Chapter Text
Arasha knew, when she chose to come to New York for college, that she was signing up for the supervillain capital of the world. In her three years since starting at NYU, she’s seen Spider-Man only a few times. He’d saved everyone in her freshman year dorm building after a fire, he’d taken care of some guy who was following her the year after that, and had swung her out of an alleyway when she was about to get mugged. She’d also seen him swinging around above her a couple times, as all New Yorkers had at some point. The first time she really met him, though, she was running late.
It had taken her all night to finish an essay that, in fairness, she should have finished like a week ago, but she’d had a stroke of genius at 11, and didn’t get to sleep till 4. She snoozed her alarm too many times, and then got halfway to the coffee shop when she realized she’d forgotten her bag, and now her favorite coffee shop is on the same block as a rageful rock monster. She can see, as she walks up, the quick-moving streak of red and blue, so she heads inside anyway, figuring she’ll be fine, and she can’t waste more time.
She’s supposed to be at Angela and Amanda’s apartment to meet them and Shayne to discuss plans for Courtney’s birthday next month, and when she realized how late she was gonna be, she figured the least she could do was bring everyone their drinks. As she waits in line, she hears the smashes and crashes outside the building of the on-going fight. She’s proud to say that she’s passed one of those ever moving “New Yorker” goalposts in that she’s pretty unphased by these kinds of things now.
When she finally leaves with a tray of drinks in hand, she narrowly avoids getting hit by the fist of the giant rock monster as his body gets hurled past her and into the street. She blinks hard, thrown. The big ass rock guy stays down, thank god, and then there he is. Spider-Man, falling down next to her, letting go of his webs to land gracefully on his feet right in front of her.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t see you there, are you okay?”
She takes a moment but turns to look at him. “Uh, yeah. He just missed me.”
He lets out a clear sigh of relief, and she notices that he’s wearing headphones over his ears. “Thank god. I’d feel really bad if you got hurt after I defeated the bad guy. It’d totally suck.”
She nods, chuckling. He sounds just the same as she remembers, though she hasn’t heard him in six or seven months. “It’d be bad for your rep. I’d have to go to the Daily Bugle.”
He laughs a little, then his head shifts a little to the side, like a confused puppy, which is frankly adorable. He’s clearly trying to place her, so she gives him a dazzling smile and laughs. She doesn’t expect him to, but he snaps and points at her. “Arasha! I remember now. Please don’t go to the Daily Bugle, they have enough reasons to hate me already.”
“I’d never.” Her smile feels less like a showy joke, and she was trying not to blush. “I’m surprised you remember me. I’m sure you save a lot of people.”
“Well, I try to remember everybody.” He ducks his head, mumbling the next part. “Plus, you’re, like, really pretty.”
Now she’s definitely blushing, but she plays it up, playfully batting him on the arm. “You flatter me, Spider-Man.”
She likes to think he smiles at her, but how the hell should she know. He gestures with his wrist, like he’s about to web away, but pauses, looking back at her. “Need a lift?”
“God, yes.” She breathes out eagerly, sliding up close and delicately balancing her tray of cups in one hand, wrapping the other around his shoulder. “I’m so freaking late. I’m going to 24th and 6th.”
“Got it.” He adjusts until his arm is around her waist, and then he flicks out his wrist. As they start swinging, she notices him going more slowly and precise then she’s seen, or even then he did the last time he’d dropped her off at home, almost as if he was making sure her drinks didn’t spill.
“So, Spider-Man. How do you spend your days? Other than saving lives and punching bad guys and all that.”
“Uh, well. I like to cook. I play video games. I’m kind of a photographer, but that’s more my job right now than, like, a hobby. How about you?”
“I’m a student at NYU.”
“I remember. You were in that dorm fire, right?”
“Oh. Uh, yeah, I was.”
Wow. He actually remembers her from separate events. That’s really sweet, and makes her feel warm in her heart. It’s nothing, he probably has a really good memory. She doesn’t want to pretend that she’s special when this guy is literally just doing a job.
“What do you study?”
“I’m kind of doing my own major. It’s a mix of performing arts, comedic arts, journalism, and film and television.”
“Damn. That’s impressive.”
“Thank you, hero who literally saves the city multiple times a day constantly. I am very impressive.”
He bursts out a laugh, and it beams like pride in her chest. No big deal, she made Spider-Man laugh. She’s funny like that.
“I’m not that impressive in real life, I assure you.”
