God, I kind of hate this format. If you have ao3, go and check out this story there! It looks better, I promise. That being said, let's go!

Peter must be six, maybe, the first time Ben takes him to Delmar's. It had been six months that day since his parents had left him at Ben and May's, still sleepy, still wearing his red pajamas with a jacket thrown over, and the heart ache had been great for him. Six months back then had felt like a year now, and it had made him realize that his parents were not coming back, no matter how strongly he wished for it.

"These are the best sandwiches in Queens, Pete" Ben tells him, tall and kind in a way Peter can only dream to be. He's his father's younger brother, but his eyes wrinkle just the same when he smiles.

"What do I ask for?" he asks, just behind Ben- and never Uncle Ben, because for as long as he can remember, he's always been just Ben, just as May has always been just May. His parents had been relatively young when they had him, which made Ben and May young enough not to like being called Aunt and Uncle.

"I don't know, what do you want on you sandwich?" and Ben says hi to the owner, calling him by his first name and shaking his hand over the counter.

"Is this your nephew, Peter? Hi, kid. Your uncle has told me a lot about you" the man seems nice, curly black hair over his eyes and an accent not American.

"Hi" he murmurs, half hiding behind his uncle. There was a time when he would have bounced towards the counter and asked a million questions.

That doesn't happen anymore, no matter how much May tries to tell him his parents didn't leave because he was too loud that day.

He ends up tugging on Ben's jacket, whispering he wants a number four and when Ben asks if he wants to add pickles, he nods with a smile.

For months, Ben takes him once a week to Delmar's to get a sandwich after work and school-he tries every single sandwich they have to offer, every variation of them, until he settles for his favorite.

It's the best part of his day, when he gets to walk home with Ben eating a sandwich, wiping away the crumbs before entering the apartment because even though May is, like, really cool, this is something that is just Ben and Peter's. He gets to tell Ben everything about his day on the way, mumbling through mouthfuls of lettuce and tomato the things he has learned and the things he wants to learn. Ben always nods at him, telling him the things he knows and asking what he doesn't. Ben is not a scientist like his dad was, but he's still wicked smart and Peter knows he only asks to keep him talking because, for some reason, Ben likes to see him excited about things.

On his way home, Peter doesn't feel that much of an orphan.

He's starving and tired and one of his contact lenses bothers him as he blinks when he goes into Delmar's Deli and the only reason he doesn't run into the door is because he's familiar with the place. He's about to say hi to Mr. Delmar, one hand trying to rub his eye without making it worse, when he notices there is no Mr. Delmar, only Gustavo and a girl he has never seen before.

She must be his age, somewhat smaller with wavy black hair and brown eyes and a blinding smile as she asks what she can help him with.

"Uh..."

"Un número 5, Juliana, que este chavo siempre pide lo mismo" the guy making the sandwiches says, and he's thankful then that he knows enough Spanish to get the gist of it so he's already nodding by the time the girl turns back to him.

"A number 5, then?" she says, already punching in the numbers on the machine in front of her.

"Oh! Um, yeah, here" and he hands her the money he has already memorized from the amount of times he has come to buy after school, without Ben now that he can get home alone, and waits for his change. "Umm, who are you? Where is Mr. Delmar?"

"I'm Juliana, his daughter" she smiles, sitting on the little stool Mr. Delmar uses when there is no rush of people.

"I-I've never seen you here before" Peter says, hands on his pockets as he waits. He shifts his weight from one foot to the other when she shrugs her shoulders, and thinks of the way the J in her name is not pronounced like the J in juice.

"Yeah, school let out earlier today" she says, pushing a strand of hair that came out of her ponytail back "I've never seen you either" and she turns when the guy behind her hits her shoulder with the bag with his sandwich, glaring at him in a way that could chill Peter's bones if it was directed to him "Here you go, enjoy!"

"Thanks, Juliana" he smiles, giving her a little awkward wave and exiting the store to the sound of playful Spanish.

When Ben asks how his day was, he realizes he never told her his name.

Peter has a fresh spider bite in the back of his neck the day he meets her again, hours after school has ended for everyone, because everything was too much at school-the kids too loud, the colors too bright, his eyes too sharp and his hands too strong, so he had taken a walk after school to clear his head and ended up going to Delmar's later than usual.

"Gustavo, ¡un número 5 para el sobrino de Ben!" Juliana says the moment he steps through the door, blinding smile ready for him. Now that he can see better, hear better, he can notice the way her eyes are so dark and her skin so perfect. She has darker skin than his, but only looks tanned beside Gustavo. Her hair is not actually black, just really dark brown, and her nose is way prettier than Mr. Delmar's.

"Hi, Juliana" he says, taking out his wallet from his back pocket.

"Hi, Peter" she answers, and he doesn't ask how she knows his name "How's your aunt and uncle?" she asks as she accepts his money. Before she can start counting his change, he picks a bag of peanuts and lifts it so she can see.

"Good, they're good" he says, and she nods, closing the cash register, and Peter doesn't say how worried they must be because he only sent them one text saying he may be out later than usual.

"Long day?" she says, crossing her arms and leaning forwards into the counter in the same way her father does.

"You have no idea" he huffs, leaning in front of her, knees bent so he's not in her face.

"You'd be surprised" she answers, looking to the side as she fixes her hair and suddenly yells "¡No, Murph, sal de ahí!"

He turns around to see a cat, orange and fluffy, walking straight towards the place where Gustavo is finishing his sandwich.

"Gato idiota, te he dicho que a la comida no" Juliana mumbles, so softly he wouldn't have been able to hear her yesterday, but today he can hear all her words as she takes the cat into her arms and towards the door that leads to the apartment upstairs.

"You guys have a cat now?" he asks as Juliana disappears, probably to make sure the cat doesn't come down.

"It's Juliana's. Used to be a stray, she picked him up last week" Gustavo hands him his sandwich and shrugs.

"Thanks, man"

"It's my fault" he cries into May's shoulder, aware that he can't really hug her the way he wants, aware of the smell of her perfume and the wetness on her own cheeks. Earlier that day he had broken three pens and God, he's scared of holding her, but he can't not, not when he's breaking inside the same way she is, not when he needs comfort and she's the closest thing to family he has now.

"Peter, no"

"I was just angry and I didn't want to come home and, May, this is my fault and I'm so, so sorry" he says, his voice muffled by the fabric of her uniform. He knows he's leaving a wet patch on it, but he can't stop the tears.

"Peter, listen to me" May leans back and takes his face into her hands, her thumbs rubbing soothing shapes across his cheeks. He can barely keep his sobs in, his breaths short and quick "This is not your fault. You did not tell Ben to go and stop the mugger. You didn't shoot him. Ben did what he did because he was a good person and Peter, so are you. I see so much of your uncle in you. This was not your fault" May kisses his forehead and cradles his head, running her fingers through his hair "We're gonna be okay. I promise, we're going to be okay"

It takes him a while to go to Delmar's again. Every time he passes by, he can only hear Ben and the guilt is too much for him to handle. For weeks, all he can see around him is Ben, and all he can see is him laying on his own blood, his hand tainted red by the pressure he puts on the wound. Every little thing reminds him of Ben until he only wants to cry, because yeah, he lost his parents before, but that wasn't his fault. It hurt for a while, like a bitch, but it wasn't his fault, not really, and he was only six anyway.

Juliana is not there the next time he goes, and Mr. Delmar tells him how sorry he is and that he has seen May but he hasn't seen Peter, is he okay?

Is he?

Juliana Delmar is not a genius. She's not like Tony Stark, she doesn't have the great memory Captain America was given with the serum, not even close. Juliana is no superhero, she puts one shoe after the other, puts on her bra one boob at the time.

But Juliana is smart. Her grades when she was a child did not reflect this, but that was because she had not learned English until she was old enough to need it for school. Now, Juliana is smart and actually sounds smart. Now, Juliana doesn't have an accent and can put a phrase together way better than back when she was in preschool.

Now, Juliana is part of the debate team of her school. They place second to Midtown's High in most competitions, but that's okay because Midtown High is not like their school. While Midtown has great labs and big rooms for their robotics team and for the investigations that students have, while Midtown has a shop class and their own football field, her school is small and poor. Half the taps in the bathroom don't work, and sometimes there are not enough chairs in a classroom because the seats have fallen off. The bathroom stalls don't always close and when they do, the locks probably don't work.

Juliana is smart.

That is not enough to get her into a good school.

Juliana is not reckless. Her parents teach her that she has to be careful, not to take out her phone when she's walking on the street, not to walk when she can take the bus, to have her things in her front pockets and never in the ones on the back of her jeans. Then, Juliana teaches herself to be careful in a world that won't teach others not to harm.

The things is…it's only eight. It's only eight in the evening, but it's already dark and she had forgotten all about how the days are shorter in winter. She pulls her backpack's straps closer and quickens her pace, passing alley after alley on her way back from school. She shouldn't have let it get so dark, but she had lost track of time in the meeting while they had prepared the debate that was fast approaching.

