Tuesday— April 12^th, 2011.
LOSER TAYLOR AGAIN.
8:35 AM.

Taylor had always known that being a superhero would come with its own set of challenges. But nothing would compare to the harsh reality of school: if it would allow her, Taylor preferred fighting Lung ten times over than staying here in school. Today, as she walked through the hallways of Winslow High, she couldn't help but feel like a complete loser.

Her confidence, which had been soaring high yesterday, was now dwindling into nothingness. Taylor was back to being the same old girl who was everyone's trashcan. She could feel the weight of their judgmental stares as she walked by, her shoulders slumped and her gaze fixed on the ground. Loser Taylor had reared her ugly head once again.

As she made her way to her locker, Taylor desperately tried to think of ways to get out of school early. But her mind drew a blank. She couldn't afford to miss any more classes, especially after her recent absences due to her cape activities on top of multiple absences caused by the locker incident— she trembled as she looked at the locker in front of her, almost getting PTSD over it.

If only she knew where to find Spidey, maybe they could hang out and she could escape this hellhole.

Lost in her thoughts, Taylor was jolted back to reality when someone bumped into her from behind. Her glasses slipped away, sliding on the floor. She stumbled forward, almost losing her balance and getting her head smashed on the cold tiles. But years of being bullied had taught her how to save herself. With a quick reflex, she stretched out her arms in front of her, managing to stop her fall just in time.

Panicking, Taylor grabbed her glasses and wore it back on her face. Though she didn’t need to wear glasses anymore since becoming a parahuman, she still found the need to wear them while in her civilian identity.

As she turned around to see who had bumped into her, Taylor was met with a familiar face. It was Sophia Hess, the popular girl from her class who had made her life a living hell since the day they had first met. But instead of apologizing for her mistake, Sophia simply scoffed and gave Taylor the middle finger.

Taylor's heart sank as she watched Sophia walk away, her laughter echoing through the hallway. She couldn't understand why someone would take pleasure in causing pain to others. Sophia had always been mean to her.

Feeling defeated and humiliated, Taylor quickly made her way to her locker. But her day was about to get worse. As she opened her locker, she found a magazine prominently taped to the inside of the door. It was from Emma, and written in large fonts with a sharpie were words of mocking congratulatory remark that she had healed well since the Locker Incident.

It read, “Congratulations, Taylor! I hope they stop bullying you, perhaps you should not have overreacted after what happened… Still, I pray for your health. –Your friend, E.B.” The initials clearly stood for Emma Barnes.

The message sounded nice at face value, but it was more of a scathing remark than any… The ‘message’ after all was written over a ‘Playboy magazine’ with a naked girl in the cover picture leaning over a locker. It wasn’t funny. Below Emma’s message was Sophia’s, written in smaller fonts.

It read, “Jerk on that, slut. –S.H.”

Tears welled up in Taylor's eyes as she crumpled the magazine in her hand, but it was too thick. She had always tried to ignore the constant bullying and taunts from her classmates, but today, it had all become too much to bear. She wanted to scream, to lash out at those who made her life miserable, but she knew it would only make things worse.

Taylor threw the magazine in the trashcan.

Feeling alone and helpless, Taylor closed her locker and made her way to her next class. But she couldn't focus on the lesson. All she could think about was how much she hated her life and how she wished she could just disappear.

As the final bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, Taylor couldn't wait to go home and forget about the nightmare that was Winslow High. But as she walked towards the exit, she came across a commotion in the chem lab.

Taylor inched closer and saw a boy with brown hair and brown eyes doing some chem stuff in the lab— beakers, liquids, and the burners… everything. The boy looked oddly familiar to a friend Taylor recently made.

Who was this mystery boy?

Taylor felt a sudden surge of recognition as she observed the boy's actions in the chemistry lab. It was a feeling she hadn't experienced since her encounters with Spidey. Intrigued and slightly puzzled, she pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Hello?" she called out tentatively, her voice echoing in the empty room.

The boy turned around, his brown eyes widening in surprise as he caught sight of Taylor. He seemed momentarily flustered, as though caught in the act of something he shouldn't be doing.

"Umm... I have a project, like, urgent," he stammered, hastily gathering his materials. "I know the bell rang, but I need this. You are? Wait, you look familiar... Or feel familiar? I'd remember a face like yours if we'd met. I mean, you look pretty... I am not a pervert, ugh... sorry, I am weird. Oh, come on, Peter, get your head straight!"

Taylor couldn't shake off the feeling of déjà vu. There was something about this boy that tugged at her memory, but she couldn't quite place it. Nevertheless, she found herself drawn to his earnest demeanor and the intensity with which he focused on his task.

"I'm Taylor," she replied, taking a step closer. "And you're...?"

The boy hesitated for a moment before offering a small, hesitant smile. "I'm Peter," he said. "Peter Parker."

“So,” Peter dragged on. “You look all death and glum, what happened?”

"Huh?" Taylor managed to utter, her voice barely above a whisper. At that moment, she felt small, and insignificant, expecting Peter to see through her façade of normalcy and recognize her as the loser she felt like.

But instead of disdain or recognition, Peter's eyes lit up with excitement. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Taylor? Taylor. That Taylor!"

Taylor was flustered. “W-what?”

Peter looked at Taylor with a mix of surprise and amusement. "Coincidentally, you won’t happen to be famous, right? What am I thinking? It is impossible just by looking at the probabilities, but..."

Taylor's heart skipped a beat at the mention of fame. She couldn't imagine anyone seeing her as anything but a loser, let alone someone famous. "Uummm… I… I don’t know who you are… t-talking about." she murmured, feeling suddenly inferior, expecting Peter to see through her.

