( when he first signed up to be a member of ALASTAIR — and signed up was a strong word for coerced to participate — he'd almost thought it all sounded kinda cool. traveling worlds, planets, universes. maybe getting a little closer to feeling like he could be a hero again, after months of feeling like he could make up for the ways he'd failed. that was the idea. he'd never imagined it'd take years. he'd never imagined he'd go through so much, lose so many. after Gwen transferred the second time, Peter told himself he couldn't make the mistake of caring so much that he couldn't handle a loss.
after Stiles left, he was downright determined. all his hopeful thoughts of loving being worth it felt really hollow in the loneliness, even though he could rest knowing that Stiles had gone home to his dad and his best friends and a pack that'd do anything to protect him. surely, sooner or later, Peter would go back home, too. right?
at this point, though, he hopes that doesn't happen before Maya does. she's the last man standing, which is a pretty raw deal for her, all things considered. he's back to the rather unhealthy tendency of just one support system, though it's easier when they have an entire team's worth of people capable of supering. he doesn't have to hide that, yet he still hides a little. who he is, how much he can care about others, because there's only so many times he can love and love and lose and lose and lose.
he's survived it how many times now? Maya will be his last goodbye, that's a promise.
it hasn't happened yet. they've gone on more missions than can be easily counted, they're still slogging through, the missions that kick them in the gut as much as the one that earn fond smiles when they look back. at least they have each other, right? the last mission hadn't been heartbreaking, just long. he's glad to be back in Oska, even if walking the halls has a habit of making him miss faces he doesn't see in them anymore. they're heading down to dinner, because of course they are, one of the few things that hasn't changed is that both of them can put away almost more food than the magically generating kitchen can provide, when he feels the warning tingle, just at the back of his neck.
he reaches out to grab her arm and try and stop her before its too late, but the mistletoe, the stupid magic mistletoe, already has them trapped. it's almost like it's laughing at them. ) It's July, ( Peter tells the castle in exasperation, but as always, the walls don't have an answer. he looks a mix of sheepish and uncertain and something neither of them should try to decipher when he looks down at Maya. ) Look, we can just comm someone to pull it down.
( easy. no big deal. it's not an issue. they can wait five minutes, that mistletoe doesn't have to win. it's not that Peter can't imagine kissing her — actually, that's sort of the problem. he totally can, which is exactly why he shouldn't. )
[On the other hand, Maya's used to being left behind. It'd been happening all her life -- ever since she was an actual baby. People came, people went -- she wouldn't resent them for leaving even if they had a choice. Maybe some of them do.]
[It's awfully lonely, though. Especially with how long it's been since she's seen Phoenix. She knows time doesn't work quite right, in this case -- the second she goes back will be the same second she left, in her timeline (if she goes back), but-- it's hard not to feel isolated, sometimes. Missions go well and missions go badly, there's few things that are constant in her life now, and--]
[One of those things is Peter. The best constant, actually. No matter what goes wrong, no matter who leaves, no matter what happens, she knows she can stay strong if he's there with her. Which he is, in a literal sense, currently. They're back in Oska and though Maya can't quite bring herself to think of it as home, she's glad to be back. She's on her way to the kitchen with him when she gets wind of an odd sensation, and then, all of a sudden, he reaches out towards her to grab her arm.]
Peter? What's up?
[And it's about then that she notices she can't move. That neither of them can, actually. That there's something hanging above-- it's freaking mistletoe
Seriously?! Is someone pranking us?!
[She huffs in tandem with him, but there's just one little thing. When she thinks about the possibility of kissing Peter, it's not really an annoyance, but---]
[Actually, her heart starts to beat a little faster. What is up with that?]
Oh. Um, y-yeah.... I bet someone can burn it up with magic or something! Lemme grab my magitek, there's no way I'm going to let us get stuck here when there's a feast waiting for us in the kitchen!
I know it's probably not possible for buildings to have it out for you, but I don't know about this one.
( Oska's castle can rebuild itself on its own, after all, and this god forsaken plant seems to prop up every Christmas, without fail, trying to prey on the unsuspecting. being around for years means he's gotten good at avoiding the stuff when it's actually December, but even the vigilante isn't so vigilant that he was keeping an eye out in the middle of summer.
Peter is in the middle of patting down his pockets trying to find his own magitek when he hears the unmistakable increased tempo of the heartbeat right in front of him. now, he's no Matt Murdock, he's not exactly a walking lie detector, he doesn't know that much about heartbeat irregularity that he can know everything from that simple fact. still, the fact her heartbeat is racing is kind of familiar, considering... his might be, too.
