Peter Parker Imagines

75. Sunburn - Part Three

a/n: it's about to get...interesting (also I know the mcu timeline is all sorts of messed up so let's just pretend it didn't get messed up and it's like 2019 or whatever, and I know Liz would've technically graduated in 2017 but here I go again with that BS making my own timeline alsdkalsdaks)

sorry this is so short, for the life of me I could not make it longer than 3K words. it's mostly a filler chapter! the juicy stuff is coming up soon I promise :)

warnings: angst, language, sorta? unrequited feelings, peter is the Big Dumb (but we been knew), we have a few lil time skips

"Congratulations, class of 2019!"

There were cheers as the graduating class threw up their caps, people on the sidelines cheering. You and MJ had wide smiles on your faces as you clapped for Liz, who was up front with the honor students and wearing her Salutatorian medal proudly. 

You both ran up to her and squished her in a hug after the ceremony ended, nearly knocking her cap back off while the three of you laughed. Ned and Betty were there too, and you all took pictures with her upon her mom's insistence. 

You couldn't help but look around for the only boy that was missing - you'd think Peter would show up to his girlfriend's graduation, but you didn't see him at all.

That was strange. Liz didn't say anything about it and didn't seem upset about it, either, so none of you mentioned it. You almost expected him to appear at dinner when you all went out, but he was still absent, and Liz still didn't seem to act like anything was wrong. He probably had something come up - he was always running late to things and leaving early, or just not showing up. 

The last time you had seen Peter was at the last decathlon meeting, where Mr. Harrington was trying to last minute plan a trip to Europe for the team so you could participate in an international competition.

It seemed like a fun idea - even though Liz and another senior on the team were graduating, they were also invited to join the group as they were still team members. The trip would be two weeks and the actual competition would be in London, but your teacher managed to plan it so that you could all sightsee in Venice and Prague as well. 

You'd always wanted to travel, especially to Italy, and it would be the perfect time to - right before senior year, before the stress of applying to colleges. You had planned on getting an internship next summer and hopefully a job for the ones following, so this was the best time to go on a trip.

The only downside would be seeing Peter with Liz for those two weeks, when you had hoped the whole summer break you could avoid seeing them at the same time. You had hoped to not see Peter at all, in fact.

But you were able to put those thoughts on the back burner for the time being. Summer started and you were finally able to relax after finals. You didn't see your friends much for the first few weeks - Ned and Betty went to a family reunion of hers a few states away, and Liz had gone somewhat off the grid after graduation - you figured she was relaxing after finally finishing high school. 

You only saw MJ a handful of times - she started a new internship at an outreach center, and became almost as busy as Peter with his Stark internship. She still made time to see you and check in, though.

Liz and MJ both had different approaches to how they were going to act around you know that they knew you met your soulmate. Liz seemed to give you space - after you and her talked, she didn't really bother you anymore about it. MJ was almost the opposite. She could tell you didn't want to talk about it still, so she never pushed the subject, but she was always trying to distract you by offering to hang out in her spare time.