Author's Note:

Hello everyone!

Thanks a lot for checking out my first story/one-shot on this website. I have to say that this is the first story I ever posted and I am not a native English speaker, so I can only apologize for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes that I might have made. I'm still learning and still far from great, but I'm doing my best here :)

I am probably one of the biggest SpiderTiger shippers ever (You probably figured that out by now, duh!), so I just had to write this. I'm sorry, it's not that long (actually, it's really short ^.^), but if you guys like it, I will probably try to write and post some more stuff. :D

Moving on to business...

Title: Afraid of thunderstorms, aren't we?
Pairing: hinted SpiderTiger fluff
Words: 1,286
Disclaimer: I do not own the Ultimate Spider-Man series or any of the characters used for this one-shot, Ultimate Spider-Man rightfully belongs to Marvel Animation Studios. (Let's all be serious, now: If I owned it, Ava and Peter would slowly and romantically develop the relationship they're destined to have!)

Chapter 1: Afraid of thunderstorms, aren't we?

The room inside of the Parker Residence lit up brightly as a lightning bolt silently made his way through the clouds, shortly followed by a loud thundering bang. Ava Ayala winced at the frightening noise and put the sheets of her bed over her body, even though she knew exactly it wouldn't offer her any protection, cuddling herself to a small ball. She could feel her heartbeat fasten and fear rushing through her veins.

Get it together, Ava! You're a teen superhero! A stupid storm won't make you-...

Her thoughts were interrupted by another thunderclap, making her squeak this time while cold chills slowly run down her back. She scolded herself for being such a coward only because of some storm, but she couldn't help but start to shiver when the next pair of lightning and thunder appeared in the sky. She had hated the cruel combination of them since she could think and it didn't get better over time. Her brain told her to think it through logically as she always did and realize that a thunderstorm wouldn't hurt her, but she couldn't shake of the uncomfortable and frightening feeling that just increased with each further minute.

Knowing full well she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, the heroine went out of her bed, her arms tightly wrapped around her form, and left the room, heading to the dorm on the opposite side of the floor.

The exact dorm that belonged to none other than Peter Parker.

She couldn't quite believe it herself when she slowly brought her hand to the doorknob, cautiously trying not to cause any loud noise that might wake the others.

Right now, any embarrassing situation with Parker is better than being alone in that storm...

Fortunately, the door opened quietly and she quickly entered, closing it behind her. She turned around and looked at Peter's bed. For a moment, Ava simply stood there and gazed at his sleeping body. He lay there peacefully and a soft smile was spread over his lips. She noted that his upper body half was exposed, his crumpled shirt lying carelessly on the floor, and immediately noticed the firm contours of his muscles.

Pretty impressing...even more without his spandex suit...

After a few minutes, another thunder shook her out of her trance and she forced herself to lead her look away from his chest to gracefully approach him with cat-like movements. When she stopped next to his head, her gaze fell on his fluffy chestnut-colored hair. She wondered if it felt as smooth as it looked like and before she knew it, her left hand tangled in his bangs and fondly stroked them. One of his curls tickled his nose and he let out a small snort, making the tigress giggle softly, and she brushed the strand of hair out of his face. She slightly leaned in and took in his bittersweet scent, her tiger-like senses allowing her to smell even more intensely.

Hmmm...how come I never noticed before that he smells so...good?

She gently let her hand glide down his temple and jawline and lovingly caressed the sensitive skin of his cheeks.

Despite herself being distracted, Ava jumped at the sound of thunder yet again and jerked her hand away from him. Peter stirred at that and blinked a few times before opening his eyes and focusing his gaze on the Latina who managed to crawl to the other side of the room. A confused expression crossed his features as he slowly went up and yawned tiredly.

"Ava? What are you doing in my room at...2 AM?", he added after a glance at his alarm clock and tiredly rubbed his eyes before once again looking at her.

She stood up from the ground and shyly wandered over to him, sitting down next to him on the bed and careful to keep a little distance between them.

"I-...I couldn't sleep, because...", she started stuttering, but was quickly cut off by another bang. Without thinking, she jumped closer to Peter and literally threw herself into the boy's arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

Peter noticed how she unconsciously started to shiver and fondly embraced her, his hand moving gently over her hair as he tried to comfort her.

"Afraid of thunderstorms, aren't we, Kitten?", he whispered softly into her ear with the usual hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Sh-Shut up, Web-Head! And stop calling me that!", she muttered against skin while she tried to regain her posture - the result being rather unsuccessful. Never would she let Spider-Man know just how much she actually liked the sound of his pet name for her.

Peter chuckled at her stubbornness and the vibration of his chest sent chills down her spine as he continued stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry for waking you up", she muttered and leaned back to shoot him an apologetic glance, "but to be honest, I really couldn't sleep. Storms...sc-...sca-...scare me", the heroine admitted while an embarrassed blush rose on her cheeks.

Peter thought it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

"It's okay", he smiled at her consolingly. "You can sleep here...only if you want to, of course!", he offered and lay down on the other side of his bed to make some place for the Hispanic girl.

Despite herself, she smiled back at him and crawled next to him, lying down as well. They silently faced each other, somehow mesmerized by the sight in front of them.

Ava decided that she had never seen eyes that were brighter and more enchanting than his wonderful blue orbs.

Peter decided that there was nothing as deep and beautiful as her soft brown gaze.

Neither of them wanted to ever look away as they fell under kind of a blissful spell.

Neither of them was able to explain what they felt in that very moment.

But both of them knew that if they could, they would last like this forever.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't seem to care about the bound that was carefully established between the two teens as once more a loud thunder destroyed the peaceful ambience.

Ava once again shrieked at the noise, but Peter straightly wound his strong arms around her and brought her slim form as close to him as possible. Ava hid her face in his bare chest and took in the comfortable warm of his. She let herself calm down as she leaned against his soft skin while he constantly muttered sweet consoling words into her ear and carefully moved his hand over her smooth dark hair, his other arm rested gently around her slender waist and softly rubbed circular motions over the small of her back.

Ava couldn't remember when - or even if - another thunderclap appeared. If she was completely honest, she didn't really care. As unbelievable as it sounds, all she knew was that she enjoyed being in Peter Parker's strong but gentle embrace.

Peter didn't know how much time went by - a few minutes or several hours. All that mattered was how perfect it felt to hold the gorgeous girl close to him and how nice it was to inhale her sweet scent.

Sometime, he noticed how slowly and softly her breath had settled and realized that she fell asleep. He smiled fondly and brushed his lips lightly over her forehead, planting a tender kiss on her smooth mocha-colored skin.

"Sweet dreams, Kitten", he whispered quietly, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. The last thing he knew was that he promised himself to comfort the girl in his arms every time she would need it as he followed her lead and softly sunk into a peaceful slumber.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this little shot of the CUTEST PAIRING EVER! If you did, please let me know and tell me if you want me to post more. :D

Have a great day everyone.

~Lady Secrecy