"Please, I want all of you to tell me if you got home safe!" she had said as everyone started leaving, because she wasn't captain but that didn't mean she didn't care. Half of them had people waiting for them outside or on their way, but none offer to give her a ride home and that's okay. It's only five blocks to her home.

She can now feel her phone vibrating inside her pocket, but she doesn't take it out. In daylight she might have, because she had never been robber or pickpocketed, but at night things changed and she could not see people's shadows around her like in the day. Her mother had always said what a bad habit it was to walk with her head down, how she would probably run into people if she kept doing it, but so far it hadn't happened because she could see their feet.

She notices a little too late that the light post in front of her is out and by then her only options are walking back the whole block or going through the dark alley a few feet away from her. It must take her maybe three seconds to decide she should just square her shoulders and keep walking and just as she's about to take the first step, she feels someone behind her.

"Don't scream" is the first thing the man says, his voice low even though there is no one around that can see her. His hands are cold as they come up to her mouth to stifle her and her panic raises as she realizes what is happening, yet she can't find it in herself to move.

"Please" she tries to say, but it comes out like a whine against his hand. She's not sure what she is begging for and the thought makes her eyes water.

"I want your phone and your wallet" he says, and she can feel something hard poke her just below her ribs "One sound and I'll stab you" he warns, the hand on her mouth leaving slowly to palm the back of her jeans. When he finds nothing there, he tries with her front pockets and raises her jacket to fish her phone out.

It vaguely registers in her mind that her phone is new, given to her less than a month ago at Christmas, and when she lets out a whimper, the knife on her back presses harder.

"Shut up! Wallet!"

"I don't have one" she lies, because she's not opening her backpack where her laptop is safe for now. She's had it since seventh grade and like hell she's losing it now, no matter if it freezes from time to time.

"Then give me your money!"

"I don't have any" she lies again, closing her eyes to avoid any tears from escaping. Her legs tremble and she worries about what would happen if they gave out. The man growls and shakes her, making her hair get into her face and a few tears to escape from her eyes, cooling against her skin.

"Don't lie!" the mugger shouts, digging the knife harder into her back to the point she's afraid it will really hurt her.

"I'm not lying! I swear!" she whimpers. She's scared, yes, but fuck this man that tries to take away what her parents bought. Her mother had told her time and time again, begged her to just hand things over before she got hurt, but Juliana is nothing if not stubborn and injustices like these just fill her with rage.

"Hey!" a new voice yells, younger than the man behind her. She lifts her face to see who it is, but the man then raises his knife to her throat and forces her to look up. She hears him threaten the person with her life and more tears escape, loosing themselves into her hair. With the quick look she got in the dark, she can't really see who it is, but she thinks it may be a boy.

"Nonono, don't hurt her! Please" the guy in front of her says and she refuses to look at him. Maybe if she doesn't look, he'll get to walk away.

"Then keep walking" the mugger says right by her ear, and his breath forms a white cloud that warms her cheek. It makes her lurch to the side on reflex, but it only makes it worse for her as the knife he holds cuts into her neck. It stings more than it hurts.

"Alright, alright!" the guy takes another step back, slowly lowering his hands…and then shoots something to the man behind her. Whatever it is, it makes him let her go, so she takes a shaky step forward and collapses to her knees. She hears the sound the boy makes as he shoots whatever it is before he feels someone by her side. She tries to get away before she hears him.

"Are you okay? Did her hurt you? Did he do anything to you?" the boy speaks quickly and his hands hover over her, not daring to touch her. She can't really see him, but she thinks that maybe he's wearing googles?

"He…. He…" she tries, but the words don't come out. She closes her eyes, hanging her head for a second before she starts again "He stole my phone"

"Alright, wait-wait here"

A few seconds later the boy is back at her side, offering Juliana her phone. Her blue case doesn't even have a scratch on it.

"Thank you…who are you?" she asks as she tries to her to her feet. When she stumbles a little, the boy catches and helps her up, grabbing her by her forearms. His grip is gentle but surprisingly strong.

"I'm-I'm Spider-man"

"Thank you" she answers, trying to make out what on Earth this guy is wearing. It looks like it maybe a hoodie and…knee boots?

"I'll help you get home. Where do you live?"

"Emm…Delmar's? I don't know if you know it" and she has to trust that trusting this boy is a good choice and it won't get Frank mugged on the night shift in a few hours.

"Of course I do. Best sandwiches in Queens" his answer is almost automated, like he always says it. While his voice sounds slightly familiar, he doesn't sound like someone that works back at Delmar's and, in any case, her father doesn't hire minors.

"Yeah, I…I can walk there. No problem" and she doesn't say how scared she is by the dark, but hopes she can make it home without crying.

"I don't think so, miss"

"Juliana. My classmates call me Julie" she shrugs and keeps her family nickname to herself.

"Ok. Ok, alright. Are you afraid of heights?" he shakes his hands and legs, like letting loose.

"Not really" she answers, bemused.

"Ok. I'm going to grab you by the waist, is that okay? This is faster" and he loops his right arm around her and tells her to hold on tight. She's wondering to herself what this guy is about, just deciding that if he tries to carry her bridal style she'll scream when he just jumps.

"What the fuck!" she screams, holding tight to the guy. If her breasts are flush against him, well, she just hopes he doesn't notice or it would get weird really fast. She can feel him changing arms as they swing along the street and he's right, this is faster.

"Leave me at the door by the side!" she says as loud as she dares right into his ear, so she can be heard over the wind. Her legs hang loosely and she really, really hopes she won't lose one of her sneakers, but wouldn't put it past something that could happen what with the awful last hour.

"Okay!"

And he lands right outside her front door, letting her down slowly so she can place her feet right.

"Umm…Thank you, for the save. I don't know how I can repay you..."

"Hey, no, none of that. It's what I do. Just…your friendly neighborhood Spider-man"

"Still. Thank you. If-if you wanted, you could swing by tomorrow and I'll give you a sandwich? Right now I just-"

"It's okay! You don't have to do that. I'll swing by tomorrow, to see how you are. Right now I have to go. I hope they haven't taken my backpack…" he takes a few steps back, his waving hands awkward as he probably doesn't really know what to do with them. She takes her backpack off her shoulders as he speaks, raising her knee and supporting it there as she tries to search for her keys. She's elbows deep into her backpack when she starts speaking, almost without thinking.

"umm…My window is the last one by the alley. It's on the fire escape and…well, it's just our apartment so no one else uses it, if-if you want to leave your things there" she toys with the ring of her keys, hitting her thumb with the little wooden keychain of her name. "I swear I won't look, I know how important identities are" she hurries to add, raising her eyes to see the boy's eyes on her-or she guesses they are, because with those googles she can't really tell "but, I mean, no one will steal it if you just drop it there and…yeah. I'll…I'll get in now" she gives him a last wave and unlocks the goddamn door.

It takes one look into her mother's face for her to start crying. She tries to keep it down as she explains between hiccup and bursts of fresh tears what happened and when her little brother pops up into the living room, one glare from their mother has him going back inside his room, his eyes wide.

Her mother cleans her neck, wiping away the little blood there is with warm water and some cotton while Juliana tells her about the boy that saved her. When she finishes, her mother kisses her forehead, her dark blond hair tickling her nose, and whispers that she better gives her thanks to that boy again.

He drops by the next evening, and she has two sandwiches and a soda waiting for him. She gives them to him, saying her father insisted. He stays there for a while and they just talk. After an hour has passed, however, she has to get back to prepare the debate that's so quickly approaching. He stays all the same and helps her with her arguments until it gets dark outside.

Spiderman starts to drop by, a few times a week. It's not hard to like him, with his dorky sense of humor.

Peter likes hanging out in Juliana's room. It takes him a week at most before he starts helping her with her homework, and then it takes him maybe two days to start doing his own. It's nice to sit on her room, both of them concentrating with some music as background noise. He always covers the name on his books and so far, he thinks she has kept her promise. She has never addressed him as Peter, doesn't seem to have ever gone though his things. Every time he has come into the shop, she gave no indication that she knew he was Spiderman.

They take to talking in Spanish, some afternoons after he's done patrolling. It helps with his pronunciation, even if he apparently ends up saying some words like a Dominican, some words as a Colombian. It doesn't sit very well with his teacher, but there is no denying he becomes more fluent.

"¡Uli! ¡Oye!" they hear a knock. With wide eyes, Juliana turns to Spiderman. She can see that the edges of the goggles on his suit widen, like his eyes probably did, and then they are scrambling to get her laptop and favorite blanket off their laps and standing.

"Hide!" she whispers and waits until he's out of sight, out her window, to call out "¡Entra!"

Her little brother, not really so little, opens the door with two bowl of fruit on his hands and a fork in each.

"¿Qué pasa Juaco?" she asks, trying to seem casual and meeting him close to the door.

"La mamá te manda esto" he says, thrusting one of the bowls to her while keeping another close to himself.

