Open Up The Ocean

Chapter Eight

Peter couldn't name a time he'd had a better sleep. Even though he was on an air mattress so deflated he could feel the ground anyway and he was sweating from the heat of the morning and his legs were so tangled in the duvet he couldn't even move them, he was content.

Michelle's head had ended up on his chest and although their hands weren't intertwined anymore, he still felt closer to her than ever before. She was still asleep and Peter didn't mind, if anything he felt guilty because he knew sooner or later he was going to smell terrible from the sweat and she was going to face the brunt of it.

She'd woken up multiple times throughout the night, always to make sure that Peter was still sleeping soundly, he always was.

He was sure she was going to wake up soon, the inside of the tent was getting brighter by the second, not to mention hotter and she was still wearing his sweater. Peter was itching to pull his hoodie off and then immediately get into a shower. He couldn't do that, not yet.

Peter was right, she did wake up soon after him. He heard a deep intake of breath and felt her shift. Michelle eventually sat up a hand on his chest as she stretched the other arm out with lazy eyes.

"Morning," Her voice tinted with rasp, looking down at him.

"Morning," He replied, smiling and running a hand through his hair.

"It's really hot in here," Michelle huffed, yanking his sweater off from the bottom. Peter watched, a hint of red creeping up his neck.

He sniffed and ran a hand over his face, sitting up and looking at her, her hand falling as he sat up. Peter yawned, and took his hoodie off, finally. He quickly replaced it with a shirt, suddenly feeling strangely self-conscious in front of MJ.

After both had put on shirts, they crawled out of the tent, Peter giving MJ a hand to help her stand up. Gwen and Ned were sitting with rather smug looks on their face, causing Michelle to roll her eyes and grab the loaf of bread.

No words were exchanged before she grabbed Peter by the wrist and dragged him to the kitchen, toast supplies in her other hand. He looked back at Ned and shrugged before following willingly.

"What if I don't want toast?" Peter raised a brow at her boldness.

"You don't like milk and you've had toast every morning since we've been here. I think you want toast."

"Well- yeah okay, that's true."

"I know," MJ replied, putting two pieces in one of the toasters and two pieces in another for Peter.

Silence fell over them but it was ok. The silence was different now, it was nice. Both felt like they could sit in it forever with each other be perfectly fine. They each finished topping their own pieces of toast and ate as they walked back to the site, who needed plates anyway?

Ned and Gwen were in the exact same position, the exact same smug looks on their face. Gwen had her legs crossed and her palms clasped together on her lap. Ned had a cheery smile as always, his hands behind his head.

"We need to talk," Gwen smiled. "All of us, together, as a family."

"A family?" Michelle asked, unimpressed.

"A family." Ned reiterated. "Sit."

Peter and MJ sat in the chairs across from their friends that Ned had gestured too. Michelle folded her arms over her chest and Peter glanced at her awkwardly before pulling on the arm of the camp chair, suddenly very interested with how it moved up and down.

"So when are you two just going to admit you wanna jump each other's bones?" Gwen asked, far too abrupt for Peter's taste. His eyes widened but he shoved more toast into his mouth in an attempt to avoid the conversation.