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MJ had been staring at Peter for the past five minutes and it was downright ridiculous. He was smiling down at his phone like he was watching a live cam of puppies learning how to swim but no, he wasn’t watching that. MJ knew because then he would have already shown her and Ned while almost crying from the cuteness. There wasn’t much else which would make Peter look like a stupidly smiling fool, not even chemistry, so it must be the other thing.
That one person. Obviously. Who else would it be?
MJ shook her head and nudged Ned with her foot. The other looked up from his laptop, the screen taken up by a black background and lines or colorful code. MJ would be lying if she understood what on earth any of it meant. She was smart with language but not the computer kind of language. There were too many strange symbols and words floating around that didn’t make any sense. Having Peter and Ned speak in that alien language always managed to make her question everything she had ever known.
She inclined her head towards Peter who sat on the couch, knees drawn up and phone in hand. He was still smiling like an idiot. Ned noticed and tried not to laugh. Instead, he had an amused expression on his face, raising his eyebrows at MJ. She raised her own back, having some sort of silent conversation with her friend. She raised her phone and tilted her head in question. Ned almost snorted but could stop himself and then nodded encouragingly.
MJ smirked and opened the camera on her phone. Peter was still very occupied so he didn’t even notice her blatantly taking a picture of him. She shook her head, his love-sick expression captured perfectly. MJ opened the group chat on her phone and sent the picture without any hint of hesitation. If Peter couldn’t keep his pining in check then that was his fault.
(Abe - Abelicious, Sally - SaSaLeLe, Cindy - Moon, MJ - OGLesbian, Ned - Nedward, Peter - I_Cant_Read, Charles - Charleston, Betty - MeowMeow_Bitch)
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
17:23
OGLesbian: has sent a picture [Shown was Peter in sweatpants and T-shirt, sitting on the couch with his knees drawn up. He was holding his phone, the light from the screen reflecting in his glasses as small squares. He was smiling and making dopey eyes at his phone.]
OGLesbian: I can’t take the pining
17:26
Moon: whomst???
OGLesbian: his name is Harley
SaSaLeLe: oh my god, he’s actually...
OGLesbian: yes and I can’t take it
SaSaLeLe: skskkdjadjdasjd
SaSaLeLe: but he looks so cute omg lol
SaSaLeLe: look at those heart eyes
OGLesbian: disgusting
Abelicious: who is this Harley person?
Nedward: Peter’s crush
Abelicious: like that one guy back in high school? the dude in the grade above ours?
Nedward: nah this is the real deal, we met the guy
SaSaLeLe: whut?! why did no one tell me??
Moon: how is he?
OGLesbian: he’s alright
Charleston: that’s high praise from you
MeowMeow_Bitch: Ned?
Nedward: he’s cool
Nedward: guess he’s our age, does coding as well and some other stuff
MeowMeow_Bitch: that’s not the stuff we wanna know tho
SaSaLeLe: yeah, what does he look like?
Moon: is he hot?
Nedward: you’re asking a straight guy and a lesbian if they thing a guy is hot???
OGLesbian: he is objectively… not ugly
Charleston: again with the high praise, I’m amazed
OGLesbian: we gave him the shovel talk
Abelicious: poor dude lol
Nedward: but he stuck around so I guess he’s serious
OGLesbian: you should see Peter and him flirting, it’s awful
Nedward: it’s cute
Nedward: they have inside jokes and all that shit
Moon: how long has this been going on?
Nedward: weeks? maybe 2 or 3 months or so
SaSaLeLe: does he come to the café?
OGLesbian: a lot
SaSaLeLe: Cindy babe, we gotta go there and see this dude
Moon: gotcha
I_Cant_Read: stawp plz
OGLesbian: finally done make heart eyes at your phone?
Nedward: has sent a picture [MJ with a smirk on her face, seated on the ground and leaning against the couch. She was looking up at Peter who pouted at her.]
I_Cant_Read: didn’t make heart eyes
OGLesbian: you did
Nedward: you did
I_Cant_Read: I hate this family
Abelicious: so, Harley huh?
I_Cant_Read: stawp
Abelicious: I heard he’s into coding?
I_Cant_Read: plz
MeowMeow_Bitch: can we meet him?
I_Cant_Read: no
Moon: why not?
I_Cant_Read: cus you’re all weird
I_Cant_Read: you’re gonna scare him off
SaSaLeLe: please we’re so normal
I_Cant_Read: no
Charleston: legit
I_Cant_Read: not yet
Abelicious: keep us updated Pete, good luck wooing you man
I_Cant_Read: jesus
When Cindy had first met Peter - actually met him - it was for her first Academic Decathlon meeting. She had been a little jittery because this was the first club she had ever joined and only really smart people joined this kind of club. At least this is what she assumed. She had heard the team had almost gotten to nationals and this year they wanted to secure a spot. Cindy did like to think she was smart but she wasn’t sure if she was smart enough to keep up with all these other smart people.
Nevertheless, she wanted to do this and she would do her best to catch up if everyone else was already more advanced than she was. She had been allowed to transfer to this school, after all, she could do this.
With one determined nod, she stepped out from behind the corner and straight up collided with someone else. Cindy yelped in shock, the other person also letting out a startled sound. Some books and a few pieces of paper fell to the floor. Cindy stared at them, her pencil case having dropped so her utensils were scattered across the shiny linoleum.
“Oh man, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
Cindy looked up at the one she had run into. It was a boy about her height. The first thing she noticed was the brown pair of glasses framing his eyes. He looked at her in concern and there was thankfully no annoyance or anger in his expression. Cindy didn’t need to piss off some guy or bully on only her third day. This boy didn’t look like a bully though. His hair was curly on top of his head and he wore a blue Midtown seater, the sleeves pushed up slightly. He looked nice.
“I- yeah, sorry.” Cindy brushed a strand of hair behind her ear self-consciously. Great first impression, really.
The guy smiled sweetly. “Didn’t watch where I was going.” He bent down and started picking up his own books. Cindy crouched down a moment later and gathered her things. It took a while to pick up all of her pencils again. She’d never forgive herself for forgetting one of her precious Muji gel liners or markers. Or the fox eraser she had only just bought. Since she had more things to pick up the guy was done before her and started on gathering her papers. Cindy watched him from the corner of her eye, stuffing the last pen back into her pencil case and zipping it shut as the boy picked up the last piece of paper.
It was the application form for the Academic Decathlon club. He stared at it for a moment, rereading the words a few times. For a short moment, Cindy was afraid he’d turn out to be a bully after all and taunt her for her club choice. Then she remembered this was a school for smart kids so this shouldn’t be anything too out of the ordinary, right? Still, she was used to being called the smart kind in a condescending manner. She was Asian so she had to be smart and nerdy, right? It was a stupid stereotype and she was frankly not quite sure how it had survived for this long but it still haunted her.
Just because she understood math and liked to read didn’t mean anything in her opinion. Other kids had liked to pick on her for it though. Cindy knew it was just jealousy but it was still hurtful. At least she had finally been able to convince her mom to let her wear contact lenses. This way she got rid of the ‘nerd glasses’ and could hopefully fit in a little better at this school. She really wanted to have some genuine friends.
“Oh AcaDeca!” the boy said and he sounded… excited. Not what Cindy had expected but she’d take it.
“Yeah,” she smiled softly and straightened up again. “I thought it sounded interesting.”
“It is,” the boy insisted as he handed her her papers. “It’s cool, the team’s great. I’m on it too. I’m Peter.” The sweet smile was back and this time Cindy’s heart did something funny. Her chest felt light and her head a little fuzzy for a moment.
“Cindy,” she managed to get out with a shy smile of her own. This was the first time a boy her age was actually genuinely nice to her. Until now they had either ignored her, had called her four eyes and tried to get her to do their work for them. Group projects had been a blast, really.
“Come on, I’ll show you the way.” Peter moved past her and waved his hand to gesture Cindy to follow him. She didn’t feel stupid or self-conscious doing so. Peter had a genuinely nice aura so she didn’t feel like he was out to get her. “You just transferred, right?” he asked and she nodded.
“Betty said there was a new girl in her class.”
Cindy crooked her head in question, not sure who Betty was.
“Blond hair-” Peter waved his hand below his shoulder for a rough length indication- “wears headbands a lot.”
Cindy went through her classmates in her head. There was one girl who fit the description as far as she could remember. “I think I know who you mean…”
“She’s on the team too,” Peter said. “And works for the student paper. She said a news station would be cool as well but I don't know how that’s supposed to work.” He shook his head but his voice remained pleasant like he wasn’t judging his teammate for her choice but rather questioned the logistics. “Were in a club at your old school as well?”
Cindy shook her head. “There weren’t that many except for sports and I’m not really the sports type.” At least not the sports they offered at school. She went to a Dojang for Hapkido once a week but it was even more of a stereotype so she usually refrained from revealing this about herself. Nevermind that Hapkido was a Korean form of martial arts and Cindy’s parents were from China.
Peter nodded understandingly. “I hate all the workout that doesn’t include my brain.” He grinned and for a moment Cindy just thought ‘ha, nerd’ but then realized how stupid she was being. She was a nerd as well and she had no reason to make others feel bad about their interests, especially since she had been in the same position just last year and still kind of was. Stupid defense mechanism. Being smart was nothing to be ashamed of. This was a new start, she needed to remember that and not screw anything up immediately. Instead, she just nodded with a smile.
Peter pushed open the door to a room with bookshelves lining the opposite wall and a row of glass windows overseeing the hallway to the left. Cindy entered behind him, looking at the gathered people. They did not look like stereotypical nerds for the most part and once again Cindy berated herself for thinking these things. Everyone could be smart no matter what they looked like. She was glad though because a diverse group meant she was hopefully less likely to be picked on for being Asian and being smart.
There was the blonde girl, Betty, who Peter had mentioned before and another girl seemed vaguely familiar.
“Peter,” the man at the head of the table said. Cindy guessed this was the teacher appointed to this club. He had an old school kind of vibe with longer hair and small glasses. He still seemed to be rather young though so hopefully he wasn't completely stuck up. Cindy didn’t want to feel like she was attending some sort of private British boarding school. “There you are.” The man waved them over. “Cindy Moon?” he asked Cindy who nodded her head and handed him her application. “Wonderful.” He glanced over the paper quickly. “New members are always welcome, I’m Mr. Harrington. Take a seat, we’ve got some things to discuss.”
Peter sat down next to a south-east Asian boy, both grinning and doing a short handshake as greeting. The girl to Peter’s left looked bored and blew a strand of messy hair out of her face. Cindy was a little sad she couldn’t sit next to Peter but pulled herself together. Instead, she settled in the chair next to Betty at the end of the table. Betty smiled at her and Cindy felt a little better about being here.
In the following weeks, she slowly found her spot in the club. She and Sally, another member, hit it off immediately. They were in the same class and sat together in a few subjects. Sally was loud and outspoken and absolutely not someone who would be called a nerd. She wore whatever she wanted unapologetically, laughed loudly and said whatever came to her mind. She gave Cindy the confidence and reassurance she so desperately needed and soon they were doing almost everything together at school. Betty joined them pretty often since she was in the same class and Cindy like her just as much but there was just something special between her and Sally.
Her little crush on Peter continued as well. How could someone not have a crush on him? He was good looking and incredibly nice. He had that endearing dorky quality about him and he was smart for fuck’s sake. The boys at Cindy’s old school were either good looking but completely stuck up douches or they’d be smart but completely introverted and would never say a word.
Cindy had learned very quickly that people here might look like douche bags but were still smart. Flash was a bit of a douche sometimes but he did have a functioning brain, no one could deny that. Cindy just wondered how people could be smart and still be a douche but it was very much possible. She had thought having a brain made people more open-minded but apparently this wasn’t the case for everyone.
Peter was the poster child in this sense. He was smart and nice to everyone. Cindy thought he was kind of perfect, good at everything so to speak. It took her almost four weeks to realize Peter was not perfect at everything.
“Peter, can you read that for us?” Mr. Harrington asked and gestured to a card on the table.
Flash made an annoyed sound that Cindy didn’t quite understand but decided to ignore.
“Uh…” Peter stared at the card he had just picked up for a long moment. “Euroti…Eu… Euro…” he squinted at the word, eyes shifting back and forth. “Eutrophia...Eutropic… Eu…” He just stared at the card blankly, still trying to figure out the word. Cindy glanced at the other people, trying to figure out if anyone else found this strange. She was familiar with stumbling over your own words but Peter knew a lot of big words and the others usually didn’t struggle like this either.
Ned leaned over and read the word. “Eutrophication.”
Peter scrunched up his face, looking unconvinced somehow. Mr. Harrington nodded his head. “And the definition please.”
Peter turned the card around reluctantly. “Eurotro-”
“Eutrophication,” Ned said softly.
“Eutrophication,” Peter repeated without batting an eye, “when a body of water becomes overly enrich with minerals and nutrients which induces growth of excessive allgee… algae.” Peter looked at the card with a dissatisfied expression before glancing at Ned. Cindy looked between them but no one else seemed to think it was strange.
Peter lowered the card with a sigh. “Someone else should read that again. Please don’t make me read the definitions, Mr. Harrington,” he said with an apologetic look as he handed off the card over to Ned.
Mr. Harrington looked at him for a moment but then seemed to realize something and nodded understandingly. “Right, sorry Peter, my bad.”
“Allgee,” Flash echoed. “What that supposed to be French?”
Peter just sighed with a hint of annoyance.
“The ability to read would be helpful.”
Peter sent Flash a deadpan look. “Nice one.”
“Eutrophication is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induce excessive growth of algae,” Ned read from the card. Cindy nodded her head subtly.
“Almost got it,” MJ teased lightly but her tone was harmless, not how Flash had said it.
Peter snorted but didn’t look offended.
Cindy figured Peter misreading things was pretty common. She thought it was strange though. He had no problem throwing around big words but reading them was difficult? Sure, some words she had to look at twice as well but those words just now hadn’t been exactly difficult. She stored the information away but forgot about it as practice went on.
About a week later she was reminded of the incident when she ran into Peter at the cafeteria. He was in line in front of her as they slowly approached the counter. A sign was in the corner but Cindy already knew what she wanted so she didn’t pay it much mind. Peter made a thoughtful sound all of the sudden and Cindy stared at his back for a moment. “What’s up?” she then asked and Peter glanced at her before giving her a wry smile.
“They are serving humans.”
“What?” she stared at him in confusion and then turned back towards the sign she had passed because that was just absurd and… Cindy blinked a few times, rereading the word. “Hummus,” she mumbled to herself and turned towards Peter. “They are serving hummus.” She gestured towards the sign. “That says hummus.”
Peter tilted his head and looked at the sign for a moment. He seemed to come to the same conclusion though because his eyes widened and he snorted in amusement. “Ah damn.” He closed the distance to the guy in front of him, still snickering under his breath and shaking his head. “Humans, hummus.”
