Spider-Pet Pt. 02

Her brows furrowed. "What's with that look?"

"Just how deep did you dig on me?"

She blinked slowly. "Deep enough."

"For what?"

"For me to trust you." Silver sighed and put her glass down when he didn't respond. "When you told me who you were, how you'd developed Octavius' prostheses, I did some research on you. Nothing deep, at first. Then I saw your background, and I had to know more." Her head tilted slightly. "I had to know what a boy from a small Queens apartment was doing dodging hails of gunfire every day." She shrugged. "I don't know how you got your power, and honestly, the how doesn't matter." Her lips pursed. "Not nearly as much as the why." She huffed and smirked. "Power and responsibility..."

"I did tell you about my uncle."

"Your uncle, yes." Her face fell. "How are you feeling these days?" She leaned in toward him. "I've seen enough grief in my soldiers to know everyone processes it differently."

Peter blinked at her. He didn't know why the question was so surprising. That first night, she'd spent at least half an hour drinking with him, mourning Aunt May.

He stared at the table, blinking rapidly as he thought the question over. "I won't say I'm...at peace with it. Not yet." He smiled faintly and shrugged. "There are good days and bad days."

Sable nodded slowly and hummed. "It's still too fresh, I think."

Peter nodded.

"For a while yet, it will be the first thing you think of every time you wake up."

He exhaled sharply, shifting in his seat.

"Until eventually, it's the second thing." She smiled. "Taking on this Miles seems to have put a bit of life back into you."

Peter thought about it for a while, a smile growing on his face with each second. "Feels like passing on a legacy, in more ways than one. It's..." he chuckled, "it's a new feeling. Kind of overwhelming, but at the same time..."

"Fulfilling."

He nodded.

Silver swallowed another forkful and chewed in silence. She chuckled. "I don't understand it."

"What?"

"How you keep getting more interesting the more I know about you."

Peter grinned and shook his head. "I'm really not that interesting."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Really?"

"Really."

Silver shrugged. "We'll agree to disagree."

Peter threw his hands up. "What?"

Her head shook as she chewed. "Nothing."

"What?"

Silver swallowed. "Just happy to know I chose well."

Peter's eyebrows shot upward. "For a new hire or..."

He hesitated to finish that sentence, afraid of being too presumptuous. What exactly was he to her? Considering the collar around his neck, he had a few ideas.

Whatever the word, she leaned in and smiled as she held his hand. "Both."

A little jerkily, as if her body was moving faster than her brain, Silver rose from her seat and shuffled toward his. She sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and staring at him with a strange, longing expression.

Peter swallowed. Words tumbled out before he could stop them. "I missed you."

She sighed. "And I missed you." Silver smiled and shook her head. "I don't understand why, but it feels as if I've reattached a lost limb. You are a curious man, Peter." Her hand carded through his hair, her eyes roving over his face. "You make me curious. Make me want to know more, to see more." She huffed and shook her head. "I can't explain it."

He held her gaze, gently holding her hips. "Me neither."

They didn't say anything for a while, just observed each other in silence.

Then, slowly, Silver shifted her hands from his neck to his jaw, leaning in tentatively. Peter laid his hands over hers and shut his eyes as he closed the distance, gently pressing his lips to hers. Her lips parted, tongue flicking out to taste him. He sucked her lower lip in between his teeth, pulling a faint hum from her as he ran his tongue over it, then let it go. Silver's grip on his face tightened a bit as she pulled him in closer. She wasn't forceful, not like last time. It was more...exploratory now, curious.

Peter sighed and leaned into her, turning his head to deepen the kiss. His hands tangled in her hair, fingers weaving through it and admiring its texture. Warmth filled his chest from the inside out, alongside a persistent ache that made his breathing heavier. His lips gyrated against hers, jaw working as he pressed his tongue against hers. She flicked and pushed his around before wrapping her lips around it and sucking gently. Peter moaned softly, wrapping his arms around her body to pull her even closer.

They had to break apart for air, though their lips were still barely centimeters apart.

"Silver," he whispered.

"Come with me," she breathed.

