Winning the Game

Chapter 10

Peter was hopeful.

He had almost forgotten how the emotion felt, but with Y/N around, he was remembering.

They had spent the next couple weeks together in a new comfortable routine: greeting each other in the hallways, making jokes in calculus class, meeting later to study, and ending the night with some kissing. Peter was taking Y/N's suggestion of "taking it slow" quite literally and would stop her before any clothes could come off. Though he wanted to go further, he felt a tug in the back of his mind that warned him of Y/N.

He wasn't sure what that warning was about, but he knew his mood was significantly elevated lately and that Y/N definitely had something to do with it. He had a hunch she even spoke to Flash about leaving him alone because Peter hadn't been teased since that day in calculus class. Besides the occasional glare that Flash threw his way – which Peter was convinced had something to do with him and Y/N's TP extravaganza – Flash treated Peter as if he were invisible. He much preferred it this way.

November was winding down, and Thanksgiving was approaching that weekend. Peter always hated the holiday because it seemed as if every year the people sitting around him at the dinner table dwindled. His parents left and then Uncle Ben. And there was that one year the Avengers all gathered for a meal just to be torn away from each other the next. Now, it was just going to be him and Aunt May, gathered at the old wooden kitchen table that had a few chips on the edges. Aunt May would break out the turkey-themed tablecloth like she did every year, just to cover it with only two place settings.

Peter shook his head out of his thoughts and focused on dialing his locker combination. He didn't want to be upset again. He was doing so well lately...

"Want to come over later and work on a new Lego set?" Ned asked suddenly from next to Peter. "I just got the Millennium Falcon one. It's not as many pieces as the Death Star was, but it'll look great on my bookshelf!"

Peter smiled and turned to face Ned. "Uh, sure. Sounds fun."

Ned's face brightened and he beamed. "Awesome! I'll see you at lunch!" He bounced away with a skip in his step.

Peter knew Ned was really pleased with Peter's new attitude lately. He was finally contributing to Ned's and MJ's conversations about conspiracies and scientific theories again, and he was actually asking Ned for more help with his Spider-Man outings. He still hadn't told Ned about what he was really doing every night with Y/N, but he liked keeping that a secret. He knew Ned would get very overprotective.

-

"And I think he tried to kiss me," MJ admitted at lunch to Peter and Ned.

Peter's eyes bulged and he almost choked on his chicken sandwich. "What?"

Ned's mouth was hanging open, his corn-filled spoon halfway to his mouth.

"Yeah, I don't know," MJ continued nonchalantly, digging around her fruit cup to capture the blueberries. "Flash's been acting really nice, and it just weirds me out really. I'd rather have him calling me a bitch again."

Peter stayed silent because he was perfectly okay with Flash's new behavior toward his own self. The name Penis Parker couldn't fade away sooner.

Ned looked pensive for a moment before he pursed his lips. "Don't you guys think it's weird that Y/N and Flash started acting super nice to you all of a sudden? At the same time?"

Peter and MJ glanced at each other before turning toward Ned, identical confused looks on their faces.

"I'm just saying," Ned resumed. "The two most popular people in school suddenly want to be buddy-buddy with the two most unpopular people in school? That doesn't rub you the wrong way?"