(Y/N) King is a new student at Midtown High. She, like every teenager, has secrets.
Except... most teenagers don't have secrets as deadly as hers.
Peter Parker is Spider-Man. He's been hiding it for, what, a year now? He's been doing it quite well...
"Seriously, (Y/N), why is it taking so long?" asks Tess.
"I told you already, his Spider-Senses must be noticing something and therefore he's being cautious." Not raising your voice is becoming more and more difficult the longer this lecture goes on.
"If this isn't dealt with in the next while, we're going to have to do something very destructive to his apartment building," warns Adrian. "That masked spider-freak can't stay on the streets if we're to continue." His threats are directed at Peter, but you feel slightly attacked because of your bond. "Otherwise"—he stares at you darkly—"you'll have to kill him publicly, in his house or at school, witnesses be damned."
Oh no.
No, no, no, no, no... you repeat to yourself. "I'll get it dealt with," you say, starting to form multiple plans in your mind. "Hopefully this weekend."
"Good," says Brooklyn. "Then we can finally have some peace and quiet."
You head upstairs the second you can, pulling out your phone to text Peter.
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Throughout maths on Tuesday, you and Peter were whispering about the half-plans Brooklyn had come up with and ways to counter-attack. You weren't having much luck coming up with anything, since your family was too smart to fall for any of it.
Surprisingly, Mr. Harrington didn't catch you two talking this time. "What about—"
"And just remember," says Mr. Harrington, loud enough to startle you, "the Academic Decathlon starts tomorrow. Peter, Flash, Ned, MJ, that is directed more so to you than anyone else."
"Damn, I forgot about that," you mutter to Peter when Mr. Harrington is no longer looking at him. "Where is it and how long are you there for?"
"You're starting to sound possessive." For most of the conversation, you'd both been staring forward and sitting pressed close together, but at his joke you whip your head in his direction, glaring. You can see his shoulders shake slightly with silent laughter and so you poke him in the ribs.
He shrinks away from you and makes a face. You shocked me, he mouths.
"Obviously, I'm just that surprising," you whisper.
His face goes from playfully betrayed to slightly disappointed in you. "I mean electrically shocked." Peter shakes his head.
Oh. You purse your lips and yet a snort escapes.
"Anyway, it's in Washington and we'll be there for three days."
The bell rings. You and Peter head towards your lockers (which were pretty close to each other, most likely due to your parents) with MJ and Ned close behind you, arguing about memes. Or at least that's what you've gathered from their conversation.
"So I guess we won't be seeing each other for a while," you say, grabbing your bag.
"I could always call you. We have phones for a reason."
You shake your head slowly.
"They tapped it?" he exclaims.
"God, Peter, keep your voice down!" He mutters an apology and you keep talking, quieter. "No, but it's connected to a thing in our house. You can't hear anything if my phone's off—which it is. Otherwise we wouldn't be talking so freely about this. Besides, it's mostly so they can help us on missions, but we both know they've also done it to hear my phone conversations and just keep an eye on me in general." You sling your bag over your shoulder and raise an eyebrow at Peter when you realise he's just been staring at you instead of packing. He rushes to grab his bag and follow you outside.
You get to the street where you part ways after a few minutes of aimless conversation. "I'll see you in three days. Don't die out there."
"Don't kill me when you get back."
You shrug. "No promises," you say.
"See you."
"Bye."
"What's gotten into you, (Y/N)?" asks Teresa. "You're not into the planning anymore. You were always ecstatic to plan, before Parker."
You shrug. "It's taking so long I'm losing interest."
You realise that was the wrong thing to say when Tess sends a raised eyebrow in your direction. "You're the one who can't find a good time to kill him."
"He has a busy schedule. Spider-Man-ing, school, homework, Ned, May... He isn't as predictable or flexible as the others." Your defence is terrible and you know it. You should never go for being a lawyer, you'd never win a case. "He's also, currently, in Washington, D.C."
"Speaking of people being away from home, where's Dad and when's he coming home?" says Brooklyn, saving you from digging yourself a deeper hole.
"He's in Washington as well, and he's coming home today or tomorrow." You and Brooklyn nod.
"Back to Parker, we still don't have any foolproof plans, right? (Y/N), you're sure there's nothing we could use?"
You debate whether or not you should tell them that Peter asked you to homecoming. You never gave him an answer. Maybe telling them would do some good? At this point, you're going back and forth between your thoughts so fast you're getting a small headache.
"(Y/N)? Hello? Dumber sibling? You still with us?" You make a face at Brooklyn's choice of name to call you. She smirks. "It got your attention, didn't it?"
"Shut up." After a split second of debating again, you decide, screw it. "Peter asked me to homecoming."
Tess and Brooklyn's mouths fall open for a good few seconds before they start bombarding you with questions. "When?" "Where?" "How?" "Why didn't you tell us before now?" "Did you answer?" "Do you have a plan for it yet?" "What are you going to do?" "Will you kill him before it or after it— OR! Even better, during it?"
"This is exactly why I didn't tell you before now," you mutter, placing your head in your hands. They take it down a notch—at least, Tess does—but it's still way too energetic in the room.
I can't wait for Peter to get back, you think. This time, nice thoughts about Peter aren't a surprise.
