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𝙉𝙊𝙏 𝘼𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙈𝙊𝙑𝙄𝙀.
───○☆ ✸ ☆○───
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄: Captain America
𝐌𝐈𝐃𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 & 𝐓𝐄𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘
𝟖 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
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☆
"Lizzie. Your Type A Personality is taking up my space."
Lizzie rolled her eyes, unwilling to let her incoming barrage of friends distract her current problem. Taking up an entire portion of the three-set tables in the cafeteria was her planner, every variation of highlighter, two different pens, her phone, and two different schedules printed out. Of the three people coming to her table, Taylor was the first to make a comment on the sight. C.T. knew it was smart to remain silent and took her spot quiet next to her girlfriend, pressing a subtle kiss to her shoulder on the way down. Much like Taylor, her partner-in-crime Eli didn't hesitate to join in.
"Love anxiety for lunch," Eli snorted as he sat down next to Taylor, but his comment struck a prize when Lizzie's lip curled up into a smirk, peering over her eyelashes quickly to shoot him a look. He grinned in return, raising his eyebrows as he leaned over Taylor's lunch tray to grab one of the schedules. "Is this your Fall Ball schedule?"
Lizzie grumbled unintelligibly, flicking through another page in her planner and grabbing the other schedule with her free hand. "And this is the Decathlon Team schedule, and this—" she held up the planner, which was full of highlights and different dates scattered in blue and black pen "—is what my next few months are going to look like."
"Looks like you have some room to join Cheer," Taylor said sarcastically as she opened her Gatorade. "Don't forget about Liz's party tomorrow."
She paused, her eyes slowly raising from the page to Taylor. "You're lying to me."
"I wish. I'm not."
"I have practice right after school, and then somehow have to morph into two people to make it in time for the last few minutes of Decathlon practice. I have the national tournament next Tuesday at eleven and our double-header starts at one. I won't even get home until six tomorrow, I don't have a gift for her, and I'll have to shower and—"
"Hey, we'll figure it out," C.T. interrupted the sudden burst of anxiety from Lizzie, tugging her hand so that she could nod at her girlfriend. "It'll be fine. I can wait around until you're done with the Decathlon practice today, and we can get ready at your place tomorrow if you want."
The idea eased her nerves, knowing that she would have C.T. there to keep her from having an absolute breakdown. Before she agreed, Lizzie darted her eyes over to her best friend. Taylor already knew what was going to be asked, and a short nod confirmed that she was fine with Lizzie spending the time getting ready with C.T. instead. Likely, Taylor would be going with Eli, but Lizzie wanted to make sure before she did anything.
"So, what's the red mean?" C.T. asked, deciding to jump into a conversation and distract Lizzie.
Apparently, she'd asked the wrong question because Lizzie glowered more. "Conflicts between the two."
Taylor and Eli shared a glance with one another, deciding that neither of them were brave enough to acknowledge that a good portion of the next month was in red. C.T.'s mouth formed a mirrored frown to Lizzie's, gently taking a hold of the planner in exchange for an apple she'd grabbed. Lizzie softened at the gesture, meeting eyes with C.T. momentarily to show her appreciation. Putting the apple in her left hand, she freed her right to place on C.T.'s knee, pulling her body closer in her direction.
"D.C. will be fun," C.T. said, once again falling off the mark in a conversation topic. The apple in Lizzie's mouth tasted stale suddenly, and it fell from her lips as she adjusted to the trigger that was their nation's Capital.
"I wish we were going the same week," Eli sighed. "I think we travel down there the first week of October."
"That's weird. Usually they're pretty similar."
Eli nodded in agreement, taking his phone out and furrowing his eyebrows. "It is. Hey, did you see the texts from Art last night?"
"No, I have that chat on DND," Taylor said honestly, pausing for a moment to wince when she realized that she could have been much nicer. "Sorry. It's just difficult to keep up with it whenever you text during practice."