Cindy didn’t understand how on earth he had read ‘hummus’ as ‘humans’ but the lunch lady asking what she wanted interrupted her train of thought. She followed Peter to the table where he sat with most of the members from their club.
“I read humans, I was so confused,” Peter whined just as Cindy sat down. “I just looked at it for a second and was like ‘damn, okay’.”
“Oh my god.” Charles facepalmed. “Peter, only you.”
“I’m sorry,” Peter whined again but was on the verge of laughing. Ned was snorting into his rice next to him. “Dude,” he then said. “You go up to the counter and say ‘one serving of humans please’?”
Peter slapped his friend’s back. “I knew something couldn’t be right about that.”
“But you didn’t really question it,” Abe pointed out with a grin.
Peter huffed and waved his hand dismissively. “The world is weird okay? May sent me to get groceries and I got everything until I asked someone where the beard was and they just looked at me all strangely.”
“Bread, Peter, it’s bread,” MJ said with a small grin.
“Well, I figured that out too eventually.”
Cindy looked between the friends. No one seemed to be surprised, amused if anything and she was growing more and more curious. “Wait, this happens regularly?” she asked carefully. She was still new to this group and she didn’t want to offend Peter because he was really nice.
Peter looked at her and for a moment she was afraid he’d be upset but he just looked a little sheepish. “Yeah,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “dyslexia, makes letters and words go funky in my brain.”
Cindy needed a moment to understand since dyslexia was not a term she was very familiar with. Peter’s simplified explanation did make sense though. Like Peter struggling with that definition a week ago and him needing way longer to read one page of a book or him taking a moment to read a word several times. It all came together and suddenly Cindy saw Peter in somewhat of a new light. He was not a perfect human being without flaws. Not that him butchering words was a fatal flaw or anything but Cindy realized he was only human too.
The crush she had on him wasn’t anything based on actual emotions. Cindy guessed her brain had been unable to handle a male specimen being nice to her and her lizard brain had decided that was the one. It still took her a little while to get rid of the pink-tinted glasses she seemed to wear around Peter but the more times she sent around him the more solidified their friendship became. Friendship and nothing more.
She told Sally about this one day and the other girl just smiled and nodded her head. “Yeah, he has that effect on people.” Cindy wondered if Sally included herself in this but decided not to ask.
It only sealed the deal when she finally realized Peter was gay. Seeing him talking to Betty about some guy opened her eyes. Later on, the suspicion solidified because Peter wasn’t hiding it actively.
In hindsight, Cindy’s little crush was something she could smile about. Peter was a great friend to have but nothing more to her. She was sure she wasn’t the only one who got an impromptu crush on him just as much as she was sure someday there would be a guy who actually fell hopelessly in love with Peter. She hoped she’d be around to see it happen.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
01:52
Abelicious: can someone take me out?
Nedward: like on a date?
SaSaLeLe: or with a sniper?
Abelicious: surprise me
Nedward: wow okay, what’s burnin?
Abelicious: the entire barn is on fire and I’m just sitting here like this is fine :)
Charleston: are you okay man?
Abelicious: no
Abelicious: but when are we ever?
Charleston: mood
OGLesbian: are we having an existential crisis at 2am?
Moon: mine has been goin on ever since I got into college
MeowMeow_Bitch: do you want to do yoga with me? you can scream into the void in your head
Moon: I might take you up on that offer but I might just scream for real no promises
SaSaLeLe: are any of us okay?
Abelicious: we are in college, how can we be okay?
Nedward: I missed that detail on the job description but true
MeowMeow_Bitch: the fact that all of us are up at 2am should speak for itself
I_Cant_Read: I feel great
SaSaLeLe: Peter!
I_Cant_Read: ?
Charleston: why are YOU up? Don’t have like a functioning sleep cycle?
I_Cant_Read: I’m expermanting
I_Cant_Read: ex
I_Cant_Read: ...
OGLesbian: take your time honey
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [Shown was a mixing bowl with a light-colored dough. Utensils were scattered around and some specks of dough were on the counter which could be recognized as the one in Peter’s kitchen.]
I_Cant_Read: cookies
Abelicious: at 2 am?
Nedward: and you didn’t invite me???!
Nedward: I’m HURT
I_Cant_Read: has sent a voice message [“First of all I’m experimenting, okay? I don’t even know if it’s gonna work or if it’s gonna be good and it’s 2am. I didn’t think you’d all be awake. Why is everyone up? Anyway, I had this idea and I almost fell out of bed and I almost woke May up but I didn’t but I had to mix everything by hand which is awful and… shit, I forgot something… what did I forget………………………. Eeeeehh! It was only egg yolks. Dammit! …………………………….Anyway, I forgot what I wanted to say. If the cookies are any good you can have them tomorrow. Would that cheer you all up?”]
Charleston: lol yeah
Nedward: Im still hurt and I want those cookies
I_Cant_Read: might not be good
Moon: it’s cookies, they have to be good
I_Cant_Read: not at 2am
Moon: especially then
I_Cant_Read: so why are you all up?
Charleston: questioning life
SaSaLeLe: mood
OGLesbian: reading
Abelicious: ew
Nedward: Betty and I are watching Clone Wars
I_Cant_Read: without me???!
Nedward: we’re at the finale of season 4
I_Cant_Read: no!
Nedward: :)
MeowMeow_Bitch: :)
I_Cant_Read: :(
I_Cant_Read: I want a divorce
I_Cant_Read: I’m breaking up with you
MeowMeow_Bitch: :O
Nedward: :O
Moon: well I was honestly just watching animal videos on YouTube and lost track of time but I should probably go to bed. My first lecture is at 9… yikes
Moon: and I’ll take the cookies!
Moon: what are you even making?
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [There were several smaller bowls instead of the singular big one, all of them filled with dough colored in different colors of the rainbow.]
I_Cant_Read: rainbow cookies
SaSaLeLe: wow that’s gay
OGLesbian: can you make a lesbian one?
I_Cant_Read: I can try?
I_Cant_Read: I don’t even know if this is gonna work
I_Cant_Read: more @ 3
MeowMeow_Bitch: I want a blue one!
SaSaLeLe: is Betty secretly Percy Jackson? I think she is. More @ 4
MeowMeow_Bitch: I’m Annabeth you fool!
SaSaLeLe: alright sorry, ma bad
Charleston: I’m just happy about cookies no matter what they look like
Abelicious: same bro
2:46
SaSaLeLe: so Abe, what was actually going on??
Abelicious: I was making some emotional support porrideg, as you do, and the milk burnt :)
Charleston: damn bro
Abelicious: we can’t have anything nice in life :)
I_Cant_Read: mood
3:01
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [It was a selfie. Peter’s hair was sticking up in random directions and his shirt was wrinkled. It might be his pajama shirt. He had an excited expression on his face, eyebrows raised over the rim of his glasses. Held up next to his face was a colorful cookie.]
I_Cant_Read: unicorn cookie
OGLesbian: nom
OGLesbian: go to sleep
I_Cant_Read: u2
OGLesbian: lol good luck with that
I_Cant_Read: plz?
3:10
OGLesbian: ...fine
I_Cant_Read: :D
Abe was done with his work. He had breezed through the lines, marking the bits he thought were interesting in blue and yellow and scribbling notes onto the sides. There were arrows going back and forth, the end of the lines were marked with a letter to indicate the rhyme pattern and he had picked out some words with similar allusions.
He could get started on his history homework but he didn’t have the book with him. Iris and Rylee were talking in hushed whispers in the seats next to him and when Abe strained his ears he could pick out some guy’s name. Not exactly interesting to him but it was currently all he could listen to.
His gaze traveled upwards to stare at the ceiling. The strange tiles were to soundproof the room and keen the noise down. At some point someone had figured out those things could be lifted upwards. They were about a foot lower than the actual ceiling and just resting on some grit-like structure. It didn’t take much to lift them. Someone had climbed onto a table, deposited their phone in the space between the tiles and the ceiling and slid the loose tile back into place. Needless to say, the following lesson had been accompanied by ominous sounds coming from the ceiling and five rows of snickering students. They hadn’t gotten much done in that class.
Abe had to admit it had been hilarious to have the Star Wars theme blasting from the ceiling or hear ‘Hi, welcome to Chillies’ every time the teacher had turned to write something on the board. When asked who the culprit was the entire class had remained silent.
Abe wondered if people had hidden other things behind those tiles. Maybe some dude had a bag of weed up there somewhere. He wondered if a dog would be able to find it. It wasn’t like the fella could just walk up the wall or tell its handler where the smell was coming from. Those were serious questions floating around in his head.
He took another look at the sheet of paper in front of him. He could write an entire analysis of the poem, sure, but why should he? Mrs. Grace never collected them anyway and would usually only ask questions about it. Abe had gone through the poem several times, picking out the things important for the time period and making a colorful mess of the paper. It looked messy but he could read it. He’d be fine.
Besides, he was doing better than Iris and Rylee who had yet to move past the second stanza. There were four in total but it didn’t look like the girls would be getting any further than this today.
The substitute at the front was doing something else. Correcting tests or at least attempting to look like she was busy. Abe didn’t really care. They were allowed to talk quietly if they had finished their work or to compare answers. Iris and Rylee were obviously following neither of the options but as long as they were quiet enough no one said anything. Sadly Abe didn’t have anyone to talk to so he was left to his own devices and boredom. A glance at the clock told him there was still half an hour to go and he sighed heavily.
His eyes roamed across the ceiling again before sweeping over his classmates. Some were still working on the assignment, actually writing things down in a text format. Abe shook his head at them - fools. Others were talking quietly. Elijah was eating a sandwich without even trying to hide his lunch box or his chewing. Abe looked into the rows behind him and saw a similar picture.
Well, except for Peter. He sat alone at his desk since Ned was sick. The sheet of paper was laid out in front of him and he loomed above it like he was trying to solve a mystery. His elbows were on the table, his hands buried in his hair with a pencil sticking out of one of them.
Abe pursed his lips. He knew how much Peter struggled with normal texts but this was an old poem with a strange language and rhyming words. Usually, Ned would be helping him but he wasn’t here today. Abe considered his options and glanced at the substitute. She still had her nose buried in test papers. Iris and Rylee didn’t look like they would miss his presence much either.
Without further ado, Abe grabbed his paper and slid from his chair. Iris and Rylee glanced up at him short but didn’t bother questioning him before going back to talking in hushed voices. No one else minded the wandering either and soon Abe settled in the chair next to Peter. The substitute didn’t look like she had noticed anything going on.
Peter lifted his head and looked at Abe in surprise. Abe just grinned and put his paper down. “How you holdin’ up?” he asked and Peter deflated like a sad balloon. Abe tried not to grimace in sympathy.
“I think I got the first two lines,” Peter mumbled. “And half of that I don’t get.”
Abe hummed. He kind of prided himself with the fact that Peter would admit this to him openly. He could imagine telling someone they couldn’t understand something they should have no problem understanding might be difficult. Peter hadn’t told them for a while but at some point he had spoken up about his disability. Abe had been familiar with the term but he had never met someone who was actually affected by it. It was easy to forget sometimes. Peter could talk about chemical reactions and not stumble over his words but give him a short definition of one of those words to read and he’d have to fight his way through it.
“Alright, let’s try that together.” He read the first two lines because making Peter do it wouldn’t help either of them. “Any idea what that means?”
Peter stared at the paper. It looked like he was struggling to come up with something but Abe guessed he had been doing this for the past hour and hadn’t been successful. His hunch turned out to be right as his friend sighed quietly. “Not really.”
“Okay so he’s talking about the night here-” Abe tapped his pencil onto a word- “he doesn’t say so explicitly but the whole thing is kind of an allusion to night and water. He’s kind of describing a dream with weird words. So if you read this-” he read the two next lines- “He says floating and sail which is a reference to a boat and in turn to water. It’s like a state of mind.”
Peter stared at the words Abe had circled on his paper. “How is sail related to a dream?” he asked in confusion.
“He’s basically saying dreaming is like floating on water with a boat.”
Peter did sadly not have a moment of enlightenment. Abe guessed that was fair because he didn’t really get poems either. He understood what the author wanted to say most of the time but that didn’t mean it made any sense to him. Why someone felt the need to write stuff like this was honestly beyond him but that’s how it was.
“Okay, so he’s floating in water. Why water?” Peter asked. “The endless blue could be the sky, right?”
“Could be,” Abe agreed. “But he’s using words related to water so it’s water.”
Peter shook his head. “Okay but why?”
Abe hummed. “Because water makes things… muddled? Unclear? He’s saying dreaming is like being in water. You can’t really see very far and things appear and the light is strange and it doesn’t really make sense. It’s not like seeing the world like this.” He gestured around with his pencil. “It’s like when your head is underwater and someone says something you can’t really understand them. You might hear and see them but you wouldn’t be able to make out any details.”
Peter rubbed his forehead, considering Abe’s words. “That sounds overly complicated but okay. Water, night, because you dream when you are asleep at night and you’re floating like when you are in water.”
Abe grinned. Peter might not be very good with metaphors and allusions but when someone explained it he tended to be able to follow along. “Exactly and he continues to describe that state here.” He tapped the second stanza and read it quietly to Peter who furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.
“He said ship?” he asked. “Reference to water again? And blue?”
They were getting somewhere. Abe nodded. Peter scribbled something down. “Okay, and in the second verse, he said something about an hourglass? And sand that never stops?”
“Yup.” Abe waited for a moment to see if Peter could come to his own conclusion but it seemed his friend was mostly confused about the line. “For me, I think he means how time is distorted when you dream. Like sometimes it feels like years and sometimes it feels like minutes.” Abe waved his hand around. “Could be wrong but that’s what I think. Hourglasses are symbols of time passing and running out. A dream is only as long as you sleep but it can feel longer than the time you should have. You know what I mean?”
Peter scratched at a spot behind his ear absentmindedly, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Like the hourglass has sand for three minutes but it feels like an hour?”
“Yeah.”
Peter nodded slowly and wrote some more things down. He was busy for about two minutes, marking words and making notes. Abe just watched, noticing some spelling mistakes but never pointing them out. It wouldn’t be helpful for Peter right now and he’d get annoyed about someone constantly correcting him when he knew he was making mistakes himself so he refrained from doing so. Peter was aware of making mistakes, he didn’t need someone to tell him. They had other more important things to take care of.
Once he was done he looked up at Abe again unsurely. Abe just smiled and read the next two verses. They worked together for the remainder of the lesson, whispering things back and forth. Peter was doing a bit better when someone was reading the words for him. He still struggled with some of them, especially metaphors and rhymes. Abe did his best to help without telling him everything. He didn’t want Peter to feel like it wasn’t his own work.
