|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 106• Mean Girl

"What did you want to talk about?" Peter asked her impatiently. It felt like he'd been asking her the same questions over and over again, and Liz didn't answer. She just sat there, giggling, smiling, trying to hold his hand. People around them must think that they're on a date or something. That's the last thing he wanted. "Just what you've been up to. What's been happening in your life? The usual stuff!" She replied excitedly. Peter didn't like the tone of her voice. They weren't the best friends back when she was still living here. She barely noticed him in school. Yes, they went to Homecoming together but that turned into a disaster. "Going to school, working on my education. That's basically it." Liz nodded along and hummed. "And how's your aunt doing?" She has never asked about May before. One time, Liz went a whole week asking Peter what his parents did for a living for a school project and he wouldn't answer. "May's fine," Peter answered. Liz's lips curled into a huge smile. "That's great. I'm glad to hear that she's doing so good." Something inside of him told him that she was lying. That tone. It didn't sound genuine. "What about Y/n?" Liz quickly followed up. Peter narrowed his eyes a little. "Still going strong?"
"Yes, Y/n makes me the happiest guy on the planet. So, yeah, I would say that." Liz pulled a strange face and mumbled something under her breath that Peter couldn't hear because of all the people around them. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I didn't catch that." Liz giggled again in response and started reaching for Peter's hand again. "It's nothing. I'm just a little shocked that such a workaholic and someone so in the picture could have such a normal boyfriend." What the hell was that supposed to mean? Ouch. Such a normal boyfriend. That made him feel even more terrible than when he got hit by that train. Was he not good enough for Y/n? And who was Liz to judge that? Liz seemed to catch on to Peter's distress quickly. "It's true, isn't it? Y/n works so much, just like her dad." Liz said. Peter grabbed his mug of hot chocolate before Liz could try to take his hands again. "Y/n's doing what she does best and she has my full support," Peter replied honestly. "Yeah, but she's like gone all the time, isn't she?"

"No, not really." Peter spat back quickly. He wouldn't let Liz talk about Y/n like that. What does Liz even know about her? She talked to Y/n maybe once or twice. Liz's mouth fell open. "Oh," She said, "I'm sorry. I thought she was just gone a lot for her job." Peter didn't like where this conversation was heading. Liz was talking badly about Y/n when she didn't even know her. Was she jealous or something? "Can we maybe stop talking about my girlfriend? Because I feel like you're heading a whole other direction than I am." Peter loves Y/n with all he has. It feels wrong to even be here, let alone listen to Liz. "Yeah, sure, sorry. I really didn't mean to upset you. I'm really not trying to put her in a bad light or anything like that." Liz apologized. It surely didn't look or sound like it. Peter sighed. "What about you? Your parents? What made them come back to Queens?" Liz's smile quickly returned. "Yeah, well, my dad was released from prison. He brought us back because he wanted everything to go back to normal. I'm really happy to be back here. In the past years, when it was just me and my mom, it was fine but it felt different. I'm glad to be back." She answered. "I get that. You must be happy to have your dad back after all this time." To go back to normal. Toomes said that he wanted to go back to normal, that could also mean that he'll be back on track soon with his stealing game as well. "I'm glad you're back too. You know, Ned and I were talking about it the other day, about what happened when we were still in school together. How fun those days were." Peter really tried his best to keep the conversation moving forward. "Yeah, I miss those days. Just all of us in school, all of our friends, Flash, Betty. I really miss them." Flash, the guy that used to bully Peter, she missed him? It was hard to believe anyone would miss Flash. His own parents don't even miss him. "But what are you doing now? Got a job or education?" Peter asked her. Liz shook her head slightly. "No, not at the moment." She answered, "I'm going to start looking for something here in Queens." Peter hummed in response. There wasn't much to ask now. He could ask her about her mom or her father, what he's doing nowadays, but he really doesn't want to get into that right now.