Chapter 23: Game On
"Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all."
― Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam

Angela was cleaning up the kitchen when she heard a door slam from upstairs and seconds later steps coming from the stairs. She watched with a sad smile as Peter Parker came down, muttering things to himself and looking just overall miserable.

"Good night, Mrs. Snow" Peter said once he came through the backdoor, holding the blanket close to his chest and avoiding eye contact at al costs.

"Peter, wait" Angela called out to the boy as he tried to hurry out of the store. Peter stopped walking but still didn't look at the woman who walked over to him. "You look like you need some hot chocolate" She said smiling softly at him, before gently guiding him towards a booth.

"I don't think-" Peter began to protest but the woman just shushed him and forced him to take a sit.

"No buts, I talked to your aunt and she wouldn't want you out there with this storm" Angela, took the blanket from his shaky hands before laying it over his shoulders. "Okay, now sit tight while I get the chocolate"

Raising his head to watch Angela walking towards the kitchen with a smile still on her face, with a cozy blanket around him, Peter couldn't help but think about fleeing. Angela was being very nice and welcoming but he couldn't help but feel that he shouldn't be treated this kindly. There was just something that stopped him from leaving, maybe it was the fact that he felt like a mess and just needed someone to tell him everything would be okay.

"Here you go" Angela said, walking up to his booth with two mugs and a plate full of pastries. Peter managed to mutter a thanks as she handed him one of the cups. After everything he put Angela's step daughter through he shouldn't be getting hot chocolate from her. But that's who Angela was, she just couldn't let the teenage boy be miserable, she wanted to try and cheer him up at least until he could get home with his aunt.

"So, Peter" Angela began, catching his attention after a few seconds of them just quietly sipping their drinks and eating cookies. Peter shuffled on his seat getting uncomfortable, he didn't want to talk about what just happened with Ember, especially with her stepmother. "What do you think about the cookie?"

"Huh?"

"The cookie, is it good?"Angela elaborated, nodding towards the plate of freshly made cinnamon cookies.

"Uh, yeah, it's really nice" Peter stuttered unsure of why a professional cook would care about his opinion.

"It was Carter's mother recipe"Angela sighed sadly, looking at the plate of cookies laying on the center of the table, before carefully grabbing one and taking a bite out of it. "I can bake pretty much anything but no matter how hard I try my cinnamon
cookies can never taste quite like hers. She always said it was the only thing she didn't burn."

"My, uh, my aunt May is like that" Peter said, trying to lighten the mood, a tiny smile in his lips as he thought about May's chaotic cooking. He never met Ember's grandmother but from the way the blonde and Angela talked about her he could tell she was very loved and missed. "We usually eat out"

"Really?" Angela chuckled "Well, you two are always welcome here"

" I don't know about that" Peter's smile quickly vanishing as if it were never there once he remembered why he was there and what had happened with Ember, she hated him and she had every right to do so, she deserved better after the way he treated her.

"You know, when I first met Ember she didn't really like me. In fact, I was pretty sure she hated me" Angela said, Peter gave her an incredulous look, he knew the two were close and never imagined it wasn't always like that . "Yeah. When I met Carter and Ember they were in a thought spot and I just couldn't stay away, I wanted to help. I wont tell you the whole story, cause its not mine to tell but at that time they were suffering. Ember blamed herself for a lot of things and carried a big guilt and fear for such a small girl. When you two met, I'm sure she was all smile and laughs but unfortunately her whole world changed in an instant. She closed herself, never trusting anyone not even Carter. So, as you can imagine she wasn't very fond of a stranger" Angela smiled sadly as she remembered how sad Ember was, how every time Carter tried to hold her she would just push him away, terrified of hurting him. "I guess, she couldn't understand why I was trying to help them. Even after I began dating Carter, she never really opened up to me. I thought it was because I wasn't her mother and she didn't want her father being with someone else. It wasn't until a while that I realized that what she really feared was that I would turn out to be just like her mother" Peter knew what she meant, and he felt like such an idiot for just figuring it out, Ember was terrified of people leaving her and he had let her down.
"What I'm trying to say is, don't give up yet. It may take a while but if you really like her she will learn to let you in"

Peter nodded, silently staring at his now empty mug. He messed everything up but he was gonna try his best to fix it.

