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Chapter 5
"S-So how do I look?" Peter nervously asked as he showed off his new outfit to the random girl that Taka had left him with.
Sue looked him up and down with a delicately raised brow, really taking her time to get a good look at him.
He tried his best not to show how much it affected him having a beautiful girl like her staring at him like that as he patiently waited for her input.
She tilted her head, eyes flicking towards his face.
Peter resisted the urge to fidget under her gaze, hands clenched loosely at his sides as he waited.
After a moment, she nodded.
"…Hmm," she said simply, having finally made her judgment. "You look very handsome."
Peter's genius of a brain short-circuited into a gooey mess while his face went red instantly, heat blooming across his cheeks as he blinked at her.
"Y-Your just saying that."
Sue raised a delicate brow, crossing her arms as she regarded him with a flat, unimpressed look.
"You think I'm a liar?"
"What?! N–No!" Peter blurted out immediately, panic spiking as he waved his hands. "I-I just— I mean—"
She sighed, the stern look melting into something gentler, an amused smile appearing on her lips. Stepping closer, she reached out and tugged lightly at the collar of his jacket, straightening it with practiced ease.
"Peter," she said calmly, meeting his eyes, "if I didn't mean it, I wouldn't have said it."
"…Oh," he managed, voice small.
"So take the compliment and have some confidence in yourself. You look good, own it."
"I-I, uh, th-thank you," he managed, voice cracking just a little. He ducked his head, suddenly very invested in the floor tiles. "I, um, I wouldn't have picked this myself, so… thank you. Really."
Sue smiled, clearly pleased by his reaction.
Then she hummed.
"But," she added casually, already turning toward a nearby rack and beginning to shift through them, "we can do better!"
Peter looked up and then back down at the clothes he was wearing, thinking he had heard wrong.
"We can?"
"Oh, absolutely," she said, grabbing an armful of clothes as if she'd just been waiting for an excuse. "You've got good shoulders, nice frame, and you're tall enough to pull off layers. You're just hiding it."
"I am?" he asked weakly as she shoved a stack of shirts into his arms.
"Yes~" Sue said firmly. "Now go change."
Unable to say no to such a pretty girl, all Peter could do was nod his head and go back inside the changing room.
And just like that, it became a Sue's personal fashion show.
He was in and out of the dressing room so many times that he lost count as he went through clothing after clothing, stopping only when Sue told him to stop.
"This one," Sue said, tugging at the sleeve of a fitted jacket, "brings out your eyes."
"Oh, then I should get it rig-"
"No, wait! Keep the shirt, swap the pants."
"I don't think I've ever worn pants like these."
"Well! You're wearing them now~"
At one point, she handed him something, and he stared at it in horror. "…W-What is this?"
"Don't ask questions~" she replied sweetly while giving him puppy dog eyes with her baby blues. "Just try it on already!"
And poor Peter Benjamin Parker could do nothing but nod his head and put it on.
Outfit after outfit, she had him trying on things he'd never even considered before, layered shirts, fitted jeans, jackets that actually fit. Each time he stepped out, she'd adjust something here, smooth something there, nod thoughtfully, then send him back in with another pile, saying he looked absolutely dashing each time.
Peter felt like a mannequin.
A very flustered mannequin.
"This feels illegal," he muttered as she circled him once more. "I don't think I'm allowed to wear these."
Sue laughed as she pulled him to a full-body mirror so he could get a proper look at what he looked like with the clothes she picked out. "You are absolutely allowed."
While Peter was having some alone time with the absolute bombshell of a girl, he had no idea what was happening outside the dressing area.
Which was probably for the best.
Because just a few aisles over…
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"GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE, YOU FUCKING PUS—!"
A pair of shoes flew across the air, smacking him in the mouth.
Johnny Storm ducked, laughing as he heard the satisfying smack coming from behind him.
"You choke people with jeans, man?! What is wrong with you?!"
"EVERYTHING!" Taka shouted back as he vaulted over a display table.
Johnny could barely let out a scream before he was suddenly tackled by a flying Taka.
They crashed into a stack of shoe boxes, sending them exploding everywhere as sneakers and sandals scattered across the floor.
"STORE POLICY SAYS NO FIGHTING!" an employee yelled while hiding behind a rack, too afraid to actually get in between the two of them.
