Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

10. Lion and the Argonauts

Peter had noticed through his years of being a teenager that stress can develop two different ways. It can either build up, leaving the person stressed for multiple days, their hands slick with sweat and their heart always at a seemingly unhealthy fast pace. Or, the stress can come all at once. It can hit an unknowing someone with a force so strong that it makes them lose their mind.

After a week of spending his time daydreaming about his upcoming date, Peter found himself slapped in the face by stress. He faced his closet, unable to find any worthy articles of clothing to wear, the situation being much more stressful than the Halloween movie night.

The boy, in a very desperate situation and stuck in a fight of his own indecisiveness, called Jackie, relaxing as she answered the phone quickly.

"Big day, yeah?" she greeted him, Peter almost able to picture a teasing smile tugging at her lips. "Is something wrong? Ready to spill about the details that'll happen? Caden won't tell us anything."

Peter let out a nervous chuckle, the air huffing out as he ran a hand through his hair. "We're just going to dinner," he smiled, his lips quirking up at the thought of it until the overwhelming stress settled once more, "but I'm really nervous. Like, insanely nervous. What if I throw up or something?"

"Do you... feel sick?" Jackie asked confusedly, the hint of a smile on her face as she spoke with her eyebrows knitted together. She rolled off of her bed, peeking through her curtains to see Caden across the street with clothes strewn across his bedroom floor.

Peter thought about this simple question for a second. He didn't necessarily feel sick, but the thought of something horrible happening on the date being his fault caused his hands to shake and a sweat to break out all over his body. "No, no, I don't feel sick or anything. These kind of situations just make my stomach sink, not just plain old butterflies... something crazy."

Jackie cooed into her phone, waving at Caden through from her window. "Don't worry, Caden looks the same amount of stressed. His clothes are all over his floor, I don't think he can pick a shirt to wear. You two are both crazy like this."

"I really don't think you and Reese are the best at consoling me, you always tell me something that Caden is doing, like, why to make me feel better? It hasn't helped at all." Peter exhaled a laugh, his breath wavering. He paced around his room, his eyes landing on the familiar red cotton that Caden had given him a week earlier. "He made me a Spider-Man sweater, you know-"

"Wear that!" she instantly jumped onto the semi-suggestion, figuring that Peter was in the same predicament. "I don't know how to help you with the whole speaking to him issue, though. My guess is that you'll both be blushing messes every five seconds, but you both like each other more than you can admit, so it'll be a great time. I'm going to tell Caden to wear blue, it matches his eyes, and it'll be perfect."

Peter heard rustling in the background of Jackie's side of the call. He assumed she was preparing to leave to head over to Caden's, quickly saying goodbye to her. "Thanks for talking, I hope you're right."

"No problem, Pete. And, don't worry... I'm always right." And with that, Jackie hung up, leaving Peter to throw his phone onto his bed and grab the red sweater.

Pulling it on over his T-Shirt and binder took him less than a few seconds, but standing in front of the mirror, straightening the sweatshirt a million times over took significantly more time. He was forced to stop when May quietly knocked on his door, her ever present smile growing wider at his outfit.

"Well, don't you look handsome? Spider-Guy, right?" She pointed to his sweatshirt, eyebrows raised that emphasized her bright grin.

Peter choked out a laugh, a blush dusting his cheeks at her compliment. "It's Spider-Man, May."