❅

" Hey, Angel" Carter Snow said, coming into their little flat above the bakery, after a long day at work. The whole department was going crazy over some freaky ferry situation. He wrapped his arms around Angela's waist , who was currently washing some dishes. As he turned to greet his teenager laying on the couch, he quickly noticed she looked very tired and pale, and she was gently massaging her temple. "Why does she look like she just got ran over by a truck?" Carter questioned his wife, like Ember wouldn't hear him.

"Hello to you too dad" Ember groaned, not even bothering to open her eyes to look at him. Angela gave him a look that said she also knew nothing.

Carter frowned a little worried, but he quickly shook it off and out in his beaming smile and took a seat next to Ember. "Hey princess, how was your day?"

"How do you think?" Ember complained, but didn't even think twice as she snuggled into her father's welcoming arms.

"I don't wanna answer that because I could get in trouble" Carter chuckled, remembering all the times Ember snapped at him because he blamed everything on her time of the month, which of course earned him a door slammed on his face, a smack on the head from his wife, and once his mother found out a tugg on the ear and lots of scoldings. He gave his still grumpy daughter a little nudge trying to get her to look at him. "What's wrong kid"

As soon as Ember looked up there it was. That all too familiar look in his eyes that made her feel like a little girl all over again. It was a look she just could never lie to, it made her feel like the little girl crying her eyes out once she realized her mother had abandoned her and would never come back, and back then she held onto her father until her arms went numb letting him comfort her into sleep as she poured her hear out to him. And even a decade later she still felt that way whenever she saw that look in his brown eyes. Carter Snow had sticked by her through thick and thin and he was everything to her, she would be lost without him. Her biggest fear would be to live in a world where Carter Snow wasn't by her side.

Next thing you know is she can't keep quiet anymore "I skipped school to go to the ferry" she mumbled not ready to hear his anger and disappointment.

"I'm sorry, you did what?" Carter asked, caught of guard, he had imagined normal teenager problems not a life threatening kind of situation.

"Im sorry, I know we agreed I would let you know what I was doing but it just happened so fast! One minute I'm talking to MJ and the next thing I know is Tony Stark came for me at school asking for my help to look for his dumb flying monkey and- "

Ember's ramble got cut off by her parents questions. "The Tony Stark asked for your help?!" Angela squealed from the kitchen, dropping her washing gloves and hurrying to sot with them, at the same time her husband asked confused "Flying monkey?"

"Seriously? That's what caught your attention" Angela scoffed at her husband's priorities.

"Oh I'm sorry would you prefer it if we focused on your celebrity crush?" Carter teased his wife, gesturing to the Iron Man apron she was currently wearing.

Angela glared at him, paying no mind to her blushing cheeks nor the teenage girl sitting next to him "That man ages like fine wine"

"And I don't?" Carter gasped dramatically, as his wife shook her head and laughed.

"Okay, maybe I should leave you guys to -" Ember began standing up, taking this as her chance to escape the discussion.

"Sit down young lady, we're not done with this" Carter ordered, giving her a look that said he wasn't messing around now. "You're telling me you left school, without even a call to go save the day with Iron Man?" Carter scolded, knowing this tune all to well.

"Yes," Ember admitted sheepishly, playing with her sleeves as she shrinking under her father's stare. "in my defense, I told him no but he then mentioned how I owed him one after the whole house arrest situation and I just had to dad. Not to mention we were just going to find Spider-Man, how could I know that he had caused such a mess and that I would have to clean it up?"