"Gracias" she drops a kiss into her brother's head as she takes the bowl from his hands, which earns her a scowl before he closes the door.

"That was close" Spiderman pips up, only the top of his face visible on the top of her window.

"I don't know how I could have explained that" Juliana laughs as she watches him enter, crawling on the ceiling until he's in front of her and dropping quietly to the ground.

"I didn't know you had a brother. I heard a baby…"

"Oh, yeah. Daniela. She's the surprise baby" and she keeps to herself the fact that her mother had cried when she found out she was pregnant. She had cried she was too old, even though thirty nine was not old "Do you want to see pictures?"

"Are you on a decathlon team?" Juliana asks one afternoon after he's answered one of her doubts she was too lazy to google without looking at one single book "Because if you aren't, you should"

"Yeah, I'm part of it" Spiderman laughs "And robotics….and marching band" he lists off, somehow looking sheepish even with his homemade mask on. She wishes he could take it off just to she could see how he made his lenses react to his eyes.

"Robotics? Are you from Midtown?" she frowns, because if a school in New York has a robotics team, it has to be Midtown.

"Yeah" he shrugs, almost like it's nothing.

"Dude, you must be crazy smart" she huffs, caught somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. Not only a superhero, but also smart. Figures.

"Eh…not really" he shrugs again, looking down to his hands as he sits on her desk chair where he's tinkering with his web shooters. The fact that he could make them from scratch should have given her enough, really, to figure out just how smart he is.

"Dude, that school is like…I don't know, M.I.T of high schools. I wish I had the money to get into a school like that" and she shouldn't say things like that, like it's his fault he gets to attend a good school, but she's just mad he can and not her.

"I'm on a partial scholarship" he explains, making himself smaller as he looks at her "You could apply to one, maybe?"

"I tried, man" she lets herself fall back on her bed, staring at her ceiling "I tried so much. I actually did well on the entrance exams, you know? But…well, I guess it wasn't meant to be"

"I feel kinda bad I can only call you Spider-Man"

"Well, yeah, it's just-you know, I-I can't really"

"I know, I know. Can I call you…Manny? From Man"

"…I guess?" he laughs, freely. It's not something he does that much, she notices.

Juliana never calls him Manny, though. It is a weird name and it doesn't fit him at all.

She learns he's hella strong when one of her pens rolls under her bed and he lifts the whole thing with her on top with a single hand. It freaks her out a little, and just to prove a point he lifts her with just one arm around her thighs, her hands supporting her against his shoulders as she tries not to scream.

He suffers from some anxiety, she realizes, when he gets overwhelmed trying to study and starts hyperventilating, and she grounds him with a hand on his and gentle words about how he was not going to fail, he already knew most of those things, he did not need that much more time and she could help him with whatever she could; she realizes it when the news on the other room start talking shit about Spiderman and he starts to believe it, curling into himself in a way that leaves her thinking we're just kids.

And he loves movies. He just does, and from then on when both are free they watch movies online from his best friend's Netflix account and when the movie it's not there they search for it online because fuck paying for movies. There are some he knows by heart, and sometimes she has to shove a pillow into his face so his laughs are muffled and her mother doesn't go into her room.

They exchange phone numbers, if only because they can.

Juliana Delmar

Remember the video I told you about? I found it! (10:50pm)

watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ (10:50pm)

I can't believe I fell for it(10:53pm)

He can sing all of Allstar and it drives her crazy with laughter. In exchange, she makes a pretty good impression of Donkey.

He murmurs "shrek is love, shrek is life" and she just loses it.

SM

You're on Youtube!(11:23am)

What?(11:32am)

You stopped a bus, man! It was crazy!(11:34am)

watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ (11:35am)

STOP(11:36am)

RICKROLLING(11:36am)

ME(11:36am)

Jk(11:42am)

watch?v=rmsKwRspYIM(11:42am)

OMG, I'm on Youtube(11:50am)

I'm freaking out(11:50am)

I'M ON YOUTUBE(11:50am)

He goes to Berlin. He comes back with a new suit and a new weight on his shoulders. He rambles about the Avengers and how he took Captain America' shield, jumping on the balls of his feet and moving his hands around, and she thinks he never should have gotten tangled with them and curses Tony Stark for getting him into that mess.

If she's against the Accords, she never tells him. She doesn't think he signed them, anyway, being a minor and all.

By the third time he dozes off on her bed, she knows she has to put an end to things.

"You're not sleeping enough" she says, her hand where his forehead should be. She can feel where his hair starts under her fingers and caresses it over his mask. She sees the way the tension starts to seep from his shoulders and it makes her stomach knot. She thinks that the way Murph is purring from his spot on his stomach is helping, too.

"I know. It's just that now I feel like I really need to be out there, and with marching band and robotics-"

"You need to make more time for yourself. Get home earlier, come here less often, I don't know" she sighs, her hand stopping atop of his head "But you need your sleep, you're just a teenager. Please"

He quits marching band.

A week later, he quits robotics.

The month after that, he only comes to her bedroom two times a week.

SM

Are okay? I saw the news. It seemed like a bad robbery(5:25pm)

It went okay(5:33pm)

I promise(5:45pm)

I'll drop by tomorrow, okay?(5:48pm)

Okay(5:49pm)

That was so The Fault in our Stars.(5:50pm)

Juliana's father hangs a picture of him and Spiderman, side by side in front of the store.

It's the closest she has been to Spiderman in a week and a half, without considering the seconds she sees him picking up his backpack.

Summer doesn't bring Spiderman around more often, it only makes him be out there almost all day. Still, Juliana makes the most of her time with him and makes sure to leave food by his backpack.

Peter knocks on Juliana's window and waits until she waves him in to open it. He leaves it open, having learned from the time her brother had tried to get into her room and he had crashed into the window trying to hide. That had been a little hard to explain for Juliana.

She's laying on her bed with her phone, her ever present laptop resting on her desk. Instead of background music, she has her earphones on, and she tugs off one of her earphones once he's safely inside.

"Hey, Spiderman" she says as she sits.

"Hey. What happened to your laptop?" he takes his usual place on her desk chair, drumming his fingers atop her laptop.

"I don't know, it just wouldn't turn on this morning" she gets up and walks towards him, rolling the chair aside so she can stand in front of the laptop and open it "See? I thought maybe it was the charger and the battery was dead, but it actually lights up the little lights when I try to turn it on, so it's not that"

"But this is Stark. You can make them fix it for, like, three years after you buy anything"

"It's a little older than that. I didn't get it new, either"

"Can I try?" Peter asks, motioning for the computer.

"Knock yourself out. You need anything?"

"Umm, maybe my backpack? Let me see what I have on the suit" he murmurs, opening the little pockets Mr. Stark put on the suit and taking out what tools he has stashed there in case something goes wrong with his web shooters. "No, yeah, I need my backpack" he rolls himself towards her window and shoots a web towards it. With a little tug, he catches it and carries it back.

They spend the next half an hour chatting. She comments she's been catching some sleep now that she can take naps and he shouldn't feel bad if she fell asleep mid conversation as it was, apparently, her 'break mode'.

She implies he should do the same, but he ignores her, more focused on the circuits in front of him. Sleep is for the weak.

She gets up and goes to the kitchen at that, and Peter can hear her yell at her brother if wants anything to eat. A few minutes later, she comes back with a plate with sandwiches.

"So. Good news, I can totally fix this" he mentions, rolling himself towards her bed. Juliana leaves the plate near the edge as she sits on the opposite side, back resting on the wall.

"But?" she asks between bites, patting the bed beside her.

"But" he starts, grabbing the plate and sitting "Not here. I can take it home if you want, look for the parts it needs, but it may take a few days"

"Dude, you're just saving me hundreds of dollars, you can take all the time you want. I'll pay for the parts"

"I…umm, well, you see, they usually come for free…from…you know…garbage"

"Spiderman. You're just the best"

It takes less than a week for Spiderman to fix her laptop. He knocks on her window as usual, gets inside with his backpack in tow and pulls out her laptop with a flourish.

"Here it is!" he offers it to her after she jumps from her bed and she snatches it from his hands "Turn it on"

"Oh my god" Juliana says, laptop resting on her left arm as she pushes the on button with her right hand "It turned on! You're amazing!" she laughs, looking at him with big eyes.

"Thanks" Spiderman touches his neck, his other hand resting on his waist. He gives half a shrug before he continues "Anyway, I changed what needed to be changed and asked a friend to give it a look and he fixed a few bugs and stuff, so it should run smoother. Also, he upgraded your antivirus" he claps his hands, like he's finishing a presentation.

She looks at him with her mouth open, halfway between hanging and smiling; closing her mouth, she shuts the laptop and throws it towards her bed, wasting no time to jump into his arms. On reflex, he wraps his arms around her waist.

"You really are amazing" she whispers close to his ear "I'm really glad I got the chance to know you, okay? I don't care what that dickhead from your school says, I don't give a rat's ass what anyone else says about you" she pulls away from him and takes his face in her hands. His mask is smooth to the touch and she can feel the warmth of his skin beneath her fingertips "You're a wonder to the world, Spiderman" she whispers, tears stinging the back of her eyes.

