𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙭 — 𝙥𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙚
(𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚)

☕

PETER AND NED didn't sit out to each lunch often. They liked to eat inside where it was warm and away from the New York cold, but with their usual place they ate on Tuesday full and nowhere else they exactly wanted to eat – they had a schedule for all of this and they absolutely could not mess it up – they took their food to-go and ate outside.

Well, it was like Ned was eating while Peter sometimes picked at his food, interested more in his Spanish essay that he had to finish before the next day or else he was screwed. He had already missed one assignment in that class and after rambling about it to Mr. Stark got a warning that school had to always come before Spider-Man or else he would take away every suit that Peter could get his hands on.

It was a lie, they both knew it. After his sophomore year when he tried it and seeing the results (that being Peter getting crushed under a collapsed building), Mr. Stark promised to never do it again. But it definitely got Peter to nod along and put in the effort to finish his Spanish assignments at least.

He mostly lied when he told Mr. Stark that school would always come first. It couldn't because what if spending time on his essay and not out on patrol got someone murdered? He couldn't live with that, he couldn't live knowing that someone else's uncle could've just died because he wasn't there to save him.

(Part of his brain uttered 'just like Uncle Ben' but he hushed it quickly. He didn't want to thin about that at all.)

"I don't see why you're stressing over this," Ned said, munching on his sandwich, "You're great at Spanish. Aren't you already fluent?"

Peter shook his head. "I'm not fluent, I just...know a lot of it because of Mr. Delmar and all the comments he made in Spanish."

Ned hummed in understanding, looking over at other tables. "Oh, Harry's over there. Should we join him?"

He peered over to where Harry was sitting, already knowing who he was with. Brendon was there, picking at his food and frowning at it and he found his mouth moving in that direction as well. Feelings, ugh. They were too complicated and distracted him, especially after the stunt with Spider-Man coming into the coffee shop.

Betty was there too, and so was the other guy. Peter was sure it was something close to Brendon's name but he never picked it up, usually when he sat over there he didn't really listen in on the conversation. He just did something on his phone and ignored them for the most part.

Cindy, however, wasn't there. He didn't think much of it, she probably just had a class or something.

He looked back at Ned before shaking his head. "I think he has enough company."

Ned raised an eyebrow, looking back at the table and then to Peter. "Really? You don't want the chance to talk to Brendon?"

The blush crept on his face before he could repress any of it. Ned gleaned and Peter nudged him. "Shut up. I already sit with them every Thursday."

"Still," Ned insisted, "If we sit with them, you can talk some more with him. Or you could wait until tonight and meet him at the end of his shift – assuming that he's closing."

The blush became more prominent and Peter covered his face, much to Ned's amusement.

"That was a one-time thing, Ned. I didn't mean to be there but I couldn't concentrate on anything else and he was already bringing me inside. I just – it's not going to happen again," Peter told him.

"Dude, you have the chance to talk to your crush as Spider-Man. Forget Peter Parker and his stutter, you can like actually form a connection with him," Ned said.

"Yeah, but not as me. I can't say too much or else he'll find out my identity," Peter reminded him.

Ned blinked. "I found out by just waiting in your room. I'm sure that Harry already knows too but just hasn't said anything."

Peter made a noise. "I take offense to that! And I've been better, okay? Harry doesn't stay out until three so he doesn't know."

"According to you. I mean, I love you Pete, but I don't exactly trust you on this. MJ even found out just because of you and how reckless you used to be with it. It's not exactly the best kept secret," Ned informed him.

"Shut up. I try."

Ned shrugged, "Just saying. It's not exactly a big deal. Brendon doesn't seem like the person who'd go out and scream it to the world."

"Still."

"Still what? Just – go tonight and try and catch him, okay? Then you can stop for good," Ned said.

Peter frowned, shaking his head immediately. It just didn't seem right to him but Ned was looking at him with puppy dog eys and he really couldn't not look at his friend and melt. He always melted at the sight of cute things. So, he sighed, "Fine. One more night."

Ned squealed, a bright smile blooming on his face. "Great! Hey, how about another marathon of Star Wars Saturday? It's been too long."

"I would, but Mr. Stark invited me to the Compound this weekend..." Peter trailed off, feeling bad that he couldn't make the plan with Ned.