Carter pinched his nose feeling very stressed as he tried to process what happened. He felt like he aged up an entire decade every time Ember went out and risked her life he wasn't sure how much longer he could handle it without losing his mind.

"Were you hurt?" Carter finally asked, after minutes of silence, looking at her with eyes filled with concern.

"No, I just overused my powers. I'll be fine in the morning"

Carter nodded, turning to look at his wife wondering if she had anything to say. Once she shook her head Carter was quick to hug Ember and press a kiss on her forehead before looking in her eyes.

"This can't keep happening. We need to figure out something or you'll be the death of me kid" Both father and daughter chuckled before hugging each other one more time. Angela watched the interaction with happy tears in her eyes, hand over her stomach as she admired her beautiful family.

❅

Peter Parker felt like his entire world had been flipped upside down. Everything that had happened in the last couple of days had left him feeling defeated and he was feeling lost. After first meeting Tony and fighting in Berlin he went down a path and didn't turn back. He was so focused on being Spider-Man that he lost sense of Peter Parker. The night before was a wake up call, now he had to try and be normal, something he hadn't given much thought to in months. He made mistakes and now he had to fix things.

Sitting down in what seemed to be the hundred detention when he still had a lot to go, he couldn't help but stare at the blonde girl sitting in front of her best friend. Her head lying on the desk while her platinum blonde hair hid her form view, an abandoned Starbucks cup next to her head. His thoughts never shutting up about how much of a  dumbass he was.

Peter spent years pinning after one girl, and when he finally gets a chance he completely blows it blaming it all on her secret and pretending it was because he didn't know her anymore. But that was a lie. Sure, he discovered that Ember Snow had more layers than he originally thought but thats something everyone goes through once you start spending more time with someone. It was all because he was too focused pretending to be something that he's not. He just wanted to be Spider-Man and leave Peter Parker behind and to do that he pushed the girl who meant so much to him away, afraid that she would hold him back. And it was probably one of the biggest mistakes in his whole life.

As the bell rang and signaled the end of classes, Coach Wilson was quick to dismiss the students who dashed  as soon as he finished talking. All but three students, one blonde girl still sleeping on her desk, a guilty boy trying to build up the courage to talk to her and a brunette artist who was getting tired of his stupidness.

"If you screw up again, I'll make sure you regret it Peter Parker" Michelle threatened him before following Coach Wilson out the door and leaving him alone with the sleeping beauty.

"Come on, Peter" Peter whispered to himself, about to shake her awake only to chicken out "You got this, Peter, you got this"

He went to wake her up again , actually touching her shoulder this time only for a voice to stop him from doing anything else "What are you doing?"

"Ned!" He shushed him, turning to look at his best friend standing in the door holding a box. "What are you doing here?"

"We're supposed to build this, remember?" Ned said, showing him the box with the lego pieces for his Death Star.

"Yeah, yeah just give me minute"

Peter was about to try and wake her up but was stopped by hand grabbing into his wrist. "Get your sticky fingers away from me" Ember glared at him before dropping his hand.

"You're awake!" Peter said, his voice coming out a but too high as it always did when he was nervous.

"I'm leaving" Ember said, grabbing her stuff as fast was possible.

"Wait, wait" Peter begged, grabbing into her wrist to stop her from leaving.

"Remove your hand Parker or I swear I'll cut it off" She glared at him and he did as she asked, not wanting her to get more upset with him.

"Fine. But first we need to talk" he said now stepping in front which only earned him a scoff and another glare.

"I think we said all that had to be said yesterday" Ember said, crossing her arms and waiting for him to get out, she was losing her patience and wanted nothing ,ore but to blizzard him out of her way.