And she means it.

"Come on, tell me! There must be someone"

And really, she should just shut her big trap. She's just digging her grave, setting herself for heartbreak. Her mother did always say Juliana fell in love too easily.

"Okay, alright. There's this girl. Her name is Liz, she's going to be a senior this year. We're together in the decathlon team, she's the Captain"

"Is she nice? Pretty? I'll assume she's smart, don't worry" she nudges him with her elbow, trying and failing to wiggle her eyebrows.

"She's beautiful" he breathes, shaking his head.

"Tell me her Instagram" she reaches for her phone, unlocking it and tapping the app.

"What? No, no way" he crosses his arms, as if that will make it final.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do" she shrugs and searches his school. From then on it's not hard to find the post where they announced the team classification into Nationals. The photo is taken from a distance, two tables with students, the ones with bright yellow jackets celebrating.

MidtownTech It's final! Our decathlon team has officially made it into Nationals! Captain liz_toomes, lead us into victory!

She goes into her profile and God, it's a mistake. The girl is a literal angel, a princess, some kind of dream.

"Wow" is the only thing she can say, speechless.

She's fucked.

Juliana

Wtf, Liz is so beautiful(1:02am)

Pls tell me you didn't follow her(6:55am)

I did(7:10am)

I have no regrets(7:10am)

Okay, I have one regret(7:10am)

And it's not being as beautiful(7:10am)

I'd let her step on me(7:10am)

Any day(7:11am)

SM

I hate you (7:44pm)

What did I do?(7:58pm)

There's a cute boy on your decathlon team(8:03pm)

He's like(8:03pm)

So(8:04pm)

Idk(8:04pm)

I like him(8:04pm)

Who?(8:05pm)

I swear to god(8:05pm)

If it's flash(8:05pm)

Idk his name, he's not tagged(8:06pm)

You can't really see his face(8:06pm)

But(8:06pm)

He's cute(8:06pm)

He dresses like a nerd(8:06pm)

Not flash then(8:06pm)

He has a nerdy tshirt omg(8:08pm)

I love him(8:08pm)

He seems like a cinnamon roll(8:08pm)

Oh god he takes gorgeous pictures(8:09pm)

Omg it's Peter(8:17pm)

What?(8:18pm)

Peter Parker(8:18pm)

He comes by sometimes(8:18pm)

You like him or what?(8:24pm)

I mean, like like him, no(8:25pm)

But he's cute(8:25pm)

"So, a nice old lady asked for directions and then gave me a churro. And I thought, you know, maybe Juliana would like one. And I said to myself, Spiderman, you should just go and get her one because you're a good friend" Peter steps into Juliana's room, throwing the churro to her.

"Hey!" she yelps, throwing herself forward to reach it "I thought you weren't coming over"

"I wasn't. I'm leaving now, I just got the churro and thought of you"

"Thanks" she smiles, and it's beautiful.

"Hey, Dad" she says as she pushes into the store. She likes speaking Spanish around her family and the way her father and mother speak it so differently. Her own accent had been reflected in Spiderman's Spanish and it never fails to amuse her.

"Tell me" he tells her, putting down his smartphone. It's bigger than hers because his thicker fingers make it a little difficult for him to write. One thing she has to thank God for is her parents are quick learners.

"Just wanted to keep you company for a while" she picks Murph on the way, coming to stand beside her father. Like every evening shift, it's slow, the bodega completely alone except for them. She likes the quiet of the place and she likes being with her father, so it's a win-win.

"You wanted to see me or you wanted that cat?"

She pretends to think about it, which earns her a shove from her father.

"I'm kidding" she huffs, finding her balance again.

"You don't have anything tomorrow?"

"Already did my homework" she shrugs, scratching between her cat's ears "Gonna see in a while if Juaco needs any help. We still haven't gotten any idea about what the next debate is going to be about, so I don't have to worry about it for now"

"You know I'm proud of you, right?" he passes an arm around her shoulders, tugging her to him. His beard feels funny against her temple when he kisses her hair.

"Yeah, I know" she smiles, passing her arms around her father's waist "I'm proud of you, too"

They stay like that for a while. It's nice, just the both of them. She knows her father loves them all very much, but sadly the shop doesn't leave him much time. It's the reason she covers for him some afternoons, so he can go up to watch some Spanish football match with her brother or nap with the baby.

Back when she was very little and her father had just opened Delmar's, it was just him and Frank. Her father took the whole day shift, from six to eight, while Frank worked from eight to six. Those had been a rough few years and she's at least a little relieved that Juaco doesn't really remember them. Her father was always tired when he got home and still, he made time to be there for her. He never missed a school presentation, never missed a school dance. Their Sunday afternoons at the nearby park were sacred, just her and her dad.

A few years later, when the place was stable enough, they hired Gustavo for help with the sandwiches on the day shift, after him Carlos for the night-morning shift and moved into the newly built apartment above the shop. The shifts became shorter; six to eight became ten to eight, eight to six became eight to three and suddenly her father had the whole weekend off.

Movement in the ATM across the street makes her pull away from her father's side and towards the window.

"Dad…call the police" she says when she notices the flying money and the fact that Spiderman is there, jumping between however it is that tried to rob the place.

She can hear her father take his phone and talk into it, but she doesn't take her eyes off the fight. It's her concentration that allows her to see the path the purple beam will take before it's directed to them.

"DAD, GET DOWN" she manages to yell before the world explodes in front of her eyes.

Peter races across the street when he sees the bodega explode. On his way, he notices that the second floor was not damaged at all, but the bodega is now on fire.

His first thought is of how Juliana is safe. He had seen her not ten minutes ago, in her room, as far as possible from the burning place.

He jumps over the broken window, over the counter and finds Mr. Delmar crouching down, coughing into his arm. The smoke is nothing to his suit, but it clearly affects the older man.

"Mr. Delmar! Mr. Delmar, I'll get you out of here" Peter takes his arm and swings it over his shoulders. Mr. Delmar doesn't seem injured at all, so he helps him walk out. On the way out he sees Murph and takes the cat into his free arm.

Mr. Delmar tries to speak, but his voice doesn't come out, maybe because of the smoke. Peter looks across the street where the ATM is now desert of people and stumbles around his words when he turns towards Mr. Delmar, taking a step back and then one forward when he notices he still has Murph under his arm.

He hears a woman shout Mr. Delmar's name and a baby cry, and when he looks to the side, Mrs. Delmar is exiting, baby in one arm and son under the other. Joaquín is almost as tall as she is, but she clutches him close to her like he's still a kid and he hangs into her like one, too. Peter can't blame him.

"¡Juliana! ¿Dónde está Juliana?" she shouts over the sounds of the flames and the sound of Dani crying.

It's then that Peter realizes that the oldest Delmar child is nowhere to be seen. It takes him a second to jump back inside. His suit seems to be fireproof, the heat doing little to his body. His eyes run over the place before he sees her under a beam.

Her right leg is trapped under it, the flames closing into her. There is some blood on her shirt and her face is not scratch free.

"Juliana" he breathes, running over to her. He grabs the beam she's under and throws it aside, as if it weights less than a feather. The metal heats his hands, but it's basically nothing.

He kneels beside her and slowly, carefully, puts one arm around her back and places her head into his shoulder, trying not to jostle her too much. His other arm goes under her legs and softly but as quickly as he dares, he lifts her.

"You're going to be okay. You're gonna be fine" he whispers to her as he exits the burning place, sparing a glace to her face. Her eyes are closed, and she would have looked peaceful if not for the cut that bleeds over her eyebrow and down the side of her face.

When he gets outside, he puts her on the ground beside the family. Dani is still crying her lugs out while her mother tries to shush her and Juaco is under his father's arm, looking at the second floor where the flames haven't reached yet.

"Juliana!" father and son yell the moment they see Spiderman with Juliana on his arms.

"Here" he says, passing the unconscious girl to her father. Peter knows less than five minutes have passed since the whole thing started, but he's sure help is on the way. Meanwhile, he can't really stay because he really needs to reach Mr. Stark "I, I, I have to go" he mumbles, his voice shallowed by the sounds the fire is making behind him. He turns around, already thinking how to get into Juliana's fire escape for his backpack when he hears someone yell for him.

"Thank you" Mrs. Delmar says as she pulls him towards her. Her left arm goes around his shoulders, Dani's cries sounding right beside his ear "You've done so much for my little girl, we owe you"

"It's nothing, Mrs. Delmar, but I really have to go" he pulls himself away, taking a step back with his hands raised. There seems to be understanding in her green eyes when she nods and turns back to her family.

He swings away and then back, landing quietly into the fire escape. His backpack remains untouched, the flames not having reached there yet. He grabs it and then hesitates just outside her window.

"Fuck it" Peter breathes, turning around and opening her room.