Silver stood up and took his hand, threading her fingers through his as she led him out of the dining hall. Peter couldn't even take in their surroundings for how much she occupied his attention. Then she opened a door at the end of a long hallway, and he saw the massive bed, buttressed and surrounded by curtains, not unlike the bed they'd shared in New York. Silver turned around to take his other hand and back up toward it. Peter absently closed the door behind them, too lost in her eyes to think.

Silver turned a bit when they reached the bed, holding onto him with one hand while the other parted the curtains for them. Peter swallowed and followed her lead, laying down on his side when she did the same. He cupped her face with his free hand, licking his lips.

"You are...so beautiful."

Silver smiled and leaned into his hand, nuzzling it. She pressed her lips to his palm, then scooted closer and nuzzled his chest. He cupped her head and stroked her hair, enjoying the way her warmth coated the whole front of his body—sort of. At which point he realized they were both wearing entirely too much. She was still in her lab clothes, minus the coat, and he was...oh right, he'd been traveling all day. Damn. They were still wearing their shoes.

Silver sighed hard. "Is it too late to mention we're overdressed?"

"I was just about to say—"

She laughed into his chest and stroked it with her hand. "I forgot you just spent half a day on a plane. I should let you get properly ready."

"Ready for..."

Silver looked at him funny. "Sleep." She arched an eyebrow. "What did you think I meant?"

Peter's face burned. "Well, I mean, we're here and um sharing a bed, so I thought...unless—"

"Peter," she interrupted with a smile. "Stop overthinking, dear." She nodded toward a door on one side of the room. "There's a full bathroom through there, should have everything you need. Get yourself cleaned up. I'm sure you'd prefer not to have travel grime on you."

He blushed even harder. "Uh, well, when you put it that way..." He got up and turned for the door. Peter stopped halfway there and smirked at her. "You gonna join me again?"

Silver chuckled and shook her head as she started undressing. "Not this time, I think."

He caught himself staring at her, muttered, "Okay," and turned for the bathroom before he could get too distracted.

Peter's heart was racing as he took stock of the bathroom. It was huge, with a hot tub in one corner and a spacious shower in another that could comfortably fit at least three people. Well, she was royalty after all. Damn. It still hadn't sunk in yet. He was literally sleeping with royalty.

I'm Spider-Man, he thought. I fight giant robots and half a dozen animal-themed villains a week, and somehow this is the weirdest thing I've done?

Peter chuckled and looked around for a towel. He found a whole rack of extra larges right next to his suitcase. His face burned thinking of the instructions she must've given her people. If the collar wasn't enough of a giveaway, that had to have cemented what he was in their eyes. He blushed even harder when he remembered the collar and took it off so it wouldn't get wet. Silver had something planned for him after he got out of the shower, he just knew it. That had to be why she wasn't joining him.

The whole time under the steam, his heart and mind raced with the possibilities and the memory of their first encounter.

Was that lingerie making another appearance? Would she make full use of his new collar? What new, devious ways was she concocting to keep him under her thumb? Honestly, at this point it wouldn't take much.

It was with these thoughts running through his head that he stepped out of the shower, hot in every way imaginable and hard as a rock. Peter took barely a moment to fix his hair and put on his collar before heading for the door. Then he remembered how much she'd enjoyed "unwrapping" him last time and shuffled through his suitcase, looking for suitable sleepwear. As soon as he put sweatpants on, he went up to the door and took a breath to brace himself.

Peter opened the door.

He didn't know what he'd expected. Simulated candlelight? Rose petals? Black leather and whips (the possibility excited him more than he'd like to admit)?

What he got was...no different than how he'd left it. Except for the fact that Silver was laying on a pillow in a white one-piece nightie with the covers pulled halfway up her torso. She wasn't moving. He couldn't see through the curtains from this angle, so he went around to her side and pulled them back. The slow, soft breathing was the first thing he noticed. The second were the dark circles under her eyes that had apparently been hidden with makeup all this time. He couldn't begin to guess how she'd removed it.

Then he thought back to earlier, their conversation down in the lab. She'd been back in Symkaria for three weeks, ever since leaving him in New York. This project she was working on clearly meant a lot to her, but perhaps even more important was the possibility that she had an enemy hiding among her own. Having felt the sting of Ock's betrayal, he knew what it was like, feeling that realization sink in. But the uncertainty of not knowing who was stabbing you in the back, not knowing if you could even trust your own people...

