Ditched

'That sounds great! Meet you there at 7:00ish?'

Peter read the message one more time before checking the time. It was 7:15. The message had said 7:00ish, which could mean anytime between 6:45 and 7:15, he tried reasoning. He looked inside the restaurant windows. It wasn't too busy, but he could go ahead and grab them a table to pass the time.

He sighed. Why he talked himself in to downloading Tinder and actually setting up a date, he would never understand. Or forgive himself for. It was Thursday, his one day off, and he was going to be spending it on a most likely uncomfortable date.

'Or most likely being ditched,' his brain supplied helpfully.

He typed a quick response on his phone.

'I just got here. I'll go ahead and grab us a table.'

He hit send and checked the time again.

7:17

Peter took one more look at his phone, hopeful for a response, before making his way inside the restaurant. The warm atmosphere and good smelling food did nothing to ease the twisted knots in his stomach.

The host welcomed him as soon as he walked in, "Table for one?"

Peter grimaced, "I- uh, no two please, table for two."

He followed the host to the back corner of the restaurant and tried to breathe out a little of his stress. His date was only 15 minuets(ish) late. People were late all the time. No biggie.

The host set the menus across from each other on the table, and pulled out a seat for Peter to take.

"What will you be having to drink," he asked giving Peter a polite smile.

"Water," He phrased it more as a question than a statement. Peter watched him jot it down on the notepad before glancing at him again.

"And for your…date," he paused looking at the empty seat across from him.

Peter gave him a tight smile, "We'll just wait until he gets here."

The host clicked his pen and left with the promise that his waitress would be back with his drink shortly. Peter leaned back in his seat with a huff. He took his time surveying the rest of the guests in the restaurant. Everyone was happily chatting with the other people at their table, causing his stomach to twist more. It wasn't long before the waitress came by and set his drink down in front of him.

"Do you need more time to look at the menu or are you ready to order," the waitress, asked.

"I'm actually waiting for my date." He cleared his throat, "Uh, he should be here any minute now."

The waitress looked over at the second menu on the table, "I am so sorry, I wasn't aware. I'll go ahead and bring out the chips and salsa, and give your date some more time." She gave Peter a pleasant smile and turned back towards the kitchen.

He took a long sip of his water. The waitress returned moments later with the promised food and set off to another table. Trying to pass the time, He scrolled through the apps on his phone and shoved a few chips in his mouth. He checked the time on his phone.

7:25.

He fidgeted in his seat and began debating on whether or not to message again. His phone began ringing, and he answered it without checking the caller I.D.

"Hello?"

"Hey is this Peter," a male voice answered.

Peter's insides turned icy, "Yes. Is this Trey, by chance?"

He heard a slight laugh from the other side of the line. "Yeah it is. Listen, um, I hate to do this to you, but I've had something come up and I wont be able to make it to our date. I'm Sorry."

Peter knew, somewhere in the back of his mind, that Trey never intended to show up to begin with. He cleared his throat. "Yeah okay, that's fine." There was a slight edge to his voice.

"Maybe we could reschedule for another day," Treys voice was hesitant.

"Yeah maybe, have a goodnight." Peter hung up before the other man could respond.

He looked down at his phone, clenching his jaw. His waitress made her way over to his table once again.

"I'm hoping he's almost here," she nodded towards the phone in his hands. He looked up at her.

"That was him calling to cancel actually," his jaw clenched even more, "I'll be ordering for one."

She gave him a small smile and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Let me grab you more chips and then I'll be back to take your order." She turned making her way back to the kitchen.

The feeling in his stomach soured. Not only had he officially been ditched, but now he was getting pity for it, making it all the worse. He looked outside the windows, wishing to be at home, in his bed, with movies and popcorn. Wishing to be anywhere but in the restaurant. Scanning through the windows, his eyes suddenly caught the top of a familiar red mask. He watched as the head slowly inched up, locking eyes with him. The white eyes of the mask widened before ducking behind the safety of the bushes.

Peter waited.

Slowly the top of the mask peaked up and Peter was once again looking at one Wade Wilson. Looking from his left and right, Wade made a mad dash through the restaurant door. After almost toppling over a waiter and tray of food, he stood in front of Peter, in all his Deadpool glory.

"Oh Peter, I am so sorry I am late. The traffic was just terrible! Is there any possible way you could forgive me," Wade had gain the attention of the entire restaurant. At the same time, his waitress was making her way back to his table with his refill of chips.

"Is this uh.. Your date?" she asked, looking at Peter confused. Peter nodded. 

"Yes my date. That just called me. To cancel," he deadpanned. Peter turned to give Wade a look as if to say "what now?"

Wade paused.

"I just called to cancel," He dropped the act for a split second, "because I wanted to surprise you?" He answered hesitantly and looked a Peter. "Please forgive my tardiness?"

