Michelle was woken rather abruptly from the amount of movement going on over on the other side of the tent. She looked over to see Peter facing towards her, his brows knitted together tightly and his arms wrapped around his torso so tightly she thought his biceps might explode.
She wasn't stupid, she knew he was having a nightmare. A bad one at that, judging by the amount of whimpers escaping his mouth. As bad as she felt, she remembered once reading that you should wake up someone from a nightmare, so she didn't.
Peter looked like he was in pain, so much physical and emotional pain and Michelle felt it too. She felt like she'd been stabbed in the stomach and the knife was being twisted around and around. If she was feeling this kind of second-hand pain, she couldn't imagine having it first hand.
She gulped while she watched, feeling as if she was invading his privacy. Her heart dropped as she watched his hair get matted to his forehead with sweat and eventually, a tear roll down his cheek. Michelle had never seen him cry. She wasn't quite sure if sleep crying was the same as real crying but the situation seemed enough for anyone to cry, even if she didn't know what he was dreaming about.
His breathing picked up until it was so fast, MJ was sure he might combust. With one last final gasp, he sat up, his eyes wide open. Michelle squeezed her eyes shut and felt his own burning into the side of her face, she peered through her eyelashes and watched him hunch over.
The boy held his head in his hands and his knees to his chest. He remembered what May use to tell him, to count through the periodic table with each breath. It was nerdy and he'd never tell anyone that's what he did, but it worked. His breathing was shaky as he ran his hands over his face and through his hair, grimacing at the feeling of sweat on his fingers. Peter swallowed the lump in his throat and pulled a sweater on. It was gross, the fabric clinging to the sweat but he knew he would freeze if he didn't put one on.
Michelle nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt her hand be lifted into the air. Peter was holding her hand in both of his, his finger tracing the different bones and veins as if to make sure she was actually there. She listened to his breathing go from large, deep ones, to somewhat normal again. It took everything in her to stop her finger from twitching and to remain limp, not wanting him to know she was awake.
She heard him leave the tent, she didn't blame him. It wasn't exactly a big space and was stuffy even at the best of times. The air was probably thicker than a bowl of oatmeal in there. Michelle took a deep breath herself and checked her phone, wincing at the sudden brightness. It was just about to hit 4 am, so they'd only been asleep maybe three or so hours. She forced herself to stay awake for a while, but after realising he probably wasn't going to come back, got out of the tent.
Peter was sat in front of the dying embers that remained from their small fire. His eyes were closed and his head rested in the palm of his hand. He'd never felt so grateful to be outside before, the outside air might be biting his skin but it was soothing as he breathed in and out.
Michelle stood outside the tent, Peter's blanket in her hands. She gulped herself, suddenly feeling rather nervous as she worked up the guts to walk over to him. Michelle sat down next to him, the whole situation feeling far too familiar to mere hours ago.
"Um," She extended the blanket out to him, whispering. "I thought you might be cold."
Peter didn't reply, just took the blanket and draped it over his lap, fiddling with a loose thread. Michelle, still wearing his other sweater, tugged at the sleeves and looked from him to the ground, not quite sure what she was supposed to do next.
"Are you okay?" She finally decided on asking.
"Fine," Peter muttered, still not looking at her.
Michelle nodded and bit the inside of her cheek, pushing her hair out of her face. She wasn't quite sure what to do or how to feel. She wanted him to talk to her, she wanted to help but at the same time, she didn't want to pry. As well as that, it wasn't like her and Peter were exactly friends. Were they?
"Are you su-"
"I'm fine." Peter cut her off, his voice harsh and spiteful. It cut through the air, slicing Michelle right where it hurt. He was looking at her now, his eyes dark.
MJ gave him the tightest smile she'd ever given anyway and stood up, brushing off the back of her legs. Not another word was spoken as Michelle returned to the tent, the sound of the zipper echoing through the emptiness.
She down the growing frustration and closed her eyes, curling to a ball under her duvet in an attempt to calm herself down. Michelle had no idea why it bothered her so much, it's not like she didn't know he wouldn't tell her but there was a part of her that hoped he would. There was a part of her that hated seeing Peter like that.
