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in which a regular day of
hanging out quickly becomes
awkward from an almost-kiss
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Guess who's back on the writing grind! I'm so so so happy that the ideas are flooding back into my (really tiny) brain again, and I can't wait to upload all of them. Although people aren't as active anymore, I still love writing these oneshots because honestly, it's super fun to do :) thank you guys for all of your support! We're at 93K right now...that's insane! I'd literally faint if we reached 100K reads (lmao imagine if that actually happened)...
this one's kinda long...but it was really fun to write and the ideas just kept flowing so I hope you enjoy reading this oneshot:)
also sorry if there are any errors or it seems poorly written...I'll try and go back for edits later when I can lol
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It was just like any other typical weekend at the Avengers compound. You'd usually walk back after school with Peter to hang out. First, you'd tell each other about your week while eating whatever Vision had prepared (today it was chocolate chip cookies. He was so good at baking, you wondered where and how he acquired those skills), then you'd go to the lounge to binge-watch something with Rhodey and Thor (Supernatural tonight), then, you'd head down to the lab to help Bruce and your father, Tony, with work. After that, dinner and just some time to relax.
"Okay, rapid-fire recap. Go," you pointed at your best friend, stuffing a cookie into your mouth.
"Flash was being a dick, as per usual," Peter said with an annoyed expression on his face, then pointed back to you.
"I scored a 96 on my math test, thanks to you," you shot him a thumbs up.
"Bruce and I made another advancement in one of his experiments on Sunday."
"I slept two hours last night."
"Ned and I finished building that giant X-wing fighter jet set we bought."
"I beat Bucky in sparring three times, and I totally crushed Thor during our epic thumb-wrestling match."
"Mr. Delmar gave me a free sandwich when I stopped by on Wednesday."
"Aw, come on," you groaned, "how am I supposed to top that? I never get free sandwiches."
Peter simply smirked. "It's because I'm awesome and everyone loves me."
"Except me."
"Aw," he fake-pouted, sticking out his bottom lip, "you don't love me?"
"No," you scoffed, "you're annoying."
"Aw, come on," the teenager whined, "I can't be that bad."
"Ask Sam and Bucky, they'd be happy to say otherwise," you pointed out. "Last time we had a giant campout under the stars on the patio outside, you and Pietro kept yelling out vines and wouldn't shut up. If that isn't annoying, I don't know what is."
"You still love me, though, because I'm your favorite person ever."
"Yeah, yeah, sure, you're my favorite, sure," you drawled. "If I tell you I love you too, will you be quiet and shut your mouth for the rest of the day?"
"Fine, I'll be quiet."
"I love you too, Peter."
The words felt strange when leaving your mouth. But you'd said them to him countless times before, so why did it feel so odd now? You shook off the weird feeling and turned back around, sitting back down with your drink.
The required literature for juniors was really long. You and Peter promised to read along at the same pace, and so you both still had around 7 or 8 chapters to go (the chapters were rather long, and you had to finish by Monday but didn't want to put it off until Sunday night). Ten minutes, then twenty, then half an hour quickly passed by in silence.
Peter took this opportunity as a chance to take a quick glance at you. He looked over to see you completely focused and immersed into what you were doing, finding it rather adorable with your brows furrowed together in concentration and your hair falling over and framing your face.
He blinked and snapped out of it. He wasn't supposed to think this way. Not about his best friend.
He went and grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge, taking several long gulps to distract himself.
At that moment, you stood up to get a drink and almost slipped on the smooth marble flooring. Peter noticed and quickly placed his hands on your hips to steady you. You were telling yourself to pull away and get back to what you were doing, but some weird force was keeping you firmly rooted in your place.
It suddenly felt as if the entire world had stopped and was holding its breath to see what was going to happen next. An uncomfortable awkward silence filled the air and it was hard to concentrate on anything else when his hot breath was fanning against your neck, making your heart beat at a million miles per second.
He quickly pulled away once he realized what he was doing, cheeks flushing a bright red and struggling to speak.
"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I really should go," he spluttered, "see you on Sunday."
"Y-yeah, see you..."
After he left, you let out an exhale that you didn't even know you'd been holding in the entire time. You sunk down towards the floor with your back pressed against the wall, a hand sliding down your face as you mentally slapped yourself for what had just happened.
"Y/N, why's your face so pink?" Clint questioned as he walked into the kitchen, taking a seat next to you at the kitchen island after pouring himself some coffee, taking a sip. "Are you okay?"
"I-it's hot," you lied, pretending to fan yourself.
"You're hot? It's pretty cold in here, what do you mean?" he tilted his head in confusion and put a hand to your forehead. "Are you running a fever or something? Your body temperature seems pretty normal."
"No, I'm fine," you chuckled, but your laugh fell short. "Well...actually..."
"What's wrong?"
"Peter."
"Ohhhhhhh," his mouth formed a small 'O' in realization. "What about him?"
"We almost kissed," you muttered under your breath, anxiously fidgeting with your hands. "I don't know what happened. One moment we were just having a normal conversation, and the next...I don't know, he kept looking at my lips and was about to kiss me, then it got really awkward and he left."
"Awwww, that's so adorable, two of my precious superhero babies falling in love," he cooed.
"Clint, really?" You let your face fall into your hands. "This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with him. I don't want to. And now..."
