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CHAPTER SIX
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THE CHANGE

THE RADIO WAS CRACKLING.

Barbie rolled her eyes as the music played through the old radio, her father dancing around the deli just before opening, trying to make her smile. When he looked at her hopefully, she gave him a shake of her head, a mocking smirk playing on her lips.

It was the end of the week, and Peter was scheduled to show up once again, despite her request to have at least one day where she could go off with her friends and enjoy whatever piece of break she had left. Unfortunately, due to him taking an extra day to help her with some of the lessons, they were far behind schedule and needed all the time they had.

"I'm sorry," her father sighed, walking towards the beaten up radio and turning it off, plunging the deli into a deep silence.

She shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "It's okay." She appreciated what her father was doing, and couldn't find it within her for resenting his efforts to help her succeed, even if it stood in the way of her socializing.

Her mother would be proud of her. While she did want her daughter to have fun with her friends, she had always stressed the importance of education, even when Barbie was too young to attend pre-school.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her friends knocking on the locked doors, peering in with matching, wide grins. The two Delmars jumped, looking at the girls with a mixture of confusion and exasperation.

"Come hang out with us before Parker gets here," Lucia called, her voice muffled through the glass.

"Please," Regina added, giving her best smile, the one that let her get away with anything and everything, even at their school.

Barbie turned to look at her father pleadingly, cheering when he sighed and waved his hand, letting her go. She rushed out of the store, shoes skidding when the girls moved out of the way, letting her charged headfirst into the street.

She jumped back quickly, shoving the nearest girl—Lucia—cursing them both. The two just laughed, tugging their friend forward, greeting the waking morning with their loud voices and delighted laughter.

"Why you gotta stay inside with Parker today?" Lucia complained, throwing herself into her friend, hugging her close to her chest and petting her hair.

"Because I'm stupid as fu—" Barbie began, stopping when she rammed into a pole, cursing wildly as she rubbed her forehead, tears prickling the edges of her eyes; she wouldn't cry, that was weak.

"Are you okay?" Regina cried, rushing over to check, also rubbing at the spot, "Poor, Barbie, the world is so cruel today."

"Shut up," Barbie snarled, pushing her away, harsher than intended, "Let's just go, I wanna have some fun before Parker comes and ruins it."

Regina pouted. "Don't be like that, Barbie, he's very nice."

Barbie scoffed. "Nice and boring."

"He's cute," the young girl pointed out, "In a nerdy kind of way."

The Delmar girl snorted, whirling around to face her. "Do I look like I'm into that?"

Lucia hummed, pretending to think. "I bet you don't even study, you just lock the door and suck his—"

Her words were cut off by a splash of water from the sidewalk being kicked into her face.

A loud shriek echoed through the still waking city, stagnant and idle save for the sharp crack made by the sound of feet slapping against concrete, the first alarm to start the day.

º º º

Barbie came back to find Peter waiting for her, scribbling furiously into his notebook.

After being shoved into a puddle of rain and sewage water, she had raced back home, furiously scrubbing at her skin until it was raw, unable to get the feeling of grime off of her, constantly shuddering.

Lucia was her best friend, but it was no surprise that she wasn't the kindest. While most of her jokes bounced right off, there were few that Barbie couldn't fend.

That hadn't been one of her terrible ones and, if anything, Barbie should have just laughed it off, but there was something about it being her tutor and her father's deli that made her skin crawl and her anger flare.

Her father was paying money for her to learn from the kid, to even joke about her wasting that upset her more than was rational.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked, lifting his head and catching notice of her scowl and red eyes.

She scratched at her arm, then at her neck, then at her back by her shoulder. "I hate everything, I want to rip my skin off."

Peter raised his eyebrows. "I get that it's hot out, but no need to resort to that, your dad has AC."

If it were anyone else and under any other circumstance, she might have laughed. Maybe not a real laugh, but a humoring one, one to let him know that she found it somewhat amusing.

But it was him and she was upset, so she simply scowled and scoffed and pulled the chair up harshly, falling into it and glaring.

Wordlessly, Peter pushed the notebook in her direction, a pencil placed right on top. She noticed that it wasn't the same that he had been working in and, for some reason, that filled her with more anger.

"What is your problem?" she demanded, taking the notebook and flinging it across the room.

Peter jumped, hands immediately coming up towards his chest, ready to shield himself at any moment. She watched as he didn't look at her, simply standing up and picking up the notebook, forcing himself to go slow.

That only made her angrier. She hated how calculated he was, how much better than her he and everyone else believed him to be.

"Say something!" she said, kicking over her chair. She watched as he jumped, grabbing it and just holding it in his hands, staring at her with wide eyes.

