I'm Always A Text Away -- Peter Parker Texting Story

fourteen

HE STARED AT THE PAPER. It felt like he'd been punched in the stomach—he couldn't breathe. The noise around him turned muted, which was strange to him, because ever since he'd gotten bit by that radioactive spider, he could hear anything, even from miles away. 

"Ned Leeds?" he whispered. "Oh no, no, no, please no!" 

He wished that Ned wasn't his roommate—really, on his way to MIT, he'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to talk to Ned or MJ at all. Because he couldn't risk it. He was a trouble-attracting magnet, a danger-attracting magnet, and if he got close with his ex-best friend and ex-girlfriend...

He had already hurt them. And he didn't want to hurt them again. 

"Hey, you—get out of the way!" A familiar, snobby voice filled his ears and he started, turning around to only groan in annoyance. 

Flash Thompson. 

Great. 

The multiverse really hated him, didn't it? 

Peter hunched his shoulders, darting away. "Sorry..." he mumbled, snagging a brochure that had MIT's maps included off the Information desk. He opened it up, trusting his spideysense to help him out and not get him lost. 

He got to his dorm in nearly ten minutes. The door was open, and he heard soft chattering from inside the dorm. Heart thumping wildly in his chest, he approached the door, hovering by the doorframe as he looked inside. 

There were two beds, and on the bed furthest from the door, was Ned's suitcase, open and his things already scattered everywhere. Sitting by his suitcase was MJ, her long hair tied into a ponytail, looking unamused as Ned stood by the dresser, showing off his LEGOs that he had brought to decorate his dorm. 

"Um..." It was the only sound that Peter made, and immediately, MJ and Ned's heads turned to watch him, and his eyes widened. "Um, hi. Again."

 MJ nodded and Ned looked a bit uncomfortable, gently setting his LEGO Death Star onto the nightstand. Peter's gaze immediately zeroed on it, especially on the space where a LEGO figure was missing—the same figure that sat in Peter's hoodie pocket. 

"Do you like it?" Ned asked, and Peter startled. 

"Like...like what?"

"The LEGO Death Star," Ned said with a smile. "It took me only a couple of hours to make it for the second time after I dropped it...and I lost one of the figurines too, around three months ago. It sucked." 

"It's really nice," Peter mumbled without thinking. "I really love Star Wars and LEGOs, too..." 

But he stared at the Death Star, remembering that on the day Ned Leeds had dropped it, it had been the night when he'd found out Peter Parker's identity. 

Words: 446 

Hey, y'all, looks like I'm back...