Real Superhero [PETER PARKER AU]

thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
subtle flirt

IT WAS FRIDAY NIGHT. MARCUS WAS CLOSING. He hated closing and would try to pawn them onto Carter, switch for morning shifts but since Carter had soccer practice, he was unable too. Marcus knew that Peter and Ned wouldn't be walking in as the normally would. He knew Carter or Rosie would have told them that he was working. Carter said he would try and come to at least visit closer the end of the night and the two could walk home together.

Marcus felt horrible, he had since that day in the cafeteria. He knew he didn't deserve Ned's forgiveness but Ned did deserve an apology. Marcus had never felt so bad for doing anything in his life before. If he could go back and fix that moment, he would change his response in every way but he was unable too. He knew that there was no way to fix his mistakes.

Marcus was going over his apology to Ned, over and over in his head. He even accidentally said part of it to a customer, who was very confused and did not stay in the shop to eat his ice cream. Not that Marcus was upset about that, less cleaning he'd have to do. He was lucky that when stressed, all he did was clean. The store was spotless at this point.

Marcus glanced at the clock, there was half an hour until close, which meant Carter would be on his way or should be at least. Rosie had plans with Flash. A friendship that Marcus had never really expected since Rosie always seemed annoyed by him. Yet, recently, Flash had gotten over his weirdness with Rosie and actually managed a conversation with him.

Marcus was sitting on a stool, staring at the piece of paper that he wrote part of his apology on, as he read parts of it "Ned... you deserve so much better than me... there is no real excuse for what I did... you have always supported me and when you needed me I failed you... you are an amazing person..."

The bell at the door rang, Marcus put the note in his pocket and looked up. "Hi," Marcus fake smile quickly dropped, his eyes going wide.

CARTER WAS WALKING DOWN the sidewalk, heading to work, even on his day off. He was listening to his music, humming along as thought about his life, if he was being honest, mainly Peter. He thought about how Peter looked at Michelle, he didn't want to take it so seriously but he couldn't help but feel jealous. He shouldn't be, he didn't plan on telling Peter how he felt. He had no right to be jealous if wasn't going to put in the effort.

He had spoken to Peter, a bit. Now that he was aware of his crush on Peter, he realized how much he stared at him, in a non-creepy way. When they spoke, Carter really focused on his smile or his eyes. He wished he never realized his feelings, he liked being oblivious, he liked being dumb about his own feelings. Carter had never worried about getting into a relationship, soccer, school, and getting out of the city.

Carter slowly connected his desperation to get out of the city was partly because of him realizing he wasn't straight and didn't want his dad to find out.