Babysitting a Superhero (Stark's daughter X Peter Parker)

23. Distance Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Amara's heart was beating ten times more than its usual rate, and she was pretty sure that she was breathing heavily, too. She stepped back and cleared her throat, "Fine, what do you want?"

"I want to know what you think of my new and improved look," he said, stepping into the middle of the alley and holding out his arms to showcase the whole costume.

Amara narrowed her eyes and looked at him as if she hadn't even noticed, "Why, did you do something new?" She joked.

"Yeah, I got a haircut. You like?" He said.

"Oh, it's amazing! You look like a new person!"

He continued staring at her as if encouraging her to continue talking. To point out what really changed. But, Amara couldn't bring herself to.

When she didn't reply, he cleared his throat and said, "I think my suit's been looking extra good lately. I changed a few things. What do you think?"

"Yeah, it's always been great, people just never appreciated it like they should have," Amara said, seeming distant.

"What about the changes?"

"It doesn't change what it is."

"The colour? Now it's red and blue. Did you notice?"

"Oh. That's nice. It looks good."

"I did it... for you..." Peter said, quietly, but Amara pretended not to hear him.

"But the colour change doesn't change the situation, or our feelings towards the situation, right?" Amara said, hoping to make herself indirectly clear - nothing could ever happen between them. It doesn't matter how many grand gestures he makes.

"The situation? What situation? The colour?" Peter asked confused.

"It doesn't matter, just know that nothing will ever change because of it."

"Okay, what are we talking about? Because it doesn't seem like it's my suit, anymore," Peter said, obviously confused at the turn the conversation had taken. When she was silent once more,
Spiderman spoke again, louder this time so Amara could no longer dismiss it, "I changed the suit for you."

Amara sighed, "Why?"

"Because it's your favourite colour," he replied.

"No! Why did you change it? What were you hoping to get out of this?"

"Nothing."

Amara scoffed, "yeah."

"I swear," he said, Amara paying closer attention to him now. "I wanted to pay tribute to the girl who gives me the energy to wake up and do what I do every day." Amara smiled. "The girl who truly knows me. The girl who can take me down using mixed martial arts..." Amara laughed and Spiderman walked closer to her. "The girl who truly doesn't know how amazing she is. Or how important she is... to me."

Amara breathed out, helplessly, "I can't do this."

"Do what?"

"This. You. And me," Amara said, stepping back, and running her hands frantically through her hair.

"What are you talking about? We're friends."

"No! We may be friends, but there's some kind of attachment there. One that's not supposed to be there. One that can't be there." Amara stepped back, once again creating a distance between the two of them, only this time, Spiderman didn't stop her. Amara hated this, more than anything in the world, but she couldn't let him become attached to her, it would only hurt more when he finds out the truth... for both of them. "Maybe we should stop meeting for a while. Focus on other things. Like your job and my friends."