Babysitting a Superhero (Stark's daughter X Peter Parker)

16. "You're a-" "Yeah!"

Radio - Lana Del Rey
No one even knows how hard life was
I don't even think about it now because
I finally found you, sing it to me
Yeah my life is sweet like cinnamon
Like a fuckin' dream I'm li in' in
Baby love me 'cause I'm playing on the radio

It had been a small break-in, some amateurs who thought they could get away with robbing a small convenience store on the outskirts of town, somewhere that Spiderman or Aura or any of the other Avengers never found themselves.

A simple enough crime, in and out, get the money, no casualties. They probably would have gotten away with it, too, if Amara hadn't been over at this side of Queens, visiting her friend and Spiderman hadn't been trailing them the whole way there. This was exactly what's wrong with the justice system these days. The popular and touristy areas get the most attention, safety-wise, while the less... decorative boroughs have to suffer the brunt of the spikes in crime.

Amara had promised to change that when she was a young girl taking shelter on these very streets, trying her best to figure out how to use her powers for good (before she became a billionaire heiress, of course), but today had proven that she had failed. It didn't matter that it was a small crime, that probably didn't need superhero attention and could have been dealt with by the local police. If Amara had learned anything in her life, it was that small ants always lead back to a huge nest.

Amara wasn't particularly sure why, exactly, they had been followed by Peter, but she did know that if he hadn't been there, MJ would have been waiting a lot longer for her friend to return. Amara was definitely grateful to Peter for that.

By the time she had made it back to the bakery, MJ had ordered food for them both and was looking quite annoyed, most likely at her supposed friend who just got up and left her with no explanation on their sleepover.

Amara approached her, "Hey..."

MJ looked up at her, "You're back. For a second there I thought you might have just left."

"MJ, I would never-"

But MJ cut her off. "You would never, what? Abandon your friend for no reason? And then come back after..." She checked her watch, "...42 minutes without any form of an apology and still no explanation? Yeah, you're right, you'd never!"

She paused and for a moment it seemed like she was done and Amara could jump in with one of her pre-rehearsed excuses. But then MJ spoke again, "You know, if you didn't want to answer my questions or talk about whatever we were talking about, you could have just told me or changed the subject! You know, like a normal person? You didn't have to leave me here by myself during our sleepover! With no explanation other than you can 'feel something!' Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?! We've known each other for a while now and you call me your best friend, and yet I don't know anything about you. I don't think anyone does."

Amara winced. Before this, Amara had been more than ready to use another one of her excuses. To do anything to keep her identity intact. But now, Amara realised that if she kept up these lies, she could be losing her friend, and she could not let that happen.

"I'm sorry, MJ. I'm a shitty friend, and I have no excuse. I shouldn't have left you like that. It's just that, this thing... it's more complicated. I can't just tell you, it would..." Amara trailed off.

"It would what?! Do you not trust me, or something?-"

"What?! No! That's not-"

"I mean what could be so terrible that you feel like you can't tell me?! Like what is it? You think I'm gonna run off and tell somebody, is that it?"