Chapter Text
Cindy knocked on the door to the address Ned had provided three times with no answer before Sally stepped forward and pressed her ear to the door.
"I bet he's not even home," Flash whined. She shushed him, trying to figure out what that sound was she could hear coming from inside.
It was… Imagine Dragons? Sally hadn't heard one of their songs in years. A bit overdone, but not too bad.
She nearly smacked her head into the doorknob when a loud voice jumped in on the chorus, missing a few notes before adjusting and beginning to hit them properly, but still not really sounding good.
MJ rolled her eyes from behind her, pounding on the door and shouting, "Open up, Peter!"
Everyone could hear the crash from inside.
Seconds later, the door opened, Peter's sheepish face peeking out. "MJ? Hey! Hi. What're-" His mouth dropped open as he spotted the rest of them. "What're you guys doing here?"
"Decathlon practice," she said boredly. "It's your week to host."
The sheer panic that visibly hit Peter told Sally everything she needed to know about whether or not Peter knew they were coming. He glanced down at his pants- Hello Kitty, wow- and cringed, face reddening as Flash and Abe snickered.
"I'll- uh, just one second." He shut the door on them, and Sally turned around to share a look with the rest of the team.
Peter made them wait a full two minutes before reappearing at the door while still pulling his hoodie down, chest heaving, and hair a mess.
He waved them in, directing them to a cute little living room right across from the kitchen.
His eyes kept flickering around the room, and she thought it was kind of cute for him to be so nervous about having them over.
"I would've cleaned up, but I didn't know you guys were coming. Like, at all. It's Sunday, and my aunt's not home, so I was just kind of…" he gestured vaguely over the apartment.
Ah. She could relate. The two times in her entire life that her parents had let her be in the house alone were pure Sally time. She'd danced around the kitchen in her fanciest dress while eating bagel bites for no other reason besides the fact that she could.
Peter looked at the coffee table and blushed, sitting down hard beside Ned, who offered him their cheesy dork handshake.
Peter wasn't even looking at him when he did it, attention on MJ. "We should get started, right? We should start. How long is this gonna take?"
"It'll take as long as it needs to, Peter," MJ retorted. "I told you last week to clear your whole afternoon."
"It's not my fault I forgot," he muttered, even though it was.
They got through exactly two questions before Flash stood up suddenly and asked Peter where his bathroom was.
Peter pointed to the third door across the room, and he went with a gleam in his eyes that Sally didn't like but also didn't feel like saying anything about.
For some reason, it was driving her up the wall to see no hallway leading to the other rooms. She didn't know why, it just was. Just living room, and then bam! bedrooms.
She eventually got lost back in practicing, Cindy and Peter absolutely destroying the rest of the team. It made the extra flashcards she'd slaved over all week worth it.
"How much of the Earth's oxygen is produced by the Amazon rainforest?"
"Twenty percent," Cindy rattled off instantly, looking over to see if Peter was pouting that she got it first.
His head was turned toward the doors, his eyes wide. "Flash, get out of my room!"
Flash stumbled out, looking shocked and disappointed at the same time. He probably thought he was being sneaky. "Relax Parker, it's boring anyway. Not that I expected anything else."
Peter scowled, jumping over the arm of the couch and slamming his door shut from the outside. "Don't go in there," he bit out irritatedly, and Flash rolled his eyes.
"Aw, were you worried I might find your legos?"
Sally glared at him, feeling anger bubble up in her chest. When she'd had the team over, everyone had gathered around the kitchen table and studied there. They'd used the downstairs bathroom and they'd stayed where she asked. It wasn't fair of Flash to just invade Peter's room like that, especially when he hadn't even known they were coming (even if that was still kind of his own fault). "Not funny, Flash. Don’t be a dick."
Flash's face screwed up as if he was about to say something stupid.
"Yeah, not cool man," Abe added. Sally and Ned joined in.
Flash sat down with a huff, folding his arms. "His apartment's not even nice ."
"That doesn't make it okay for you to just barge into his room like a… like an overly curious douchebag," Sally shot back. "And it does look nice. The color scheme is cute."
The whole place kind of reminded her of a puzzle for some reason. All the little random things scattered around that made it feel like a home instead of a random apartment in a shady neighborhood. (Yes, she'd seen the three deadbolts on the front door. And the guy sleeping in the hallway downstairs. And the sign on the elevator that read 'DO NOT USE, WILL BREAK AND LEAVE YOU STUCK FOR FOUR HOURS WHEN YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY TO WORK!!')
Peter looked surprised, sending her a smile that she returned. "Thanks Sally, my aunt'll love to hear that."
A loud, peppy ringtone went off, and Peter looked like he wanted to melt into the floor.
MJ sighed wearily. "Just answer it."