"THIS ISN'T A FIGHT!" Taka barked, looping a pair of denim jeans around Johnny's neck and yanking. "THIS IS A ONE-SIDED ASS WHOOPING!"
Johnny kicked wildly, grabbed the nearest weapon, flip-flops, and smacked Taka across the head.
"GET YOUR HEAVY ASS OFF OF ME!"
They rolled across the floor, knocking over mannequins, clothes flying everywhere as customers screamed and scattered.
____
Sue stepped back, arms crossed, inspecting Peter's latest outfit.
"…Okay," she said, satisfied. "This one's a winner."
Peter smiled shyly, unaware that two idiots were currently committing fashion-based war crimes ten feet away from them.
"This is… actually kind of fun," he admitted quietly while checking himself out.
Sue smiled, happy that he was enjoying himself as much as she was.
"Alright," Sue said, stepping back with her hands on her hips. "Turn around for me."
Peter obeyed, stiff at first, then a little less so when she gave an approving hum. He rotated slowly, feeling ridiculous and strangely… confident?
The jacket fit his shoulders just right, the shirt underneath actually framed him instead of swallowing him whole.
"So!" Sue asked with a happy smile. "Now you see what I see?"
Peter blinked at his reflection.
The boy he saw in the mirror still had messy brown hair and thick nerdy glasses, but despite that, he looked… good.
______
A scream echoed from across the store.
"LET GO OF MY LEG, YOU PSYCHOPATH!"
"STOP HITTING ME WITH HIGH HEELS, YOU GREASEY-HAIRED BASTARD!"
Johnny and Taka slammed into a rolling rack, clothes cascading down over them like confetti.
The blonde one emerged first, laughing, thinking he finally won, only to be immediately clotheslined by a scarf.
"STOP CHOKING ME!!!"
"THEN FUCKING MAKE ME FUCKER!!!"
The two continued their fight straight into the women's side of the store.
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"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" The blonde girl asked while they took a moment to find new clothes for him to try on.
"Only if I can do the same."
She smiled and nodded her head in agreement, getting a smile from him.
"How did you and your friend meet? From what I've seen, you two couldn't be any more different from each other. No offense or anything!" She hurriedly clarified, not wanting him to think she meant that in a bad way.
Peter's expression softened instantly at the mention of his best friend, while he waved off her concern.
"No offense taken, I also find it hard to believe we're friends as well sometimes, but to answer your question, since we were kids. Seven, I think." He hesitated, then added, "He… helped me out a lot, actually."
Sue paused, genuinely curious. "Help how?"
Peter shrugged, eyes drifting to the mirror, eyes glazed over, thinking of the past.
"What any small nerdy kid went through, bullies. In fact, that's how we met, he showed up out of nowhere and decided six-on-one were good odds just to save my ass."
The beautiful blonde hummed in thought as she pulled out a black shirt and placed it in front of Peter to see how it looked.
"He sounds like a good friend to have."
"The best."
_____
A display mannequin toppled over with a loud crash, breaking in half upon impact with the hard floor.
"BRO, THAT THING WAS EIGHTY DOLLARS!" Johnny shouted while pointing an accusing finger at Taka.
"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO NOCKED IT OVER!" Taka screamed back as he slid across the floor on his knees, grabbing a stack of belts like nunchucks.
"BECAUSE YOU THREW ME AT IT! YOU MUSCLED FREAK!!!" Sue's brother screamed out while running away in fear of the belts that were in Taka's hand.
"YOU'RE STILL PAYING FOR IT!"
"FUCK NO!!!"
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"So," Sue said lightly, swinging one foot back and forth, "what do you do when you're not getting abandoned by your best friend and turned into my personal dress-up doll?"
Peter huffed a laugh, taking a moment to think about what to tell her so that he doesn't come off as too much of a nerd.
"Uh… I build things or take them apart. Sometimes both. I once dismantled a toaster because my aunt kept complaining to my uncle to get it fixed, but he never did."
"And?" she asked, amused at his story.
"And I fixed it," he shrugged, unsure why he even told her such a boring story in the first place.
"Turns out the heating coils were uneven, causing it to only cook on one side. Not the best story I know, but it was the only one that came to mind… unfortunately."
"I don't mind, I actually found it quite nice." Sue giggled, gently slapping her hand against his chest.
"Y-You do?"
She nodded her head, a smile on her face.
"C-Cool."
