The Next Day
"Hey, thanks for bailing on me." Ned said as he entered shop class. Angela didn't have shop, so it was just him right now.
"Yeah, well, something came up." Peter muttered. He was currently trying to take apart an item he found last night, and he was struggling to do so.
"What is that?" Ned asked, looking at the mysterious item.
"I don't know." He shrugged. "Some guy tried to vaporize me with it."
"Seriously?" Ned said shocked.
Peter nodded as he continued to take apart whatever he was holding. "Yeah."
"Awesome." He gushed. Peter turned to him, looking at him as if what he said was out of line. Ned quickly took back what he said, and tried to make up for it. "I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of that guy. So scary."
Ned sat down next to Peter, who still had his eyes glued to the glowing object. "Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours."
"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-"
Peter hits the object really hard with a hammer, revealing a glowing core piece. Hitting it caused a really loud noise, but the teacher didn't seem to budge. He was reading a book, and couldn't care less as to what they were doing. "Keep your fingers clear of the blades."
The two got back to work, wondering what they were gonna do. "I gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it."
"We'll go to the lab after class and run some tests." Ned proposed. Peter agreed, and the two did their usual handshake. "Hey, can I talk to you about something real quick?"
"Can it wait?" Peter asked, then Ned shook his head. "Definitely not."
"Then spill."
"Angela and I almost kissed." Ned quickly admitted. Peter's eyes widened and he looked at him in shock. "You two what?"
"Well during Liz's party while you were out and about fighting dudes, we were playing truth or dare. Then Liz called on Angela and she said truth and the question was who and where was her first kiss. But then-"
"She's never been kissed?"
"Exactly! Then yesterday when we were hanging out I brought it up and she said she wasn't lying about it. I told her I had never been kissed either then said I had an idea and she was like "go on". So then I said-"
"What if we each other first kisses?"
"Yes! It's like you know what happened." Ned exclaimed.
"I mean, it's pretty cliché." Peter shrugged, but wanted to hear more. "So what happened after that?"
Now Ned was starting to talk like a narrator in one of those documentaries voiced by Morgan Freeman. "It was about to happen, then she starting choking on her bubble gum."
"Bummer. At least she was down for it." That really wasn't helping Ned. He wanted it to happen so desperately. Ned was dying for some sort of sign that whatever was going on between him and his best friend was something more. All he wanted was to think his feelings weren't idiotic. All he wanted was Angela to see him as more than just best friends.
•••
"So what is this glowy thing you two are talking about?" Angela asked the two as they walked down the hallway.
"It's like some alien shit." Ned answered in the simplest way possible. "I don't know really. Anyway, I say we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer-"
"We gotta come up with a better name than "glowy thingy."" Peter chuckled.
"I kinda like calling it that." Angela said.
"But it needs a badass name." Ned exclaimed, and she eventually agreed. "I guess you're right."
Peter noticed two of the men who were basically after him, and immediately freezes. Ned and Angela had no idea who they were, so they were confused as to why Peter was freaking out. "Shit."
"Come on." He immediately hides behind a wall and motions Ned and Angela to hide too. Angela immediately obeys, and runs to stand next to him, but Ned doesn't right away. He looks around like an idiot then quickly shuffles to hide with them.
"Who are they and why are we hiding?" Angela whispered. "This is like some James Bond shit."
"That's one of the guys that tried to kill me." Peter whispered to Ned and Angela.
"The fuck? Dude, we gotta blast." Peter quickly dismissed Angela and thought otherwise. "No! I gotta follow them. Maybe they can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake."
"Someone dropped you in a lake?" Ned looked at him puzzled.
Peter shuttered at the memories of him being in that freezing cold water. "Yeah, it was not good."
The two men went into an empty classroom, and Peter immediately went to follow them.
"Peter-"
"Stay here." He demanded the two and ran off. Angela definitely wasn't going to just stand there, she was dying for some food. "Yeah, no. I'm grabbing food."
"But-"
"Deuces!" Angela yelled out (which she probably shouldn't have) and did a quick peace sign then walked in the direction towards the cafeteria.
"Well fuck." Ned said to himself.
•••
It was now after school. Peter, Ned and Angela were in Peter's bedroom somewhat goofing off. Ned was holding one of Peter's web shooters, amazed by the technology it possessed. He began to project a hologram of the city, and Ned looked at it in awe. "This is so awesome."
"What do you expect from Tony Stark?" Angela asked in a sassy tone.
"Nothing but greatness." Ned gushed. A red dot popped up on the map, showing where the people they were following were. "They're in Brooklyn."
Angela raised an eyebrow at Ned and Peter. "Why are we stalking a group of dudes again?"
"Cause they're dangerous. Duh." Peter replied.
"Mhm." She rolled her eyes and went to one of her apps on her phone. "Right."
They didn't stop tracking the "bad guys" until they made a stop. This didn't happen for hours. During that time, Angela took a nap. Ned took a nap as well, and he let Angela rest her head on his shoulder.
Later a loud beeping sound emerged, waking up the two. "They stopped."
"Huh?" Angela said groggily. "Who?"
Ned was awake almost immediately. He didn't have time to be tired apparently. "The baddies! But why would they stop in Maryland?"
"Why not? Dude, I'm tired." Angela yawned. She could care less right now.
"Evil lair?" Peter questioned. Ned took this seriously, thinking these dudes actually had a lair. "They have a lair?"
"A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair." He sassed.
"Badass." Ned said. "But how are you gonna get there if it's, like, 300 miles away?"
Both Peter and Ned looked at the decathlon poster simultaneously and gave each other a look. "It's not too far from D.C."
"No!" Angela chimed in. "No, no. You are not doing what I think you're doing."
"I didn't even say what I was gonna do yet." Peter smirked at her.
"Look, I see that smug look on your face! You're gonna-"
•••
It was now the day before Nationals. As they team was ready to head onto the bus, Peter an up to the group. "Hey, it's Peter!"
"Well butter my butt and call me biscuit." Angela said to herself.
•••
This sucked but THAT FAR FROM HOME TRAILER THO