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For months now you’d had your suspicions that Peter wasn’t being honest with you, that he wasn’t being faithful. At first it was easy to ignore, Peter was just late to things but he always had a decent excuse but then he started missing dates, the first few times he’d missed them he had called and apologised profusely but eventually the calls stopped coming, leaving you sat in a diner or stood outside a movie theatre alone. From there you could go days without seeing or hearing from him, despite your best efforts.
You knew but you weren’t ready to admit it to yourself yet.
One last chance, you had told yourself that you’d give him one last chance.
-
Peter made his way over to you as you finished up at your locker, ready to head home after a long school day. He smiled at you, a boyish grin lighting up his face, before he leaned down to kiss your cheek.
The two of you made light conversation as you headed towards the exit, things still tense between the two of you after Peter blew off your last date.
One last chance.
“You’re definitely gonna be at my party, right?” You asked as the two of you came to a stop before you had to separate to get home.
Peter looked down at you, his eyebrows drawing together as he frowned but he shook his head as if shaking away unwanted thoughts.
“Of course I’ll be there, baby.” He told you, promised you. You gave him a dubious look which made him feel even worse. He knew he had been terrible to you lately, he knew he was an idiot but with Spiderman and the workload at school and trying to cover all his injuries so you or May didn’t notice, even with his healing ability, it was hard. It was all becoming too much. He hated keeping it a secret from you, hated lying to you and cancelling on you constantly but he had to do it. He needed to be Spiderman, he needed to help people. “Y/N, I swear I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He assured you before leaning down to kiss you softly.
“I promise.” He whispered against your lips and you sighed before nodding.
You went to bed that night praying Peter Parker kept that promise.
-
It was the morning of your birthday and so far everything was going great. Your family had woken you up with gifts and presents and there was a flurry of texts and posts wishing you a happy birthday.
Peter had yet to text or call you but it was still early so you figured he was just waiting until he saw you at the party but despite what you told yourself you couldn’t help the worry that started to set in as you were getting ready.
The party was at your house, large enough to host the array of guests that would be coming, and your parents had gone all out on the decorations. Twinkling lights lit the room up nicely, balloons, flowers, streamers and all sorts of other decorations had been set up making the room look amazing.
“You look incredible!” Your friend said as she stepped in with a large group of people from your school. Everyone wished you a happy birthday, handing you cards and gifts that were set upon a table.
As more people flooded into the house, you couldn’t help but glance at your phone repeatedly and yet each time you checked there was no message from Peter.
It wasn’t long before the party was in full swing, music was blasting, people were dancing and laughing as they sang along and yet you weren’t enjoying yourself. You stood off to the side with your eye on the door, waiting for Peter to walk in.
If he burst through the door right now, with that smile of his, you would’ve been so happy. You would have pushed away the fact he was late, that he hadn’t called or texted you, you would’ve just been happy he was there.
“Y/N!,” you turned to face the person who called you, it was Josh, one of the jocks on the basketball team. “Happy Birthday!” He beamed, pulling you into a hug. “How’ve you been?” He asked when he pulled away.
You forced a smile onto your face, trying to pull yourself out of your memories, memories from just the other day when Peter had promised, he’d promised, he would be here. You made friendly conversation with Josh but kept one eye on the door throughout it.
It wasn’t long before you were left alone again and couldn’t help but let your mind wander back to all the times Peter had stood you up. Yet you always told him it was fine, sure you argued about it but at the end of the day you loved him, you didn’t want to lose him.
But now, as you stood alone at your own party, the new dress you’d bought just for the occasion and the red lipstick meant nothing. You had nobody here to impress. The one person who you wanted here most hadn’t bothered to show up, even worse he hadn’t bothered to tell you why.
Looking around the room, everyone else was laughing, they were having a great time and you hated that you weren’t amongst them, laughing along with them as you enjoyed your birthday.
As the hours ticked on, the party showed no signs of dying down despite how much you wanted the night to be over. You just wanted to be alone.
“Hey Y/N,” It was Peter’s friend, Gwen. From the look on her face she knew something was wrong and the sympathy on her face was too much for you.
You felt your eyes fill with tears, watched as Gwen’s eyes softened some more, before you pushed past her and made your way to the toilet. Gwen followed you down the hall and managed to get in the bathroom before you shut the door.
