Love Song | p. parker (BEING EDITED)

2 | Maybe Just a Little Bit More

"Calculus sucks." You announced, throwing down your pencil and laying your head down. You were lying on your stomach in the middle of Peter's apartment.

"Come on, we can figure this out." Ned said determinedly.

Peter ran his fingers through his hair impatiently. "We've been at it for half an hour. On just this question! I'm with ___, this sucks."

MJ, who was sitting next to Peter on the couch, had her nose in the textbook.

Ned smiled placatingly. "Well it's math, so there is a right answer. And I think we can find it. MJ, did you learn anything from the book?"

She emerged from behind it and shot a dead-pan look at Ned. "If I had, I would have said something before now." She closed the book and threw it to the floor to join your pencil. "I'm out for today."

Peter tossed his lined notebook after it. "Me too."

Ned seemed to struggle internally for a few seconds and then he too tossed his scratch paper onto the floor. "Fine. We'll ask for help on it in class tomorrow."

"Whatever you say, nerd rope." MJ said, rising from the couch and stretching. "I'm getting water. Want a glass Peter?"

Peter briefly squeezed her waist and smiled. "Sure, thanks."

It had come to your attention very quickly that Peter and MJ were a thing. And unless you were a deserter, that meant they were soulmates.

Ned had confirmed this to you on your second day of school. Apparently Peter had said MJ's tattoo phrase at a party one night.

It was a slight pitty, you thought, as you watched Peter ruffle his hair again and lean back into the couch cushions, that he was spoken for. Because, try as you might to ignore, you couldn't help being a little attracted to Peter.

You felt marginally guilty about it, because he wasn't your soulmate, but you had found yourself thinking about him sometimes. Of the shape of his smile, or the way he would laugh when Ned would say something funny, or how he would never seem to know what to do with his hands when he felt awkward.

Yes, the last three weeks with your new friends had been tainted by that small snag, but you were sure you could get over it. You just needed to find your own soulmate, and it would all be okay.

"Should we play a board game then?" Ned asked. "We haven't played Risk in a long time."

MJ who had come back with two glasses of water raised her eyebrows playfully. "Peter loves that game."

"Yeah right," Peter said, "you two always beat me. Let's watch a movie or something."

"Ugh, I am so sick of Star Wars." MJ said, sitting back down on the couch.

Ned scooped up the remote. "Alright, let's just see what's on."

The TV clicked on to reveal a popular news channel.

You expected Ned to change the channel and was slightly confused when he did not. You looked around to ask why he didn't move on, but saw that he, Peter, and MJ were all watching with interest. You raised your eyebrows. Watching the news wasn't one of your common past times. Was it normal for them?

Returning your gaze to the screen you watched the news anchor report on an organization called The Core. It was apparently a deserter group that had been causing some disruption in downtown Queens.

"I can't imagine deserting my soulmate." Ned said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yeah," Peter agreed.

"Have you run into that group at any point Peter?" Ned asked.

Peter shook his head, also watching still. They've never been loud when I've been on patrol."

Patrol?

MJ cleared her throat loudly and both Peter and Ned jumped.

"It's probably nothing to worry about," MJ said pointedly. "Peaceful protests almost always attract people who do dumb things for the publicity. The organization itself is probably non hostile."

Peter and Ned both looked at each other and then nodded mechanically. "You're probably right." Ned said, then cleared his throat and tugged at his collar.

You furrowed your brow. "Okay, what the heck is going on right now?"

All three of them looked at you. MJ was the only one who didn't look guilty of something.

"Patrol? What is that? You guys are acting stiff all of a sudden too." You said.

Peter swallowed and scratched his chin. "Uh, it's nothing. It's um," he seemed to be casting about for something to say. "I have a role at the Stark internship called Patrol."

MJ made a motion that looked to you like a face plant into her hand, but when you glanced at her she merely brushed some hair out of her face.

You nodded. "Oh, okay."

Ned copied you by nodding as well. "Sometimes he patrols Queens. So I was asking if he'd seen anything weird from The Core that we hadn't."

Everyone seemed to be over explaining to you. "Right... I got that."

After a few seconds of awkward silence, an interruption occurred in the form of Peter's aunt, May.

"Hello everyone!" She said, coming out of her room. "Are we eating dinner together here or are we going out?"

Ned and MJ both got up to follow May, likely to discuss dinner options. You'd heard from Peter that May wasn't the best cook. Hopefully they could convince her not to make dinner.

You glanced at Peter. He seemed totally normal now. You guessed the odd behavior earlier was nothing.

"I'm looking for a job," you said as Peter clicked the mute button on the remote. His internship talk had reminded you of that. "Do you know anywhere that's hiring nearby?"

Peter looked thoughtful. "I think a pizza place had a sign in the window last night. It's down on 4th, maybe that's too far."

You shrugged. "I'll have to see. My mom is selling the car so if it is too far I'll have to take the subway."

"Ah, that's not too bad." Peter said, also standing up. "There are some weird people sometimes, but it'll get you there fast."

"Peter!" May called from the kitchen. "Do you want to go out for Thai?"

He grinned and held out a hand to you. "One sec May!"

You hesitated but then took his hand, allowing him to help you up from off the floor. You marveled at how strong his grip was. "Thanks."

"No sweat," Peter said. "I'll keep an eye out for any job openings I come across."

You nodded. "Thanks again."

Peter smiled. "No sweat."

You grinned back.

"Peter! Thai or what?"