Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

06. The Answer to Most Things

Caden hardly even heard Reese's statement as a million thoughts were buzzing around his head. He was excited to start the project in preparation to ask out Peter. On the other hand, he feared, despite everything his friends were telling him, that Peter would hate it. That he would hate Caden. That's impossible to think, right? Right?! Oh, feelings, why do you torture me?

"It'll work out," Jackie whispered softly to her best friend, sensing his inner torture. They were weird, telepathic best friends in that way, a way Reese didn't understand at all. She squeezed his hand to give him a source of comfort, smiling up at him. "He'll love it."

There was a faint screech of tires which Peter assumed was down the block from Jackie's house. He quickly went to Jackie's window, opening it. The three friends looked at him, Caden's eyes staring with slight stress and overall deep concern.

"Thanks again, Spider," Caden softly spoke, smiling at the boy. "I'll, um," his chuckle broke his sentence, smiling at the ground before looking back to the superhero, "I'll find some way to contact you. Maybe get your own version of the Bat Signal?"

"I'll look into that, but now I have to do some regular superhero things," Peter laughed along with the boy, shooting out a web to the side of the building. "Now, get to work on the project for that boy!" Peter pointed a finger at Caden before swinging off down the street.

In response, Caden held up a weak thumbs up, mentally making a list of supplies he would need.

-

"Dude, as fun as it is looking through your notebooks and seeing you write hearts and Caden's name over and over..." Ned chuckled, listening to Peter groan through his headphones. "I've been here for hours, are you coming back soon?"

Ned was sitting in Peter's room, hunched over his computer that gave him access to view the city like Peter was while swinging around in the air as Spider-Man.

"I said I'd be there soon!" Peter assured him. Ned winced, hearing car crashes and breaks screeching. "Whoops," Peter mumbled, chuckling uncomfortable. "Better clean this up. I'll be home straight after this, I swear."

"You won't be straight considering you most likely stopped by Caden's house, but I'll see you soon. Bye," Ned joked with his best friend, laughing himself, then tapped the headset to mute the volume.

Ned turned to face the laptop, holding it tightly on his lap while swinging around on the chair. He tried his best to mimic how flying and swinging through the air would be, smiling despite the obvious reality of everything.

"Spider-Man saves entire Queens borough from nuclear bomb plan, crafted by Robin but conspired by Batman?!" Ned mimicked a news reporter in a deep octave than his own.

He swiveled the chair as if giving an interview, thinking hard about the statement. "Well, yeah, of course being Spider-Man is hard... especially with all of the homework I have to catch up on!" he presses a button and played a laugh track on his computer, chuckling at the "response" of the audience. "I know, I know. But, in all seriousness, the city comes first. That why I think so many people, especially young children, look up to Spider-Man. They don't look up to me, but Spider-Man is their real her-"

A door unlocked on the other side of the apartment, causing Ned to be interrupted. "Oh shit!" he cursed under his breath, hopefully glancing at Peter's camera to see if it could possibly be him. He quickly concluded it wasn't him, seeing as how Peter was still jumping from building to building.

"Peter! Hey, I saw there was a car crash near the movie theater and as a fundraiser for one of the men injured they're giving out free tickets if you donate money!" May called out to the apartment, walking towards Peter's room.