Maya is still looking for her magitek and off on a tangent about feasts as of yet uneaten, but Peter pauses, watching her. he always seems to think it'll be so easy, to realize the disaster every time he reaches a little too far past friendship. the smart thing would be to call someone to get the mistletoe for them, not traverse a path that there's no coming back from once they start. he should be smart about this. )
Or I could just kiss you. It'd be faster. ( or.... you know, okay, he could just do that instead. nevermind, why bother being smart? who even does that? clearly not the technical genius, when has he ever bothered to be smart in situations like these. no matter how nonchalant Peter attempts to sound, there's an edge of nervousness in the suggestion, despite the clue he wasn't supposed to hear in her heartbeat. )
I don't know, I think it's plenty possible. This is totally the wrong time of the year for this kind of thing, anyway!
[Maya huffs a little.... there's not much else she can do in her position except complain, so complaining it is!!]
[He doesn't necessarily have to be Matt Murdock, to catch the way her heart starts the race, to catch how it literally skips a beat when he suggests kissing her. In fact, her cheeks might be tinging red, too --- what's up with that]
W-Well..... [The normally so witty Maya is actually at a loss for words. It's not that she's opposed -- actually, the more she thinks about it, the more she thinks it might be kind of nice -- but she's never kissed a boy before, she doesn't know how, she'd probably only embarrass herself, and--]
I mean.. I, If.... If you want to!
[It comes out a little squeakier and a little higher pitched than she intended, and she fumbles with the magatama around her neck that's serving as her magitek, failing at grasping it entirely]
( before ALASTAIR, Peter wouldn't have believed that a building could have ill intent, because it was you know, a building. magic wasn't a part of his perspective, and while there's still a stubborn part of him that can't quite let go of the possibility that even "magic" had some kind of scientific explanation...
he has at least stopped looking for them continually when confronted with things he can't explain.
there's no explanation for why there is magical mistletoe in the middle of July pinning them to the floor right now, yet there is an explanation for why Maya is suddenly turning red and squeaking in a way he's never heard before. it's funny to think in all the time they've known each other he's never managed to fluster her so badly, when Peter can admit to himself that his affection for her these days already runs a little too deep, romance or no.
for as dense as he can pretend to be, and as far as romantic inclinations go, it tends to be very dense — he doesn't find himself uncertain at the moment. well, maybe a little, wondering what it might be like to kiss her, and what might happen if he does. if it will change everything, and the chance of that change being horrible. considering how relationships work out for him, statistically, it's safe to be a little uncertain. he's not uncertain enough to doubt that he'd like to kiss her, though. )
I want to, ( he decides, sounding oddly certain about it as he lifts a hand to gingerly touch the heated red of her cheek. as if he has to experience the burn of her blush to prove to himself it's real — or maybe he just is oddly proud of the fact he caused it. ) If you want to.
[Maya's always been more flexible when it comes to believing in the unbelievable -- she herself is a spirit medium, a concept most people don't even believe in, so magic isn't such a foreign concept to someone like her. Still, even Maya wouldn't have considered a building to have a mind of its own, let alone malice or.... whatever's going on here. Maybe it's got a prankster spirit.]
[But it's hard for her to maintain these Mayaish trains of thoughts when he's so close, and her heart is beating, and he's saying that he wants to kiss her and he's touching her very red and hot cheek. Does she even know how to kiss? She's never done it before. She's only ever seen it on TV, what if it's bad and he doesn't like it--]
[(He must be so proud of himself, to get the upper hand on her like this. The teaser has become the teasee!)]
There's--- I mean, we----
[She's known to stammer, at times, especially when flustered, but those situations don't come up with Peter. She stops herself from saying there's no other choice, because now that she's thinking about it, maybe she does want it. Maybe it'd be nice. And they have to, right? So they might as well.]
O... okay. Let's do it. [And a quick, hasty, also kind of squeaky addendum:] B-But you're not allowed to make of me! I've never kissed anyone before!