He had seen Ned do the same thing quite often. The other was strangely good at figuring out what Peter needed and whenever he helped him they worked seamlessly. Abe himself wasn’t quite sure yet where exactly the line was, when it was right to correct and when it should just be let go but he was more than willing to learn. He didn’t think it was fair to leave Peter in the dust just because he wasn't as fast as others. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying after all.
They managed to go through the entire thing once which was pretty good in Abe’s opinion. Peter seemed to be relieved as well, sending Abe a grateful look as the bell rung and students started to gather their things.
“Thanks, Abe,” he said softly and Abe patted his shoulder as he stood up to go and fetch his stuff.
“Don’t sweat it, man. Helped me too.” Surely not as much as he had helped Peter but he had found a few new connections and similarities while going through it with him. Besides, helping others was never time being wasted in Abe’s opinion. His other options had been to either continue to stare holes into the ceiling or listening to Iris and Rylee. Both hadn’t been exactly appealing so this had been a nice change of pace. He also had some newfound appreciation for Ned and his eagerness to help his friend. The dude was truly a good bro. Abe should be paying more attention and see when he could be of help as well.
Peter sent him another sweet smile as thanks and waited for Abe to get his bag so they could head to the cafeteria together.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
11:47
SaSaLeLe: I miss yall, I’m so lonely…
SaSaLeLe: what are you all doin?
Abelicious: aww miss u too love!
Abelicious: has sent a picture [Abe was winking at the camera with a grin on his face. He was outside and probably walking somewhere. You could spot the arm of someone else just barely in the frame.]
Abelicious: going to the cafeteria with some of my dudes because they might have pancakes left
MeowMeow_Bitch: has sent a picture [Shown was a messy room. Most cupboards and the doors of the closet were open. Clothes were everywhere along with other random stuff. You could barely see the floor and several trash bags were standing off to the side.]
MeowMeow_Bitch: has sent a picture [She had her hair up and a headband on like an old housewife. Her expression was overwhelmed, gaze focused on the messy floor and one hand at her forehead as if she wanted to convey the emotion of ‘this is way too much, why did I do this to myself?’.]
MeowMeow_Bitch: I trying to clean but I might have overestimated the amount of stuff I actually own. Marie Kondo better work.
Abelicious: damn, where did all those clothes come from?
MeowMeow_Bitch: I have seriously no idea. There are some things I haven’t see in literal years
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [There was a stack of papers which were stapled together at the upper left corner. The font was the same as Peter always used in this specific shade of blue. There were footnotes and the layout of the text let assume it was a research paper or at least a paper of scientific background.]
I_Cant_Read: I’m trying to read
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [He was looking at the camera with a pout, slumped in his chair with one elbow on the table to hold his head up. His hand was squishing his cheek which in turn pushed up his glasses.]
I_Cant_Read: but the worbs are playing shuffle
Nedward: take a break if nothing works
Nedward: has sent a picture [Shown was the screen of his laptop. There were lines of code running across it which wouldn’t make much sense to anyone out of the loop.]
Nedward: has sent a picture [Ned was scrunching up his nose and making a silly face.]
Nedward: my code doesn’t wanna work so I’m just sitting here and staring at it hoping that’ll solve itself
OGLesbian: has sent a picture [An open book was lying in her lap, her knees drawn up slightly so she was probably laying on a couch or bed.]
OGLesbian: has sent a picture [She raised her eyebrows at the camera in a smug manner, her hair up in a bun atop her head.]
OGLesbian: weaklings
Moon: has sent a picture [She was obviously in a class because you could see the big, brightly-lit room with a professor at the front who was pointing at the slide currently shown. The rows in front of Cindy were filled with students either taking notes, having their laptops out, or just staring at something. Some were on their phone and a dude a few rows ahead was playing Minecraft on his laptop. Her own desk was cluttered with colorful gel markers and her notepad which was mostly filled with doodles.]
Moon: has sent a picture [Cindy looked at the camera with a bored expression. Her hair framed her face. A dude a row behind her was making a confused expression at her phone.]
Moon: someone please come kill me, this is so boring
Moon: he lost me like thirty minutes ago, I have no idea what he is takling about
SaSaLeLe: poor bby, I’m sorry
Moon: :(
Charleston: lol yall actually doing stuff and I’m just here like
Charleston: has sent a picture [He was on his bed, the lower part of it and his legs were visible. The shot was focused on the TV opposite of the bed with an unidentifiable movie or series currently playing.]
Charleston: has sent a picture [Charles looked at the camera with a pleased smile and a thumbs up.]
Charleston: just inhaling Netflix
Moon: probably more productive than whatever I’m doing here
Moon: 25 more minutes of this shit
OGLesbian: yall weaklings
I_Cant_Read: maybe I’ll just go back to sleep…
Charleston: seems legit, can only recommend
OGLesbian: Jesus.
Nedward: me 2
MeowMeow_Bitch: I’m drowning in clothes here. If you don’t hear from me again you know where I went
Nedward: nooo Betty don’t go!
MeowMeow_Bitch: they r calling my name hon, I can’t resist
Nedward: can I come over and rescue you?
MeowMeow_Bitch: you are very welcome to do that but I still have to take care of this mess
Nedward: better than staring at my code tbh, I’ll be over in a bit
MeowMeow_Bitch: <3
SaSaLeLe: get that hetero romance outta ma house you love birds!
MeowMeow_Bitch: <3
Nedward: <3
Abelicious: <3
Abelicious: keep the love going guys
OGLesbian: alright I’ll be going back to my book then. ByEe.
12:15
Moon: 15 more minutes...
“Betty?” Peter asked as soon as he picked up the phone. This was somewhat unusual.
“Peter, I need your help,” she said from the other end of the line, voice serious.
Peter blinked a few times in surprise. This came out of nowhere. “Uh, yeah, sure. Is… is everything alright?”
“Depends on the definition.”
“Uh… are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s not the problem. Listen up, Ned’s birthday is coming up and I have this entire thing planned, right? But I need some help so I need you to do something for me, okay?”
This conversation was moving faster than Peter had expected. He was obviously aware of Ned’s looming birthday but he hadn’t expected this kind of conversation to happen. “I… okay?” He wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was agreeing to here. Betty wasn’t the most adventurous out of the group. Peter would even argue she was one of the more calm members and the voice of reason when everyone else was just falling all over themselves with stupid ideas. Still, she sometimes had these grand masterplans and Peter wasn’t sure he was qualified enough to play a part in one. Those things were rather complex.
“Okay, okay.” Betty took a deep breath, perhaps to calm herself down. “Okay.”
Peter nodded unsurely. She sounded stressed and Betty was usually never stressed or if she was she was a master at hiding it. Apparently, yoga was her secret. At least that’s what Ned had said. He had told Peter about finding his girlfriend just randomly doing yoga while working on homework or after coming home. Maybe yoga was some sort of secret mind-bending superpower.
“Alright so the thing is; Ned’s birthday is in one week and I had everything figured out because I’m good at that stuff and everything lined up perfectly but now I…” she made a frustrated sound. Peter waited patiently for her to continue. “My sister had an accident.”
“Shit, is she okay?” Peter asked worriedly, immediately imagining the worst-case scenario. It was a bad trait of his but he couldn’t stop himself when someone sprung this onto him.
Betty hummed. “Yeah, I mean, it thankfully didn’t turn into anything serious and it was mostly her own fault. It’s stupid really. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m actually related to her.” She huffed. Peter’s heart calmed down a little upon knowing she wasn’t in grave danger. “She was at a party and completely drunk and dancing on the balcony or something and fell down. She broke both her arms so she can’t do shit alone now.”
“Jesus.” Peter had broken one arm once when he had been about eight. The jungle gym hadn’t been his best friend after that experience. One broken arm was already bad enough but two? Poor fella. Thankfully nothing even worse had happened. Falling from a balcony could have ended a lot worse.
“Pretty much,” Betty agreed. “She’s fine but she needs help and mom can’t take this week off so she asked me to go down to Philadelphia for the week and make sure she doesn’t drown in the bathtub or something which means I can’t do anything for Ned’s birthday.”
“Oh.” Peter nodded. Slowly things started to make sense. “Oh, okay.”
“Yeah… so…” she trailed off, suddenly hesitant. It took Betty a few moments to continue. “I mean, I know you’re busy with work too so you don’t have to if you don’t have the time or if you don’t want to. I just thought because last year it was in the middle of exams and we only did something small we could do more this year. It’s supposed to be a surprise and I know the others would help but they can’t keep secrets for shit except for MJ so… you’re kinda my only shot.”
“Of course I’m gonna help, Betty,” Peter said immediately. She didn’t even have to ask. “I have no clue what I’m supposed to do but as long as you tell me where to go and what to do I can do it.”
“You don’t have to if-”
“Hey, Ned is my friend too you know,” Peter teased with a smile. “I’m fully on board with throwing a birthday party for him. Just tell me what you need me to do because I don’t know anything except for baking doughnuts and cookies and maybe a cake.”
Betty was silent for a moment before a relieved sigh came over the phone. “Peter, you’re truly the best.”
Peter stood in front of the wall, staring at his choices with furrowed eyebrows. Well, this was certainly a problem. He took another look at his basket and then looked back at the wall again as if something would change magically. When it didn’t he sighed heavily and pulled out his phone from his jeans. With a few swipes, he had pulled up Betty’s contact and was calling her.
Betty was already in Philadelphia, helping her sister with basically everything while managing the organization of a birthday party without being present. Peter had to admit he was quite impressed. The list he had received had been very detailed with addresses and exact descriptions. He did his best not to bother Betty while she was busy with her sister but he wasn’t exactly intuitive when it came to birthday parties. Every now and then he ran into a problem and he didn’t just want to go off script and ruin whatever Betty had planned.
Ned’s birthday was on Saturday and she’d get back late Friday night so there would be no time to correct any mistakes. It all rested on Peter’s shoulders because he agreed; the others wouldn’t be able to keep a secret. They’d probably ask Betty something in the main group chat and the surprise would be blown. No, no, Peter could do this. If all things went off track he’d ask MJ but she was quite busy as well so he’d make do on his own as much as he could. Except for sometimes calling Betty in a frenzy.
“Where’s the fire?” Betty asked as soon as she picked up. Straight to the point. Peter smiled weakly.
“Well, I got the Happy Birthday thingy and the cups and the table thing.”
A beat of silence. “I feel a but there.”
Peter hummed. “There are no blue balloons.”
“What?!”
“Yeah.”
Betty muttered into the phone unintelligibly. There was a prolonged silence, Peter waiting patiently. His eyes once again traveled over the display but no, there were no blue balloons. Black, red, green, pink, white, everything was there but no blue. Not even a dark blue or a light blue. Nothing.
“None at all?” Betty then asked and Peter hummed in confirmation. He had looked everywhere. Betty sighed, probably running a hand through her hair or massing her temple. “Okay…” Silence for another long moment. She was probably altering the palms in her head, trying to decide what the best course of action would be. Her adaptability was downright impressive. Peter briefly wondered if she was doing yoga at the same time so she wouldn’t freak out before Betty’s voice reached his ear again. “I guess if we can’t do blue then we have to go colorful. Is there anything with colorful balloons?”
Peter was happy about new instructions. Although he had seen all of the display about ten times by now he still went through it again. “Yeah, there are a few. Picture?”
“Mhm.”
He pulled the phone from his ear and sent Betty a few pictures with packages of balloons. “Anything you like?” he asked once all of them were sent. He heard a voice from his right and turned his head slightly. There was a young boy of about ten who picked up different birthday invitation cards to compare them. His mother stood next to him, letting him make his own decision. Her eyes found Peter’s and she took him in for a moment, the basket full of supplies, the wall he was in front of, the phone against his ear. She seemed to come to a conclusion and sent him an understanding smile.
Peter smiled back and briefly wondered if this was how parents felt every year. The wife planning everything and the husband being sent out into the field, needing to call as soon as something did not work out as instructed. The woman’s son fished out a package of dinosaur cards and showed them off with a delighted squeal. She nodded her head and told him maybe they’d even find matching paper plates. The boy was ecstatic and raced off.
“Yeah, the ones in the red package,” Betty's voice echoed in Peter’s ear. “With green, blue, red and yellow.”
“Alright.” Peter had to tiptoe to get to them. A small sales assistant scurried past him with an arm full of paper plates and he wondered how on earth she managed to restock anything in the upper five rows. She was a good head smaller than him. “Got’em.”
“Good.” Betty sounded relieved. Crisis averted. Maybe she wouldn’t have to do yoga. “Everything else going according to plan?”
Peter checked his baskets but he had everything he needed from this store so he made his way to the register. “Yup. I got the book from the bookstore yesterday and they had blue wrapping paper so I let them do it there. I’d do it myself but my wrapping skills are very lacking and I didn’t want to ruin your present.” He placed the basket onto the conveyor belt and started taking the items out with one hand.
Betty laughed at his admission which brought a smile to Peter’s face. At least she wasn’t too stressed out to laugh. It was Friday morning and Peter had the day off since he had switched with a coworker so he ran all the remaining errands today.
“One second, Betty.” He placed his phone down and greeted the cashier with a smile. All the items went into Peter’s backpack and he swiped his card. The woman wished him a nice day which he returned. The backpack went back over his shoulders and he picked up his phone again. “Okay, I’m back. But yeah, I got the book and now I’m off to get some snacks, then I’ll go pick up the cake and later I’ll go over to yours and start setting things up.” Peter was back on the sidewalk and avoided running into people.
“Pete, you really are a saint,” Betty said.
“I’m just helping you out, don’t worry about it,” Peter insisted. He’d do it again in a heartbeat and not just because Ned was his best friend. He liked helping out whenever he could. “How’s your sister doing?”
Betty huffed out a slightly annoyed sigh. “When she’s not calling me over every few minutes? She’s doing great. Maybe I should break both of my arms as well and let everyone run around like minions to fetch me cookies and whatnot.”
Peter grimaced and dodged a man who was on the phone as well. “Please don’t. Not that anyone would mind helping you out but I’d rather have you with two functioning arms and not two broken ones.”
“You’re sweet,” Betty teased. “But yeah, she’s doing a bit too fine for pulling a stupid stunt like that if you ask me. My sister and I do better when we don’t have to spend 24/7 together so I’m looking forward to getting back to New York today. My mom wants to be here in the late afternoon. I just gotta get my things together and then I’m heading back up.”
“Try not to be too stressed out.”
“I’ll try but organizing a party while I’m not even there is a little stressful.”
“Everything is fine,” Peter assured her. “There won’t be any problems and if there are we’ll figure it out.”
Betty chuckled. “Alright, I trust you but only because it’s you. I owe you one.”
Peter shook his head. “It’s fine, really.”
There was a muffled shout in the background and Betty sighed. “Your majesty is calling, I gotta go. If you run into any trouble gimme a call, okay?”