He kneeled down in front of him taking one of Peter's hands between his own. Peter tried to keep from smiling.

 "You were thirty minutes late," He stated.

"Almost thirty minutes late, it's 7:27 and the date was set at 7:00."

Peter didn't ask how he even knew that and rephrased his statement, "Almost thirty minutes late and you gave me a very bad surprise." He began acting disinterested and picked at his fingernails.

"Dinners on me," Wade questioned. Peter continued to ignore him. "And dessert," He added hopefully.

Peter shrugged, "Okay sounds like a deal."

Wade placed an overly dramatic kiss on his hand before jumping up and taking a seat.

"Thank god Petey, I'm too old to keep doing that to my poor knees," He pulled up the edge of his mask, shoving a chip in his mouth.

Peter threw a chip in his direction, "Oh shut up grandpa."

Wade gasped in mock offence, masked eyes growing wide.

The waitress looked between the two of them, obviously confused, "Um, what can I get you to drink, sir?"

"I think I'll do just fine with a water," Wade answered smiling.

She turned, still very confused, to go back to the kitchen.

Wade turned back to Peter, still smiling.

"How did you know I was going to be here," Peter asked blatantly. Even though Wade saved him the embarrassment of rejection in a restaurant full of people, he still wanted to know how Wade knew where he'd be.

Wade's smile faltered slightly, "Well, I mean, you had mentioned you had a date tonight at 7 last night when we were pat- hanging out," he coughed. "I didn't know it was going to be here. Honest. I was just coming to pick up takeout and go home to binge watch gameshows. I showed up right when your date called to cancel I guess."

Wade looked to the side, "And this is kinda like 'our' place, so I didn't expect your date to be here."

A blush could be seen peaking out the bottom of Wade's mask. Peter was quiet for a second. The hurt in Wade's voice didn't go unnoticed by him.

"I didn't pick the place, if that makes you feel better," Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "I kinda see it as our place, too. It felt weird not being here with you."

Wade looked up at peter with a slight smile," Yeah?"

"Yeah," he smiled back. "Thanks for saving me from the embarrassment of a ditched date."

Before Wade could give a response, the waitress came back sliding his water in front of him, "Are we ready to order?"

Wade ordered for the both of them, knowing, after the amounts of times they'd come here, exactly what Peter wanted.

If he was being honest, it was weird to be sitting at an actual table with Wade and to not be in his Spider-Man suit. They'd only ever ordered take out for a mid-patrolling snack. He felt almost… vulnerable. It was kind of nice, actually. It made Peter feel like he was on an actual, planned date with Wade.

"I'll be right back with that for you two," She clicked her pen and left them to themselves.

"Whatcha thinkin' about in that big, smart brain of yours, huh?" Wade asked after catching Peter still stuck in his own head. "Wondering how you convinced such a hot man like myself to go on a date with you?"

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, honey bunny, I'm thinking the same thing," Wade said, giving him a wink.

Peter ignored the blush that rose up on his cheeks, "No, I'm just wondering how you've been here for less than five minuets and the chips are already gone."

Wade let out a deep laugh and motioned the waitress over for more chips.

They began to banter back and forth, shoving bites of chips and salsa in their mouths. Even though this wasn't actually a date, Wade made sure to ask every cliché first date question possible.

(So Peter, how do you spend your nights…oh touchy subject? Alright well, fine what about your favorite insect or bug? Personally, mines spiders. Hey! You know I don’t think it's very nice of you to throw salsa at your date.")

Before they knew it the waitress was bringing out their food. They dug in, enjoying the comfortable silence between them. It didn't take long for them to finish off their food and they sat staring at each other briefly.

"Dessert?" Wade raised his eyebrow in question.

Patting his stomach, Peter heaved a sigh, "I think I'll pass on the dessert tonight, I ate a little too much chips and salsa for that."

"Alright then, I'll go get the check," Wade began to stand up.

Peter started to protest. "Wade you don't have to do that. I can pay my part."

Wade was having none of that, however.

"Oh shush, I was overly late, it's the least I can do," and with that he was walking towards the host stand to pay the check.

Peter watched on as the host tried to figure out whether not to laugh at Wades antics. He smiled fondly when he began doing a very Wade like dance. This night had turned out better than he had expected, and he only had Deadpool to thank for it.

'One of my best dates yet,' the thought slipped his mind before he could stop it. Because was it a date? Wade only came to the table because he assumed Peter had been ditched by his own date. Had Peter told him his date was only in the bathroom, would he had left like nothing happened? Was this whole thing just Wade feeling bad about Peter being ditched being ditched. Was it a pity date?

Peter's stomach twisted at the thought of that, before he shook his head. He knew Wade and Wade knew him. Neither of them liked pity so it definitely wasn't that. Thinking about all the flirting the two did on a near consistent basis here lately, he was starting to realize that this couldn't be anything less than a real date. They practically already were dating, just without the labels. Surprisingly, Peter was more than okay with that.  Before he could fully process what was happening in his head, he felt a small tap on his shoulder.