Peter scratched his head, a puzzled expression crossing his face. "I don’t know, I have this feeling I know you, but I am not sure! There is this sixth sense I have that sets off when I feel I am in danger, and recently when I am close to this person," he said, his tone testing her.

Taylor widened her eyes, realizing the meaning of Peter's words and the too-relevant clues in front of her. "You are Spidey, aren’t you?" she asked, a hint of certainty leaking in her voice. She remembered seeing Spidey's face once the first time they met.

Moreover, there was that mental link that she tried her best to ignore that got stronger whenever she was near Spidey… and Peter’s face too was hard to forget. “Spidey! What are you doing here?”

"What?" Peter exclaimed, honestly confused. Then, he awkwardly began to sing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider.’

♫♪ ~♪♫ ~♪ ~♫ ~♪♪

Taylor sighed, feeling a mix of frustration and amusement. "That’s not… funny," she said, feeling a surge of courage. "So Spidey, you are actually a student of Winslow High? Or a transfer?"

Peter winced as he messed up his chemistry experiment, causing an explosion that sent flames shooting up. "Ah, fudge, fuck… that’ll hurt," he muttered, shooting webs from under his sleeves to kill the combustion.

Taylor grimaced, realizing they needed to move to a safer location. "Okay, I think we should have this talk somewhere else," she said, gesturing for Peter to follow her out of the lab.

………

……

…

.

Tuesday— April 12^th, 2011.
SPIDEY & STUFF.
4:25 PM.

Peter looked disappointedly at his work, the failed chemistry work right on his face. He glanced towards the door, where Taylor had just left, feeling a mixture of frustration and curiosity.

“Hey, are you coming!?” shouts Taylor from the door.

When he heard her voice again, he turned around to see her peeking back through the door, surprising him with her sudden reappearance. Their faces were unexpectedly close, causing a moment of awkwardness between them.

"Ah, my bad?" Taylor said sheepishly, breaking the silence.

Peter shook his head, trying to hide his surprise. "Oh, all cool," he replied with a nervous chuckle. "So where to?"

Taylor's eyes lit up with a mischievous glint. "The rooftop, few people hang out from there," she suggested, already making her way down the hallway.

Peter followed closely behind, intrigued by Taylor's choice of location. As they walked, he couldn't shake off the feeling of familiarity that lingered in the back of his mind. There was something about Taylor that felt oddly familiar like they had met before in another life. Nah… That was too much…

As they reached the rooftop, Peter couldn't help but marvel at the view. The city stretched out before them, a sprawling metropolis filled with endless possibilities. He turned to Taylor, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

"This is nice," he commented, taking in the sight. "Thanks for bringing me up here."

Taylor grinned, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "No problem," she replied, her voice filled with enthusiasm. "It's my least favorite spot though… hard to call help when you need it."

Peter's empathy for Taylor's predicament shone through as he responded, "Bullies?" He could sense the weight of her words, understanding the pain and frustration behind them. And then again, he was only starting to get to know her.

Taylor's expression darkened momentarily before she replied with a bitter edge, "Yeah, uncool right? So lame… A superhero getting her ass kicked…"

Peter's heart went out to her as he offered his perspective, "I don’t know, I am familiar with bullies… getting beat up by them is certainly uncool. But I think one-upping your bullies is the coolest."

Taylor's disbelief was palpable as she exclaimed, "Seriously, you? And one-upping? What? Revenge?" She looked almost funny as she tilted her head, never the idea of ‘revenge’ crossing her mind.

Peter shrugged, trying to articulate his thoughts, "I don’t know how to put it, but I am a reactive kind of guy… Before I knew it, my bullies stopped bullying me. Ahh~ first time I got my powers, I discarded my glasses…"

“You wear glasses,” Taylor narrowed her eyes as she stepped closer to Peter, seemingly oblivious to what you’d call a personal space. “Seriously, you wear glasses? And you discarded it the first chance you got when you received your superpowers? That’s… dumb… Won’t people realize you are a parahuman?”

“Eh?” Peter didn’t know how to put it, but back in his world, parahumans or superpowered people weren’t as pervasive as in this world. “Y-yeah… But I blamed it all on puberty and it worked… No one suspected a thing."

Taylor's eyes softened as she regarded him thoughtfully, "Can you teach me? How not to get bullied?"

Peter chuckled nervously at Taylor's playful threat. "I don’t know, but I can try…"

Taylor grinned mischievously. "We now know each other’s civilian identity, and that is in no way good…" Her tone took on a teasing edge, almost threatening. "Listen here, Parker. You out me, I will drag you with me."

Peter raised his hands in mock surrender. "Yes ma’am!"

Taylor burst into laughter, shaking her head. "I am just messing with you!"

Peter rolled his eyes, though a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Oh come on…"

Taylor's expression softened, becoming more serious. "But seriously…"

"Yeah, I know…" Peter nodded, understanding the weight of their shared secret and the trust it implied.

Taylor raised her fist, a playful glint in her eyes as she asked, "So Spidey and Skitter are a team now?"

Peter grinned, returning the fist bump. "Sure," he replied, "just so you know, it is Spiderman and not Spidey…"

"Nah, Spidey sticks," Taylor insisted, a smirk playing on her lips.

Peter chuckled, shaking his head. "Puns? Now? Hah! That’s better, at least there is no death and gloom to you anymore!"

Taylor laughed, her demeanor lightening as they shared a moment on the rooftop. It felt good to have someone to share the burden of their secret identities with, someone who understood the struggles they faced, and someone who she could call a friend.

For Peter, this meant something more… he didn’t know what it was he felt so good being with Taylor, but he felt calmer around her… It had only been three days since Peter came to this world, and he had already experienced so many things. Taylor laughed at a small joke Peter said. Peter smiled. Yes, this was what Peter needed now— friend.

#Spider Puns #Romance is Chemistry