"You're telling me that you got Captain America-the War Hero, Steve Rogers-to become best friends with a thirteen-year-old kid? What, is this supposed to slowly introduce him to how irritating Generation Z is? Project Training Wheels or something?"
...
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"You can come out now," she said, calling to whoever was maintaining their hiding spot behind the hot tub equipment. When there was no answer, Lizzie sighed and shifted her body weight to one side. "I really don't want to deal with this right now, so either you come out or I'm coming over."
That had been enough of a threat for the person to reveal themselves. Lizzie's eyes adjusted to the shadow before softening on her suspect, the tension in her shoulders releasing on sight. Standing there was Art, a grey Vans hoodie hanging loosely over his body and stained tears on his cheeks, showing that he had been crying some time before now. He continued to walk out until they were a short distance away from each other, but by that point, Lizzie had completely let her guard down for him. That was, until he looked over her shoulder to the building across the street where Spider-Man had just been.
"So, that's the big secret, huh?" he asked, frowning at her, sniffling back another wave of tears.
Lizzie ignored the burning in her throat, shaking her head. "Art. I don't..."
"I knew something was going on with Peter, and I knew something was going on with you, but it makes a lot more sense now, yeah? He's Spider-Man, and you're the redhead from the Berlin fight? That's why the two of you started acting weird around each other after this summer—he never wanted to talk about you, always got defense...you can't even hear his name now..."
"Art."
"Every time I brought up the Avengers, you would get quiet. You would leave. Jesus, I thought you were actually an alien or some Russian spy for the last few months—but I guess that makes sense since you know Black Widow, right? And Iron Man...and you're the only one who can pass the Captain America Fitness Test—"
He started to nod to himself, and she could feel her heart breaking as she watched him start to piece together the information. Nothing could be done to stop it, especially not if he had heard the entire conversation between her and Peter. Stupid of her. The specific mentioning of Captain America struck a nerve down to the center of her chest, a physical reminder of such pain. Finally, his thoughts came together, and his eyes watered as he looked back up to meet hers.