But the boy just nodded in understanding. "That's cool. I mean like, who has Tony Stark wanting to hang out with them and create things in his lab? Your life is just so – ugh!"

Peter laughed. "Dude, this has been happening for years, why do you get so worked up about it?"

Ned gave him a blank look. "You can't tell me that you aren't reacting the same way as me. At least on the inside."

There was a moment and then Peter was nodding. "Yeah...a little. I mean, it's Tony Stark! I've blown up things with him and he built me the suit and he's just so cool!" Peter gushed.

Ned's eyes glittered, probably along with his, and the talk of Tony Stark continued. It was hard not to gush over him, he was Iron Man! And no one else needed to hear just how geeky they sounded.

＆

Brendon was closing again. He went through all the motions, washing the appliances, wiping the counters and tables, and putting the chairs up on the tables. It had been a quieter evening, surprisingly, and only Izzy had been out in the front with him.

Bren had an earlier shift in the day, as he did every Tuesday, due to him only having two morning classes and then an empty schedule. Well, unless you counted work which he did.

A yawn crept up on him and he rubbed his eyes. He really needed to sleep since he hadn't been getting it the past few nights, his fight with Cindy always creeping into his dreams and leading to him staring up at the ceiling for hours on end. To make matters worse, Cindy hadn't even been around in their room.

No, Betty said she could sleep in the other bed – her roommate was always at her boyfriend's dorm anyway – and she had taken the girl up on her offer. Not that Brendon blamed her. It just meant that he was alone in their dorm all the time with no way to see her.

She had also been eating lunch alone, or at the other side of the table and never speaking to him. It was hard and he hated it. He wanted it to be over, he wanted to speak to her but he didn't want to call or text her. No, that felt too easy, he wanted to say it in person with her in front of him. He just couldn't do that if she was avoiding him at all costs.

But he didn't have to think about that yet, still having to check the back quickly and take off his apron. He got out his phone, putting in his earbuds and letting the music wake him up enough for his walk back to his dorm and a shower before bed. He was already disgusting enough as it was.

He walked out to the front again, seeing a figure standing near the door. They were already inside, looking around but Brendon didn't spare them a long glance.

"Sorry, we're closed. We'll be back open at five," he told the customer, going to turn off the light when he heard them talk.

"I was hoping you'd make another exception," the person told him, making his falter in his movement.

He knew that voice – it was Spider-Man. Holy shit, the superhero was back. Brendon blinked in shock, moving to clearly see the hero (or as the Bugle would call him, a vigilante) and stopped again.

"You're here again," Brendon stated the obvious, "I thought that was a one-time thing."

Because of course it had to have been. It was just one instance where he found the superhero outside, looking so terribly tired (much like how he felt now) and it would never happen again. Spider-Man would never come back...except, he had. He was there. Standing in front of Brendon – holy fuck what?

Spider-Man shuffled, moving further into the shop. "Yeah, well, I just needed some coffee and I remember that you were here, so why not? Unless you're against giving masked people free drinks now."

Brendon shook his head. "No, uh, no. I just – uh, you know what, never mind. What do you want to drink?" he asked, the line engraved in his mind at this point.

The superhero shrugged as Brendon moved behind the counter, turning on the appliance. "Anything you think sounds good. I don't really drink coffee that much."

"Okay, pumpkin spice latte it is," Brendon grinned, cackling as the masked man grinned. "Come on, you had to know that was coming. It's that time."

"I just thought you'd be over it by now," Spider-Man said, "I mean, a lot of people should be coming in getting it, aren't you done with it already?"

Brendon shrugged. "I just write down the orders and tell them how much their drink is. Judging is not my forte since I just drink the same thing all the time. Let people spice up their coffee routine with the seasonal drinks."

"What do you get then?" the superhero asked.

Brendon couldn't help but be taken aback. This was a masked superhero who went to his college, why did they care what coffee he liked? It didn't make any sense. Still, he answered the guy because he was Spider-Man, after all. "Hazelnut cream."

Spider-Man nodded. "Nice choice, I guess. I don't know, I'm not majoring in coffee."

A snort came from Brendon as he finished off the drink, moving them to a table. Spider-Man took off the chairs, thankfully, and they sat down across from each other. "Nice joke," he complimented.

Spider-Man brightened. It wasn't too obvious because of the mask, but Brendon could tell that he did. "Thanks, most people don't appreciate them. Iron Man says I have to talking to the people I go against, but I like it."

