Latest Posts by xoxopeter - Page 3
The Adventures of Spider-Man and Moonlight
A/N: so here’s chapter two! I cannot wait to have three out because there is just so much banter between Luna and Peter in three. If you liked this a like would just make my day!
Summary: In which we see Moonlight and Spider-Man growing closer and forming a friendship as well as a partnership
Word count: 2.4k
Warnings: violence, injury, blood
Chapter 2 - Partners in Fighting Crime
“So did the bad guy you talked to give you any idea of what time this mega size drug deal was about to go down?” Spider-Man as he and Moonlight sat waiting behind a bunch of wooden crates in a warehouse on the docs.
Moonlight had aided in an arrest earlier in the night in a separate part of town than Spider-Man had been in. She’d overheard two of the suspects talking about how they were going to be dead for missing the deal that was going down at the “fun house”. After doing a little googling she found out that the fun house was a nickname for a warehouse called Jimmy’s Supplies where party supplies was made and shipped.
“Nope.” Luna said, popping the p.
“Did you get any names?”
“Nope.”
“Do you know anything else?”
“Nope.”
Spider-Man threw his arms up in exasperation. “Of course not.”
“All I know is it’s happening.” She shrugged, looking at her long black nails. She’d cut slits the glove of her suit for stiletto nails to go through since she’d got her nails done a couple days ago. She had to admit that she was obsessed with them.
Spider-Man looked at the woman he had only recently started teaming up with some nights and shook his head. The guys she overheard were probably talking about another night or maybe even giving Moonlight false information to throw them off so they would miss something that was actually going to happen. His senses weren’t going off and nothing seemed amiss. This was why he worked alone.
“Look, I appreciate you sharing information with me but I don’t think anything is going to happen tonight- at least not here.” Spider-Man stated, hands on his hips.
Luna’s eyes flashed up but she didn’t move from her seat on a crate where her feet were propped up on another, legs crossed. “You wanna go that’s fine, I just figured we could work together. I’m not going anywhere, though.”
He stared at her for a second before nodding. “I’ll see you around.”
Moonlight gave a two fingered salute. “Later, buggy.”
Spider-Man took off from the warehouse and left the docs, heading back into the city. He quickly found a massive hostage situation going down at a gala at the MET. This was probably what those two guys had been talking about. They’d probably used code words so no one would know what they were actually talking about. Moonlight still had a lot to learn.
“Have any demands been made?” Peter asked as he jumped down from his web, walking up to the police chief.
“None. My guess is they’re robbing the actual museums. Lotta art in there worth millions.”
Peter nodded before swinging his web up so that he could come in from the way they would least expect it: the ceiling.
The glass ceiling gave him a perfect view as to what was going on inside. There were maybe fifteen masked guys, all armed and pointing their guns at the nicely dressed guests who were all terrified and cooperating. He tried to come up with a plan but none of them had good odds.
“Fuck it.” He mumbled before webbing up one of the window panes and then pressing down hard on it to shatter it. The web muffled the sound and held the glass so none of it fell below. He webbed it into a ball that he cast below, he would come back for it later, and started to lower himself down by his web. He was only a few feet down before he realized there was a couple of the armed men in a corner, talking among themselves and not paying attention. He quickly shot his web at them to cover their mouths and stick them to the wall, their guns falling but Peter grabbed them with his web and back to him, bringing them back up to the roof before going back down. Two down and thirteen to go.
He repeated this three more times, taking out the ones he could before knowing it was time to switch tactics. He was going to start pulling out the hostages.
He crawled down the corner of the wall where there were large drapes so no one would see him. When he was down he looked up and took out the window directly above him like he had the one. He then got the attention of two women who were just a few feet from him, both shaking and crying.
“Quietly.” He whispered.
They came over and he directed the first one to hold onto him. She gripped tight and he was shooting a web up and climbing it as fast as he could. One the roof, he jumped down it and set her on the ground.
“Thank you, Spider-Man.” She cried, hugging him. “Please you have to save, Hannah too. She’s my sister.”
“I’m getting everyone out. I’ll be right back.”