“Will do.”
“Alright, thanks again.”
“No problem, tell your sister I said hi.”
“She doesn’t deserve a hi from you but I’ll tell her anyway.” Betty sighed once more. “Bye Pete.”
Peter smiled although she couldn’t see it. “See you later.”
The call disconnected and Peter shook his head, the smile remaining on his face. He slipped his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and continued on his way.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
23:18
Charleston: did you know koalas eat eucalyptus but that shit is actually poisonous to them so they have to sleep for like 16 hours to get rid of that shit only to eat more of it???
Abelicious: welp, sounds like me
MeowMeow_Bitch: well that was random
Charleston: I’m watching nature documentaries. These random facts are truly fascinating
Moon: yeah I have one too
Moon: flamingos are actually white
Moon: they turn pink because of what they eat. I think it’s a certain type of algae which is also the reason why their milk is red
Nedward: um… whut?
Moon: look it up but I’m not responsible for your nightmares
SaSaLeLe: what the absolute FUCK??? That is so fucking creepy!!!
Nedward: well now I’m disturbed
OGLesbian: the sound of America is not that of a bald eagle, they always dub that shit with some hawk sounds
Abelicious: The. What. ???
I_Cant_Read: I’m distrubed by all of this
Charleston: I think this is fascinating. Anyone else have some random facts for me?
MeowMeow_Bitch: some penguins propose with a pebble and stay together for life
I_Cant_Read: I want a pebble!
OGLesbian: ask Harley
I_Cant_Read: djajifnfe stawp
OGLesbian: lol
Nedward: oh I have one too!
Nedward: cheetahs are the only big cats that actually purr and meow
Moon: I… need to find a video of a cheetah meowing omg
SaSaLeLe: since apparently everyone has a random fact here
SaSaLeLe: male seahorses carry the babies and give birth
MeowMeow_Bitch: oh yeah I’ve heard about that once!
Abelicious: we have turned into a giant zoo
Abelicious: okay I gotta add my own random fact
Abelicious: apparently the closest living relative to the Trex are chickens….
Charleston: I’ve always been suspicious about chickens man, something is just not right with them
Moon: I have found a video of a cheetah meowing and I’m very happy to announce that I love it. They are so cute!!! And they like cuddling!!
Moon: I’m gonna get a cheetah
OGLesbian: good luck
Moon: thx
Nedward: Pete, you also have a random fact for us?
I_Cant_Read: um…
I_Cant_Read: our galaxy will collide with another one at some point and when they crash most of the stars will get knocked out of place
I_Cant_Read: but we will probly survive
I_Cant_Read: if we haven’t blown up the planet until then
I_Cant_Read: and before that we’ll propably collide with another dwarf galaxy
I_Cant_Read: but that shouldn’t change much
I_Cant_Read: I dunno anything about animals
MeowMeow_Bitch: well… that’s… nice
SaSaLeLe: when exactly will that happen?
I_Cant_Read: few billion years?
I_Cant_Read: but u can see the galaxy already I think
OGLesbian: so many ways to end our meaningless life on this planet, great. We’ll probably do it ourselves before anyone else gets the change though
Charleston: well this was a nice round of random facts
Charleston: a bit of a gloomy finish but we can work on that
Charleston: sloths apparently need two weeks to digest a meal
Moon: oh what I’d do to be a sloth...
Charles was sitting on the steps in front of the school, fiddling with his phone in one hand while he steadied his head with the other. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was waiting for, if he was even waiting for something specific. It didn’t feel like he was. Then again, he must have a reason for staying behind, right?
Deep down he knew exactly why he was staying. He didn’t like admitting it because then it would be real but there was only so much fooling one could do to themselves. Charles was smart, he knew exactly what he was doing and yet he didn’t want to believe it, that one day it would come to this but who was he kidding? This had been a long time coming and it was hardly the first time he had done this. Usually, he could fool himself into believing he wanted to go to the library or go over to Abe’s or stay back to study or stroll along the streets of New York or do literally anything besides going home.
It wasn’t that he hated it at home but… it was suffocating. The… the fakeness of everything. Charles was an only child. He wasn’t sure if this was a good thing in his situation or not. On the one hand, he wouldn’t wish this onto anyone but… he selfishly wanted someone who shared his experience. He wanted to have someone who was in the same boat as him, who understood what was going on without needing to explain anything. Explaining it was always difficult because people didn’t get it. Charles was aware he might be complaining about small things. Other people had it worse, sure, but that didn’t diminish his own struggles.
Telling people about it was difficult enough because Charles didn’t know where to start. It all sounded so small when he said it out loud. His mom was always there. His parents always expected the best out of him. He wasn’t allowed to have any hobbies outside of school. His parents wanted to know everything about his academics and yet at the same time, they barely knew anything about their son.
They didn’t know Charles genuinely enjoyed Academic Decathlon and didn’t just do it because he could prove his intelligence there. They didn’t know he had an interest in animated movies. They didn’t know he loved all the Pixar and Disney movies for kids but not because he was childish but because of how they were animated and voiced over. They didn’t know he preferred fries over salad. They didn’t know he hung out with Abe and they’d just walk along the streets and go into random shops to explore. They didn’t know Charles dreaded going home every so often and would keep himself busy so he could stay out longer.
They… they didn’t know shit about him except for his grades and what they thought they knew. Charles didn’t know when he had started developing his own personality but apparently his parents had missed the shift. Maybe they hadn’t even been aware their child was his own person and not just their child. Seeing other people doing things they wanted with their parents’ approval, talking to their parents and explaining what they wanted or needed and being listened to… Charles didn’t know how that worked.
His parents weren’t… they weren’t awful but to them, Charles wasn’t a kid with hopes and dreams and interests of his own. He was just… his academics. Sometimes he felt like he was only worth as much as the holy piece of paper he brought home from school.
For the longest time, he hadn’t even thought about asking for things or talking to his parents about his feelings. He had just assumed that wasn’t an option and the few times he had tried he had been dismissed. Charles was old enough to think for himself by now though and sometimes he wondered why on earth his parents had even gotten a child. He had been told he had potential and a bright future ahead. A successful career. A good job. Charles didn’t know if he wanted any of that. Any of the things his parents had decided on as soon as his mother had been pregnant with him - taking over his father’s firm, turning into a manager.
Charles… didn’t want any of that.
So here he was, sitting on the steps in front of the school and just… passing time because he didn’t want to go home. He had always refused to admit it but he really just didn’t want to go home. Not because he was being hit or because it was loud or because there would be no food but because he felt suffocated at the mere thought of stepping into that apartment. The sight of the door, the voice of his mother, just imagining it made him want to run.
Charles grunted and buried his face into his hands, his phone pressing into his cheek uncomfortably. He was being stupid. It was like a conditioned response. He stepped over the threshold and instantly things made him feel exhausted. Outside he had fun and hung out with friends, he laughed and made jokes but as soon as he entered his home it was like someone flicked a switch and suddenly Charles was in a black and white movie.
“Charles?”
He turned around startled, staring at an equally surprised-looking Peter who had just stepped out of the doors. He slowly let go of the handle, the door falling shut behind him.
“What are you doing here?” Peter asked, crooking his head to the side.
Charles was silent, debating whether to say something or not. He didn’t know what to say though, how to explain this mess that wasn’t even that bad. Other people had it worse so he shouldn’t be this affected. He couldn’t bring himself to say much though so he just shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno,” he mumbled. “Didn’t wanna go home yet.”
Peter remained in his spot, staring at Charles like he’d open up and spill all of his secrets if he just stared long enough. Charles was sure plenty of people would like to tell Peter about all their struggles. He seemed like someone who was good at listening and giving advice but Charles didn’t want any advice. When Peter noticed he wouldn’t get an answer this way he tried a different approach. “Why not?”
Charles just turned back towards the street and shrugged.
Of course. Most people were looking forward to going home. Relaxing on their bed, playing games, eating food, maybe having fun with their parents or inviting people over. Charles has never invited someone over. He hasn’t even ever had a normal birthday party. It was usually just family and colleagues from his dad who might bring their kids along. It had always been a little awkward and his parents had stopped doing it as soon as he had turned ten. He was honestly kind of glad.
After a moment there was the sound of footsteps and Charles didn’t know why but he had expected Peter to just walk past and go home but he stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back up at Charles. “Aren’t you hungry?” he then asked. “It’s late.”
It was. School had been out for a while and even Decathlon practice had wrapped up almost thirty minutes ago. There was barely anyone left at the school except for maybe those crazy sportspeople who practiced until they fell over. Physical exhaustion was such a disgusting feeling.
And yes, Charles was hungry but it wasn’t enough of a reason to go home. At least not yet. He could hold out a while longer and his parents wouldn’t really miss him. As long as he followed their rules - which were mostly just for his academics - and didn’t do anything completely crazy they didn’t care. Maybe this should make Charles sad, this blatant disinterest, but most of the time he welcomed it. Made not suffocating a little easier.
He could feel Peter’s eyes on him but avoided his gaze pointedly. He didn’t want to talk about it.
“Wanna come home with me?” Peter then asked. “May said she is making Spaghetti.”
Charles turned to Peter who was smiling at him in surprise. This was not a question he had expected. He sometimes went home with Abe or other friends or they did something as a team after practice but he hadn’t expected to be invited over by Peter. He also briefly wondered if maybe May was his older sister since he had heard the name a few times before.
There weren’t many options. Charles could go home and suffocate, stay here for however long he could manage his hunger or… or go with Peter. It sounded a lot more appealing than sitting here all alone with a rumbling stomach. Charles looked at his friend who was waiting for his decision patiently. “I… I don’t wanna impose, I-”
“Nonsense,” Peter said easily. Of course he made it sound easy, just inviting someone over out of the blue. “May likes feeding new people, come on.” He reached out and tugged on Charles' wrist. It wasn’t demanding, Charles could easily just pull his wrist away but he didn’t. Instead, he got to his feet and swung his bag over his shoulder. “You sure?” he asked and Peter nodded with a grin. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Come on.” He started walking and Charles hesitated for one more moment before he followed Peter and caught up to him.
“So… why were you still at school?” he asked after a moment of silence.
“Oh… Mrs. Grace wanted to go over my last exam.” Peter shrugged. Charles stared at him but Peter didn’t offer any more than that so he nodded and let it be. He had learned to detect the unwillingness to talk about something from his own habits.
Instead, they talked about Decathlon and the competitions, about what movies were currently being shown at the cinema and Charles might have been a bit too excited about the new animated movie but Peter didn’t even bat an eye. He caught on to the excitement and started asking questions, wanting to know more. Charles found himself explaining why those movies were great and which ones were his favorite without hesitation. Talking to Peter about this felt nice. Especially when Peter started talking about stars and gushing about something called Quasars. Charles didn’t get all of it but he was amazed to find out Peter had his own thing he geeked out about.
The walk home flew by and Charles hadn’t even paid attention to the unfamiliar route. He only realized he wasn’t somewhere familiar when Peter stopped at an inconspicuous door wedged between two shops. One was a café and the other seemed to be a Thai restaurant. Charles followed him inside and they climbed up the old wooden stairs. Peter rummaged through his bag and fished out a keychain as they walked down a hallway when Charles finally dared to ask the burning question.
“Is May your sister?”
Peter looked at him, a hint of confusion on his face. “Huh? Oh…” Charles hoped he hadn’t said something stupid. Maybe Peter just called his mom by her first name. There were supposed to be people who did that though he had never met one. Peter wasn’t offended though and just smiled. “No.” He shook his head and stopped in front of a door with a ‘Welcome’ decoration hung up, pushing the key into the lock and turning it with practiced ease. “May’s my aunt. I live with her and my uncle.” The door clicked and opened.
“Oh…” Charles didn’t know what to say to that. He had never met someone who didn’t live with their parents.
Peter just smiled and pushed the door open. “I’m home!” he called as he toed off his shoes. Charles followed his example after closing the door, standing on the welcoming mat awkwardly. “I brought a friend!”
“A friend? Ned?” a voice called from further in the apartment.
Peter slipped off his backpack and took off his jacket to hang it up. “No, no, not Ned. Charles from Decathlon.”
Charles felt a little out of place just standing there.
A young woman looked around the corner to the left, staring at Charles curiously. Charles couldn’t believe this was Peter’s aunt. His own aunt was old and wrinkly and she always told him to study hard and get a good job. This woman looked like… like a cool aunt. Like she would allow her nephew to stay up past his bedtime and like she would play Mario Cart with him. She… she looked nice, especially when she smiled at Charles, not even questioning why exactly her nephew had brought someone over without warning.
“Hi Charles, I’m May. Do you like spaghetti?”
Charles blinked a few times. “Uh I… yeah.”
“Great! Just drop your bag somewhere and hang up your jacket. Food’s almost ready.” A timer went off and she ducked back into the kitchen with a happy hum.
Charles was surprised it was this easy but did as asked, putting away his backpack and jacket. Peter had waited for him, still smiling like all this was completely normal and then leading Charles into the kitchen. The table was set for two but Peter just went and grabbed another set while May was busy pouring off the noodles. She muttered ‘hot hot hot’ under her breath and hopped over to the stove to put down the pot before she shook out her hands with a hiss.
This woman had just hopped. Charles had never seen his own mother hop. He hoped he wasn’t staring too hard. It was just that May was completely different from the image he had of someone who was an aunt. She was young and looked nice and her clothes were stylish. Not like his mom’s who was always dressed prim and proper. May wore a bright red T-shirt and slim jeans and… socks. She wasn’t even wearing slippers, just a pair of socks. Charles was still trying to take everything in when he took a seat.
The noodles and the sauce were put onto the table and May fell into her chair with a huff. She flicked her long hair over her shoulder and pushed up her glasses. “Alright boys, dig in.” She smiled widely.
Everyone got their noodles and their sauce and they started eating. May asked what Mrs. Grace had said to Peter and rolled her eyes as her nephew told her she had asked Peter to try harder with his essays next time. “Bunch of idiots those people,” she muttered, shaking her head. Charles tried to hide his shock but Peter saw the expression and grinned but didn’t say anything.
“And you, Charles?” May asked, startling him slightly. He was already preparing to tell her how his last test had been and how he was doing his best but he didn’t get to it. “Do you think you should eat cereal with orange juice?”
Charles closed his mouth and frowned, not sure if he understood correctly but his mom always said he had to be polite and answer whatever he had been asked. “Who… no… that’s… who does that?” he asked completely appalled.
Peter snorted into his noodles. May didn’t even flinch. “My husband,” she declared, something akin to disgust in her voice. “Something must have gone wrong. I mean, why?”
Peter nodded solemnly. “It’s weird.”
“Inhuman, that’s what it is,” May said and pointed her fork at her nephew before shaking her head and twirling some noodles onto her fork elegantly. She wasn’t using a spoon. “Every day I’m scared I’m going to wake up to Peter eating cereal with orange juice. It keeps me up at night.”