She watched as you clutched the sink like it was your lifeline, she watched as the tears fell down your face and mascara stained your cheeks. She watched her best friend’s girlfriend fall apart because he had messed up again.
Eventually you managed to stop crying and turned to face Gwen. Your makeup was ruined but you didn’t care, it was the last thing you cared about right now. You just wanted everyone to leave.
“He said he’d be here.” You told her hopelessly.
Gwen didn’t say anything, what could she possibly say to you right now? Nothing would make this right and she was furious at Peter. She had known Peter had been blowing you off lately but despite her best efforts she couldn’t get him to tell her why. But there was no excuse good enough to make up for him making you feel like this.
So instead she stayed silent and pulled you in for a hug.
Once you made your way back to the living room the lights dimmed and the many, many guests started to sing Happy Birthday to you. You forced a smile onto your face as you wiped your cheeks, trying to hide what had happened in the bathroom.
You felt Gwen place her hand on the small of your back and blinked away the tears that came as a result.
Once people were done you thanked them, quickly blew out the candles and made to leave.
“What’s wrong?” One of your friends asked as she caught you by the arm, taking note of your ruined makeup and the mascara that hadn't quite been wiped away.
You didn’t say anything, couldn’t say anything. What could you say when the tears started to stream down your face again in front of everyone you knew?
People gave you sympathic looks, more people trying to ask what had happened but you just shook your head.
You didn’t even care that you were crying in front of all these people, none of them mattered to you. The only person that mattered was the one person who didn’t bother to show.
In that moment though, you knew things between you and Peter were done. You knew you couldn’t carry on with this, couldn’t carry on being stood up, being lied to, being ignored. You put so much effort into this relationship and the one time, the one time , you wanted Peter to show up, the one night he knew was important and he didn’t care enough to even text.
That was the moment you knew.
You pushed through the crowd and made your way to your bedroom. You let the door shut with a gentle click before you leaned your back against it, letting your head hit the hard wood.
It was only a moment later that the sob left you and it was followed by more and more until you were sliding down the door, heartbreaking sobs drowned out by the music as you buried your face in your knees.
This, this was the moment you knew things had to be done between you and Peter.
-
You had cried yourself to sleep, still sat on the floor and by the time you woke up the music was turned off and you couldn’t hear any voices. Your eyebrows knitted together as you tried to figure out what had woken you up when you heard your phone buzzing from next to you on the floor.
You looked down and felt an ache in your chest as you saw Peter’s smile beaming up at you, it was your favourite picture of him, half asleep, his hair was a mess but he looked beautiful.
You considered ignoring the call but decided it was best just to rip the band aid off. You’d always thought breaking up with somebody over the phone was weak but right now, in this moment you understand how people did it. The thought of seeing Peter physically hurt.
With a sigh you pressed answered.
“Y/N?” He asked into the phone and you took a shaky breath, trying to calm yourself before speaking.
“What?” You asked, your voice croaky from crying.
You heard Peter let out a deep sigh, the line staying silent for a moment before he spoke.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t make it.” He said and you wished you had the energy to fight him, wished you had the energy to stand up for yourself, to tell him he should be sorry, tell him that you were worth so much more than that. But you couldn’t, you didn’t have the energy to do anything involving Peter Parker. You already knew it was done and there was nothing else to say.
“I’m sorry too,” You said, “I can’t do this anymore, Peter, this is done.” You told him and you heard his breath hitch through the phone.
You couldn’t see the tears pouring down his face as he held a hand to his face. He knew he had messed up, he had every intention of going to your party but then something had happened and Spiderman was needed.
The whole night was a mess.
“Please Y/N,” He said, fully prepared to beg for you right now. He loved you so much and he wasn’t ready to lose you, he couldn’t lose you.
“No Peter,” You whispered, not able to listen to him. It was too late for him to fight for you now, he should have fought to keep you when he had you. “Goodbye.” You said softly before hanging up the phone and letting your head hit the door as more tears fell down your face.
You knew in that moment you’d made the right decision, you couldn’t compete with whatever Peter was hiding from you. You couldn’t be second best to a secret but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt more than anything, finally letting Peter go.