He glanced at her, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly before throwing the same question she asked back at her.
"What about you? You know, besides rescuing strangers from fashion disasters."
"I read," she answered happily. "Physics journals, mostly, but also trashy romance novels. Balance is important and all that."
Peter blinked. "I… didn't expect that."
"What? Can't a girl enjoy some physics with a side of trashy romance?" Her eyes narrowed on him.
Peter's eyes widened instantly. "No! That's not, I didn't mean—!"
"I'm just teasing you, Peter~"
"Oh." He blushed even harder as she laughed.
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"SECURITY!" someone shrieked.
Johnny vaulted over a bench, Taka chasing him, both of them knocking into a pyramid of folded sweaters that collapsed instantly.
"LOOK AT THE MESS YOU'RE MAKING!!!" Taka roared out, grabbing hold of the closest thing next to him, which was a bundle of socks, and began trying to shove it into Johnny's mouth to… choke him with it.
Huh, maybe he should pull back on the choking thing? Food for thought for future Taka.
"ACK! STMMAWWP!!! FWAUKING CHO–COUGH!!!"
"CHOKE ON THESE BITCHIN SOCKS BITCH!!!"
They were indeed bitchin' socks Johnny was choking on.
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"Where on earth is he? He should've been here thirty minutes ago." Sue mumbled to himself as she looked around for her brother.
"Were you waiting for someone?" Peter asked, following her gaze as she scanned the store again.
Sue sighed, crossing her arms. "Yeah, my brother, we were supposed to be picking out clothes together, but that was—"
She checked her phone, brow furrowing.
"—thirty minutes ago."
Peter blinked. "Thirty…?"
"He said he'd be right back," she continued, clearly unimpressed. "Which, coming from him, usually means he got distracted by something shiny or loud."
Peter felt a slow, creeping sense of dread crawl up his spine.
"…Huh," he said carefully.
Sue glanced at him. "Something wrong?"
Peter frowned, thinking back to the weird noises be heard. The yelling earlier, the crashes, and the fact that Taka had vanished at some point and very much had not returned.
"…I haven't seen Taka for a while either," Peter admitted, now getting even more worried.
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Johnny and Taka crashed near a mirror during their tussle, causing them to stare at their reflections for half a second.
They had somehow put on some very fancy clothes without either of them noticing.
"…I look great," Johnny muttered, distracted as he slicked back his hair and winked saucily at the mirror while smoothing out his newly acquired leather jacket.
Taka himself was now somehow in a suit, looking quite fancy in it, but unlike Johnny, he did not give a single shit about how he looked.
"FOCUS!" Taka growled out before tackling him again to the floor.
"OW! NOT THE HAIR! OW! OW! NOT THE FUCKING HAIR!!!"
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Peter emerged one last time.
Sue's eyes lit up, more than pleased by what she saw as she gave a slow, satisfied nod.
"…Yeah," she said. "That's the one."
Peter smiled and was about to take a look at himsel–
Crash!
At that exact moment, Taka and Johnny burst past the dressing rooms in a tangled heap, skidding to a stop at Peter's feet.
Both of them froze.
The two boys slowly looked up and were met by the sight of their sister and best friend looking at them in equal shock and surprise…
Peter blinked down at Taka and the blonde boy whom he assumed to be Sue's sister.
"Taka… What are you doing?"
"Same to you, Johnny." Sue backed up, crossing her arms while looking down at her brother.
Johnny scrambled upright first, palms raised, hair a mess, jacket crooked like he'd lost a fight with gravity itself.
"Okay, okay, before anyone says anything," he said quickly, pointing between them, "He did it."
He got flipped off in return by Peter's gremlin of a best friend.
Sue stared at him, deadpan.
Peter adjusted his glasses, eyes flicking between the overturned racks behind them, the sock still hanging halfway out of Johnny's collar, and Taka, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, grinning like a feral goblin who'd just found candy.
Sue pulled Johnny up by the ear and dragged him to the counter to properly apologize for the damage her brother had done and promised to pay for any damages that had been done to the store.
Much to her brother's indignation, who was screaming that it wasn't even him that caused most of the damage, but his sister was having none of it as she made him apologize.
Taka pushed himself to his feet, dusted off his suit like he hadn't just committed a felony, and immediately slid an arm around Peter's shoulders.
"So~" he sing-songed, waggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly. "How'd it go while I was gone?"