"No, you said what you wanted to say. Now, its my turn" Peter declared, standing tall and not wavering as they both stared into each others eyes. With a roll of her eyes, Ember dropped her backpack to the ground and took a seat, leaning back and waiting for him to get it over with. Peter was stunned for a couple, until Ned coughed from behind him trying to get him to talk.
"Okay, so I know I said it before but I'm sorry"

"We went over this and I told you I don't want your-" Ember cut him off about to stand up and leave but Ned Leeds was currently blocking her only escape route.

"I know, just I-" Peter stumbled over his own words. Even when he spent almost the whole night practicing for this moment he was lost. He sighed, looking at her and deciding to just try to go with it. "I talked to Angela yesterday, and she convinced me to try and talk to you"

"Let me guess" Ember scoffed, knowing that Angela could never stop herself from helping a sad, lost puppy, and believed that a bit of love could wash away every problem. It was such an Angela thing to do, send Peter Parker to try and make peace with her. "she told you some story of how she and my dad got together and made you think you should take a leap of faith because you care about me?" Ember nearly scoffed at the last part, glaring daggers towards Peter.

"Actually, she told me how you used to hate her and that it took some time but in the end you let her in" Peter retorted, holding her stare with the same intensity before finally saying out loud  "But yeah, I do care about you. I like you, Ember"

It was Ember who broke eye contact first, shaking her head and grabbing her things , once again ready to leave. "The thing is she never did anything to break my trust" she said, ignoring his declaration.

"I know what I did and I hate myself for it, but I'm gonna try to earn your trust back" Peter promised, watching as she walked to the door, not trying to stop her this time.

"I gotta get to class Parker"

Peter watched her leave, she watched her as she waled up with Michelle and began talking to her, probably scolding her for leaving her alone with him.

"That, uh, that went bad" Ned said, awkwardly standing next to gis friend, who for some reason didn't look that defeated.

"I don't know" Peter shrugged, giving him a little smile "she talked to me, I would call that a progress."

"What's the plan then?" Ned asked as they began walking out of the room.

"I guess, uh, try to take her to the dance again" Peter said.

"Oh, right." Ned gasped once he actually registered what Peter said, stopping dead on his tracks "Would now be a bad time to tell you that I asked her to the dance?"

"What? Why?" Peter stopped eyes wide open, looking at his best friend, for a moment thinking he heard him wrong

"She said you hated her and she was sad and then we talked about the dance and I got sad cause I couldn't take Betty. Then I just thought, why not take Ember? I mean she's really nice and I think she wants to be my friend. I didn't even think about how you would feel cause she said you were taking Liz and I'm sorry I was just trying to cheer her up" Ned rambled, feeling guilty and a bit stupid for not thinking about the possibility of his friend feeling hurt. "I could cancel" He said, even if he didn't want to go to the dance by himself, but he would for his best friend.

"No, no. Don't do that, it's alright really I want you both to have a good time" Peter shook his head, giving Ned a reassuring smile before a thought began forming on his head.  "Do you, uh, do you like her?" Peter nervously asked, not sure what to do.

"Yeah, she's cool" Ned chuckled, Peter nodded and the two walked in silence for a couple of seconds

"But I mean do you like like her" Peter tried again, usure of what he would do if it were the case. Thats a lie he would let Ned have her, because he messed up and maybe Ned could make her happy and she would make him happy. But still it would hurt and he knew it, it would be hard to give her up.

"Oh. No, I would never do that to you" Ned admitted, putting Peter's mind at ease. "I could help you win her back. I mean I don't know anything about relationships but I've seen some movies" Ned said, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Thanks Ned" Peter laughed, holding out his fist for them to do their secret handshake.

It wouldn't be easy but Peter was going to try and mend things. Even if he was unlucky enough to be destined for failure he wouldnt go down without a fight. And it was nice to know that even after everything Ned Leed had his back.

❅

[word count: 3434]
A/n: Just a quick shoutout to my amazing friend KleeAlise11  she's honestly so sweet and deserves some love! Also if you guys want another Peter Parker fic you should check out her book cause from what I may or may not know things are about to get intense!

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