Chapter Text
"But I love him!" She yelled out, lunging forward and grasping the officer's shirt, "I love him and he hasn't done a thing to hurt me!"
"Yeah, sure," Peter mumbled, stuffing a chip in his mouth as he sat at the front counter of Parker's Used Books.
"I'm begging you!" She screamed and the officer looked down at her with concern etched into his face.
"As he should," Peter rolled his eyes, reading through yet another romance novel that might as well be a horror novel.
The officer sighed, pulling himself away from Abigail as she screamed. The blonde fell to her knees, rain belting her back as she watched the love of her life driven away in the back of a police car.
"So they're just leaving the kidnapped girl at the house?" Peter scoffed, "shouldn't someone be taking her somewhere? Also it's raining now?" He closed the book deciding the last two chapters weren't worth his time, Abigail and Devin would end up together via love forged through Stockholm syndrome and somehow the serial killer turned soft lover wouldn't go rot in prison. Because of love or something. Peter tapped his fingers on the cover before groaning and opening it back up, "it's only two more chapters," he mumbled.
As he sat muttering to himself the doorbell chimed, alerting him that someone had come into the store. Peter closed the book again and plastered on a smile, "good afternoon, let me know if you need any help," he said to the man walking in. He was tall and muscular, hidden inside a hoodie with a ball cap covering his face. He was giving off the vibe of someone not looking for a cheap second hand book and it was making Peter nervous.
The man walked briskly between shelves and out of Peter's sight wordlessly, he's not stealing books is he? Peter thought, with a small sigh he pushed out of his seat and put away his book in the romance novel section. Which for some reason, was the same area the hooded man had gone into. He placed the book in its place and side eyed the man as he pretended to pick a new book to read. Tall and huge was crouched down reading spines, slowly dragging his finger over each one as he muttered the titles. Deciding he shouldn't judge a book by its cover, pun intended, Peter snagged a novel he hadn't read yet and sat back down at the front.
This romance novel had the image of a Fabio type on a horse, of course shirtless, with the back of a brunette woman facing him. 'To Love a Cowboy' was exactly the kind of romance novel garbage Peter could get himself engrossed in. A simple girl with simple problems falling for a man chiseled by the gods who sweeps her off her feet to do and try things she's never done before. Peter settled himself into his chair and started reading, his protagonist was opening the book by moving back to her family farm after failing in the business world in the big city. Yeah, he was gonna love this.
Peter was two chapters into his new book when someone placed a stack of books on the counter in front of him, making him jump a little. He'd completely forgotten there was a customer in the store. A customer he originally thought was trouble. Damn Rebecca and her gorgeous new love interest Dylan.
"Sorry," Peter said as he placed his book down, picking up the scanner and the first book of the man's stack. All romance novels. Peter looked up at him, the man was wearing a surgical mask and his brim was too low for Peter to make anything out on his face, "you like romance novels?" He asked with a smile.
"Course, who doesn't?" The man said with a surprisingly jovial voice.
"I've read two of these," Peter said after scanning the last of the four books, "this one was great," he said holding up one of the books, 'Summer in Autumn' he read it in a single day. The book was wildly cliche and just oozing with gushy lovey dovey vibes. A perfect romance that could never exist in real life between two extremely one dimensional characters that would be horrible to deal with in the real world. God he loved every line of it.
"I'll read it last then," the man said, sounding like he was smiling. The total came to $23.95 and the man paid in cash, telling Peter to keep that change. He didn't usually get tips. He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to take them, but both his aunt and uncle were out for the time being. He just left the $6.05 in the drawer and he'd ask about it later.
"Have a good one," Peter said as the man tossed the books into a reusable bag.
"Only if you have a better one," he said with a big wave and Peter chuckled, the guy looked imposing but he seemed nice. Maybe a little worried about the sun or germs or something, aside from the mask he was also wearing leather gloves. When the bell chimed upon his exit Peter picked his book back up to read almost two pages worth of detail about Dylan's abs before the bell chimed again. This time it was his aunt.
"Busy?" She asked, holding a bag of take out, walking toward Peter as her purse strap slowly slid down her shoulder.
"We had one whole customer while you were gone," Peter said dryly, "twenty seven whole bucks in profit."