He turned and was met with the biggest pair of brown eyes.

"S'cuse me mister, can I ask you a question," a girl that couldn't be any older than six stood next to him. Peter glanced around wondering where she'd come from.

"Sure you can," He answered.

"Are you dating Spider-Man," she pointed a small hand towards Wade, who now seemed to be doing some kind of magic trick with pens.

Peter chuckled, "No," he said looking back at the girl, "But I think I might be dating Deadpool." Because honestly at this point Peter wasn't even sure anymore.

She scrunched her eyebrows together, "Is he like a superhero?"

Peter couldn't help but laugh at the curious little girl.

"Yeah, he is. He's kinda like a superhero in training. He learns all his stuff from Spider-Man, but don't tell him I said that." Her eyebrows were still scrunched together.

"Make sense?" He asked.

She looked from Peter to Wade, who was on his way back to the table and shrugged, "I guess so. Spider-Man's cool, so that makes him cool too."

Right at that moment, a woman, who could only be the girls mother, rushed over to the table.

"Honey what have I told you about bothering other people?" She looked to Peter and apologized. He simply gave her a shrug, waving goodbye to the little girl as her mother ushered her away. Wade stopped at the table looking from the little girl to Peter.

"Who was that," He questioned.

"Just a fan of ours."

He chuckled as Wades face scrunched up, not unlike the girls, at his statement, "Ready to go?"

They both made their way out the doors.

Peter turned to Wade expecting them to part ways.

"You don't expect me to just let you walk yourself home now do you, Peter," Wade asked in disbelief.

"I'll just swing my way home, Wade. I know I live far off from your apartment."

The gasp emitted from Wade was nothing short of dramatic, "Petey-Pie, what kind of gentlemen would I be if I just let you web yourself home. I'm still trying to make a good first impression."

Peter snorted. "If you were trying to make a good first impression, you wouldn't have been almost 30 mins late to our 'date'."

"Well first off, I didn't technically know we had a date until your date rudely ditched you." The twist of upset that crossed Peter's face didn't go unnoticed by Wade.

"And second off," he started, pulling Peter underneath his arm and began walking towards Peter's apartment, "this is me trying to make up for those almost 30 minutes."

They walked in silence for a moment.

"Thanks for a great dinner," Peter said," It was better than it would've been had I gone with that other stupid guy."

"Yeah, well that guy, whoever he is, is an idiot and missed out on a good date," Wade said. "I would never miss the opportunity to hang out with you. A guy that wastes your time like that isn't with your time at all, baby boy."

Peter smiled at the honesty in Wades voice.

"His name was Trey." He leaned into Wades embrace.

Wade scoffed, "Well that should've tipped you off from the start Petey."

Peter looked up at him and couldn't help but smile at the wide goofy grin on Wade's face. His heart ached slightly. Peter really, really hoped Wade thought of this as a for real date. He shook his head back to reality as Wade launched into a story about a pigeon and a squirrel he saw fighting in the park today.

Soon enough, they were rounding the corner to Peter's apartment. Both their laughter subsided as they stepped in front of the entrance. It was almost as if a switch had been flipped, for as soon as they stopped walking, the comfortable bubble that had formed around them dissolved. Wade pulled his arm off Peter's shoulders making him take a step back.

"I don't think it would be very gentlemanly of me to invite myself up, so this is where I leave you," Wade rubbed at the back of his neck and let out an awkward laugh. " Thank you for the fun first da- for a fun night."

The stutter was all the encouragement Peter needed to ask Wade his question.

"You know," Peter started, looking almost shyly up at Wade, "You still technically owe me dessert, and this is generally the part of the date where people make plans for a second one."

"Uh, second date?" Wade gaped at him.

Peter gained a little more confidence as he continued, "I'm mean a second first date in our case, since this one was unplanned and someone showed up almost 30 mins late."

Wade continued to gape at him, and suddenly Peter felt he read the oth man wrong the entire night.

"I mean, unless it's just me that wants the second date.." He trailed off.

Wade jumped into action almost instantly, 'No a first second dater, or uh second second or- ah shit- whatever you just said sounds perfect and I would love to." He rushed out in one breath.

Peter breathed out a shaky laugh. They both stared at each other for a tense second before bursting into more laughter.

"Okay, okay," Peter said as he got a grip on himself, "I'll message you later and we'll figure out the details?"

Wade nodded giving him a wide smile.

"Okay well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow," Wade gave him a wave good bye turning and walking down the sidewalk.

As Peter was unlocking the door her heard a call from Wade.

"I promise to only be 10 minutes late next time." Wade shouted towards him.

Peter smiled walking through the doors.

So, yeah, that definitely wasn't a bad way to spend his night off.