SUPERNOVA ⋆ peter parker

ix. Rich Girls Don't Cry

She's always seen Peter as a maybe-friend. Like they're teetering the line between acquaintances and friends and they haven't yet crossed it. Today was when Nova was hoping to cross it. When she was supposed to build the Lego Death Star with Peter and Ned. But then she saw Peter shirtless, and now... Nova doesn't know if things are awkward or not.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, Nova knows that really this shouldn't change anything. The human body is completely and totally natural. If anything, shouldn't she feel more at ease knowing that the one guy she's seen shirtless — who isn't Nic — has the same body parts as she does? Shouldn't she feel more normal?

But of course, she doesn't feel more normal, or even more at ease in the slightest. Instead, Nova feels jumpy, nervous, and flustered. And for the life of her she can't figure out why. After all, it's just Peter.

     She wonders how the hell in the short period of time that it took her to run home, get changed, find something nice to wear, and run to the restaurant — her dad, Nic, and Claire have found themselves entirely comfortable at a table in this Thai restaurant with Peter Parker and his aunt May.

It took her about what, ten minutes? (She needed the extra time to figure out what to wear. Nova always feels like she never has any clothes, even though her dad, Nic, and Marcus are always telling her she has more than enough. Claire's the only one who gets it.)

     She goes to turn around, because maybe she can dash back out of the door unnoticed and she won't have to be forced to eat dinner with Peter and May. But Claire catches her eye and beckons Nova over, beaming.

     "Nova!" she waves. "We were waiting for you."

     "You shouldn't have," Nova mutters under her breath as she sighs and smiles, walking over to the two tables joined together and taking a seat beside Nic. She frowns as she looks over the table and realises that everyone's already ordered their food. Clearly not.

"Do you wanna order anything?" says David, handing her a menu.

Nova shakes her head. "I'm fine," she says.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah," she shrugs. "I'm not hungry." She'll raid the fridge when they get home in the middle of the night.

She sits across from Peter and his aunt May, and when he looks over at her and shoots her a nervous smile, Nova — who's still thinking about him shirtless for some reason — immediately looks away and mentally scolds herself. Why would you look away? You should've smiled back! Now he's going to think something's wrong! You're so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid.

     "Peter was just telling us about his Stark internship," says Claire smiling. She turns to Peter. "I mean, it's amazing how brilliant you are, especially so young."

     Peter smiles awkwardly. "I mean, Mr Stark was really nice about it—"

"You've met him?" says David, bewildered.

     "Yep," says May proudly. "He came straight to our apartment to tell Peter that he got the internship. He's got it everyday after school."

     "Everyday?" says Claire, a bit concerned. "Isn't that a bit much? I mean, you've still got school and everything." She looks at Peter and he looks down at his plate for a moment before looking back up.