"I defended myself against the guy who basically wants to assault me. No big deal," I say quickly, pushing past my parents and trying to get into my room.

"Blythe..." Dad says in typical dad tone. I turn around slowly, knowing that I shouldn't say no to that tone.

"You know that we aren't angry at you. We just want you to tell us what happened." I know he's trying, but Papa is not very good at having a commanding tone, at least with me. But I go along with it anyway.

"Do you want the long story or the short story?"

--

~Peter's P.O.V.~

It's been hours, but I can't stop thinking about what Blythe did this morning. I've noticed lately that Kai has been a bit more insistent on her, and she's kind of just been ignoring him. Naturally, I've wanted to confront him and get him to leave her alone...but everyone knows me as the dorky kid. I might be Spider-Man, but no one knows that. Not even Blythe.

"Blythe was pretty cool this morning, huh?" Someone asks beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?"

"I said, 'Blythe was pretty cool this morning'," Ned repeats.

"Yeah, she was."

"That's all? None of the normal stuff?"

"What are you expecting of me?"

"I don't know. You normally go on and on about her. You know. About how beautiful she is, about how amazing she is, how much you want to date her..."

"OK, OK, OK, Ned. I don't need you to go any further."

"Why don't you ask her out, Peter?" This was a question Ned had been asking me a lot lately. I'd always given him the same answer, and I'm gonna give him the same one now.

"You already know the answer to that. It would be weird. Mr Stark is the reason I'm Spider-Man - at least the version I am now. If I dated his daughter, he might take that away. What if I hurt her and he hates me for it? What if he doesn't like me dating Blythe? And then there's Mr Rogers. He's just as scary as Mr Stark. Except he has strength and speed."

"I think you should just go for it. I'm pretty sure she likes you back. You won't know unless you try."

"I don't know, man. Maybe? I guess I just don't want to risk it." The bell goes, and we walk back to our lockers. "See you tomorrow."

--

~Blythe's P.O.V.~

"So that's it? Just one month?" Dad asks angrily, standing up with a push back of his chair.

"Yep," I reply. He turns to look at me.

"And you say he's been trying to do this all year?"

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I knew I could handle myself. And I did that. I handled myself."

"You could have at least told us! We can't help you when he finally does something if we don't know it's happening!"

I can tell that Dad is pissed at me. And to be fair, I don't blame him.

"Steve, calm down," Papa starts to say. "Blythe is almost 18. I know that you would have preferred that she told us - I would have preferred it too." He looks at me and my brow furrows. "But...you and I both know she can handle herself. You know Nat, she's trained Blythe well. And don't forget that she has your strength and speed."

"But-"

"No buts, Steve. You know I'm right."

"Do I get a say in this?" I ask, mostly sure that I'm going to get shot down. My parents look at me.

"What else are you not telling us?" Papa questions, locking eye contact with me.

"I..." I trail off, not sure if I want to say it. "I know about the suits."

--

~No P.O.V.~

"I want her, Father."

"You cannot have her. You know that."

"Why not? I always get what I want."

"You know the exact reason why you cannot have her. She proved that to you earlier today."

Two men sit in limited lighting, one young, one old. Another one moves into the light.

"The question, brother, is whether you want her dead or alive."

"Of course I want her alive, Dylan! That's the whole point of this!"

"Not even a little bit ruffled up?"

"If you harm her, so help me Dylan."

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt her. But if you want me to get her for you, pay up. I ain't doin' this for nothin', Kai."