A night to remember (Peter Parker x Reader) 1/3

SPOILER ALERT FOR SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING!


“You should really stop staring at him, you know…” one of your friends said, shaking her head as she picked at her fingernails.

    “What?” you frowned, turning your gaze from Peter who was laying on the gym mat before you, doing exercises together with his best friend, Ned. “I wasn’t staring,” you objected. The heat rose to your cheeks and even without the obvious lie still on your lips, you knew everyone could tell it wasn’t true.

    “Yeah, right.”

    “I wasn’t…”

    “Oh, don’t deny it. You’re clearly in love with him,” she said again.

    You were going to object, but Liz already stood up for you, like she always did when it came to Peter. You figured it was because she felt guilty. Everyone knew Peter had had a crush on her for years. She had told you many times she wasn’t into him, but you still couldn’t help but feel jealous. Especially at the way he looked at her during classes, lunch and anytime in general.

    You could only hope that one day he would look at you the same way.

    “Come on, Trace, leave [Name] alone. Or I’ll tell everyone who you have a crush on.”

    “Fine…But [Name] should really stop staring at him. It’s getting embarrassing.”

    “I wasn’t staring,” you said again, more to yourself than anyone else. Liz raised her brows at you and looked at you intensely until you let out an annoyed breath. “Fine… I won’t stare at him anymore,” you huffed, crossing your arms. “Can we talk about something else?”

    “Well, does anyone have anything interesting to tell?” Tracy looked at you, a bored expression covering her otherwise beautiful features. She wiped the blonde ponytail from her shoulder and leaned backward. Compared to Liz and her you stood out like a sore thumb. At least to your measures. Tracy never seemed to object when you complained about your looks, but Liz would always quickly deny it, telling you, you were just as pretty as they were.

    You didn’t know who of them to believe more.

    “I do,” Liz said. “Did you see the security footage of Spider-Man on YouTube? He fought off four guys!”

    “Oh my gosh, she’s crushing on Spider-Man,” Tracy laughed, shaking her head. “No way…”

    “I mean, kind of…”

    “Gross,” you cringed your nose. “He’s probably like… thirty,” you continued, shaking off the image of an old guy dressed up in a super hero suit, going around High schools to hit on girls. You suppressed the urge to shiver, even though for all you know he could be as old as you were as well. With the full-on bodysuit, it was impossible to tell. “Besides, you don’t even know what he looks like. What if he’s like severely burned?”

    “I wouldn’t care,” Liz stated. “I’d still love him for the person he is on the inside.”

    You snorted, somehow having a hard time believing that. Liz was a kind and caring girl, but even she couldn’t be that perfect. Could she?

    “Peter knows Spider-Man!” it suddenly sounded from a few feet away. You all turned your heads towards Ned and Peter, who seemed like Ned had just told you something he really shouldn’t have. Peter’s eyes shifted from you to Liz and back and he swallowed hard as he quickly pushed himself from the gym mat.

    “N–No I don’t,” he said, trying to explain to the whole class what Ned had meant. “No, I–I mean…”

    “They’re friends,” Ned interrupted before Peter could say anything else to deny it.

    “Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends,” Flash joked, jumping down one of the ropes.

    “I–I met him, yeah… A couple times,” Peter said, ignoring Flash’s comment. He focussed his attention on Liz and again tried to explain why Ned was insisting he knew Spider-Man and was even his friend. “But it’s–uhm–through the Stark Internship,” he added, when no one seemed to believe him. “But I’m not really supposed to talk about it…” he continued, turning to Ned, clenching his teeth and biting off his words.

    “Well, that’s awesome,” Flash responded. “Hey, here’s an idea. Why don’t you invite him to Liz’ party, right?”

    Everyone turned their attention to Liz and you shifted awkwardly in your seat when you realized that meant everyone was looking at you as well. Including Peter.