( he's definitely better than he used to be. due in no small part to Maya herself. it's hard to deny the supernatural when your best friend is a medium capable of completely taking on the form of the dead. there's no science-ing your way out of that one.
proud of himself? never. or, okay, maybe a little. usually the one forgetting what he wants to say, losing his train of thought, and stammering over his own feet is Peter. it's pretty new to have it the other way around, though to be fair he won't hold it over her head...
too much. frankly, it's impossible not to do it a little, she's tiny and that isn't his fault. )
They say practice makes perfect. ( PETER, s t o p. hopefully this kiss is horrible and Maya decides she never wants to try again. at least, it won't take multiple tries to please the mistletoe. he's not quite as cavalier as he lets on, though, with the fact it is her first kiss. it's not a shock, actually, though it leaves a slight flutter to his heartbeat to realize that it's a big responsibility. oh good, he even found responsibility in making out. literally, only Peter Parker.
for a first kiss, it isn't fancy. he has to tilt her chin up just to make it possible to kiss her, their heights working against them. not enough to make it impossible, though, and the kiss is short as it is sweet. he can already feel the magic slipping away when he tries to gauge her reaction, dark eyes both hopeful and a hair nervous. ) Horrible? ( he whispers, because of course when in doubt: make a joke at your own expense. )
[ honestly, it's probably karma that she gets to be the stammering losing her train of thought dweeb for once, while he teases her and holds it over her head. it's not something that happens to maya a lot -- she's able to roll with a lot -- but romance is one of those things she has zero experience in, thus making her very easy to fluster. ]
Practice..... how many times are you planning to do this?! [ funny, though, when she thinks about it, she might not mind if it's more than once. his lips touch hers as he awkwardly contours down so that their faces are level -- it's short and not how she'd imagined it to be from movies, but it still leaves her feeling warm and flushed and like there's something in her chest. she kind of wants to stick her leg out in the air like it's a disney movie, too, but it passes too quickly. ]
Well.... [ she's not actually meaning to tease him in this very rare scenario, the little pause is more her trying to process how she feels about it. ] .... It was... kinda nice. Except, I think my lips were kinda dry... did they feel kinda dry to you?
[ she still feels warm, and she's still stammering a little. huh. ]
( that's a dangerous question to ask a boy, Maya. when given an option between one kiss and many, it would take a rare kind to err on the side of one and done. Peter is a whole lot of things — heroic to a fault, a huge sufferer of survivor's guilt, not half as funny as he thinks he is, and a horrible indoor skateboarder — but above the simple and expected desires of a male his age? mmm, no, he's not that.
that said, his excessive interest in the activity and experience in it besides, the kiss is indeed quite short. maybe it's not as stunningly romantic that way, but coerced into canoodling through disruptive magical plants sort of killed the romance before they even started. he'd rather know it is something she wants instead of something she feels obligated to agree to.
a moment is long enough for him to wonder, and silence is rarely to be taken as a good sign, yet the momentary panic is quelled as she decides it wasn't so bad after all. he's relieved and reassured all at once, though really, what was he expecting? she asks him about whether her lips seemed dry and perhaps it's the scientist in him that has to verify his findings before he can elaborate on them, but with the knowledge one kiss had been "kinda nice" Peter seems inclined for the second to be more on the edge of "more or less enjoyable".
so the second kiss is less fleeting, less testing, less inquiring, less to impress a plant and more simply because he wants to. because he's wanted to for longer than he likes to think about. it's a dangerous edge he's teetering on, but when it comes down to it, it's also an edge he's never been any good at not jumping straight off of sooner or later. )
[ it's hard not to let her mind wander --- this is all new to her, it's a scenario they've both been forced into, and it's not how she imagined her first (and second) kiss would go. it's frankly not something she even thought about too much -- despite being a teenage girl, she's never really had a huge interest in romance. in fact, prior to meeting phoenix, she's hardly even know any boys. and despite that -- the lack of experience, the lack of teenage girl daydreams, she can't think about anything else but that kiss right now. ]
[ or how soft his lips were. she actually starts to lick hers before he presses in for another one --- somehow, even though she sees him leaning it, it comes as a complete surprise to her. like it's never occurred to her that he'd willingly want to kiss her without the magic forcing them too. this time, despite being just as prepared (not at all), she does lean in, twining her fingers in his hair and pressing into the kiss. she's still kind of hesitant and shy, following his lead, but she makes a little contented noise in the back of her throat and closes her eyes. ]
( he's horrible about first kisses, apparently. Maya is welcome to air complaints. Gwen he'd peaced out literally seconds after thanks to a giant lizard attack without even an attempt at a goodbye. Stiles, he'd immediately started saying dumb shit about the chemical reactions in fireworks. jury's out on how he'll ruin this one but i believe that destructive power is still inside of him.
it probably should have occurred to her — he isn't the greatest at hiding feelings that creep up on him, and he's beyond pretending that he should be. his heart is a mangled, foolish thing — age and pain and experience hasn't managed to wring it out of him. she might not have considered it but he has, and maybe this wasn't the perfect set up, it was perfect for pushing past that last bit of resistance. the ingrained human fear of falling, before the push off the edge.
