the bin quietly.

I know it was bad hiding these bodies but I just wanted there to be less publicity and speculation about Venom. The news outlets think it's gang related violence but I know that Venom is doing this on purpose. And the new host? Who knows which son of a bitch he is using to hide inside during the day.

As I zoned out waiting for my students to answer the second half of the question I snapped back to reality with them looking blankly back at me.

"Oxidative phosphorylation! You would've known that if you weren't busy texting your friends about Cassie," I teased, joking around with Marcus who was now throwing equal banter back at me.

Being a teaching assistant made me a lot more approachable than the actual teachers at this school. Especially since I was a lot closer to their age than majority of the teachers here too. This meant that many of the girls found me attractive and many of the boys would joke around with me casually and considered me like an older brother. They called me "bro" at least.

"Hey Mr. Parker, I think we've got a visitor," one of the girls said quietly, looking behind me at none other than Y/N who was standing shyly at the door.

"Uh, you guys can pack up now. I'm sorry we ran overtime today," I said checking my watch and realising that I had told Y/N we were going to meet for dinner at 6pm and it was now 20 minutes past. 

After we had almost gotten hot and heavy in the bedroom last Sunday morning together, I asked her out tonight in the realisation that:

A) I should probably ask for on a proper date rather than flirt for a few months and then try to screw my neighbour.

B) Dates often lead to sex.

C) She deserved to be taken out somewhere nice after she'd put in so much effort hosting breakfast and then mending my knife wounded thigh.

"Is that the future Mrs. Parker? She's smoking hot- You're like, really hot by the way!" Marcus called out as he shoved his laptop in his gym bag.

"Hey! Go back to hitting on sixteen year old girls alright Marcus? Stick to women your own age," I said rolling my eyes at him and jogging across the lab to the door.

Marcus kind of reminds me of a guy I went to high school with, Flash Thompson. Except Marcus has actual success in getting girls to like him back. Flash just made my life miserable and pointed out every flaw I had to any girl I was interested in. Which to be fair was only Liz and MJ... And Sally Pedersen in elementary school.

"I am so sorry I'm late," I said quietly, not wanting my students to hear me.

"Don't apologise, you're just busy working. I was getting cold outside and wandered my way into the building. This school is so much nicer than mine was," she smiled, waiting at the door still as I told her she could come inside as I started to pack up my own things.

As several students thanked me for the study session I said goodbye to them and checked any last minute emails I had received, waving at the remaining few and wishing them good luck for their other exams. Y/N walked slowly into the lab after them, looking around as she stood next to my desk.

"So is this like, your lab?" She smiled, sitting half against the desk as I read through some late emails.

"Nah, I kind of have classes in different rooms around the science block... I can show you around before we leave if you want? It's cool but it's kind of nerdy though," I chuckled, putting my hand out to hold hers as I closed my laptop and put it in my backpack.

"But you're pretty nerdy and I think it's hot on you," she smirked, looking up at me as I slung my bag over my shoulders.

I wanted to say something equally as witty or flirty like how she ridiculously hot she looked sitting on my desk in those jeans that made her butt look good. Or how much hotter she'd look bent over my desk without the jeans at all, but my dumb awkward brain couldn't think of any cohesive words to say. I simply just smiled back at her and chuckled, probably blushing like a mad man as I told her that nobody had found my 'nerdiness' hot before.

The sound of tapping on the window made me almost jump out of my skin as I snapped my head to the side, seeing Marcus and two of his friends outside the science building acting out sex positions in the air. God he's just like Flash. I wonder who in my class is the Peter Parker to Marcus? This school is basically the competition to my old school anyway.

"So how come you didn't tell me you went to Midtown like Liz Toomes?" She said abruptly, walking out of the laboratory in front of me.

"What?" I coughed out.

"You asked who the girl on my wall was but you went to the same high school as her, why?" She said turning to look at me as we made our way through the empty corridors.

"I didn't know everyone who went to my high school. I wasn't a social guy, I stuck to my two friends and that was about it..." I said quickly, not wanting her to know that Liz and I had attended homecoming together and that I imprisoned her fucking Dad.

"You were a sophomore when she was a senior so I guess that makes sense..." She said quietly before stopping and grabbing my wrist.

"You okay?" I asked, slightly confused as to why she had suddenly grabbed my arm so tightly.

"I want you to be honest if you're anything hiding from me," she said looking directly into my eyes with a determined look.

