Chapter Text
“Son of a bitch!” You screamed, frantically shaking your hand as the pain skittered along and up your arm like sputtering flurries of electricity.
It was intense but quick, and then gone before you could even register the exact location of the site. Spotting the little reddish circle of aggravated skin on your middle finger, you examined it closely before massaging it with your other hand delicately.
Then, right on the floor directly below your slightly pulsing finger, was a tiny spot on the ground outside of your focused vision. Turning your eyes toward it and away from your hand you found the culprit to the sudden blight of pain you had just experienced.
It was a tiny black spider. So small and seemingly insignificant, but the little fucker could apparently pack quite the punch. You knelt down to look at it closer, examining its body for any signs that it might have been a black widow as that would have put a huge damper on your day trip with your friends.
Determining that the spider was indeed not a black widow, you thanked the gods, stood back up and brushed off the interruption to catch up with the two people you had gone out with that morning. They were standing still only slightly ahead of you, having heard your initial outburst, and questioned you on what had happened.
“Some spider bit me I guess, no big deal though.” You placated their dual surprised looks.
It in fact was an extremely big deal.
You had no idea where that moment would have led you, no earthly clue that it would lead you to where you are now, pinned by your throat against the wall inside your favorite NYC coffee shop.
Friar’s coffee was your only saving grace in the mornings, the only place before your hectic ass days beginning where you could truly relax and unwind. Even though the coffee itself wasn’t “award winning” per se, it was perfect to you, and currently the perfect start to your day was being rudely interrupted by two jackasses with loaded weapons who stupidly came in to rob the place.
You had stood up with a look of sheer annoyance etched between your brows and approached one of the two men.
“Excuse me, could you please just like, ‘not’ today?”
The biggest of the two had wheeled around on you instantly to pin you against the nearest wall in a show of force.
And that’s where you were now, but luckily not for long thanks to super strength.
You grabbed hold of his wrist locked around you and squeezed hard, feeling his bones grind and pop against each other before giving way and snapping.
His anguished scream echoed in the small space as he let you go and held his now broken wrist against his chest as ‘thing two’ raised his weapon to you.
Before he could even get a finger around the trigger you were on him with a quick but calculated jab up and into his side, jamming between his ribs.
You reached down and grabbed them both by the back of their hoodies and dragged them outside the door, slamming them into the ground and holding them there to wait as the other patrons still inside the shop called the police.
You waited as they struggled uselessly against your strength, until the familiar black and white cruisers pulled up to take care of them for you, releasing them so that they could be dealt with.
You took a quick breath and straightened out your hair and clothes in the shop’s window before heading back inside and taking your place back in line.
Thankfully the remainder of the transaction was uneventful, but the multiple pairs of eyes in the shop would glance warily in your direction every now and again. You ordered, waited, then picked up your coffee before tipping and walking out into the cool city air. Heading toward where your friends were waiting for you a few blocks down in their apartment, you sipped at your drink and scrolled through your phone.
Tuning out the world around you, you didn’t notice when you knocked your body forehead first into another person who had apparently also been just as distracted as you were.
“Ah! Bro what the f-“ You exclaimed, before cutting yourself off abruptly as you got a good look at the woman you had bumped into. You cursed yourself internally at your knee jerk response to criticize her first when you were both equally distracted. Straightening yourself out you rubbed your forehead gingerly before bending over to pick up both your and her phone where they had been dropped.
Luckily neither phone was cracked or scratched, but your coffee had gone everywhere on the ground around you, looking like a mini liquid explosion. You pushed down the utter sadness at the sight.
Getting your bearings, you stood and handed her phone back to her, “Hey, I’m sorry for coming at you like that initially, are you alright?”
She took her phone back with a slight, amused smile before responding, “It’s alright I almost did the same thing. I’m fine, are you good?”
“Yeah I’m fine, the coffee spill only ended up on the ground for once instead of all over me like it usually does.” You chuckled, and her smile widened at the lighter tone.
“So you bump into people like this often?” She asked.
“Oh yeah, at least 100 times a week, all of my friends describe me as ‘accident prone’.”
She giggled, and your heart flipped a little at how cute the sound was. Chuckling with her you took the brief moment to get a better look at her.
Her hair was red and wavy, ending just below her shoulders. Her skin was clear and impossibly smooth looking, and glancing up you caught her eyes in yours and the foot traffic began to blur around you. The iridescent blend of ivy and vibrant jade capturing your complete attention.
When you managed to tear your eyes away from hers you realized her lips were currently moving.
“I’m sorry, what were you saying?” You questioned, slightly dazed as you snapped yourself out of it.
“I was asking if you were busy later?” She said, chuckling low in her throat at your slightly flustered expression.
“Oh wow, I mean no, I’m not, why?” You asked, even more flustered at the question.
“I just would like a chance to make it up to you, and maybe buy you a replacement coffee, I’m super busy right now or I’d already have you a new cup.” She laughed again, the sound causing chills to skitter up and down your arms.
“Oh! Yeah absolutely I’m totally free later on this afternoon actually, just hanging with some friends this morning. I’ll give you my number?”
She nodded with a smile and handed her phone to you, having already pulled up her contacts list so you could add yourself to it. You fumbled with the buttons on your own phone before switching with her.
Begging your mind to cooperate, you somehow managed to not completely forget your own phone number and typed it into the screen, adding your first name and a small rainbow emoji like you always did with your other friends.