Peter snickered. “I won’t, promise.”
“I’d hope so. You’re my last hope in this household.”
Charles… he didn’t know what was going on but… he liked it. A lot. He found himself relaxing and smiling more and more as the meal went on. May didn’t ask him about his last tests or his career or when he wanted to take over his father’s firm. She asked him if he enjoyed Decathlon and if he preferred Star Trek over Star Wars because she had to prove a point to her husband. She didn’t reprimand Peter when he interrupted her and got excited during his storytelling or when Charles choked on his drink because he was laughing. She didn’t remind them to do their homework when everyone was done and standing up. Instead, she asked if they wanted to play some Mario Cart.
Peter got the old console started and Charles… he wondered if maybe, maybe May could be his aunt as well. She was the coolest adult he knew.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
21: 49
Moon: am I the only one wondering what happened to the Harley guy? It’s been weeks
Nedward: so much drama
Moon: for real?
OGLesbian: idiots man
OGLesbian: iDiOTS
Abelicious: spill the tea sis
OGLesbian: Pete?
21:58
SaSaLeLe: plz!
22:11
Nedward: I saw that you read this
OGLesbian: coward
22:15
I_Cant_Read: has sent a picture [It was a selfie of Peter with another guy. They were both smiling at the camera. The unfamiliar guy had messy hair a shade lighter than Peter’s and blue eyes. They stood quite close together, their cheeks right next to each other and it looked like the guy had one arm thrown around Peter’s shoulders.]
SaSaLeLe: is that him?!?
I_Cant_Read: ye
Moon: noice
MeowMeow_Bitch: aw you look cute together!
OGLesbian: did you finally do it?
Abelicious: that is the Harley dude?
I_Cant_Read: yes and yes
OGLesbian: ladies and gentlemen, Peter has got himself a boyfriend
Nedward: congrats man, I like him. He’s nice
Moon: NoICe
SaSaLeLe: well he looks delicious
SaSaLeLe: good*
SaSaLeLe: actually no, I said what I said
I_Cant_Read: Sally plz
SaSaLeLe: I can do that, I’m a lesbian
I_Cant_Read: don’t scare him off
Charleston: were all completely normal here
Abelicious: is he a nerd or do we have to convert him? I could throw my old geography book at his head
Charleston: All. Completely. Normal.
Nedward: he’s a nerd
Abelicious: yessss
Moon: so this is The Boyfriend
Moon: good because Sally n I never saw this guy the one time we were at the café and I was starting to worry he didn’t exist but good. You gotta introduce us at some point!
I_Cant_Read: we’ve been together for 1 day
MeowMeow_Bitch: whenever you’re ready
Nedward: pretty sure he’ll fit right in
23:02
I_Cant_Read: and yes he’s hot
Moon: I knew it!
Moon: I’ve always had faith in you Peter!
The first time Sally ever met Harley was when she dropped by the café spontaneously. She had been in the area and while she wasn’t sure Peter would be there she thought it was worth a try. So she walked the three blocks, looking forward to a nice hot chocolate since she really shouldn’t consume more coffee today.
Most of the tables were occupied by small groups of young people or working students. Another girl was behind the counter - Melissa if Sally wasn’t mistaken. Sally just stood in line behind two girls who were discussing what to get, waiting patiently for her turn. Peter joined Melissa only moments later, coming out from the backroom and going right back to working.
The sweet customer-service smile was on his face the entire time and Sally had to admit he actually managed to look genuine. Peter has always had that genuinely kind aura all over him but sometimes, in moments like these, Sally was reminded of it. As a close friend of several long years, she sometimes didn’t notice it as much but seeing him now with a bit of distance once again refreshed it in her mind. He had grown out of the awkward teenager phase and while he wasn’t bulky and was not some kind of beach boy he did look good.
Sally was a lesbian and a good friend, she was allowed to say this.
The line moved forward slowly, a group of five young men walked out while talking about football. Three of them carried their own thermos which was nice to see. The two girls in front of Sally ordered two lattes and waited for their order off to the side. Just as fate would have it Melissa had taken that order and Peter was finished with his so his eyes finally fell onto Sally and the usual phrase died on his tongue. She grinned at him and his smile turned a bit brighter.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s gotten you here?”
“Your mean hot chocolate,” Sally said and Peter laughed. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair. Whipped cream?”
“No, I’m trying to hold off on the sweets until I finished my three essays.” She placed her thermos onto the counter. Peter hummed, typing her order into the register and subtracting 10% which was more than usual. Sally raised a curious eyebrow but Peter just winked and picked up the thermos after she had swiped her card. Since both baristas were busy the other customers needed to wait so no one complained when Sally didn’t step aside immediately.
“How are the essays coming along?” Peter asked.
“Well, they are essays so… you know?”
“Oh yeah, I love essays,” Peter said completely serious, sarcasm dripping from the words. Sally just snorted, remembering Peter having one too many mental breakdowns over not being able to write his essays, much less read the source material within the given time frame.
At first, she had thought it was strange how Peter was smart as heck and yet he couldn’t read properly. There must have been something wrong somewhere otherwise he’d be able to learn it, right? She had talked to MJ about it at some point because MJ was just… she was MJ. She judged you when you said something stupid but she always seemed to have a meaningful and blunt answer at the ready. Sally had felt like she’d be most likely to get some kind of useful response and not just second-hand offendedness. She hadn’t meant to be rude, she just hadn’t understood and as a kid that often resulted in unfortunate questions.
MJ had stared at her blankly when she had asked but then she had shrugged. ‘Well I mean, yeah, of course something is different for him but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid or can’t learn. A blind person can’t learn to see either. They just learn how to make do with what they’re given. For some, that’s easier and for some, it’s extremely difficult. It’s a disability. You can’t unlearn a disability, you just learn to live with it.’
Sally had never thought of it that way. She had always just stupidly assumed it was a learning deficit in some way. The fact that it was a genuine disability and Peter couldn’t do much about it had opened her eyes and she had taken it upon herself to educate herself so she wouldn’t be this ignorant again.
“Yeah, I know,” she mused with a smile. Peter loved writing essays about at much as he loved spiders. “But they are coming along somewhat. Still got a week left until I need to hand them in so no sweets until then.”
“And then it’s stress eating?”
“It’s a reward.”
“Of course.” Peter grinned. He moved the thermos under the machine and pressed a few buttons. Melissa finished her order so Sally moved aside and let her take care of the next customer who only wanted to buy two doughnuts. Peter brought the thermos over to Sally, sprinkling some cocoa powder over the top and then screwing the lid back on. “When you have all the essays done you can drop by and I’ll make you a hot chocolate with triple whipped cream.”
Sally snickered as she picked up her thermos. “Peter, you are a dear, really.” She considered taking a sip but decided against it. The drink was hot and she was not willing to burn her tongue. “I might just take you up on that offer before I drown in the next wave of essays.”
Peter pouted. “Always working.”
She shrugged. “College, baby.”
Peter sighed defeatedly. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Sally sent him a small smile, knowing how much college talk got to Peter. He usually hid it pretty well but his friends knew how he was. The last semester of high school had been a rough ride for Peter and they had all seen what a toll everything had taken on him. They mostly refrained from talking about it because everyone would get upset. There was nothing they could do and Peter didn’t like the mood being down because of it. They had tried not talking about college or university at all but he had quickly caught on and told them to stop being stupid. He still wanted to know what was going on and it wasn’t like he’d break down because all his friends were pursuing higher education. He was happy for them and wanted to celebrate together with them.
Seeing Peter working instead of studying together with all of them was still sad to see. It was a strange mixture of sadness and anger but the only person on the receiving end of this would be Peter and he was least deserving of it. Sally tried not to dwell on it. She knew it got to Peter more than he let on but everyone danced around the matter because bringing attention to it wouldn’t help anyone.
“But it’s not all bad,” Sally said, hands curling around her thermos and a smile settling on her face. “Cindy is in the same boat and we’re saving some of her mom’s cookies for when we get done with this round of essays.”
Peter nodded his head understandingly. Everyone knew Mrs. Moon's cookies were dangerously delicious. Cookies were always good but hers were from another dimension. “Good motivation.”
“Yup,” Sally agreed. “The best. I’d kill for those cookies.”
“So would Abe, he goes crazy over those.”
“Which is why he doesn’t know about our stash.”
Peter grinned. “Wise choice.”
“Peter?” Melissa called sweetly. Peter turned around to her and she gestured towards a new customer with an expectant but also knowing expression. She skipped the guy and asked the next one for his order.
“Oh.”
Sally turned back to Peter and had to do a double-take. Her friend was smiling but it was a very different kind of smile. Kind of dopey. It reminded Sally of that picture MJ had sent into the group chat weeks ago. A light went off in Sally’s brain and she looked back at the guy who was smiling similarly. Messy hair, blue eyes, gaze full of hearts. This had to be the one.
“Oh?” she said smugly, echoing her friend and turning her head towards Peter expectantly, eyebrows raised.
Peter caught on quickly and tried to dial down his own heart eyes which was not very successful. He cleared his throat and shifted, beckoning the guy over. He stepped up next to Sally, looking at her and then at Peter curiously.
“This is Sally, she’s a friend of mine,” Peter said. “Sally, this is Harley.” He gestured towards the guy.
Sally let her eyes do a once over. She had to admit, he looked like a decent guy. His clothes didn’t look like they were from the clearance rack at H&M but also didn’t scream ‘expensive’. It was subtle and most people surely wouldn’t notice. “Well hello, Harley,” she said, popping her hips to one side and grinning. “Nice to finally meet The Boyfriend.”
Peter made an unhappy whine in the back of his throat.
Harley just blinked a few times before he smiled, not exactly fazed. Yup, he was definitely good looking. “Hey, nice to meet you. Are you part of that AcaDeca team as well?”
Interesting. Sally hummed. “That I am indeed.” Her nails thrummed against her thermos. “I’d love to interrogate you but for that, I need my sidekick. She’d have my head if I did it without her.”
“Oh please,” Peter mumbled, knowing exactly how Cindy and Sally got when they were in something together.
“Are you gonna give me another shovel talk?” Harley asked with a nervous smile.
“Nope, MJ and Ned are pretty good at that.” Sally smirked. “I don’t think I have to intimidate you when they already did.” She felt strangely powerful. “But I gotta say, I’m sure the whole team would like to meet you. Maybe you can join in for our next meetup or something. Just gotta warn you, it’s a bunch of nerds.”
“Oh he’ll fit right in,” Peter said off-handedly. “I just think you’ll scare him off.” He sent his friend a pointed look. Sally waved her hand dismissively.
“I’m not a pigeon that runs away like an idiot,” Harley huffed. He and Peter shared a look, both smiling. Sally couldn’t believe she was caught in the middle of a homoromantic novel where she was not the main character. Absolutely unacceptable.
“Good,” she said, pulling both boys out of their staring successfully. “Because you need to get with the group of nerds if you wanna date one of them.” She pointed at Peter seriously. “Don’t let your gay ass be swooned off your feet by pretty blue eyes.” She then pointed at Harley. “And you behave until I can interview you. I have three essays calling my name from twenty blocks away and a box or Mrs. Moon’s cookies waiting for me. Pete, I love you hun, keep that head on not-straight but straight enough. Good talk. Cheers.” She raised her thermos, gave both boys a nod and then was out of the door.
Her phone was at her ear right away. “Cindy, babe, you won’t believe who I just met.”
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
18:31
SaSaLeLe: I gotta say, Harley seems nice
MeowMeow_Bitch: you met him?
SaSaLeLe: indeed
SaSaLeLe: but only for like two minutes
MeowMeow_Bitch: well then he already knows half of the squad anyway. Might as well just invite him over so we can all get to know him
Charleston: I wanna meet the dude too!
Abelicious: same
I_Cant_Read: rly?
Abelicious: yeah of course why not?
I_Cant_Read: duno
I_Cant_Read: wasn’t sure if u want him there
Abelicious: dude, the guy’s your boyfriend. Ofc we wanna meet him
MeowMeow_Bitch: then we are finally not the only couple around
Nedward: finally
OGLesbian: just ask him if he wants to come
Moon: yeah I wanna meet him too!
I_Cant_Read: k I’ll ask
19:08
I_Cant_Read: how do I ask??
Abelicious: dUdE
OGLesbian: with words genius
I_Cant_Read: don’t like worbs
OGLesbian: oh damn
Moon: lmao Peter
Charleston: How To Worbs With Peter Parker
I_Cant_Read: mean
I_Cant_Read: :(
Charleston: <3
MeowMeow_Bitch: just ask if he wants to come over to mine for our next game night! He can meet everybody there. If he’s as nice as everyone says he is I’m sure he’d want to come
I_Cant_Read: u sure?
MeowMeow_Bitch: yeah, of course. Just ask him, it’ll be fine
I_Cant_Read: k
I_Cant_Read: Betty is the only 1 I like!
MeowMeow_Bitch: thanks, I know <3
I_Cant_Read: <3
Nedward: the BeTRaYaL
Charleston: it be lik that sometimes
Abelicious: dat feeling when yo gay best friend gets a boyfriend and then steals ya girl
Abelicious: I’m feeling ya homie
Nedward: I should have seen it coming, they get along too well. I came home and they were just watching Clone Wars without me
SaSaLeLe: damn, you leave for 5 minutes and suddenly Peter and Betty are engaged
SaSaLeLe: times are wild here
MeowMeow_Bitch: we’re getting married in two days in Vegas, see you there
Nedward: unbelievable
I_Cant_Read: I’ve always wanted to go to Vegas
Ned and Peter were building the lego Razor Crest on Ned’s bedroom floor, the pieces scattered throughout a wide and low cardboard box so nothing would get lost but they could rummage through the collection for the correct piece. The five figures had been placed off to the side. Ned was scared of losing Baby Yoda so they had been put into a sealed box until the project was finished.
The Razor Crest had about 1,000 pieces so nowhere near as many as the Millennium Falcon which at the top of Ned’s shelf. He had gotten that one for his birthday a year ago and he and Peter had worked on it for hours and hours on end. Peter had been honored to be allowed to work on it as well. He loved lego but May couldn’t afford to buy him the huge projects which he was fine with, really, but there was just something different about having 700 pieces or 7,000.
Ned was currently fiddling with one of the engines, brows furrowed in concentration. Peter himself was looking for a certain piece that he just couldn’t find but without it, he couldn’t continue. He considered working on another area for now, reduce the number of pieces and then look again when his phone went off. It was just a short burst of vibration against the floor, the screen lighting up. Usually, Peter would have his phone on silent, especially when they were building something but he was waiting for something important.
He leaned back, abandoning his search for now and picking up his phone. Ned was still busy with his engine, either not having noticed and deeming his engine more important. He was in the zone.
