Spider-Man Imagines I

Nothing Special | Peter Parker [TH]

You blushed when he walked by. Your heart skipped a beat when he smiled and waved at you. And you waved back, moving your fingers slowly, caught in a cliche daze as you watched the back of his head disappear down the hall.

"You've got it bad," Ned said, shaking his head.

He broke you out of your trance. You looked at him and frowned. "Got what bad?" you grumbled.

"You're, like, in love with Peter," he said. "Don't get me wrong! That's awesome. I'm happy for you. But it's totally obvious, you know."

You turned red. "I know." You and Ned started to walk to the library. "But, like, do you think he likes me? I mean, sometimes-"

"It's hard to tell," he said. "Especially with Peter. He's pretty secretive."

You nodded. "I want him to."

"I don't see why he wouldn't," Ned said, elbowing you. "I mean, you're everything he could ever want. Nerdy, funny, super nice, a total dork-"

"Hey!" you protested.

He shrugged. "I call it as I see it, ___," he said.

You laughed and rolled your eyes. "That was really nice," you said. "Everything you said. Thank you."

"Why are you so surprised when someone says something nice to you?" he asked.

You frowned. "I don't know. I guess... it doesn't happen often."

"It should," he said. "Because you're great, and Peter has every reason to like you." He reached for the door and held it open for you. You smiled and he glanced behind your head. "Oh crap."

You turned and sighed. Peter was standing there, a look of confused shock on his pale face.

He walked up to you slowly, his grey hightops hitting the tile with soft pats. He held his backpack straps in his hands. "Can I talk to you?" he asked.

You nodded fearfully.

"I'll give you two a minute," Ned said. He walked into the library and shut the door.

You looked at Peter. "Um, what's up?"

"I need to talk to you," he said, and he sounded a little scared. "Like... in private please."

"Okay," you said. You both walked down the hall, you looking at Peter and him looking at his shoes. There was a crease between his eyebrows and it only got deeper as you found an empty classroom and he took you inside.

You stood in front of him, arms crossing over your chest. You tried to look calm, but really your throat was thick and your heart was beating fast and you felt a little nauseous.

"What's up?" you asked.

He looked at you, and for the first time, his brown eyes showed absolutely no happiness. "I overheard you talking to Ned."

"How much of it?" you asked.

"Almost all," he said, nodding.

"Oh." You waited for a reaction.

"I... I think you're really great," he said, a light smile touching his lips. A smile that screamed I am so sorry that I am doing this and This is so awkward and This poor, poor girl. My poor friend. Friend. "I think you're really cool. You hang out with me all of the time, we can talk about superheroes for hours, you're great at English homework which you know I need..." He grinned. "But you and I are just friends, you know. Just friends."

You wanted to scream.

You wanted to scream.

Not at Peter; he didn't do anything wrong. You wanted to scream at yourself because you actually believed that maybe, just maybe, he would like you back.

But as he continued gushing about how wonderful you were as his best friend, you were counting every single insecurity you ever had and giving them as reasons for why he didn't like you.

Not skinny or pretty or model-like like Liz. Not a sarcastic kind of funny like MJ. Not brilliant like Gwen.

Just ___. Sweet and funny but nothing special.

"Truth is," he said, "I still like Liz. I know she's gone and we didn't date very song at all, but I still think she is just really great." He grinned and finally had a lovesick gleam in his eye.

But it wasn't for you.

"You know what I'm saying?" he finished his rant.

"Yes," you said, voice light. Tears were pooling into your eyes. "I understand." You met his eyes and he looked horrified. "I... I am nothing special."

"What?" he hissed. "___, I didn't say that!" He took a step forward and you took one back.

"I know," you said. "I know." You turned away and hurried out of the door, practically running away.

Ned was hiding by the wall. He reached out, grabbed your arm, and grinned hopefully. "How did it go? I couldn't hear a thing. Oh my gosh, are you two dating?"

You couldn't find a way to tell him that everything he had said was a lie. Peter didn't like any of those things the way Ned thought he would. You pulled your wrist from his hand and hurried away.

Ned blinked at you, shocked.

Peter came out a second later, staring at his shoes again. He grabbed his arms. "Okay, one of you has to explain what happened in there. She left in tears. Were you that romantic, Parker?"

"I... don't like her, Ned," he said slowly.

Ned's smile vanished. "What?" he asked.

"You should have seen the way she looked at me, Ned," Peter said sadly. "It was like she hated me, but when she talked, it was like she hated herself." He shook his head. "Did I do that to her?"

Ned peeked around the wall and and watched her silhouette at the end. She was on a bench, face in her hands. His heart broke.

"____," he whispered your name softly to himself, feeling guilty for saying Peter liked you, for jumping to conclusions. He remembered how you had said that people rarely said nice things to you and it broke him even more. He shook his head. "I am so sorry."

And he knew that there wouldn't be an easy way to tell you that. Your relationship with your two best friends would be forever changed.