Let me guess." You said coyly as Peter Parker entered the bakery. You tapped your chin and pretended to think about his order. "You want vanilla cupcake?"
"Do you have the ones with the blue frosting?" He asked sweetly. He held his hands together under his chin. You bit your tongue at the action to keep from dying on the spot.
"I always do." You chirped before going in the back to retrieve it.
Truth be told, you didn't always have blue cupcakes. In fact, you rarely did. No one ordered blue frosting, so you never had any made.
But what you did have was a gigantic crush on Peter Parker.
The sweet boy stopped in the bakery you worked at every Friday for a blue cupcake. Peter walking in and making the bell above the door chime was the best part of your week. You saw him at school, but his time in the bakery was the only time you actually had the guts to talk to him. It was your turf, and you felt safe. You had to admit to patiently waiting for him to walk in every week, bouncing on the balls of your feet when you saw him coming. The other girls (and one boy) in the bakery all knew about your huge crush. They happily let you be the one to serve him every week.
And every week, just for him, you set aside a vanilla cupcake everyday and frosted it with a light blue buttercream frosting. You had to mix the frosting yourself, and after several attempts, managed to make it the same shade as his favorite sweater.
"No way! This matches my jumper!" Peter cheered when you handed him his cupcake.
"Does it? Thats funny, I didn't even notice." You lied through a smile. Peter thanked you and dropped a dollar in the tip jar. You gave him a friendly wave as he walked out, leaning over the counter to watch him until he was out of sight.
Yeah, you had it bad.
You'd been working at the Sweetheart Bakery for all four years of high school. It was right next to Delmars, both stores coincidentally being Peters two favorite places to stop in. Not only did he have to pass them on his way to school anyway, but he liked the people inside too.
Specifically, he liked you.
Meeting you had been an accident freshman year. He ran in there on Mays birthday, her first birthday without Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben had always picked up the cake, but without him there, Peter took in upon himself to get one. Peter burst through you doors, five minutes before closing, in a panicked rush.
"I know you're closing but it's my aunts birthday and I really need a cake." Peter announced, all in one breath. He was panting, not yet having acquired the radioactive spider bite and still being a scrawny, out of shape boy. You blinked and stopped wiping the counter. You were in charge of closing that night and weren't expecting anyone else. Especially not the boy from your math class that you had a crush on.
"Oh." You said and put your rag down. "I'm afraid we sold all our cakes today. Can I get you anything else?"
"She needs a cake. It was always a cake." Peter said, defeated. He put his hands on the counter and looked you intensely in the eyes. "Please. You're the only bakery still open. Is there anything you can do?"
"I'm really not supposed to but..." You bit your lip as Peter unknowingly gave you puppy dog eyes. You'd been crushing on him since the first day of school three months ago. Until that moment, you'd never spoken to him. But here he was, in your shop late at night, asking you for a favor.
"When do you need it by?" You asked. Peters eyes lit up.
"Tonight." He answered. "Please?"
You looked at the clock and then at the door. You shouldn't. You couldn't. But it was Peter Parker and he needed a favor. And you were going to give it to him.
No one would ever have to know."Turn the sign on the door to say "closed" and meet me in the back. If you help me make it, I can get you out of here with a cake in an hour." You said. You didn't know where this sudden surge of confidence came from. You couldn't even talk to Peter, let alone order him around and ask him for help.
"Thank you so much." Peter breathed. He ran to the sign and flipped in around before meeting you in the back.
You did as you promised. After a few cracked eggs, some fistfuls of flour thrown at the other, and a couple bad baking puns from Peter, you had baked a cake. Once it was cooled off, you covered it with white frosting, only getting a little on Peters nose.
"What's your aunts favorite color?" You asked Peter as you wiped your hands on your apron.
"Yellow, why?" Peter asked with his wild eyebrows knit together.
You didn't answer him. You grabbed some yellow food coloring and the left over white buttercream frosting. Peter watched as you mixed the two together and transferred the now yellow frosting into two pipe bags. You handed him one and rolled up your sleeves.