Peter did the same with Hannah and two more guests and then another guest and so on. He knew he could only get so many people out before the hostage-takers noticed but he wanted as many people out as he could before any gunfire started.
There were two hundred people and he knew he had gotten around fifty around by the time the room was noticeably emptier.
He’d only saved five more people before he heard the yell when he was just going back inside.
“Oi! Greg! We got company.”
Peter knew he’d been spotted and dropped down from the ceiling, landing on his feet in the middle of the room. “Mind if I drop in?”
Gunshots rang out at the same time Peter started shooting his webs to take their guns. He dodged bullets and grabbed guns, trying to grab them as they came flying to him. He disarmed them all and threw the guns to nearby guests. “Can you hold these for a second please!”
It was Spider-Man against ten guys, hand to hand. Peter even made it easier for them by not using his web shooters.
“You could try harder! Come on! I could do this blindfolded!” He egged.
Just a few minutes later he was looking at ten guys on the ground who were either unconscious, surrendering, or too in pain to stand. “That was just sad. You guys really need to train more.”
He jogged over to where the giant doors were and opened them up, dozens of SWAT behind the door. “You’re welcome.” He stated.
He walked out and noticed that police cars were taking off with their sirens on.
“What’s going on?” Peter asked an officer walking past him.
“Some kind of huge drug deal going down at the docs. Looks like it’s Kingpin and his guys.”
Peter froze, only able to think one thing: Moonlight. He’d left her there all alone.
Shooting a web out, he took off and started swinging as fast as he could for the docks. Kingpin was no one to mess with. He’d been seriously injured by him on several occasions and always worried when they had any kind of encounter. His men were all incredibly trained and skilled. He had a hard time himself when it came to that organization. Moonlight was still finding her footing as a fighter and wasn’t as skilled of one as he was. She did have her powers as an advantage but it would be her against dozens of highly lethal men.
He felt like such an ass and so stupid. He should have listened to her. He assumed because she was new at this she didn’t know what she was doing and he may be the reason she gets seriously hurt or worse.
He arrived before the cops and went right to the warehouse Moonlight had been in. He could hear voices when he was close enough but it didn’t sound like any kind of a fight was happening. That wasn’t good news. Either Moonlight left or…or she was down. The thought put a knot in his stomach.
He slipped in through a broken window in the back, looking for her. He was panicking a little and he tried to rationalize that she would be okay. She could simply be out cold somewhere.
The area that they had been in before was now swarmed with Kingpins men, all armed and all very dangerous. The guys he had just taken out at the MET were nothing compared to these guys. These guys would actually be a challenge for him.
He scanned the room and gripped the edge of the crate he was hiding before when he saw a head of long white hair on the ground behind some oil barrels. She wasn’t moving and he couldn’t separate her heartbeat from everyone else’s to know if she was alive or not. He needed to find a way to get to her.
It was easier thought than done. He was nearly spotted several times but managed to get over to where she was. She was in a pool of her own blood with her hands on her stomach and eyes shut, skin pale. But her chest was rising and falling. She was still alive. The relief that washed over him made him dizzy.
He crawled over to her and put his hand on her cheek, patting gently. “Moonlight.” He whispered. “Wake up.”
Her eyes flashed open and she put her hand right to his throat. “It’s me!” He whisper screamed.
Her hand dropped at the recognition. “W-What are you doing here?”
“Saving you, obviously.” He looked down to the wound in her stomach. It looked like she’d been shot. “I gotta get you out of here.”
She shook her head. “Hold on. I’m okay.”
He looked at her like she’d grown a third head. “In case you didn’t notice you’ve been shot like a thanksgiving turkey!” He hissed in a whisper.
“Really?” She huffed with a roll of her eyes. “I thought they’d missed. Look, I need you to take it out.”
“Take what out?”
“The bullet.”
His eyes widened behind his mask. “What? You mean like reach in and pull it out?!”
“Yes.”
“Are you crazy?!”
“Just do it!”
“No! I’m not putting my fingers in you like some war medic on the battlefield! I’m taking you to a hospital!”
“It’s not that big of a deal! Just reach in and get it out!”
He huffed through his nose before looking down to the bullet wound in her stomach that was still bleeding. “I have no idea how this is going to do any good. You’re still going to have a freaking hole in you.”