"Well that's not terrible," May smiled, despite it actually being kind of terrible. Parker's Used Books wasn't exactly in the green, sure they got almost all of their stock from donations and garage sales, but they still had to pay utilities and rent on the building. Not counting the utilities and mortgage of the house.
"The guy told me to keep the change, so there's an extra six bucks in the register," Peter said as May started unpacking the bag of food in front of him.
"Well that was nice of him, did he seem like he'd be a return customer?" She asked, "or has he been here before?"
"I don't know," Peter shrugged as he snagged a crab rangoon, "he was nice, got a bunch of romance novels and we've got a crap ton of those so he might come back."
"Well hopefully he does," May smiled a little, "I'm sure he will," she won't say it out loud, but Peter knows she's worried about the store. Worried about it closing down like half the other small shops near them have. May and Ben are getting older, Peter's aunt and Uncle won't be able to keep the place going forever. Of course Peter plans on taking over, always has, but lately customers have been dwindling. Sometimes days go by where no one buys anything, a few pop in to mosey around before exiting, or no one comes in at all. Used books aren't exactly the most sought out item to shop for, especially not with people being able to buy books online for the same price or sometimes cheaper.
For the rest of the day only two more people came in. One a college student looking for used textbooks that ended up buying an accounting book. The other was an older woman who walked around the store for a half an hour just to leave empty handed. Peter and May locked up the store and headed home, finding Ben at the kitchen table fixing spines and cleaning old books to be added to shelves at the store. They ate a simple crockpot soup for dinner before sitting around the TV to watch jeopardy. Another regular day for Peter Parker, he'd be doing it again tomorrow as well.
The next morning Peter got to the store at seven, opening it up and plopping himself down to read more 'To Love a Cowboy'. By nine he got his first customer, a regular who stops by almost weekly to buy old cookbooks. She held up idle chatter with Peter for about ten minutes before leaving with her five dollar book. At ten his uncle came in to put away the new books he'd finished up with, taking Peter's place at the counter to give him a break. Not that one was really needed aside from using the restroom.
It was a nice spring day though, so Peter took the six dollars May decided were his and walked to the cafe a few closed shops over. The small shopping section in Queens used to be busy, according to his aunt and uncle, buzzing with shoppers getting groceries and popping into ma and pa shops for all kinds of things. Now it was half abandoned, a large construction site across the street where luxury apartments were being built. Ben says it's a matter of time before their little block of shops gets bought to build overpriced apartments. May says it's not worth thinking negatively. Peter's not sure what to think, the bookstore has been a part of his life since before he could walk.
His parents died when he was just a baby, they were going on a trip for the company Peter's mother worked for when the plane crashed. Peter was left to his aunt and uncle, raised by them and spending most of his childhood sitting in the bookstore. Luckily he ended up loving to read, making his way through the shelves and picking through any and all genres. He had a soft spot for romance though, not that he had anything romantic going on in his real life.
Peter dated one singular girl in high school, Mary Jane Watson, they broke up during senior year when they realized their lives were going in different directions. She had big dreams and aspirations to become a star, and Peter wanted to work in the same bookstore he always had. MJ liked going to fancy places, partying and being the center of attention. Peter liked staying in with a good book, keeping to himself and preferring to just observe his peers. He loved her, but they weren't meant to be.
At the cafe Peter ordered himself a small coffee, sitting down with it at a booth to read his book. When he finished the coffee he'd return to the store, but until then he'd just turn the world off and live through Rebecca as she learned to ride a horse. How she didn't already know since she grew up on a farm and the horses belonged to her family, irrelevant. Dylan and his two pages worth of adjectives for his abs was teaching her, wearing a damn cowboy hat and having huge warm hands apparently.
Eventually the coffee was finished and Peter made his short walk back to the store, finding three whole customers inside as Ben chatted with one of them about historical fiction. Peter sat himself down at the counter and waited until someone bought something, nose in his book. Another day passed with minimal sales, and Peter and his uncle went home to eat some dinner and watch TV before doing it all again.
"Do you have children's books?" A young woman asked as she walked through the door of the store, she looked about Peter's age, maybe only a few years older.
