chapter ten
never had mangos

nova barnes found comfort in the little things — the smile of her costumers, the new books the book store received, peters awkward but very cute smile, buckys metal arm that she would put magnetics on.

there were so many things.

she enjoyed thunderstorms, the crackle of thunder and flash of lightning. she liked the sound of popcorn popping, but not the popcorn itself.

she liked the cold. she preferred to be in the cold, either if it was inside or out. she just liked the cold.

nova liked the colour purple, actually it was her favourite colour. her second was green.

there are so many things nova liked and enjoyed.

and one of them was spending time with peter parker. nova really, really, liked spending time with peter. she really enjoyed his laugh, and his jokes. oh, she liked his hair too, and his smile.

yeah, okay, nova liked peter parker. but she wasn't going to act on her feelings anytime soon. in her mind peter hadn't gotten over mj yet and wasn't ready for a relationship.

"hey." peter spoke quietly as he looked up from his book he had just boughten. it was a book in spanish, a language he knew. (mostly) it was also number 8 on the luckily list — buy a book in another language.

that only left number 3, 5, 6, 9 and 10.

"hi, petey." nova smiled.

"sooo." he drew out. "we should do number 5 today."

"ooo." nova grinned. "what's number five?"

"try new foods... but i was thinking we could turn it into a picnic?" he asked the last part.

peter wasn't scared of novas rejecting his lucky list quests. she was just excited to do them as he was, maybe even more.

nova nodded. "sure. that sounds really fun." she placed her book behind the counter so no one would take it before she turned to peter. "want me to put yours here too?"

"nah." peter waved her off. "i'll keep it with me."

nova nodded and skipped forward. she wasn't working today but had meet up with peter at the book store. peter quickly placed his book into his bag before he followed after nova.

"nova! wait up!" peter called after the girl.

nova only giggled and ran faster. peter chased after her until he caught up to her. once he did catch up to her, he tapped her on the shoulder before he ran faster, leaving nova in his dust.

nova let out a string of swear words. something along the lines of: you mother trucking flip flip wearing son of a mushroom! yeah... nova was creative.

eventually nova had caught up to peter just as they reached one of the local cheep-ish grocery stores.

nova turned to peter abruptly, she grabbed onto his shoulders. "mangos."

»

it was odd, nova had never been on a picnic, or the kind you have in the park anyways.

once both her and peter had picked out things they had never eaten before, and when they both payed, they had gone to one of queens many parks. the two had blankets set up so they wouldn't be directly on the grass. nova had even brought a pillow for her and peter if he wanted it.

"va?" peter whispered, they were both laying down on the across the blanket before they started eating.

nova hummed, "yeah?"

"you've never had mangos?" peter asked as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"nope," nova shook her head. "bucky always buys plums."

"huh."

"petey?"

"yeah?"

"can we eat? im hungry."

peter laughed quietly as he sat up, nova following the action. the two started to dig through the picnic baskets they each had.

in peters was food he hadn't had before, things like sushi or pears — may didn't like pears so they weren't in the home much.

in novas was mangos and other random things, like m&ms. m&ms were something she had never tried before in her seventeen years of life.

"wanna try sushi?" peter asked as he held out a small sushi platter, "it's not that bad." he spoke.

nova held a hand over her mouth, "huh?" she spoke with a mouth full of m&ms.

peter shook his head. "va, that's gross." he whined.

"yeah?"

"yes!"

"ohhh!" nova nodded her own head, her two french braids swinging around as she did so. she reached out to grab a roll of sushi of the plastic container, in return she held out some m&ms. "thank you, and here."

"thanks." peter smiled as he lifted his hand to pour the m&ms in his mouth.

nova — who also hadn't had sushi before, saw the little roll and assumed she had to place the whole thing in her mouth.

peter chuckled at the action. he watched as novas cheeks puffed out as she attempted to eat the whole sushi roll.

"nov, you don't have to eat it like that." peter told her.

nova opened her mouth to say something but clamped it shut, not wanting to talk with her mouth full again. once she swallowed her mouth full she looked to peter, "that was good."

"right?!" peter exclaimed wildly.

nova nodded enthusiastically, "very!"

the two were quiet before nova leaned back again, "what else is on the list?"

"uhh," peter fumbled for the list in his pocket. "we have number 3, 6, 9 and 10 left."

"only four more." nova replied.

"yeah, it's kinda weird we're almost done it." peter smiled faintly.

nova turned her head to the side so she was facing peter and not the sky. "do you feel closer to your aunt now? does doing this list make it feel like there's some closure?... does that make sense?"

"yeah, it does." peter nodded. "it's like she's by me, by us when we do these."

"she's probably cheering you on." nova pointed out.

"you think so?" peter muttered as he laid down beside nova, their arms brushing together.

"yeah, she's probably got pom-poms too." the two teenagers shared a laugh.

"oooo." nova let out as she looked back up to the sky. "i saw spider-man the other day."

peters eyes widened, "o-oh really?" nice going peter.

"yeah, there was a fire a few buildings down from mine and buckys apartment. it was crazy!" nova breathed out excitedly. "he was in a new suit and was swinging around helping people from the building! it was brave."

neither knew that they had encountered each other that day.

"i guess it was, yeah." peter hummed with a small blush coating his cheeks. "oh, guess what."

"uhhh, your allergic to peanuts and i gave you m&ms?" nova blinked as she turned to face peter again.

"no, i saw this girl — i think the person was a girl anyways. she had a dark purple suit and had shield like powers!" peter did a whole bunch of gestures as he explained.

"woah! that's really cool!" yes, yes it is, oh! by the way that's me! "were her shields purple too?"

"yeah!"

"even cooler!" nova exclaimed as she sat up and reached for a mango, the only thing she hadn't tried yet. she took a bite and let her tastebuds so the work.

"oh my god! that's so good!"