Three's a Crowd

1) Surprises

It had been a normal day for our friendly neighborhood web-slinger. A few car chases halted, a couple of armed robberies foiled, and many innocent lives saved in the process. Most recently, he had stopped a drug deal involving a group of minors from happening. He was just on one of his returning patrol routes when his phone went off. He flipped up from his web-swinging and perched on the ledge of a building near a few stone gargoyles. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out his still ringing phone. He was a bit out of breath to notice who was calling, so he just answered with a curious 'hello."

"Happy Birthday, Man!" a voice said excitedly on the other end of the phone.

"Ned!" Peter exclaimed, "hey thanks, dude! Are you coming home soon?"

"Yeah man, can you believe it?" Ned answered gaily. "Me and my family are laying over in Houston before we fly home."

"When will that be?"

"Tonight"

"Really!?!" Peter said excitedly.

"Yeah bro, I thought I made it clear that were in Houston right now."

"Ned, that's awesome" Peter said, standing-up to relieve the small burn in his legs from crouching to long. He was way too excited to know that his best friend was coming back, and he just had to release this energy in some way. "Hey, Stony" he said to one of the gargoyles that stood at the edge of the roof, "did you hear that, Ned's coming home!"

Ned had an awkward chuckle on the other end at Peter's strange declaration of excitement. "Dude, are you talking to a gargoyle?"

"Well, when you're ten stories in the air and wearing your superhero costume, there's not many people you can tell about it."

"Wow bro, I feel bad." Peter scrunched his face in confusion, making the lenses of his mask squint. "Why?" "Cause' I've been gone so long that you've started hanging out with creepy stone figures to keep yourself company" Ned said jokingly, which Peter couldn't help but smile at.

"Oh, you have no idea man" Peter replied, playing along with the joke. "What time do you get in?"

"Around 11:30ish" Ned said, his excitement drowning a bit as he spoke. Peter groaned a bit, upset that he wasn't going to be able to see his best friend on his birthday. "I know man" Ned continued when he heard his friend's disappointment. "It's so late that I won't be able to see you. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Not really, no" Peter answered. "You want to hang?"

"Yes man, yes!" he answered as if he had been anticipating this. "I need to escape my family for a day. I don't know how much longer I can go." Ned was being truthful in what he said. A solid minute with Peter would've honestly been enough after two full months stuck in constant supervision of his parents and extended family. "So how's your day been, man? How does it feel to be 16?" Ned added, spinning the conversation back to Peter's birthday.

"It doesn't feel much different to be honest" Peter started, "but the day has been pretty good so far. May made a quick breakfast before she left for work, and I've been doing spider-stuff since then."

"Oh that's cool" Ned replied. "I gotta say though, I've missed being the guy-in-the-chair. How's are things without me?"

"Eh" Peter sighed, "it's been okay. I can handle most things and Karen's been helpful, but she gets annoying sometimes." Peter didn't really think Karen was annoying. It had just been getting tiresome when she would make a comment about a new addition to Peter's life. And Peter knew that he wasn't ready to let Ned know about this new addition.

Ned chuckled in response, "I'll be sure to thank her for that when we get back to things."

"I can't wait for you come back, man. I miss you" Peter smiled underneath the mask.