Peter couldn't even imagine the stress. With how dark those circles were, he could only guess at the last time she'd gotten a good night's sleep. So he smiled and pulled the comforter up to her shoulders, leaning over to kiss her forehead. Then he shuffled to the other side and laid down next to her.

Peter leaned in just enough to nuzzle her ear and whisper, "Good night, Silver."

She hummed sleepily and shifted a bit.

He smiled softly and draped his arm over her midriff, then settled in and closed his eyes. With her warmth and the soft weight of the covers, he was out before he knew it.

...

Silver couldn't remember what she was dreaming about as consciousness took hold. Only that it was very calmly and quickly dashed away by a pervasive warmth spreading throughout her body. She sighed and shifted a bit, only to find her lower half arrested in place. Her ice-blue eyes snapped wide open, looking down to see only the lump of her legs under the covers—except they weren't big enough to make a lump that big. And this heat was starting to feel familiar—

A sudden pressure and tug below ripped a surprised moan from her throat as she quickly threw off the covers. The messy brown bedhead was the first thing to greet her. The second were those mischievous hazel eyes peering up from between her legs. And the third, well...

Silver threw her head back as his tongue hit a particularly sensitive spot on her clit, hands fisting in the sheets.

"Peter...Peter..."

She couldn't remember the last time she'd lost herself like this. Even when he'd had her pinned in her hotel room, she'd kept a modicum of control. Silver's hips bucked hard even as his hands wrapped around her hips, his immense strength keeping her locked in place. She hissed and swore in Symkarian.

Her hands flailed about for a more secure hold, eventually finding his hair and digging her fingers in. She tugged and pulled and bucked her hips. He kept up his relentless assault on her clit until she saw stars and every muscle in her body tensed. A silent scream shuddered through her as her eyes rolled back and she tried to hold onto some semblance of sanity. In the end, it was all she could do to hold on and ride his face. Her legs wrapped around his head, thighs tightening hard as he held her in place.

By the time her vision started to clear, she was trembling like a leaf and gently being lowered to the bed. Silver was distantly aware of movement at her side, the shuffle of covers, and the warmth of another body being draped over her own. The arm she'd put over her eyes shakily moved away, letting her stare up at his glistening face and the shit-eating grin he had.

Peter reached down and caressed her face with the back of his fingers. "Better now?"

Silver's brows furrowed in confusion. Yet almost at once, she understood what he meant. All last night, during their meeting and even dinner, she'd felt this knot in her chest. And her back. And her neck. She frowned and bit her lip. It was like an endless chain of knots all throughout her body all day yesterday. And, come to think of it, many of the days before. Not to mention that for all of Peter's efforts to make her pass out, she felt more awake and rested than she had in weeks.

Silver sighed and nodded, leaning into his shoulder. "That," she panted, "was a very welcome good morning."

He chuckled and cradled her head, stroking her hair. "I'm glad. No offense, but you looked terrible last night."

She froze and drew back just enough to glare at him.

"Uh, I mean, you know, all the stress and—"

Silver stuck her index inside his collar and crooked it, tugging just a bit. "I know what you meant, Spider."

Peter bit his lip. "I'm gonna get it for that comment, aren't I?"

She smiled cruelly, dampening it after a moment. "Well, I suppose I can be a bit lenient, given that wakeup call." Her smirk returned. "But only a bit."

Peter winced and looked away.

Her smile faded to a serious frown. "If you're uncomfortable—"

"N-No, it's uh..." he shrugged, "just that I've never really done this before...y'know, you."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He blinked. "Is that really so surprising?"

Silver leaned back and combed his hair with her fingers. "Well, as I said, I performed a great deal of research on you, as Peter Parker and Spider-Man. This 'Black Cat' you're sometimes seen with..."

He flinched.

"She strikes me as the kind of woman to take charge."

"I..." his head tilted a bit, "yeah, I guess you got a point. Though honestly, most of the time, it felt like she was trying to get me to take charge."

Her silver eyebrow arched. "Ah, so you were special then."

"Special how?"

She leaned into him and stroked his bare chest. "Take it from someone who knows...when you spend most of your time in control, it takes a very special kind of partner for you to surrender it."

"...I see."

Silver nuzzled his pecs and held him, listening to his rapid heartbeat.