He clasped his hands together gratefully, adding a quick, "You guys can start without me!" over his shoulder as he ducked into the kitchen.
And look, Sally usually didn't care about Peter Parker, okay? At least, not past checking with Ned with Cindy to make sure he didn't try to skip out on Decathlon practice too much. But… she was getting bored, she was a little hungry, and she was curious about who Peter would have under such a weirdly distinct ringtone.
So maybe she ignored the questions MJ was asking in favor of listening in on Peter's phone call.
It wasn't like it was illegal to.
“I know,” Peter said, almost… whiny? “I’m sorry! I swear I will make it up to you. On my mother.”
He paused, barely able to be heard over Abe pretending to ring a bell on Flash's wrong answer. “I know, I know, I know what I said, okay? But apparently my team scheduled practice at my apartment for today. I didn’t even know until they showed up. I don’t wanna be here either, but missing meetings could get me kicked off the team if I keep doing it. No, no, it’s fine. You don’t need to call anyone,” he huffed. “We do the apartment shuffle, remember? I told you about it. Yeah. I gotta go. See you later? Yeah. Okay. Bye.”
He was still staring at his phone when he came back to the couch, shoving it back in his pocket after a minute.
MJ gave him another bored look. "Well?"
Peter looked back into the kitchen and then back at her. "Oh! Right. Um, I had plans for today? And I was supposed to be getting ready to leave right now, so I had to push it back a little. For practice."
Was Sally hallucinating or did MJ look… pleased?
Sally was shook. MJ never looked pleased.
"Glad to see you're taking this seriously for once. Of course, you did forget you even had practice today, so-"
"Won't happen again! I promise."
Why was he so nervous? Why was MJ smiling down at the next question?
Sally's jaw nearly dropped.
They liked each other. It was the only explanation! Everything made sense; it was why MJ sat with Ned and Peter despite them being (sorry guys!) absolute losers. It was why she didn't do anything when he showed up late to Decathlon practice and why she didn't do anything earlier when Peter forgot they were coming.
Plus it explained why Peter had freaked so hard he'd crashed into whatever it was when he'd thought it was just MJ at the door. And why he was always so nervous around her.
It felt like… like some kind of forbidden knowledge.
Betty was gonna freak. She'd been trying to make friends with MJ since Liz left, so any information was good information as far as she was concerned.
She was… not exactly a huge fan of Peter Parker after he'd ditched Liz, but that was irrelevant.
Peter was super smart. MJ was also really smart. Common interests. Peter was a dork in that cute, nerdy way. MJ was the definition of the feminist icon. Complementary personalities.
Could someone say power couple?
She wanted so badly to talk about it (over text, of course) with Betty. But sadly, MJ had instituted a no phones during practice rule shortly after becoming captain.
She began bouncing her leg.
Peter was now also bouncing his leg, and glancing over at MJ every few seconds.
Sally stifled her grin behind her glass of water.
Peter's head jerked toward his room, and then he picked up his phone again, typing rapidly.
"Peter, no texting during practice."
"I know, I know," he said guiltily, still typing. "But May texted and she freaks out if I don't answer." He added one more thing to whatever he was doing, and put his phone back on the table.
"How come Parker gets to be on his phone?"
"Because," MJ said, speaking slowly as if to a toddler, "that's his guardian. I told you guys when I made the rule that talking to parents is okay."
Flash pouted, throwing himself back onto the couch. Abe snickered and Charles flashed an L.
Peter tapped his foot on the ground in an indiscernible pattern. "Hey, so this has been fun, but-"
"I'm not ending this early, Peter." She gave the next question to Sally.
"Okay, I hear you, but this is already longer than most practices we have."
She turned her full attention on him, raising an eyebrow. "Are you arguing with me?"
"N-no! Just maybe suggesting that we could leave soon. You know, I'm sure everybody's hungry, and it's been three hours already. So…" He rubbed the back of his neck, gesturing at the flashcards.
She squinted. "Why do you want us out of your apartment so badly?"
Peter's eyes shot open. "I don't! I just- y'know, Flash already went in my room and I told Aunt May I'd have the place clean by the time she came home and I still have plans. That's why."
"He's right," Charles said pleadingly. "We've been here since noon and I have stuff to do too."
MJ, the beloved tyrant, looked around at all of them and sighed. "Fine. I guess overloading your brains would be a poor move on my part as your team captain. Meeting adjourned."
Flash let out a loud whoop, bolting for the door with an obnoxious, "Smell ya later, Penis!"
Cindy and Charles, being decent people, thanked Peter for having them over even if he hadn't known they were coming. He smiled and fidgeted, saying quick goodbyes to everyone, even Ned, until he got to MJ.
"Hey, before you go, could you like… text me next time it's at my apartment? I'd rather not have this happen again when I'm not expecting it."
