CHAPTER NINE
( NICK'S STUPID PLAN )
NICK HAD MADE UP a plan. A possible stupid plan, but a plan nonetheless. He was going to force his stupid crush on Peter away.
No one knows about said plan because no one knows about the crush and no one knows he's gay; other than Olivia Green, and she still doesn't about the plan. Nick knew she'd probably try to talk him out of it, so he kept it under wraps and went on with life. Because, maybe, if the crush goes away then maybe, possibly, he will never have to come out to his parents – or anyone, really. The plan went farther into where he would never gain any feelings towards another boy, either. Which, he knew was dumb, but that was the plan anyway.
It was already failing.
It hadn't been up until Thursday afternoon, because Nick successfully avoided Peter during school and they texted after school as they worked together on the power point on Google Docs. It had been easy, and Nick stupidly thought it was going to work.
Peter had suggested to go visit Dr. Connors at Oscorp, a doctor who was experimenting on and working on cell regeneration – the boys' project topic. The Parker boy made an appointment to do so and everything (well, his Aunt May did; Peter was too awkward), so after school on Thursday, they both headed towards the Oscorp building. With every passing moment, Nick wanted to leave or be unnecessarily rude to Peter, because then maybe his plan would work. With every passing moment, Nick's feelings were just becoming more noticeable to him as Peter did every little thing. It fucking annoyed the boy.
A permanent scowl had appeared on Nick's face because of it, though he still gave kind smiles to his project partner and didn't dare act rude as they continued their way to the Oscorp building. Once they got there, they were let through after getting checked by security and telling the middle aged lady at the desk that they had a small meeting of sorts with Curtis Connors.
The man had mostly gray, neat hair and glasses perched on his nose. A white lab coat covered his button up shirt and nice pants. He also had one arm. Nick didn't know what he was expecting the scientist to look like, maybe something a bit like Einstein or just generally messy. Instead, Curtis Connors was an organized man with a smart head on his shoulders. Though, Nick was intimidated by him despite the kindness that the man displayed.
After introductions were said and greetings were given, Dr. Connors said, "Now from the phone call, my understanding is that your project is on cell regeneration. But do you two want me to give you the scientific back ground of it, or is just talk about it?"
Nick and Peter looked at each other for a second before back to the man in front of them, the two of them shifting in the seats some as they silently figured out who should speak up first. Nick was the one who spoke up for them both, "If it's possible, we'd just like to have you explain it a bit more before our presentation tomorrow. You know, make sure we don't have anything wrong."
"I'd be glad to," Dr. Connors. "Now, all species are able to regenerate cells. From bacteria to lizards to humans. But, we can't grow back an entire limb..."
As the man went on to explain in slight detail about cell regeneration, both teenagers listened carefully to the man in front of them and both tried their best not to stare at the doctor's lost arm whenever he mentioned limbs. He talked about cancer cells regenerating and what type of animals could grow back tails or legs, if at all possible. He talked about people couldn't do that and cell regeneration for humans were limited to certain things. Once Peter and Nick got enough information to make sure they didn't get anything wrong on their powerpoint, Dr. Connors ended the explanation shortly after. The boys left after that, and walked out in silence once saying goodbye to the man.
Both of them headed back home together. Still, Nick stayed silent and slowly his scowl reappeared as he remember that getting over his crush on Peter would be a lot harder than he originally thought.
"Did I do something wrong?" Peter blurted out after some time, causing Nick to go wide eyed as he looked at him.
"What?"
"I mean, you've been acting weird and seem agitated. I just feel like I did something to piss you off," Peter explained. "Look, you- you'll get rid of me after this project tomorrow, okay? You'll be able to go back to your fellow cool kids, don't you worry."
Nick quickly shook his head. He absolutely hated how hurt the other boy sounded as they stopped by a random shop to talk. "No. No, it's not like that at all," he said fast. "I just- I'm tired today, okay? I'm not mad at you, you didn't do anything wrong. And I'm not a 'cool kid', Pete, what are you talking about?" He used air quotation marks as he said two words that Flash had also once used.
Peter scoffed lightly and scuffed his shoe against the ground as he said, "From how Flash says you're buddies, I say you are."
"Okay. Well. I might be a little popular, but that doesn't mean I don't like you or that I consider Flash a friend," Nick said. "You're pretty cool, Peter, and it's nice having a partner that actually wants to do his part of the project."
