Part II "Oh, it's you."
⤷ One rainy night, the masks finally come off, and suddenly every argument, every rooftop date, and every stolen glance made sense.
⤷ spider-man!hayden × blackcat!reader
⤷ fluff, childhood enemies to-lovers, secret Identities, mutual pining, identity reveal, rooftop dates, 1.9k words, part 1
Just a normal day at university
Two voices bickering in the background while everyone else continues their work as if it were nothing. Well, it was nothing.
At this point, everyone was used to it.
"Dude, give me my calculator back. You've had it for three days." You frown, examining a material in the microscope.
"I've been using it." Hayden spins around in the swivel chair while reading the newspaper, something about a new vigilante they call 'The Daredevil'
"That's generally what borrowing means, Hayden." You look back at the idiot.
"Exactly." He hums; you groan and roll your eyes in annoyance.
A few students glanced over before returning to their work. Some wondered how it had gotten this bad. How two people who apparently couldn't stand each other had somehow become inseparable.
The answer went all the way back to Queens.
Years before university, before the lab arguments, before the masks. Before Spider-Man and Black Cat.
You were seven when Uncle Ben accidentally gave you Hayden's favorite toy.
It wasn't even supposed to be yours.
Ben had been carrying a box of Hayden's old things into your apartment because your parents were helping him clear out the storage closet.
You spotted the little toy immediately. A hand-sewn sort of animal with a tongue sticking out! Your eyes lit up. "Can I have this?"
Ben looked down. "Sure, sweetheart." He smiled and handed it to you.
You hugged it to your chest. "Thank you, Uncle Ben!"
Unfortunately, neither of you knew that Hayden had been looking for that exact toy for the past twenty minutes. A sock bear crafted by his Aunt May using Uncle Ben's spare sock with mismatched buttons for eyes.
He appeared in the doorway. Stopped. Stared.
His eyes widened in horror. "That's mine!"
You hugged it tighter. "Uncle Ben gave it to me."
Ben froze. "...Oh."
Hayden's little face crumpled. "Uncle Ben!"
"I thought it was yours."
"It was in my box!"
"I didn't know!"
You looked between them.
Then at the toy.
Then back at Hayden.
"No."
Hayden's mouth dropped open. "No?"
"It's mine now."
"You can't just steal my stuff!"
"Uncle Ben gave it to me."
"But it's mine!"
"Not anymore."
And that was the beginning.
A few days later, the two of you were still fighting over it.
You'd hidden the plush somewhere in your room.
Hayden had discovered where. He tried to take it back. You refused.
Words became shoving.
Shoving became wrestling.
And somewhere in the chaos, you both knocked over your little craft table.
A glue gun hit the floor.
Hayden reached for the toy.
You reached for it too.
He grabbed your wrist.
You pulled away.
And—
"OW!"
Everything stopped.
A tiny burn mark had appeared across his hand.
Your face immediately fell. "I didn't mean to!"
Hayden stared at his hand.
Then at you.
Then, naturally—
"YOU DID THAT!"
"I DIDN'T!"
"You burned me!"
"You grabbed me first!"
"Because you stole my toy!"
"IT'S MY TOY NOW!"
Ben came running into the room. "What happened?"
Both of you pointed at each other. "HE/SHE STARTED IT!"
Ben sighed, he already knew this was going to be a long afternoon.
The scar never completely disappeared. Years later, it was barely noticeable unless you knew where to look.
But Hayden still had it.
A tiny reminder of the first person he'd ever spent an entire childhood arguing with. The first person who knew exactly how to make him angry. The first person who always came back five minutes later with an apology and half a popsicle.
The first person who had once promised— "We'll always be best friends."
Funny how neither of you realized that, years later, you'd still be keeping that promise.
Just in completely different ways.
--
Hayden stops spinning the chair when he sees a classmate flirting with you. He is weirdly irritated.
But he has absolutely no right to be.
So he becomes passive-aggressive. As the guy walked away, he stood up from the chair, throwing the newspaper away somewhere.
"Your boyfriend?"
"No."
"Oh."
"...Why?"
"No reason."
Meanwhile, that same night, Spider-Man sees Black Cat talking to another masked vigilante. Some Daredevil guy or whatever he saw in the newspaper
He gets jealous.
Black Cat notices. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You're being weird."
"I'm always weird."
"You've been staring at the guy for five minutes."
"I was assessing the threat. You never know."
"You look jealous."
"...I don't get jealous."
"Sure, Spider."
--
During a fight, Spider-Man gets seriously exhausted and Black Cat helps him back to a rooftop.
He's barely conscious.
You take off one of his gloves to bandage his hand.
Then you notice something.
A tiny scar.
One you've seen before. On Hayden. You freezes.
Spider-Man wakes slightly. "Ugh...You okay?"
Your fingers hover over the scar. "Where did you get this?"
"Old accident."
"...When?"
"Years ago."
The next day, you walk into the lab wearing a bracelet.
Hayden remembers that bracelet.
He remembers holding Black Cat's wrist during a rooftop swing.
He remembers the tiny silver charm.
His eyes immediately go to your wrist.
You notice. "What?"
"Nothing." He looks away.
Then you notice his hand.
The same scar, the same shape.
Your stomach drops, and for the rest of the class, you try to ignore it.
One late rainy night at the university.
You and Hayden are finishing a project when you get an alert about a break-in at an Oscorp research facility nearby. There's experimental tech being stolen—something dangerous enough that Black Cat can't ignore it.
You make an excuse and leave.
