Summary: Ned drops a bombshell and leaves Peter to clean up the mess.
I had lived across the hall from Peter Parker for most of my life and it was our weekly pizza night. He and I and our friend Ned got pizza from the best bodega in town and ate in the park behind Peter’s apartment building. It was Ned’s turn to pick it up, the both of us beat Peter there and were already chowing down on the pizza as grease dipped down our hands. Ned anxiously bounced beside me, his knee occasionally hitting the underside of the table.
“You okay?” I questioned, glancing over at him.
“What me? Am I okay? Yeah, I’m okay, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be fine?” He stammered.
When Peter showed up, Ned continued to bounce and draw his lip between his teeth. He and Peter were sharing intense, fleeting glances. I didn’t bother to ask them what was wrong, figuring it was just some stupid prank they were going to pull on me later that Ned was terrible at hiding. In the meantime, we talked about the usual stuff. Peter’s crush, the latest stupid shit that Flash pulled, and all the Spanish homework we were so far behind on. As the sun started to go down, we finished up, throwing out the empty pizza box and starting our walk home. We walked the first block together, laughing about some stupid joke Ned had told. When we approached his stop, he glanced between Peter and I a couple of times before he opened his mouth to say something. He closed it again, letting out a hum. I raised my eyebrow at him.
“Are you oka-” I began, but he cut me off.
“Peter is Spiderman!” Ned blurted, making Peter smack the back of his head.
“What!?”
“Gotta go! Bye!” He hollered, taking off into his apartment building and running to the elevator.
“Ned!” Peter shouted after him, “What the hell dude!?”
I reached up and smacked him in the back of the head,
“Ow! What was that for?”
“You’re the asshole who has been swinging around in tights!?”
“They’re not tights!” He defended.
“I saw you on the news the other night with those guys with the bomb and they blew up Delmar’s and oh my god that was you and you’re you and oh my god they could’ve fucking killed you, your dumb ass could’ve died!” I shouted, smacking him again.
“Ow!”
“Oh my god you could’ve died.” I shouted, “You’re gonna get yourself killed you’re going to show up at the wrong place at the wrong time and get your dumb ass killed.”
“I’m not gonna get myself killed, okay? Calm down! I saved Delmar’s cat!”
“If that cat had died I would’ve killed you. I still might kill you. If you die, I’m definitely going to kill you.” I threatened.
“Okay, okay, okay! Jeez! Just don’t tell anybody, okay? You and Ned are the only ones who know.”
“You’re such an asshole, why didn’t you tell me!?”
“Because I knew you would smack me! And I was right!” He retorted, rubbing the back of his head.
“Just… Just be careful, okay?” I sighed, gripping onto his bicep.
“I will.”
“Just stick to saving cats. Don’t get roped into that alien bullshit.”
“I’ll try.”
I hooked my arm through his as we walked towards our apartment building. It was only a couple more blocks, but we walked it in silence. Peter could feel the tension through the grip I had on his arm, but he kept his mouth shut.
“Are you mad that I didn’t tell you?” He murmured.
“No… I mean…” I began, glancing up at him.
His brows were furrowed together, brown eyes intense as he stared down at me,
“Okay, a little. You know you can tell me anything, right?”
“Yeah… yeah… of course. I just… I didn’t want to worry you… Ned, he just thinks it’s awesome but I knew you would freak out.”
I let out a sigh as we entered the apartment building, getting onto the elevator. He leaned away pressed the button, arm still linked with mine. A couple more people got on, making us pause our conversation momentarily.
We got off before they did, wandering down the hall towards our apartments. I dug my keys out of my backpack and crammed them into the lock.
“Hey. Don’t die.”
“I’ll try not to.” He smiled, earning another but more gentle smack to the back of the head.
Toad's Cave 