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“I really don’t like him. There’s Something… off.” Peter narrows his eyes in distaste as he watches your current boyfriend, Dean Adams, kiss you and wrap his arms around your waist from the center of the dancing crowd. His eyes trail over you, taking in the way your clothes accent your body, your hair sits just right with seemingly no effort, and how your body moves perfectly to the rhythm. He wishes that he was the one dancing with you like that or making you laugh at his dumb jokes.
Ned snaps him back to reality with a loud groan, throwing his head back dramatically to show his annoyance, “Dude, we know! We've only heard you talk about it, I don't know, a million times?!" he exaggerates, flailing his arms about to emphasize his point. "You’ve gotta get over them. If not for your sake, then for ours.”
“I hate to agree, but he’s right." MJ announces as she walks into the kitchen, eating a cupcake with bright blue frosting, "You can’t keep stressing over her. I mean it’s been, what, 2 months that they’ve been dating? It’s not like they’re writing wedding vows.” MJ says while stuffing the rest of the sweet in her face. “Seriously though, if you keep talking about them, I will have to hit you.”
“Besides, they're totally into you.” Ned adds with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Peter scoffs and rakes his fingers through his hair, “yeah, clearly.” His eyes gluing back onto your form, swaying and laughing with someone who was most definitely not him.
_____________________________________________________________
You lazily sway to the music, surrounded by a large crowd of dancing, sweaty teenagers who reeked of alcohol. Parties weren't usually your thing, but your boyfriend, wouldn't stop whining and begging for you to go with him. So here you are now pressed up against your extremely drunk boyfriend as the loud music and bright lights overload your senses. You tried making the night more bearable by having a little bit of liquid courage in your system to loosen up, but all that it did was worsen your now pounding headache. You look around to find your friends, whom you would much rather be spending the night with, and your eyes land on a light brown, curly mess of hair that you quickly identify as Peter.
You almost get lost in thoughts of how much more fun you would be having if you were with him before Dean snakes his arm around your waist, forcing you to face him, and the reality of the night.
He leans down to kiss your cheek, whispering in your ear.
"Why don't we go somewhere more private?" he asks, slurring on his words.
"Dean, I don't-"
You try to protest but are cut off by his lips crashing into yours, causing you to be practically drowned in the taste of alcohol still lingering on his tongue.
You softly and quickly break apart from his hold, gently pushing him off of you. "Dean, you're drunk. I don't think that's a good idea." You comb his curly hair back soothingly out of his face.
He immediately tries to pull you back in, "Come on, baby-"
"No." You state firmly, still holding the same soft look in your eyes, "Not tonight."
He huffs in annoyance and tries to protest again.
You look around the room, eyes once again landing on Peter, deep in conversation with your group of friends.
"Stay right here, I'm going to get you a water."
You peel his arm off from around your waist and leave towards the drinks table, not hearing the protests of your drunk boyfriend.
_____________________________________________________________
It was now almost an hour that you had been searching, water glass in hand.
Of course, he would pull something like this. You would much rather be home curled up in your room with a nice book or movie, but he insisted that you came with him to this "sick party" and stopped “being so boring”. Your original plans for the night were to hang out with your friends at Peter’s place doing something chill and fun, but since that was now unfortunately postponed, your friends insisted on accompanying you to the event. Yet you had barely gotten to spend any time with them or your boyfriend because you were so busy looking for him everywhere after he vanished from thin air. You swear, it's like babysitting him every time you're together.
In all honestly, you aren't even that into him. It all started as sort of a distraction to get over you ever-festering crush on Peter. The two of you had been friends far too long for your stupid feelings to screw that up. You couldn't lose him.
Sure, Dean's easy on the eyes and he's not the worst person to ever live on the face of the planet, but he isn't all that great either. You really only stay with him to try to keep your real feelings for your best friend at bay. Even though you know Dean isn't looking for anything serious in the long run anyway, you can't help but feel guilty for being with him for the wrong reasons. Nonetheless, you were supposed to be here with him tonight and that means that he was your responsibility.
