Chapter 76: Christmas

Christmas music filled the cold, winter air in New York as Harry, Lily, and Eren stood outside an ice skating arena, waiting for it to open up so they could watch Cindy Moon perform at her recital. It was Christmas day, one that Eren would be spending with his friends, with his family, for the first time after his mother's death.

It felt good to go out in the snow and enjoy a hot chocolate with his friends. For the first time in a while, things seemed to be looking up for Eren Parker. He was truly happy, as bright as can be as he spoke with Harry and Lily about what was to come.

Eren's smile however did fade once he thought about Cindy. "I hope she's feeling alright." Eren looked around at the decorations outside as he said this. There were Christmas lights, miniature Christmas trees, and gingerbread aesthetics all over the venue, really setting the tone. "She seemed really nervous."

"Did she? She seemed so confident when we dropped her off earlier today. She's always been good at hiding her nerves though." Harry added, having his arm wrapped around Lily Hollister.

"She's probably nervous because it's the first time we'll see her perform. I'd be nervous in front of my friends too." Lily told the two boys.

"Yeah, that's what she said. I believe in her though." Eren smiled confidently. He was certain that Cindy would perform perfectly, he had faith in her.

As they chatted, the doors to enter the venue opened, and patrons were allowed in. Once in the building, Eren, Harry, and Lily all took a seat in the reserved section that Cindy was able to get for them. These seats were extremely close to the action. If they wanted to, they could reach over and grab the ice in front of them.

Eventually, the performance began. The entire cast was wearing Christmas-themed clothing, such as Santa, elf, snowman, and reindeer costumes. They were each doing spectacular flips and spins while in costume to the beat of the music. Fake snow fell from the sky during the performance, making the production feel even more professional.

Toward the end of the show, Cindy, wearing a Mrs. Claus leotard, along with five female elves, skated to center stage. Eren, Harry, and Lily all cheered loudly to support her. She looked over at them, smiled, and waved before putting her serious face back on in an attempt to focus, an expression reminiscent of Silk herself.

Christmas music started playing as she and the five elves began their routine. Together, with Cindy leading the pack, the group began skating gracefully with their arms extended. They then broke up into pairs, performing duo tricks with each other perfectly without any mistakes. After several duo tricks, they came back together and lifted Cindy in the air. She extended her arms and legs out as if she were soaring through the sky. The elves set her down before backing up, leaving Cindy at center stage.

She began performing a solo routine. The music playing during this moment was elegant and angelic as she started to move like a goddess. Eren was mesmerized, feeling butterflies in his stomach as his heart began to throb for her. He couldn't believe that she was able to move her perfect body in such as way while on skates.

Cindy continued her elegant dancing before backing up toward the corner and then speeding forward, gathering momentum.

Unconsciously, Eren sped up his processing speed using Godspeed as she began her ascent. In his head, she slowly lept into the air and spun gracefully seven times before landing on one leg, arms extended. The entire crowd erupted at the amazing display as Cindy waved, to her friends and fans while taking about half of a lap around the rink.

After relishing in the applause, Mrs. Claus and her elves returned backstage as the spotlights turned off.

"That was sick!" Harry exclaimed, pumping his fists as if he just witnessed the most exhilarating thing in her life.

"It was beautiful!" Eren added, wishing he could go back and experience it for the first time again.

"Your girlfriend really is amazing." Lily teased Eren, bringing a slight smile to his face.

"Yeah, she really is."

Eventually, the recital ended. Eren, Harry, and Lily waited for Cindy outside once the venue was cleared out. After a while, Cindy came outside wearing a jacket over her costume with a huge smile on her face. She ran up to the group and immediately hugged Eren.

"Ah! I was so nervous! But I'm glad I was finally able to perform for you guys." She told all three of them, her face resting on Eren's chest.

"That was impressive. Seven twirls, huh? Lily said that's unheard of." Eren told her, rubbing her head as it continued to rest on his chest.

"Yeah, I forgot that I'm not supposed to use my powers, but I got too excited and let a little loose."

"Wait, you didn't practice that? It was just… improvised?" Harry had an expression of shock on his face.

"Mhm!" She answered cheerfully. "I almost always stop at four during practice. My coach was shocked."

"I'd be shocked too if my student was breaking records." Eren teased her before checking the time on his phone. "Flash's party is about to start. Wanna head over?"

"Yeah."

"Mhm."

"Let's go."

The three of them walked a few miles to a separate ice skating rink, one that was used for the public rather than for shows and was also outdoors. Flash had rented it out and invited people from their old high school and ESU students.

Unlike how Eren felt about the Halloween party, he wasn't too bothered about going to this event. He was nervous since he didn't know how to skate at all, but Cindy promised to teach him. If anything, he saw this as an opportunity to get closer to Cindy and learn more about one of her favorite hobbies.

