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⋆ nineteen ⋆
Ned's the one to shake the chains on the school doors, deciding to state the obvious. "It's locked."
Peter 3 takes a step towards it. "I could easily–"
"Break in the door?" MJ interrupts, finding a tinge of pride as she throws off Peter 3's suggestion. It seems they've had some sort of mini-rivalry since they met, according to Ned. "And add that to Spider-Man's bad rep? I know how to get in without destroying anything."
She crouches in front of the door till her line of sight is all lined up with the lock, then pulls a bobby pin out of her hair. MJ's fingers are quick as she bends it out of shape, twisting it in all sorts of different ways before sticking it into the lock.
Peter 3 just gives a scoff. "Come on, seriously. How many movies have you seen? That doesn't actually–"
He immediately goes silent the moment a click rings out, the chain falling onto the ground. His jaw just clenches for a moment when she sends him a smug look.
Ned, however, doesn't catch onto the tension, gaping in shock for a moment. "Woah! How did you do that?"
"Countless hours on YouTube and money wasted on bobby pins," MJ says after a second, pulling the door open. "Anyone know how to twist this back? I need it for my hair."
It's after they've gone inside (and Peter's fixed the bobby pin) that they head towards the science labs. Immediately Xara is heading towards the technicians' office, emerging a couple of minutes later with all the chemicals she can find. In any other case, the rules-stickler wouldn't do this, but this is serious.
"I got the acid," Xara comments as she goes back into the labs, although she raises an eyebrow at the sight in front of her. "Why is Peter 3 the only one wearing a lab coat?"
"Peter 3?" Her Peter frowns, glancing around at all of them.
"I've mentally named sarcastic quip Peter 'Peter 3', and secret drug dealer Peter 'Peter 2'."
For the first time since everything happened, Peter has to hold back a smile at the commentary, watching the others mutter to themselves in confusion. It surprises him that he was able to do so that quickly, but after a moment he realises... it feels good.
"Then what am I called?"
"You're just my Peter."
Then it becomes a full-fledged smile, and a little pink colours his cheeks, although he manages to hide it from the others.
Why is Peter 3 the only one wearing a lab coat? Peter 3 hesitates when he realises the comment was directed at him, easily losing himself within another memory.
"Why are you wearing a lab coat? It's just a school experiment."
Maddy can't help the amusement shining in her countenance. She leans against the counter boredly after one of Peter's lessons, having downed her second melted hat of the day. Peter just sits typing up notes onto his laptop at his seat beside her.
