𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃, PETER PARKER ¹

018

🕸

It had been months since Ricky had been near where Peter's last moments were, but now here he was, staring down at his memorial that was completely surrounded by gifts from fans. He placed a single rose beside a picture of him before entering Lilo & Lola's. He greeted Lola, who was serving at a table, giving her a smile and a quick wave while she waved at him with her pen.

He made his way to the back of the restaurant, recognizing the person there waiting for him. He smirked to himself, walking up to the booth and sitting across from him. "Thanks for coming on such short notice, Ned."

Ned put his phone down and stood up to hug him, patting him on the shoulder. "Of course. I mean, it's not like you chose the day to meet the same day that I was going to propose to Betty-"

"I thought you already proposed to Betty...almost a year ago?"

"I know, I'm messing with you." Ned laughed. "But you know, just say the time and place and I'm here for you, Ricky. What did you need?"

Ricky looked around before leaning over. "You still know how to hack security cameras? Maybe even multiple? I remember how you used to help Peter all the time-"

"I was his 'guy in the chair', I remember it all well." Ned gave him a small smile, carefully taking a sip from his coffee. "But, why do you need me to do that?"

Before Ricky could speak, Lola came over with a tall glass of strawberry milkshake with whipped cream and a single strawberry at the top. "The usual for our favorite customer. Anything else I could get either of ya? Lilo says it's on the house—he won't accept you paying anymore."

Ricky chuckled. Him and Peter met Lilo and Lola when May would drag them with her to a friend's house. He remembered them saying that they would own a restaurant one day together and they wouldn't have to pay a single cent. They didn't know years later, they would keep their word. "Thank you, Lola. We'll let you know if we need anything else."

Lola gave him a wide grin, walking over to the table across the room to get their order. Ricky turned back to Ned, who was waiting for an answer. "I need to see the footage from the night Peter died."

"You want me to hack the security footage?"

"I need to see exactly what happened that night. Why it happened so close to this place—" Ricky sighed. "Whoever was the leader of the sinister six, had to have a reason to do this."

Ned shook his head. "Whatever you need. If you need it to show the police–"

"No," Ricky stood up to leave, having already finished the drink and pulling out a twenty dollar bill and placing it under the empty cup. "I want to handle him myself."

━━━━ 𖥸 ━━━━

Natalia and Ricky walked out of their last class together, making their way past the students to find Roman and Luciana. Ricky reached for his phone, expecting the video Ned said he would send of Peter–but still nothing.

"Giselle told me to tell you that she's waiting for you in the football field." Natalia smirked, stopping him in his tracks.

He raised an eyebrow. "She's waiting for me in the football field?"

Natalia nodded. "Mhm, you should really get going! You don't want her to keep waiting long, do you?"

Ricky could tell by the way she was jumping and down from excitement, that this was something special. He laughed at her, shaking his head as he walked to the football field.

Giselle was there, in the middle of the field, trying her best to keep her hair out of her face while holding the big sign that read: I KNOW WE'RE JUST FRIENDS, BUT CAN THIS BE THE ONE WHERE WE GO TO PROM?

"Friends reference, never seen that one be used before."

"Natalia told me how much you loved the show so I thought why not?" Giselle noticed the way Ricky snicker and turn to look at Natalia in the bleachers, and immediately felt her face turn red from embarrassment. "I'm sorry it's dumb–"

"Hey, no-" Ricky shook his head, making his way towards her, grabbing her hands before she could run out of there. "It's not dumb. It's just, Nat was the only one who knew I liked the show. But I really really love it...and I do want to go to prom with you."

Giselle grinned widely. "Really?"

Ricky nodded as he pulled her in for a hug, causing her to relax and wrap her arms around him. They suddenly felt others joining in on the hug while cheering them on. "This was so difficult to keep a secret." Natalia laughed. "But I can't wait. The five of us are going to have so much fun at prom!"

"Of course, of course." Giselle looked over at Ricky who gave her a smile.

Natalia pulled Giselle and Luciana from the boys, leaving Roman and Ricky alone.

"By the looks of it, I think I'm going solo to prom." Roman chuckled, shaking his head. "You're going to be with Giselle that night and Nat is going to be with Luciana, I think it's best I don't go-"

Ricky scoffed. "You never had a problem with that before, what's so different now? We said we were going to make memories that night...we can't exactly do that without you."

"Man,–"

Ricky's phone suddenly rang, causing him to reach for it in his front pocket. Ned. He held his hand up to stop him as he walked away from him to answer the call.

"Ned?"

"I sent you the video.."

Ricky frowned at the way he said it. Like he's been crying. "What is it? Is it that bad?"

"C-Check for yourself. Ricky, I'm so sorry-"

Ricky immediately hung up, his heart beating fast as he clicked on the link that Ned sent him. He squinted at the screen, seeing everything that happened that night.

He fell to his knees, completely in shock and in tears as he quietly mumbled. "It was you?"

NOTE!

I'M SO EXCITED NOWWW & also i know it's very much early but book 2 is already in the works and i can't wait for you all to read!

don't forget to vote and comment and thank you so much for reading !! <33