Peter

The rest of the weekend passed by in a blur. That Sunday, Alexandra and Peter spent time with their friends. They took it easy, watching a few of their favorite movies. Peter and Ned practically forced the girls to watch Star Wars after Kai made them watch Twilight—she claimed she didn't want to watch it for the love story, though. ("It's so stupid I hate it so much." "Then why are we watching it?!" "Because, Ned, laughing is good! You and Alex both need to laugh after what happened!")

Alexandra didn't speak much, Peter noticed, she observed and listened. Peter wasn't sure whether or not he should be worried about that.

When Monday finally rolled around, Alexandra practically insisted on going to school, though both of her dads wanted her to take a bit of time off. She ignored the both of them and left for school before Leo had even woken up. Peter left the same time she did, he wasn't going to risk letting her walk to school alone.

Plus—Peter thought that maybe on their walk he would be able to use some of Mr. Stark's advice to ask Alexandra out on a date.

He didn't—he chickened out and was basically silent on the subway.

When they got to school, Ned met them outside and walked in with them. People—who had by now heard about what happened on the bridge—stared at Ned and Alexandra as they walked by. Both of them seemed to be trying to ignore it, but Peter guessed it was pretty hard to do that. Some people whispered as they walked by, too, and thanks to Peter's super hearing, he could listen in on their conversations.

"I heard that guy with the metal arms kidnapped those two," One guy said.

"Why would he be interested in them in the first place?"

"Apparently they're friends with Spider-Man."

"How the heck do they know Spider-Man?"

Peter clenched his fists, but kept his emotions under control. They all walked into their first period class together. There were already a few other students sitting at their desks, talking casually. But when the three of them entered the class, their conversations stopped immediately and they stared at them.

Ned nudged Peter's arm and gestured that they go sit down. They all went and sat in their usual spots towards the back of the classroom, ignoring the other students' gazes.

"You guys okay?" Peter asked them softly.

"Yeah, it's not like we're not used to being talked about." Ned shrugged.

"Yeah, besides, they'll talk about it for a week and then find someone else to talk about," Alexandra added.

So, class proceed as (almost) usual. Every so often, Ned or Alexandra would raise their hand to answer a question and all eyes would be on them, which didn't usually happen. Most people were usually zoned out, or listening to music, not paying any attention.

Lunch finally rolled around and Peter and his friends sat at their usual table in the cafeteria. "I still can't believe that happened to you guys." Kai shook her head as she took her new usual spot beside Michelle. "We were so worried!"

"We're fine, Kai," Alexandra assured her friend. "Don't worry."

"You're lucky Spider-Man showed up, huh?" MJ glanced up from her book at the two of them.

Ned glanced over at Peter for a millisecond before looking back at her. "Yeah—he really saved the day, huh?" Ned laughed a bit. "It was actually pretty awesome,— got to use one of his web shooters! Ooh, and Alex totally kicked Doc Ock in the crotch!"

Kai snorted a bit. "Doc Ock? What kind of name is that?"

"It's his name," Ned replied defensively. "He's a super villain, he's gotta have a super villain name."

"Riiiiiiiight." Kai nodded.

"I think it's cool." MJ shrugged.

"Thank you, MJ!" Ned exclaimed. "Finally, someone understands."

🕷

After the lunch period ended, Peter was about to get up to follow Alexandra, Ned, and Kai when MJ grabbed his arm. "Peter," She said. "I noticed how uncomfortable you looked at lunch, you okay?"

Peter took a breath and smiled. "Y-yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He replied.

MJ raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you ever going to ask her out on a date?"

Peter coughed very suddenly, surprised by MJ's words. "W-what are you talking about, MJ?!" He demanded.

"I'm not stupid, Peter. I've seen the way you look at Alex," She replied. "All of us have, by the way. Even she has—though she won't admit it."

Peter's eyes widened slightly. "She's noticed?" He asked, not caring if he'd just admitted his true feelings for Alexandra. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, she has." MJ nodded. "If I were you, I'd suck it up and ask her before she starts to think you aren't interested. You did save her life, after all."

Peter sighed slightly. "Yeah, I mean, I guess—" He froze, his eyes suddenly widened and his head snapped up to meet her gaze. MJ seemed completely unfazed by his reaction. "How—how did you—?" He stuttered.

"Anyway, ask Alex out before it's too late. 'Cause if you don't, I'll ask her for you, and that would just be embarrassing, right?" MJ continued like nothing happened. Peter opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off again. "I've gotta get to class, see ya."

With that, MJ left the cafeteria, leaving Peter completely dumbstruck. "Dammit." He muttered.

🕷

The final bell of the school day rang and Peter found himself by his locker, loading his backpack full of textbooks. Ned walked up behind him and peeked over his shoulder at his friend's bag. "Lot of homework?" Ned asked.

