The next day, Peter had gone on an early morning patrol so that he could spend most of the day to hang out with Ned. He wasn't in costume for very long, and as soon as he figured he had done enough patrolling, he swung over to Del Mar's bodega for a sandwich. Also, he and Ned had messaged each other all morning and decided they would meet up there as well.

Peter arrived with a friendly greeting to Mr. Del Mar, along with a sad attempt to ask him how he was doing in Spanish. "Your Spanish needs some serious work, kid" the store owner answered, and Peter proceeded to order his sandwich and explain what he was doing for the day.

When he finished ordering, the jingling of bells cheerfully rang out as the front door swung open. Peter looked to the door to see a familiar face and figure walking in. Sporting the usual collar flannel with a science shirt underneath, Ned came into the store with a wide smile as he looked upon his best friend for the first time in two months. "WHAT'S UP, MAN!!!" he exclaimed with a pair of open arms.

"NED! HEY!!!" Peter's face lit up with delight at the sight of Ned and ran up to him for a warm friendly hug. "So good to see you!"

"Oh God, dude. I can't tell you how glad I am to see you too!" Ned replied back. Their moment was observed by Mr. Del Mar, who smiled at the reunion. He greeted Ned and welcomed him back and offered him a homecoming sandwich.

"So, how was the trip? How was your family?" Peter asked, eager to know what Ned had been up to all summer.

"Bro, I swear" Ned started. "If it weren't for the gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery, I probably would have thrown myself into the shark-infested waters from how many weird questions my aunt kept asking me."

"Ouch! That bad huh?"

"It wasn't all that bad though" he explained, "me and my cousins went to the movies a lot and played some music. But without a doubt, the best thing we did was going to the beach." The look in Ned's eyes seemed nostalgic as he described the day his whole family went for a day of sand castle building, swimming, and just all-around time of family fun. Peter thought it must have been magical by the way he talked about it and wished he could have a day like that with the people he cared about. "The whole day felt like that scene in "Lilo and Stitch" when they were surfing and being happy together" Ned concluded on his memory.

Mr. Del Mar finished crafting their sandwiches and the two friends exited the store, giving a warm farewell to its kind owner.

"Sounds like you had a blast" Peter summarized from everything he was told. Ned smiled, "it was fun, but it feels better to be back home." They shared a chuckle as they both felt at ease being back together and doing what they used to.

"So, what's up with you?" Ned asked, "Anything new? Were you able to find a job? How's May? Oh, and how was the rest of your birthday?"

"Uh, the rest of my birthday was pretty good after you called. May actually set up a small surprise party for me."

"A surprise party?" Ned exclaimed calmly. "Man, I love surprise parties, they're so much fun. I wish I could have been there. Who was all there?"

"Just a few people: May, Happy, and Mr. Stark." He obviously left MJ out of the conversation to keep their secret.

"Tony Stark came to celebrate your birthday!?!" You knew Ned was going to start to get nerdy at this fact. "Dude, that's so cool. I wish people as cool as him would come celebrate my birthday. Did he give you like an upgrade in your suit, or... did he give you some kind of awesome device that can hack computers or control an army of drones?!?"

Peter started laughing at all the ridiculous things his friend was thinking of as possible gifts from Mr. Stark, finding them very humorous. "No... no, he didn't give me anything actually. He just came to say 'happy birthday' and talk a little bit."

"Oh" the large boy frowned, "that's cool, but it would be so cool if he did get you something."

"Right!" Peter agreed, then changed the subject to address Ned's other questions. He explained that he had a shot at a job with the Bugle before they went out of business, and that he might have a new job offer. Ned asked what the job was, but Peter kept it secret just like he had done with everyone else, but Michelle.

"C'mon, Peter. I won't tell anyone. I mean, who am I actually going to tell?" Ned pleaded, excited to have a new secret to share with Peter. Though, the young boy was a bit hesitant to reveal it, due to the fact that Michelle was heavily involved in how he was offered the job. However, he knew that Ned could probably be trusted with this information, as he has been nothing but true to his word about knowing his wall-crawling secret.

