ʟᴏꜱᴛ ᴄʜɪʟᴅʀᴇɴ || 𝟙

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 24

"Hey," Peter called out as she reached for the doorknob to her room.

"Hmm?"

"Thanks. It meant a lot."

"Welcome, Parker." She said softly, closing the door behind her with a faint click.

Surprisingly, it did. The way she had sat there, as quiet as a mouse, not complaining, not commenting, just allowing his thoughts to flow freely as he attempted to paint a cohesive picture with them. Of course, he couldn't sort through everything, but with the Mysterio business and his identity officially settled he hadn't had the time to appreciate the relief, only the sting of disappointment.

But slowly, it dawned on him that he was free again. Free to live his double life without the fear of putting a target on his friends and family.

Family. Friends. Best friend. Ned. MJ. Shit. Aunt May.

Running back to his room, he picked up the phone and dialed both of them, praying that they would pick up.

Ned, of course, answered almost instantly, his face blowing up on screen. MJ followed, about 3 seconds later, expression as bland and uncaring as ever.

"Hey, loser. Hey Peter."

Ned immediately took over the conversation, bombarding his best friend with a barrage of questions and indignant statements.

"Is War Machine really the new leader?"

"Who was the one wearing the suit?"

"Why didn't you let me wear the suit?"

"Did you really go to Russia and tell MJ but not me? I thought I was your guy in the chair, man."

The last sentence was such a guilt trip but at the same time suffused with the classic Ned excitement that he missed.

"Okay, okay," he jumped down onto his bed, holding his phone up so that they could see him. "I can't tell you everything but basically yes, I did go to Russia for certain reasons. Secondly, yes Mr R-, I mean War Machine is the new leader. Next, I didn't let you wear the suit because that would compromise the entire Avengers operation. And D-," he hesitated momentarily, suddenly unsure whether he should mention her name in front of MJ who already seemed to have built up quite a profile on her.

"Also, there was no one wearing my suit, it was obviously remote-controlled by FRIDAY." Peter stated very matter-of-factly.

"Right, right obviously," Ned said, immediately taking the bait, but MJ remained as stone-cold silent as ever.

That wasn't good. But then again, it didn't mean that it was bad either. It was hard to tell with her sometimes.

"Anyway," Peter attempted to divert the attention to him instead of Demetria. "I just wanted to call and tell you guys the good news. I think I'll be back to school in a couple of days now that I'm not technically Spider-Man anymore. I wanted to check in, make sure you guys were okay because well, Ned you're my best friend and MJ," he paused, once more unable to pinpoint what he and her were supposed to be.

Although Ned was usually impervious to such social awkwardness, this one was far too blatant even for him to ignore.

"Well, this has been fun, Peter thanks for the update, let me know when you're coming back," he said hurriedly as they both initiated their virtual handshake before his screen went blank, MJ's face now the sole display on Peter's phone.

"So... I'm back."

"Welcome back. That wasn't really FRIDAY controlling the suit was it? It was her, right?" MJ asked.