Stood Up

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Peter was full of nervous excitement; he had asked his crush to the dance and she agreed. Since she had a drivers license, something he had not yet acquired, she said she would pick him up at 7.

It just so happened that most of his family was on a mission the day of the dance, leaving him with Bucky, Clint, and Natasha.

"You ready for tonight?" Nat asked as she entered his room, where he was putting his pants on.

"Ever hear of knocking?!" He huffed, quickly clothing himself.

"Nothing I haven't seen before, I used to change your diapers. Now answer my question." She spoke with amusement evident in her eyes.

"That's completely different, I'm almost 16 now! But yes, I'm ready for tonight." He struggled to tie the tie around his neck, having always had his Dad to do it for him.

"Need some help there, Special?" Clint teased from the doorway.

"Maybe." Peter admitted, letting Clint tie it correctly for him.

"Think you'll be needing these tonight?" Bucky asked, walking in with Peter's wallet in one hand and a condom in the other.

"Probably just one." Peter laughed.

"Yeah he's not going to need a wallet at a school dance." Clint smirked, earning a smack in the head by Nat.

"He might as well use protection if he's going to do anything. I'm not going to become a great uncle just yet." Bucky shrugged, putting the condom inside the wallet and tossing it to Peter.

"Really? Because you're older than most people's great uncles." Clint pointed out.

"Okay, as fun as this is, I'm going to go wait outside so Liz can avoid experiencing this conversation." Peter said, fixing his collar before walking out of his room.

"Be good!" Natasha called while Clint yelled, "Have fun!"

"Those are two completely different directions so you just do what you want!" Bucky laughed, making Peter chuckle before going outside.

Peter sat on the bench outside and waited. He checked his phone and saw it was 7:05. Okay, just running a little late. He took a deep breath and continued to wait. At 7:45, he was worried something had happened.

Just as he was about to text her, Ned called him. "Hey." Peter answered the phone.

"Dude, I thought you were coming to the dance with Liz?"

"I'm supposed to be, she must be running late or something. She was supposed to be here at 7."

"Peter she's already here. She's on the dance floor grinding on Derek Salts." Ned delivered the news sadly.

Peter felt as if his chest were being constricted. "Oh."

"I'm sorry, dude. You want me to come hang out with you? The dance is boring anyway." Ned offered.

"No, that's okay. Have fun, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Alright, text me if you change your mind. Bye."

Peter hung up the phone and sighed. He stood up off the bench and felt something wet on his cheeks. When did he start crying? He quickly wiped the tears away and walked inside, passing the three adults in the living room on his way to his bedroom.

"Hey, you're still here?" Bucky asked, muting the tv.

Peter nodded and kept walking towards his room, being stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "Buddy, come talk to us. Don't lock yourself away."

Peter turned and saw it was Clint before leaning against him with his head on the archer's chest. Clint led him to the couch where he wedged the two of them between Bucky and Natasha.

"What happened, Pete?" Nat pried, running her fingers through his hair soothingly.

"She stood me up. Ned called and said she was dancing with another guy there." Peter shrugged, wiping the tears off his face.

"I'm so sorry, kid." Bucky sighed, "What can we do to help you feel better?"

Peter shrugged once more. "I just wanna forget about it."

"Okay, baby spider. Just remember, her doing that says more about her than you." Natasha told him as he tugged the tie off his neck.

"Sure it does." Peter rolled his eyes, not believing it for a second. Only loser guys got stood up.

"Hey, I've been stood up before." Bucky told him, bringing over a container of ice cream and four spoons from the kitchen. "It was 1934, I was 17. These girls, Eleanor and Penelope, were supposed to meet me and Steve at a fair. Penelope came but Eleanor never did. I third-wheeled Steve and Penelope all night, thinking maybe she was just late but she wasn't."

"That sucks." Peter said as he put ice cream in his mouth.

"It did. But I want you to know that someone doing this to you doesn't mean you're defective or that you're the problem. Some people just suck."

"Yeah, like people who eat all the cookie dough chunks out of the ice cream." Natasha said, eyeing Clint as he did exactly that.

Peter chuckled. "Thanks guys."

"That's what we're here for. Now let's watch New Girl and forget about it for awhile." Nat said, grabbing the remote and putting the show on.

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