Peter Parker has always been too inclined toward the adrenaline of a fall.
knowing her as long as he has, Peter knows that some of her boisterous nature and easy confidence is more of a fake it til you make it situation. it is an unspoken vote of confidence that in a moment like this, she doesn't try to pretend she's more sure than she is. hesitant and shy can't manage to make the kiss any less sweet, and he smiles against her mouth at the endearing little noise she makes, though not long enough to require pulling away.
sense and propriety should dictate that making out in the halls of Oska Castle would be shortlived. it might be on Maya to be the one with sense and propriety since Peter is more inclined to enjoy the moment as long as she wants to share it. a horrific 'when you give a mouse a cookie' situation, though only slightly as selfish. after all, there's a lot to explore in a kiss when you're new to giving them. that's absolutely why he's so invested in it, right? that's a good alibi if anyone asks. )
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
papaya
Date: 2017-07-22 10:21 am (UTC)after Stiles left, he was downright determined. all his hopeful thoughts of loving being worth it felt really hollow in the loneliness, even though he could rest knowing that Stiles had gone home to his dad and his best friends and a pack that'd do anything to protect him. surely, sooner or later, Peter would go back home, too. right?
at this point, though, he hopes that doesn't happen before Maya does. she's the last man standing, which is a pretty raw deal for her, all things considered. he's back to the rather unhealthy tendency of just one support system, though it's easier when they have an entire team's worth of people capable of supering. he doesn't have to hide that, yet he still hides a little. who he is, how much he can care about others, because there's only so many times he can love and love and lose and lose and lose.
he's survived it how many times now? Maya will be his last goodbye, that's a promise.
it hasn't happened yet. they've gone on more missions than can be easily counted, they're still slogging through, the missions that kick them in the gut as much as the one that earn fond smiles when they look back. at least they have each other, right? the last mission hadn't been heartbreaking, just long. he's glad to be back in Oska, even if walking the halls has a habit of making him miss faces he doesn't see in them anymore. they're heading down to dinner, because of course they are, one of the few things that hasn't changed is that both of them can put away almost more food than the magically generating kitchen can provide, when he feels the warning tingle, just at the back of his neck.
he reaches out to grab her arm and try and stop her before its too late, but the mistletoe, the stupid magic mistletoe, already has them trapped. it's almost like it's laughing at them. ) It's July, ( Peter tells the castle in exasperation, but as always, the walls don't have an answer. he looks a mix of sheepish and uncertain and something neither of them should try to decipher when he looks down at Maya. ) Look, we can just comm someone to pull it down.
( easy. no big deal. it's not an issue. they can wait five minutes, that mistletoe doesn't have to win. it's not that Peter can't imagine kissing her — actually, that's sort of the problem. he totally can, which is exactly why he shouldn't. )
no subject
Date: 2017-07-29 02:48 am (UTC)[It's awfully lonely, though. Especially with how long it's been since she's seen Phoenix. She knows time doesn't work quite right, in this case -- the second she goes back will be the same second she left, in her timeline (if she goes back), but-- it's hard not to feel isolated, sometimes. Missions go well and missions go badly, there's few things that are constant in her life now, and--]
[One of those things is Peter. The best constant, actually. No matter what goes wrong, no matter who leaves, no matter what happens, she knows she can stay strong if he's there with her. Which he is, in a literal sense, currently. They're back in Oska and though Maya can't quite bring herself to think of it as home, she's glad to be back. She's on her way to the kitchen with him when she gets wind of an odd sensation, and then, all of a sudden, he reaches out towards her to grab her arm.]
Peter? What's up?
[And it's about then that she notices she can't move. That neither of them can, actually. That there's something hanging above-- it's freaking mistletoe
Seriously?! Is someone pranking us?!
[She huffs in tandem with him, but there's just one little thing. When she thinks about the possibility of kissing Peter, it's not really an annoyance, but---]
[Actually, her heart starts to beat a little faster. What is up with that?]
