Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

04. Nerd Cancelling Headphones

When the bell rang for lunch, Caden practically raced out of the door. He would've forgotten Reese was in his class if the boy hadn't called out his name. To say the least, he was more than excited to talk to Peter all about seeing Spider-Man and apparently Peter's secret Stark internship.

"Caden!" Reese shouted, causing the taller boy to come to a sudden stop near the classroom door. Reese rolled his eyes, joining his friend at the door. "I know you want to be all nerdy with your little boyfriend, but wait up for me, alright?"

"Sorry, Reese," Caden quickly apologized, walking down the hall at the same pace as Reese. "I'm just excited to tell Pete- uh, everyone," Reese raised his eyebrows at Caden, smiling to himself, "how Spider-Man saved Jackie. It was the best thing... if only you were awake, too. Jackie was spamming our group chat."

"Well, I wasn't, alright? Anyways, I think this entire situation could end up in one of two ways," Reese told Caden who looked down at him with a confused expression. "Either you and Peter will fight to the death over Spider-Man and his love, or you guys will just end up falling in love and all that junk."

Caden scoffed. "I am not in love with Peter Parker, Reese, I just like him."

"You didn't correct me when I said he was your boyfriend..." Reese countered, smirking at Caden. Finally, he decided to drop the subject no matter how funny it was to see Caden get flustered. "But I won't be a Jackie so whatever you say. Let's just get to lunch so I can eat. I'm fucking starving."

-

Caden and Reese, with their lunch trays in hand, approached Peter, Ned, and Michelle's usual table. They were surprised to see Jackie already sitting at the table, immersed in conversation with Michelle.

The two boys placed down their lunch trays, sitting across the table from Peter and Ned. Peter looked up, smiling at the sight of Caden. He was about to greet the two but was swiftly cut off by Reese.

"Before you start babbling about god knows what, let me put on my nerd cancelling headphones," Reese said, pulling his headphones over his ears. After he started his music, he gave them a thumbs up and told them to continue their conversation. "Headphone nickname credits go to Jackie Steele!" he added, not realizing how loud his voice would be with his music turned on.

Jackie smiled at the boy at the mention of her name. She turned to Peter and Ned. "Reese is against fun or something, and that fact hasn't really increased since we first became friends. Ignore him."

One of the many teachers who walked around the cafeteria to enforce the Rules of Lunchtime but were mainly to make sure students don't start smoking, spotted Reese using his headphones and mimicked taking them off before walking away. Reese rolled his eyes, sighing loudly before putting away the headphones.

"Bite me, teachers," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "Now the nerd talk will go to my brain. Great."

Caden gave him a sympathetic smile, turning back to Peter when Reese frowned at him. "So, you work for Tony Stark? The Tony Stark?" Caden asked, trying to act calm which quickly failed.

Peter smiled, laughing softly at Caden's excitement. "Yeah, I work with Tony. We do... all kinds of stuff," he looked around the table, furrowing his brows at MJ's blushing cheeks as she and Jackie talked separately from the group. "Obviously I can't disclose any information, but I've met the Avengers multiple times so..." He raised his hands, shrugging as if he said he rode his bike to school that morning.

Reese barley flinched as Caden widened his eyes and loudly gasped, smacking a hand over his mouth in shock. He slowly removed his hand from his mouth, clearly still in shock. "Have you met Spider-Man? Wait, duh, he's not even an Avenger-"