"You might want to roll yours up as well." You advised. "And watch me carefully so you can see show it's done."
"I always do." Peter mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for you to catch it.
You didn't quite know what he meant, so you just smiled and kept working. Peter wanted to smack himself for letting that slip. Of course he watched you. You made it impossible to focus during Geometry. You'd always manage to catch Pete's attention and hold it. Even now, he watched you as you twisted on a nozzle to both your frosting bags.
"Just follow my lead." You said as you stepped closer to him to be near the cake. Your elbows brushed and you were breathing his air. You began to pipe the frosting in small dollops around the rim on the cake. You looked up at him and noticed he wasn't looking at the cake at all.
"Have you done this before?" You asked, assuming he already knew how to decorate a cake and that's why he wasn't watching.
"I've never done any of this before." Peter said breathlessly. Peter lifted a shaky hand to your face and leaned in a little closer. Your breath hitched in your throat as you stood perfectly still.
"You got a little something right," Peter brushed his thumb across your cheekbone, picking up the flour you'd gotten on your face on his thumb, "there."
If you had to bet money on it, you bet he burnt his finger tips on your cheeks. You couldn't see your face, but you just knew how red you were. Your whole body felt like you were in one of the bakery ovens. Peter smiled timidly and wiped the flour off on his apron. You gulped, loud enough for him to hear even if he didn't have his superhearing yet. You shyly turned away from his touch, suddenly feeling overwhelmed at the hands of the boy you'd liked for so long. Peter took your withdrawal as an indifference to his feelings. His feelings for you.
Peter nodded to himself and looked away in disappointment.
"How much do I owe you?" Peter asked, his voice sounding distant now. "For the cake, I mean."
"It's after hours, so no charge." You answered as you wrote his aunts name on the cake in swirly handwriting.
"Really?" Peter asked, taking out his wallet.
"I won't tell my boss if you don't." You replied with a casually shrug. Peter couldn't help but smile at you, even though you'd unknowingly broken his heart.
"Well, thank you. For everything." Peter said sincerely. Though he was disappointed you didn't share his feelings, he was grateful you helped him at all. "See you in school?"
"Right. See you in school." You said, feeling your shyness around him returning.
He left without another word. Because Peter hadn't been bitten yet, he couldn't hear your heart pounding. He didn't realize you wanted him as much as he wanted you. He was blind to your feelings. If only he'd been Spider-Man by that night. Everything would've been different. He believed that to this day.
You weren't sure if Peter Parker remembered that night. If he did, he didn't mention it around you. It was strange. In school, you two passed each other with nothing but tight smiles and awkward nods. But in the bakery, he gave you nothing but flirty banter, which you always returned. Maybe you remembered that night differently than Peter did. Maybe you misread all his signs. You didn't know. All you knew was, you wanted more. His short trips to the bakery weren't satiating you anymore. You wanted more baking dates, and every other kind of dates. You just wanted him. You wanted Peter Parker.
Another frequent visitor to your bakery was none other than New York's very own superhero. Spider-Man seemed to swing by every day, just before closing, when you were locking up the shop. When you asked the others if they saw him when it was their turn to close, they looked at you like you were crazy.
"Maybe he only stops by when you're working." Your coworker, Lou Anne, commented with a mischievous grin.
"Aw, does Y/n have a boyfriend?" Another co worker perked up upon hearing Lou Anne's remark.
"He's not my boyfriend." You snapped, your cheeks heating up as you helped a customer with their order. "I've never even spoken to him."
"Well he doesn't come around when I'm working, I'll tell you that." Lou Anne went on. "But I'd certainly stop here too if someone left me free treats everyday."
"I leave our leftovers out for him that we would throw out anyway." You corrected. "Besides, he probably stops by all the stores when he's on patrol."
"Or just the ones with cute pastry chefs working in them." Lou Anne teased.
"Leave me alone." You laughed awkwardly while shaking your hair out of your face. "I have a customer. Can I help you, sir?"
"Yeah, hi. I need a bakers dozen of vanilla cupcakes." A man at the counter ordered. "And could you frost them all with red frosting?"
