Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

24. Tell Me

"Caden," Peter reached out for the older boy, already feeling him slip through his fingers as Caden turned away from him.

"You're Spider-Man?" he asked, looking back to Peter with hurt in his blue eyes. Peter would've done anything to shake his head and say it was all a stupid costume, but he couldn't.

"I-I am, but-"

"Were you ever going to tell me?!" Caden turned on him, anger and betrayal behind his words.

The force of his words made Peter bow his head in shame. It hurt to know that he had hurt Caden in this way, and it hurt even more to think of how he didn't even know the answer to his question. Soon, he was internally kicking himself, wondering how he managed to screw up this badly.

Caden scoffed, crossing his arms despite the mix of emotions in his eyes. "Should've known," he muttered, shaking his head at Peter.

Peter lifted his head, looking at Caden's face with tears welling in his eyes. "I-I..." he sighed, his breath coming out broken up which was a sure sign that tears would come sooner than he thought. "Caden, you have to believe me," he pleaded, his heart clenching as Caden stepped away from his outreached hands. "I was going to tell you that one night, but Harper and May they interrupted and..."

"And?" Caden's words were a bitter, angry contrast to Peter's sadness, but both feelings were the same in a way: they were overall disappointed in how everything happened. "And what? You just gave up? You just thought, 'Oh, well, I really tried' and didn't say anything else afterwards?!"

"Caden, please, you have to understand." Peter hated how desperate he sounded, but he would hate himself even more if he just let Caden leave without explaining himself first. "It would've been dangerous for you to know. I couldn't put you through that. I don't know what I would do with myself if it ended up that someone hurt you over my own secret."

"I don't have to understand anything, Peter." Caden's expression hardened, his knuckles white as he gripped Peter's Spider-Man mask from the floor. "All I know is that our relationship was essentially one big lie."

Was. Peter's face fell, and he felt completely defeated as he looked to Caden, trying to communicate his regret through his eyes as Caden continued on. "Just think about it: our relationship started with the Spider-Man coming into my life and giving me an idea of how to ask you out, and it was you all along. You knew I liked you, and you somehow managed to get my best friends involved, too."

"I'm so sorry for leading you through those motions, but Caden I would never do anything-"

"I don't want to hear anymore of this, Peter," Caden sighed. He ran a hand down his face, flinging Peter's mask to the ground once more. He covered his face with his hands, letting out a exasperated scream that made Peter's heart shatter. "How can this even be happening? The Stark internship? Everything about this is just lies upon lies! And, you let this happen!"

"I know," Peter sobbed out, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Caden, I know this is all my fault. I know I look like a horrible person right now, and I know you're upset with me... but I'm still me. I'm still the guy that cares so much about you. That has to count for something."

"Well, it doesn't," Caden replied in a stern voice. Tears began to cascade down his cheeks, and he wiped them away with such force that Peter thought he would leave a mark.

He finally turned to leave, shaking his head at how his whole day came crashing down all at once. "Goodbye, Spider-Man," he said in a soft angry tone that hit Peter's ears hard.

Peter's heart dropped, and he grabbed Caden's hand in an attempt to keep him from going. He didn't want anything to be over, he couldn't handle it. He looked like an absolute mess, but he just wanted to take back everything that happened so they could be happy again.