CHARACTERS: PETER PARKER AND KAMALA KHAN SETTING: BACKDATED TO HS PROM NIGHT SUMMARY: WALKING HIS DATE BACK HOME, ALL THE CUTE! WARNINGS: NONE STATUS: COMPLETE
Sometimes, Peter really wished he had a car. Or like, a license. There wasn’t much sense in getting a license in New York City, especially not when you were Spider-Man. He could get anywhere in the city faster by webslinging or by public transit than he could in traffic during rush hour.
He felt like prom was the sort of thing where you picked up your date though, and drove her home at the end of the night. Maybe he should have rented a limo. Was Kamala annoyed that he hadn’t even thought of renting a limo until right now, when they were walking back to Kamala’s house after prom? It wasn’t too far of a walk, but it wasn’t exactly close, either.
At least he didn’t think the walk was going to ruin the night. Prom itself had been great. They’d danced, they’d laughed, they’d chatted. Wanda and Carol had both insisted on getting a million photos before they’d left, and Peter hadn’t minded at all. Kamala looked great in her dress, and Wanda had helped him pick out a nice suit.
“This was really great, Kamala. I’m really glad you asked me to come with you. I was a little worried that your dad was going to end up being a supervillain and then I’d have to ditch you at prom so that I could send him to prison before he stole a plane full of alien tech, but that didn’t happen at all, so this is definitely the best dance I’ve ever been to.”
The idea of a limo had not been on Kamala’s mind at all. It could be because she didn’t exactly drive herself. She usually took a bike everywhere. Here, not so much but you either had waypoints to get to class easily or she usually walked through the air. She had almost half expected the two of them to swing over there even. She wouldn’t have minded.
Actually, it made her think of if she had met him in their world instead. Would that have been them then? Having nights out in the city with her holding onto him every once in a while? She managed getting around Jersey but across the river, the buildings were way taller.
“That is… oddly specific,” she said with a laugh. “If my dad ended up being a supervillain, it would be the shock of the century. You know, when my best friend, Nakia, was running for a board member in our masjid, my dad initially was going to support his buddy but she gave him the puppy eyes and he caved.”
“Oh yeah, dances have historically not been great for me,” he said. He bumped her shoulder with his. “But I’m glad that’s changing. That’s pretty cool that your friend was running though. What sort of things would she do if she got in?”
The bump didn’t throw her off her balance, but Kamala took hold of his bicep as she pretended to almost tip over. And then she left her hand there. Should she move it away? How fast should she move it away. Wait now seconds had passed, would it be too awkward to move it away at this point?
Oh, he had asked a question.
“Um… committee… stuff? Organizing events. Allocating funds, etc. I think. I do know she thought it was a damn shame that there was clearly a divide between how the men’s bathroom were a lot cleaner and better kept than the women’s bathroom that had tiles falling off the walls, and she wanted to improve that and show that the masjid was welcoming to all genders.”
Peter hoped the grin on his face wasn’t as goofy as it felt. It was nice to have Kamala grabbing his arm though, and after a moment he put his free hand overtop of hers.
“That’s pretty cool of her. Not a lot of people would take that initiative. I hope I’ll get to meet her someday.” He paused, frowning. “It’s kind of sad that I don’t get to meet any of your friends from back home. I’d like to. What are they like?”
Kamala decided it was a good thing she had left her hand on his arm. “Maybe you will! People are always coming through here, right? Nakia’s pretty headstrong, very ambitious, always determined to do the Right Thing. Bruno, I mentioned him before. Also really smart. I think you’d love the same things together. You would end up being best friends, probably and I’d end up feeling left out!”
“That would be nice,” Peter agreed. He hoped they would. He knew that Kamala missed them. “Though I doubt very much that we’d leave you out.” And then, he added, softer, “I’d never want to leave you out.”
She smiled up at him, a slight blush touching her cheeks. She stepped a little closer then, to lean into her hold on his arm. “Good. Personally, I think I would still be cooler company than him!”
