Open Up The Ocean

Chapter Four

Peter had to admit, camping wasn't so bad. He'd called May seven times for various different reasons, calling her and asking for cooking advice probably wasn't his best idea. No one had lunch that day. Except for MJ, who laughed in all their meat-eating faces with her salad.

Gwen had finally decided to stop clinging so tightly onto Ned's arm, leaving Peter to spend time with his best friend. It turned out, he was quite relaxed with just his best friends and away from all the drama Spider-Man brought into his life. Peter liked Gwen, obviously, but he did miss how much time he used to spend with Ned. Gwen being around meant that he had to share, which he didn't mind, Peter understood but he missed his friend.

They all made dinner together and the sun was just beginning to get lower in the sky. Peter and MJ actually got along, they smiled at each other, they laughed together. Weird, but neither were all that mad about it. MJ made a couple of remarks about how they were all going to get heart disease and die from eating meat but for once, Peter didn't reply by saying she was probably going to pass out any second from lack of iron. Although, MJ would always say that standing up too quickly while iron deficient was better than any drug.

Now he was taking a much-needed and much-wanted shower, using six quarters in the process. Peter was still mad he had to pay for what he felt was a basic human right. Whatever, it wasn't like May didn't give him money for it. The hot water ran down his body and he'd never felt anything so good. It wasn't like he had gone a long stretch of time without a shower it was just the fact he felt limited because of the payment that it was almost like a luxury.

Even while walking back to the tent, there was something about the crisp air against his warm skin that was strangely comforting to him. It was his first time outside of New York in a very very long time and everything was so foreign to Peter, yet he somehow felt like it was where he was meant to be in that moment in time.

By the time he'd put all his things away and hung his towel over their makeshift washing line (that was falling lower and lower each minute) the sun had pretty much set and was only just peeking over the horizon.

MJ was sitting in one of the camp chairs, a blanket draped over her lap while she read another book. Peter took a seat next to her and looked out at the sunset.

After a few minutes, Peter got bored, again. He looked over at Michelle, who he wasn't even sure if she'd seen him sit down. "Where's Gwen and Ned?"

"They said they were going for a walk."

"Oh," Peter furrowed his brows. "It's starting to get dark, how long have they been gone for?"

"I dunno," MJ sighed. "thirty or forty-five minutes maybe?"

Peter nodded, still feeling a little unnerved by the fact they went alone just before it was about to get dark. What if they got eaten by a bear or something? He fiddled with a nano-tech device Tony had given him when Peter had expressed his worries about getting bored while camping. It was a fidget cube of sorts, comparable to a Rubix Cube. It actually helped Peter a lot with his fidgeting problem and the fact he always felt the need to be doing something.

The ball of roots in his stomach was growing, snaking up his body and into his throat, different limbs reaching into his guts and squeezing. Peter didn't like this feeling, not one bit. His heart was beating faster, louder, harder. His lungs went into double time as if Peter was in space and struggling to breathe. He'd been there once before and didn't exactly plan on going back any time soon.

MJ noticed his body growing anxious and raised a brow at him, looking away from her book for once. She watched as his fingers fiddled with whatever thing he held in his hands. His fiddling was getting faster, his fingers slipping more and more. MJ watched his chest rise and fall rapidly and could almost feel the nerves radiating off him.