"What'd he say?" Lizzie asked, dropping the forgotten apple onto the corner C.T.'s tray. With the wandering concerns from the rest of the table, she ignored the itch to grab the planner again and planted her feet in the conversation to distract herself. "I still can't believe he switched his lunch to be teacher's aide. Who switches first lunch for second lunch?"
Eli's brows were expressive as he read through the few text chains. "So, it's a lot. The iPhone Seven is coming out, and he's wondering if they listened his advice in the email he sent last month...my answer is no. He said Spider-Man helped stop a car crash this morning..."
Lizzie's jaw cocked instantly at the name. Like a magnetic pull, her brown eyes searched Midtown's large cafeteria room until she found her target. Peter Parker sat at a table with Ned next to him, Michelle only a few seats down—far enough that she didn't immediately seem associated with them. Her tongue found the roof of her mouth to contain her reaction when Parker looked up, sensing her staring. She let their eyes connect for a moment before she returned to Eli's face. Peter's nostrils flared briefly at the exchange, his teeth clenching to hold his tongue, a distant comparison to the microexpressions Lizzie Carter was capable of perfecting.
Ned's eyes darted back and forth between his best friend and Lizzie, brows furrowed in confusion. "What's up with that?"
"What?" Peter asked, finally pulling his eyes off Lizzie to look at Ned. "What's up with what?"
"You and Lizzie."
"Nothing's up with me and Lizzie."
Peter scoffed at the question, rolling his eyes because there was nothing up with them. The most that he had gotten out of her in the last two months just happened, and quite frankly, he was losing his patience. Aunt May had woken him up that morning telling him he was sleep-ranting, and the mentioning of Petunia (who sat on his windowsill, unaware of her divorced parents). He'd lost any relief in sending text messages for the time being after Not Delivered glared at him for four hours. So, now, Peter was dreaming about yelling at her, and that just made him even more frustrated.
"Is this because she didn't reach out this summer?" Ned asked, and he winced when he noticed Peter frown. "Hey, man...listen, Art said that she's been going through a lot in her family. I think she's just trying to get that sorted out. You know how tough it is."
Both boys knew, having experienced loss in their life, but what Peter couldn't tell his best friend was that there was more to the story. A lot more, including the fact that the redhead archer from Berlin was actually a student-athlete sitting in his high school cafeteria, and that he had witnessed her and the other Avengers get detained by the United States government...but there she was, two months later with a new hair-cut, a new old-girlfriend, and not an ounce of concern for what her and Peter had gone through. It was eating him alive.
Taylor pointed her plastic fork in Eli's direction. "You know, I wonder if it's all some kind of diversion. Like, Tony Stark hired Spider-Man to carry out all these heroic saves, but really it's just him trying to bury all the stuff that happened between him and Captain America. Make the newbie the new face of the Avengers, and everyone will be too focused on him to remember the bad stuff."
Lizzie grabbed a hold of her water, using it as a barrier to block her visible wince, but also to ease the sudden nausea at the spotlight on the one subject she couldn't handle right now. Even just the mentioning of Stark's name brought an itch to her skin, like a rash she couldn't control, and a suffocating feeling to her throat—but to hear Captain America was a different story. Perhaps it didn't hurt as bad as the other name. The one she couldn't bear to say—but the title still belonged to the same man, and he held the same memories. The same pain.
"Not exactly implausible considering Stark told the world he was Iron Man during a press conference," Eli reminded them, shrugging in his seat as he began eating his soggy fries. "I'd just like to know what it was, y'know? How all of it's connected."
C.T. seemed intrigued by that. "That's the big question though, isn't it? No one has the answer. What broke up the Avengers?"
Grief. Grief broke them. In different ways, and in different pieces, but they all lost something. Lizzie had that answer in her heart, burning away on the tip of her tongue, and she could do nothing to stop its pain. She found her hands going around her neck, quickly tugging the headphones out of her shirt so that she could put them in. As she searched for a song to play, two unlikely persons shared a glance. Taylor's worry reflected in C.T.'s eyes as they subtly watched the girl they loved dearly, unaware of just how many times they'd hit Bingo! on her trauma card that afternoon.