“Oh, absolutely. The company doesn’t get much cooler.” He took a moment, just to gaze at her. She really did look great tonight; the dress she’d picked for the night looked great, and not just because he liked seeing her in his favourite colour. “Have I mentioned how pretty you look tonight yet?”
He had, several times, but it was better to check just in case.
And every time he had, Kamala swore she blushed even more. “Thank you,” she said. “You did many times but thank you all the same. And you look very handsome!”
Soon enough she spotted her place with Carol and Emme and she almost slowed down because she almost didn’t want the night to end. But it had to because she needed sleep and rest from the partying and also because she needed the privacy to dance around her room.
Peter’s own steps slowed as they approached the house. He was reluctant to let Kamala go. Part of him was tempted to see if she wanted to see if they could find some late-night street food. It had been a long night though.
“Well,” he said, shuffling his feet. “This was fun. We should do this again sometime. Not prom I mean, but… something.”
Smooth, Peter.
Kamala did stop eventually but well before they got to the door. She turned so she and Peter were facing each other. “I know at least one of them would be at the door trying to listen in so leeeeet’s keep a distance,” she explained.
She let her hand slide down from his elbow to his hand. “I think we should definitely do this again! Prom only if we get to crash the ones the adults are doing, but… dates. Definitely more dates. And our usual patrolling but anything with dancing tends to be more fun.”
Peter nodded. “Chances seem 50/50 that Wanda’s also there listening at the door,” he agreed, grinning. He loved it. It was nice, really nice, having some Adults who were, well, worried about him and invested in what he did and who he did it with.
He tucked a piece of Kamala’s hair behind her ear, and let his hand linger at the side of her face. “Dancing’s definitely more fun,” he said. “We can definitely go dancing more.”
It was a miracle, honestly, that she didn’t literally melt into a puddle there. Instead, she went ahead and took a step closer, because at least she could lean on him if her knees did actually buckle. A part of her knew that even if they couldn’t hear them, chances are they probably still saw them from the windows but she didn’t care at that point.
“Yes. Dancing. All the dancing. And… things people usually do when they’re dating. You know.”
Peter nodded, and swallowed when Kamala stepped closer to him.
“Can I… I mean, I would like to… If it’s okay with you, can I kiss you?” he asked.
Oh, my god, screamed a voice in Kamala’s head, strong enough she probably telepathically sent it to every single psychic to exist in Vallo.
“Yes. Yes, absolutely. I mean, that’s what you do at the end of dates right? And during dates? So… so, yes!”
This wasn’t Peter’s first kiss, but his stomach still flipped in his belly like it was. He spread his fingers on Kamala’s cheek and leaned in to kiss her softly.
If there was any distance between them, Kamala made sure they closed it, when she tiptoed, stepping closer. Her hands took hold of his jacket, both for the sake of bringing him closer, and also making sure she had something to hold onto because knees. Weakening. As she felt her heart trying to leap out of her chest! This wasn’t her kiss either but she was pretty sure she could say it was the best ever.
Peter didn’t pull away far when the kiss ended, but he rested his forehead against Kamala’s, grinning foolishly. “That was nice,” he said, and felt like an idiot. “I mean, it wasn’t just nice. It was more than nice. It was…”
He didn’t have words for it. He grinned.
Kamala’s grin definitely matched his. There was no need for words to describe it besides an enthusiastic “yep!” she gave in response. She moved her arms around his neck as well to get closer. “We totally need to do that more often too.”
Except… maybe not in front of the house where she was sure Carol could see and was probably squealing like mad behind that door. Probably.
“Yeah,” Peter agreed. Now?, he thought, but then his thoughts fell onto the same track that Kamala’s were on, and he glanced toward the house. “But like, later? I should let you go home and uh… sleep and stuff. But I’ll text you when I wake up?”
Kamala nodded, leaving her arms around him as they were. She will back away and go inside. In a minute. Or two. Or five.
“Yeah! Sounds like a plan. And a beginning to a lot of dates!”