The idea of Peter being in a bad mood was not one she was used to but had gotten to see more than she probably would've liked in the short span of time. She didn't like it. Peter wasn't supposed to be upset in any way, shape or form. Peter was supposed to be awkward, happy go lucky, freaks out over damn Lego Peter. Not whatever this was.
But whatever, it wasn't her problem. Why did it feel like it was?
Peter didn't return to the tent at all. Michelle exited the tent in the morning to find him still sitting in front of the fire, wrapped in the blanket with his headphones in, eyes wide open. She grabbed two pieces of bread before she went to the campground kitchen and shoved them in the toaster.
She wasn't quite sure why she was angry. All she knew is that she was, and it was Peter's fault. So towards Peter is where she'd aim it. Also towards her poor toast that she all but stabbed with a butter-slathered knife. Angry bites were torn out of the food as she walked back to the campsite and sat in a camp chair, staring out at the horizon.
He didn't move an inch for a very long time, Michelle kept track by how much of her book she had read and how much warmer the day got. By the time Peter just shrugged the blanket off, it was rather warm and she'd read two and a quarter chapters of her book. Not that she cared.
Gwen tumbled out of her tent soon after, wincing at the sunlight. Michelle quirked a brow up at her. Gwen whined and walked over to Michelle, her hair sticking up in all sorts of directions she didn't even know existed. A clear indication of a restless night. She was still in the clothes from yesterday, her shirt and skirt skewed to the side awkwardly.
The blonde flopped into a chair and slammed her head into the table. That wasn't one of her best ideas, her pounding headache only beginning to feel like someone taking a hammer to her fragile skull every second. Another whine escaped her mouth and a hand came up to cup the front of her head. Michelle rolled her eyes and went back to her book.
"This is why I don't drink. You two are stupid."
"Yeah," Gwen scoffed. "Thank you, MJ, for your kind words."
"Was I wrong?" Michelle fired back.
"Jeez," Gwen frowned at her friend's dark tone. "What called up your ass and died?"
Michelle narrowed her eyes, swallowing angry words, glaring at Gwen before returning to her book. Books were better than people and always would be. Books didn't call Michelle a bitch at ten in the morning. Books were her friends. Most of the time.
Ned didn't wake up until an hour later. By that time, Michelle was about halfway through her book and Peter had made his way into the shower. Gwen has also gotten into a shower and both had come out cleaner, but still looking rough.
He obviously felt disgusting, as anyone would, but managed to pick himself up after some food and water.
The sun was high in the sky by the time Gwen suggested they all go a hike, in an attempt to ease the tension, enjoy the day, and freshen up after the events of last night.
Neither Peter or Michelle felt like arguing so they agreed. They took turns getting changed in the tent, still not exchanging any words. For different reasons, however, MJ being too annoyed and Peter being too tired.
"Hey Man," Ned walked up to Peter as they began to leave for their walk, a small smile on his face. "I'm really sorry about last night."
"It's fine, don't worry about it." Peter nodded and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Gwen said you were pretty upset so- yeah."
"No, it's okay. I just don't get why you guys decided to sneak around when we would've been totally fine with it."
"It made it more fun." Ned shrugged, a small smile on his face. Peter rolled his eyes but laughed, shaking his head and shoving his friend's shoulder.
Peter and Ned returned back to their normal ways, Peter's previous frustration slowly melting away in the midday heat. They carried a normal conversation on through the woods, Gwen and MJ walking in front of them. Well, Ned did most of the talking and Peter just listened, giving small reactions and answers where they were needed.
Eventually, Ned decided he missed Gwen, so he ditched Peter and walked up to his girlfriend. Peter understood, he was used to sharing by now. Michelle was forced to start trailing behind the couple, walking just in front of Peter.
He watched her back move side to side and her hair sway with the movement. Now that he thought about it, he didn't think he'd ever seen her with her hair down, it was always tied up, except for her fringe of course. Peter wondered what she'd look like with it down, a made-up image burning into his mind.