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"Sorry! Sorry! I know I'm super late! Coach had to give us the hotel information and the itinerary for traveling this weekend—"
Peter Parker heard Lizzie Carter's presence before she crashed through the auditorium doors, and his neck craned when he heard how hard her heart was racing. Only when she came in did he realize why. Two backpacks, one with two bats hanging out of it, were strung up on her shoulders. Clearly, she had rushed from practice without changing, and the blue and white uniform showed that if the softball bag hadn't already. Her silver dog-tags were bulky and pulled out for once. Part of him couldn't look away from her, tempting her to meet with his eyes, but he noticed the way she kept them strictly between Liz Allen and Mr. Harrington.
"Oh, thank God," Liz let out an audible exhale of relief at her friend's entrance, feeling the hopelessness of the room carry. "Lizzie, what's the heaviest naturally-occurring element?"
Lizzie blinked, half of her shoe still dangling up as her backpacks fought against one another. "Uranium."
"Okay, guys. Please open your books to page ten while I catch Lizzie up," and with that, Liz Allen was on her way over. Lizzie moved over to the first row of chairs close to the door, dropping both of her bags onto them and moving a leg up to tie her shoe. Peter's attention carried on Liz all the way to Lizzie, and suddenly his ears perked as he tried to train his ears on them.
"Peter—" And suddenly he was ripped back to a conversation with Mr. Harrington. "It's Nationals. Is there no way you could take one weekend off? Look at Lizzie. She's splitting her trip in half with her softball games, and just like her, you're essential to our team."
Peter's lips pursed up at Lizzie's name. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't go to Washington because if Mister Stark needs me, I need to be here—"
"You've never even been in the same room as Tony Stark!" Flash scoffed, flipping through another page in his Decathlon book.
"Wait, what's happening?" Cindy Moon, who never took bad news lightly, sensed that something was occurring and raised her hands between Flash and Peter. Lizzie had straightened up at the sudden conversation, dropping her leg from the chair to stand fully and watch Peter. His shoulders were nearly touching his ears the moment Flash spoke, but she was distracted by another Decathlon member speaking.
Sally, laying on the floor drawing in her book, looked up with a side eye at Peter. "Peter's not going to Washington."
"No. No, no, no, no, no—"
Abe slammed his hand on the bell, alerting himself. "Why not?"
"Really?" Liz asked softly, walking the few steps between Lizzie and Peter to reach him. Immediately, the boy melted. The sight of it made Lizzie sigh, realizing just how badly Peter concealed his emotions. His smartest choice in life had been the mask. "Right before Nationals?"
"He already quit marching band and robotics lab," was said from the corner of the stage Lizzie couldn't see, but she recognized the voice. Her lips softened into a smirk at Michelle's observation, and she struggled to wipe it off her face when Mr. Harrington noticed. "What? I'm not obsessed with him. I'm just observant."
Liz sighed and looked behind Peter's shoulder. "Flash, you're in for Peter."
"I don't know. I gotta check my calendar first," Flash sighed dramatically. Lizzie rolled her eyes at the boy, having decided last year that she strongly disliked him. She didn't like bullies. She didn't tolerate them. "I've got a hot date with Black Widow coming up."
Natasha.
Abe, again, used the bell. "That is false!"
"What'd I tell you about using the bell for comedic purposes?" Mr. Harrington was quick to scold his team, shooting a look at Abe.
"Technically, he's right, so the rule is void, sir," Lizzie said as she approached the table the two of them were seated at. Peter immediately tensed up, and she made a game out of waiting a few seconds to move her eyes away from Mr. Harrington and to him. An unmoved tension started to fill the air. "Why aren't you coming to Nationals?"
Peter's jaw clenched, his eyes staying on her as he leveled with her question. "I have my Stark internship."
"High chance Stark doesn't need you right now. You can sacrifice a weekend, Peter. He's got plenty of people who will answer the call for him."
