USM 2021 Bingo

Silly Yearnings of the Heart (Part 2)

Part 2 of for prompt! 

Aye! I did! Next chapter posted and it hasn't even been 24 hours yet.

Flash avoided Peter for the next week. He would've felt bad about it if he wasn't positive Peter was doing the same.

But it worked out mostly, seeing how Flash was an instructor for the Academy and Peter had long since graduated and only ever came to the Triskelion when he was dropping off a report or going on a special SHIELD mission.

But still, they avoided any possible interactions with each other. Flash didn't even take his class out for their weekly city patrol, too afraid of running into one red-and-blue clad arachnid.

He wasn't sure how much Peter remembered from that night, but it was enough for Peter to get all stiff and awkward whenever he and Flash were in proximity of each other. Eye contact was a no-go, and if they needed to speak it was the briefest of sentences, until one of them inevitably broke and left the room.

Honestly, Flash couldn't blame him. Peter was probably very embarrassed that he'd gotten wasted, and confessing his (fake) love for Flash was probably salt on the wound. The awkwardness made sense. Peter hadn't been in his right mind and it was probably super embarrassing to think about, so Flash was more than happy to avoid it.

In fact, Flash didn't feel particularly keen on bringing it up himself. Sure, they're little game couldn't go on forever, but Flash was not eager to hear Peter let him down easy, even though he ran through the rejection thousands of times in his own head.

It just hit differently hearing it out loud.

Thus, they avoided each other at any means necessary and it was going pretty well until MJ and Harry decided to get involved.

Curse good friends looking out for their other friends' well-being.

"Okay, what's going on between you two," MJ demanded one day during lunch hour, slamming her hand on Flash's very nice, standard issue SHIELD desk where he was at work grading papers. Normally, he might not have minded a distraction, but the look in her eye could upper-cut Galactus and he vainly attempted to hide behind the paper in his hand.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on," Harry said, the faceplate of his armor sliding up to reveal his face. "Peters' been acting strange all week. MJ told me about what happened at the party."

Flash's cheeks pinked but he kept his head bowed, pretending to mull over one of his students' answers in hopes that they wouldn't notice. "What is there to tell? Nothing happened."

The two shared a look, which was never a good sign. It was a doubtful look, meaning they weren't buying into his shit, meaning they weren't going to let him off easy. He wondered if he could make it to the door and out of the building in time to catch a helicopter to the city - hide in the urban jungle for a while and pretend he wasn't avoiding them. It must've shown in his face because MJ shifted her weight, blocking his view of the door, and Harry crossed his arms. The man wasn't necessarily intimidating, but Flash knew the lengths he would go for Peter, and that was more than enough to get his message across.

Who was Flash kidding anyway? He wouldn't make it 5 feet from the desk.

He sighed and put the paper down, "Nothing happened," he finally said, "I just took him home, tucked him in bed, and left."

Please buy it. Please buy it. Please buy it.

Venom cackled unhelpfully when MJ pursed her lips and leaned over the desk, eyes narrowing in a way that said she was not buying it. Flash tried to keep his expression neutral, but MJ had this strange habit of looking into people's very souls. A few seconds passed and he shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with his pencil.