    “Yeah, I’m having people over tonight,” Liz confirmed. “You’re more than welcome to come.”

    “You’re having a party?” Peter asked hopefully.

    “Yeah, it’s gonna be dope,” Flash answered. “You should totally invite your personal friend, Spider-Man.”

    “It’s okay,” Liz cut in, seeing Peter struggle to come up with a response. “I know Peter is way too busy for parties anyways, so…”

    “Oh, come on. He’ll be there, right, Parker?”

    Before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Coach Wilson yelled at everyone to go get a shower and get the hell out of here. You looked at Peter shortly, knowing he was still lost for words. As everyone pushed themselves from their seats, his gaze passed you. You let a smile curl your lips, before following Liz and Tracy towards the girls’ changing room, hoping it would reassure him everything would be fine. Some despair seemed to leave his eyes, but you didn’t know whether that was because of your smile, or because he realized he’d be seeing Liz again tonight.

    When you arrived in the changing room, Liz and Tracy had already changed back into their everyday clothes. You didn’t really like to shower at school and since it was the end of the day, no one ever objected when everyone left without doing so. It only took you several minutes to change as well. Liz’ party would start within several hours, but you had agreed to each go home first, take a shower, change into your party clothes and then after dinner help Liz set everything up.

    “Do you think Peter really knows Spider-Man?” Liz asked excitedly when you walked through the hallway towards your lockers. Despite not seeming to care what the superhero looked like, she did seem anxious to meet him.

    You shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he could with the Stark Internship and all.”

    “You live like right next to him and have almost every class together,” Tracy stated with her brow raised, one of the rare occasions she showed any emotion. She leaned against the lockers as you and Liz started to put away the books you didn’t need for homework. “You mean to tell us he never said anything about it?”

    “Well, I–I don’t know. We–uh–we don’t really talk that much…”

    Tracy laughed at that. “Of course not… I don't get it, though. Didn’t you used to be best friends?”

    You nodded, hiding your head behind the door of your locker, feeling the heat rise to your cheeks again. “That was a long time ago,” you mumbled, remembering the sleepovers, the movie nights and how somehow everything had changed. You didn’t really think about it that much anymore, but sometimes – when you would see the twinkle in Peter’s eyes when he was excited about something – you couldn’t help yourself but think back on those times.

    All through Elementary and Middle school Peter, Ned and you had been thick as thieves. You did almost everything together. From sharing text books (because Peter’s aunt, May, couldn’t afford to buy any) to playing on the streets till dark. You could still remember it all very well, but it had all changed when you became juniors in High school.

    Somehow, in the first few weeks, you had become friends with Liz and Tracy. You had started to spend less and less time with Peter and Ned, which had resulted in Peter acting strange around you. Eventually, you had realized you were in love with him and he, in turn, had fallen in love with Liz. Somewhere in between all of that you had stopped being friends. You sometimes still worked together on projects, but for some reason, things had never been the same.

    “I’ll see you guys tonight,” you said, stuffing the books that needed studying into your backpack and making your way towards the exit of the building. “Seven, right?”

    Liz nodded, but Tracy just shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care. You knew, however, that she had been looking forward to the party for weeks now. No matter how indifferent she tried to seem, you knew better than to believe her façade. Just like they knew better than to believe you when you said you weren’t staring at Peter. You clearly were, most of the time anyway.

    The only person that didn’t seem to notice, was Peter himself.

“Hey, [Name], wait up,” someone called after you as you were walking down the street. “I’ll walk you home.”

    You stopped and turned around, seeing Peter run up to you. He lived just a couple of streets away from you, but like you had said to Tracy, it had been quite a while since you had walked home together. Sometimes, it was hard to imagine you had even been best friends once. Especially now that you felt nervous each time he was close to you. Which, because you shared every class together and sat right next to each other almost all the time, was more often than your heart could handle. Though, you doubted he even noticed you.

