“Ummm, no, that’s for my protection. No matter how cute you are I don’t reveal my identity on a third meeting,” Peter pointed out. Which was the truth, that would be insane and he might as well not have a secret identity at all at that point. Everyone thought they were trustworthy but when it was a secret that could ruin your life if it got out? Yeah he kept that more under wraps.
“You know you wouldn’t sell my identity to the Bugle, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t. But I’m not… risk my entire life and freedom and the safety of everyone I know and love sure. And I wouldn’t do it just to satisfy someone’s curiosity. It would have to be something they deserved or needed to know.”
Not that that was the real issue with Midge. He had no doubt that she wouldn’t sell his identity out. But revealing his secret identity was a “I’m sure I want to spend my life with you” sort of secret. But he couldn’t tell her that as Spider-Man.
She nods, because what he’s saying is serious. “I get what you mean.”What he does is dangerous. People might think he’s a freak. The government might try to detain him. His loved ones might be used against him.
Midge isn’t used to not getting her way, especially when she’s cute, but she can be an adult about this.
“Is there someone you love? A partner? I guess there isn’t, if you want to fight my boyfriend in order to date me.”
“I wouldn’t be flirting with you so much if I was with someone,” he said, which was kind of a lie. He would only be flirting with her like this if they were already dating, but whatever. And Peter did joke around with people as Spider-Man but he never got flirty, not really. Besides, he wasn’t very good at it.
“And it doesn’t have to be a fight. A race? See who can lift the most? High jump maybe?”
Midge thinks he’s pretty darn good at flirting. Peter is too. Their styles are similar. That’s another part of what’s arousing her suspicions.
“So the odds are stacked in your favor?” she asks. “That doesn’t seem fair. I think it should be two parts. The first part can be physical, but the second part needs to test how smart you are. Peter is brilliant.”
“Ooh, rain check on a chess match or a spelling test. Hey, what about a cooking competition? That seems more fair. Being strong or smart doesn’t really help there, does it?” Peter asked, already getting an idea from that suggestion. Midge probably wouldn’t hate getting baked goods as an attempt to win her affection, right?
She puts her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised. "Well, well, well. Looks like I found what Spider Man is scared of. I definitely think chess should be a round, especially if you soundly defeat him in the physical contest." Midge doesn't know if Peter plays chess or not, but she presumes that he does. He probably at least plays enough of it to beat Spider Man.
"We can add a neutral third cooking round though. Wow, did I find the two men in this city that cook?" It's a minor miracle.
“I’m not afraid just less sure about my chances of winning and there’s a really good prize on the line,” Peter pointed out. He wasn’t an amazing cook but he was decent enough. He did have a few really good meals that he could pull out of necessary.
“Okay so let’s say… pull ups, chess, and cooking? Winner gets you?”
Midge cocks her head to the side, looking at his upside down face and trying to determine how serious he is about this. Are they still joking around?
"Peter would have to agree to this too," she says. "I'm not sure if he will."
Risk losing her over pull ups and chess? Midge doubts he would take that chance. She's also not sure if she's really inclined to put her relationship and future happiness on the line for some contest for her affections.
Peter was not sure how serious Midge was taking this. He was mostly meaning to be silly and maybe she was too. But she sounded like she was treating it seriously? He would hope she was happy enough with him she didn’t feel the need to risk their relationship on a bet like this.
“If he did agree I’d be seriously less worried about the chess game because he’d be stupidly to risk being with someone like you over a competition. But hey, if he’s up for it I am too. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
Midge shakes her head. “Fortunately I’m not a prize to be won. I lo- really like Peter and you beating him in contests wouldn’t change that. I don’t know if we’ll ever break up, but you’re welcome to come find me then.”
She’s glad that it seems like he wasn’t serious about the contest anyway. She has a say in who she wants to be with anyway.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Peter totally heard the first part of that word come out of her mouth in terms of how she felt about Peter. He was glad that he had a mask on because otherwise his shocked face followed by his ridiculously happy face would be on full display.
“Oh, we can still hang out though, right? Just because we can’t date right now? This is… fun. I don’t normally hang out with anyone like this.”
"Well that depends. If I'm sticking something to a surface it feels different than if it's a line I'm going to climb on? But here... toss something in the air you're okay with me webbing to the wall for the next... two hours or so," Peter offered. That way she could feel what that was like and then he could leave her with a web-line as well. It was a perfectly fair question though, it wasn't the sort of thing that anyone else was using.
Midge looks around the room and ultimately decides on a hairbrush. She tosses it into the air, watching with fascination as Spider Man sticks it to the wall.
She approaches it and gingerly touches the web. It sticks to her finger as she pulls it back, leaving a trail. “What is this stuff?” Midge asks, making a face.
“It’s webbing,” he said, which was technically correct, which was the best kind of correct when you were trying to hide a secret identity from you girlfriend but felt bad lying to her too much.
“But don’t worry, in about two hours it will turn to dust, if you really need that hairbrush before then… you can cut it, but it’s pretty tough stuff.”
“What’s it made of though?” Eventually, she’s able to extricate her finger from the webbing. Her fingers are still sticky as she rubs her thumb and forefinger together, trying to get the remnants off. She imagines that being covered in it must feel quite uncomfortable.
“Do you know what all your bodily fluids are made of?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he watched her play with the webbing. It wasn’t actually a bodily fluid but he wasn’t actually saying that it was. Besides, if he rattled off all the chemical compounds in it, that wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to her anyway.
“This came out of your body?!” Now Midge is surreptitiously wiping her hand on her skirt because ummmm gross. She’s going to have to sanitize that hair brush once the webbing goes away.