To the blind eye, the conversation was surface-level. A classmate trying to convince their team member to join them for Nationals. Maybe not to Michelle or Art, who had both seen the pair interact before summer—something had obviously changed. What they didn't know was the slight dig Lizzie gave to Peter with the last sentence, the first reference she'd given to the events in Berlin. Peter almost got ahead of himself, energized that Lizzie was talking directly to him, but reminded himself that he was in public. He had a secret identity, one that the Stark internship hid. She knew that secret. He also knew her secret. That, he wondered, must be what ate her alive at night (Side note from Peter Parker's future self: he was wrong).
"Not everyone is a good intern, though."
Lizzie's eyes narrowed at his subtle accusation, but he saw it. "You can't just assume you're the best at everything, Parker. You should really learn to work with a team, because if you have that mentality, maybe you shouldn't come this weekend. Not sure I'd feel confident with you on my team."
That one dug Peter where it hurt, and he faltered. Lizzie showed no sign of resolve at the painful words, but she felt it. The familiar rush of guilt when she realized her words had hurt someone usually came from her mother's face, but seeing it from Peter made a hole form in her gut. Before either of them could say anything more, there was another ring of the bell behind Lizzie's shoulder. Everyone turned their eyes to him.
Abe again, interrupting the awkward tension in the air and making Mr. Harrington's neck snap to scold him again. "Not for comedic purposes. It's four-thirty and my mom is waiting outside for me."
"Okay, everyone!" Liz clapped her hands, pulling everyone away from the match between Peter and Lizzie. "I'll email the itinerary to everyone this afternoon. We're planning on leaving Sunday, so be packed and ready to go by then. Just keep going over the sections we reviewed today, and remember to get a good sleep!"
Unlikely for Lizzie. She pursed her lips when she realized she'd literally caught the last three minutes of the Decathlon Meeting, quite literally only just in time to hear an update about Peter Parker. She searched for Peter's eyes again, but she found that he was already packed and ready to go, his attention trained on the clock. Similar to how he'd been looking at the clock in third period, and again at lunch.
With everyone else getting their things, Peter had an easy way to slide out during the chaos. Lizzie was faster than that. She zeroed in on the boy, completing forgetting anything to do with the Decathlon Team, deciding to take a different exit that led to the front of the school's athletic fields. Just as she exited the doors, she watched Parker take an impressive leap over the closed fence rather than walk the few inches to the open door.
"Parker!" she shouted, jogging down the sets of steps so that she was closer to the gate.
He stopped, frozen solid where he stood, and she waited for him to regain his composure impatiently. After a few seconds, his body rotated like a machine, and he faced her. "Lizzie."
"Piece of advice? Don't wait around for Tony. He'll only disappoint you," she said, barely acknowledging the way that Peter's face twisted in immediate repulsion that she could even say that to him. "I'm not telling you this because I'm mad, Parker—which, by the way, I am—I'm telling you this because no one else will. No one told me to watch the people I put in my corners. I suggest you do what I didn't if you keep up with this."
The metal gate between them could have been a metaphorical representation of their divide, their loyalties present even when the person they were loyal to was not. What Peter didn't understand, however, was that Lizzie's story didn't begin with the Avengers. Her story, and her loyalty, started with one person—and from him, came everything else. Parker didn't have that yet.
"That's all you're going to say?" Peter asked, rubbing his lip and letting out a laugh as he whirled around briefly. Then, quickly, he looked back to her. "Seriously? A 'piece of advice'? Do you have any idea how many questions I have—"
"—you'll have to find someone else to answer those questions."
Peter's brows furrowed on her, noticing for the first time what her tan skin hid. Dark circles rounded her brown irises, but the exhaustion in her eyes could only be compared to the month he'd had after losing his Uncle Ben. Devastation, living inside of him, and presenting itself in all of his daily tasks until that got too exhausting, too. She looked like she was living on the edge of things, waiting for that point of exhaustion.
Peter's face fell, all anguish absent. "MJ, are you okay?"
She flinched at the nickname, the only thing she'd given him of her moods, but he could hear the way her heart sped up at the question. Peter knew she was readying the lie.