"Of course," he smiled from the counter, getting up to walk her over to the section.
"My son has been really into books lately," she said softly, running a finger over classic children's picture books, "he's only four but he's already getting so good at it, but it's getting a little expensive," she chuckled.
"Well you're in luck," Peter said with a winning smile, "we're doing a sale on children's books right now, buy two get one free," he made the sale up on the spot, something his aunt does frequently. Anytime someone mentions trouble with money May is quick to make a sale for them. According to her books should always be accessible, so if someone can only afford one book but can't pick between two she'll tell them about the sudden sale. It's probably not a great business move, but several of those people often come back hoping for another sale.
"That's great," the woman beamed. Peter had a feeling she'd be coming back again, she said herself her kid loves books. Maybe the little guy will come with her next time.
She picked out six books, which was unexpected but Peter wasn't complaining. With a smile she left, and Peter felt like it was going to be a good day. In the last week the store has made, well, not much at all really. Hardly enough to cover what it costs to run the place. Maybe the mom will tell her mom friends about Peter's new sale and he'll get a few more customers. Maybe he should make a sign? As Peter looked through drawers for paper and a marker the door chimed.
"Hello," Peter smiled, popping his head out from behind the counter, "let me know if you need help," it was the man from two weeks ago, the one who bought four romance novels and covered up like the plague was running rampant in the streets of New York.
"That book you said was great," he paused to chuckle, "I wasn't expecting it to be so simple."
"Oh?" Peter said as he stood up, hands on his hips, "is simple bad?"
"A little boring if I'm being honest," he said with mirth, clearly good natured, "I'm looking for something with a little more umph."
"Umph, you say?" Peter smiled, crossing his arms over his chest, "well depending on the umph you're looking for I might have some recommendations."
"I'm not sure I can trust your opinion now," the guy shrugged with a small laugh, "little miss boring and average Joe there made me want to pass out."
"Have you read 'Daylight From Which You Hide'?" Peter asked, the man shook his head no, "it's about vampires if you couldn't tell, very angsty and the smut is written by a woman who's probably never even kissed a man before," he chuckled and the man did as well.
"Vanilla vampire sex?" He said hardily, "think I'll pass."
"There's always the ridiculous Stockholm girls," Peter sighed.
"Nothing says love like a man who holds you captive," the guy said as he took a few steps toward the counter. Once again he was completely covered up, not even his eyes visible as he seemed to keep his gaze down.
"Apparently," Peter huffed, "not my cup of tea, but middle aged women seem to adore them."
"You might not have noticed," the guy said, taking another couple steps forward until his palms were on the counter, "but I'm not a middle aged woman."
"Oh really?" Peter feigned confusion, "pardon me, I thought you were. You're saying your name isn't Linda and you don't have a beach trip planned for reading on a folding chair?"
"Ah, 'fraid not," he chuckled, "my names Wade and I just happen to be a thirty year old man who likes reading about people falling in love. Nice and slow, uphill battles, the occasional love triangle."
"Well, Wade, might I recommend 'Three Days From Next Year', a story about a woman who meets her soulmate but only briefly without even seeing each other and have to find one another again."
"Color me interested," Wade said with a softness. Peter walked him over to the romance section and pulled out the book, handing it to Wade with a smile. With gloved hands he turned the book over to read the back, humming in approval, "sure I'll take it."
"Made me cry," Peter said as he walked back to the counter.
"As long as the characters have more than one personality trait I'll be impressed based on the garbage you were so excited about last time," Wade huffed, placing the book down for Peter to scan.
"I stand by 'Summer in Autumn', it was simple and clique and I loved it," he said through a smile, trying to glance at the man's face as he pulled out his wallet.
"And this one?" Wade tapped a finger to the book.
"There's a mystery element," Peter said slyly, "I don't want to spoil anything though."
"I'll make sure to come back and let you know if it sucks," Wade said cheekily as he handed Peter a ten, once again telling him to keep the change. He left with a wave and Peter found himself looking forward to him returning, whether or not he liked the book. It had been fun talking to him, even if he couldn't really see him all that well. Plus he spent a lot of time in high school getting bullied by boys with that kind of build for liking romance novels. It was nice meeting another guy who shared his interest.