Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 12 - Why Was He Ripped?

"Hey, (Y/N), we were wondering when you would get here!" Ned greeted as he opened the door of his apartment for me.

"Sorry, there was a lot more traffic on the way here than I was expecting," I replied entering the apartment and noticing Peter already sitting on the couch in front of the TV, wearing a Darth Vader shirt. Even MJ, who was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, was wearing a shirt that said Star Wars. As I walked in, Peter's eyes turned to me and widened slightly, causing a blush to rise to my cheeks.

"You can go sit down, if you would like, I'm going to start the popcorn," Ned informed me, bringing my attention away from Peter.

I thanked him before plopping down on the couch next to Peter. He seemed surprised that I chose to sit next to him instead of on the opposite side of the couch.

He raised an eyebrow as he commented, "so now you're part of the empire, huh? I thought you were one of the rebels."

I looked down at my Darth Vader skater dress and shrugged, "it varies from day to day. Though to be completely honest if I were to choose a side, I would probably be a grey Jedi."

"Grey Jedi? You're more into this than I thought," he remarked, trying to hide how excited he was that I truly was a Star Wars nerd. "But please, do explain why that's your position, do you have something against the light side?"

"No, not really, but the Jedi code as we know it is completely idiotic. Not even mentioning their flawed perspective of what balance is or the fact that they have an absolute belief that only a sith deals in absolutes, we rarely ever see them trying to keep the peace in the prequels and their rule of no attachments is simply ridiculous. I obviously understand why they have it, but not being able to love is exactly what the dark side believes in as well, making them no better than the dark side in that regard. Besides, the force must always be in balance and when that means one dark side user and one light side user, war ensues. Therefore the only other option would be for each force sensitive person to find the balance within themselves," I explained as Ned came back into the room with popcorn.

We began the marathon, commenting on various parts of the movie and explaining things to MJ. After finishing A New Hope, we decided to take a break for lunch so that we did not have to interrupt Empire. Ned ordered a pizza while Peter grabbed some paper plates from the cabinet, leaving MJ and I to make cookies for the next two movies.

"Hey Peter, could you grab us some flour?" I asked him, noticing him standing by the cabinet that I had seen it in. I watched as he pulled it down, the sleeves of his shirt falling towards the shoulder and revealing surprisingly large bicep muscles. I turned to MJ, "do you see Peter's muscles? I didn't know he was ripped."

"Ripped? Peter?" She replied, glancing over at him. "I was not expecting that from such a nerd."

I nodded in agreement, but didn't vocalize a response as Peter was coming over to hand us the flour. However the question hung in my mind, why was he ripped? Did this have anything to do with my father's file on him? Who was Peter Parker?

I tried to put it out of my mind, but the image of his muscles seemed to be seared into my brain. I didn't understand why I was so impressed by them, I was literally surrounded by biceps at home, most of them much more toned than Peter's. Yet I couldn't seem to stop daydreaming about his.

"So Peter, you mentioned that you work the other day and I've been meaning to ask you about it," I inquired, hoping to discover any information I could about Peter's background. "You don't happen to work at any place that has food, right? Because I've been trying to find the best places in the area, but so far haven't found anything as good as in Boston."

"Oh, I don't work in the food industry. But, uh, I would recommend Delmar's Deli-Grocery, they have the best sandwiches in Queens."

"Peter works for Tony Stark," Ned blurted out, making me recoil in shock. Well, that was certainly easier than I thought.

"Ned!" Peter cried out, clearly wanting to keep that information a secret.

"Really? Wow, that's quite impressive, he hired a teenager?" I asked, hoping to get a bit more information out of him. I hadn't seen him around the compound and I used to keep track of every person going in or out to cure boredom.

"Well, it was, um, it started out as an-an internship. But it's basically a, uh, a full job now. But I'm not really supposed to talk about it."

"Oh, I'm sorry that I brought that up then," I replied, my curiosity only growing more.

After lunch we continued with our marathon, MJ joining us on the couch and squishing me closer to Peter, not that I minded much. I had already kicked off my shoes, so I allowed myself to get more comfortable. Used to cuddling up with various Avengers whenever we watched movies, I found myself using Peter as an Avenger substitute. Resting my head against his chest and propping my legs up on top of his on his footrest, I settled into a content position. At some point during The Empire Strikes Back, Peter wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him.

As the credits rolled for Return of the Jedi, I found myself rather disappointed that I would have to get up. Knowing that I would need to get up soon anyway as Happy wouldn't like waiting for me when he came to pick me up, I sighed and swung my legs off of the footrest.

Lifting my head from Peter's chest I turned to MJ, "so, what did you think? Is your life changed or what?"

She rolled her eyes, "you guys realize that I have seen Star Wars, right? I'm just not obsessed with it like you guys are."

"Wait, this wasn't your first time?" Ned asked, looking quite offended. "Why didn't you tell us?"

All she did was shrug in response as she pushed herself off of the couch, "see you later, losers."

"Peter, did you know she'd seen the movies before?" Ned asked Peter as soon as the door closed behind MJ.

He shook his head, although his mind didn't seem to be in the present moment, "I, uh, I had no idea."

"You ok, Peter? You seem a little dazed or something," I asked, placing my hand on Peter's arm.

"Just wondering why MJ didn't tell us, that's all," he replied, glancing down at my arm with color rushing to his cheeks.

"Maybe she just wanted to hang out and watch Star Wars with us," I suggested, glancing at the time. "I suppose I should get going as well, my dad won't be happy if I come home late. Thanks for the invite, Ned."

"Of course, it was nice getting to hang out with you outside of school," he replied watching as I slipped back into my shoes.

"Bye Ned, bye Peter," I spoke as I left the apartment. As soon as I was out of earshot, I spoke into my bracelet, "(A/I), is Happy parked nearby?"

"Yes, he is three blocks away, I've sent you the location and will let him know you're on your way," they replied, a holographic map of the area with his location marked with a red dot.

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(A/N): So I may have gone a little overboard with having you side with the gray Jedi, but you know what, I have no regrets. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed your cuddle time with Peter!