"I'm fine, Peter. I'm just trying to be a normal teenager, and I can't do that when I know you're out there doing God-knows-what, waiting for Tony's call. I'm sorry about what I said in there, but it's the truth. If you put everything into this, it's going to hurt you..." Lizzie pulled her lip up, biting it for a moment to soothe her anxiety. Another slip of her mask, and Peter wondered what all she hid behind those brown eyes. "I get that you don't trust me right now. I'm not expecting us to make amends, and I'm sorry I can't give you the answers you want, but I do care about you, Peter. I don't want you to get hurt."
Peter frowned, pushing his backpack strap up. "I kept up with the Avengers pretty well."
"Yeah, well, it's not always the physical punches you have to protect yourself from...and you fell on your face five times," she said as her brows shot up, ready to check him of his confidence. Peter wondered if she had been trained to be intimidating, as well.
"You kept shooting me down."
She shrugged. "I told you. I don't like spiders."
"Doesn't mean you have to try and kill them—"
"—I definitely was not trying to kill you, Peter," she retorted, and he believed that. Even if he felt like he was hallucinating, with her standing in a softball uniform, talking to him about an Avengers-fight in Germany where she (definitely) was trying to kill him. "You would know if I was trying to kill you."
"Would I?"
Lizzie could feel his genuine curiosity in that question, and she leaned back from it. For a moment, she remembered who she used to be. Thirteen-years-old, and asking herself similar questions that Peter was asking her now. Her shoulder ached more, and to soothe the ghostly pain, the fifteen-year-old's hands briefly snuck up to adjust her dogtags. That was just enough attention being brought to them that Peter glanced down, noticing them for the first time in true light. Even through the gates, he could make out the top name. Sam Wilson.
Lizzie must have noticed what she was doing because they were disappearing under her jersey, and she took a step back from him. Them being in the athletic field outside returned her to reality, and she stopped before turning away from Peter completely. Clacking her hands together to ease her anxiety, she decided to do the one thing she promised herself she wasn't going to do when she found out about Peter Parker's secret identity.
"Peter. If you get the feeling you should have back-up, don't go in alone. I'm sure Stark has somehow hardwired your new suit to my phone, so just..." she frowned and made a gesture at him that made his lips purse, like a mother warning a child of danger. "Don't do anything stupid. Like jump over a gate in broad daylight...and get a new place to make your web-fluid other than the chemistry cabinets. Maintenance does a check every other week."
Lizzie didn't say anything more after that, but Peter stood there taking in her last section of advice. The part that felt a little more human, a little more of the MJ he'd met last year, and as he started to walk back home, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not it was a good thing that Lizzie Carter had been watching him so much. Either, like Michelle, she was observant or there was some different agenda the girl had. Because Peter didn't know her. Not really, not when there were two of her.
But, really, who was he to judge?
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𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 ─ 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐊 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘, 𝐍𝐘
𝟗 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔
Lizzie had barely adjusted to the lights in the living room when she heard the television going. There was a soft chatter, and the early morning breeze was coming from the open windows that always gave her goosebumps. Fridays were her favorite because she got to sleep in, but also because there was a small moment of peace in those mornings when she forgot everything. She could wake up to her mother's laughter, and Sammy's feet stomping around with their dog, and her father's work calls starting already—but then, she realized she was missing the sound of Sharon cussing when she got shell in her eggs, and that reality usually sent her into the bathroom to hang over the toilet for a few minutes (she was okay).
On that particular morning, her toothbrush hung out of her mouth as she watched the morning news. On the headlines, with video from inside of a bank, was the very boy that she had just advised to not do anything stupid. Fighting the Avengers (not literally, in masks) with weapons that Lizzie had never seen before in her life. She paused, blinking rapidly as her parents took in the news themselves, then they looked back to see her standing there.
"Morning, Lizziebug," her mom said, smiling softly, but her mouth was creased with worry.