You scribbled his order down on a note pad and nodded along.
"Can I get a name for the order?" You asked politely as you typed up a receipt for the man.
"Maguire." He answered.
"Maguire." You repeated as you jotted his name down. "Red, huh? That's an unusual color for a cupcake. May I ask the special occasion?"
"My sons favorite color." He smiled as he took his receipt. "Could I have them done by Wednesday?"
"I'll have them done by Tuesday." You quipped.
"Perfect. Thank you." He dropped a dollar in the tip jar and left.
By Tuesday, you had piped frosting on all of Mr. Maguire's cupcakes and were ready to box them up. Lou Anne came in the back to see how you were doing and a frown immediately crossed her face.
"Y/n, any reason there are 24 red cupcakes on my counter?" She asked.
"Because Mr. Maguire asked for a bakers dozen." You answered as you began to put them in the box.
"Can you tell me how many are in a bakers dozen?" Lou Anne leaned against the counter and looked at you.
"24." You said with confidence.
"Try again." She said. You were stumped.
"25?"
"Try 13." She informed you.
"13?" You asked, jaw dropping. "Since when?"
"Since always. I can't believe you didn't know that after working here all these years." She shook her head and pointed to the cupcakes. "Find something to do with these. I don't want them hogging up counter space. And I need you close up shop early today. No one else can work and I can't have you here all alone for that many hours."
"Right. No problem. I'll probably just take them home." You said as you packed 13 cupcakes into a box and left the rest out.
You wiped your brow and glanced at the clock. It was 4:45. Still an hour before Spider-Man's usual swing by. It was just you in the bakery. Everyone else had gone home. With no one to stop you, you decided to have a little fun.
You grabbed a black tube of frosting, as well as a white tube. You arranged the extra cupcakes in a circle and selected the two ugliest ones to go in the center. You drew one white eye on each of the cupcakes and outlined them in black. After careful craftsmanship, the two cupcakes resembled the eyes on Spider-Man's mask. You smiled proudly at your work. But you weren't done yet. You drew a squiggly web on one of the cupcakes and grimaced at it. It looked more like a sad pattern of stripes than a web. To make up for it, you drew a cheeky heart on a different cupcake. This time, in pink frosting. Once your work was to your liking, you grabbed one of the notecards meant for customers and picked up a pen.
Dear Spider-Man,
We had to close early, but I'd never leave my favorite superhero without a treat. I hope you find these cupcakes as sweet as I find you.
Love, Y/n."
You drew a heart next you name in a pink pen to match the one of the cupcake. You tucked the note next to the cupcakes and grabbed the keys to the shop. After locking up the bakery, you set the cupcakes down on the table outside. If you were braver, you'd wait for him to stay. But alas, you scurried away before he could see you. Little did you know, he'd been watching the whole time.
Once you were out of sight, Peter dropped down, clad in his Spider-Man suit. It's been a slow day on patrol so he stopped by the bakery a little earlier than usual to see you. He curiously looked at what you left in the plate. A blush painted Peters covered cheeks when he saw your attempt at making the cupcakes look like his mask. It wasn't perfect, but to Peter, it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. You were an artist in his eyes. Peter took the plate and swung to a nearby rooftop, taking a seat on the ledge and swinging his legs over the edge. He lifted his mask and bit into a cupcake, the one with the pink heart. It was his favorite. He noticed a note sticking out from under on of the cupcakes. Peter wiped his hands on his suit and picked up the note. He read it over a few times, trying to engrave your handwriting into his memory. He brushed his gloved fingers over the bottom of the note where you had written "Love, Y/n". Even though it was nothing but words on a page, Peter felt his whole body warm up. He tucked the note safely into his suit and swung back to where he webbed his backpack. He tore a page out of his notebook and sat down on the ground. He briefly thought about what to write back. When it came to you, a rush of words surged to Peters mind. The note practically wrote itself.
"Dear Y/n,
Thank you for the cupcakes. I loved them very much. And as we both know, love is all you knead. I'm sorry about the bun. I mean pun.
Love, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man"
Peter smiled proudly at his work and swung home.