Prompt:
9: "You think you're so cute with your...your eyes and hair and face...okay, yeah, you're kind of cute."

Peter Parker was the smartest kid attending Midtown. He was smart without effort. Peter ditched school, extracurriculars, was late all the time and yet he wasn't failing a single class. Not one. How he did it was beyond you and you couldn't help but envy him. You studied your ass off and he seemed to always be one step ahead of you. However, now, you were assigned partners on a lap project and you were going to prove that you were just as smart as he was unbeknownst to Peter.

The pair of you were seated in his bedroom at his tan desk with your textbooks open. You were assigned the ecology of the octopus for zoology, a class you quite enjoyed. It was simply a more advanced animal science and knowledge about animals, that's just fascinating. You had all the confidence in the world while Peter just seemed a nervous wreck beside you, a different sight than you'd seen in class. Quiet, yes but he never seemed too nervous when answering questions. Apparently, there was just something with him being alone with other people that made him nervous and despite you feeling for him, you were still determined to show him up.

"It's octopuses." You say, looking over at Peter's paper where he'd written 'octopodes.'

"What?" He sets his pencil down and quirks a brow. "It's octopodes."

"No, the plural form is octopuses." You argue, certain this one time you were right and he was wrong.

"Do-do you have any idea how plural forms of words come to be?" He asks, his leg bouncing lightly as he rotates his chair to face you.

"Yes." You mimic his gestures. "They come from the origin of the word. If the word is simply English, you add an 's' or an 'es' but if the word is, say Latin, you'd add an 'i'. It's not hard."

"Exactly." Peter nods. "So, what's the origin of octopus?" He gives you his normally timid smile and you know that no matter what comes out of your mouth, he's going to be right just like every other time.

With a sigh, you say "English."

"Actually," Peter starts, the timidness of his smile turning cheeky. "The word is Greek."

"How the hell is it Greek?" Your voice rises, making Peter laugh.

"That's where the word was first used. Way back when, the Greek needed a word, hence octopus and they made it plural, octopodes. However, there are very few documented pieces of the word. So, some English guys came around so many years later and decided the word was English, octopuses. But some other years later, some more English guys came and said 'no, it's Latin, so it'd be octopi.' But, finally, years and years later, more people came around and pointed out the structure of the word wasn't English nor Latin, it was Greek which makes the plural form octopodes." Peter rambles, the cheeky smile not daring to budge while his eyes almost sparked with the information.

You stare at Peter, unable to form words. You're half in disbelief and half in awe. The boy literally knew a bunch of information seemingly for no reason other than just because. You had every hope that you knew this one thing and he still showed you up, maintaining the cheeky smile. It just wasn't fair.

"You think you're so cute," You start, crossing your arms as Peter's face just barely softens. "With your eyes...and hair...and face," You pause for second, looking over the adorable teenager. How unfair of him. He can't just look that cute and innocent but here he sat. You found yourself smiling as his smile dropped a little, thinking you were going to insult him. "Okay, yeah, you're kind of cute." You admit with tinted cheeks.

"You-you think I'm-I'm cute?" Peter's eyes nearly bulge out of his head.

"Mhm." You hum, spinning your chair back and looking at your textbook. "But you suck."

"What?" Peter knits his brows together, watching you over.

"You suck. You're cute but you suck." You shake your head as you pass over your textbook. "Write this down."

"Wh-why do I suck?" Peter's voice holds genuine confusion which only makes you laugh.

"Because, you're smart and cute." Peter's cheeks shoot red with the compliment. "Come on, that's obvious. But now we're never going to get anywhere if you keep focusing on that." Peter stares a few more seconds, him completely unable to bite back his smile before taking the textbook and writing down what you instructed.