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Niah knew who Spiderman was.
Technically she never even saw his face, but that was due to not seeing at all. She was blind but she knew. Oh she knew. It took almost dying and losing her sight to realize who had been by her side the entire time.
Years after the incident, when she'd gotten used to being blind, she'd become accustomed to using her other senses to lead her around the wild world around her. More important to her realization, her hearing had Spiderman pinned the moment she heard both his voices.
To think, after years of knowing each other, he'd been hiding such a large secret.... alone.
Niah pressed her lips together as she sat at her table, her leg bouncing as she wondered how she'd approach him about it when he arrived. She should've realized it sooner - their ideals, their morals... Hobie Brown had been Spiderman for several years, taking on crime and skillfully keeping his persona hidden from her for so long.
If she wanted to, she could be upset, but she couldn't help but understand why he never told her. It would be risky, given her blindness - she'd never see anyone coming until it was too late.
That alone, despite her knowing self-defense, she couldn't take on villains that Hobie fought on the daily. She sighed and tilted her head as she heard her window sliding open.
“Yunno, y' should really start lockin' your window.”
She smiled at the sound of Hobie's voice and turned, tilting her head up to face him. Hell, she hadn't seen his face in so long... Did he still look the way he did when he was seventeen? It'd been so long, six years in fact, since she last saw his face.
To think it took her six fucking years to realize who he was.
“Hey.”
She heard him sit beside her and reacted before she put thought into it, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him, resting her cheek on his shoulder and noting how he flinched in surprise.
“You a'right?”
“Yeah I just...” There was no easy way to come out with it. “I know who you are. What you've been hiding.”
He didn't tense up, his breath didn't hitch, and he even chuckled a little and rubbed her back. “li'e what?”
“I know you're Spiderman.”
Dead silence. She could hear the stuttering of his heart this time and smiled a little, rubbing the back of his shoulders.
“Yeah. Found out a while ago but I didn't know how to come out with it. I know. You've been keeping it to yourself, trying to protect me, protect yourself... Funny thing about hearing voices is you can eventually tell which ones sound familiar and which ones don't.”
“Niah, I-”
“I'm not mad,” she spoke quickly, leaning back up to face him, reaching for his hands in case he tried to run away. “I don't blame you. I can't say I understand completely, but I know it's a dangerous job. I know you were trying to protect me.”
“Niah...” He sighed and held her hands tightly. “Ain' nothin' slippin' past you anymore, eh?”
“Not at all,” she said with a grin. “Not even gonna try to deny my accusation?”
“Why would I? I already hurt ya once.”
“Hobie-”
“Don't.”
Niah didn't have to, but her eyes lowered to the floor as she sighed. So he still blamed himself for her losing her sight. It felt like so long ago, but even now, he still held himself accountable for something out of either of their control.
“Okay... Okay. Well... I don't plan on telling anyone. I'm worried now, though. You're always fighting alone and-”
“Ah bin it, y'know I'll be fine,” he spoke with a slight chuckle in his tone. “Shouldn' be surprised, y' always did take shit well. Y' not about ta make me stop, are you?”
“No, I'd never.” She shook her head, her thick locs lightly twirling in the process.“You know I'd never tell a soul. I swear.”
“Good.”
He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers, breathing evenly and still holding her hands. She smiled softly, wondering how she got so lucky with such a sweetheart like him.
She still couldn't believe she was dating Spiderman.