Worth It

Four

Y/N'S HOUSE ( (Y/N)'S POV)

It's been about four months since I ran from my foster home, no ones come to look for me. That's not surprising. I told Peter where I was and he brought me a mini fridge.

I got a job at a local café, it doesn't pay too much but I only need enough for some food and my phone bill.

This morning, I was having an especially hard time. I found an old drawing that I made under the kitchen sink. It was me, my mom, and Peter. My little family. I was reminded of how simple life used to be, before I was an orphan, before I had powers, before I was more than just a happy little kid. But life goes on and my boss doesn't give a shit about my problems. So off to work I go.

I walked into work a few hours before it opens and went to the back to start making pastries and brewing coffee. I made myself a tea and had a croissant.

The pastries were done and the coffee was brewed. I set everything out just in time for opening. It was pretty early so I was only going to get about 3 or 4 customers before my shift ended. I was in the back when I heard the bell on the door open. My coworkers were busy with other things so I called out.

"I'll be right with you!"

I walked out and saw a man with blonde hair and a baseball cap waiting patiently at the counter.

"Hi, what can I get for you today?"

"I'm, can I have a small iced americano and an everything bagel?"

"Sure! Do you want your bagel toasted?"

"No thank you."

"Will that be all?"

"Yes."

"Ok, that'll be $4.75."

He payed and sat down. He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I looked at my phone and say that Peter texted me. He said he remembers that drawing and how adamant I was about adding him even though he wasn't technically family. I smiled and felt myself tearing up.

Keep it together!

I brought the mans order to him while trying not to cry from Peters sentiment text. He looked up at me and seemed concerned.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, sorry. It's been a rough day."

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm a good listener."

"I don't want to bore you with the details. Besides, there's other customers." He looked around the empty café and gave me a 'really?' look.

"Are you sure?" He nodded.

"Ok, if you insist."

"Hey, Raquel!" I called to my boss "I'm going on break now!"

She gave me a thumbs up from her office and I sat down. "Let me start from the beginning because this requires some backstory." He nodded and smiled "my mom died when I was six. And my dad is some stuck up asshole who has no clue I exist" he gave me a sympathetic look and I kept talking "so, since my mom died I've been bouncing from foster home to foster home and I just got out of a bad one. I ended up going back to the house I lived in with my mom and it was weird, like there was almost no evidence that we had ever lived there. But this morning, I found this drawing that I made when I was like four. It's me, my mom and my best friend Peter." I notice his expression change slightly when I said Peters name but I didn't think anything of it. " So it made me a little bummed out, it made me miss the old days before I lost everything." I sighed and looked at my feet "it made me miss when I enjoyed my life. I looked up at this total stranger that I had just spilled my guts to. He looked like a nice person but I think he regretted asking me if I was ok.