No Matter What- Peter Parker

Chapter 7

            I took a deep breath as I exited the elevator of Peter's building. I don't know why I was so nervous, he's just my lab partner. I walked to his door and hesitated before knocking. After a few moments, the door was opened by a young, pretty brunette.

"Hi there, can I help you?" she asked with a big smile on her face. I felt more at ease, being able to tell this was a nice, genuine woman. "Hi, I'm y/n, Peter's lab partner? We're supposed to work on project. If this is a bad time I can come back....." I started.

"No not at all! Peter isn't here right now but he should be back pretty soon. He had to uh... pick up some meat for me from Delmar's. Come in!" she exclaimed, opening the door wider and gesturing for me to come in. I walked in and looked around. The apartment was smaller but had a homey feel to it. I noticed the many framed pictures of the woman and Peter, some also picturing an older man with the two.

"I'm May, I'm Peter's aunt," she said as she held her hand out for me to shake. I turned around and shook her hand, returning her warm smile as I responded, "Nice to meet you May." She led me into the kitchen and started explaining the dinner she was making, or was attempting to make. I couldn't help but notice the slight burning smell coming from the stove as she was stirring whatever it was.

About 20 minutes later, I was beginning to wonder if Peter forgot about our project. It wasn't a big deal, I could always get it started for us. I was just a little bummed out that I wouldn't have a chance to get to know him more. Then, we heard a thud come from one of the bedrooms. I turned towards the noise, thinking I heard someone say ow, but then May frantically called my name, regaining my attention as she asked me to help put the turkey in the over. 

As I closed the oven door, I looked up and saw Peter exit from what I assumed was his bedroom. He had wide eyes as we made eye contact. Where did he come from? I didn't hear him come in through the front door?

"H-hey y/n! Sorry I'm late. I was just....uh....." he seemed to be struggling to think of what to say. May quickly cut him off and said, "Thanks for that meat Peter! I'll come grab it from you when you're done working on your project." There was a bit of tension in the air as she had a nervous smile on her face. It seemed like the two of them were having a silent conversation with each other. That was a little strange. I shrugged my shoulders, ignoring the obvious tension. 

Peter quickly compiled his composure and said, "Right. Well, we can work on the project in my room, y/n." He gestured towards the open door he just came out of. I quietly thanked May for the company, grabbed my backpack, and headed for his room. I walked in and inspected the smaller space. He had a bunk bead pushed up against the far side of the room, and a desk to the right of it on the other wall. There was a closet to the left of the door, and a dresser on the left wall from the bed. The desk and dresser were filled with old gadgets, like old computer monitors and telephones with cords still attached. Some of them looked like they had been slightly enhanced. I slowly walked over and began inspecting them while Peter watched me with a cautious gaze.

I picked up one of the gadgets and looked at him. "Did you do these yourself?" I asked, interested in the one I was holding. He uncrossed his arms and said, "Yeah, it's like a hobby of mine I guess. I look in dumpsters for old tech and bring it home to try and modify to make it better...not that I dumpster dive all the time. That's like really gross and would probably make me smell. I swear I don't smell, I only grab stuff I see from the top...." I giggled at his flustered reaction. He probably didn't tell most people how he got this tech.

I set the contraption down and looked at him. "I think this is all really cool. All people care about nowadays is getting their hands on the newest technology. No one appreciates the old stuff." He smiled, glad I didn't address his previous nervous ramble. Maybe he's just as nervous as I am right now.

We sat down, me at his desk and him on the floor with his back against his bed. "Ok, so we have to make a short presentation on the assigned element we got from the Periodic Table. The basic stuff we need to include are its atomic number, unique properties, stuff its used for, stuff like that," Peter said, reading over the assignment description. He continued, "Sounds easy enough, what element did we get assigned?"

I read through the front of my assignment packet until I found the name of the element Mr. Cobbwell wrote. "Looks like we got the element Vibranium," I said as I started looking it up on my laptop. "Hey, it looks like it's a really rare element mainly found in some small country called Wakanada....wait I'm sorry I said that wrong....Wakanda. Hey, this is kind of cool, it was closely replicated by Tony Stark. He made it for his arc reactor to power his suit!" I exclaimed. When I got no response, I swiveled around in my chair to see Peter staring off into space. I could see that his shoulders were really tense and he wasn't meeting my eye.

Then I realized, "Oh....I'm sorry.....I forgot about your internship." MJ had told me about Peter's internship with Stark Industries that he got before The Blip. I wouldn't think that he would be working with Tony Stark that often, but I could tell me mentioning his name struck something in him.

He took a deep breath and said, "It's fine you didn't do anything wrong," before looking at me with his soft, chocolate brown eyes. There was almost something sad behind them. This must be affecting him more than he's letting on. "If you want, we can talk to Mr. Cobbwell tomorrow and ask him if we can change our element. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable," I said. He shook his head and answered, "No it's ok, I'll be fine," putting a small smile on his face.

We continued working for the next few hours and actually had a pretty big start to the project. Around 8 o'clock, we felt we had a good foundation going and it was a good time to stop. I started packing up my things as Peter helped me. We both went for my chemistry book and accidentally brushed our hands up against each other. A small blush crept across my face as we quickly pulled away. I could feel him looking at me as he picked up the booked and handed it to me. I said a small thanks as I hurriedly put the book in my backpack and zipped it up.

As we headed for the door he said, "If you want, I think we would do better if we keep working on the project together, rather than just assigning each other parts to work on our own." He looked nervous as he said this, averting my gaze. I felt butterflies in my stomach and said with a smile, "I agree. Same time tomorrow?" He looked up at me and returned the smile, all the nerves leaving his body. "Sounds good to me," he said as he unlocked and opened the door for me.

As I walked out, I quickly looked back at him and said, "Then I'll see you tomorrow Parker," as I turned and walked out the door towards the elevator.