He grabs her laptop first. He knows she has started already on a midterm research essay that's worth a lot for her final grade and searches for it before deciding to just throw all the papers on her desk into his backpack. He goes deeper inside and takes the photograph that hangs above her bed. As a last thought, he grabs her backpack and stuffs the jeans that are lying on the floor, a random shirt. Peter refuses to open her drawers for underwear, though.

He goes into her siblings' rooms, too, as quickly as possible. He grabs Da ni's favorite bear and the first clothes he finds, a couple diapers, Juaco's tablet and headphones, his school bag because he knows he never organizes it, some jeans that seem well loved. Peter runs into the main room and grabs some clothes from the closet. It's starting to get incredibly hot, even for him, and the smoke from downstairs has finally reached the whole apartment.

By the time he leaves, he can hear sirens in the distance.

The fire has reached the living room.

Juliana refuses to look at her leg when she wakes up, a couple of hours into the night. It doesn't hurt, not really, but she can't really imagine it looks pretty under the bandages. Her mother is sleeping on the one couch the room has to offer, Dani sound asleep on her chest.

Her mother explains, a while later, her fractures and burns and lets her cry into her shoulder. Juliana is not a vain girl, and the scars that will surely stay on her skin don't help one bit her nonexistent confidence.

"Someone dropped this last night, while we were all asleep" her mother hands Juliana her school backpack. When she opens it, the first thing she sees is a note.

I'm sorry about what happened.

Hope you get better soon.

I saved a few things in case it got worse.

I'll see you

-SM.

Juliana

Thank you for the stuff(12:07am)

I don't know how to repay you(12:07am)

It was nothing(12:34am)

I swear(12:34am)

Thank you(6:12am)

Dani calmed down with her bear(6:12am)

I just(6:12am)

Thank you(6:12am)

It was the only picture I had with my abuela(8:24am)

She died a month after that and we couldn't go to her funeral(8:24am)

or at all, really(8:24am)

I know (8:25am)

They rent a small apartment, after the fire. It's only for a couple of months, tops, so they have a place to live while the shop and their apartment are under reconstruction. While they can save a lot of things, their living room, kitchen and part of her parent's bedroom and of the nursery is lost. Luckily, it was all ensured, so the loses are not as big as rhey could have been. Still, the whole experience is jarring and the apartment is too different.

It doesn't really feel like home, but that's okay.

She texts him her new address and then sends her location, so he can know how to get there. She warns him that she now shares a room with Joaquín but that he can still leave his backpack on their fire escape, she'll invent some excuse.

He doesn't, but that's okay.

"Karen?"

"Yes, Peter?"

"Do you think I should tell Juliana about me being Spiderman?"

"Who is Juliana?"

"She's…a friend. We've…been spending some time while I'm on the suit"

"Then I think you should, if you trust her"

SM

I saw what happened at DC. Are you okay?(4:28pm)

Yeah, everyone's fine (4:56pm)

Good. That's a relief (4:57pm)

It feels like the world is on fire. All she sees is fire, all around her, closing into her. The smoke is filling her lungs and making her choke, and as she tries to get oxygen into her, the burning on her leg increases.

"Help" she coughs, soundless.

"Uli" she hears, far away. She can't move her head and knows she won't be conscious for long.

"Help!" she whispers, the smoke making it impossible to yell. A couple of tears make their way down her temples, maybe because of the smoke, maybe because of the desperation. She closes her eyes and still sees light dancing.

"Uli! Wake up! Juliana!"

She opens her eyes with a gasp.

She's not in the burning building. She's in her new room, her brother is kneeling by her side, his hands on her shoulders. It's dark and a little cold-she looks to her bandaged leg and sees that it's outside of the blankets. Good, it shouldn't get too warm.

"You were crying in your sleep" her brother whispers, sitting back on his feet.

"It's okay. Umm. What time is it? My leg's bothering me a little"

That's a lie. It's bothering her a lot, burning and aching little less than back in the accident. Probably what caused her nightmare, too. She had only been conscious for a few seconds after the explosion, but they had felt like an eternity. She thinks that there wasn't that much fire at the time, but she had been in the thick of it.

"It's…4:35. Do you want your medicine?"

"Yeah, I slept through my alarm"

"Mom must've too, she hasn't come to check on you"

SM

I think I'm going to drop out of school (3:25pm)

WHAT?!(3:25pm)

What do you mean you're going to drop out of school? (3:25pm)

Mr. Stark is moving the Avengers upstate (3:43pm)

I'll need to be with them (3:43pm)

Are you insane?!(3:44pm)

you can't drop out of school! You go to midtown!(3:44pm)

So? (3:45pm)

So? SO?! People who go to Midtown get into good universities! (3:45pm)

I'm so above school right now(3:46pm)

No one is above school!(3:47pm)

You can't just drop out of school because you think your destiny is out there or something!(3:48pm)

All your family went to college, didn't they?(3:52pm)

What does that have to do with anything? (3:53pm)

Writing…

Writing…

You don't know what it is to get an education when it's difficult (4:01pm)

My parents came here because they wanted something better for their kids (4:01pm)

I'm the first person in my family to have the opportunity to go to college (4:01pm)

Out of six uncles and aunts, out of ten cousins(4:01pm)

Me (4:02pm)

I wouldn't throw something like that away just because I might want to be an Avenger (4:02pm)

Juliana gets radio silence from Spiderman after that. He doesn't answer her texts and doesn't show up at her window.

She tries not to let it bother her. She had to know it could be like this. It was obvious he wouldn't be around forever, but he wouldn't just stay way because they had a fight, would he?

Sharing a room means less secrets, which means Juaco finds her crying her eyes off at two in the morning, when she had thought he's been asleep.

"Hey. Are you okay?" he whispers from his bed, and she hears him turn around so he's facing her.

"Yeah, yeah. Go back to sleep" she says, trying to sound like she hasn't been crying for a good thirty minutes now.

"Is your leg bothering you? Do you want me to go for your medicines?" she hears her brother stand up, and then his feet approaching.

"No, don't worry. Please go back to sleep" she curls more into herself, thankful that she's facing away from him.

"Move aside" he scoffs, and she obliges and scoots over, turning so she's facing him.

He's younger than her by two years, but puberty has started to catch up him and making him almost as tall as her. Still, he lays down in a way that makes sure his head is lower than hers, and curls himself around her like when they were kids and it was too cold.

"Is it because of your leg?" he whispers, like he doesn't really want her to hear because he knows it will make her upset "I'm sure it won't be that bad, remember Cassie from third grade? She burned her hand with boiling water and didn't have a single scar"

"It's not because of my leg" she huffs, although if she's honest, it is a little of that.

"You know you can tell me stuff. My friends say I'm good listening" and she smiles a little in the darkness, seeing her brother's face in the moonlight that shines through the window. She had asked for the window bed, fought for it, and it had been for nothing.

"I have a friend" she starts, licking her lips as she tries to put together what she can say.

"Do you like him?" she can hear the smile on Joaquín's face and refrains from hitting him.

"Shut up. I have this friend. He wanted to drop out of school. I told him he shouldn't. He hasn't…he hasn't spoken to me since. I know I shouldn't be crying about it, but it hurts, you know? I thought he trusted me, and he always heard my opinion on things before"

"Is he the boy you've been sneaking into your room?" he asks, as smug as that little shit can be.

"How do you know about it?"

"You weren't very quiet, you know" he laughs, and she remembers that before, when they were younger, he had been the only one she could confide into, just as she had been his confidant. She had been the one he had come crying to, sitting on her lap and drowning his tears on her shoulder, and she had been the one that had rubbed his back and whispered things to calm him down. She decides not to lie.

"Yeah…yeah, it was the boy I sneaked in. He's just a friend, I promise" and her brother nods, like he believes her, and she finds that she can breathe again.

"It wasn't very nice of him" he murmurs, pursing his lips.

"I guess not" she shrugs, and they stay quiet for a little while before he speaks.

"Are you sure it's not your leg?"

"Yeah, okay, it's a bit of that too"

She lays on her back and her brother does too, despite the fact that they're now half hanging off the bed, and waits a few minutes before she speaks again.

"Bro, close your eyes"

"Is that your world without me, bro?"

"Yeah, bro"

"Bro"

SM

I need us to meet (2:49pm)

Okay? (2:51pm)

You can come over (2:51pm)

No, it has to be somewhere else. (2:51pm)

She sits on the park bench and shuffles through her music. Her right earphone sounds slightly lower than the left, so she moves the cord a little until she thinks it's better, if only so she can seem busy and not feel like people are staring at her for being alone.

"Juliana" she hears someone say, and she raises her eyes to see who spoke to her.

"Hi, Peter! How are you?" she smiles, tugging off her earphones and shoving them into her pocket after she had paused her music. She has to catch her crutches as they start to slip, and she sees the way Peter looks at her leg.

"I'm fine. Do you mind if I sit?" he asks, hands on the straps of his backpack. He's wearing a plaid shirt under a sweater and she has to admit he looks pretty cute in a nerdy way. However, beyond that, she feels nothing, and it makes her sigh internally. Peter seemed like a nice boy, he probably wouldn't drop out of school.

