The Book Of PeterNed

Paper Stars

[A/N: i'm a sucker for cute 'how they met' AU prompts so expect a lot of these]

Peter was sitting on the long subway ride home, absentmindedly folding his colourful paper into perfect little paper stars. He tied the little knot in the paper, doing the rest of the steps and then pinching the corners of the star perfectly to make it rounded but still star shaped. He held it in front of his face and smiled, not putting it with his pile of other paper stars that he had made. This one was more perfect than the others.

He turned to the boy who always sat next to him for most of the ride. The boy usually didn't do much other than watch Netflix on the screen of his tiny phone, but Peter found him kinda cute. He always gave him a paper star, the most perfect one he made each day. It was his own way of flirting, because he was too awkward to actually flirt. He didn't even know the boys name, but he did seem to be around Peter's age.

He tapped the boy on the shoulder to get his attention, smiling and holding the paper star out to him. The boy grinned and took it, staring at it for a second.

"You always give me these. And since this is the hundredth one, I figured I would introduce myself. Hi, I'm Ned." The boy, Ned, held his hand out for Peter to shake. Peter blushed a tiny bit and took Ned's hand, shaking it and then holding it for a moment too long. He let go and awkwardly pulled his hand away, suddenly too nervous to even look at Ned, who went back to staring at the paper star. It was made of pale red paper.

Eventually, Ned decided to break the silence.

"Hey, do you wanna go for coffee, like, today? I could just get off at your stop and we go to a coffee shop or something." He suggested, looking hopefully at his newfound friend. Peter smiled brightly at him.

"Sure! Oh, and- and I'm Peter, by the way." He added the last part quickly, realizing he hadn't even introduced himself yet. They were both silent again but it wasn't awkward, just calm. Once they got to Peter's stop, he put his paper, scissors, and the few colourful paper stars he had in his lap back into his bag. He got up and Ned followed him out of the subway station onto the semi-busy street.

"I know a good coffee shop around here, follow me!" Peter exclaimed, growing more and more excited. He was on a date with the guy he's had a crush on for months, how could he not be excited? Ned followed him through the crowded streets until they got to a small coffee shop.

In the window there was a red and blue sign advertising that this place had 'Spidermans favourite coffee!' which was cool to Ned, because Spiderman was like, his idol. Maybe Spiderman would show up here and he could meet him, that would almost be as cool as going on a date with the cute boy who always gave him paper stars. Almost.

They went inside and up to the counter, Ned ordering one of those cappuccinos with the foam art on top and Peter ordering a hot chocolate. Ned insisted on paying for it. They went and sat down at one of the small round tables, the slightly golden lights and crackling fake fireplace on the wall making this place feel warm and like home.

"So, how do you make those paper stars, anyways?" Ned asked after they sat down, and Peter grinned even wider than he already had been. He took a yellow piece of paper out of his messenger bag (which made him look even cuter somehow) and cut two strips of paper out of it, handing one to Ned.

"Okay, so you tie a knot in the paper like this," Peter demonstrated, leaning onto the table and holding his paper out so Ned could see it, "and then you don't tighten the knot too much because that ruins the star."

Ned sloppily recreated what Peter did, his looking a lot worse but still sort of similar even though the paper ripped a bit.

"Now tuck this little extra bit into the knot." Peter gave the next step and Ned followed it.

"That looks pretty good! Now take the long end of the paper and wrap it around the star, like so." Peter wrapped the long end of his paper around the knot, Ned copying him. Peter tucked the end of his paper into the knot and Ned did the same, frowning at the result. His star looked weird compared to Peters, whose star was perfect.

"Then just pinch the edges and the star puffs up!" Peter finished theatrically, putting his star down on the table in front of him. Ned did the same but looked at his own star disappointedly as it barely turned out. Peter noticed this and smiled reassuringly at him.

"Don't worry, my first star turned out kinda wonky too. It gets easier." He exclaimed, and Ned smiled, getting an idea. He took a pen out of his pocket and wrote something on the star in tiny writing just as their drinks arrived.

The rest of the date went really well and they got to know each other better. Eventually they both had to leave but before he left, Ned handed something to Peter. It was the star he made.

"Here. Hopefully this is enough to pay you back for the hundred stars you've given me." And with that, he left. Peter looked at the star in his hands fondly. In tiny writing was Ned's phone number with the words 'call me' written underneath. Peter smiled and slipped the star into his pocket.

Nine years later, once Peter finally proposed, their wedding was filled with thousands of paper stars in vases as centerpieces, on strings hanging around the room, and giant semi-transparent ones with lights inside them hanging from the ceiling.

"All these stars, but one is more important than the rest." Ned said as part of his vows. Peter asked which star it was.

"You. You're the most important star." And with that he kissed his now-husband, and both of them were happier than they ever were before.

[A/N: hhhh i love them. cute nerds. adorable. also those paper stars are hard to make and i hate making them but it's addicting]