Oh. Um, y-yeah.... I bet someone can burn it up with magic or something! Lemme grab my magitek, there's no way I'm going to let us get stuck here when there's a feast waiting for us in the kitchen!
no subject
Date: 2017-08-09 04:52 am (UTC)( Oska's castle can rebuild itself on its own, after all, and this god forsaken plant seems to prop up every Christmas, without fail, trying to prey on the unsuspecting. being around for years means he's gotten good at avoiding the stuff when it's actually December, but even the vigilante isn't so vigilant that he was keeping an eye out in the middle of summer.
Peter is in the middle of patting down his pockets trying to find his own magitek when he hears the unmistakable increased tempo of the heartbeat right in front of him. now, he's no Matt Murdock, he's not exactly a walking lie detector, he doesn't know that much about heartbeat irregularity that he can know everything from that simple fact. still, the fact her heartbeat is racing is kind of familiar, considering... his might be, too.
Maya is still looking for her magitek and off on a tangent about feasts as of yet uneaten, but Peter pauses, watching her. he always seems to think it'll be so easy, to realize the disaster every time he reaches a little too far past friendship. the smart thing would be to call someone to get the mistletoe for them, not traverse a path that there's no coming back from once they start. he should be smart about this. )
Or I could just kiss you. It'd be faster. ( or.... you know, okay, he could just do that instead. nevermind, why bother being smart? who even does that? clearly not the technical genius, when has he ever bothered to be smart in situations like these. no matter how nonchalant Peter attempts to sound, there's an edge of nervousness in the suggestion, despite the clue he wasn't supposed to hear in her heartbeat. )
no subject
Date: 2017-10-31 08:03 am (UTC)[Maya huffs a little.... there's not much else she can do in her position except complain, so complaining it is!!]
[He doesn't necessarily have to be Matt Murdock, to catch the way her heart starts the race, to catch how it literally skips a beat when he suggests kissing her. In fact, her cheeks might be tinging red, too --- what's up with that]
W-Well..... [The normally so witty Maya is actually at a loss for words. It's not that she's opposed -- actually, the more she thinks about it, the more she thinks it might be kind of nice -- but she's never kissed a boy before, she doesn't know how, she'd probably only embarrass herself, and--]
I mean.. I, If.... If you want to!
[It comes out a little squeakier and a little higher pitched than she intended, and she fumbles with the magatama around her neck that's serving as her magitek, failing at grasping it entirely]
no subject
Date: 2017-11-07 05:23 am (UTC)he has at least stopped looking for them continually when confronted with things he can't explain.
there's no explanation for why there is magical mistletoe in the middle of July pinning them to the floor right now, yet there is an explanation for why Maya is suddenly turning red and squeaking in a way he's never heard before. it's funny to think in all the time they've known each other he's never managed to fluster her so badly, when Peter can admit to himself that his affection for her these days already runs a little too deep, romance or no.
for as dense as he can pretend to be, and as far as romantic inclinations go, it tends to be very dense — he doesn't find himself uncertain at the moment. well, maybe a little, wondering what it might be like to kiss her, and what might happen if he does. if it will change everything, and the chance of that change being horrible. considering how relationships work out for him, statistically, it's safe to be a little uncertain. he's not uncertain enough to doubt that he'd like to kiss her, though. )
I want to, ( he decides, sounding oddly certain about it as he lifts a hand to gingerly touch the heated red of her cheek. as if he has to experience the burn of her blush to prove to himself it's real — or maybe he just is oddly proud of the fact he caused it. ) If you want to.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-13 09:00 am (UTC)[But it's hard for her to maintain these Mayaish trains of thoughts when he's so close, and her heart is beating, and he's saying that he wants to kiss her and he's touching her very red and hot cheek. Does she even know how to kiss? She's never done it before. She's only ever seen it on TV, what if it's bad and he doesn't like it--]
[(He must be so proud of himself, to get the upper hand on her like this. The teaser has become the teasee!)]
There's--- I mean, we----
[She's known to stammer, at times, especially when flustered, but those situations don't come up with Peter. She stops herself from saying there's no other choice, because now that she's thinking about it, maybe she does want it. Maybe it'd be nice. And they have to, right? So they might as well.]