Peter looked at the notification on his lock screen and swallowed thickly. It was exactly what he had been waiting for but he didn’t know how to feel. It was like getting back his exam results. On the one hand, he wanted to know but on the other hand, he was expecting the worst and didn’t want the confirmation. He was aware there was nothing he could do to change the result but… still. Of course he wanted to know but knowing meant it was real and while he didn’t know he could still pretend to be blissfully unaware and hope for the best. As unrealistic as it was.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t change anything now. It would remain the same regardless of him knowing or not so he opened up the email and got to reading. It didn’t take longer than a few seconds before he reached the dreaded but sadly expected words.
… unfortunately, we cannot offer you a scholarship…
Peter just stared at the words, reading them over and over again like they would suddenly change their meaning. He was used to this happening but of course the one time he did want it to happen it didn’t. The words remained the same, staring back at him mockingly. He locked his phone, the screen fading to black, and dropped it on the carpet where it landed with a dull thud. His knees came up to his chest as he pulled in a sharp breath and he buried his face in his hands.
This was it, this had been the last resort and now… now all the cards were out in the open, dealt and done with. Peter tried to think about anything else but all that his brain could focus on was this.
The endless amounts of forms he had filled out, all the paperwork, headache after headache, frustration piling up until Peter had wanted to throw his laptop out of the window. All that for nothing and it wasn’t even unexpected. Peter had very much expected this exact outcome but that didn’t make accepting it any easier. Not at all. If anything it made it even harder. After filling everything out, after sending it he had somehow stupidly let himself believe there was a change, even just a small one.
But then responses had started coming in. Denial after denial after denial. Supposedly heartfelt emails where anonymous people expressed sadness over denying him their scholarships. Peter had expected it and berated himself for ever believing anything different could have come out of this. Who would want to offer a scholarship to a dyslexic kid with awful grades and scores?
No one.
They were hard to get in the first place, even with excellent grades you needed other stuff to set you apart from all your peers who were doing the exact same thing. It had been obvious from the start and usually, Peter was realistic but he had allowed himself to be childish just this once for a few months and believe he actually stood a chance when everything had already fallen into place the first time the word ‘dyslexic’ had been applied to him.
Stupid.
“Pete?”
He looked up at Ned who had come out of his building haze. His friend’s expression was downright concerned, even more so when he saw Peter’s face. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?” he asked softly.
Peter sniffled and wiped over his cheek with the outer edge of his hand, catching some wetness. He just looked down at his phone, Ned following his gaze and slowly piecing the pieces together.
“Did you get…”
Peter nodded into his knees.
“And?” Ned asked carefully.
Peter glanced up at him, knowing Ned already knew. He lowered his eyes as Ned’s face fell and he scooted over. “Oh Pete…”
He sniffed, feeling his eyes starting to burn anew. “It’s stupid,” he said, voice weak and shaky and he hated how it was obvious that he was crying.
Ned shook his head, coming up next to him. “No, no it’s not. You tried your best, man. I… I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault, it’s-” Peter’s voice broke off into a sob and he hated it. He absolutely hated it.
Ned’s expression was crestfallen and he tugged on Peter’s elbow. “Come here,” he mumbled softly, winding his arms around his friend and pulling him into his chest. Ned was just a tad shorter than Peter but whenever they hugged there was this warm feeling of comfort and safety. Peter loved Ned’s hugs and maybe that’s why he lost it right then.
“I just… I knew it wouldn’t work but then I… I thought maybe but I knew, I knew the whole time it was stupid and I wouldn’t g-get anything out of this and I still tried but… but-” Peter interrupted himself with a sob and a shaky breath. His voice was all wobbly and messed up. He didn’t even know what he was trying to say, nothing made sense and his brain was a mess. His glasses squished into his nose so he reached up and tugged them off weakly. He couldn’t see shit now but he didn’t care and just buried his face in Ned’s shoulder, crying into his dark blue sweatshirt jacket.
Ned let him because he was the best friend in the entire universe and just rubbed Peter’s back soothingly. He mumbled another sad apology but Peter just shook his head and continued crying.
At some point, Ned’s little sister opened the door quietly and peered into the room worriedly. Her face was a mixture of shock and sadness as she saw Peter curled up in her brother’s arms and just straight up sobbing. She sent her brother a questioning look, worry evident but Ned just managed a sad smile and shook his head. She looked reluctant but nodded and closed the door again silently. Ned would probably have to explain later but for now, he had other priorities.
There was nothing he could do or say to make this situation better. Peter had asked them not to get their hopes up and not to… tell him he stood a chance. Ned had wanted to, obviously, because he knew how smart Peter was and how much he deserved a scholarship but he understood where Peter was coming from. Logically Ned knew it would have been nothing short of a miracle if Peter had actually gotten one. Didn’t mean he hadn’t hoped for it but… he had sadly expected this outcome as well. He hadn’t wanted to, obviously, but the thought had been there.
It didn’t make it any easier to accept it now that it had indeed happened. It felt awful to be completely powerless like he was. This entire time he had kept his fingers crossed, had wished Peter good luck with every application he had sent out and yet it had all been in vain. It felt like he should be able to do something but it was out of his hands. All Ned could do was try and comfort Peter. He didn’t want to spout any lies, say to just try again next year, that surely he’d get a scholarship eventually. He wanted to make promises like that but he couldn’t.
They remained on the floor, unfinished parts and even smaller pieces of the Razor Crest scattered around them. Ned didn’t feel like continuing it. It was supposed to be exciting and fun and it just felt wrong to continue in a situation like this, continue this build and then be reminded of this every time they looked at the finished piece. Everything was wrong. The entire situation was just downright wrong.
Ned wished there was a way for him to just show up somewhere and yell at some people so Peter could get the education he deserved. If it were just that easy. If Peter had been given a chance to roll up personally with a presentation then he would have been accepted by at least ten different universities already. The thought made Ned sad and angry.
“Sorry,” Peter sniffed into his shoulder. “I shouldn’t be this affected, I knew it would happen.”
“Doesn’t make it any better,” Ned mumbled sadly and squeezed his friend a little tighter. He had always liked hugging Peter. They just fit together nicely and Peter liked his hugs, no matter where they were. “You’re allowed to be upset. It’s unfair.”
“I know.”
“It sucks.”
“Yeah.” Peter leaned his head against Ned’s neck. The sobs had calmed down although his breaths were still a little shaky. Ned gave him all the time he needed. He didn’t mind cuddling at all although the circumstances weren’t ideal. If hugs were what Peter needed right now he was more than happy to provide.
It took a while but then Peter leaned back and wiped the remaining tears from his face. His eyes were red and puffy. It was obvious he had been crying. He sniffed one last time before pushing his glasses back onto his nose. His eyes traveled up to meet Ned’s and he managed the smallest hint of a sad smile. Ned was sure if he hadn’t been this close to Peter he probably would have tried even harder to pull himself together.
He looked at his friend sadly. “Do you wanna tell the others?” Ned asked softly.
Peter shook his head. “Not now, don’t wanna talk about it.”
Ned nodded. Understandable. He wouldn’t want to talk about it either. He took the small hint that Peter had given him probably unknowingly. He knew Peter well enough to figure not wanting to talk about it applied to Ned as well. If he couldn’t provide an ear to listen he could do his best to provide other things. “You wanna go and eat one of those waffle ice creams?”
It was a small shop several blocks away. The had a unique item where you could choose different flavors of ice cream and a waffle with additional ingredients like fruits inside the dough. The made the waffle, big and fluffy, and curled it into a cone to hold giant spoons of ice cream. It was more expensive than regular ice cream and pretty much an entire meal but it was ridiculously good.
Peter needed a moment to understand but when he did his smile was a little bit more genuine and he nodded his head.
“Alright then, let’s go.” Ned got to his feet, using Peter’s shoulder to help him up before hauling his friend onto his feet as well. Normal, Ned could do normal.
They got out into the hallway and to the door. Ned’s sister looked around the corner from the kitchen carefully, staring at Peter who smiled at her as he put on his shoes. She needed a moment but then smiled back sheepishly. She was still a little worried but one gentle look from Ned was all she needed. She nodded her head subtly and waved at the two boys before ducking back into the kitchen.
“Mom, Peter and I are going out,” Ned called as he opened the door.
“Alright, honey,” his mother called back from the kitchen.
The two made their way down the multitude of winding stairs and stepped out onto the street. Peter took a deep breath, just staring at nothing in particular for a moment before looking at Ned and nodding. They turned to the right towards the shop.
“How long do you think we’ll need for the Razor Crest?” Peter asked.
Ned smiled softly. Normal, he could do that. “I don’t know, depends how many pieces you lost in my carpet.”
“I didn’t lose any pieces in your carpet.”
“Uhu, sure. Last time it was three.”
“Okay, listen up-.”
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
17:26
I_Cant_Read: he said yes
OGLesbian: to the dress?
Nedward: no to flying to the moon
I_Cant_Read: to coming to our next meet up
Moon: great! then I finally get to meet him!
MeowMeow_Bitch: anything he likes to eat? or not eat?
I_Cant_Read: you don’t have to make extra for him
MeowMeow_Bitch: will do anyway
Nedward: more for me~
Abelicious: Ay I get to meet tha man
Charleston: The Boyfriend
Abelicious: yo wait, this is Peter’s first boyfriend?!!??!
I_Cant_Read: …
Abelicious: AAWWWW!
I_Cant_Read: this was a bad idea
Abelicious: no, no this is good! I still remember how you were crushing on that dude in school and I was rooting for you man but this is great!
SaSaLeLe: finally some good fucking gay in this household
I_Cant_Read: I regret this
I_Cant_Read: sewerly
SaSaLeLe: u shall bless us other gays with your gayness
OGLesbian: I’m gay enough as it is
OGLesbian: there was this girl and I was just staring at her for like five minutes straight
SaSaLeLe: girls are the best
Nedward: agreed
Abelicious: yes
Charleston: yeh
I_Cant_Read: ...
MeowMeow_Bitch: …
Moon: ...
MeowMeow_Bitch: we’re outnumbered.
I_Cant_Read: but boys are
MeowMeow_Bitch: handsome
Moon: strong
MeowMeow_Bitch: sweet
Nedward: I feel flattered
I_Cant_Read: I wanted to say they make me go swooh but okay
Charleston: what’s swooh?
I_Cant_Read: when a charming guy gives you dat smile and you just go… swooh
Moon: I actually know exactly what you mean
I_Cant_Read: right?
SaSaLeLe: ?
OGLesbian: like when a girl is seriously amazing n you just go FUCK
SaSaLeLe: OH
SaSaLeLe: I see
SaSaLeLe: do you go Swooh when Harley looks at you??
I_Cant_Read: I
SaSaLeLe: wait don’t answer this, I saw you going Swooh
I_Cant_Read: …
Abelicious: lol that’s a yes
I_Cant_Read: the SLaNdEr in this bUs is asteronomical!!!
On her first day of high school, MJ didn’t make any new friends. Any friends at all, actually. Her mom had told her to just talk to someone who looked nice, speak to her seat neighbor and please not glare at everyone who tried to come up to her.
MJ had tried, okay? She had done her best not to glare but she wasn’t one to smile unnecessarily. People thought she was a little strange and okay, maybe she was but she was only called strange because she didn’t bow down to whatever was perceived as normal. These things were a bit too complex for some kids. They just called MJ weird and were done with it. Fine with her, it wasn’t like she really needed friends to get through school. She had books and her notebooks where she could doodle people who were freaking out over their assignments.
The girl next to MJ had made an effort to strike up a conversation but all she had talked about were the boys in their class. MJ had tried to at least engage in the conversation somewhat but once it became clear the girl was not interested in anything but potential boyfriend material she had zoned out. Her lack of proper answers quickly lead to the unfortunate death of the conversation. Fine with MJ, she’d rather talk about books or history or even famous lesbian women but no, those were apparently not interesting enough for the general population.
So MJ hadn’t made any new best friends on her first day but she wasn’t really concerned. She had chosen a good spot to draw people, somewhere in a corner where she hopefully wouldn’t be bothered too much and she could hide her book behind the people who sat in front of her.
When the last bell rang everyone gathered their belongings and shoved them into their shiny new backpacks or overpriced shoulder bags for some of the girls. MJ took her time, not wanting to be caught up in a group of gaggling students who were proclaiming their new friendship and making plans for sleepovers already. She slipped past her seat neighbor - Sophia - who sent her an uncertain smile as if to say goodbye. MJ managed a smile of her own because she wasn’t a complete asshole and it wasn’t Sophia’s fault she was unfortunately attracted to boys and MJ couldn’t be bothered with the male specimen in a romantic sense.
MJ managed to get out into the hall without anyone trying to strike up a generic conversation. She could get out of school and then make her way to the public library for a new book on poetry. Her mom had promised once school had started back up she was allowed to get a new book. MJ would make good out of that promise as quickly as possible.
One her way to the entrance of the school she was caught behind two boys who were talking animatedly. They mentioned something related to lego and Star Wars and Star Trek. MJ didn’t get any of it but she couldn’t help but stare at the backs of their heads and their half-turned faces. They were both freshmen as well and in her class if she wasn’t mistaken. They sat next to each other and apparently they had hit it off immediately. From the way they spoke MJ figured they had known each other previously or they had just found their new best friends, she wasn't sure yet. Both of them gestured around excitedly. It was like seeing small kids on the playground and she tried her best to suppress her amused smile. There was something adorably childish about boys geeking out together.
The left boy was a little taller and considerably bigger. His black hair was thick and his skin tan. If MJ had to guess she’d say south-east Asian but she knew not everyone could be put in just one box cleanly. The other boy looked like a small slender stick next to his friend. His hair curled in different directions on top of his head and his glasses seemed a bit too big for his face. Dorks. MJ shook her head but stayed behind them because the hallways were full and the library wasn’t about to burn down.
They finally reached the front where a bunch of cars and parents were gathered to pick up their kids from school. MJ’s parents didn’t have time for that but she was a big girl and had grown up in New York. She didn’t need an adult to pick her up from school.
“No, no, I’m just gonna wait for my brother,” the bigger boy said and gestured towards the students piling out of the building.
“Alright, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye Peter.”
MJ didn’t know why she remained in her spot off to the side and watched as the slender boy bundled down the stairs and skipped over to a young woman. She smiled brightly and hugged the boy before they started a conversation. She had probably asked how his day had been and the boy started talking immediately, a big smile on his face and hands flying as he recounted his day. MJ just stared curiously. The woman was really, really pretty and very young. Rich brown hair fell over her shoulders and down to her waist, considerably longer than most women wore it. She wasn’t very tall but her high waisted grey pants made her legs look incredibly long. Combined with an orange top she looked a bit like a mix between a model and a businesswoman. Her smile was warm and genuine though and her appearance was more effortless and not styled carefully. She ruffled the boy’s hair and pulled him into her side as they started walking away.