Out of the corner of his eye he could see her brace herself, one hand gripping the edge of an oil barrel they were behind.
Moonlight made no noise as Peter dug around for the bullet but he could tell she was in agony, a sweat breaking out on her forehead and her heart racing, body rigid and tense. She looked like she was in a lot less pain than was actually in. He knew how excruciating it was to dig a bullet out of your body.
When he pulled it out he watched as she panted for a second.
“Now what?”
“Just be quiet.” She snapped.
He bit back a huff and watched as her hands went to her stomach and they started glowing.
“What are you doing?”
Moonlight didn’t answer and her hands continued to glow on her stomach. When she pulled away, he could see clean, closed flesh where the bullet hold had been.
He gasped, speaking through it. “What the fuck?”
“I can heal myself and others.”
“And you didn’t mention this earlier?!”
“It never came up!” She whisper screamed back. “We can talk about it later!”
The two were a great team. On their own they struggled to take on Kingpin’s men but together they were able to not only take them all down, but stop the drug deal from taking place. They recovered millions in drugs and illegal weapons. And they were both still alive as they walked out of the warehouse, beaten to hell but still alive. Kingpin had slipped away in the chaos, but Peter was just glad they had stopped the entire thing altogether and were both still alive.
Red and blue lights flashed around them as they walked off after giving their statements,, exhausted and ready to call it a night.
“Thanks.” Moonlight spoke, breaking the silence. “I uh probably would have died if you hadn’t found me and woken me up. I was out cold.”
Spider-Man shook his head. “I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have doubted you like that. I left you by yourself and…well I’m really sorry.”
Luna smiled at him. “All good.”
Silence took over as they walked.
“Hey, you think you can heal this black eye? It’s making my head throb.”
“Oh yeah totally.”
Peter stopped and faced her. Luna reached up and cradled his masked head, letting her hands glow to heal. When she pulled away he felt better than he had in years. She might have healed wounds he didn’t even know he had yet.
“Wow that’s good stuff.”
“I know right?”
“I feel like a brand new human being.”
“Yeah.” She nodded, grinning wide.
“If you could find a way to bottle this and sell it you’d be rich.”
She shrugged. “Nah. I like being a masked vigilante too much. Well I gotta get going. Work tomorrow and all.”
She turned to go and Peter wet his lips before jogging over to her. “Hey so maybe we could kind of team up.”
“What like work together?”
“Yeah. I mean, look at how awesome we were back there. And I could really use your help and I think maybe you could use mine.”
“You dig one bullet out of a girl and automatically think she needs your help.” She rolled her eyes but then smiled. “But okay fine. Partners in fighting crime it is.”
“Partners in fighting crime it is.” He agreed.
She gasped. “You know what they could call us? Spider-Moon!”
“Nope. I’ve changed my mind.”
“Yes! It’s great!”
He turned and walked off. “Not calling us that!”
Two days later when Peter was walking to work he passed a news stand and stopped before backtracking. On the cover of the New York Times in bold black letters was “SPIDER-MOON: NY’S HEROES TEAM UP.”
“Moonlight.” He concluded with a shake of his head before walking off.
He got maybe ten feet before he turned back around, pulling out his wallet with a sigh. He grabbed one off the rack and paid before stuffing it in his back with a grumble.
Requests are open! I write for tasm!Peter so send me prompts and or requests
The Adventures of Spider-Man and Moonlight
A/N: Hi! This is my first posted Peter fic so I’m very excited about it. I haven’t consistently written in a couple of years so I am a little rusty. If you liked this I would appreciate a like and a reblog or message about it would send me over the moon! Thank you for reading if you decide to take the time to do so!
Summary: Luna is trying to master the new life of being a superhero and the best thing for her would be some kind of partner in fighting crime like Spider-Man right? Not like their banter and shameless flirting had anything to do with it of course.
Word count: 2.9k
Warnings: violence, brief mentions of sexual assault
Chapter 1 - No Going Back Now
New York had been home to Luna Carter for almost three years. Three years of feeling like she could blend in. Three years of feeling like she was free. Three years of finding herself.