Hayden makes an excuse and leaves.
Neither realizes the other is doing the exact same thing.
You meet on the roof.
"You're late."
"You missed me?"
"I was enjoying the silence."
"And here I was thinking you liked me."
Then the building explodes.
Not a giant Hollywood explosion—just a violent flash of blue-white light from inside the facility, followed by the windows blowing outward.
You both immediately stop joking.
People are trapped inside.
You jump first.
Spider-Man follows.
Then you both realize this isn't a normal robbery.
The thieves have activated some experimental technology, causing the building's systems to go haywire. Elevators stop, sprinklers burst, glass shatters, and the whole building starts becoming unstable.
You had to work together, and you are really good together.
Inside, everything is chaos.
Emergency lights flash red. Sprinklers rain down. Smoke fills the corridors.
You hear someone crying for help.
Spider-Man swings through the smoke. "I've got the east wing!"
"I'll take the lower floor!"
"Be careful!"
"Always am."
You separate.
Then you hear him scream your name.
Not Black Cat.
Your actual name.
Because earlier, when he was investigating the facility, he'd found the university's research files.
He doesn't realize what he's said.
You freeze. "...What did you just call me?"
Silence.
Then another explosion. The floor beneath you gives way.
You fall.
Spider-Man dives after you, he catches your wrist.
For one second, you're suspended above the collapsing floor.
His grip is slipping. "I've got you." He says shakily
You look up at him. Something about his voice feels suddenly familiar.
Too familiar. "Spider..."
The ceiling collapses.
He pulls you upward, and both of you crash onto the next floor.
Your mask is damaged.
His ripped out.
You reach for him. "You okay?" He nods.
Then you notice it.
His hand. The small scar across his knuckle.
The exact same scar Hayden got when you were kids after fighting for your toy.
Your breathing stops. "...Hayden?"
He freezes. His eyes widen behind the torn mask.
And suddenly—
everything goes quiet.
Not literally.
The alarms are still screaming.
Rain is still pouring through the broken windows.
Sirens are still echoing somewhere below.
But for you, the entire city seems to disappear. Slowly, Hayden reaches up and pulls his mask away. Wet curls fall against his forehead.
Those same eyes. That same stupid little smile you've known since childhood. "...Hi."
You stare at him, your own mask hangs half-broken from your face.
He looks at you. Really looks at you.
And then his expression changes.
Recognition. Disbelief. Something softer.
"...No." A shaky laugh escapes him.
"You're kidding." You pull your mask off completely.
"You're Spider-Man."
"You're Black Cat."
Neither of you moves.
Then you both say it at the exact same time:
"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
A laugh breaks through the shock.
Then another explosion shakes the building.
You look at him.
He looks at you.
"We can process this later."
You nod. "Save the people first."
"And after you explain why you've been flirting with me for months." He added as he held out his hand.
You scoff, smiling. "You were flirting too." Taking his hand.
And together, you run back into the smoke.
2:17 AM You end up sitting on a rooftop afterward. New York is finally quiet, the city hums softly below, a distant lullaby of sirens and traffic, wrapped in the cool embrace of the rainy night air.
No masks, no aliases. Months of secret identities, rooftop banter, late-night lab arguments, and childhood wars—all culminating in this exact, impossible moment.
Hayden watches you, his thumb absently brushing over the old, familiar scar on his hand. The nervous tension that used to fill the space between you as masked vigilantes, or bickering university students is entirely gone, replaced by a quiet, steady certainty.
He hands you a slice of pizza. You take it.
"So..." You look at him. "How long have you known?"
He smiles. "Tonight."
"Liar."
"Okay. Maybe five minutes before you did."
You laugh, then comforting silence takes over.
"You know," Hayden says softly, breaking the silence as he shifts closer to you, "for a genius, you can be remarkably oblivious."
You narrow your eyes at him, a half-smile playing on your lips. "Are you really starting a fight right now? After all that?"
"Not a fight." He gently takes the pizza from your hands and sets it aside in the pizza box on the ledge, never breaking eye contact. "Just stating facts. Someone had to."
Your breath catches slightly as he closes the distance between you. The city lights catch the wet curls falling across his forehead, and for a split second, you're seven years old again, fighting over a stolen toy in a cramped Queens apartment. But then you look into his eyes—the same eyes that have anchored you through every rooftop jump, every danger, and every ordinary day—and the years melt away.
"You're impossible, Hayden," you murmur, though your voice lacks any real bite.
"I know," he whispers, his gaze dropping briefly to your lips before returning to your eyes. "And you wouldn't have it any other way."
He reaches out, his hand gently cupping your cheek, his thumb tracing your jawline with a tenderness that makes your heart race faster than any superhero flight ever could.
When he leans in, it isn't rushed or desperate. It feels like coming home.
The kiss is soft, warm, and entirely right—an unspoken conclusion to a lifetime of missed signals, and the brilliant, chaotic beginning of everything else. By the time he pulls back just enough to let you breathe, you're both smiling against each other's lips.
Hayden rests his forehead gently against yours, letting out a quiet breath of disbelief and pure happiness.
"Best friends?" he asks, his voice a low, fond murmur in the dark.
You wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him just a little closer.
"Always," you whisper.
okay this is cute, i absolutely loved writing this. lowkey got me interested in the marvel comics, but that's for another time. Also, sorry if the verb tenses and the switches between ‘you’ and black cat are confusing😔. I have to admit I should write more kissing/intimite moments T-T, I had butterflies while writing the ending. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this uwu.
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