Into the Light | Peter Parker x OC

Chapter Eighty-Five

A/N: welcome back!

well, i'm back on campus for the very last time before i graduate and i thought senior year was supposed to be easy but was i wrong

anyway, you're here for the new chapter so here it is!

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"Well, sugar, if I was a teenage boy,

I would have gotten back together

with you in a heartbeat."
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"Ugh, you'd think phones make communication easier but they forgot to include the part where the other person has to actually listen," May grumbled, setting down a box of zucchinis beside her. Adelaide smiled, glancing up from the butternut squash she was washing in the sink.

"Tim forget the green beans again?" she asked.

"How are we supposed to make green bean casserole without green beans?" the woman sighed. Her hair was frazzled like she'd been running her fingers through it all day. Adelaide turned off the water as she finished washing the last squash and wiped her hands down on her apron. She took May by the shoulders gently, steering her to a nearby stool.

"Why don't you relax, and I'll take care of this," she said.

"I appreciate it, but you've been here forever, and I know you've probably got homework and—"

That was true. She did have homework piling up already even though it was still only the first week of school. Seriously, what happened to syllabus week? But she loved coming to volunteer here after school.

The FEAST center had become sort of a sanctuary after Tony's death and she relied on it. She had heard a schedule was good for the grieving and even though Adelaide wasn't actively grieving anymore, this place and these people had gotten her through it. She couldn't turn her back on them now.

"That's not relaxing," Adelaide said pointedly. "I mean it. Let me cover this crisis. I promise we'll put Bertha on the next one."

"Oh, that's a good idea. She would never let Tim say no," May mumbled, "Maybe I should assign her all phone-related things—oh! Maybe she can convince Sam to actually fix those stairs I've been asking him to fix for months now. Adelaide, you're a genius."

The teenager smiled as she headed for the kitchen doors. She leaned against it to push it open. "It's in my genes," she said with an easy shrug.

She'd gotten all but two steps walking backwards out of the kitchen when she literally ran into someone.

"Oof! Sorry, I'm—" The rest of the sentence died on her lips when her eyes met a pair of brown ones. "...sorry," she whispered in a voice so small she wasn't even sure he'd heard her.

"It's fine," he mumbled, turning to walk past her.

Except she also tried to walk past him and they began to do the thing where they kept getting in each other's way. Eventually, Peter sighed and stepped aside so she could go.

But she didn't. She stared at him, racking her brain for the right thing to say. The perfect combination of words to make him fall in love with her all over again like before. She had literally turned back time for him, and it still wasn't enough.

"Pete..." She curled her fingers into a fist, resisting the urge to reach out and touch him. Like before. Like when she hadn't messed everything up. "I...I'm sixteen again." When he didn't say anything but also didn't walk away, she considered it progress and continued.