The European Act (2)

1- The Preparing Begins

Peter Parker strode across the classroom and plopped down at the desk next to his best friend, Ned Leeds'. "I have a plan." Ned blinked at him. "Okay, first, I'm gonna sit next to MJ on the flight, of course. Second, I'm gonna buy a dual-headphone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time. Okay. Three, when we go to Venice- Venice is famous for making stuff out of glass, right? True. So I'm gonna buy her a black dahlia necklace because her favorite flower is the black dahlia because of, well-"

"The murder." Ned nodded.

"The murder. Four, when we go to Paris, I'm gonna take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace. Then five, I tell her how much I love her and hopefully she likes everything I prepared!" Peter grinned triumphantly at his best friend.

"Oh, don't forget step six."

"Step six?"

"Don't do any of that. You don't need to."

Peter's smile slid right off his face. "Why?"

"I think she'll love you all the same even if you don't do all of that," Ned shrugged. "But if you really want to do it, then do it. Me, I'm gonna to be a bachelor in Europe." Peter gave him a look. "What? I may not know much, but I do know this- Europeans love Americans."

Peter was incredulous. "Really?"

"More than half of them are women."

"Okay. Sure."

Ned smiled at Peter. "You really love MJ, don't you?"

"I do. I really like MJ, man, okay? And I hope... y'know... we can last." The doe-eyed boy gazed dreamily into the distance. "She's awesome, she's super funny in a kind of dark way. Sometimes I catch her looking at me, I feel like I've stood up- She's coming. Don't say anything, I want it to be a surprise!"

"What up, dorks?" MJ casually walked up to them. Peter's heart skipped a beat. "Excited about the science trip?"

"Hey," Peter greeted, trying to act nonchalant to be careful not to spill his plan. "We're talking about the trip."

"Yeah, and Peter's plan." Ned added.

MJ raised an eyebrow at Peter. "You have a plan?"

Peter shot Ned a sideways glare. "I don't- I don't have a plan."

"No, he's just gonna collect tiny spoons when we're traveling to other countries." Ned put in quickly, and Peter mentally facepalmed, because things were just getting worse.

MJ's expression was incredulous. "Like a grandmother?"

Peter huffed. "I'm not collecting tiny spoons, he's collecting tiny spoons."

MJ shook her head, the corners of her mouth turning up. "By the way, travel tip: You should download a VPN on your phone, so the government can't track you while we're abroad. Do you want to choose the seats on the plane?" She added towards Peter.

Peter smiled. "Smart. Will do. I... haven't been on a plane before, um... you can choose the seats for us." That wasn't exactly true- Peter had ridden a plane when Tony took him to Germany.

MJ nodded, giving him a sweet smile, and turned to leave.

"Dude, I think that went great," Ned said optimistically once the girl was out of earshot, to which Peter just sighed.

- - - - -

Peter, decked out in his Spider-Man nanosuit, stood on the stage with his aunt May, who was holding a microphone.