“Yes I make it,” he said, trying not to laugh too much at her reaction. That was definitely worth it and later he would probably pay for it once he told her who he was and that it wasn’t something he made IN his body but WITH his body.
“You can ask your boyfriend if you want, I’ve carried multiple people on it, some of them a lot bigger than you. It can definitely carry the two of us,” Peter explained. Several times he had to carry multiple people to safety at a time so having Midge with him wouldn’t be a problem.
“I won’t even go high or fast or do any flips or anything. Cross my heart.”
So Peter hadn’t actually thought that she would have accepted his offer right then and there. Well, not much to be done about that. Hopefully she’d be too distracted by him carrying her through the air to realize how… familiar his body felt. If nothing else, the costume was kind of unusual.
“No. But I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes at the side of the building? I promise, just a quick swing around the block then I’ll have you back.”
Midge could barely believe that the words came out of her mouth, but, no backing down now.
“Okay,” she says, more confidently than she feels. “Yep. See you in a few minutes.”
5 minutes later, she’s down in the alleyway beside the club, waiting for Spider-Man. Why did she volunteer to do this in the dark? Midge keeps telling herself that it’s going to be fine.
Peter briefly considered calling the swinging off, maybe feigning some sort of emergency, but thought that might seem even more suspicious. Midge was very sharp and intuitive and would likely pick up on any fabricated excuse. It was probably best just to make the ride as… exciting as he could to distract her.
So after sneaking out of the building onto the roof he gave a dramatic leap from up top to land dramatically in front of Midge. But a ways away in an attempt to not startle her.
“Okay, so once around the block?” He asked, making a circling motion with one finger as he walked up to her. “And I promise not to go too fast.”
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“You know you wouldn’t sell my identity to the Bugle, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t. But I’m not… risk my entire life and freedom and the safety of everyone I know and love sure. And I wouldn’t do it just to satisfy someone’s curiosity. It would have to be something they deserved or needed to know.”
Not that that was the real issue with Midge. He had no doubt that she wouldn’t sell his identity out. But revealing his secret identity was a “I’m sure I want to spend my life with you” sort of secret. But he couldn’t tell her that as Spider-Man.
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Midge isn’t used to not getting her way, especially when she’s cute, but she can be an adult about this.
“Is there someone you love? A partner? I guess there isn’t, if you want to fight my boyfriend in order to date me.”
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“And it doesn’t have to be a fight. A race? See who can lift the most? High jump maybe?”
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“So the odds are stacked in your favor?” she asks. “That doesn’t seem fair. I think it should be two parts. The first part can be physical, but the second part needs to test how smart you are. Peter is brilliant.”
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"We can add a neutral third cooking round though. Wow, did I find the two men in this city that cook?" It's a minor miracle.
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“Okay so let’s say… pull ups, chess, and cooking? Winner gets you?”
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"Peter would have to agree to this too," she says. "I'm not sure if he will."
Risk losing her over pull ups and chess? Midge doubts he would take that chance. She's also not sure if she's really inclined to put her relationship and future happiness on the line for some contest for her affections.
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Peter was not sure how serious Midge was taking this. He was mostly meaning to be silly and maybe she was too. But she sounded like she was treating it seriously? He would hope she was happy enough with him she didn’t feel the need to risk their relationship on a bet like this.
“If he did agree I’d be seriously less worried about the chess game because he’d be stupidly to risk being with someone like you over a competition. But hey, if he’s up for it I am too. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
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She’s glad that it seems like he wasn’t serious about the contest anyway. She has a say in who she wants to be with anyway.
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“Oh, we can still hang out though, right? Just because we can’t date right now? This is… fun. I don’t normally hang out with anyone like this.”
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“Before you go, I was wondering if you’d be willing to indulge me,” Midge says. “I’m curious about what your web feels like.”
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She approaches it and gingerly touches the web. It sticks to her finger as she pulls it back, leaving a trail. “What is this stuff?” Midge asks, making a face.
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“It’s webbing,” he said, which was technically correct, which was the best kind of correct when you were trying to hide a secret identity from you girlfriend but felt bad lying to her too much.
“But don’t worry, in about two hours it will turn to dust, if you really need that hairbrush before then… you can cut it, but it’s pretty tough stuff.”
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“Do you know what all your bodily fluids are made of?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he watched her play with the webbing. It wasn’t actually a bodily fluid but he wasn’t actually saying that it was. Besides, if he rattled off all the chemical compounds in it, that wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to her anyway.
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“So you make it? Like… spit?”
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She looks up at him hanging from a line to the ceiling.
You only live once, right?
“You promise that web can hold more than one person?”
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“You can ask your boyfriend if you want, I’ve carried multiple people on it, some of them a lot bigger than you. It can definitely carry the two of us,” Peter explained. Several times he had to carry multiple people to safety at a time so having Midge with him wouldn’t be a problem.
“I won’t even go high or fast or do any flips or anything. Cross my heart.”
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She trusts him though. Spider Man won’t drop her.
“Okay,” she says. “Let’s do it. Do we need to go up to the roof?”
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“No. But I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes at the side of the building? I promise, just a quick swing around the block then I’ll have you back.”
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“Okay,” she says, more confidently than she feels. “Yep. See you in a few minutes.”
5 minutes later, she’s down in the alleyway beside the club, waiting for Spider-Man. Why did she volunteer to do this in the dark? Midge keeps telling herself that it’s going to be fine.
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So after sneaking out of the building onto the roof he gave a dramatic leap from up top to land dramatically in front of Midge. But a ways away in an attempt to not startle her.
“Okay, so once around the block?” He asked, making a circling motion with one finger as he walked up to her. “And I promise not to go too fast.”
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