Lizzie moved the short distance to the kitchen to spit out her toothpaste, running it under the water as she kept her eyes on the television closely. "What kind of weapons are those, Dad?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," he frowned, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the clip once more. "The weapons look man-made, but it's the energy that's weird. Not anything I've seen in our government, so it's unlikely they found it from anywhere in the country's black market—"
"—not exactly," Sophia stopped, leaning her hip against the side of the couch as she glanced between them. "With Stark moving, a lot of the cases against him in the DA's office got dropped. A few co-workers had clients who mentioned a black market for weapons from the New York incident."
Lizzie nodded a few times, eyes squinting in an exaggerated motion as a fleet of sarcasm approached. "You mean the alien weapons that took a whole chunk out of our neighbor Leslie's living room."
"Yep," Sophia mirrored her daughter's nods and met her eyes. "Those ones."
"Well. I have either great news or terrible news."
Mike sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. "What, MJ?"
"I know who Spider-Man is," she revealed, giving them a winced smile. Part of her knew that her parents wouldn't have much of a reaction. Both of their daughters were a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Lizzie really didn't want that association anymore). Mike was babysat with Tony Stark, and his last name held a legacy including the famous Peggy Carter. Captain America used to come over on Sundays to eat waffles with them. "I can't, however, tell you who...but I can figure out what he knows."
"I thought you said you were done with this," Sophia said, lips tight.
Lizzie stopped, her mom's words breaking the game-plan she was forming in her head. "I'm sleuthing, Mom. It's a family-case...look, if the weapons are in the streets, that's not good for anyone. If we can figure out what they are and who is making them, then I can tell Happy or Rhodey so they can alert someone."
"No field-work?"
"No field-work. Just investigating...in the field. I won't put myself in any dangerous situations, Mom. I'll just ask Spider-Man what he knows, and we'll go from there."
Turns out talking to Peter Parker was difficult even when they had mutual friends, mutual classes, mutual extracurriculars, and the same lunch. What she did notice was that, during lunch, the conversation between Peter and Ned must have included her. A few exaggerated hushes were sent to Ned from Peter, and he had to keep Ned from pointing at Lizzie at some point. Whatever oddity that was the two best friends continued into their afternoon classes together until their final one together.
Gym class, usually, was one of her favorite classes because unlike the others, she could wear her headphones and get away with it. Coach Wilson showed favoritism like it was a trophy, and she'd secured hers freshman year when she was the only student to finish her mile in under seven minutes. So her phone stayed tucked into her yellow basketball shorts, wires snuck underneath her blue gym shirt as she watched Coach Wilson start rolling out the TV with a deep sigh.
"He's going to be drinking tonight," Taylor said sadly, watching as he adjusted the cable with a grunt and a number of curse words. Both of them sat on the end of the rows, Taylor below her but using Lizzie's knees as support for her whole body. Lizzie's legs were laid out against her hips on either side, and she continued to mindlessly braid her best friend's hair as The Neighborhood played in her headphones. "I think I know what we're doing today."
She sighed. "What?"
"Hi, I'm Captain America!"
All of the blood drained from Lizzie's body, and her legs tightened around Taylor's body subconsciously. Taylor's hands immediately went to her ankles, grabbing them to support her best friend, a pair of concerned eyes peering up at the brunette. Lizzie could feel someone staring at her back, and she had to focus for a few moments on the soothing gesture of Taylor's hands. Finally, giving herself the courage, she looked up at the screen to see just who she expected.
"Whether you're in the classroom or on the battlefield, physical fitness can mean the difference between success or failure. Today, my good friend..." and an awkward gesture to the wrong side where Coach Wilson stood and gave a sarcastic smile and wave. The moment unlocked some kind of laughter in Lizzie, at the entire situation, because she could only imagine him recording these. "...your gym teacher, will be conducting the Captain America Fitness Challenge."
"Thank you, Captain...pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now, but whatever. I have to show these videos. It's required by state. Let's do it!"
Lizzie could have done without the comment about him being a war criminal. As all of the students began to file off the bleachers, she caught sight of Parker walking down to the mats alongside Ned. Taylor glanced up when Art started to leave next to them, pausing to see if they were coming. He hated gym class, and it wore on his face. Taylor waited until Lizzie pushed herself up to stand, and they moved through the rows of bleachers.