MJ watched them go but was quickly reminded of her trip to the library and forgot about the pair rather quickly as she thought about what kind of book she should pick up.
Two days later MJ knew the curly-haired boy’s name was Peter and his friend was called Ned. They did indeed stick together a lot and seemed to get along just swimmingly. MJ’s seat neighbor had realized her disinterest in boys and now just talked to her sometimes when she had a question. It didn’t seem like Sophia hated MJ, which was nice, but she’d describe them as acquaintances, nothing more. Maybe MJ should work on that but she didn’t see the need as of yet.
Today they would be introduced to the clubs of the school. MJ wasn’t sure if she even wanted to join a club but her parents had told her she needed to pick out one since she didn’t have any other hobbies. MJ resented this decision but she’d just have to look for a somewhat interesting club where she wouldn’t have to work out constantly. Maybe something art-related.
Some presentations were downright ridiculous. The cheerleaders jumped across the stage and wiggled their silly pom-poms around with plastic smiles on their faces. MJ couldn’t hide her prejudice against cheerleaders so she just zoned out for that bit. Some clubs just said two sentences.
‘Hi, I’m the captain of the chess club. We play chess, I think that’s pretty obvious. If you like chess just check it out… That’s it.’
Well, straight to the point and pretty much self-explanatory. MJ could live with that. Sadly there wasn’t much in the art department except for an anime club and a woodwork club. Both weren’t really up MJ’s alley. For a fleeting moment, she was afraid she'd just have to join the chess club. She didn’t have anything against the occasional game of chess, she knew the basic rules, but she didn’t want to do it for three or four hours every week. Another option would be the school newspaper but it sounded a little childish and she didn’t want to write about school rumors for a year.
Most clubs were sport-related like football, basketball, swimming, volleyball, badminton, track and tennis. Those were completely out of question. So it boiled down to chess, newspaper or maybe drama. She would deck someone if she had to be on stage but she could maybe do something backstage. None of those things sounded particularly good though.
It was towards the end when a tall girl stepped onto the stage and took the mic from the swim team’s captain.
“Hi everyone, I’m Liz and I’m the captain of the Academic Decathlon club.”
MJ looked up from her notebook and tuned in. She hadn’t been aware Midtown had an Academic Decathlon club.
The girl on stage smiled. She wore a high waisted skirt and was probably a junior. Some guy to MJ’s right elbowed his friend and wagged his eyebrows. MJ just rolled her eyes at their antics and listened to Liz who explained what they did.
“We qualified for nationals two years ago and we are always very high up in the yearly competition. If you’re interested in science, math, history or art and like studying and memorizing facts you might enjoy this as well. We didn’t get many new members last year so everyone who wants to check it out is very welcome. We are not a big team but we are very close and we travel to some major cities for competitions. You are very welcome to come and check it out.”
Considerably more people clapped when she was done with the introduction of the club. MJ stared at her notebook and tapped her pencil onto the page. Random facts, showing people she was smart, no working out, no boring chess, no childish articles… This actually sounded pretty decent. Academic Decathlon was something she could be proud of. Playing chess didn’t sound very impressive but maybe winning at AcaDeca nationals was an admirable accomplishment.
Her decision was made and once the event was over people ran around to pick up application forms from the captains. MJ made her way through the groups of students discussing their options with their friends and found Liz between all those people. She had just handed a form to Peter and Ned from MJ’s class. She watched them for a moment until the coast was clear and then approached Liz carefully. For all the boldness MJ possessed, she wasn’t very good at striking up genuine conversations. She did have a face that could be interpreted as constantly annoyed and Liz was a very pretty older girl. This was not a good combination and MJ briefly considered just turning tail and getting an application form from the office tomorrow.
Liz saw her lingering before she could bolt though and smiled at her. “Hey, would you like an application form?” she asked kindly and offered on to MJ. She took the sheet of paper carefully and looked at the requested information.
“I’m glad so many people seem interested in joining,” Liz said and MJ’s eyes switching back up to her. “This is my first year as captain and right now we only have four members. I was afraid no one would want to join,” she said sheepishly and brushed some hair behind her ear. MJ stared for a long moment, almost missing Liz’s next words. “But so far it looks good.”
“Yeah,” MJ said lamely before kicking herself. “I never did this before so I- uh… I don’t know how good I’ll be at it.”
Liz waved her hand. “Oh don’t worry about that. Most of the members never did it before but we practice a lot and competitions won’t be for a while. We have plenty of time to prepare and with several new members we’ll have a few without any experience.” She smiled encouragingly and MJ felt strangely reassured. She nodded her head and sent Liz a shy smile.
“First practice is on Tuesday next week in room number 23 on the first floor.”
MJ clutched onto her bag and nodded once more. “Okay… I’ll be there.”
Liz smiled brilliantly. “Great, see you then.”
Academic Decathlon had gained a lot of new members. Eight to be exact. Peter and Ned were there together with a third boy from MJ’s class called Abe. There was a guy who said his name was Flash, a guy named Charles and two more girls called Betty and Sally. Liz welcomed them all with a brilliant smile and open arms. There were two seniors on the team and another junior who were obviously more experienced than the newbies but they were all nice.
As the weeks went by MJ realized this was exactly what she wanted in a club. They got work done but it wasn't exhausting. Liz managed them quite well for this being her first time being captain and everyone was devoted to what they were doing. Everyone got along pretty well although Flash sometimes dropped some stupid comments. Mr. Harrington, the teacher responsible for the club, was a little scatter-brained but he tried and was interested in their team being successful.
MJ spent a lot of time just people watching. It was what she was good at and it was incredibly interesting to watch people when they didn’t know they were being watched. Ned was a little childish sometimes but put a computer in front of him and he suddenly turned into a CIA agent. Betty could be labeled as the stereotypical blonde girl from her appearance but she had a vast knowledge of American history. Sally was loud and girly but put she was fluent in French and had a knack for remembering dates. Flash actually had a brain much to MJ’s surprise although he was often too hasty with his decisions and ended up being slightly incorrect. Abe sometimes acted like a fool but he and Charles, who was pretty quiet overall, were really good at solving math problems.
Most interesting out of all of them was Peter though. He needed time to get out of his shell but he was unrivaled among the new members in regards to biology and chemistry. Math and physics were also not a problem. Even the older members and Mr. Harrington were surprised when Liz put him and Flash against each other and Peter all but destroyed him. MJ thought it was hilarious and Peter did seem a little sheepish afterward when Flash glared at him.
On the other hand, she saw Peter writing things down with more spelling mistakes than she could count. She didn’t even know what some of those words were supposed to mean. Peter either didn’t seem to notice or he didn’t care. MJ didn’t know what to think of that.
It all came to a climax when their history teacher told Peter to read a passage in a text and it was like Peter had been given the remix of the text everyone else had received. He stumbled through his sentences, shuffling letters around and turning words into something completely new. It didn’t make any sense and you could hear crickets chirping when he finally reached the end. MJ glanced back at him over her shoulder but he just sat in his spot, head hung low and gaze cast downward pointedly. Ned looked at his friend worriedly.
MJ looked back towards the teacher who seemed at a loss for words, staring at Peter like he was an alien before he pulled himself together and cleared his throat. “Right, MJ why don’t you read that again for us please?”
MJ’s eyes flickered to Peter who was still staring down at his desk. She felt kind of bad as she started reading out loud. The words were correct and made sense this time. The teacher nodded, satisfied, and assigned the next passage to someone else, pointedly avoiding Peter for the remainder of the class.
It stayed at the back of MJ’s head even as she got home. It didn’t make sense to her. Why would Peter struggle so much with reading and writing but at the same time attend the best school in the city which was known for only accepting smart students? It was a mystery and if there was one thing MJ liked it was solving mysteries. The first thing she did was ask her parents. She didn’t say who it was about or why she was asking but they were both not much of a help.
She then continued her hunt on the internet, typing in different questions and searching her way through articles and forums. At some point, she stumbled across the word dyslexia and the short explanation underneath was intriguing. She looked up the word, read through different sources and from all she knew about Peter it fit perfectly. It was fascinating to learn more about the disability and suddenly she looked at Peter in a completely new light.
MJ wanted to know more but that would require talking to Peter and she wasn’t sure how to do that. He was rarely alone and she didn’t want to bring it up when he was around people. Besides, maybe it was considered rude to bring it up? Maybe Peter didn’t want to talk about it. MJ recognized she was sometimes a little too harsh with her approach so she reeled herself back and kept her questions to herself for weeks in which she observed Peter further.
He was nice with a kind smile. Those glasses were a bit big for his face but somehow he made it work. Somehow he magically got along with everyone except for Flash who had declared some stupid one-sided rivalry Peter didn’t know anything about. He liked helping people out and even when he could answer question after question he never boasted about his knowledge. He had dorky conversations with Ned and had somehow made friends with the rest of the team as well. MJ was a tiny bit jealous of his ability to just be liked by everyone without actually doing anything but some people just were like that. They had this certain kind of aura and Peter was obviously one of them.
MJ mostly saw this side of him until she was running late for practice because she had become distracted by a book at the library. She walked along the empty hallway towards their practice room when she heard a strange noise from around a corner. She halted in her steps and listened. At first, she didn’t know where to put it but then she realized someone was crying. They were trying to be quiet but seeing as this floor was usually empty around this time and everyone was either busy with their club or going home there shouldn’t be anyone wandering the halls right now. MJ was the exception.
She wondered if she should just walk past, ignore this person and give them privacy or if she should check on them. Who knew what was going on. Maybe it was nothing but maybe they needed help. MJ wasn’t the most compassionate human on the planet but even she wouldn’t just ignore someone who needed help. So, with a small sigh and a quick pep talk, she rounded the corner and slowly walked past the old closets on the wall. She didn’t know what she had expected but it had certainly not been seeing Peter curled up next to the last closet, bag deposited next to him and knees drawn up to his chest. His face was hidden behind knees and elbows so MJ had a moment to compose herself.
He didn’t look hurt but who knew. Her eyes took him in just to be sure but there was nothing out of order. There was a notebook next to him that she recognized as the one they used for graded assignments and homework. It was opened on a random page and where MJ’s own work only had a few red lines where she had forgotten a comma or red ticks to indicate her conclusions were correct Peter’s pages looked like a mess. There was red everywhere, question marks littering the sides, words were circled and underlined. ‘What does this even mean?!?’ was written somewhere in red ink.
MJ looked back at Peter’s huddled form and acted without thinking which was not very usual for her. “Hey!”
Peter made a startled squeak and jumped. His head whipped up to MJ fast enough she was worried about his neck. There were tears smeared across his face and his nose was red. He was shocked and surprised but it slowly melted into confusion and his brows furrowed. “Michelle?” he asked, voice wobbly. MJ was surprised he knew her name but shooed that thought away - they had been in the same class and club for months after all. She crouched down in front of Peter to be somewhat on eye level and stared at him. He stared back before becoming aware of his state. He wiped his face with his sleeve. “Sorry.”
She frowned. “What for?” It probably came out harsher than intended because Peter flinched and lowered his gaze. It flickered to the right where his notebook was. He quickly reached out and slammed it shut, stuffing it into his backpack without care for bent corners. If it had been a book MJ would have ripped his head off but she let it slide and just watched.
Peter still avoided her gaze, fiddling with the zipper of his backpack while MJ was thinking. Now was the time to say something. It surely wasn’t an ideal situation but when was a situation ever?
“Are you dyslexic?”
Peter’s eyes were wide as he looked at her, afraid almost. MJ’s expression remained neutral, waiting for a response. Peter remained frozen for some moments before he deflated and dropped his head, picking at the zipper of his backpack again. “How’d you know?” he asked quietly.
MJ’s eyebrows crawled up her forehead, actually a little surprised to be right. Thankfully Peter didn’t see it and she was able to school her features back into indifference. She shrugged. “I’m pretty observant. Looked it up.” She watched him closely but didn’t get a reaction out of him. He looked sad and defeated. MJ pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Didn’t make sense that you’d be that smart but be unable to write without going off script or read without making a remix out of the text.”
It was sort of strangely backhanded compliment. She realized Peter had taken it as an insult as he slid down the wall further, face red in embarrassment ad eyes downcast. MJ felt bad because this had not been her intention but she wasn’t good with these things. She was blunt and sarcastic and people never knew how she meant things. Her mom always said she needed to make clear when she was being nice and when she was being mean. Right now she had meant to be nice but it had obviously backfired.
“Look,” she said, “that doesn’t matter.” She gestured towards his backpack. “You’re smart. Just because you can’t write those things down very well doesn’t mean they aren’t in there.” She poked his forehead in a surge of confidence. Or maybe panic, who knew?
Peter’s hand flew up to his forehead out of reflex. He looked up at MJ uncertainly and she managed a soft smile. “Teachers are stupid anyway. They have one solution when there are four other ways but they say those are wrong because they are narrow-minded. Last week Mr. Wallis said the united effort of men got us to the moon. He didn’t mention the women who did all the calculations and helped behind closed doors to make that stupid rocket fly somewhere.” She shrugged. “He’s stupid but just because he said it was the united effort of men doesn’t mean women didn’t contribute just as much.”
MJ rocked back onto her heels. “In elementary school, a teacher said Columbus wanted to prove the earth was round which is stupid and completely incorrect but she said it anyway and like a bunch of idiots everyone believed her.” Peter stared at her intently and she avoided his eyes, shrugging once more. “You’re smart, Peter. Not just because you got into this school but you’re actually smart. Don’t let that stupid paper tell you otherwise. Teachers suck.”
Peter was silent for a while and MJ started questioning if maybe she had said more wrong things but then Peter smiled shyly. “Don’t feel very smart when I get stuff like this back-” he gestured to his backpack- “but I guess you’re right.”
“You will see I’m right 99% of the time.”
“What’s with the other 1%?”
“That’s when Barack Obama says he has faith in whatever this shitshow is and I have to believe him because it’s Barack Obama.”
Peter laughed out loud and the sound brought a small smile to MJ’s face. Laughter was good, she hadn’t failed completely. “Come on, Liz gets angsty when people are late.” She stood up and offered Peter her hand. The other nodded, wiped his face with his sleeve one more time and grabbed his bag before he accepted MJ’s hand to get up. She looked at him closely to make sure she hadn’t messed something up but he seemed to be in better spirits than before. The smile was still there and MJ nodded in a satisfied manner.
They made their way to practice and everyone turned towards the door as soon as they stepped inside. Mr. Harrington was nowhere to be seen which was good. Liz stood at the front with a deck of cards in her hands. “There you are! Where were you? You’re late,” she said.
