WEB OF LIES [TRANS PETER PARKER]

six

Chapter Six

Peter's POV

I walked into biology the following morning, still on a high from my evening of, well, gymnastics and showing off, and managed to have completely forgotten about the events of class yesterday until I laid eyes on Ned and MJ. Y'know, Ned's observation that I wasn't in fact completely homosexual.

I still wasn't sure about MJ. She had been nothing but kind to me, but I had a tendency to have difficulty trusting people. New people were bad, because I was constantly paranoid that they would be able to sense that I was trans, but people from my past were even worse. I had an idea on how to find out if she remembered me, but I was going to need Ned's help.

"Peter, hey! Good thing you're here, I have to head down to guidance and I didn't want to leave MJ here all alone," Ned greeted me as he winked. My face flushed red. Well, there goes my plan.

"No, you don't. You can just go after class. Actually, I think I should probably check in with my guidance counselor as well, so we can just go together later!" I pleaded, trying to keep my voice down so MJ wouldn't hear.

"Sorry, bud, I gotta go," Ned exclaimed with a smirk, and then turned to our mysterious lab partner. "MJ, if Peter acts like he doesn't know an answer, he really does. He's a genius, and quite charming if I do say so myself." Ned patted me on the back and quickly exited the room. My eyes widened, but MJ only giggled, obviously taking it as a joke. I tried to laugh along too, as I took my seat beside her.

Our assignment for today was simply to finish up our lab from yesterday, and I intended to get it done quickly so that I could get started on a new project I had stayed up all night planning for.

"So, Parker, where'd you disappear to at the museum the other day?" she asked suddenly, and I could tell that she was trying to make eye contact with me. There were many things wrong with that statement. First of all, she had noticed that I fled when I saw her, and second of all, she called me Parker. Everyone had called me by my last name all throughout middle school, because even my peers noticed that my birth name never truly suited me. MJ had been among those kids, which meant that she remembered me. She knew. Just like that, any comfort I had established around her vanished.

"Disappear? I didn't disappear..." I lied. "I mean, I just got sick. I didn't feel well, so I went home."

"Fair enough," she said thoughtfully. She always had this look that was on the verge of evil, but it still called out to me to trust her.

My eyebrows furrowed. At any other time I would have bonded with MJ quite quickly, but this whole Spider-Man thing was on my mind too much. Well, that and being trans.

"I was gonna, uh, try a little side experiment of my own real quick, if you wouldn't mind starting on that lab report," I said quietly. Nervously, I tugged at the layers on my chest and readjusted them.

I was expecting to hear something along the lines of, "We're not supposed to use chemicals for our own experiments," or something posh like that, but she simply nodded and began writing. Relieved, I placed my notebook on my lap and flipped through until I found a sheet labeled "Web Fluid: Version 1.0" in messy writing. Handwriting was something that my spider powers hadn't messed with, to my dismay.

I had already started the recipe at home but I was missing a key ingredient. From my bag I pulled a ziplock bag of a greyish liquid, which I poured into a small glass beaker under the table. I discreetly placed in a drawer beside me, sneaking glances up at MJ to make sure that she wasn't doing the same to me, and dumped in the final substance which I had swiped from the back counter where we kept supplies. I stirred it with a glass rod quickly before the reaction began, in which case I closed the drawer and turned my attention back to the lab.

"So Ned says you're a genius?"

I snapped my eyes towards MJ, who spoke as she wrote on the lab sheet. I blushed, equally relieved that she wasn't looking. "Uh, haha, I mean not really, no. He's just... a very flattering character." I cringed at my choice of words, it having been a long time since I tried to make a new friend. "I haven't got a photographic memory, or anything. I just like school."

She didn't protest that, though I was sure that she didn't feel the same. Recalling memories of her sat alone on the playground in elementary school, I noticed that that hadn't changed much. She seemed perfectly content with just Ned and I, for some reason.

"I mean, the academics, not so much the social part. Not that I don't-"

"You don't fit in all that well, do you?" she asked, making my palms sweat. Why did Ned have to leave today of all days? "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to read you."

"Well, reading me would require looking at me," I returned, not annoyed so much as avoiding the question.

"I am," she said in a chipper voice, as she finally turned to me and held up the notebook. It held a drawing of me, chin resting on my hand and staring out into space, trying to sort out my life no doubt.

"You drew me... oh wow!" I said awkwardly, not exactly knowing how to respond to that. I at least offered her a smile.

"Shut up, you don't have to say anything." She looked back at her work, signed her name, ripped the paper from the notebook and thrust it toward me.

"Thanks, MJ. You're... really cool," I said finally. It was true, I was beginning to grow accustomed to her presence.

"And you're a nerd," she shot back, obviously as bad at this as I was. I let out a laugh at her recovery. In that moment, I forgot that I was supposed to be afraid of her and whether or not she had the power to blackmail me completely.