"Alright..." he groaned, and Ned immediately got all giddy about it. "So, while I was doing some job hunting, I somehow found myself revisiting a local community center. And they would have these uh... let's call them open gym hours for kids to play games."

"So like, dodgeball or basketball" Ned commented, assuming the type of games he was referring to.

"Yeah, and like, one of the employees noticed my sudden interest in their activities and invited me to join in a few times. After a while, the center director started taking notice of me and asked what else I could do. And before I knew it, he was offering me a job."

"Wow, that's awesome, man" Ned said, "are you gonna take it?"

"I don't know, I'm still thinking about it."

"Oh, okay" Ned said, "well, if it was up to me, I'd say take it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it sounds like so much fun" Ned urged with a smile. "Heck, I wish all jobs were as fun as you make this one sound."

"Yeah, yeah it is fun" Peter said, not necessarily to Ned, but maybe just as breath of realization that maybe that's all that mattered. The job was fun, and not many people get that opportunity to be in a place where they get paid to have fun.

"Hey, speaking of fun" Peter said, breaking his thought and diverging onto a tangent subject, "what do you want to do today?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked that" Ned smiled as he reached in his pockets for his phone. He opened the camera roll and showed Peter a picture of a new Lego Star Wars set that had been on sale.

"Is that?!" Peter gawked in awe. "That's right!" Ned squealed, "A First Order Star Destroyer; over 1400 pieces!"

"Dude, this is crazy, I didn't know they were releasing sets for the new movie yet."

"Dude, it's Disney" Ned replied, "they're always in a hurry to make more money."

"Fair enough" Peter agreed, "but seriously, where can we get this?"

"I did some searching, and there's a Barnes & Noble off of 99th that has a few sets available." Without wasting another second of time, they agreed to head over to purchase the Lego set. They caught the subway and continued the discussion about the new Star Wars film that was to be released the coming months. They talked so much, that they had almost forgotten to eat their sandwiches from Del Mar's, forcing them to eat them on a very bumpy and crowded subway car. They would laugh at each other whenever one of them would let some lettuce of mayo drop to the ground as they tried to eat, finding the situation they were in just hilarious and unforgettable.

They soon arrived at the Barnes & Noble and they immediately made their way to the toys and collectables section. They came up to the Lego shelves and browsed around and behind boxsets to find the set they wanted. Peter practically had to get down to his knees to search through the lower shelf, while Ned looked on the higher shelves.

As he was looking, the smell of java beans and coffee from the in-store café fluttered past his nose, making him distracted for a second. Ned was never really a coffee guy, but the smell caught his attention so quickly that he had to look in the direction of the café to see what had smelled so good. There was really nothing specific that could have caused such a strong scent. The atmosphere of the café alone could've caused it, but Ned scanned his eyes across the entire café in order to find the source. And what he found, while not the source of the scent, did make him freeze in the moment.

Nearby, sitting at a small table along the small wooden wall that surrounded the café, with a cup of tea and a book in her hands, was Michelle. She stared as he and Peter made themselves look like bumbling fools as they childishly searched for their toy. Ned's mouth hung open as he didn't know whether to give a friendly hello or just look away from her nerve-racking glare. Eventually, he chuckled nervously with a smile and gave a small wave to her.

Michelle awkwardly pursed her lips into a straight line and raised the fingers on the back side of her book to wave back. Her eyebrows shot up, adding to how awkward and weird the whole occurrence had been. After the momentary exchange, she went back to reading her book while Ned continued to look for the set.

"I got it!" Peter exclaimed as he pulled a large box from the back of the bottom self. He stood up to present it to Ned and they squirmed in excitement.

Michelle took notice of their ridiculous behavior and couldn't help but let them know about it. "Could you losers be any lamer?" she said, putting her book down and reaching for her cup of tea.

Both boys turned to look at her, and Peter's heart stopped. SHIT, he thought, as he knew that he and her in the same place wouldn't be good for keeping their relationship a secret. And it didn't help that Michelle was glaring more at him than she was at Ned.

"Maybe" Ned proclaimed to her. "Want to join us?" Michelle narrowed her eyes, as if she was wondering why he would ask such an out of nowhere question. She knew it was meant as way to play along with her comment, but it was still weird nonetheless. She looked to Peter, who was still completely shocked to be in this position.

