Theft of a Life

Ch19

"May?" Peter shouts into the apartment when we get back. I resist my urge to port to a seat and instead walk to a chair at the table. Like a boring little human. May's door flies open a moment later and she starts talking before I can even see her.

"Oh, hey, Sonder, I was thinking that tomorrow we go shopping. Get you some clothes, maybe an actual bed, all that good stuff?" May tilts her head a little bit, smiling at me, as she comes around the corner. After a moment, trying to get my thoughts in order, I quickly nod.

"Michelle, how are you?" Immediately switching topics, turning to and half-hugging MJ.

"Michelle?" I mouth to no one in particular. I hug my arms around myself and try to stop tapping my foot on the floor.

"I've got to go run some errands, but I'll bring back food in a couple hours. You guys know the rules," May smirks towards Peter, who blushes. Alright.

I slide off my chair and walk to my room, putting my bag on my bed and then returning to lean on the doorway. Peter and MJ whisper something I can't pick up before rounding the corner and the three of us gather in Peter's room. We sit in awkward silence for a few moments, them glancing at each other, trying not to seem too obvious- and failing miserably- before I flop backwards on the floor and groan.

"I'm not going to die if you two hold hands or something," I mutter. Both of them instantly start stammering about how oh no, we aren't dating, what are you talking about. "You're painfully obvious."

"I told him no one would buy it," MJ mutters under her breath.

"And no one else has," Peter crosses his arms and walks up the wall, sitting down on the ceiling. Watching him use his powers so casually reminds me of how much I want to port.

"Hey, get down here," MJ laughs, craning her neck to look at Peter and gesturing to the floor next to her. Peter grins at her, a goofy smile, dramatically falling off the ceiling and doing a flip before he hits the ground. He sinks down onto the floor next to MJ, who leans onto his shoulder for a moment before sitting up again. I lean against Peter's desk, watching passively.

I want to set up my phone. Now's a good time for that. Better than staring at them until May gets back.

I catch myself a millisecond before I would have appeared in my room and bite back a groan as I stand up.

"I could just teleport. Just pop right in. In and out, so simple, but no, I have to walk. Because that's fun. Really fun!" I mutter in Sokovian as I walk out of the room. I don't care if MJ picks up on the Sokovian I'm speaking, Peter can deal with that- but I'm going to follow the rules and not port in front of anyone who isn't approved. Which is basically everyone.

Still grumbling to myself, I grab the phone box off my shelf and walk back to Peter's room as I open it. I pointedly ignore him and MJ smiling at each other as I sit back down.

"You still haven't turned that on yet?" Peter asks. I glance up for a moment to process what he said. My brain is slowing down with the effort of not porting.

"No, I forgot last night. Should I be scared?"

"Mr Stark might have set it up for you," He shrugs. The screen lights up, prompting me for a name and password. I wordlessly turn it around to show Peter, who doesn't lean forward to read it despite being on the other end of the room.

"What's my password?" I ask as I type in my name, but Peter's already on his phone. He snickers and looks up at me, deadpan.

"Burglar,"

"Now, that's just rude," I mutter as I put in the password. As soon as I hit 'enter' the screen goes black, showing the words 'Welcome, Sonder,' before leaving me on a screen with buttons. Lots of buttons.