Peter walked into school, ready to say yes to Lucinda when she asked him to go on a date.

Lucinda kept her head down when she saw Peter walk over to her.

"H-hey, Peter..." She just walked away and Peter wondered what was wrong. It wasn't like Lucinda to show when she was upset and it definitely wasn't like her to not want to talk to him.

🕷

Lucinda hadn't mentioned a date once and Peter decided to take it upon himself to set his plan in motion.

He walked up to Lucinda as school let out.

"Hey, Luci," Peter grabbed her hand gently.

"What do you need, Peter?" Luci looked at him with what seemed to be fear and heartbreak in her eyes.

"I wanted to know if you would like to go out to dinner with me tonight, if you aren't busy of course."

"R-really?! Yes! You won't regret it! I promise!" Lucinda smiled brightly and hugged him.

"Be at the Water Lily. Tonight at five." Peter said and she nodded. She let go of him and went home with a bright smile.

Luci was confused but so happy that he actually asked her out. She dreamed about how their date would be perfect. This was a dream come true! She was so excited! She called her brother as soon as she got home to tell him the great news.

🕷

Lucinda got dolled up. She did her makeup flawlessly, deciding to film a tutorial for her YouTube channel in the process.

She dashed up to the doors of the Water Lily after she got out of her uncle Tony's car because it was pouring rain. She went inside before sitting at the waiting area, waiting for Peter to come. She was right on time and was smiling brighter than ever.

But the minutes past and Peter didn't come... Luci sat there and only texted Peter once and called him only once, only to get no reply. Minutes became hours...

Hours later, as the restaurant was getting ready to close, Lucinda started to cry. Peter never came... he stood her up... she felt so pathetic and was so heartbroken.

The waiters took pity on her and gave her a meal on the house. She ate dinner, barely, all alone as she cried her heart out.

Luci walked home alone as it continued to pour outside but she didn't care. She felt like a complete and utter failure...

🕷

Spiderman was on patrol when he saw a familiar girl walking down the street with her head low. He didn't know who she was because he couldn't get a good look at her face.

"Miss?" Spiderman swung down, seeing that she didn't have a coat or anything in the pouring rain. "Are you okay, Miss?"

Luci looked up and Spidey froze, now realizing why she looked so familiar.

"No... just go away..." She trembled as she kept walking, sobbing her heart out.

Peter felt his heart clench seeing her like this but he told himself that this would get her to stop asking him out.

"You really shouldn't be out in the rain without a coat," he said, not wanting her to get sick. She was still his friend and he cared for her wellbeing.

"Yeah well I shouldn't even be here in Queens right now... I should be home with my family in Manhattan in a nice warm room but I came out tonight because I thought this was gonna be the best night of my life but it sucks! I don't even know why I try! I try and I try to be perfect but I'm just not good enough! It hurts so much!" Luci was so upset, scared, tired, cold, and out of it. She completely forgot that she was talking to Peter.

"I uh... what? What happened?"

"The guy I really, really like, Peter, h-he actually asked me out and I was so excited because he always turns me down. I spent hours getting ready so I could impress him and show him that I wouldn't let him down but he never came... I just... tonight was gonna be perfect... I really thought all my dreams were coming true... but I'm just not good enough for Peter... pretty much every other guy in school would say yes but not the one guy that I've spent years trying to impress... Peter is just so perfect but he doesn't want me... I want to be Liz so badly... I really want him to like me back... but it won't happen and it really hurts..."

Peter was speechless. His heart begged him to take this opportunity and kiss her, tell her that he did want her, that he was thoroughly impressed but he was scared of losing her but he pushed that down and listened to his head. His head told him to hug her and tell her that he was sorry, that he just wanted to be her friend, not her lover. He wanted to keep her warm and take her home so she didn't get sick but he couldn't. He was just Spiderman right now, not Peter Parker.

"I'm sorry, Miss. Just, please try to get home safely," Spidey said and with that, he was off.

He went home and took his mask off, frowning as he looked at the pictures he had of himself and Luci. He sighed and shook his head, hopping in the shower before going to bed.

❄

Lucinda walked into the tower completely soaked, having walked all the way from Queens to Manhattan in the rain storm. Her makeup was running and she looked like a mess.

The Avengers were waiting with a cake. They were gonna celebrate her finally getting together with Peter but as they started to yell 'Congratulations,' they saw that she was alone and looked completely broken.

"What happened? Where's Peter?" Natasha asked which elicited a sob from Lucinda.