Right?
After wandering around aimlessly for what feels like forever, you decide to ask for help from Ned, who's still talking with Peter and MJ in the kitchen.
“Hey! Have you seen Dean? Sorry to bother you, but I’ve looked everywhere.”
Ned's eyes dart between you and Peter before quickly answering, motioning towards the stairs, “Uh, yeah. I think I saw him going upstairs a bit earlier.”
The one place you hadn't looked.
“Thanks”, you smile gratefully, turning on your heels and weaving your way back through the crowd.
Typical. Typical that he would make you cancel your plans and drag you to a stupid party just to ditch you.
You jog up the stairs, the loud music deafening your thoughts. You look into every room lining the long hallway.
“Dean? Dean, where are you?!”
Some rooms were occupied by drunk partygoers and couples, others were simply empty. You turn the knob to open another room.
“Dean, I-” you stop dead in your tracks, the glass slipping out of your hand in shock and shattering all over the floor, causing you to be drenched in water. You stayed frozen in place, gaping at the revolting sight in front of you.
Dean was sleeping with another person.
Dean was butt ass naked in bed with some drunk girl.
Dean, your boyfriend, was having sex with someone else at the party he dragged you to.
Your mind flooded with emotions, but they all swirled together and surfaced as one. Rage.
“You fucking asshole.” you try to say as calmly as possible, not wanting to show any signs of weakness. Tears are already pooling but you swallow them back, refusing to let him win that satisfaction.
"Oh shit-" He shuffles to put his boxers on and scramble towards you, “Babe, I can explain-”
“Don’t. I’ve seen enough. Don’t try to contact me,” You turn to leave, but he grabs your wrist.
“I barely got to see you tonight, baby! You practically pushed me into her arms!!”
“Oh, suck my dick, Adams.” You spit out at him, pulling yourself out of his hold and turning away before he has the change to grab you again.
You storm down the hall, not daring to look back. You hear footsteps and Dean muttering half-assed apologies and empty excuses. “Don’t follow me.”
______________________________________________________
You make your way back downstairs, the blaring music getting louder as your rage turns to disgust, disappointment, and betrayal. The tears you refuse to let fall begin to cloud your vision. You weren't upset because you loved, or even liked him. No, you were disappointed because you let yourself down. Were you really so boring that you couldn't even be good enough for someone like Dean Adams?
As you push your way through the crowded home, you pass through the kitchen trying to cover yourself up since your now drenched top is see through, and you didn't feel like drawing any extra attention right now. Peter catches your eye for a moment, noticing your change in mood from earlier. You make your way past the kitchen, hoping to get to outside before anyone can see you cry, but you know Peter better than to expect him to let you leave alone.
“Hey! Woah-” he grabs your hand to stop you from running out the front door and you immediately jump back at the contact, “are you okay? Your shirt is soaked!”
That’s it. Thats the sentence that makes you break down. Your tears start to flow freely as your shoulders shake from the intensity of your sobs. Peter almost immediately pulls you into a hug, eyes widening. MJ and Ned exchange concerned looks amongst themselves.
“Hey! Hey, what’s wrong? What happened?”
You continue to sob into his white t-shirt as Peter starts rubbing his hand up and down your back in an attempt to calm you down. You try to get out a sentence between your choked gasps
“Dean- He-” You internally smack yourself for sounding so pathetic. Even in this state you couldn't help but mentally scold yourself.
“Woah, woahhh. Breathe.”
You take a few deep breaths, following the rise and fall of his chest in an attempt to steady your breathing
“What about Dean?”
“He- cheated on me.” you hiccup out.
Peter’s hands still for a moment, exchanging a look you can't see with MJ as she nods back to him, before moving to hold your head closer to his chest as he hugs you tighter to his now tear-drenched shirt.
“C'mon, let’s get you home.”
You nod into his chest and follow him as he guides you out of the house and to his car.