“Even if that’s true, which I doubt, you really make up for it with your job, dude.”
“I guess so. Thank you, Arasha.”
“It’s literally nothing, Spider-Man.”
“Spidey.” He pauses, and she turns a little to look at him, but his eyes are completely turned the complete other way. “My, uh. My friends call me Spidey.”
“I’m sure they call you by your real name, but I’ll take it.”
He laughs again, softer. It’s cute as hell. Fuck, she does not have the time to be crushing on a superhero right now.
“Alright, which building?”
When she looks, she realizes they’re already on Amanda and Angela’s block. She didn’t even notice. “The, uh, brick one. With the bar next to it.”
“Cool.” They slowly lower, and he gently lets go of her waist as they land. She can feel the lack of it there, the cool air blowing against the burning place, just to really hammer it home. “Hope I saved you some time.”
“Definitely. It would’ve taken me at least ten more minutes to get here. You’ve got like the best cheat code ever there.”
“Oh, for sure. Game changer.” She laughs, and he ducks his head again. His head tilts slightly, like he’s listening to something she can’t hear. He sighs. “I’ve gotta go, some incels are trying to rob a bank.”
“Damn. You can just tell that? That’s crazy.”
He motions to his ears. “Super hearing. Comes with the Spider package. You’re good?”
She nods, smiling at him. “Thanks to you. Good luck, Spidey.” She hesitates for a second, then she kisses him on the cheek of his mask. He doesn’t react for a moment, but then he sticks his arm out and launches himself away with far more speed and less grace then he did when she was tucked into his arm. She looks at her drinks tray. He didn’t spill a drop.
She shakes her head as she hustles up the steps, pressing the buzzer to Angela and Amanda’s apartment. “I know I’m late, but I have coffee and a really good excuse!”
The door clicks open, and she steps in quickly. It’s never an uneventful day in this damn city.
//
(bonus)
“Guess what happened to me this morning?”
Arasha passes the coffees around the table, giving Angela hers first as she sticks out grabby-hands for it with a silly face. Shayne, not looking up from his computer, pushes a legal pad full of notes towards Arasha. “You snoozed your alarm too much and were late for the first Birthday Meeting of the year?”
Arasha takes his notes with an eye roll. He always gets weird and intense about Courtney’s birthday. They love surprises, so every year, they come together and try to make the whole weekend as perfect as can be for her. For the three years Arasha’s known them, her birthday is always an Event, and it’s all because Shayne gets like This about a month before. “Okay, maybe, but that’s not it. Spider-Man just dropped me off.”
Shayne shuts his laptop, Angela turns from her silly face to serious immediately, and Amanda’s eyes turn concerned. Arasha rolls her eyes again. “I’m fine, obviously. There was some rock monster on the block of the coffee shop. I didn’t even get hurt, I was inside the whole time. But when I was leaving, the rock guy’s body flew past me and almost hit me. Didn’t! But, yeah, almost. And Spidey dropped me off.”
Shayne’s eyes narrow at her. “Spidey?”
She might blush. It’s not important. “Yeah? He said it’s what people call him.”
Angela snorts into her coffee, then clearly gets kicked under the table by Shayne. “Hey!” They give each other a look for a second, and then Angela’s eyes widen, ever so slightly. She takes her phone out and starts typing.
Arasha picks up the notes with a flourish, ignoring the both of them. “So, I have a very valid excuse for my lateness as I was theoretically near danger and none of you can be mad at me. Also, my pitch for this year’s birthday is escape room.”
Shayne opens his computer up, immediately typing. “That’s not a bad idea. Let me see what we can do.”
Angela stands, heading for the hallway. “Phone call, I’ll be back.”
She and Shayne exchange some sort of look on her way out, which leads Arasha and Amanda to share a confused one. Then, Shayne starts giving her a verbal rundown of what she’s missed, which makes his notes pointless. She lightheartedly tosses them at him when he finishes, and he dodges easily with a laugh.
“Okay, okay, I’m done. By the way, me and Court are having a housewarming party for our apartment next week. Friday at 9, theme TBD.”
“Dude, haven’t you two lived there for like three months?”
“Yeah, but we forgot to have a party then. So we’re doing it now.”
She laughs. “Okay, sure. Count me in.”
Angela comes back in, and gives Shayne a nod and an eager smile. Shayne’s grin turns mischievous in return. “Great. Arasha, I’ve got just the guy for you to meet."
Great. That’s not incredibly foreboding.