When she had first gotten to New York she was beyond lost and scared; she was terrified and on another planet. Now she felt like she had a good head on her shoulders and wasn’t afraid of herself. She was a strong woman who didn’t fear herself anymore. She hated when people talked on the phone so loud the entire block knew their business and she loved when people were so clearly in their own world and couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to what was around them. She loved the show Golden Girls, Blanche was her favorite, and hated jelly filled donuts. The last year of her life had been the best because that was when the living had really started and she had felt safe for the first time in her life. She was truly free and had stopped looking over her shoulder and double checking her front door lock and waking up at all hours of the night to look out her window to make sure she wasn’t being watched. She was free.
New York was home and she was happy.
“Five bucks says he pukes.”
Luna looked to Cassidy who was looking at the kid at table four who was scarfing down ice cream after already having had more food than she herself could eat. His parents paid no mind and continued on with their conversation with their friends. It was some dinner to celebrate some business deal. Her restaurant was a five star restaurant in Brooklyn where the cheapest item on the menu was a bowl of tomato soup at 37 dollars- made with organic sundried tomatoes from the garden out back and fresh cream that came from a fairy upstate of course.
“Glad that’s not my table.” Luna chuckled as she proceeded to clock out on the screen in front of her. “In fact, none of these are my tables. You wanna know why?”
Cassidy groaned. “Cause Robbie cut you?”
“You know it.” Luna snickered. “After that table with the football guy left me a three hundred dollar tip I have been so ready to go. I’ve never wanted to be cut so bad in my life. And you wanna know what I’m gonna do when I get home?”
“What’s that?” Cassidy was amused.
“I’m gonna get into a very hot bath with a glass of rose and watch Mr. Darcy tell Elizabeth Bennet that she has bewitched him body and soul.”
“You bitch. I wanna be you so bad right now.”
Luna couldn’t keep the grin off her face and did a shoulder shake. “I would wanna be me too.”
The sound of a child retching followed by screams had Cassidy groaning.
“Good luck with that, girl. I hope they tip you good.”
Cassidy rolled her eyes before heading to table four. “Not likely.”
Walking out the back door of Vetro’s, Luna headed home. She worked in Brooklyn but lived in Queens and took the subway every day. She didn’t mind it very much except when it snowed but that night wasn’t one of those nights and she was in a good mood as she headed for the subway.
It was already dark out and she hugged her thrifted wool coat closer, missing the long summer days when there would still be some form of light out when she got off of work.
The ride home felt longer than normal, her excitement to get there making it feel like she would never make it. Eventually her stop came and she walked off eagerly and headed up, already thinking of what kind of bath bomb she was going to use and dying to get her brown wig off.
She was only two blocks away from her building when something caught her eye. It was a scuffle in an alleyway on the other side of the street. It took her a second to realize a man was being mugged.
Frozen in place, she watched as she tried to figure out what to do. She knew she could easily help the man but at what cost to herself? She didn’t know if she could keep watching and do nothing but she didn’t know if she was willing to expose herself.
Before she could figure out her decision, a flash of red and blue appeared and the two men were broken apart. She could only just hear what was said.
“Didn’t your mother teach you it’s not nice to take things that aren’t yours?”
She watched as Spider-Man webbed the mugger to a wall. She’d never seen him in person before and had only seen him in photos and in the news but she had a coworker who had and Luna now understood what she had meant when she said he was tall looking even if he wasn’t barely six foot.
Not wanting to be noticed and her concerns for the man who was being attacked qualmed, she walked the two blocks briskly. The entire time she kept replaying the moment she did nothing but stand there when the man had been attacked. What would have happened if Spider-Man hadn’t showed up? Would she have witnessed a murder? No. She wouldn’t have let that happen. She wouldn’t have been able to stand by as someone’s life was taken.
As she sat in the bubble bath with a glass of rose, she felt guilty and regretful for not helping the man. She could have stopped it with ease but she hadn’t because she was worried about herself. She wished she had stopped to thank Spider-Man for doing what he did. She never really thought much about it before but he was an extremely selfless person. He gave up his time every day to keep the city safe and put himself in danger to protect others. She hoped he got some kind of compensation for it.