    “Hey,” you mumbled, watching him cross the street and catch up with you. “I thought you had that Stark Internship every day after school.”

    “I–I do,” he nodded, following you as you started walking again, “but I–uh–I have a day off. Are you also going to Liz’ party tonight?”

    “Yes, well, I sort of have to. I promised I’d help set everything up. So, you’re coming then? With Spider-Man?”

    “Yes, I–I mean, no… I mean,” he sighed. “I guess so?”

    “I thought you said you knew him?”

    “I do,” Peter replied quickly – too quickly – and smiled nervously. “I sent him a text, but you know how those heroes are, right? Always busy, busy...”

    “Right… So he isn’t coming?”

    “Oh, no, he is.”

    You squinted your eyes at him, thinking he was acting weird and evasive. But then again, you didn’t know him that well anymore. You talked in class often enough, but that was for school. You hadn’t talked to him like this – really talked to him – in years. You could feel the heat rise to your cheeks just thinking about it.

    “Anyway,” Peter cleared his throat. “That Spider-Man is quite something, isn’t he?

    “Yeah, sure. I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing…”

    “You’re not?”

    You shrugged your shoulders. “I’m sure he’s a great guy, but who knows what’s underneath that mask.”

    “Ah, so personality doesn’t matter?”

    A laugh escaped your lips, which made Peter’s eyes lit up and a smile curl his lips. “He could be thirty for all we know.”

    He nodded. “Fair enough. So… Does Liz really have a crush on him?”

    “What?”

    “Liz,” he clarified, though you didn’t really need to hear her name coming from his lips again. “D–Does she really like Spider-Man?” He looked at you intensely and you pushed away the urge to shiver under his gaze. He was clearly totally oblivious to your feelings for him. He probably wanted to know if he still had a chance with Liz now that she had confessed she had a crush on his superhero friend.

    You let out a slow breath and nodded. “I guess so, but it’s just a celebrity crush. I doubt she’s really in love with him or anything. I mean, I used to have a crush on Captain America, but it’s not like I expected him to come rushing through my door and save me from my mundane life.”

    Now it was Peter who laughed. “I remember that,” he nodded. “You were obsessed with him.”

    “Well, I wouldn’t call it obsessed…” you defended yourself in a mumble. “Just a temporary lapse of judgment…”

    Peter snorted. “Right, so you’re not crushing on the Captain anymore then. What happened?”

    “I fell in love with someone else…”

    “Ah,” he swallowed hard, an awkward tension rising between you.

    You could feel your heart beating fast in your chest as he held your gaze. Your eyes darted to his lips for only a second, hoping – desperately – that he’d kiss you someday. He seemed to think about something, yet didn’t speak. You could feel a shaky breath leaving your lips. Would this finally be the moment he’d realize he was the one you had fallen in love with? You didn’t even dare to hope that maybe – just maybe – he had felt the same way about you for all those years.

    “Well, he–uh–he’s a lucky guy…”

    The hope you had, was squatted quickly and you sighed, nodding at his words. “I guess.”

    “This is you, right?” he said when you nearly walked past your own apartment building.

    “Oh, yeah,” you nodded, shaking off the thoughts that were running through your mind. “Thanks for walking me home.”

    “No problem,” he smiled, which made your heart jump again. “It’s on the way, so basically you walked me home… Anyway,” he continued, when you didn’t know what to say to that. “I’ll see you tonight.” He leaned in for a hug – something you used to do when you were younger – though seeing the surprise on your face he quickly pulled back.

    You got a whiff of his scent, your nostrils filling with the smell of lemon soap, washed off teenage cologne and something you couldn’t place. “Tonight…” you mumbled, wishing you hadn’t looked so surprised so he would have hugged you.

    “R–Right,” he mumbled nervously, clearly embarrassed for his attempt at hugging you. “Bye.”

    He nearly sprinted away, leaving you disappointed with him, but mostly with yourself.


TO BE CONTINUED...