Shaking his head and the image out at the same time, he turned his focus to the hike. They'd been walking uphill for at least close to an hour now. It wasn't too bad of a walk and it wasn't like he hadn't scaled literally verticle heights before, the Washington Monument being his least favourite of all.
Maybe it was just him, but the sun felt as if this was the hottest it had been since they had been there. He knew was probably going to turn beet red and May would be mad, but oh well. Thank God for the slight breeze that brushed past him and through the trees gently, it supplied some kind of cooling effect but he still longed for more. Peter was sweating in just his shirt and shorts, he had no idea how in the hell MJ was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He jogged to catch up with her.
"It's pretty hot today, right?" He laughed awkwardly.
"It's literally the middle of July." Michelle snapped, wiping the tiniest of smiles from Peter's face.
"Well-" He squeaked and cleared his throat. "Yeah."
Michelle didn't say anything.
"That's Joan of Arc, right? On your shirt."
"So you do pay attention in history."
"Well, I don't know what she did but-"
"Well, she did a lot more than swinging from buildings in spandex and accuse people of trying to steal their own cars." She cut him off without hesitation, still staring directly in front of her.
"That was one time," Peter murmured and bit back a sigh. Michelle either didn't hear or didn't care, because there was no reply.
"Guys, look!" Gwen's voice was somehow still overly enthusiastic considering the events of the night before. "Can we go swimming?"
The group followed her extended arm to find a lake not far off from the track. Gwen didn't wait for any sort of answer to her question before all but running to the water. Ned followed after ecstatically and MJ followed, more lethargic than the other two but still kept up.
Peter, however, was not so convinced. He'd grown up with May not even letting him go to public swimming pools in fear of him contracting some kind of deathly disease. God knows what kind of bacteria a damn lake carried. He bit the inside of his cheek and trudged over to the water that Ned and Gwen had already dived into after ridding their bodies of their clothes.
He watched as MJ kicked her shoes off before grabbing her shirt from the bottom and yanking it off. Obviously, their little dip wasn't planned so she was left in a plain black sports bra.
Peter was a teenage boy, he had hormones, he found himself attracted to girls, so sue him for not being able to look away as she kicked her pants off. He scanned her up and down, a lump forming in his throat with a pounding heart as she tied her hair up into a bun on top of her head.
Michelle glared at him again, putting her hands on her hips. Peter blushed and looked up into the trees, attempting and failing at pretending like he wasn't watching her. His arms folded over his chest and he cleared his throat awkwardly before Ned yelled at him.
"Peter! Are you getting in or what?" His voice was full of joy as beads of water rolled off his body.
"Oh, nah, I'm good." Peter shook his head, his nose scrunching up.
"C'mon, the water's really nice!" Gwen added and Ned shouted words of encouragement.
"Well, you know, it's probably full of all sorts of bugs. Who knows what kind of animal excretion is in there?"
"You say that as if you're literally not part spider." MJ deadpanned, tilting her head to the side. Peter had to look away from her again when she did that, not wanting her to see the red crawling up his neck.
"Well, spiders are arachnids which are not technically considered bugs, so... " Peter trailed off while staring into the water.
"Nerd."
"You say that as if you don't go through a book a day."
"I'm not a nerd, I'm educated. You like Star Wars and Lego, nerd."
"At least I have hobbies and interests outside of- whatever, shut up, MJ."
"It's Michelle, only my friends call me MJ."
Peter was visibly taken aback. He raised his brows and clenched his jaw before kicking his shoes off and pulling his shirt off from the neck. As pissed off as she was, she wasn't going to deny herself the simple pleasure of looking at a rather nice set of abs.
She wasn't one to objectify people, but if a beautiful v-line put itself out on show, she wasn't going to look away. Peter tossed his shirt to the side, looking into the water. Well, looking at Ned and Gwen making out and ignoring their fight, like they always did.
He scrunched his face up and looked at MJ, folding his arms over his torso. She didn't look away, her eyes raking up his chest before making eye contact with him. Peter blushed again, trying his best to hold eye contact with her, but he ended up being the one to look away, of course. Michelle was just too intimidating for him to not.
