Eric Hastings was an aspiring journalist that would do anything for a good picture and a first-page deserving article. Peter Parker disguised as Spiderman was desperate to bring attention to the growing violence and weapon trafficking in the dark st...
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Camille was still ignoring Eric, he didn't understand what he had done and he tried asking her, but the girl didn't pick up any of his calls and ignored all of his texts. Eric decided to stop trying until Monday and just waited to meet the girl in their school.
It turns out that Camille was really good at ghosting people, Eric arrived at school and went straight to his locker, as soon as he appeared at the beginning of the hallway Camille spotted him and completely disappeared in the crowd of people. Eric moaned and walked to his locker, at least the new investigation he was leading alongside spiderman was promising.
All of the bandit's names checked out, the hidden bank accounts could be traced and their base of operation also showed a lot of illicit activity in the last months, Eric was still a bit apprehensive because of the scheduled meeting with his boss tomorrow, but the boy managed to ignore that problem for now.
"Hey Eric" Peter said approaching the boy "Hi Pete" Eric answered back, but his voice sounded sad.
"Is everything okay? You seem to be a little off"
"I'm fine, but for some reason, Camille has been ignoring me since the party, I've tried calling and messaging her but she is completely ghosting me" Peter's face changed to an uncomfortable expression but he said nothing.
"What do you know Parker?" Eric asked.
"No- nothing, is really not my place to talk about it. You should ask her" Peter explained.
"It is impossible to talk to her, tell me what you know" Eric said pushing Peter inside a less packed corridor.
Peter obviously could have escaped Eric's arms, but he was a bit surprised at the sudden action. The smaller boy was right in front of him and their faces almost touched, Eric's eyebrows were so frowned that they almost formed a single line.
"Look, I didn't tell you this... but she is into you, like really into you and she got really jealous at the party because she thought you and Liz were making out" Peter said blushing a bit.
"Shit, shit" Eric mumbled getting away from Peter and leaning against a wall, and taking a few deep breaths "Are you okay?" Peter approached the other male once again. Eric just moved his head up and down trying to say yes.
"I'm going to lose my best friend. I'm not into her, I'm not into any girl! For god's sake, I'm gay! And now that I do not correspond her feelings she is going to shut me off and I'm losing the best person I know" Eric started to spiral down.
"Calm down okay? She is going to understand! No one can force you to correspond their feelings, and if she is unable to accept you for who you are then she is an idiot, and you have other friends. I'm here for you buddy" Peter said rubbing his hand on Eric's back.
"You really mean it?" Eric asked.
"Of course dude! We are even teammates now, Decathlon buddies" Peter said trying to cheer the other boy up, and it apparently worked "Okay, Decathlon buddies... we need to get to class now" Eric said and Parker agreed. The duo parted ways, Eric headed to his Bio class and Peter to Algebra.
Once Eric entered his bio class, Camille was sharing her desk with flash and Liz was sitting alone at his usual table. Eric smiled at the girl and walked to the spot right next to her "Problems in paradise? I mean your paradise is filled with rainbows and shirtless men, but she is still your friend" Liz whispered to Eric. The boy's face changed color and Liz chuckled.
"I'm just kidding, but it is so nice to have another LGBT friend" Liz replied apologetically "Just keep it down, the current number of people aware of this situation is two, and I'd like to keep it that way" Liz agreed and opened her textbook.
"What do you mean by two people, who else knows?" The girl whispered once again.
"Peter walked in when I was telling you that. But no need to worry, I think he didn't hear you" Eric reassured her and grabbed his book as well.
~X~
Eric, Liz, Peter, and Ned had lunch together, Peter was a bit conflicted for unknown reasons, Liz and Eric were sitting in front of him and he was trying to be nice and talk to both of them, for some reason Liz's presence wasn't making him as anxious as he used to be, however, Eric's curious eyes made Peter a little shy.
"It's really good to have someone new in the decathlon team" Ned spoke up Äre you excited about the trip? The teacher gave us most of the information last week, but I'm sure he has an extra folder" Ned explained.
"I still have to talk with my parents about it, but I think they'll agree"
"Of course, they will four days without a teenager in the house, plus the school is paying for transportation and hotel"
Eric laughed a bit at Ned's excitement and finished his food. The group waited until everyone was done eating and they headed to the Decathlon Club room. The teacher introduced Eric to the rest of the team, even though he knew all of them, They stayed the whole afternoon training with some flashcards they had prepared, it turns out Eric was really good with the geography and history one's.
Eric was really surprised at how smart Peter was, everyone knew the boy was a good student but there were some questions in those flashcards that even the teacher seemed confused to hear, on the other side, Peter answered them as if they were as easy as the ABC. Eric got lost in his thoughts examinating Peter's body language and answers to the questions.
"Hey dude, stop drooling. People will notice" Someone whispered in Eric's ear, the boy jumped and looked at his side where a girl with darker skin and curled hair looked at him mischievously "I'm Michelle Jones, but you can call me MJ" The girl said. Eric extended his hand even tho he was feeling extremely embarrassed at being caught starring at someone like that.
"Parker huh, interesting choice" The girl joked and Eric growled in frustration "I was just impressed at how smart he is"
"Whatever you say dude" MJ said with a completely fishy tone.
Eric and MJ kept their conversation to a really low voice and no one seemed to hear, no one with super hearing. Peter grabbed a hold of the conversation as soon as his name was brought up and he blushed a little when MJ suggested Eric was interested in him, the fact that the boy thought he was really smart also made Parker feel funny on his insides.
Peter kept paying attention to the conversation and at the teacher at the same time, the duo's topic changes to something that didn't involve him so he switched his focus back to Liz.
