close_to_the_ground | For Beverly

This is a third date, Peter thinks.

Kind of?

Date number one had a bunch of adult chaperones and date number two was mostly just Beverly watching him nearly drown and then dropping a huge secret on her but this is definitely, definitely a date. So, date number three. He'd said something about that to Mr. Stark but Peter had gotten a muttered response about third dates that he'd ignored because he knows Tony wasn't serious. Because Tony Stark is very aware Peter still hasn't even managed to kiss a girl.

But yeah, date three and Peter is pretty sure he won't have to fight any of her family members and she knows about the Spider-Man so he's not lying about anything and he still thinks she's pretty and smart and funny and brave and swims in quarries so, yeah. He's got this.

He trots up to the orphanage, firing off a text as he resettles the heavy backpack. There's a lot of stuff in here and the packing took a weird amount of arguing with Tony to get done. In the end there are sandwiches on fancy bread with fancy ham and cheese, pears because Tony insisted for some reason, two bottles of pink lemonade because shut up Mr. Stark, and a little tupperware full of brownies because no, no Peter did not want to pack a brulee.

Most importantly, he's got his web shooters on his wrists and his mask stuffed into the pocket of his jeans. Okay, he's got this. He's Spider-Man.

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Beverly is pretty sure that she has never been cool, and she's about to say as much when she sees the way he starts to lean just slightly towards her, her pulse ratcheting up slightly in response. She's been in a position like this just once before, but that's the last thing she wants to be thinking about right now. That memory is all faded anyway; she remembers the warm September sunlight but not the look on Bill's face when she turned to walk away.

This is vivid and present and real, and it's something she wants to hold onto. Barely suppressing the impulse to smile, she leans in to meet him halfway and kiss him, still a little unsure of herself but certain that she wants this.

Oh thank God.

She didn't pull away. Or slap him. Or yell. Or gag. Or grimace.

He drops his feet down, hands coming up to carefully cradle her face in his hands as he grins and kisses her again. This feels like swinging between buildings, maybe even better. Definitely better, actually, he thinks as he presses close.

Holy shit.

The strange thing — the nice thing — is how safe she feels. Beverly isn't really used to that, though she thinks she'd like to be. There's so much that she's never gotten a chance to have before. No dates, just nasty rumors; no one who was actually interested in her, just guys who wanted to use her name as a conquest, and, of course, her father. That's the last thing she wants to be thinking about now, though, when she feels both wonderfully normal and like she's floating in midair or something stupid like that.

"Wow," she says, flushed and a little breathless and smiling uncontrollably, even as she knows she must sound stupid. "That, that was really nice."

"Thank God," Peter breathes, laughing a little as he leans his forehead against hers. "I mean, I have no idea what I'm doing. At all. I mean I haven't, you know. Anything. So."

Awesome, Parker. Smooth, as always.

"Do you, uh, do you think it'd be okay if I called you my girlfriend?" he blurts out.

"I really don't either," Beverly says, huffing out a quick laugh in turn. Aside from that game of spin the bottle a few months back, during which nothing particularly noteworthy happened on her end, she's had only one real kiss to speak of before now. (She's not sure a third grade play counts.) "So at least, you know. We're on the same page there."

She grins, though, her cheeks still warm. "Definitely okay. Yeah."

"Uh, okay. Wow. Awesome," Peter laughs, reaching out to wrap Bev in his arms, easily lifting her a few inches off the ground.

"I'm your boyfriend. Okay, you got my birthday, you know about my parents and you know about the Spider-Man thing. Uh, favorite color is blue and I hate mango. That's probably everything, right?" he teases, leaning in for a soft kiss.

"The important things, yeah," Beverly says, smiling as she leans in to meet him halfway. There's still a lot that she hasn't told him, which seems unfair for a fleeting moment, but it isn't as if she plans to keep it all a secret. He knows some of it, anyway — knows about It, and that she wasn't happy at home, and that seems like maybe it's a good start.

Maybe if she keeps it lighthearted, it will be a little easier to handle. With that in mind, she exhales a quiet laugh. "Shit, does that mean it's trivia time on my end?"

"I mean yeah, that is clearly how this works those are the rules that I know about because I have so much experience," he says, putting her down on her feet but staying close.

This is, this is really different. He's never been this close to someone who wasn't family or like, Ned.

"Hit me. Trivia time."

"Okay," Beverly says with a grin. It might be a little nerve-wracking, the idea of letting herself be known, something she hasn't done very much of for a reason, but it will be worth it, too. Nothing that's happened so far would have if he hadn't wanted it to. Maybe he doesn't really have any idea of the kind of baggage she comes with yet, but she can start small, work up to more.

"Uh, I play keyboard a little, but I don't have one here," she says. "I like sneaking out of the Home just to know I can. And... I cut my own hair."

"We should both sneak out sometime," he murmurs, leaning in to steal another kiss. "And, and I want to watch you play. And seriously anything else you're interested in. I want to know it all."

He laughs, ducking his head because he knows he sounds ridiculous but he just, he's so gone for her.

"If I ever do get one, you can definitely watch me play," Beverly says, laughing just a little in turn at the thought of it. "Or we could like... find a music store or something." It's not like she's great or anything, but it's at least a hobby, and something that she could share with him. "And we should totally both sneak out sometime. It'll be fun."

For Beverly

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