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⋆ six ⋆
"Video calling? That's new."
"You messaged me good morning so I assumed you were back from the gym," Peter tells Xara on call, spinning around in his wheelie chair. Well, Happy's wheelie chair, but he's out working so he can't complain.
"I didn't go this morning, actually. We have school, so I wanted to make sure everything was thoroughly prepared. I've printed out the extra-curricular posters to pin around and I've written up this morning's article for Midtown News. I did go for a walk this morning, though, and got some really nice photos of the sunrise. I'll send them to you."
"Woah. I didn't realise Xara Connolly was going to end up becoming a morning person when I started dating her."
"Are you complaining?"
"Not at all." Peter grins, only to call out when Xara faces the phone down on her bed. "Hey, where did you disappear to?"
"I'm getting changed."
"So?" At the sound of her scoff, Peter just laughs. "You know, you don't have to come pick me up either. I live closer than I did before, but it's still not close, and you pass school on the way to get here anyway. I can just take the train."
"Word of advice, Spideyboy: don't refuse a lift in the best truck in the world."
The journey to school is full of jamming out to Xara's playlist, to which Peter ends up giving her a dumbfounded look when it doesn't end up being English. "What is this?"
"BTS."
"Again?"
"Hey, this is what everyone's listening to these days. I'm trying to blend in with the other teenagers and ignore the fact I was born 22 years ago. It feels disgusting."
At the reasoning, Peter pauses, then nods. "Yeah. Okay. Fair enough."
"It's so weird, though. Danielle just turned 21 and Ky is about to turn 26, and anytime they say 'we met at school but we're five years apart' everyone immediately goes 'ah' and gives them sad looks. My brother used to be three years older than me, and now he's a whole generation away. The Blip ruined everything. Like, what about the years we missed? 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022– I was so looking forward to writing 2020 in my schoolbooks, it sounded like such a cool number to say– Anyways, it sucks."
"I get you," Peter agrees, although he can't help his smile at her rambling. It's one of his favourite things, to watch her get lost in saying something, falling down all these different rabbit holes in her mind.
It's when they turn into the school parking lot that Peter's eyes go wide and he ducks below the dashboard, Xara realising immediately what's going on at the hoardes of reporters right outside. "What? Even at school? What's Principal Morita doing to fix this?"