"H...h-he never came... h-he stood me up... I-I can't believe I actually thought I was gonna have a p-perfect d-date with Peter..." She was hugged by all the Avengers as she wept. "I-I need to get over h-him... it's just gonna be s-so h-hard..." Lucinda trembled and when she went to bed, she held the photo she kept that she had taken with Peter earlier that year on the first day of the school.

She curled up in bed and clutched the photo close to her chest.

"I failed... I can't believe I failed... h-he doesn't want me at all... I thought we were best friends and I wanted to be more... but he thinks we are just friends and he wants to be less..." Lucinda quivered as she looked at all the photos of her and Peter on her wall.

"I just wanted to be with him forever... he means everything to me..."

Lucinda knew everything about Peter, they had known each other literally forever. She and Peter first met when she came home from the hospital only two days old. They grew up together, practically bound by the hip with Orion as well... but now Peter seemed to not want anything to do with her and it broke her heart. Peter, Ned, and Michelle were her only true friends.

Sure, she was popular but she didnt consider the other popular kids her true friends... but now she didn't even know for sure if Peter was still her friend and it killed her inside. She never thought this would happen.

At the very least, Luci wanted to try and salvage their friendship.

🕷

Peter was smiling as he went into school the next day and Luci walked over.

Luci was determined to at least salvage their friendship so she wouldn't lose Peter all together. She didn't know if she could live with herself if she had destroyed her friendship with Peter.

"P-Peter..." Lucinda was terrified that she was gonna mess this up.

Peter internally groaned as he turned to look at her. "What do you want, Lucinda?" He was normally really sweet but right now he was so annoyed.

She flinched when he spoke, not used to the tone he used. She let out a tiny breath.

'Don't mess this up, Luci. Just because you'll never get to be with Peter doesn't mean you can't still be friends. You'll still have him as your friend forever,' her conscious assured her.

"I-I um... I'm really sorry about everything... I know you don't like me back b-but I was just wondering if-"

Peter didn't let her finish, just assuming that she was gonna ask him out again so he burst at her, "I don't want you Lucinda!"

Lucinda whimpered softly as her hands started to tremble. "Peter, I just-"

"I'll never want you! You need to get that through your head! I! Don't! Like! You!"

Lucinda's eyes watered as she tried to form words but she was frozen in terror.

'No! No! This isn't working! I'm gonna lose him forever! This can't be happening!' Luci was panicking.

"I want to be with Liz! She's not annoying and pathetic like you! She is so much prettier than you! She's nicer! Sweeter! Stronger! Smarter! She is so much better than you in every way! Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!" Peter snapped at Luci, evoking a choked out sob from her.

"I-I..." Luci was trembling as she looked into Peter's eyes. She dashed to the bathroom immediately, sobbing her shattered heart out.

She just wanted to ask if they could still be friends. She didn't want to lose him all together. He was everything to her and she needed him even if they were just friends for the rest of their lives but he never wanted to see her again... she lost Peter completely...

Luci dialed her uncle quickly, desperately wanting to get out of the school.

"Tony! I want to come home!" Lucinda said after he picked up the phone.

She wanted to call her mom and dad but they left for a mission early that morning. She was breaking down and felt so empty inside.

🕷

Tony came as soon as he could and he barged into the school and went into Lucinda's homeroom which happened to be with Peter since their last names were close in alphabetical order.

Peter was about to get up when he saw Tony but Lucinda stood up, walking straight to her uncle as everyone was gasping and whispering.

"Come on sweetie, Kaylanna is talking to the principal right now. We are going home," he said as he hugged Luci close to his side and turned to walk out.

"You're Stark's daughter?" Flash asked and Tony shook his head.

"She is my niece and currently, I'm her care taker until her parents come back from their business trip. That means I will not hesitate to take down anyone who hurts her!" He aimed it at Peter and glared at him but no one noticed... except Peter.

Tony walked out with Lucinda and they went home.

"I'm so sorry Luci," he said as he sat in the back with Luci as Happy drove them home.

"H-he told me how much better Liz is than me... we aren't friends anymore..." Lucinda hated saying that and was so broken inside.

"Luci, you are still young, a guy will come along one day that you will fall in love with and he will fall in love with you," Kaylanna said from the passenger seat and Lucinda sighed.

"I just wanted that guy to be Peter. He means everything to me but I mean nothing to him and it hurts so much. We always talked about spending our lives together forever and I dreamed that meant we would get married one day and be together forever and I believed it but now we aren't gonna be together in that way and we aren't even going to be together forever as friends. I lost Peter completely. It's all my fault."