Into the Light | Peter Parker x OC

Chapter Thirty

Peter wanted to tell her, but he didn't want her to worry. He could handle this on his own. If he told her, she would only insist on helping him and if things went south and she got hurt, Mr. Stark would shoot him into space. Probably. Most likely. Either way, he wasn't keen on finding out. His first priority was keeping Ada safe.

"Nothing. Just...Just a nightmare I had last night," he lied.

"Oh," she said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," he swallowed, trying to not break out into sweat from his anxiety. She squeezed his knee reassuringly.

"I'm here, okay?" she said with a smile. Peter looked at her and nearly told her everything. He hated lying to her. Even if it was for her own good. But he knew that the second he told her, she would be stubborn and insist on going with him no matter how many times he said no. Besides, Phin was also on this bus and if she overheard that he was onto her, he might never be able to stop the jailbreak.

"Okay," he nodded, taking her hand from his knee and holding onto it tightly the rest of the ride there.

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After having spent another night at the Parker's, there were still no calls or messages from Tony. Happy was the only one who had dared to talk with her. In retrospect, he was also the only one who had tried to be there for her last summer even when Tony and Pepper weren't. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that Happy was always there, through the good, bad, and ugly.

She should really buy him a present or something. What would Happy Hogan like? Adelaide frowned to herself. Maybe an art kit? Or a pack of colored markers? Either way, for someone who was rarely happy himself, he always tried to cheer her up.

Like last night, for example, he had just stopped by to drop off her clothes and backpack, when May invited him to have dinner with them and he immediately said yes. Happy rarely made last-minute plans. Once, she had peeked into his pocket planner and the man had his entire year planned out, down to the time.

Yet all throughout dinner, Happy had been...well, happy.

It was really odd to see. In fact, even Peter had noticed something different about him. Not only that, but May had laughed more during their dinner than she had laughed all year. Which had admittedly slightly offended Peter because he had dropped some of his best puns on his aunt and she only gave him a chuckle or a smile. Nowhere near the level of the laughter Happy had caused during dinner last night. In fact, Adelaide didn't think Happy had made anyone laugh that much over these years.

Adelaide was consumed with her thoughts when Peter squeezed her hand, making her snap out of it.

"We're here," he said and she looked past him, out the bus window across the aisle. He was right. The bus had stopped and they were here.

"Alright, everyone!" Mr. Harrington said, standing up first, "Stay together! I cannot lose any of you today. The parents would never let me live it down. Anyway, everyone out in a single file line!"

They all got off the bus and huddled around the sidewalk together for Mr. Harrington to give further instruction. Adelaide looked around. There were many other buses offloading their teams in front of the expo center too. The center itself was moderate in size, but, nonetheless, Adelaide was excited. She had missed their last competition because of the whole Sandman, Vulture thing, but she really wanted to compete this time because she had actually prepared for it.

As she was looking around, she caught Phin's eye who gave her a nervous smile. Adelaide returned it just as Mr. Harrington raised his megaphone.

"Here we go," Flash mumbled.