"Gross!"
Flash laughed as Cindy mimed puking over the side of the table. "You are disgusting."
A group of you and your friends were at lunch in the cafeteria. Mostly everyone from the decathlon team was here, minus Jason and Betty.
As others laughed at Flash's attempts to impress MJ, you felt Peter find your hand under the table. His fingers closed around yours and butterflies rose in your stomach.
The night of the decathlon advancement, after the team had gone to dinner, you and Peter had returned to his hotel room to talk.
He'd confessed that he was all but smitten for you, and couldn't believe you'd had the courage to kiss him.
You admitted you really couldn't understand how you'd done it either, but both of you were glad it had happened.
"I just need to say," Peter wasn't meeting your eyes. "I'm sorry for trying to put distance between us."
You nudged him to go on.
"After I nearly kissed you on my bed that one time, I freaked out. I think... I think I have trust issues. So I pushed you away."
"But, you're allowed to be close to people now..." You echoed the words you had overheard Ned say.
Peter stiffened. "You— heard that, did you?"
"Bits of it,"
Peter hesitated, as if trying to gage how much to tell you. "I... ever since... you know, this," He pointed to his eyes. "I've been... insecure about people actually liking me. Keeping me around, I guess. It's just hard to believe you'd actually care about me."
You rolled your eyes. "I've literally spent most of this school year with you. I like being around you." You laughed. "Peter," you leaned into him. "Please don't worry about that."
"Well— okay. If you say so." Peter relented.
After a pause you said: "So... what does this mean?" You held up your intertwined hands and let them fall back on the hotel bed.
"Oh, uh..." Peter seemed a blush but it was hard to tell in the dim light. "Well, I guess it means I want to ask you if you'll... if you'll be my girlfriend?"
Flash's milk spilling all over the cafeteria table brought you out of your memory. Peter lifted your lunch tray while you dabbed at the spill with your napkin.
You had, of course, said yes to Peter's question, and the two of you were happier than ever before.
"Ah, come on Flash," Abraham said.
"Not my fault, MJ shoved me."
"Liar!" MJ laughed, pulling more napkins from Ned's plate.
Peter set your tray back down and took your hand again.
"So ___," Ned spoke up for the first time since the beginning of lunch. He had walked in on Betty and Jason making out the same night you and Peter had gotten together and now he was suffering the repercussions. He had tried to excuse her behavior but ultimately he'd deduced how severe the cheating was and he'd broken his relationship off. He had been a mess ever since.
"I saw your parents outside a moving van this morning on the way to school, what's going on?"
Everyone turned towards you except Peter who already knew the answer.
"They're moving back to Chicago. They apparently don't like it here." Which was true, but you had no evidence to suggest they would be at all happier anywhere else in the world.
"Well, what does that mean? Are you going with them?"
"No, thankfully." Peter said quietly.
You shook your head. "My grandma thinks my parents are insane so she's agreed to pay for me to stay here for the rest of the school year and then she was already going to pay for my college, so that'll be taken care of."
"Damn, she must be loaded." Flash remarked.
"Probably," You shrugged. "I've barely seen her. She hates my dad so...."
The bell rang then and everyone gathered their things for next class.
As you slung your bag over your shoulder and Peter pulled your arm around himself you caught Flash's eye. He gave you a begrudging smile that you knew meant he was proud you were happy. You grinned back at him.
"Alright, be ready next hour, I'll be back to walk you to writing."
Peter wrapped an arm around you and sunk his chin onto your shoulder for one last hug. This hour was his study period in the cafeteria so he didn't need to leave.
You returned the hug and inhaled his familiar scent. Now that the two of you were official, Peter was using every opportunity to hold onto you in some way. This wasn't a big change from before, but the shift from gripping shirt sleeves to hands and elbows to waists was something that Peter, it seemed, was taking full advantage of. And you had no complaints.
The afternoon passed slowly; any time without Peter seemed to drag by like maple syrup. But you walked him to writing and then met him after his biology lab and the school day was finally through.
"Hey, my place, tonight, seven-forty-five!" Flash called over the heads of the team as you exited the school.
"Hey, some of us actually have homework to do," You replied.
But others were nodding their heads, grinning at Flash.
You shook your head. Next time, you thought.
You and Peter began the familiar trek back to the subway and through the city to his house. "Oh, hey, I forgot to tell you," Peter said as you exited the train.
"What's up?"
"I got a job."
You spun to look up at him. "What?"
"Yeah, at Delmar's." He was grinning.
"How?" You cried.
"Well, they needed a busboy for the back. Just to organize things and I can sense stuff like that so Mr. Delmar's gonna give me a chance."
"Pete, that's wonderful! But, why the sudden interest in a job?"
"Well," He chewed his lip. "Obviously May can't pay for my college tuition, so I'll need to start saving, and I sorta have someone I'm taking on dates now," He lifted his hand and twirled you around as you stopped to wait at a crosswalk.
You hit him playfully. "I already told you, we don't have to go on fancy dates like that."
"I know, but sometimes it's nice to buy my girlfriend flowers or get ice cream in the park or something. Plus," the crosswalk flashed and you continued on. "Fancy dates are great, just wait."
You laughed.
"But," Peter faltered. "Well, there's something else."
"Hm?"
"I've been thinking about it for a while now actually, but there's this new medication available for restoring sight...."
"Wait, what?" You creased your eyebrows. "Why haven't you said something before?"
"Well, it's really expensive, and if I take it the wrong way, it could just make my condition worse. And it's a pretty new serum so I wanted to wait for more conclusive evidence that it would work before bringing it up with anyone."
"Peter— wow—" You stammered. "When would it... like, how would it—"
"It's seven doses and I'd take them once a week. So if I can save up another few hundred dollars, plus use my savings from before the accident, I've done the math, I can have my sight back as soon as eleven weeks from now."
Your mind felt blank. "Peter, that's— wow, Pete, that's incredible."
He must have sensed something off in your voice because he raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. "What's wrong?"
You swallowed. "Nothing, I'm just... surprised, is all."
Peter seemed only to be half focused, because you knew he would have normally continued to pester you until you told him what was bothering you. But instead he said: "I just hope it works."
You hitched a smile onto your face and squeezed his hand. "Me too."
"Come on then," He said, standing up a little taller and grinning. "I have an English exam to study for that I intend to pass."
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