What she had thought about was where he’d gotten his powers from. Had he been born with them or were they given to him like her? How much did they have in common? He was clearly better than her because he, at least, was using his powers to help people.
But why couldn’t she? Why couldn’t she put on a mask and use her powers to help people? To help keep the city safe? She had weapons built into her hands and she was doing nothing to use them for the greater good. Maybe she could take the curse that had been forced upon her and find a way to turn it into something good. She had had her curse for six years and she hated it every second and wished she could find a way to get rid of it every second. But maybe she didn’t need to get rid of them. Maybe she just needed to do something with them.
It wasn’t like anyone could hurt her. There had only been one person who had ever physically hurt her before and he was a special case and was long gone. The safety thing wasn’t an issue. She truly didn’t believe anyone could not only best her in a fight but kill her.
As she laid in bed she couldn’t calm her thoughts. All she could think about was if she was going to actually do it; become a superhero. She knew that it wasn’t something she should jump right into but she also couldn’t stop thinking about it and the more she thought about it the more she wanted to get out of bed to make a trip to wherever she could find fabric and sewing kit. Maybe she could track down Spider-Man and ask him what he used to make his.
Over the next few days Luna crafted her suit. She had quite a few errors and had to start from scratch at one point when she realized she’d mixed up two measurements and had more band aids on her fingers than she could count from the needle pricking her finger. She had hand sewn the entire thing since she didn’t have a sewing machine but by the end of it it fit her like a glove and felt like a second skin.
It was made of black spandex and covered nearly her entire body. She’d given it a collar that wrapped around her neck as well as gloves that she could take off if she wanted, the seem at her wrists nearly invisible, and a zipper that went from her belly button to her collared neck that only she could open from the inside. For her feet she’d had to copy Spider-Man and tried to mirror the way he’d put built in shoes in his suit, which had been the hardest part of all. On her chest was a silver crescent moon. But her favorite part was the cape she had made. It was made of black pleather and had small silver stars on it. She had seen the fabric when she was on her way to check on and just knew she had to have it. She didn’t think of the cape until much later. It had been a last minute decision but she loved it.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she picked up the black mask she’d made. It was in the shape of cat eyes with sharp ends that flicked off and rested on the bridge of her nose. It was without a band and had eyelash glue on the inside. She tested it out and she was able to jump up and down and move around without it budging and felt confident it wouldn’t fall off. She would have to change out the glue every day but she liked the way the mask looked without a band better.
Wearing the mask and in her suit, her stark white natural hair down and free and brushing her ribs, she felt like she was a real superhero.
She was Moonlight.
Her hand reached the front door knob when she froze. She couldn’t go out like this. Someone might see her coming out and know instantly she was Moonlight. How was she going to get out of her apartment? How the hell did Spider-Man get out of his?
Looking to her window, she sighed before walking across the room and opening the window. The cold air hit the exposed parts of her face and she was glad with her decision to line the inside of her suit with fleece. Very, very thick fleece. She would have to make a new suit for the summer but for now this would be perfect.
Making sure none of the windows that were in the building across from her had their blinds open, she jumped out of her window and onto the fire escape. Maybe she would be able to drop a backpack down into the alleyway of her building and change there. She would have to start doing that in the future when it didn’t take her ten minutes to get her suit on.
Her first night as Moonlight was…disappointing to say the least. Quite literally nothing happened. She hadn’t been able to find any crime or any attacks or anything like that. She had no idea how Spider-Man did any of this and she had even tried to find him to ask him but that had also not panned out.
It was when she was walking to work the next day that she passed a police officer and his radio was on, allowing her to overhear a call about a breaking and entering. Her head had whipped up when she realized she needed a police radio. She didn’t know if that’s how Spider-Man did it but this would be how she did it.
That night she sat and waited until she got the call about a bank robbery by a “bird man” only seven blocks from her apartment and she was jumping out of her window and letting her magic do half the work of her run. It wasn’t that she could fly exactly but she could exert the power to carry her body partially.