Peter stiffened instantly. "W-What?"
"Oh, don't play dumb," Taka continued, grin stretching wider as he leaned in. "You and Sue! All alone~ Did sparks fly or did sparks fly?"
Sue's face heated just a little, overhearing what he whispered as she walked back to them to apologize to Taka for her brother's behavior.
Peter's face went nuclear.
"I—It was just clothes!" he sputtered. "She was helping! With fashion! That's all!"
Taka hummed loudly, eyes flicking over Peter from head to toe. "…Wow."
Peter blinked. "W-What?"
"You look good," Taka said, genuinely impressed for half a second before the chaos gremlin returned full force. "I leave you alone for thirty minutes, and suddenly you're pulling a main character drip? I'm so proud!"
Sue cleared her throat, clearly trying, and failing, not to smile at having her handwork appreciated.
"He was very cooperative."
Peter made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a cough.
Taka laughed, clapping Peter on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "That's my boy!"
Sue's phone buzzed in her hand, the sudden vibration cutting clean through the moment.
She glanced down at the screen and immediately sighed.
The two boys looked over at her while she answered her phone.
Answering as she turned slightly away. "Yeah? …Uh-huh. Yeah, we're at the mall. …No, nothing's on fire. Okay, okay, we're on our way."
She ended the call and slipped the phone back into her pocket, sad that she had to go.
"Duty calls," she said apologetically. "Apparently, we're needed back home."
Her brother groaned as he walked back, having finished giving his details to the manager of the store. "I was winning."
Sue shot him a look. "You look worse than he does."
"Still winning."
She ignored him and turned back to Peter, her smile a little regretful now. "I'm sorry, looks like I can't help you anymore, so you're gonna have to continue on your own."
"Oh—!" Peter said quickly, waving his hands. "N-No, that's totally fine! You already helped a lot, like, a lot, thank you. Really, I had a great time."
She smiled warmly at him. "Same here."
Just as she was about to take her brother and exit the store…
Taka looked at Peter, who was watching Sue sadly walk away, and smirked.
"Oh!" Taka suddenly said, snapping his fingers as if he'd just remembered something incredibly important. "Before you go."
Sue paused and turned to him curiously. "Yes?"
Taka slung an arm around Peter's shoulders and leaned in far too close.
"My best bud here just told me that he wanted to ask if he could get your number."
Peter's brain blue-screened.
"I—WHAT?!" he yelped, as he tried to stop his heart from exploding in his chest. "N-No, I didn- Taka, I didn't say that!"
Sue blinked, her cool blue eyes meeting his warm brown.
Peter's face went incandescent as he tried to talk his way out of it. "I-I mean—! Not that I wouldn't! I just…!"
Taka rolled his eyes at his best friend's hesitation despite clearly wanting her number, and with terrifying precision, Taka shoved Peter forward—
Right into Sue.
Peter stumbled, hands instinctively grabbing her arms to keep from face-planting. They froze, way too close, eyes wide.
"I'm so sorry!" Peter blurted out immediately, trying to step back and nearly tripping again.
Sue laughed, soft, surprised, but not upset.
"It's okay," she said, steadying him, her smile turned a little playful as she tilted her head. "Fashion advice emergencies only?"
Peter swallowed. "…Y-Yea, fashion. Definitely fashion."
She pulled out her phone with a teasing smile. "Then I guess I can give you my number."
Peter stared, eyes full of disbelief and shock that it was that easy to get a girl's number, especially one as hot as her.
"…You can?"
"Of course," she said easily, typing it in and handing the phone to him, and sending him a quick hello just to prove he had her number.
From several feet away, Taka was already walking off, hands in his pockets, whistling like a man who had just successfully detonated a plan and left the blast radius untouched, acting all cool and shit.
Of course, he couldn't have a cool moment without an asshole ruining it for him.
"HEY JACKASS!!! THIS ISN'T OVER!!!" The voice of Johnny Storm screamed out, causing everyone near him to cover their ears.
"FUCK YOU BITCH!!! TAKE THE MASSIVE L I JUST GAVE YOU AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!!!"
Taka, never one to back down, responded in kind.
"Sis! Tell your boy toy to give me that fuckers number!"
He received a sharp smack to the back of his head for his troubles, followed immediately by a firm scolding about using such crass language, which was delivered by the most painfully disappointed look his sister could give.