"Erm…no, go ahead. I'm waiting for someone, though" she warns him, and has to will herself not to look around because she doesn't even know what she's supposed to look for.

"I know. That's why I'm here" Peter says, and he looks around as he speaks.

"What do you mean?" she asks, and Peter waits until a woman with a little girl pass them before he answers her.

"It's me. I'm Spiderman" she looks at him, searching for any clues that would tell her he's messing with her, but she finds none. She takes a deep breath, her crutches and stands. She wobbles maybe two steps before he speaks "Wait! Let me explain" Peter says, standing and extending his hand towards her, but not touching her.

"I shouldn't. I really shouldn't, you know? Because it was a shit thing, what you did" she says without turning around, looking up to avoid her tears from spilling.

"I know. Please" she hears the begging on his voice, and didn't she want answers?

"I texted you" she starts, clenching the crutches in her hands as she remembers not to put pressure on her foot "I waited for you. I-I was worried. I kept reading our texts and thinking that I fucked up by trying to get some sense into you, I-"

"Mr. Stark took the suit back" he interrupts her.

"What?" she breathes as she turns around. Peter is standing there, looking defeated as he hangs his head. Her heart clenches in her chest as she looks at him, because this is Spiderman. She knows what it meant for him to be a hero, what it meant for him to have his powers and a suit that allowed him to use them.

"Yeah. I tried to stop the weapons dealing, but it got out of hand and people could have gotten hurt if he hadn't been there on time, and when I tried to explain he-he said if I was nothing without the suit, I shouldn't have it"

When you can do things like me, and you don't stop bad things from happening, it's your fault.

"You know you're not nothing without the suit" she shakes her head, taking a step towards him.

"Yeah, I am. I-"

"Do you remember the day I met Spiderman?" she asks, and he looks to her neck where she knows there is a thin little scar from where the mugger managed to cut her.

"Yeah"

"It was before Mr. Stark. It was before that suit, back when you used pajamas-" she tries to tell him.

"They weren't-" he interrupts, but she won't have it, so she takes the step that she needs to be in front of him and lets go of her crutches to slap a hand on his mouth.

"You saved me back when you didn't have the suit. I don't think that's nothing" and she sees the way his eyes soften, and she melts.

Peter Parker

I asked Liz to Homecoming and she said yes!(3:59pm)

Writing…

Writing…

Writing…

That was cutting it close (4:58pm)

Well done! (4:58pm)

I bet you didn't even puke (4:58pm)

Why are you my friend (5:02pm)

Writing…

Writing…

Writing…

I've been told I'm charming (5:04pm)

They lied to you (5:05pm)

Peter knows she should be at homecoming. She had told him some of her friends were going together as a group and she had wanted to go with them, had bought a dress in a thrift shop that she had been happy about.

When he knocks on her window, not really expecting her to answer, he's surprised at seeing her face looking at him from the other side of the glass. He takes off his mask as she gets near, wanting to see her without it and wanting her to see him without it.

"Peter? What happened?! Get in!" she takes his arms into hers and pulls him inside, letting him lean into her as she leads him into one of the two beds in the room the best way she can, hopping as little as she can.

"I'm pretty sure it must be on the news by now" he mumbles, letting himself fall into her bed.

"Ay Dios. ¡JOAQUÍN! ¡Trae el botiquín!" she yells towards the door, her hands not touching him. One hovers over his head, not daring to touch the purple bruising now blooming on his face.

"Nonono-" he tries to sit up, but she grabs his shoulders and pushes him back.

"He knows, we weren't as subtle as we thought we were. But put on your mask and don't take it off" she warns him, standing up to wait by the door. He does as she says, looking at her back as she opens the door just enough for her brother to pass her the first aid kit. Still, Joaquín manages to steal a glimpse of Peter.

"Ay marica. ¿Spiderman? No podía ser alguien normal, nooo, tenía que ser Spiderman. Uli, ¿qué mierda?"

"Cállate y distrae a mamá" Juliana hisses, taking the kit from his hands.

"Sí, Capitana" Juaco mocks her, rolling his eyes as he turns around.

"Joaquín"

"Ya, ya, sí sé" he waves his arm over his head, walking away.

"¡Y trae hielo si puedes!" she shouts as she closes her door and walks back to where he is, leaning on the beds the best she can.

She knees beside him, unzipping his hoodie carefully and starting to clean around some scratches. She works in silence for a few minutes before he speaks.

"I thought you'd be at homecoming"

"With this leg? No way" she doesn't sound sad, but rather resigned and it breaks his heart. She's wearing a boot and under it Peter can see white bandages peeking out where the cut leg of her jean doesn't cover.

"I'm sorry I didn't get you out of there faster" he whispers, watching as Juliana pours saline on a nasty cut on his side and catches it with a ball of cotton. She cleans around it the best she can, with little pats and gentle swipes that he barely feels before searching for gauze and tape.

"You got me out of there. That's what counts. That's what matters" she shakes her head after a few minutes of silence, placing the last piece of tape and leaning back.

"How are you going to explain the dirty covers?"

"Murph"

Peter P

Happy just came to school? (3:23pm)

He's being nice to me?(3:24pm)

He came to get you?(3:25pm)

Yeah, he's taking me to the avengers HQ(3:28pm)

OMG YOU WON'T BELIEVE ME(4:15pm)

TONY STARK HIMSELF OFFERED ME TO BE AN AVENGER(4:15pm)

A REAL ONE(4:15pm)

OFFERED ME A ROOM AND EVERYTHING(4:15pm)

A NEW SUIT(4:15pm)

IT WAS AWESOME(4:16pm)

AWESOME I'M TELLING YOU(4:16pm)

AND IT WAS A TEST(4:16pm)

AND I THINK I PASSED? (4:16pm)

HE SAID THERE WERE REPORTERS(4:16pm)

Where are you?(4:18pm)

I'm waiting in the car for Happy(4:19pm)

I'm watching the tv from my cel(4:20pm)

I'm a fucking genius, I switched apps and lost connection(4:20pm)

Such intelligence. Much smart (4:21pm)

There is a conference(4:23pm)

Dude(4:31pm)

Tony Stark just proposed to Virginia Potts(4:31pm)

Live(4:31pm)

Like, a minute ago(4:31pm)

WHAT?!(4:32pm)

"MAY KNOWS"

"JOEPUTA! PETER!" she shrieks, turning to see him with the masks lenses wide. He's hanging outside her window, and she rolls her eyes before waving him inside. Joaquín had gone to a friend's house, so she only has to worry about her mother and she respected her enough to knock before coming in.

"Sorry. May found out" he answers as he gets inside, sitting on her bed.

"You got your suit back" she smiles, closing her laptop and putting it aside.

"And May saw me with it" he lets himself fall backwards, his hands resting on his stomach.

"You're so fucked"

"Oh, thank you, I didn't notice"

Peter

Pls watch this dog! It's so cute(9:08am)

watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ(9:08am)

I can't believe I fell again(9:12am)

IT'S THE THIRD TIME THIS MONTH(9:12am)

You should be thankful I didn't send you moans(9:13am)

What? XD(9:14am)

You know, a video that's supposed to be something and then

suddenly you get a girl moaning her head off, most

likely from a porno I guess (9:18am)

My uncles always send it to my dad(9:18am)

[video]

DON'T OPEN IT IN CLASS(9:25am)

It takes a month for her house to be like it was before, and then two more weeks for the shop. It doesn't mean it will open again, not really, because her father needs to get his feet back under him, needs to buy almost everything again before it can function.

Still, it means they can get back to their home, which is such a relief she almost cries.

But it also means moving day, which sucks because she can't use one of her fucking legs.

Peter

Come save me (9:27pm)

It's moving day tomorrow(9:27pm)

Do you need help?(9:28pm)

Well, *I* don't because I can't fucking move(9:31pm)

I'll be there(9:32pm)

She's sitting on the couch, Dani blabbering on her lap while being distracted by some Peppa Pig on her phone when she can hear the knock on the door. Her father, brother and Frank were at home dropping some things off before they came for more in Frank's pick up. They had never used moving trucks and survived, so they didn't see the sense in using them this time. They had always been just fine by themselves.

"Mooom, can you open the door? It's a friend that came to help!" she calls, trying to get Dani to eat another slice of apple. The baby lets go of her phone with one hand and accepts the fruit offering, munching on it while not taking off her eyes from the cartoon. Juliana knows it means her phone will be sticky later, but she doesn't really mind. Nothing a baby wipe will not make better.

"Juliana, I swear to God, if this friend doesn't help and gets on the way-" her mother says as she exits her room and walks toward the door. She rolls her eyes, knowing Peter can hear them, and speaks loud enough so he gets the message.

"I promise he will. Put him to do some heavy lifting, he won't disappoint"

"Hello, Mrs. Delmar. I'm Peter" she hears Peter greet her mother, and she's thankful her back is to the door so there is no chance he can see her smile.