When she got there, she halted upon seeing that Spider-Man was already there. She didn’t know what to do. Was there some kind of rule where if one hero was there it was their save? Should she wait on the sidelines and see if he needed help? Or should she just join in on the fight?
She didn’t have time to decide because bird guy clocked her and headed right for her with his very large wings that looked like they were part of an attachment on his back.
“Okay I guess here we go.” She mumbled to herself, raising her hands and putting out the energy to entrap the villain. It worked and he was suspended in her magic. Luna had two different parts to her power. There was her energy which she had been given unwillingly and then there was her magic that she believed was an evolved part of her energy. The energy was dangerous and deadly but the magic was good and quite literally magic.
She felt so exposed and like she was naked. She had never used her powers out in public before, let alone in front of anyone that hadn’t been in Manheim’s lab. But she needed to get used to it.
“What the fuck is this?!” He screamed.
Spider-Man landed beside her, ignoring bird mans profanities. “Whoa! How are you doing that?” He was in awe but she didn’t have time to explain. She’d never held that much weight in her magic before.
Her arms started to shake as her muscles struggled with the weight. “Magic. I’m going to lose him so do whatever you gotta and do it quickly. He’s like really heavy!”
Just as Spider-Man was about to web him up, he flapped his wings hard enough to break free of Luna’s magic. She felt fear for the first time and for a brief second wondered if she was in way over her head.
A wing shot out at her but she dodged it, letting out a shaky exhale.
The two of them took him on in a fight, Luna learning his name was Vulture and not bird guy. It was intense and they ended up on the freeway where Luna ended up doing a lot of saving rather than fighting which was good because her fighting skills were limited. She had some experience, Manheim having intended on making her powerful in every way but she hadn’t done hand to hand in years.
He was beginning to piss her off. Vulture would knock a car over and Luna would pull the people inside of it out. Vulture would pick up a running civilian fleeing for their life and let them drop as a way to distract Luna and she would end up having to use her magic to catch them so his method was working. It did make it easier for Spider-Man who didn’t have as many people to save and was able to get more punches in.
The two fought together as a team like they always had been one. There was an unspoken way they could tell what the other was going to do next and Luna was kind of freaked out by it. She’d never really had that with someone before. The closest thing she had to a best friend was her coworker Cassidy.
Soon Vulture was webbed up, screaming his head off albeit, and Spider-Man was taking the bag full of money from him before making his way over to Luna.
“That was so cool!”
Finally able to take him in, she noted that he seemed much taller in person, his frame easily towering over hers- not that she was by any means tall at five foot three. His voice also took her by surprise. It was...somehow attractive.
Luna chuckled, legs starting to shake as she was feeling the come down from the adrenaline. “Thanks. You were pretty cool too.”
“What’s your name?”
“Moonlight.” She replied, the name flowing out of her mouth as if that had always been her name.
“Well thanks, Moonlight. I don’t ever have help and you were really helpful. I mean your powers are sick! When that stuff came out of your hands I was kind of freaked out at first.”
“Yeah it tends to do that to people. You were pretty great too. I’ve never seen you up close before.” She looked him up and down again and it made the energy shift.
“Oh w-well I’m always around. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.” He chuckled nervously. “But I mean seriously what even is that stuff that comes out of your hands? Is it telekinetic?”
She smirked. “A lady never tells.”
Turning to go, she made sure to look back and wink at the masked man before zooming off like the comet she was, her magic carrying her shaking legs.
Ending up on the top of a building, she swallowed down the vomit and breathed through her nose, eyes shut and trying to calm down. It was her first real superhero fight and she was freaking out a little bit. She felt like you were allowed to freak out your first time fighting as a superhero right?
“No going back now.” She mumbled to herself.
~~~~~~~~~
“Really? You knocked down an old lady for nine dollars and a fifteen dollar Starbucks gift card?” Luna scoffed as she put the money and gift card back into the small brown shoulder bag, the purse snatcher on the ground in front of her groaning in pain. Luna had just given him a solid gut punch moments ago that knocked him to the ground. Her new self defense classes were really starting to show their value.
“Fuck you, bitch.” He whined.
“Oh how you’ve wounded my feelings.” Luna stated dryly. “How will I ever get over this?”