_______________________________________________________
The drive home is silent. You prefer it that way and Peter knows that. You aren’t crying anymore, and you want to keep it that way. You feel embarrassed and ashamed, so you kept your mouth shut and your eyes trained on the road ahead.
Once you pull into your driveway you step out of the car, Peter following close behind. You parents are out which is perfect because you really don’t feel like answering questions right now. You give Peter a small 'thank you' for driving you home and head to your front door. You open the door and step inside.
Before you can close it behind you, you hear him speak up
“Are you gonna be alright?”
You turn around to see him standing only a few feet in front of you, “Yeah, I'll be fine. I’m already feeling better.” Peter gives you a small nod.
“Good. Get some rest, okay?” Peter says as he turns to leave. He knows that you sometimes prefer to be alone when you're upset, so he started back for the car. He didn't want to frustrate or annoy you any further.
“Wait-”
Peter stops in his tracks, turning to face you with a small, “hm?”, eyebrows raising in curiosity.
“Can you stay?”
A soft smile begins to form on Peter's face, “Of course”
___________________________________________________
You and Peter ended up in your room with snacks, now starting to watch Edward Scissorhands since that’s your comfort movie. You had forced him to watch it with you dozens of times throughout your six year friendship, but he doesn’t mind. Unbeknownst to you, he enjoyed any time he got to spend with you at all, no matter what you were doing.
You bury yourself further up against Peter’s chest while he absent-mindedly messes with your hair, which he always does when he's trying to comfort you.
“Dean was a dick anyway.” Peter suddenly bursts out without thinking, causing you to let out a shocked chuckle.
“Yeah, and he obviously liked to show it off.”
You’re face turns slightly red with embarrassment as you realize what exactly you said, and you both immediately burst out laughing. You hide you face against him as your laughter dies down and you continue to watch the movie.
A few moments go by before Peter speaks up again.
“You know, I never understood what you saw in him anyway.”
You sit up on your elbows a little to look at him, “What do you mean?”
“I mean, why did you stay with him so long after how awful he treated you? Why did you date him in the first place after that catastrophe of a first date? Not gonna lie, I didn’t think jocks were your type.”
You laugh and raise your eyebrow teasingly, "No? And what is my type then, Parker?"
Peter's face immediately flushes as he stutters over his words, trying to find an appropriate response.
You start laughing again and steady yourself on his chest, "Relax, Peter, I'm just teasing."
Peter starts to loosen up a bit more, laughing with you, "Oh"
As you laughter dies down, you suddenly become extremely aware of your hand placement on Peter's chest and you feel your own face flush. You instantly remove your hand and try to cover up your sudden change in behavior with a nervous chuckle, looking down as you play with Peter’s rings.
Peter chuckles back, “What?”
“Nothing.” you shake your head, keeping your eyes trained on your hands.
You stupidly hope he doesn't notice, but of course, he did.
“Okay, now I know somethings up. C'mon, tell me.” he said, eye's sparkling with curiosity.
“No! It’s embarrassing.” you looked away towards the movie to hide the embarrassment evident on your face.
“C'mon, it can't be that bad. I promise I won’t laugh!”
When you don’t look convinced, he speaks up again
“If you tell me, I’ll tell you one of my own secrets. But you have to go first.” he bargains
You laugh and turn back to face him, “You’re such a dork.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you.”
Peter paused the movie with the remote, then brought his focus back to you. You take deep, shaky breath, as nerves take over your body. You resume playing with his rings with your jittery fingers to try and distract yourself. Peter waits patiently, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles when he hears your heartrate significantly increase.
Peter has been your best friend since 6th grade and you could be about to ruin everything. You can't decide if you should make up some stupid lie or just fess up and tell him the truth. You've always told Peter everything. You never kept secrets from each other and you were always honest, but this is different.
You debate your options back and fourth, but honestly after today’s shitty events you feel as though it couldn't get much worse.
“The reason I was dating Dean was… well-”
You take another deep breath and finally look up to see Peter staring at you in anticipation.