A second or so passed as Peter stared at Nick as if he was trying to decide whether or not he believed him. Eventually he gave a small smile and nodded, making Nick relax some. His plan had been to get rid of the crush, not piss of Peter. "Okay," said Peter with a nod. "Sorry for accusing you of hating me."
"It's fine, don't worry." Nick started walking again and so did Peter. They walked together up until the had to go their own ways, Peter off to his aunt's and Nick to his parents'.
+++
Nick got home shortly after the sun went down. He was ready to run up to his room and watch Netflix on his laptop, but stopped short at seeing some extra people in his home. Dan and Sharon sat on the couch with the TV on; that was nothing unusual since something the married couple watched movies together. What was usual was seeing his little cousin messing with Legos on the ground, his uncle in the recliner, and an old friend he hadn't seen in a few years. Nick stared at the group on confusion as he stepped into the living room.
James Rogers didn't look much different. Just some muscle gain and he was still taller than Nick, and the almost 17 year old had dyed his hair black. After greeting his family and James, and after getting a scolding from his mother about not staying off of his ankle, the two teenage boys went up to Nick's room. Thankfully, Valery didn't follow them and simply stayed out. She was at that age where she was starting to want to hang out with Nick and his friends, no matter the day or time. The two of them lounged diagonally across Nick's bed, heads hanging off of the edge. They were trying to see who could stay in that position longer.
"So, your mom's on another mission. Tony is too busy and you don't wanna bother him. Your aunt is doing CIA shit. And Steve's doing his own mission to find some dude," Nick repeated what he had just been told. "What about your dad? I thought you two were getting better."
The almost 17 year old rolled his eyes. "That ass has a girlfriend," James said. Nick could tell from his tone that the other boy was about to rant, so Nick kept his mouth shut and let James speak. "And, I don't have a problem with it, she's seems nice from his stories. But Dad just won't let us meet. I mean, if she's going to be my step-mom, I'd like to meet her before he proposes or some shit. Also we got in a fight about college last time we talked. In two years, I'll be in the college of my choice, which I hope will be either NYU or Harvard. But he says he won't help pay for everything like he promised Mom he would when I was born, so I cussed him out and said Tony would pay for it in a heartbeat. He was furious."
Nick frowned deeply, not liking the story one bit. Ever since he's known James, he knew that the boy's relationship with his biological father was rocky. They didn't get along too well, mostly because the man didn't want to be in James' life anyway but had been forced to by the Rogers family (and a few pissed off others). "He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Nick cautiously asked.
James shook his head with a sarcastic laugh. "Like I would let him do that. No, he didn't even try, but he told me I was too dumb for college."
Nick scoffed. "Dude, you can easily rival Midtown's academic decathlon team by yourself. You study and work your ass off, and it all pays off. You're not dumb."
"Thanks, kid."
"I'm two years younger than you."
"Thanks, kid." James smirked as he saw Nick frown. Though, Nick didn't say anything to retaliate.
They both stayed like that for another few minutes until the blood rushing to their heads got too much for them. Nick and James then played some video games and they didn't talk about his family or anything related to them in anyway. They talked about Nick's school, Anita and Marty, his project, and Nick may or may not have accidentally outed himself to James as he ranted about his day. James didn't say anything about it, though; just smirked and gave a small chuckle before mumbling "pride power" under his breath. But he did tell Nick how stupid he was for his 'plan'.
They were simply two old friends catching up, killing zombies on the gaming system until Dan Berry came up to tell them that dinner was ready.
***
A/N— Hello meet my new OC James Rogers. I'm not going to say anything about his backstory or anything about him other than that he links this fic to an upcoming Tony Stark fic that I'm working on & won't be up for a while. I'll just say that James is a cutie patootie who has dad troubles & adores his friend Nick Berry. (Also little fact, Nick was James' first friend but they're not best friends).
I feel like I haven't updated this in months when in reality it's just been like 4 weeks lmao so here's an update!! The first part is complete shit but important to the plot; the second part isn't as shitty and may or may not be important to the plot. Don't get too frustrated at Nick coming up with that little plan. It's a little bit of internalized homophobia, and he doesn't want his feelings to grow in case nothing works out with Peter so... Yeah
That's all, hope you liked this chapter!! x