The sound of sirens came and Luna crossed her arms, waiting for the cops to show. She was standing in the middle of the sidewalk so they wouldn’t have to look for them.
The one thing she hated about this new side gig she’d recently taken on was the police. Apparently a couple years back Spider-Man made a deal with the police department that he would stick around to at least give a statement on what had happened whenever he caught a thief or attacker so that they could actually put charges on the guys that were apprehended by him. By vigilante default that same rule applied to Luna which she had to learn on her fifth day by way of the police chief tracking her down and personally giving Moonlight the message. So now she had to stick around and wait for the cops to actually show up.
Giving her statement as Moonlight was quick since it was a quick incident. Some nights it wasn’t so easy and she would have to go down to the station and fill out a signed statement, especially if it was something like an attempted murder or sexual assault- but with those two she didn’t really mind and was willing to do whatever it took to make sure they faced their consequences.
Something she hadn’t seen coming with the job was the toll it took on a person.
Luna was struggling immensely with the things she saw every night for the last two weeks. She would go home at the end of the night, sometimes beat to hell and the energy feeling like it had fully drained from her body, and feel unable to get the horrific things she had seen out of her head. She knew the worst of humanity, she had seen it up close and personal, but this was different somehow.
When she was in Manheim’s lab she hadn’t been the only one there. She had seen dozens go through experiments that might be different or similar to her. Manheim had other visions and desires other than the one he had for her. She had watched a boy only a couple years older than her use his vision to burn a hole in the floor. There had been a girl who had been born with the ability to touch something and either kill it or make it die but she hadn’t been able to control it until Manheim got to her. She had seen them all be experimented on and tortured like she had. Most of them died, a couple escaped and she could only hope they were okay, but some of them had been freed by Luna herself the day she took down the entire building. So she was used to seeing horrible things done to people. She had laid in her bed while she heard the screams from those who were imprisoned alongside her. But this was somehow different.
Maybe it was because it was happening to her too or because everyone expected that stuff to happen to them but she had never been affected by any of that like the current stuff was affecting her.
Last week she had pulled a man off a woman in central park who was screaming. He had his pants down and she was crying. Luna knew instantly what had happened and wanted nothing more than to kill the man then and there. She knew she could and she wanted to so badly. No one who sexually assaulted another person deserved to live. But she also knew that she couldn’t do it. She had promised herself she would never use her powers to harm someone, even if that someone deserved it. She didn’t get to play god.
She hadn’t slept that night. The sound of the woman's screams replayed over and over again.
Then there was two nights ago when she had found a body. That had shaken her too. He was a well dressed man with a grocery bag that had milk, cookies, and a new barbie. It had taken Luna a second to realize that he had had a family. He was on his way home to his family and someone murdered him. She had to call into work the next day because she kept vomiting every time she thought about him.
How had Spider-Man been doing this for years? She didn’t know how she was going to do it another night let alone years like he had. She couldn’t imagine the things he had seen in all the time he had been doing it and yet he was still doing it.
Maybe she just wasn’t cut out for the hero business.
It was late in the night by the time she caught a break, it being a busy one after the purse snatcher. But when it was finally quiet she floated her way up to a skyscraper where she could take a second to sit and breathe and have a moment.
As soon as she sat down on the ledge, she felt the tears prick her eyes and she let them flow out of her and past her mask. Thank god for waterproof eyelash glue.
The city below was quiet and she wished for once that it was loud so that she could let out the cry she wanted to.
The sound of feet hitting the ground made her freeze for a second before she realized it could only be one person.
Wordlessly, he walked over and sat down next to her.
“How do you do it?” Luna choked out, continuing to look ahead.
Spider-Man sighed, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “I don’t know. It gets less…shocking with time but it doesn’t get easier.”
“I saw someone getting raped.” She sniffed. “She was screaming and he just…didn’t stop.”
“I know. I can’t even count how many…those are really hard. And anything with kids.”
Dropping her head, she bit her lip and tried to keep herself together. She knew what it was like to be a scared child being harmed; she didn’t know how she would be able to handle it when she did eventually see it.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You can. I’ve been paying attention to you and I see something there.”