"Don't you have somewhere to be today?"

She frowned and looked up at him, a little hurt. "Not particularly."

Peter looked genuinely surprised. "Oh. Okay then."

Her brows knitted. "Why?"

"Um..." He shifted a bit and scratched the back of his head. "I uh...last night...you kinda fell asleep."

Silver blinked and stared at him. "Yes, that is what usually happens in bed, at night."

"Last time you had me take a shower in your room and sleep in your bed, we uh..." He turned red as a tomato.

A slow grin spread across her face. "Aww, did someone get a little too excited?" She leaned in, ghosting the tips of her fingers across his chest. "Must have been disappointing to come out and catch me sleeping." Her leg slowly pushed between his, her knee just barely resting on his balls. "All riled up and no relief."

She wiggled her leg side to side, making Peter squirm and whimper softly. Silver laughed and kissed his neck.

Her lips brushed his ear. "I love the way you squirm," she whispered.

His lips pursed tightly, trying not to respond to her teasing. His hands tentatively hovered over her shoulders. "May I—"

"Go ahead."

Peter grabbed her shoulders and squeezed lightly (for him, anyway—these were fingers that could bend steel), slowly massaging more knots from her muscles. Silver tutted with a touch of annoyance. Here she was trying to get him all hot and bothered, and he was insistent on giving her a spa day. His fingers worked up both sides toward her neck, pressing out the worst of the stressed bundles. Okay, maybe a spa day wasn't the worst idea in the world. In fact—

Slowly, his one hand tightened slightly around the sides of her neck—too much to be massaging, too softly to hurt.

Silver blinked and met his eyes. "What are you doing?"

Peter blinked rapidly and immediately let go. "You...you mentioned earlier, it takes a special person to get you to surrender control. That wasn't, like, a suggestion?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Remind me: which of us is wearing the collar?"

He stared at her and shrugged. "Good point. Sorry."

"It's...it's fine."

Silver sat back as the room fell silent. Truth be told, she'd never considered that. Though, he had taken control from her back in New York, for a time—and been rather good at it, she recalled. If given full reign...a small shiver ran through her body at the thought.

"Perhaps..." she swallowed, "perhaps someday."

Peter blinked. "So...you're not mad?"

Silver stared at him quizzically. Then she saw the slight tension in his shoulders, the way his hands were folded in his lap, fingers tucked in like they were locked away. It occurred to her then, for perhaps the first time since they'd become intimate, that he had perhaps the greatest self-control of any partner she'd ever had. With such strength, he had to, constantly restraining himself and checking on his partner.

"Are you afraid, Peter?"

The words had slipped out before she could stop them.

He blinked and looked up at her. "Of what?"

"...I'm not sure. You seem much more tense than usual."

Peter chuckled softly, though his smile didn't meet his eyes. "This is only our second time in bed."

"True." She wasn't convinced. "To answer your question, no. I'm not angry, just surprised. I didn't expect you to..."

He held his hands up. "No grabbing the neck, gotcha. I just figured, since you did it to me, that you'd be...open to it, I guess?"

Silver nodded slightly. "Not now, at least."

Peter arched an eyebrow.

"It...implies something more than I'm ready for...yet."

"Oh. Okay."

Silver leaned in and kissed his nose, then laid atop him and pressed her breasts into his chest. The nightie did absolutely nothing to hide how hard her nipples were getting just from touching him. She pet his messy bedhead and let her fingertips play over his soft curls. Silver buried her face in his neck and inhaled. She could smell the remains of her soap on his skin, same as that night. Her lips pressed to his neck as he rubbed circles into her back. His breath stuttered for a split-second when she dragged her tongue over his pulse and started circling it.

Her chin bumped against his collar. She frowned a little and glanced at it. He'd kept it on all night—or maybe taken it off before bed and put it back on when he woke up?

"Would you like this off?" she asked softly, tugging at the collar.

Peter shrugged. "I don't mind it." His cheeks warmed. "At least...not in here. Out there..."

Silver chuckled. "Yes, of course. Yesterday was an oddity, though I think a necessary one."

He met her eyes curiously.

Her tongue flicked his chin as she grinned. "Teaching you the pecking order. The rest of your team-to-be already has some inkling of our...dynamic, I think."