“Well… I was dating him to try and get over you”, you whisper out, barely even audible if it hadn't been for Peter's heightened senses
The world seems to go silent as Peter’s eyes widened.
"What?"
You turn to look down at your joined hands to hide your flushed face, "you heard me, Peter, please don't make me say it again.", you say, Peter not missing the nervous waver in your voice.
By the time you looked up at Peter, you saw him staring into your eyes, his own eyes wide and lips parted, completely silent and in shock. Peter was so shocked, in fact, that he didn't even realize he hadn't responded with anything. You start to panic. You just ruined everything. The past six years of loving him down the drain, all because you couldn't keep your stupid mouth shut. The more nervous you got, the more you began to ramble.
“I mean, it was also partially to make you jealous, but only a teeny tiny bit. It obviously didn’t work anyway so I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“It’s really not a big deal, I mean it doesn’t change anything. We can just go back to watching the movie, and-”
“I love you.”
Now it was your turn to freeze
"What?"
Peter swallows thickly, holding your hand a little tighter, "I'm in love with you."
You tense up a little, but brush it off as pity and turn away from him
“You don’t have to say that.”
“but it’s true.” he gently grabs your shoulder and turns you to face him again.
“I’ve had a massive crush on you pretty much since we met in 6th. I just didn’t say anything because I was afraid to ruin the friendship.”
There's a pause as you take in the new information, allowing yourself to believe him.
“Really?”
“Really.”
A light blush appears on your cheeks
“Me too.”
You both just smile at each other and look into each other’s eyes before you start laughing again. Peter quirks his eyebrow and chuckles back, following suit in your infectious laughter.
“What’s so funny?” he laughs out
“I’m sorry, it just feels like we’re in a cheesy rom-com or something.”
You both continue to laugh for quite a while before it dies down again. Your hands on his chest, faces inches apart, but this time you don't pull away. He puts his hand on top of yours and you smile. You lean down to peck a kiss on his nose, and he blushes a violent shade of pink, causing you to let out a small laugh. He’s adorable when he’s flustered.
“Thank you for staying with me, Pete.”
“Of course.” he beams, not being able to wipe his huge grin off his face. You can’t help but mirror it. His smile is contagious.
"You're so pretty." you compliment, now feeling more confident as you admire him. Peter’s face grows impossibly redder, like you knew it would. “Let’s finish up the movie.” You offer, still beaming down at him, before laying back down to cuddle with him once more. He turns back on the film and wraps his arms around you, pulling you closer. You both end up falling asleep before the movie’s over.
_____________________________________________________
You wake up in the same position you fell asleep in, arms wrapped around you with your legs intertwined. You take a minute to look at his calm sleeping form, admiring his features. Peter suddenly starts smiling, eyes still closed in a sleepy state.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”
You blush a little at being caught. You always seem to forget about his spidey senses.
“Shut up, Parker.”
You pull yourself out of his grasp, which is not easy.
“Peter. Peter, let me go I have to pee!”
Peter grumbles, still not fully waking up, and reluctantly lets you go.
After you get out of the bathroom Peter is finally waking up a little, and you go to sit next to him on the edge of the bed.
“Morning sleeping beauty.”
“Morning.” he says with a lazy grin
“It’s my turn to tell you a secret.” he says, a new confidence taking over
You raise your eyebrow and tilt your head, intrigued, “oh yeah?”
“Yeah”
He leans in so that his lips touch the shell of your ear, “it did work.” he whispers before standing up and walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth with a smirk on his face. You sit there in confused for a moment, before you remember what you said the night before. Your face flushes and you can’t stop smiling so hard that your cheeks start hurting. You shake it off and decide to check your phone.
You open up your twitter to see a video posted by Ned
You click on it to see MJ beating the living shit out of Dean at the party, Ned cheering her on from behind the camera.
The video has 75k views.
Your jaw drops as you sit stunned, and slightly impressed.
Peter hears the video from inside the bathroom and cheers for MJ.