"I-I'm not hiding anything from you... I swear I didn't know who she was Y/N, I promise," I said pulling my arm away from her grip slowly and starting to walk again.

"Sorry, I've just been super stressed with this story... It feels like I've gotten nowhere with it,. And this whole thing about the guys cutting peoples heads off just makes me even more frustrated because I just wish we had someone like Spider-Man again you know? Like, I really hope if I get to the end of this story I find out he's dead because it would feel so selfish for him to be alive and not fight psychopaths like this," she sighed, her demeanour instantly softening.

"I'm sure he probably died on a mission and SHIELD is hiding it... They had a funeral for him and everything, I think it's just conspiracy theorists who think he's still alive," I shrugged.

I have to admit it's pretty confronting hearing that the girl I'm super into wants me to be dead.

"It kind of sounds like you don't like Spider-Man..." I said out of curiosity.

"What? No, he was like, my favourite Avenger. Other than Iron Man of course but that's more of a personal thing rather than having a crush on a superhero type of thing," she laughed.

"You had a crush on Spider-Man?"

"I mean, I dunno. He was my favourite and like, I do t even know what he looks like so I can't say I had a crush on him or anything. But I had a Spider-Man phone case during college and I may or may not have had a Lego set of the Sanctum Sanctorum in my old dorm room," she blushed.

"Fuck, it's like I made you in a computer," I groaned, laughing as I squeezed her ass quickly.

I'll admit, the musical was the most bizarre thing I had ever watched before, not to mention how historically inaccurate it was. Firstly, Ant-Man wasn't even in half the battles they depicted. Why did they add him in and not me?

Admittedly they did add 'Spider-Man' to be the comedic element to the show by being secretly in love with 'Black Widow' due to their 'Spider-Love' but she would respond by brother zoning him. Is that really how I came across to the public? Surely not, I've been called goofy and relatable but never romantically pining over Natasha. For the record, she and I have never flirted with each other, not a single time.

And Loki definitely didn't crump during the Battle of New York to earn back the trust of his brother Thor whilst the Chitauri Army watched. People died during this battle, it was not a fucking Step Up movie where dancing defeats evil. Jesus Christ.

"That was so good! I can't get the 'Incredible Hulk' song out of my head. 'Hulk you know the magic word is, hulk you know the magic word is smash, smash, smash'," She squealed, getting out of the cab at our lobby doors.

To be completely honest right now, this wasn't my taxi. I just said yes my name was Jonathan and told him our address instead. And the best part was Jonathan had a corporate account linked to the booking and I didn't even have to pay. Thanks Jonathan!

"I wonder how true all of that is though... Like, how do we know Steve Rogers was bullied in the army? And how do we know whether or not he saved Barack Obama as a child," I scoffed, laughing at her face when she hit my arm and told me that musicals are supposed to be fun and light hearted.

As we walked up the stairs to my floor she thanked me for the 'amazing' date, gave me a kiss and tapped the side of my thigh lightly as she pulled away.

"Not long before your leg is all healed and you can finally invite me inside your apartment which I've still never seen," she joked, insinuating to the fact I had grabbed her ass during the kiss in the hopes it would entice her to escalate it into sex.

"Why can't it be at your apartment?" I frowned.

"Because you always come to my apartment and whenever I ask to visit you, you tell me you need to clean or you're building furniture everywhere or you have boxes and plastic on the ground," she said smugly.

"But I only moved in like two weeks before you," I lied, trying to make it sound as if I hadn't spent months in a dark empty apartment.

Since Venom left and I had started to develop my feelings for Y/N, I mentally told myself that my life had to change. There wasn't any point in spending more of my years depressed and hating every day more than the one previous. And how was I supposed to pull myself out of the depression if I lived in a depressing apartment?

So I started with little things like opening the blinds more and buying fresh groceries to cook legitimate meals. Then I moved on to buy more furniture than just having the bare essentials. I even bought dumb shit to decorate the place like fake plants and photo frames that were still blank.

Note to self, find a photo of Aunt May on the internet and print it out. And maybe I can photoshop myself into a photo with Tony to recreate my old pictures from the internship.

It's mostly all from IKEA but it looks pretty good if I say so myself, I just need to make it look more homely and less like I copied majority of the styles from the displays. I also have to buy more pillows for my bed instead of the lonely single pillow I use every night. And I need to buy more cutlery and extra towels.

Especially if I'm going to have Y/N come over.