Once the quartet arrive at the rink, they were spotted by Flash and Gwen who skated over to greet them all. "Hey, guys!" Flash seemed happy to see them, which was strange to everyone considering how they all felt about each other about a year prior.

"Yo!"

"Hey!"

"Hi."

"Hey!"

Flash looked at Eren, smiling due to the boy always having that same expression on his face as always. "Eren, you're so stiff, man. Loosen up a bit."

For once, Eren actually smiled back at Flash. It was small, but it existed. Perhaps the Christmas spirit got to him. "I know, I'm just nervous. I've never done this before." Eren admitted, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm more into activities where my feet are planted."

"I get it. I didn't know how to either, but Gwen showed me the ropes." Flash wrapped his arm around his girl and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, Cindy is basically a professional so hopefully she'll rub off on me." Cindy seemed a bit embarrassed hearing him say this, but she might as well have been due to her spider powers enhancing her abilities.

"I hope so too, man. Anyway, the skates and stuff are over there." Flash pointed to the kiosk for gear on the far side of the rink. "See you guys out there!"

Flash and Gwen skated away together, the group sort of laughed seeing Flash stumble before using Gwen to catch his balance.

The group of four eventually got their skates from the kiosk and were all geared up and ready to go. Harry and Lily immediately took off together, both showing that they had some experience. However, Eren and Cindy stayed at the edge of the ice.

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After fighting an electric man, a man shooting vibrated air, a vengeance-driven teenager, a water monster, giant lizards, a sorcerer, a metal octopus, and a goblin, Eren Parker found himself more nervous than anything in his past. At least with Spider-Man stuff, he was confident, but this was on a whole new level for him.

"Don't be shy." Cindy teased him, grabbing his hand and pulling him further into the ice. Thanks to his spider powers giving him improved balance, Eren was mostly able to glide forward with no issues as he held Cindy's hand.

"See? You're doing great." She told him, smiling up at him as the tip of her nose was turning pink due to the freezing air. Eren smiled, 'She's so beautiful.' he thought to himself, really taking a moment to look at his partner's perfect face.

Cindy could tell he was thinking really hard about something, so she sort of laughed before questioning him. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked him.

"Nothing. Just admiring the view is all." Eren told her, smiling softly as the two continued to drift forward.

Cindy let go of his hand, causing Eren to sort of stumble before she teased him from afar. "You're just trying to get on my good side, aren't you? That's not gonna work." Cindy was smiling playfully as Eren continued to regain his balance.

"I was serious!" he told her, shuffling his feet before he was eventually able to stand on his own. "Aha!" he told her, standing up straight on the skates while drifting forward at a snail's pace.

"Aha? I'm not very impressed, Mr. Parker. Actually move and I'll consider maybe letting myself be wooed by your efforts."

"Bet. Watch this." Eren told her before shuffling his feet back and forth, not at all using the skates in the way that he was supposed to. However, his imperfect strategy was working and Eren eventually ended up in front of Cindy, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close.

The two of them laughed with each other as Eren quipped to her. "Impressed yet?" he asked her, beaming happily down at her while continuing to admire her beauty.

"I'm so impressed right now." She told him. "That was the greatest technique I've ever seen..." her saying this made Eren smile, however, she wasn't done teasing him yet. "... is what I would say if I were teaching toddlers."

"Huh!?" Eren grabbed her tightly and started to horse around with her in his arms. Cindy couldn't stop laughing as the two of them began losing their balance. "Eren, wait!" Cindy shouted, trying to keep her balance. "We're gonna-"

Before she could finish, the two of them fell on their behinds together on the ice, sliding a bit until their backs hit the wall softly. The two of them laughed with each other for a bit until Eren once again was stunned by looking at her face, doing nothing more than grinning softly at her.

"Did I ever tell you about the day I fell for you?" Eren asked her, holding her hand tightly as he continued to marvel at her cuteness.

"That was sudden." Cindy laughed. "No. There's a specific day?" Cindy tilted her head, trying to remember when that day could've been, but her mind drew a blank.

"Mhm. You probably don't remember this, but back in fourth grade, Flash walked over to me and started messing with me. As usual, right? He roughed me up or whatever and then he took my pudding cup and began eating it in front of me with just his mouth like an animal. I couldn't do anything about it, he was just gonna jump me with his stupid friends if I did. I couldn't fight five kids at once."

After they left, I just sat there, staring blankly at the empty pudding cup in front of me. I would've cried, but I was already desensitized to the bullying at this point. Suddenly, I felt your presence next to me. You were the first person to ever even acknowledge my existence at this new school."

As Eren spoke to Cindy, she could feel his warm emotions overwhelm her own due to their powers synchronizing. His blank face was always hiding these feelings and emotions that were locked on the inside, so it was a complete surprise to her just how passionate these feelings were for her.

