𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤

Second Choice

Parings → Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings → Angst, jealousy, insecurity, miscommunication, emotional hurt, drunkenness, hangover, guilt, clingy behavior, comfort, vulnerability, soft moments, relationship imbalance, healing.

Summary → Peter messes up at a party over his past, you get hurt, but later he takes care of you and gets clingy.

          ｡･:*:･ﾟ★｡･:*:･ﾟ☆  ｡･:*:･ﾟ★

The music was too loud.

Not in a fun way—just enough to make conversations feel like work, like you had to lean in too close, repeat yourself twice, laugh a second too late.

You stood beside Peter near the entrance of the apartment, fingers loosely hooked around his wrist as people brushed past you. The place was packed—students from your course, strangers, friends-of-friends, bodies moving, laughing, shouting.

“Remind me why we came again?” You muttered, leaning into him.

Peter gave a small smile, distracted. “Uh—someone from lab invited me. I thought it’d be good to… you know. Be normal.”

Normal.

You hummed. “Right. Normal includes sweating in a crowded apartment and pretending you’re having fun.”

He huffed out a quiet laugh at that, and for a second—just a second—it felt easy. Like it usually did when it was just the two of you.

Then—

Peter went still.

Just… froze.

His wrist tensed under your fingers. His entire body locked up like someone had hit pause on him.

You frowned, looking up at him. “Peter?”

No response.

His gaze wasn’t on you anymore.

It was somewhere over your shoulder.

Something in your chest tightened.

You turned.

And immediately wished you hadn’t.

She was across the room.

You knew her instantly.

You’d seen her in photos—on Peter’s old phone, the ones he hadn’t deleted but never looked at for too long. The ones he showed you that night he told you everything.

The girl he loved.

MJ.

She was standing near the couch, close—too close—to a guy you vaguely recognized from Peter’s classes. His hand was absentmindedly playing with a strand of her hair, twirling it between his fingers while he leaned in to say something.

And MJ—

She was smiling.

Soft. Warm. Comfortable.

The kind of smile that didn’t belong to strangers.

Your stomach dropped.

You glanced back at Peter.

Big mistake.

He wasn’t just looking.

He was… gone.

Completely, utterly gone.

Like the entire room had disappeared and it was just her.

Your grip on his wrist loosened.