"You might want to check on Loser #2 first" she replied, referring to Peter. "Cause' it looks like he's having a stroke or something." Ned then looked to his friend curiously as he tried to snap him out whatever strange force had hold of him. "Yo, Parker! You good?"

Ned gave him a shove in the arm and Peter came back to consciousness. "Huh, what" he let out. "Dude, you blanked for a sec" Ned explained, "you alright?"

"Uh, yeah... yeah, I just... felt lightheaded for a moment" he lied, reaching for his head to sell it. "But I'm good now, honest" he continued, his teeth grinding as he looked between Ned and MJ.

Oh, okay" Ned replied, "anyway, we need to go pay for this Star Destroyer." Peter agreed, as he didn't want to be in a situation like this any longer than. Ned turned to Michelle a wished her farewell, to which she answered passively with little to no interest. However, as they were walking away, Peter looked over his shoulder to look at her, and she immediately changed expression and gave him a wink.

Oh, this girl is gonna be the end of me, he thought.

*** *** ***

Later at Ned's apartment, the boys had setup space on the ground of Ned's bedroom to start constructing the Star Destroyer. They talked about anything that came to mind as they did, ranging from what classes they'll be taking this upcoming school year, whether they shared any classes, and other stories of the summer. Nothing too crazy came out, just a nice conversation between friends to pass the time. Their conversation shifted to focus on their classmates, and what they could possibly be doing over the summer. Not like they cared, but it was fun to speculate.

"What do you think MJ has been doing this summer?" Ned asked, and Peter gulped.

"I don't know" Peter answered plainly. "She probably did what she always does."

"Maybe..." Ned said, pondering on this thought. "What do you think of her?"

"Of MJ?" Ned nodded to his question, "I think she's cool, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. The way she behaved with us today seemed a little less dry than she usually is. Do you get what I mean?" Peter nodded, seeing this a little bit from a point of view Ned would have.

"Now that you say that" Peter said, "she does seem to appear around us more than anyone else."

"Right, like maybe she sees us as friends" Ned's voice was starting to rise as more of the pieces were starting to come together, both Legos and MJ's social behavior. "Actually, do you think she has any friends?"

"Judging by her lack of company today, I'd say no" Peter replied. Though she might have a boyfriend, he thought with a hidden smirk.

"What would you say if we asked her to hang out?" Ned said, acting quickly on a thought that was building in his mind.

"You want her to hang out with us?!" Peter said this with a bit of shock, as he didn't expect Ned to be so open to the idea of her being a part of what they do.

"Why not? I think it would be cool."

"Yeah, maybe it could" Peter said this with a smile. He thought that he was going to have to wait a week or two before telling him about he and Michelle's relationship. Now, it seemed like it could be a lot sooner.

Suddenly, the alarm on Ned's phone went off, letting them know it was 8:00 at night.

"Oh my God, its eight o'clock!" Ned started to freak out excitedly. "You got the suit?" Peter reached for his backpack, unzipped the large holding space and revealed his classic red and blue suit, making Ned smiled widely.

"You ready?" Peter smiled. "Dude, I've ready for past two months!" Ned said, sitting down at his computer screen and pulling up street maps and a police scanner. Tonight, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man wouldn't be assisted by a A.I. system developed by Tony Stark, but by his best friend and personal guy-in-the-chair!

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A/N- Another chapter, another time for you guys to be happy. So glad you guys are enjoying this story so far. I hope I can continue to entertain and captivate your imaginations as you keep reading.

Okay, I TOTALLY REGRET not having Ned in the first book. Mostly because I didn't have a chance to write such fun and spontaneous dialogue between him and Peter, like I did here. It was so much fun writing it that it almost came natural. It's also fun to write MJ in the way we knew her from Homecoming, just dry and totally calling out people on how weird or stupid their being.

As always, I hope you guys liked the chapter. Leave a vote if you did, and don't forget to express your thoughts in the comments.

Next chapter will be posted when it's posted. I'm having a hard time figuring out when I want to release it along with other works I'm releasing. So it will be a surprise!! Until next time, BYE!!!