"Gotta keep you on your toes," she shot back, but nodded anyway. "Number?"
"What?"
MJ rolled her eyes. "Your number. I'll need it if I'm going to text you." Sally once again stifled a grin. This was monumental!
Peter gave her an odd look. "You don't have it? I could've sworn Ned gave it to you."
She shook her head, and he rattled it off quickly. When MJ finished putting in his information, she waited until he looked away and snapped a photo of him.
Peter blinked. "What did you just do?"
"I took a picture of you, genius. I like to take them when people are least expecting it. It's how I get the really bad ones."
Peter snorted. "I've got plenty of bad pictures of myself if you want 'em. It's not like I have any dignity left at this point."
"Did you ever?"
"Not really, no." He looked like he was gonna pull her in for a hug, then chickened out and brought his hand back to his side. "See you tomorrow!"
MJ didn't look back, but Sally was pretty sure she saw her lips twitching.
Peter let out a long breath, moving to grab the glasses on the table. He let out a quickly muffled shriek when he spotted her by the door, nearly dropping the cup in his hand.
"Sally? What are you still doing here?"
"Oh, you know. Just… you should ask her out. She'd say yes."
"Wait what? Who? Why would I ask anyone out?"
Sally barely refrained from rolling her eyes at the obviously fake display of confusion. "MJ. I can tell you have a crush on her. I think she likes you too."
"What? I don't have- have a crush on MJ, that'd be crazy! She's my friend."
Sally offered him a pitying thumbs-up as she stepped out into the hallway. "Whatever you need to tell yourself. Just don't wait too long." She heard him calling her back as she closed the door with a smile on her face.
There hadn't been drama- real, proper teenager drama- at school in what felt like ages. Especially not relationship drama.
Sally pulled out her phone, calling Betty. She had work to do.
Peter opened his arms, grinning and stepping back a little as Gwen flew down the steps at him.
She squeezed him real tight around the waist, kissed the tip of his nose, and then hit him in the arm.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“You cancelled on me!”
“That was a raincheck at worst,” Peter argued. They started to walk. “And hey, if you’re really looking at it right, I did you a favor by giving you more time to get ready.”
“Is that so?” Gwen asked, looking unimpressed. God, she was so pretty.
“Gah,” Peter said unintelligently, swooping up behind her to lift her off her feet and take big, swooping steps with her in his grip.
She laughed, loud and bright as she kicked her feet and squirmed. “Peter!”
He kissed her shoulder, the only thing he could reach. “You are my most favoritest person,” he said happily.
With a sigh, Gwen stopped moving and turned, struggling a little as she tried to kiss his hair, but couldn’t quite reach. “You’re my most favoritest person too, you dork,” she said, amused. “Even if that’s not a word.”
“It’s a word because I say it’s a word.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”
“Sure it is.”
“You’re such a dork,” she told him.
“I know, I know,” Peter said faux-seriously. “I am the worst, and the world’s biggest dork, which means I have to carry you like this everywhere I go, because otherwise the loser police will come and take you away for being too awesome for me.”
Gwen snorted as if it was ripped from her. “What loser police?”
“See? You don’t know them because you’re not a loser. Me, on the other hand--”
“You’re not a loser.” She patted the hand she could reach.
“Oh no, I definitely am,” Peter said smugly. “You shock me stupid everytime I see you, that’s why I’m always so dumb around you.”
“I don’t know,” she said, pretending to consider it. “Interesting hypothesis, but I think you’re just like that.”
Peter gasped, setting her down and swooning backward onto the cool brick of the closest building. “Gwen!” he cried, hand to his forehead. “My own girlfriend! Oh, this is tragic.”
She folded her arms. “You’re lucky I like you, because you’re incredibly embarrassing to be around in public.”
“I know that,” Peter nodded. She reached for his hand, to get them moving again, but Peter pulled away, stuffing it in his jacket pocket. He did his best imitation at the stupid douchebag walk they used in 80’s movies, about three steps away from her.
Gwen burst out laughing. “What is wrong with you today?”
“No, no, no,” Peter said, fighting down a smile. “I am so very sorry for being embarrassing. Next time I’ll be so super duper buper cool that you won’t have to be embarrassed by your terrible loser boyfriend. So cool. ‘Kay?”
“Buper isn’t a word either,” she said, and this time, he took her hand in his. He stuffed both in his pocket, a little jealous she’d thought to wear gloves. He was cold, okay?
It was supposed to be starting to warm up by now, end of February and all that, but no, winter just had to linger around like a bad smell this year.
“Where are we going?” she asked, looking over. She shivered a little, huddling closer until it was almost like a three-legged race. “You were so secretive.”
“In a cool and mysterious way?”
“No,” Gwen said flatly.
“Yikes. Okay, now I’m definitely not telling you until we get there.”
“Peter!”