"Me too. And it's a great tactic for distracting them," Brendon agreed.

"You caught that? I mean, didn't start off that way and it's not, but I mean – it is too," Spider-Man began to ramble before cutting himself off.

Brendon laughed at the boy. He took a sip of his drink, savoring the taste as he watched Spider-man peel up his mask to his nose to drink his too before wrinking his nose. That caused Brendon cackle, head leaning back as he just let it overtake him.

He didn't see the look Spider-Man gave him for it was gone by the time he opened up his eyes and came down. "You really don't like pumpkin spice, do you?"

Hesitantly, the boy pushed the drink away from him on the table. "It's not my favorite," the vigilante admitted.

"Good to know," Brendon said, just in case this did happen a third time and Spider-Man asked for free coffee. Hazelnut cream he could do again, but maybe he'd try out something else. Maybe a caramel cappuccino, people seem to like that and maybe Spider-Man does too. "I mean, I don't really like it either."

"Do you like making it at least?" Spider-Man asked him, attempting to take another sip of the drink.

Brendon snorted. "Who really wants to be working at a coffee shop? The answer is no one. Well, I mean some people might want to run them, but no one wants to serve coffee to people or make it. People are rude, especially when they need coffee to wake up in the morning. And it's not like college students are the nicest, although their parents – or I'm guessing that's who they are – are a whole lot ruder."

Spider-Man frowned, more expressive to Brendon now since he could see the lower half of the man's face. He tried not to stare too much or too long, not wanting to unconsciously try and seek the boy out in a crowd outside of the closed coffee shop. It seemed so unfair since Spider-Man was trusting him enough to do this. He didn't want to betray that trust.

"That's not good," the superhero stated, "And how long have you been working here again?"

"Well, it's just about to be November, so I'd say...three months? Four next month. I got my job the week classes started, so yeah."

"And you decided to get a job your first year instead of focusing on classes like everyone else?" Spider-Man asked.

Brendon stared at him. "You're one to talk, Mr. Masked Vigilante. And I had to. Out of school tuition is serious business and I need to start paying it off somehow. Well, and having money for other things I need."

Spider-Man nodded, humming as well. "So the coffee shop."

"It was the only place that was hiring," Brendon shrugged, "And I like coffee, so that helps. So does my past job at Chick-fil-A before I moved here. They are known for the customer service."

"It is nice to hear 'my pleasure' and 'have a nice day' from them. You don't get that kind of service of McDonalds," Spider-Man agreed.

Brendon chuckled, a smile tugging on his lips as he shook his head, glancing at the masked man before him. "You're really pushing the humor thing, aren't you?"

Spider-Man shrugged. "It's the only thing I got."

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, wanting to dispute with the fact that he had tried to put a ship back together and he could stop a moving car. Or how he went up against Vulture and Mysterio. Not to mention any other big guys he fought with the Avengers. But, he didn't, and just said, "I'm sure."

Spider-Man grinned at him, sending a weird sensation inside of him. He liked it, he wanted to see again, but he knew that he couldn't ask. This was a superhero, one who was masked for a reason. He had an identity, there was a human being behind there who was taking the time to listen to him. Who was interested in how Brendon had taken a job at the coffee shop even though he didn't like it.

Yet, that – that feeling. He knew that feeling. God, did he knew it, and he didn't like it. Not now, not with this guy. This guy could have someone with him, could be taken, and Brendon didn't know because this was Spider-Man, not the boy behind the mask. He had no clue and he still was feeling a tingling senstation that kept him warm, like when Peter smiled at him. Like when Peter drooled when he slept and how disoriented he looked when Brendon woke him up. How sleep just looked so cute on him.

But he could have feelings for Peter because he knew Peter. Peter was himself, this was a masked guy who could be years older than him, just finishing up his college education while Brendon was in his first year. This was Spider-Man who he would probably never see again, feelings didn't need to be involved in this.

Still, he could appreciate a cute smile. He wouldn't deny himself that at least. He took another sip of his drink, firm in his decision, and continued on the conversation, moving the topic from coffee to more of an interview on Spider-Man. It was only fair.

(And no, he did not feel anything else like that during the time. He was better than that, he was a grown eighteen-year-old man – he didn't do feelings for masked superheroes, he was beyond that.)