This time when he diverted his eyes, they landed on her book. It was sitting rather neatly on top of her pile of folded clothes. He glanced back at her quickly before putting his spidey skills to use for the first time in days. In a matter of seconds, the book went from on top of clothes to in his hands and dangling over the edge of the lake.
"Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare." Michelle stormed over, violently pointing at him.
"Admit that we're friends." Peter was getting bold, his chest puffing out, knowing that he finally had something dangling over her head.
"No, give me the book back." She took another step towards him, her arm now stretching out towards the book. She nearly jumped when he held her book between just his thumb and index finger.
"Admit it."
"Peter." MJ narrowed her eyes, now only a few inches from him. She directly into his eyes and watched Peter shrink into himself.
"Alright, alright," Peter surrendered, suddenly remembering the punch he'd gotten after throwing her book out the car window on the way here. He quickly threw her book back onto her clothes. "It's okay, we both know we're frien-"
Before he could finish, his whole body tingled and without even trying, he ducked to the ground. A splash was heard and his eyes widened, watching a very angry MJ emerge from the water. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to hold back a laugh but failing.
Peter was never caught off guard, he could feel it coming before it happened but sometimes, he wouldn't react fast enough. There was a sharp tug the one arm that was supporting himself on the ground, the shift in his weight causing him to go tumbling into the water next to Michelle.
Before he fell in the water, his body decided that the best reaction would be to push himself off the bank, causing him to more or less jump into the water. He fell in with more force than what he would've preferred, doing a couple of flips in the water.
He couldn't open his eyes, he wasn't sure which way was up or down. There was no Iron Man to fish him out this time. At least he wasn't tangled in a parachute. Peter's flailing arms eventually broke the surface of the water and he pushed himself in that direction, taking a deep breath in.
Apparently, he forgot not even spider's can breath underwater. His feet found a place on the murky bottom of the lake, but his lungs were trying to find their way up and out of his throat as he coughed. Peter felt a hand hit his back repeatedly, which he wasn't sure if he appreciated or not. He placed a hand on the persons, what he assumed, or at least hoped, shoulder.
Different voices filled his ears but he couldn't make out what they were saying at all. Another pair of hands held his shoulders from the front and pushed his hair out of his face. He tried to open his eyes but found that his vision was blurry, from lake water or tears, he didn't know. All he knew was that it was Michelle standing in front of him, he could tell from the glow of her skin and the feel of her touch.
After what felt like an eternity, he stopped coughing as much, finally able to at least breathe raspily. Peter rubbed his eyes, blinking rapidly to clear his muddy vision. With a deep breath, he managed to crack a smile at the terrified expression on Michelle's face.
"You asshole!" Michelle exclaimed, sending a massive splash of water into his face. Peter flinched and dived to the side.
"What the hell, MJ?!" He croaked, coughing a couple of times.
"Don't 'what the hell, MJ' me! I thought you drowned!" Her chest was heaving as her arms waved frantically in the air, droplets of water flying into Peter's face.
"Yeah! So did I!" Peter cried, his own arms flung into the air, gesturing towards himself and then to MJ. "I'm the one who actually had to live that!"
"Ok, ok-" Gwen tried to interrupt and diffuse the situation, but nothing could stop an angry Michelle.
"I'm the one who would've had to live with the fact that it was my fault if you did die!" MJ's voice cracked slightly at the end but she tried her best to cover it up by flopping her arms into the water, a small splash being the result.
"Trust me; I know exactly how that feels." Peter raised his brows at her, his raspy voice now softer, both of them knowing exactly what he was referring to.
Michelle's wide eyes slowly returned to their normal size and they stared at each other, their breathing calming at the same rate. She folded her arms over her stomach while he pushed stray hairs out of his eyes. Michelle gulped.
"You've probably got all sorts of bugs in your lungs now." Michelle pointed out, her voice quieter and shyer than he'd ever heard it.
"It's alright, I'm part spider anyway."