"Want to talk about it?" she asked casually, glancing over at Lizzie.
Lizzie gave her a small look, shaking her head. "No. Let's go do these. Art's going to break an ankle."
"He'd probably be happy about it. It would get him out of gym for a few months," she retreated back to the conversation Lizzie went into, and the two girls moved over to one of the mats close to the middle of the room. She was close enough that she could still see Peter, and he could still see her, which made her assume he had been the eyes on her back from earlier. "I don't get why you have to do this anymore. You should just show Coach your routine at the gym and he'll let you go."
Art scoffed as he prepped himself on the mat, trying to use Lizzie to shield himself from any real exercise as she readied herself for the sit-ups. "No, seriously, MJ. I know you don't find this fun."
"My sister used to make me run eight miles to condition," Lizzie said as she started her first set, controlling her breathing as Taylor held her feet. "I wanted to die, but it was a good stress reliever. Still is. I like running."
"You'd be a shit player if you didn't," Taylor noted.
Art glanced between them as Lizzie continued. "I'm sorry. Are we ignoring the part where she just said Sharon made her run eight miles?"
Sharon.
"I enjoyed every mile."
Every mile was ran with Steve. Two painful names, partnered with the sight of seeing him in his uniform (his costume, as Lizzie preferred), sunk a nausea into her gut that had her pushing through the last few sit-ups. On the other side of the room, Ned Leeds held his best friend's feet as Peter did his best to conceal the ease of his sit-ups. Athleticism didn't happen overnight to normal people not bitten by spiders, and so he would continue to play the part and watch with envy as Lizzie showed off her skill. Part of him wanted to compete with her, just so that he would have the satisfaction of telling her he won, but those thoughts got ahead of him and he had to slow down his reps again.
"This feels unfair. She was literally trained by Captain America," Ned muttered under his breath with a sad sigh, watching Lizzie like she was a hero. "I still can't believe it."
Peter sat up to get his friend to stop staring, pushing his arm. "Hey, stop it. She's literally got a freaky third eye that can sense when you're staring—and I don't know if she was trained by him. I just know she was there, and they seemed like they knew each other."
"She also had a weird reaction to seeing him."
He sighed, going for another sit-up. "I know."
"I wonder if she's dating him."
Peter actually stopped at that, visibly disgusted. "Gross, Ned. He's old enough to be her grandfather. No. It wasn't like that. He was protective over her, like a..."
"...like a father?"
"Yeah," Peter decided with a frown as he looked over at her. "Like a father."
Lizzie had finished her set, and now Taylor was laying on her back as Art continued to hide behind them when Coach Wilson appeared around the side. He didn't seem to care much, given that a number of girls including Betty Brant (Lizzie scoffed at that) had decided not to do the Challenge because of a doctor's note. However, she was not unaware of the staring and talking trend happening between the two idiots across the gym. The attention must have even been noticed by Art, who had grown to know Ned and Peter better than any of their friend group.
"Lizzie, why are Ned and Peter obsessed with you today?" he asked casually, rolling over on his stomach and holding his head up with one hand. "I mean, Ned told me not to tell you he had a crush on both of you, but I wouldn't worry about it because he also had a crush on the entire volleyball team yesterday when they came out of practice during robotics. I also heard about what happened at the Decathlon meet yesterday—very pissed off I wasn't there for that, by the way."
"Parker and Lizzie haven't talked since they raised their plant child together, and now it's awkward between them," Taylor explained in huffs, taking a break and laying on her back. Lizzie frowned at her, but her best friend raised her eyebrows. "What? Eli and I have to talk about something. Besides, it's fun to watch Parker fear for his life around you."
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic. Nothing's wrong between me and Parker. We just haven't talked over the summer, and we only had one assignment together—"
"—an assignment which you call your child and named, as well as planned an entire joint custody agreement. M'kay, sis," Taylor snorted as she gave her a side eye, grinning when Lizzie purposefully put her weight down on Taylor's toes. "One, ow. Two, don't be mean to me. I'm already mad you're ditching me for your girlfriend to Liz's party."
