Rollercoaster - Peter Parker

22. Death of a Spider

No one was expecting Flash Thompson to be silent after he passed out in the middle of the cafeteria.

In a way, this silence made Peter more anxious than the thought of Flash destroying the day, walking to and from the bathroom with a pass masking his true intentions.

Though he was quiet after his embarrassing turn of events, Flash was scheming which was the main reason for him to text his group of "friends" after not speaking to them for months.

"Thompson," one of the blond twins greeted him outside of the school. "Long time, no see."

Flash only nodded in response, watching as the rest of the boys circled around him, some sitting while others opted to stand over him.

As they all watched him expectantly, Flash started the conversation that mirrored how the group formed in the eighth grade: "I know a way to take down Parker... but you guys will just have to trust me."

After explaining his whole idea - to which the boys were surprisingly excited for - Flash and his group snuck back into the school for about the hundredth time since the New Year had started.

Distracting one of the many chemistry teachers was the easy part, but getting her away from the classroom was a different story. Eventually making up that he had discovered some kind of leakage in the boy's bathroom seemed to do the trick and he left the group to follow though on his plan.

Once he heard the crash from the chemistry lab, he smiled to himself. But, when the teacher immediately started for the classroom he realized that his plan wasn't going the way he had intended.

Screams of pain only made her race towards her classroom and made Flash realize that the plan had gone horribly wrong.

-

Not even a full minute after Caden had left the Parker apartment for the night - ending with an awkward peck as May had definitely been watching them - May jumped on Peter with an idea.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have Caden over for dinner sometime?" she asked her nephew, standing in the doorway of his bedroom with a smile. When Peter looked up with an unamused face, she waved her arms as if to take back her proposal. "I mean, he's always at our house anyways... what's another hour to him, right?"

"Why do you want him to have dinner here?" Peter looked up from his phone, seriously asking her, the expressionless tone in his voice making May bite back a laugh.

As quickly as she began smiling, her expression melted into a look of concern. Peter dropped his act immediately, his lips turning downwards in a frown and his brows instinctively furrowing.

"You guys just haven't seemed like you used to be, like, a month ago." May's eyes swam with worry for the fate of the boys' relationship, and it was so intense that Peter couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"May, it's okay," Peter said softly, plastering a smile onto his lips. She was too far away to notice that the reassurance didn't quite meet his eyes. "It's all worked out, don't worry."

"Alright." May nodded once, turning to walk away from his room and back into the kitchen. Before leaving, she leaned into his room with a grin. "Invite him to dinner!"

Before they even knew it, a week after the initial proposal, Peter and Caden were sitting on the Parker's couch eating pizza on paper plates.

Meanwhile, May was behind them fanning her burnt smoking stir fry. With a groan, she dumped what was in the charred remains into the garbage, throwing the pan into the sink.

Joining the boys on the couch, she waved her hand and they moved over to give her a spot. Peter pointed to the plate on the coffee table without dragging his eyes away from the TV screen. "Pepperoni. I took one out for you and put pepper on it."