If she hadn't been so angry, she would have noticed the inhuman speed with which he moved. But her anger was all consuming, rendering her as clear minded as someone in a dream and thus she noticed nothing.

"I'm sorry I'm keeping you from being with your friends," he said softly, voice cracking halfway, "That's not fair. If you want, you can leave through the back in ten minutes and come back just before our session is over."

That. That was what broke her. Because he had given her the option she would never allow herself to take.

"No," she growled, taking the chair from his hands and slamming it back onto the ground, "Let's just do this."

Peter just looked at her, his expression unreadable.

She huffed, feeling small and she hated every second of it. With nothing else left, she mumbled softly, "I'll be good. Promise."

Peter waited a few more moments before sitting back down, and she couldn't help but feel grateful, in some inexplicable way.

Halfway through their lesson, when Barbie was working on her homework and had calmed down enough to be able to somewhat focus, there was the sound of her father greeting someone loudly.

"Ms. Parker, how are you?"

Peter perked up. "May?"

Barbie groaned, slamming her pencil down and falling back into her seat, crossing her arms. "Great...now I gotta hear about her for the rest of the day."

Peter stood up and stumbled out of the room towards the front, and Barbie followed, wanting a break and also wanting a reason to be angry.

The two teenagers looked out and found May Parker leaning against the counter, chatting happily with Barbie's father. She seemed to be a natural flirt, or, at the very least, a very nice person to the point of extreme friendliness.

Young and pretty and alive.

"Dad," she shouted, stomping her foot, glaring at the way he was smiling at the woman, "Can we go visit mom today?"

It was as if all the air had been sucked from the room, everyone turning to look at the girl. Everyone who knew the Delmars knew about Natalia Delmar, the tragedy that befell her, what had happened.

Her father opened his mouth to speak, but she knew he would only come up with something to placate her, an excuse as to what he was doing, so she walked back into the room and slammed the door shut.

Peter jumped slightly, whirling around to look at the door. He motioned towards it, glancing at the adults, his hands moving wildly about. He made a motion with his fingers towards his eyes, then to the man, before scrambling to open the door, falling inside, closing the door behind him.

He skidded to a stop, eyebrows raising and eyes widening as he stared at the scene before him.

Barbie Delmar was crying.

It wasn't a soft, quiet crying, one hidden from the view of others. It was a heavy, harsh, shaking crying, borderline hysterical to the point of being all consuming, wracking her tiny body with sobs so strong that she nearly collapsed.

Peter stared at her, unsure of what to do. He opened and closed his mouth, glancing at his watch; their session was over and he still had time to go out as Spider-Man, so long as May left without him.

But Barbie was crying and there was no way he couldn't do anything about it, not when she looked so broken.

"It's like he forgot about her!" she cried, looking up at him from the ground, "It's like he forgot everything and he just moved on and she's just gone, but he just—"

She couldn't speak, so she just cried. She just cried and hugged herself because no one else was there to, and Peter just stared.

"Why do you put up with me, no one else does!" she demanded, gasping for breath, "No one does, not even my friends, Lucia doesn't take any shit from me and Regina's too nice to call me out, I have no one, not even my dad—"

"Your dad loves you," Peter said, interrupting her. He crouched down in front of her, hands on his legs. "And your friends do too, I've seen you three together. Barbie, people care about you. And I'm here because—" he faltered, staring at her watery eyes. Not here. Not now. "Because your dad loves about you, and if me being here helps him show that, then I'll stay here for as long as it takes."

That wasn't what he wanted to say, but it was the truth she needed to hear.

She just sat there and cried, arms around her legs, and Peter just stayed there. He wasn't going to touch her, it wasn't what she needed, but he was going to stay there so she at least would know someone was there.

Then her hand snapped out and grabbed his wrist and he nearly jumped back by the force of it. Reaching out with his other hand, he wrapped it around her hand.

Barbie Delmar cried and Peter Parker held her hand, two things no one would ever expect to see, yet there they both were in the back room of Delmar's Deli.

Something changed then. Not a monumental change by any means, it would, in fact, go unnoticed by everyone, even themselves. But it was a change.

A mutual respect, maybe. An understanding. A solidarity between two teenagers who were much more alone than they would care to admit to even themselves, perhaps.

Whatever the case, it was a change. A change that would go unnoticed, but a change nonetheless.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm hilarious, y'all, the word count is 2017

I like how this story has yet to include Spider-Man, like, at all, so chapter 8 will have him in it because this is probably the least Spider-Man Spider-Man plot out here I mean, what even.

There isn't much else to say so...thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!