"It was mostly my fault since I didn't really seek out forming new relationships with people after my dad died. I was afraid that one day, I'll just end up losing them too. For some reason though, at this moment, I didn't want you to go. I was so scared. I don't know why but I was afraid for some reason."

As Eren continued to speak, his hair faintly started to blow upward as it does when he enters Ultimate Godspeed, though it did not change color. Cindy was about to stop him, however, she was instantly transferred into the memory with him, reliving it at the same time as he did.

Just like many times in the past, Eren was experiencing a memory, but he unknowingly brought Cindy in with him. It was unknown if this was due to his own powers, Cindy's, or perhaps it was because of both of them combining into one. Regardless, Cindy was able to experience the moment along with him.

The two kids were sitting at a blue lunch table inside their elementary school's cafeteria. The children all around them were rowdy, laughing and playing while enjoying their lunch with their best friends, while Eren remained isolated with Cindy joining him.

The child version of Cindy reached into her lunch box and pulled out a fresh pudding cup. It was the same vanilla flavor as Eren's that was stolen from him. "Here! I grabbed an extra spoon and we can share!" Her radiant smile basically spellbound him. He took the spoon from her hand and she opened up the pudding cup. She patiently waited for Eren to eat out of it with his spoon before getting a spoonful for herself.

"Flash is a big meanie. He's not so tough, I bet if he didn't have all his stupid friends with him, we could beat him up!" She held her little fist in the air as she said this. Eren stared at her blankly before letting out one single chuckle. She looked over at him and saw that always hidden, bright smile of his. She was likely the first person to see him smile, besides his mother, in years. She smiled back at him as the two continued to eat the pudding together.

"I'm Cindy Moon. What's your name?" She looked over at him curiously. The spoon was still hanging from his mouth as he responded to her.

"Eren Parker."

The experience ended, and both Cindy and Eren were brought back to reality. Eren seemed to have not noticed what had just happened, likely due to this happening to him so often that he'd forgotten that this wasn't a normal thing. Cindy realized that the people that were in front of them were still in the same positions as they were before as if they weren't moving at all during that entire time. 'Did time just... stop?' She looked up at Eren's face, noticing that he looked as if what had just happened was normal as he continued to speak.

"Of course, that was just me being a child, right? I was like eight or nine years old, I can't really say I really loved you back then, but I sure thought I did. It might sound weird but I always kinda watched you from afar. I wanted to approach you again after that but I was too scared. We didn't really start talking to each other until our senior year of high school when we had the same class together. I was so happy when I saw you in class on the first day of school, I knew you had already forgotten about me because you had no reaction to me. I was used to that though.

Once I saw how smart you were, on top of you still continuing to be such a kind person to me, I started falling for you for real. Around the time I got my powers was when there seemed to be mutual feelings between us. I didn't notice back then of course because I'm stupid, but I couldn't be with you for so long because of complicated things. I wanted to keep you safe."

She could sense every single emotion he felt for her, knowing that all of his words were completely genuine. It made Cindy feel as if her heart could burst at any moment.

"After all those complicated things, I finally have the girl I've wanted for so many years. I don't want anyone else, I only want you. That's my point. Sorry for the long tangent, I just-"

Cindy grabbed Eren's face with both hands and kissed him on the lips. A tear fell down from her face as her psychic powers finally allowed her to understand him so much better. His feelings of love, fear, guilt, and all of the other complicated emotions he felt but could not fully describe to her were transferred over to her, showing her exactly what he really felt.

Eren could feel her tears on his face, confused as to why she was crying. If anyone should be crying, he thought it should be him. She pulled away from him, still holding his face with tears in her eyes. She was having an emotional overload, but he didn't seem to understand why.

"What's wrong?" Eren was growing concerned due to her strange behavior. For a second, he thought he did something wrong, but then why would she kiss him if that was the case?

"I love you, Eren." Her gentle voice whispered to him. Eren wasn't aware of the intimate interaction that he had just created between the two of them, so her saying that out of the blue was a surprise.

"I love you too, Cindy." The two locked lips once more. The moon and its reflection rested directly on the ice beside them, making their special moment all the more beautiful.

Meanwhile, at Rikers, Norman Osborn looked out of his cell window at the moon in excitement. This is finally the night when his plan would finally commence. After getting the things he needed to be brought to him by his underlings, as well as having Spider-Man's blood, he was now able to create his new formula. He held the syringe up to his arm and slowly injects himself with his new Globulin Green.

"AAAAH! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He screamed in agony which then turned into a pleasure-filled cackle. His skin began to turn green and his body mass quadrupled in size, transforming him into a massive goblin around the size of the Incredible Hulk. He had horns on the top of his head, a red eye like a demon, and sharp teeth that looked as if they could easily pierce flesh. His power dampeners, which were custom suited for his old self, break off of his neck, freeing him from his bondage.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" His laugh, now monstrous, echoed throughout the facility. Unknown to everyone at Rikers, as well as the city...

Chaos was coming.

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