“Sorry, got distracted at the library and Peter found me,” MJ said easily. She could feel Peter’s eyes on her but didn’t waver. Liz pursed her lips but nodded. She wasn’t the sternest captain out there anyway so she wouldn’t be mad. “Alright. Sit down, I want everyone to memorize these as quickly as possible.”
With that practice resumed and MJ pointedly ignored Peter’s stare that occasionally stuck to her.
“Michelle! Wait!”
MJ stopped and turned towards Peter who came running after her, leaving Ned at the entrance of the school. The other boy watched with wide eyes as Peter wrapped his arms around MJ and pulled her into a hug. MJ’s brain short-circuited and for a moment she was frozen, eyes wide and arms raised awkwardly before she remembered how to be a human and wrapped them around Peter loosely. She patted his backpack for a lack of better things to do with her hands. The hug wasn’t too long and it didn’t make MJ feel uncomfortable. She just really hadn’t expected this.
“Thank you,” Peter said as he leaned back, smiling brightly. The sad and self-conscious version from before was nowhere to be seen.
“MJ,” MJ said without thinking and Peter crooked his head in question. “MJ… that’s what my friends call me,” she said quietly, worried this was… somehow the wrong dialogue option but Peter’s smile turned even more brilliant if that was even possible.
“Thanks, MJ,” he said and MJ couldn’t explain the strange feeling in her chest. Peter walked backward and waved. “See you tomorrow!” He turned around and skipped back over to Ned whose eyes were almost bugging out of his head.
“Yeah…” MJ said to no one in particular, watching them go and clutching onto her bag a little tighter. When she caught a glimpse at herself in a window on her way home she was smiling softly.
If after this the number of people calling her MJ increased with the help of Peter then no one had to know how happy she actually was about this.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
20:07
Nedward: u still coming Pete? :P
I_Cant_Read: ye almost there
I_Cant_Read: tb was late
Moon: tb?
I_Cant_Read: the boyfriend
Abelicious: lol
I_Cant_Read: has sent a voice message [“So I was right on time, right? And then someone couldn’t decide what to wear so I had to wait and-” “I said I’m sorryyyy.” “-I was waiting and someone took his time-” “I’m sorryyyy.” “-so now we’re late and-” “Sowwy.” “Jesus, can you stop?” *snickering in the background* “But I’m so sowwy.” *grumbling from Peter* “Anyway, we’re almost there.”]
Abelicious: lmao
SaSaLeLe: if you’re not here within the next two mins we’re gonna start Monopoly without you
Harley didn’t know what to expect from the evening. He was equal parts excited and nervous because he had never been to such an event. Sure, he had been to fancy dinners and all that jazz, had talked to snobby people a whole bunch but he had never been invited to a game night with people his age - normal people who attended college or university and were friends from high school.
He was glad he had already met MJ and Ned. Both of them were nice even if MJ was scarily blunt sometimes. Sally also seemed nice though her threat of interrogating him was still looming above his head. This and the other four people he hadn’t met before. Harley knew they were all close. One of them was Ned’s girlfriend but even before that, she had been part of the group. They were meeting at her house today because her mom was out of town visiting her sister in Philadelphia which she did every few weeks.
“What if they don’t like me?” he blurted out as Peter reached up to ring the bell. His boyfriend halted his motion and turned to him, first frowning but then his expression smoothed out into something gentle. Harley could feel his chest getting warm with just this one look. It was stupid how easy it was for Peter to make him feel all mushy and warm inside.
“They’ll like you,” Peter assured him. “I like you a whole bunch so they’ll like you as well.”
“It’s that easy?” Harley tried to joke but it probably came out as a genuine question.
Peter chuckled. “Well, maybe not that easy but they are very open towards meeting you and they’ll try their best. If you’re not a jerk then they’ll like you and I know you’re not a jerk so you’ll be fine.”
Harley was aware he could be a jerk if he wanted to be. He was maybe a bit too good at coming off as a snobby jerk but he had absolutely no desire to do this tonight. He wanted to be in good graces with Peter’s friends. They obviously meant a lot to him so Harley wanted to cherish that friendship and do his best not to disturb or strain it. He had never understood why someone would get jealous over their partner’s friends who had been in the picture way longer than them. Of course it was normal to maybe get a bit self-conscious when the relationship was new and other people knew your partner better than you did but Harley would never want to be somewhere between Peter and his friends.
“Alright,” he sighed and slapped on a smooth grin. “I’ll do my best to woo all your friends into liking me.”
Peter hummed, leaning in to give Harley a quick kiss before leaning back and grinning as well. “Good.” He turned back towards the door and rang one specific bell among many. It took a moment but then the door buzzed open and they entered. Harley guessed they knew it had to be them and had therefore not bothered to ask. Peter lead them up a few flights of stairs, way too many in Harley’s opinion but he wasn’t a wimp so he didn’t complain. At the end of the hallway, there was a door cracked open, light spilling out and the faint sounds of music reaching them.
The apartment was nice and modern although the collection of wildly different shoes stood out against the otherwise clean and neat entrance. There were a few pairs of sneakers, some more worn than others, a pair of sleek black ankle boots with a small heel and a pair of flats. Peter’s chucks and Harley’s Air Max joined the mix and their jackets found a spot on the quite crowded coat rack. Peter pushed the door shut and the reaction was immediate.
“They are here!” someone shouted.
“Oh!”
“Peeeeterrr!”
Peter sighed heavily but there was a smile on his face. He sent a last encouraging look at his boyfriend which Harley appreciated. He did feel a bit nervous although he didn’t like admitting it. He rarely got nervous but everything to do with Peter was just different. Peter reached out to grab Harley’s hand, squeezing softly in silent support, and pulled him along to where the voices had come from. “No, it’s the pizza man,” he deadpanned as they stepped into the open and cozy living room. “You just let a killer into your house.”
“Oh damn, that’s too bad,” the girl Harley recognized as Sally said. She was lounging in an armchair, her hair half pulled back. The dangly earrings caught Harley’s eye for a second and she grinned at him, raising her drink in greeting.
Peter shook his head, tugging Harley up next to him. He felt a tiny bit overwhelmed with so many people staring at him like he was a zoo exhibit but he could do this. He was a grown-ass man and he could meet people his age. This was not intimidating and he had no reason to be nervous. Except those were Peter's closest friends and if he fucked this up then that would be really, really bad. Like… extremely bad.
But no pressure.
“Okay, you’ve met Ned, MJ and Sally,” Peter said, pointing everyone out. “Then we have Cindy, Betty, Abe and Charles. Guys, this is Harley.” The way he said his name was lovely as usual.
“The Boyfriend,” three people said at the same time with teasing smiled on their faces and Harley couldn’t help but grin. This was better than looks of apprehensiveness or distrust. He could do light and fun. Humor was how he covered up all of his insecurities. “Yup, nice to meet you all.”
“Oh my god, I just noticed!” The girl with the sleek black hair - Cindy - turned to Sally who sat on the armchair behind her. “We’re finally a squad!”
It took Sally a moment, brows furrowed but then her eyes widened and a gleeful expression took over her face. “Oh my god, you’re right! MJ, you can keep your name, we’re adopting Harley!”
“Oh thank fuck,” MJ muttered into her glass but her expression remained as blank as always. Her hair was as curly as last time and the socks on her feet were mismatched.
“Uh…” Harley wasn’t sure if this was a good development but Sally looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. “Welcome to the Y-Squad,” she said like she was welcoming him to a high-end exclusive club. “You’re the first male member. Cindy, Betty, Sally and Harley. Great! Pete, we gotta keep him, he’s part of the squad now.”
Peter burst out into laughter, tugging Harley over to the couch and pushing him down to sit next to Ned who sent Harley a kind smile. “Okay good because I like this one.”
“This one?!” Harley squeaked in fake offendedness. Peter just smiled sweetly like the secret angel he was and flopped down on the couch next to him. Betty smiled and gestured towards the collection of drinks and snacks on a small table. “Just take whatever you like, self-service for everyone.”
After the introductions, the first round of Monopoly got started. They did it as teams because otherwise it would take way too long and there weren’t enough pieces for everyone. MJ played alone and Harley felt bad for a second since he was the addition that made them an odd number but MJ seemed very excited to screw them all over solo. The session got heated very soon. Abe and Charles were lagging behind severely and Cindy and Betty got always dealt the bad cards. MJ bought every piece of land she could, which was surprisingly many, and Ned and Betty somehow avoided most people’s pieces of land where they would have to pay. Peter and Harley managed to keep themselves somewhat afloat but only came in third. MJ had won, unsurprisingly. Abe and Charles had lost.
Whoever lost the first round had to call the pizza delivery service. Abe lost to Charles in rock paper scissors and pulled out his phone with a groan. “I hate calling people,” he muttered as he looked up the number and took everyone’s order.
They ordered the pizza and got started on the next game. Most people voted for a round of Mario Cart. They divided into new teams and as fate wanted it, Sally insisted they had to take advantage of the new Y-Squad. So Harley ended up on a team with the three girls while the other five made up the second team. He won against Ned which the other whined about for the next two games. Betty ended up playing one more time and the Y-Squad actually won 3 to 2. The other team wanted a rematch so they did it again. This time Sally played two rounds and they won 4 to 1. They all cheered and high fived while Abe complained his team was utterly incompetent.
The pizza arrived and they ate while playing charades. Charles had to imitate a ballerina and Peter almost started crying from how hard he was laughing. At some point, Harley had to hold his boyfriend’s slice of pizza because he feared he’d just drop it and stain the couch and carpet. He tried to hide how smitten he was with Peter but he was pretty sure everyone could see the adoring look in his eyes while Peter tried not to choke on his laughter.
“It was so bad!” Peter cried, eyes watery and face red. “I’m appalled, I’m disgusted. What was that?”
“Art!” Abe called, mimicking Charles in an over-exaggerated manner and bursting into another round of laughter with Peter. They high-fived and Harley handed the slice of pizza back once he was sure Peter wouldn’t suddenly drop it. The other went right back to eating.
“I’d like to see you try!” Charles said and slapped his friend’s shoulder who was still mimicking him.
“Well, I can’t dance either if it’s not ballroom,” Harley said but even he couldn't hide his amused smile. The attempts had been rather ridiculous.
“Thank you!” Charles called and gestured at him. “Though I don’t know any ballroom either.”
“We learned it at school,” Betty said offhandedly while fishing a new slice of pizza out a carton. Apparently, all of them were fair game except for Cindy’s margarita because she was vegetarian and every other option included meat.
“That was last century.” Charles shook his head. “I don’t remember shit from that.”
“You learn ballroom at school?” Harley asked. “What does that have to do with school?”
“For homecoming and prom,” Cindy said with a bright smile. “Aka the only school events the entire school goes crazy over.”
“Wait those actually happen?” Harley asked utterly confused. “I always thought it was just in the movies.” He didn’t have any experience with normal schools. Sure, he knew some stuff from movies or the internet and he had seen people talking about prom or whatever but he had always just assumed… He wasn’t sure what he had assumed to be completely honest but hearing normal people actually attended these events was wild.
“You’ve never been to prom or homecoming?” Sally asked appalled. A string of cheese was hanging from her mouth with she quickly pulled up with a few bites.
Harley shook his head. “Nope, homeschooled.” He grinned apologetically and everyone ahed and nodded their head in understanding. It was funny how everyone just understood some things when people said they were homeschooled. Harley was sure most assumed it meant he hadn’t gotten the same kind of education of those who attended an actual school and while that might be true his education had been tailored to him and had therefore been way more effective and in-depth.
Ned was up next with charades and he had to imitate a squirrel which took MJ less than twenty seconds to figure out. Either Ned made a very convincing squirrel or MJ had spent too much time among the squirrels of New York. The word squirrel now sounded strange to Harley’s ears.
Everyone lost it again when Sally tried to imitate a monkey, jumping on the couches and armchairs and scratching her head while hopping around strangely.
Harley did his best to imitate Beyonce and Abe shrieked the entire time. They got a little tipsy on their drinks, munched on their cold pizza and devoured way too many snacks. The couch got more and more comfy and at some point everyone was sprawled out somewhere. Betty was leaning against the couch between Ned’s legs. Peter was laying down with his feet in Ned’s lap and his head in Harley’s, MJ and Sally were in one armchair with Cindy draped across them, Charles was lying across the other armchair and Abe was a starfish on the carpet.
“Yo Pete, you picked a good one. I like the dude,” he spoke into the carpet and gave a thumbs up in their general direction.
Harley smiled and twirled Peter’s hair around his finger. “Good because I wanna keep him,” Peter said like it was no big deal and Harley suddenly felt all warm. MJ and Sally were smirking at him as he tried hard not to look like a lovesick fool but he knew he wouldn’t be very successful.
“Yeah man, keep the dude,” Charles agreed. “Maybe I need a boyfriend as well.”
“You’re straight, Charles,” Ned reminded him with an amused huff.
“Damn…”
Harley snorted and shook his head. He met Peter’s eyes, the latter looking up at him and smiling sweetly. Harley smiled back and booped his nose. Peter scrunched up his face but was back to smiling within a second. Harley wanted to smother him with kisses, the desire was almost overwhelming but he could hold himself back. Better not to do it the first time he hung out around new people.
But all of this Harley could get used to. This was nice and comfortable. The group of friends housed vastly different personalities but they were all nice and fun to be around. Being in good graces with Peter’s friends seemed a little less daunting and Harley was sure with some time and after getting to know them properly he could feel like he belonged.
Fre ShA Va Ca DoO - SQUAD
21:49
OGLesbian: hey Pete, why don’t you add Harley to the chat?
21:56
MeowMeow_Bitch: good idea!
22:01
I_Cant_Read: rlly?
OGLesbian: why not? He’s been hanging out with us for a while, might as well just add him
I_Cant_Read: if everyone is ok with that?
Abelicious: yeah man go for it
Charleston: sure, I like him
Nedward: me too
SaSaLeLe: yeah, he’s kind part of the squad already so it’s cool
I_Cant_Read: k
22: 10
I_Cant_Read: has added a new number
I_Cant_Read: welcome to hell
RealPotato: I… am honored?
Abelicious: yo Harley, my dude
RealPotato: sup
OGLesbian: I hope I won’t regret this
RealPotato: well I think it’s gonna be fun, you’re all cool ppl
SaSaLeLe: see?? Thats why we invited him
Nedward: now we can plan our hangouts properly
MeowMeow_Bitch: Ned I thought you said you were coding? :(
Nedward: yeah my program crashed and I don’t know why so I’m just eating chocolate now
RealPotato: mood, same thing here
Moon: oh no now there is to of them
Charleston: plus half a Peter because he somehow gets it but doesn’t do it
I_Cant_Read: to complex to do it myself
RealPotato: hey Ned, wanna complain about code with me?
Nedward: oh man, yes please!
OGLesbian: and thus it begins
SaSaLeLe: the queen shall save us all