"Speaking of which, can one of you invite a teammate so I won't look like a total loser tonight?" Art sighed, frowning as he looked between them. "Mom is starting to ask me why I haven't had a girlfriend yet."
Lizzie frowned. "There's no reason why you have to have one now. Tell her we're dating if you need a cover."
"She knows you're back with C.T."
"I'll be your undercover girlfriend," Taylor said like it was obvious, looking between them in offense. "As if I wasn't considered as an option."
"Well, you and Eli—"
"Peter knows Spider-Man!"
The sudden exclaim was enough to stop the entire room's movement. Lizzie pulled her headphone out, shifting up to kneeling position so that she could fully see what was happening. Taylor and Art were already muttering about the news, but Lizzie was focused on Peter. His face exploded into pure panic at Ned's confession to the entire gym class, although it seemed to be directed toward Liz Allen and the group she was sitting with.
"No, I don't! No, I mean..." stuttered Peter, and Lizzie's confidence in him dropped as he incriminated himself with his terrible acting skills.
Ned dug the hole deeper. "They're friends!"
Lizzie understood then what had been happening all day. The stares from Ned, the panicked expressions from Peter, and now that Ned was revealing information he shouldn't know...yeah, Peter told him. Everything. There's no other reason why Ned would be itching to get a glimpse of her all day, not to mention the whispers. Lizzie sighed heavily, rubbing her hands with her face to expel the growing migraine just as Flash spoke out to add to it.
"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends!"
"I've met him," Peter said, and all Lizzie screamed in her mind was, Shut up. He didn't listen. "Yeah. A couple times, but...um, through the Stark internship..." he turned momentarily to Ned, and she saw the break in his composure. "I'm not really supposed to talk about it."
"Well, that's awesome!" Flash, so condescending, continued to add fuel to the fire in an effort to embarrass Peter. "Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party, right?"
Liz had obviously not invited Peter, and the sudden acknowledgement of that made her shy. She sent them a kind smile, nodding, and Peter's heart soared to the moon. "Yeah, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come."
"Yeah! It's going to be dope! You should totally invite your personal friend, Spider-Man," Flash said, now stepping up fully to the attention of Peter. However, that didn't last long.
"Hey, Flash?" Lizzie called out, only a few feet away from the boy. Taylor and Art both widened their eyes, turning to look at Flash's reaction. He, much like everyone else, turned to her. She nodded at the rope he'd been on before. "You want me to teach you how to climb that rope? You look like you've been struggling. I'd be happy to help."
The diss was just polite enough that Lizzie maintained her decency, and she noticed Liz Allen's smile hidden into her hand just as the bell rang. If Peter had a reaction, she didn't see it. Class was dismissed. Art let out a relieved sigh, climbing off the mat as quickly as possible, and saying a quick goodbye to the girls before he was going to the locker room to change. Lizzie stood after losing Flash when everyone got up, helping Taylor next. Her best friend rubbed her back comfortingly, noticing the way Flash crawled under her skin.
"Always have to join the fight, huh?"
God, she needed Therapist Gracie.
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Author's Note:
Spider-Man: Homecoming's timeline is a chaotic mess, and attempting to put Lizzie's life into it (because she has her own) is proving difficult. She just had to play softball and be on the Decathlon Team, and NOW she's teaming up with her parents to figure out what the weapons are...her promise not to get into any danger with her mom might not be kept.
We got to see more of Peter and MJ this chapter! It's funny because these two really cross off a lot of tropes, and now we're entering the enemies phase of their relationship. Ah, the tension. Just so I don't disappoint anyone: their relationship won't become romantic for a bit, and definitely not in this movie. They're babies and still learning who the other is. We are growing up with Lizzie, and she is going to have other experiences and people just like Casey come into her life. I hope you know Peter is the end-game.
Let me know what you though about this chapter. Is anyone else worried about Lizzie?