Handing her phone back to her, and she doing the same, you took that moment to glance at her name. ‘Natasha’.
“Awesome, I’ll wait for your text later then.” You said, regaining the tiniest amount of your composure as you looked back up into her eyes.
“I’ll send it as soon as I can, (y/n). Also, loving that you added the rainbow, it’s cute.”
Before you could respond back, her eyes had gone back down to her phone and she turned away to continue through the crowd.
Shaking yourself from your embarrassment at how tragically bad your gay panic had taken over, you made sure her number had saved and walked away in your own direction to your friend’s house.
‘Whatever she has planned, I just hope I don’t embarrass myself that much again.’
——————
Pulling open the door to your two best friend’s apartment and shoving your body face first into their couch, you groan loudly into the cushions.
Not even fazed by the sudden outburst you’ve been known for anymore, your friend Kara speaks up, “Hello (y/n), it’s lovely to see you too.”
You only groan again, slightly less loud, into the cushions once more before turning yourself over and sitting upright in front of them both where they stood in the kitchen.
“You only pop in like that when you’re extra tired because of your shitty boss, or when you’ve met someone insanely hot, so either what did the witch do now or I’m going to impolitely demand the details.” Your other friend, Rose, chimed in.
It made you smile slightly at how well they knew you, before that smile grew even more as you thought about the encounter with Natasha this morning.
Your friends were both in front of you, sitting on the coffee table in an instant.
“I know that smile, spill, now!” Kara said. Both of them were grinning at you like mad.
You went into the story of how your morning went, the crazy scene in the coffee shop, and also the less crazy scene with the new mystery girl who had kind of, but not really, asked you out later.
Your friends had known about your powers since you’d even realized you had them, so they weren’t surprised by any part of that story, but they practically screamed in delight when you started talking about how beautiful Natasha was.
“Oh my god! So wait when are you going out with this girl?” Kara asked.
“It’s not exactly ‘going out’, she just said she wants to make it up to me because my coffee spilled everywhere this morning. And I don’t know when, I just know it’s sometime this afternoon.” You reply.
“Oh whatever! Who cares if it’s actually a real date or not, you’re still going with a gorgeous girl, it’s been so long since the whole spider thing that you’ve even had any time to go out at all! You should wear my best ‘going out’ fit, hold on!” Rose prattled on before running off.
You couldn’t have stopped Rose from running off if you had tried, when she got excited about fashion you were pretty sure not even the gods themselves could deter her. In fact, the second you had told her you were going to use your powers for vigilante work, she had had a super suit ready the very next morning.
You chuckled along with Kara as she ran off to assemble your outfit for tonight.
“So be real, how hot was she?” Kara asked.
You laughed before responding, “I can’t even accurately describe her. I only saw her once and for so little I’m hardly sure I didn’t just imagine her. Her eyes were so intense and sharp, but then her smile was soft and sweet, and then her hair Kara!” You exclaimed dramatically.
She laughed as you continued, “Her hair was like this deep red color and barely touched her shoulders, and it was really wavy, and just, like, wow.” You swooned and fell back, sinking into the couch in a dreamy daze as you remembered every detail of your encounter with her.
“I’m really glad that even if it isn’t like a ‘date date’, that you still met someone. I know we can’t speak for her but like I know I’m rooting for you here.” She said, her lips curling up in a small smile.
“Thanks Kara.” You said sincerely.
“Anytime babe.” You both chuckled at the affectation as Rose finally twirled back into the living room, holding up your outfit for the afternoon.
“Alright this is my favorite outfit that just screams ‘yes I’m hot but I’m not giving it to you for free.’” You laughed at her description.
“We should print that on a shirt.” You teased.
She scoffed and waved you off before responding.
“Say what you will, but this mystery girl won’t know what hit her when she sees you in this.”
You held up the fit, and stepped away into the hallway bathroom to change.
You had to admit, it did look really good on you. Ripped skinny jeans, a criss cross sweater that showed off a section of your stomach, and a pair of black ankle boots, every item hugged your curves but still left a lot to the imagination at the same time.
Stepping out into the room with your friends again, they clapped excitedly and had you do several turns for them, chattering away about how hot you looked. You couldn’t even deny it either, the ensemble as simple as it may be, had your confidence soaring.
You spent the remainder of that afternoon dishing with your friends about what the ‘date’ might look like tonight and also what Natasha would look like herself.
You were still laughing with them when you felt your phone buzz loudly from your pocket, taking it out you looked at the screen and your heart flipped even harder in your chest when your suspicions were confirmed that it was, in fact, Natasha.
-Hey, it’s Natasha from earlier this morning, you free right now?-
-Yeah! Totally, where were you planning to meet?- You replied.
-If you’re okay with it, I have a pretty good coffee shop that’s a bit off the beaten path, hold on let me send you the address.-
You waited as the little bubbles kept running along, before receiving the location and plugging it into your maps.
“Hey guys I hate to leave you now but Natasha just texted…” You started before Rose interrupted.
“Uh uh, no. Go away and meet this girl then come immediately back here, I am STARVED for gossip and I need to know everything.”
You laughed yet again and took one last look at yourself in their hallway mirror before waving bye to them and heading to your car. As you looked back down at the address you felt butterflies fluttering rapidly in your stomach as you wondered what this outing might entail.