O... okay. Let's do it. [And a quick, hasty, also kind of squeaky addendum:] B-But you're not allowed to make of me! I've never kissed anyone before!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 07:49 am (UTC)proud of himself? never. or, okay, maybe a little. usually the one forgetting what he wants to say, losing his train of thought, and stammering over his own feet is Peter. it's pretty new to have it the other way around, though to be fair he won't hold it over her head...
too much. frankly, it's impossible not to do it a little, she's tiny and that isn't his fault. )
They say practice makes perfect. ( PETER, s t o p. hopefully this kiss is horrible and Maya decides she never wants to try again. at least, it won't take multiple tries to please the mistletoe. he's not quite as cavalier as he lets on, though, with the fact it is her first kiss. it's not a shock, actually, though it leaves a slight flutter to his heartbeat to realize that it's a big responsibility. oh good, he even found responsibility in making out. literally, only Peter Parker.
for a first kiss, it isn't fancy. he has to tilt her chin up just to make it possible to kiss her, their heights working against them. not enough to make it impossible, though, and the kiss is short as it is sweet. he can already feel the magic slipping away when he tries to gauge her reaction, dark eyes both hopeful and a hair nervous. ) Horrible? ( he whispers, because of course when in doubt: make a joke at your own expense. )
rises from the grave ig
Date: 2018-05-07 07:22 am (UTC)Practice..... how many times are you planning to do this?! [ funny, though, when she thinks about it, she might not mind if it's more than once. his lips touch hers as he awkwardly contours down so that their faces are level -- it's short and not how she'd imagined it to be from movies, but it still leaves her feeling warm and flushed and like there's something in her chest. she kind of wants to stick her leg out in the air like it's a disney movie, too, but it passes too quickly. ]
Well.... [ she's not actually meaning to tease him in this very rare scenario, the little pause is more her trying to process how she feels about it. ] .... It was... kinda nice. Except, I think my lips were kinda dry... did they feel kinda dry to you?
[ she still feels warm, and she's still stammering a little. huh. ]
splashes you with holy water
Date: 2018-05-08 04:23 am (UTC)that said, his excessive interest in the activity and experience in it besides, the kiss is indeed quite short. maybe it's not as stunningly romantic that way, but coerced into canoodling through disruptive magical plants sort of killed the romance before they even started. he'd rather know it is something she wants instead of something she feels obligated to agree to.
a moment is long enough for him to wonder, and silence is rarely to be taken as a good sign, yet the momentary panic is quelled as she decides it wasn't so bad after all. he's relieved and reassured all at once, though really, what was he expecting? she asks him about whether her lips seemed dry and perhaps it's the scientist in him that has to verify his findings before he can elaborate on them, but with the knowledge one kiss had been "kinda nice" Peter seems inclined for the second to be more on the edge of "more or less enjoyable".
so the second kiss is less fleeting, less testing, less inquiring, less to impress a plant and more simply because he wants to. because he's wanted to for longer than he likes to think about. it's a dangerous edge he's teetering on, but when it comes down to it, it's also an edge he's never been any good at not jumping straight off of sooner or later. )
wow
Date: 2018-06-08 03:04 am (UTC)[ or how soft his lips were. she actually starts to lick hers before he presses in for another one --- somehow, even though she sees him leaning it, it comes as a complete surprise to her. like it's never occurred to her that he'd willingly want to kiss her without the magic forcing them too. this time, despite being just as prepared (not at all), she does lean in, twining her fingers in his hair and pressing into the kiss. she's still kind of hesitant and shy, following his lead, but she makes a little contented noise in the back of her throat and closes her eyes. ]
this is some gay shit
Date: 2018-06-23 05:51 am (UTC)it probably should have occurred to her — he isn't the greatest at hiding feelings that creep up on him, and he's beyond pretending that he should be. his heart is a mangled, foolish thing — age and pain and experience hasn't managed to wring it out of him. she might not have considered it but he has, and maybe this wasn't the perfect set up, it was perfect for pushing past that last bit of resistance. the ingrained human fear of falling, before the push off the edge.
Peter Parker has always been too inclined toward the adrenaline of a fall.
knowing her as long as he has, Peter knows that some of her boisterous nature and easy confidence is more of a fake it til you make it situation. it is an unspoken vote of confidence that in a moment like this, she doesn't try to pretend she's more sure than she is. hesitant and shy can't manage to make the kiss any less sweet, and he smiles against her mouth at the endearing little noise she makes, though not long enough to require pulling away.
sense and propriety should dictate that making out in the halls of Oska Castle would be shortlived. it might be on Maya to be the one with sense and propriety since Peter is more inclined to enjoy the moment as long as she wants to share it. a horrific 'when you give a mouse a cookie' situation, though only slightly as selfish. after all, there's a lot to explore in a kiss when you're new to giving them. that's absolutely why he's so invested in it, right? that's a good alibi if anyone asks. )