"Y/N, sweetheart," the archer sighed, "look. Falling in love is the easy part. It's accepting the fact that it's happened which is hard. You can't exactly control when you fall for someone, or who you fall for. You know what happened with Laura and I, right?"
"What?"
"We both knew about each others' feelings, but never did anything about it. We just circled around each other, quietly observing each other for three years, until I finally built up the courage to ask her out. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. And that means risking your heart, even."
"Geez, when did you get so wise," you rolled your eyes, causing him to chuckle. "Sam complains about how 'oh my god, Legolas overcooked the quesadillas, what a fricking idiot' and the next thing you know, you're a man with a long beard spewing wisdom from atop a mountain."
"What can I say," Clint laughed, placing a hand on your shoulder, "I've had my experience."
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The rest of the team quickly found out about what happened between the two of you by dinnertime, and while Natasha and Wanda reassured you everything was going to be fine, you were pretty sure that you wouldn't ever be hearing the end of it from your father or Bucky. Even Steve had a small smirk on his usually stoic and calm face.
You pushed your roasted potatoes around your plate with your fork, blankly staring at your food.
"Hey, Y/N," Wanda smoothed a hand over your hair as she placed more fresh bread on the table, "you gotta eat, okay? I don't want you to starve."
You reluctantly spooned some potatoes into your mouth and finished half of your chicken, but it was difficult to swallow everything because of the weight that was pressing heavily down on your heart.
"Hey, lovesick child," Bucky teased, poking you in the arm, but when you glared up at him with bloodshot eyes he quickly dropped the smirk, the expression on his face softening. "Hey. He'll come around, don't worry. Just keep your mind off of him for now, and you can figure things out later."
You sighed and took a long sip of hot tea.
"Yeesh, you're miserable," Sam commented, earning a hard stare and a kick to the shin by Natasha. "Ow! Well...you know, we still haven't finished bingeing Supernatural, and I've made efforts to hold Rhodey and Thor back from going ahead without you this week."
"I never attempted to go ahead without my Lady Y/N," Thor explained, eyes squinting at the Falcon.
"Me neither," Rhodey added on.
"Debatable," Tony raised an eyebrow. "Even I'd watch without my precious daughter."
"Dad!"
"Sorry, honey. I already finished watching the fifth season of The Office without you."
"Okay, I guess we can finish off the final season tonight..." you shrugged. "If only Vision makes some more cookies."
"It's my pleasure," Vision nodded. "I'll get to work on those right now."
For the rest of the night, the team tried to keep you from thinking about Peter and you were honestly grateful for all the efforts they made in making you laugh. Even if the distractions were temporary, you were thankful for it anyways.
Except for when Bucky made Sam slip on a banana peel in the kitchen when he was about to grab Vision's fresh batch of cookies, causing an argument to break out.
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"Y/N, I think someone's at the door," Sam called to you as he sat at the dining table the next morning, munching on an apple while reading an article on his phone. "Go check it out."
"Oh, uh, alright," you got up from your spot on the couch and made your way up to the security cameras, peering closely to see who was there. Who'd be stopping by here at this time on a Saturday? you thought to yourself.
"Peter...?" you murmured under your breath. "What's he doing here..."
Peter was looking more exhausted than you'd last seen him when he arrived. When you took a closer look, you could clearly see that he hadn't been sleeping nor eating properly, cheekbones prominent and dark circles beneath his bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes. How could he sleep when he kept replaying that same moment over and over and over in his head?
He didn't tell you that, though. Obviously.
"Hey."
"Hey," you breathed out, leaning against the wall. "What's up?"
"Before you tell me to go home, I got stuck in traffic on my way out and it took me almost an hour and then I had to run an extra fifteen minutes up here so please listen to what I have to say," Peter explained hurriedly.
"Oh, really?" you raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh...sure, go ahead."
"Yeah. Look...I came by to say sorry about...everything that's happened lately. I made a mistake and I just needed some time...to think about things."
He paused and took in a deep breath. "If you don't have feelings for me, that's okay. I get that you're naturally a friendly and loving person, and if you don't want to be anything more than just friends, then that's fine by me, as long as we can stay friends."
"Wait...what?" Your nose scrunched up in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, I've been thinking about it for a while now," he rambled on, fidgeting with his hands as he tried to keep a calm demeanor, "and now I'm finally realizing that I'd be better off having you as my best friend than---"
You stepped forward and carefully put a hand against his cheek, effectively silencing whatever else he had to say by gently brushing your lips against his.
You'd first met Peter since the two of you were toddlers, and you knew him like the back of your hand, everything he liked and disliked and his deepest darkest secrets, but not once had you ever thought how his lips, or how warm and soft they would feel against your own.
"I couldn't stop thinking about that moment," you whispered when you broke apart, "how could I? It was stuck in my head on repeat and I couldn't think straight."
"Me neither," he mumbled, "I'm sorry for---"
"There's nothing to be sorry about," you smiled.
"Ah, so they did kiss and make up, I see. Literally."
"Pietro, shut up and let me have my moment. I'm going to slap you," you hissed.
"Bye!" the speedster waved and quickly sprinted away.
"Oh man, Mr. Stark's gonna kill me," Peter's eyes widened once he realized what had just happened between you two. "I'm going to be dead meat before I even get to step foot out of this compound---"
"Why would I kill young love? I already saw this coming," Tony said as he strolled into the kitchen with a big, cheeky grin. "I'm still going to warn you, though, Pete. If you break her heart I'm taking your suit away."
"Yes, sir."