"Hello, Peter. Come in" her mother says, and she knows she's trying to be pleasant when she's really stressed out.

"Hey Peter!" she calls, waving her arm above her head.

"Hey Juliana!" she hears him from the hallway, and when she turns her mother is disappearing into her room, leaving Peter there.

"Come in! Don't stand there!" she uses her head to signal him to come in, and he does so, walking around the couch and sitting beside her.

"How's your leg?" he asks her, smiling at her sister on her lap, offering her his hand so she can grab some of his fingers.

"Oh, it's okay today. This is Dani, you hadn't met her yet" she bounces her a little and has to look at the baby's lap when she hears her phone buzz "Dani, gimme" she tries to take it, but her grip is surprisingly strong for a baby. Peter distracts her with his hands, and she has to suppress a smile when she sees it "Mamáaa, ya vienen en camino. ¡A cinco minutos!"

"Joputa, tu papá no podía avisar cuando iban saliendo" comes her mother's voice from her bedroom.

"¿En qué puedo ayudar?" Peter calls, jumping up from the couch to angle himself towards her parents' room.

"Show off" she rolls her eyes before smiling at him "Ah-yuh-dahr . You gotta roll that r just a little, and it's more like 'you' than 'ee-oo'"

He repeats it and she nods this time, satisfied. Her mother asks Peter to take a few boxes and take them down, and if her face is any indication, she expected Peter to take them down one at the time, not all at once.

"He's strong" her mother says once he's gone, raising her eyebrows at her.

"I told you" she shrugs.

"And he's just a friend?" her mother asks as she takes Dani into her arms.

"Yeah, mom" she laughs, a little nervous, but her mother drops the subject.

"Was that Peter Parker I saw in the elevator?" her father asks not five minutes later as he comes in, Frank behind him.

"Yep! He's helping since I can't" she says from her place on the couch, focused on her phone.

"And since when do you know Peter Parker, young lady?"

"Eh…well, you know…common friends…yeah…"

"You barely leave the house"

"Can you just not question it?" she asks as she opens Peter's chat and warns him of the questioning he's going to be facing.

Peter is loading some boxes up into the pick up while trying to look human strong and not Spiderman strong when Juliana's brother comes to his side.

"I'm Joaquín, but everyone calls me Juaco" he says, leaning against the pick up.

"I'm Peter" he says, loading the last box and huffing.

"Hey, I know it's not my place or anything, but…are you Spiderman?"

"Wh-wha-what? No! What gave you the idea?" he crosses his arms, trying to make his voice sound more tired than he is, looking around before leaning against the pick up too and blinking.

"I don't know" Juaco shrugs before turning just in time to see Mr. Delmar and another man come outside with a sofa.

They all sit in the new living room to eat pizza, tired but happy.

Juliana has to lie and say she ate a lot more than she did, so they don't notice the fact that Peter ate a pizza and a half by himself.

She's sitting on her desk, leg finally free from everything, when Peter looks up from his book and sees her, one hand tangled on her hair, taping a rhythm against her lower lip as she thinks, and sees her.

"Hey, do you know if-why are you looking at me like that?"

"What? How? I wasn't-I wasn't looking at you" he tries to cover up, and she smiles and rolls her eyes "What-what were you going to ask me?"

Peter gets nightmares. She realizes it the day he falls asleep on her bed, a weekend when he drops by as Peter, politely saying hi to her mother and going to bedroom where they stay with the door open.

They were laying side by side watching Love, Rosie, and she had tugged the earphone off his ear when she noticed him asleep, angling his head so it wouldn't hurt when he woke up. She knew he had been tired, there had been a bad robbery late the other night and he had waited around until the cops got every one of the bad guys before he retired for the night.

The film was almost finished when she raised her hand to wipe away a tear and heard him whimper.

"Peter?" she turned her head, almost expecting him to be awake and crying like she did the first time she watched. But no, Peter was asleep, brow furrowed, and eyes clenched shut "Peter, wake up" she shook him, but it only made him whimper again "Peter!" she tried again, shutting her laptop and putting it aside so she can sit up. She took him by both of his shoulder and gave him a firm shake "Peter, wake up! It's a dream, c'mon, you're not there! Peter!"

With a gasp, Peter sat up and grabbed his chest, clawing at it.

"Peter, Peter, look at me" she grabbed his face on her hands, angling it towards her. His eyes were wide open, looking around but not really seeing "You're in my house, you're safe. I promise you" she grabbed one his hands, interlacing their fingers and pulling it to her lap "I'm here" she whispered, and saw the way Peter's eyes filled with tears.

She shushed him, leading his head towards her shoulder. He tensed for a few seconds before he started crying.

What did they do to you? she thought, running the fingers of her free hands across his hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she whispered against his hair, and she felt more than she saw the shake of his head. She kept the rhythmic movement of her hand for a few more minutes before she felt him sigh.

"It was Liz's dad" he started, his breathing labored "He…he kind of dropped a building over me. I was down there again, but I was just Peter. Not Spiderman. Just…Just Peter, like before, and I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and it hurt so much-"

"Shh, shh Peter. You're okay now. I got you" she whispered, and thought we're just children.

Peter takes to walking her home from schools the days she stays until too late, always as Peter, and they talk sometimes and other the don't but it's always comfortable.

One night, he leaves her on her door like always, lingering just a few seconds so he can see her get inside. Instead of opening the door, she searches around for her family, and when she doesn't see them, turns around to Peter.

"Are you okay? Did you forget your keys?" he asks, ready to lift her up to her fire escape like he has to do a few times already, but she shakes her head.

She takes a step closer and kisses him full on the lips.

Peter

I'll pick you up in fifteen, be ready! (3:45pm)

Been ready for ages ;) (3:46pm)

Is it okay if I say I'm a little nervous and your dad scares me? (3:46pm)

Dork(3:46pm)

Just ignore him, he's all bark and no bite(3:46pm)

I swear(3:46pm)

And I promise he's not a bad guy(3:48pm)

No secret life(3:48pm)

Sorry, that sounded better in my head (3:39pm)

May Parker had not been a saint child. She had, once, been young and rebellious. She had marched the streets, sneaked out of her house late at night to go partying.

Her parents had, more than once, left May and her younger sister locked inside her house while they had a weekend off, so they couldn't throw parties and invite boyfriends over. They had been known around the neighborhood for their parties, where people had to enter the house through the windows.

Up until Peter, Ben and she had partied on their weekends and after him, they still made some time for themselves. May was slightly younger than Ben, fresh off college when she had met him on a pub. They had dated for only a year before eloping and barely a year went by before they were being named little Peter's godparents. All in all, it usually didn't mean that much, May herself had only seen her own godparents a couple of times in her whole life, but back in that moment, when Mary Parker had smiled and passed her the little bundle that was newborn Peter and proclaimed her his godmother, May had burst into tears.

For her, being a godmother had meant not much more than being an aunt to Peter. Little Peter whose first birthday she had attended after a 72-hours shift and in which she fell asleep right into the cake she was eating. Little Peter who enjoyed being at their apartment so much they just transformed their guest room into his for his fourth birthday.

Little Peter, son of Ben's only brother, son of single child Mary, who suddenly only had them after the plane his parents were in crashed. She had regretted not asking them more things, like why they were leaving in the middle of the night, why the hurry, why not wait until Peter was fully awake. Mary had left crying as Richard tugged her hand, and she can still remember the way Peter had ran to the door to grab his father's coat.

She had grown horribly protective of him then. No one could dare to hurt little sunshine Peter, not if she was watching.

She had gone to Midtown at least three times to complain about that stupid kid that mocked Peter and she would have pulled him from that blasted school if it wasn't because Peter genuinely liked it, and because Ned was there.

Peter

Hey May, can Juliana go over in the afternoon? We want to watch a show(12:03pm)

I'll be home by five(1:15pm)

No sex without protection(1:15pm)

May why(1:18pm)

By the time she comes home, Peter and Juliana are laying on the couch. The tv is on, but they aren't watching.

"Hey Miss May" Juliana says, but doesn't try to get up like she usually does.

"Hey Juliana" May says as she comes in and drops her bag in the table. From that point, she can see that Peter is asleep and has his arm around Juliana's waist "Did he fall asleep long ago?"

"No, I think it must have been ten minutes" the girls answers, craning her head to look at her.

"Well, I'll go change clothes and then we can go out for dinner. Peter and I like a Thai place, do you like Thai?"

"Umm…I've never tried Thai, but I'll just go home for dinner"

"What, why? We can go for pizzas if you'd like that!"

"I-I don't have any money, Miss May"

"What are you talking about? Dinner is on me. C'mon, wake Peter up and put on some shoes!"

They go on dates after school, when neither of them has a test the next day and sometimes even when they do, with the excuse of helping each other study.

They do that, mostly. There's a park that's close to both of their homes and they spend a lot of their time there, mostly on the grass.