"I'm just gonna catch up on some studying," Peter replied. "Probably hang out with Alex, too."

"Hang out as friends or hang out as in on a date?" Ned asked.

Peter groaned and hit his head against the locker. "Why is everyone on my case about that?" He asked.

"Probably because we're all getting tired of waiting for one of you to make the first move." Ned shrugged. "I mean, come on, dude. You like her, she likes you, ask her out!"

"I would, but I'm just—scared!"

"What's Peter scared of?"

Both boys jumped, startled by Alexandra's sudden appearance at Peter's locker. She leaned against the lockers and raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Peter exclaimed. "Just—a test. In math."

"Hm." Alexandra shrugged.

Ned sent Peter a look. "Nice one." He mouthed. Peter elbowed his friend in the side.

"So, you guys ready to go? Pa wants me home by 3:15."

The three left the school building and headed towards the subway station. "So, were you guys' first day back since—y'know—was it okay?" Peter asked.

Ned shrugged. "It wasn't awful," He replied. "People kept talking to me like I'm a five year old, though—like I was fragile or something—kind of annoying, but at least they weren't making fun of my Star Wars shirt."

"People kept giving me weird looks—they also kept asking about Spider-Man," Alexandra said. "If I knew who he was, things like that."

"Right, speaking of that—MJ knows I'm Spider-Man."

Both Alexandra and Ned whipped their head towards Peter and exclaimed in unison, "She knows what?!"

Peter held a finger to his lips, shushing them. "I mean—I think she knows anyway? She sort of implied that she knew—but then she wouldn't let me ask her about it." He shrugged. "I don't think she's going to tell anybody, though." 

Alexandra sighed, running a hand through her hair. "All right, if you say so," She said. "MJ is either really clever or you're just really bad at keeping secrets."

"Or both," Ned pointed out.

"Fair point." She nodded.

"I'm standing right here, ya know," Peter said.

"We know," They replied together. Peter rolled his eyes.

🕷

When they reached Ned's subway stop, Ned prepared to get off the train, but not before he grabbed Peter's arm. "Dude, are you gonna ask her soon?" He asked softly enough so Alexandra couldn't hear.

Peter sighed again. "I don't know, man, maybe," He replied.

"Well, if you do, just be cool about it," Ned said. "She'll say yes, y'know."

The subway doors opened and Ned stepped off onto the platform. He waved goodbye to Peter and Alexandra and the subway took off once again, leaving Peter and Alexandra alone.

When they got back to their neighborhood, Peter felt more nervous than usual being alone with Alexandra. They'd been best friends since they were little kids, and now he suddenly had these feelings other than friendship for her. She, apparently, had the same feelings for him.

Peter glanced out of the corner of his eyes at her. She was carrying a textbook, her head ducked slightly, just enough so that her hair fell in front of her face. She kept having to tuck her hair behind her ears and Peter felt himself blush each time she did.

She must have realized he was looking at her, because she looked over at him just as he turned away. They walked the rest of the way back to their apartment building in silence, Peter had no idea what to say. When they got to their floor, Alexandra opened the door to her apartment and turned to Peter.

"So—uh—do you want to come over later and study for your test?" She asked.

"Huh?" Peter asked stupidly.

"The math test you're scared of failing," She replied, referring to Peter's little white lie from earlier at the school.

"Oh, right! Math!" Peter nodded. "Uh—yeah, maybe, if May says it's okay." He looked at her and thought back to Mr. Stark's advice on asking a girl out.

"Just be yourself, kid," He'd said. "And try not to freak out too much—being nervous won't help you at all."

That was easy for him to say—he was Tony Stark. Peter had never been more nervous in his whole life, even before his big reveal in Berlin.  

  "Oh, okay." Alexandra nodded. "Well, just text me if you decide you want to."

"Okay."

She moved to close the door when Peter said, "Uh—hey, Alex?"

"Yeah?" She looked at him.

"Would you—" Peter thought for a moment, trying to figure out the perfect way to word the question he'd been dying to ask. And then he chickened out. Again. "Text me and remind me about the Biology homework later tonight?" He mentally facepalmed and Alexandra's face fell a bit.

"Oh, um, sure," She replied. "See ya around, Peter."

With that, she closed the door and Peter went back to his own apartment. "Text me and remind me about the Biology homework?!" He said to himself as he threw his backpack on his bed. "What the hell kind of question is that? What was I thinking?" He groaned and flopped backwards onto the bottom bunk.

"This sucks."

🕷

Early-ish update today! I'm going to be busy this afternoon so I figured I'd upload this chapter this morning in case I forget later.

Thank you all so much for 1.77k reads! That's amazing!!! Keep reading and commenting and voting!!! Love you guys!!