coffee shop boy - peter parker

chapter three: i'm already on my way

"Mr. Parker?" Peter looked up from his desk. "Can I see you after class?" He gulped and nodded.

Peter spent the rest of the class period chewing on his pencil and worrying about all the things his teacher could possibly want to discuss with him. He certainly wasn't expecting it to be about his grades.

"Mr. Parker, the past two days you've really been slipping. And so close to the last exams of the year! With some of the other kids, I normally wouldn't say anything, but your grades have always been amazing. Is something going on? Or are you just slacking?"

"No, no, of course not. I'm sorry, I've just had my mind focused on other things."

"Well, you also need to focus on school," he said sternly.

"Got it, Mr. E. I won't let you down," he said as he left the classroom.

"What happened?" Ned asked.

"I just haven't been focusing lately."

"Is it because of Kraven?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I can't seem to find h--"

Suddenly a loud scream was heard, and it was coming from the courtyard. Peter ran to the bathroom and changed into his suit quickly before sprinting outside.

"Kraven, right? Man, you gave me one hell of a bruise yesterday."

"Would you like me to make it worse?" Peter noticed her thick Russian accent for the first time.

"Not particularly, no," he said as he attempted to "web her up."

She threw a punch into the very same eye and said, "Too late."

"Lady, what is your problem?" He punched her in the gut.

As she fired more punches at him while the other students recorded it on their phones, Karen chimed, "Is now the perfect time?"

"Nope, not now, Karen. Only on specific circumstances."

"Spider-Man, you are no match for me! I can easily best you in hand-to-hand combat."

Peter grabbed her fist and said, "Then let's make it interesting." They started fighting using their powers, not their hands. Peter, again, lost to Kraven, this time winding up with a knife in his shoulder. Because of this, he had to leave school early. And boy was May unhappy.

"Peter, your grades are suddenly dropping and you get in a fight with a villain during school? What's going on?"

"May, I'm sorry. I've been focused on Kraven and Jacob."

"You'd better be sorry. I know I can't control one of those things, but I can tell you that you aren't allowed to go on any dates until your grade picks back up."

Peter's heart dropped, "No, please! I've gotta make up for leaving in the middle of our last date!"

"I'm sorry, Peter, but I'm putting my foot down. This boy is obviously becoming a serious distraction."

Peter just groaned and threw his bag down in his room. He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and texted Jacob.

Peter: Hey, Jake. I'm really sorry, but I have to cancel our date. My aunt won't let me leave the house until I get my grades up.

Jacob: oh, I understand. It's okay.

Peter: Honestly, I wish she'd let you come over for a study date at the very least.

Jacob: I'm already on my way.

Peter: Wait, what?

Jacob: I'll just sneak in. What's your address?

And that's how Jacob wound up climbing the fire escape and slipping into Peter's bedroom not-so-gracefully as soon as he got out of school. Immediately, he noticed Peter's black eye and bandaged shoulder.

Without thinking, he rushed over to where Peter was sitting on his bed and caressed his face, "Babe, what happened? Are you okay?"

Peter blushed and quietly said, "Yeah," with a small voice crack.

"Who did this?"

"No one. I'm okay."

"You're clearly not. Just please tell me," Jacob said with puppy-dog eyes.

He lied right through his teeth, "Some bad guy showed up and Spider-Man saved the day."

"So you were attacked?"

"Yeah, me and a couple other people."

"Aw, babe, I'm so sorry. Thank god Spider-Man was there, huh?" he said, sitting down next to him after pressing a quick kiss next to Peter's swollen eye.

"Yup, I got pretty lucky."

"Now, let's get studying."

As Jacob said that with his cute little signature smile, Peter fell for him even more.

xx