Juliana sees Peter take out his camera as they're laying side by side and warns him against taking pictures of her. He rolls his eyes and sets it aside, moving until he's hovering over her. She moves aside a lock of his hair and smiles at him until the sound of the camera going off alerts her of the taken picture.

She pushes his head back, laughing, and tries to make a move to take the camera, but he's faster than her and it's effortless for him to keep it away from her.

When he develops the pictures, she steals that one, just that one, and tapes it into the inner side of her locker door.

Juliana is not ashamed of Peter, and she wants to believe Peter is not of her. So, when he comments when his next competition is, she does some digging and begs her mother to let her go to it. Missing one day of school is nothing, taking into account her nearly perfect attendance. It's the State competition, and so she has to travel for a while, but her mother somehow lets her go.

She gets there just five minutes before it starts, because, apparently, she can't trust apps anymore, and sits in the back next to some people in nice clothes. She's conscious about her jeans and flannel for about ten seconds before deciding it's alright, there are parents around that dressed like her.

Peter is there, right next to who Midtown High's Instagram identifies as Michelle Jones, new captain, and Ned, whom she had met a couple times already and had found most pleasant. There are tons of other schools, but she keeps focused on the guys with the yellow jackets.

Peter and Michelle answer most of the questions, their hands flying over the table, and she has to keep her pride to herself as she sees Peter smile to Ned and shake his hand in a complex way only they know how, points pilling up.

When they win, she claps and tries to keep her yelling to herself. She's hungry like hell, but she ignores it as they go take their medals. She runs down the stands when they come down the stage and waits until parents have approached other schools to run to them.

"You were brilliant!" she yells as she jumps into Peter's back, arms around his neck. Her backpack hits the back of her neck, but she ignores it to plant a kiss on Peter's right cheek.

"Juliana?" he says, surprised as he tries to look into her face.

"You guys are awesome!" she smiles as she lets him go. He passes an arm over her head and around her waist to put her in front of him and she spots his best friend "Ned! Man! You were totally great!" she laughs, high fiving the chubby boy "Michelle! You don't know me, but you're my queen"

"Thanks, Juliana" Ned smiles to her, his eyes wrinkling and his head falling to the side in a way that warms her heart.

Michelle pauses in knotting her jacket around her waist to give her a small smile.

"What, what are you doing here?" Peter laughs, his face still surprised.

"Well…you know. You guys went to my last debate" she mumbles, lifting one shoulder.

"Hey Parker!" she hears someone yell and when she looks over, a guy is pushing past two of other members of Michelle's team "Who's that? You had to bring your cousin to watch or what? Oh, right, you don't have cousins"

She notices the moment Peter tenses around her, his fingers digging into her hip. She lays a hand against his, looking at him with the calmest eyes she can. She removes his hand from her hip and takes it into hers, interlacing their fingers.

"You must be Flash" she says, not moving a muscle to greet him. Normally she would never have the confidence to do something like this, but now she's wearing mascara, she had shaped her eyebrows just last night and her skin and hair were having a good day, so she feels like she can get away with it.

"You've heard of me" he raises an eyebrow, a smirk staring to make it into his face. If he thinks he's charming, he's mad.

"I have" she says and leaves it that. She turns to Peter and Ned to talk, snuggling closer to Peter "My mom says you both can come for dinner, if you want. To celebrate"

When her school had won the last debate, Ned and Peter had taken her out to eat to celebrate. Her mother had said she could invite them over, if she wanted to.

"I'll have to ask my mom" Ned answers, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Mom already talked with May. It's up to you. I think she was going to make a cake" she says to Peter and sees the way he smiles is small and she hates it. Her sunshine boy should smile the widest after the win they just had.

"Yeah, it'll be ni-"

"Soo, how you know Penis here?"

"I don't appreciate your nicknames for Peter, so please retain from using them" she can hear snickers coming from the others, but she ignores them just as she ignores his question.

"Hey, Peter, do you think I can crash at yours today?" Ned asks, lifting his eyes from his phone.

"Yeah, sure" Peter nods as he shrugs, and Ned wastes no time in telling his mother just that.

"Then I can come. What's you mom making, Juliana?" Ned taps away for a few seconds before pocketing his phone.

"Not sure, but definitely cake"

"Sweet" Ned nods with a smile on his face.

The teacher then comes to take them to the bus, and Peter shyly asks if Juliana can come with them in the bus, that she came to see them and could use a ride back. The teacher looks at him for two seconds before shrugging and leading the way back.

They ride side by side, Ned turned backwards in the seat in front of them to talk while Michelle read a book by the window across the aisle. Flash didn't bother them anymore, and she thinks it may be because when he turned to them, he saw her kissing Peter on his cheek, her smile wide as she leaned back to escape his hands that were about to tickle her.

If he bumps shoulders with Peter when he's leaving, and she puts her foot just right so he falls into his face, well, no one can really blame her.

Peter knows Juliana likes to shuffle through the thousand songs she has accumulated through the years, refusing to get Spotify because she just loves her songs and how she knows every single one. She likes to connect her mp4 to her speaker when she remembers to charge it and load it with the songs she gets from YouTube, updating her list of songs to include her newest finds.

Today, it's something he recognizes from years ago, back when they were maybe eight? She hums it as she flicks the page of one of her books for the test he knows she has tomorrow.

"Ain't about what waiting in the other siiiiiide" she sings lowly, humming the next part as she changes books.

"It doesn't sound from this decade" he says as he comes through her open window, making her raise her eyes and smiles at him. She puts aside her book and crawls over the end of her bed, kneeling so she's right in front of him. Today, her hair is up in a lazy bun and he can notice the new shade that fades into light brown at the tips. She had dyed it last month and been happy with the way it faded into a lighter color in a way that seemed a tad bit more natural that a lot of the girls he had seen on his school.

"There's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it moooove" she sings to him, moving her hands slowly, side to side above her head. He grabs her by the waist and pulls her to his chest "Hi there, Spiderman" she whispers, tugging his mask up and placing a kiss into his mouth.

"I missed you" he mumbles against her lips, lowering his hands to her legs and tugging on them so she falls back. He crawls over her, his elbows supporting his weight on either side of her head.

"I missed you too" she links her arms around his neck and peppers kisses on whatever skin she can find. When she gets to the border of his mask, she takes it off and looks into his eyes "And I'll miss you even more tomorrow. You know what time you'll be back?"

"Not really, but it'll be late. I'm sorry I'll miss your mom's birthday" he lets himself fall beside her, sneaking one of his arms around her waist as she snuggles close to him.

"It's okay. It's a school trip, you can't really do anything about it. You'll swing by after that, right?" she touches around the spider-drone of his suit, almost wishing it would fly off. She had laughed when he had showed it to her, but not as loudly as when she had tried his mask on and heard Karen. He'd been busted the second she had heard her name, but really, he thought it was genius to call her like Plankton's wife.

"Of course. Couldn't keep myself away even if I wanted" he smiles, burying his nose into her cheek in a way that he knows will make her laugh.

"Mm… sounds fake but okay" she says when she can get him away from her face, her hands on his hair.

"I love you" he pecks her lips and smiles again.

"I love you more"

Sunshine Peter 333 :P

On the bus. Ily (9:04am)

I love you too (9:04am)

Miss you already. Wish you were here (9:05am)

Miss u too(9:05am)

I'm bored (9:21am)

And im in class, I have a test next period

talk to you later (9:22am)

Out of class on lunch, free 2 talk (1:48pm)

Peter? (3:49pm)

Peter, u alive? (4:06pm)

Peter, you're scaring me (4:57pm)

Ned says you were with Mr. Stark.

Where r u (5:09pm)

I'll save you a piece of cake, but

please answer (5:23pm)

Peter what's happening (5:36pm)

Peter pls answer, my mom just…

idk whats happening (5:42pm)

Dad and Gustavo too (6:04pm)

I'm alone with Juaco and Dani, idk what to do (6:06pm)

Im guessing u don't have signal up in space (5:31pm)

I love you (5:31pm)

I hope you see this when you come back (5:32pm)

It's a mess back here. May's worried. I'm worried (5:32pm)

We're put of our mind (5:32pm)

Out (5:32pm)

And scared (5:33pm)

I love you Peter. I miss you (5:33pm)

Juaco says he misses you too (5:33pm)

News are saying mr. stark came back, answer your phone (11:53pm)

pls

Peter (00:28am)

Im guessing youre charging your phone, call me asap

Maybe get karen or Friday to call me (00:45am)

Peter?(3:53am)

Sometimes I wake up, and I expect to have a text

from you, teling me good morning like always(6:46am)

I miss you so much(6:46am)

Happy Birthday, Peter(12:00am)

Mr. Stark has been good to us(4:55am)

I think he feels guilty(4:55am)

I don't blame him(4:55am)

I just miss you(4:55am)

Happy birthday(12:00am)

I still love you(12:00am)

They're telling me I should just forget you(6:49pm)

Get over you(6:49pm)

It's been two years, but I can't(6:49pm)