Three's a Crowd

3) Best Friends

The next day, Peter had gone on an early morning patrol so that he could spend most of the day to hang out with Ned. He wasn't in costume for very long, and as soon as he figured he had done enough patrolling, he swung over to Del Mar's bodega for a sandwich. Also, he and Ned had messaged each other all morning and decided they would meet up there as well.

Peter arrived with a friendly greeting to Mr. Del Mar, along with a sad attempt to ask him how he was doing in Spanish. "Your Spanish needs some serious work, kid" the store owner answered, and Peter proceeded to order his sandwich and explain what he was doing for the day.

When he finished ordering, the jingling of bells cheerfully rang out as the front door swung open. Peter looked to the door to see a familiar face and figure walking in. Sporting the usual collar flannel with a science shirt underneath, Ned came into the store with a wide smile as he looked upon his best friend for the first time in two months. "WHAT'S UP, MAN!!!" he exclaimed with a pair of open arms.

"NED! HEY!!!" Peter's face lit up with delight at the sight of Ned and ran up to him for a warm friendly hug. "So good to see you!"

"Oh God, dude. I can't tell you how glad I am to see you too!" Ned replied back. Their moment was observed by Mr. Del Mar, who smiled at the reunion. He greeted Ned and welcomed him back and offered him a homecoming sandwich.

"So, how was the trip? How was your family?" Peter asked, eager to know what Ned had been up to all summer.

"Bro, I swear" Ned started. "If it weren't for the gorgeous weather and beautiful scenery, I probably would have thrown myself into the shark-infested waters from how many weird questions my aunt kept asking me."

"Ouch! That bad huh?"

"It wasn't all that bad though" he explained, "me and my cousins went to the movies a lot and played some music. But without a doubt, the best thing we did was going to the beach." The look in Ned's eyes seemed nostalgic as he described the day his whole family went for a day of sand castle building, swimming, and just all-around time of family fun. Peter thought it must have been magical by the way he talked about it and wished he could have a day like that with the people he cared about. "The whole day felt like that scene in "Lilo and Stitch" when they were surfing and being happy together" Ned concluded on his memory.

Mr. Del Mar finished crafting their sandwiches and the two friends exited the store, giving a warm farewell to its kind owner.

"Sounds like you had a blast" Peter summarized from everything he was told. Ned smiled, "it was fun, but it feels better to be back home." They shared a chuckle as they both felt at ease being back together and doing what they used to.

"So, what's up with you?" Ned asked, "Anything new? Were you able to find a job? How's May? Oh, and how was the rest of your birthday?"

"Uh, the rest of my birthday was pretty good after you called. May actually set up a small surprise party for me."

"A surprise party?" Ned exclaimed calmly. "Man, I love surprise parties, they're so much fun. I wish I could have been there. Who was all there?"

"Just a few people: May, Happy, and Mr. Stark." He obviously left MJ out of the conversation to keep their secret.

"Tony Stark came to celebrate your birthday!?!" You knew Ned was going to start to get nerdy at this fact. "Dude, that's so cool. I wish people as cool as him would come celebrate my birthday. Did he give you like an upgrade in your suit, or... did he give you some kind of awesome device that can hack computers or control an army of drones?!?"

Peter started laughing at all the ridiculous things his friend was thinking of as possible gifts from Mr. Stark, finding them very humorous. "No... no, he didn't give me anything actually. He just came to say 'happy birthday' and talk a little bit."