Finally looking at him, her glistening eyes showed how vulnerable she was. She felt like she could trust Spider-Man. He was a good person, maybe the only truly good person she had ever met.
Spider-Man continued. “I see the way you talk to someone when they're in crisis. It’s like you know exactly what they need to hear. You genuinely care about people. You want to help. I know you can do it because your will to do good is bigger than what you think about when you’re laying in bed at night.”
“You do that too?”
“You learn how to deal with it. Doesn’t get easier to see that kinda stuff but…you learn how to handle it.”
“Thank you.” Luna exhaled shakily. “I really needed to hear that.”
“I could tell.”
It was silent for a while, a breeze picking up and Luna’s hair flowing gently in the wind. Sitting up there in the breeze with the view of New York next to Spider-Man felt so peaceful. They were just two vigilantes who were trying to do their best and no one else could understand that life better than the other.
“I kind of have a question for you.” Spider-Man spoke, breaking the silence.
“I mean as long as you’re not asking me to flash you sure.”
“W-What?! Why would I ask that?!”
“You would not believe how many guys have asked me to flash them this week alone.”
“I-I would never!”
Luna started laughing as his panicked tone, his hands up in defense. She could only imagine how he looked under his mask. “I’m messing with you. I know you wouldn’t ask that.”
He groaned. “Sorry that men are pigs.”
“I know you’re not one and I think it gives me hope that there are more out there like you. But what’s your question?”
“How does your mask stay on?”
Luna had several questions in mind that he might ask her like how did he magic and energy work or why her eyes turned black when she used said magic or energy but she hadn’t been prepared for that to be the question. It was the least invasive of them all.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Oh. It’s eyelash glue. Waterproof of course.”
“Huh. Never would have thought of that. Your mask just stays on so perfect and never looks like it’s going to fall or even move at all. I was so sure it was some kind of high tech adhesive.”
She shrugged. “Just lash glue. It’s specifically the Duo brand. Sometimes I have a hard time getting my mask off at the end of the night because it’s so strong.”
A horn was honked and Luna swung her feet, content with where she was. If Spider-Man wanted to talk they could but if he didn’t want to she didn’t mind either.
“Can I ask another question?”
“Go for it, handsome.”
Spider-Man let out a stammer that seemed like he had started to speak but he wanted to but was so taken off guard by her calling him handsome that his brain malfunctioned. Luna couldn’t help but let a small smirk grace her lips. She was a huge flirt and had a feeling that Spider-Man was a very good looking man underneath the mask. She was also sure he had an amazing body underneath the red and blue.
He shook his head. “Um I um was going to ask uh why your eyes turn black sometimes but then sometimes they’re a normal brown like right now.”
“I was waiting for that one.” She hummed. “Side effect of the energy is the theory. Not totally sure though. My hair is also a side effect. It was brown before and then one day when…it just kind of turned white. Something about the energy just drains color.”
“Ever researched into it?”
“Nope and I don’t plan too. There’s more research on why I am the way I am than I care for there to be.”
Spider-Man took the hint and nodded, dropping it.
“Can I ask a question?”
“I mean I guess it’s only fair.” He teased, sounding like a smile was behind his mask.
Her eyes scanned him up and down, tongue wetting her lips. “Do you ever get bored on nights like this? Seems a little lonely.”
She heard his intake of breath and decided that if didn’t reciprocate her flirting that she would drop it.
He leaned in, humming. “I used to but you make things very not boring.”
Luna beamed, letting out an amused hum.
The silence fell upon them again and Spider-Man stood up. “Well I’m gonna make another round of the city and then call it a night.”
“I think I’m gonna do the same.”
Spider-Man was about to swing away when Moonlight called his name, making him look back at her. She walked up to him, feet lithe on the rooftop and hair flowing in the wind. She was right in front of him when she stopped, making him stop breathing but heart pounding in his chest. She took his hand and he watched as she put a small folded up piece of paper in his palm and then closed it for him.
"For when you might need me to help beat up a bad guy.” She gave him a wink and then turned to go, floating down the side of the building.
Opening up his hand, he unfolded the piece of paper and felt his stomach fill with flutters at what was on the piece of paper.
