hysteria || Peter Parker (Spider-Man: Homecoming)

04

"Okay, so what you're trying to tell me, is that that whole inter-galactic war thing that you were going on about wasn't a lie?"

Peter grinned, dropping his bag down beside MJ's bed. He gave a quiet sigh, heart still beating abnormally fast from the station.

"You thought I was lying?" He asked, in mock offence. Michelle shrugged from her seat at her desk. Her eyes flitted from her laptop back to Peter again.

"Hey, guys, I have some blueberry muffins, if you...want any." MJ's mom suddenly said, opening Michelle's bedroom door and raising her eyebrows at Peter.

"Yeah, no. We're not hungry, Mom—" Michelle began, cheeks red.

"How'd you get in?" Mrs Jones asked curiously, pointing at Peter. The teens eyes widened, pointing his own finger at his chest.

"Me?" He asked, his voice a few pitches higher than normal. Mrs Jones nodded, eyebrows knitting together further.

"I, uh...um, I just—"

"He came in with Ned, mom." Michelle interrupted Peter, before he could say anything stupid, her tone confused. Gee, she was good at acting. Maybe she should take it up.

"Yeah. Yeah." Peter breathed, nodding his head frantically.

Michelle's mom nodded her head slowly, still suspicious, before closing the door behind her as she wandered back to the lounge.

MJ turned to Peter, annoyed. "I told you, you shouldn't have come in through the window." She muttered, throwing a scrunched-up piece of paper at Peter. Ned giggled.

"Did you see his face?" Ned asked no-one-in-particular, holding his belly as he continued to laugh. Peter glared at him playfully. "He-he was all like; 'wha...?'" Ned pulled a face, which made MJ smirk.

"Anyway," Peter prompted, trying to lead the conversation away from his embarrassment. He picked at loose strands on his sweater.

"Yeah, anyway, what took you so long to get here, loser?" MJ asked, like it was a throw-away question that she didn't really want to know the answer to. Peter knew otherwise.

"Well, I ran into that Ross guy," Peter's voice wavered with anger – neither Ned or MJ knew what the man had done, "and then when I got to the train station I sort of hallucinated and fell onto the tracks, right as a train was coming—" Ned gasped, "—but someone grabbed me and got me out of the way just in time." Peter smiled sarcastically.

Much to his surprise, Michelle chuckled. But she didn't elaborate as to why, instead sending a knowing glare at Peter – "we're talking later". Peter gulped but didn't press the matter.

"You hallucinated?" Ned exclaimed, eyes wide with...awe? "That's so weird! What did you hallucinate about?" Yep. Definitely awe.

"Um—" Peter began, but-

"And you ran into Ross? What did he want?" Michelle butted in.

"Yeah! Isn't he that accords dude?" Ned asked, slightly excitedly.

"Does...no one care I nearly got hit by a train?" Peter asked playfully, eyes brows scrunched together in mock offence.

"Yeah, well, you didn't actually get hit by it, so there's not much to talk about." MJ muttered, grinning.

"And if I did, I would be dead." Peter exclaimed throwing his hands into the air. He flopped onto MJ's bed, lying down with his arms outstretched. Cold air whooshed through her open window, causing goose-bumps to crawl up his arms. But he enjoyed the moment of silence, that small moment of peace.