Spider-Man Imagines I

It's Too Cliche (Part Five) | Peter Parker [TH]

On his way home, Peter jumped between buildings and climbed up walls. He did flips, leaps, and swung around wherever he could. He had a lot of energy based solely on how well his date went and how well his life was going at this point.

As he hopped on a ledge of a factory, a pop up screen invaded his vision. Ned was calling.

"Ned is calling," Karen said. "Should I answer it?"

"Yeah, answer it," Peter said, turning around and planting himself down on the ledge. Half a second later, Ned's face popped up, illuminated by his computer screen in the dark room. "Hey, buddy."

"Hey," Ned said. "What's up?"

"Nothin' - just had the greatest time with ___ though," he said. "She's so great."

"We need to talk-"

"I can't stop thinking about her," Peter continued. "She's... wow, she's something else."

"Pete! I'm trying to talk to you," he said loudly. He was so serious that Peter finally paused long enough to listen.

"Okay," he said slowly. "What's up?"

"Look, I've been having this weird feeling," Ned began, adjusting the headphones on his head, "and something about ___ just isn't right."

"What do you mean?"

"Just last week, you were deeper in the friendzone than anybody ever. Now, she's hanging around you like you're a movie star or something." He sighed and shook his head as if what he was saying hurt him. "Look, I don't know if your spidey senses are rubbing off on me-"

"One hundred percent sure that's not possible," he said.

"But we can discuss that another time," Ned said. "The point is, she's giving me a bad feeling. Like... Han Solo going towards the Death Star kind of bad."

Peter furrowed his eyebrows. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying she's bad news. I don't know why, but she is. We need to ditch her as soon as we can. I-I mean just yesterday, she was getting in a car with three guys that definitely weren't her family. And she didn't look very happy about it but she also didn't try to fight 'em-"

"Stop right there," Peter said, anger spiking inside of him. "You're telling me to ditch her? Ned, y-you of all people know how I feel about her! How could you ask me to do that? Is this... are you jealous or something? You're always gonna be my best friend, man, but I love her!"

"She doesn't love you!" Ned said.

"Stop."

"She is playing you for something!"

"Stop it!"

"I have this feeling, Pete, and I know I'm right-"

In all of his life, Peter had never felt this angry. He couldn't understand why his best friend was saying all of this about the girl he really liked. Blinded by anger, Peter shouted, cutting Ned's words short. "Shut up!"

Ned stopped, eyes wide. It was silent for a while, just the two boys unsure of what to do next. Finally, Ned sighed, accepting that Peter wouldn't believe him so long as he was blinded by whatever he felt for you.

"Fine," he said. "Don't listen to me. I can tell you won't. I'm your guy in the chair, man. You and I... we're supposed to have each other's backs. I'm just trying to have yours."

Peter swallowed. "Ned, wait-"

But Ned was already reaching for the mouse. He clicked off of the chat and disappeared from Peter's eyes with a disconnecting buzz.