"Ugh, he looks so good in that suit," Peter heard someone say from across the crowded bleachers. His head shot up, easily recognizing the sound of her voice.
She was sitting three rows down, squished in between two of her friends as she stared dreamily at the small screen that was still displaying the fitness test introduction video, a small image of Captain America waving his arms around animatedly in an attempt to motivate his audience to "get up and get active!" flickering in and out of focus.
Peter's eyebrows drew together as he watched her interact with her friends. Was she talking about... Captain America? He eyed her critically as she turned again to say something else, his heightened senses allowing him to hear her next statement.
"Although I bet he'd look better with it off," she giggled behind her hand. Peter choked on the breath he'd been holding, startling Ned who had been flitting in and out of sleep for the past five minutes.
"Huh? What happened?" Ned asked, looking around dazedly until he focused on Peter's dropped jaw. "What, Peter?"
"Uh... nothing! It's... um.. It's nothing!" Peter turned red and forced himself to look away from her laughing huddle of friends.
"Then why'd you just make a sound like a dying cat?" Ned questioned, watching as Peter turned his attention once again to her hunched and laughing figure. When Ned followed his gaze and caught sight of her small frame, he sighed in understanding. "Really, dude? One of these days,Y/N's actually gonna catch you looking and report you for harassment or something."
"Wha- no, Ned! I wasn't watching Y/N!" Peter said defensively, turning to glare at his friend.
"Yeah right, Pete. What completely enthralling thing is she talking about this time?" he inquired sarcastically.
"Nothing!" Peter said, and then he heard her laugh, a tinkling, mellifluous thing that had him struck with such limerence that he thought he might stop breathing altogether. "Do you think I'm as attractive as Captain America?" he blurted, eyes still glued to her captivating profile.
"What? Dude, why would you ask me that?" Ned laughed, watching the screen down below quite intently for someone who'd been asleep for the entire first half. "Of course you're not as attractive as Captain America. He's a scientifically enhanced super-soldier and you're a fifteen year old boy who's still going through puberty."
Peter sighed, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes and rubbing until he could see the phosphenes lighting up the dark, stars and colors dancing across his vision while Ned gave him a reassuring pat on the back.
"It's alright, Peter. I'm sure Y/N would think you're attractive. I mean, if you ever end up saying more than two words to her, that is," Ned shrugged.
"Ned, you know I can't talk to her. She's popular. Can you imagine what she'd say if I ever approached her? Can you even imagine what I'd say? I'd probably screw everything up! Then she and Liz and Betty would make fun of me in front of everybody," Peter whined quietly, burying his face in his hands.
"Peter, just-" The shrill sound of a whistle interrupted Ned's sentence as Coach Wilson began shouting instructions at the startled class. "Shoot, what are we even doing? I haven't been paying attention."
Peter groaned, getting up and moving with the crowd towards the blue mats that formed a grid across the gym. "Sit ups, I think. Come on, let's go grab a mat before all of the good ones are taken. If I have to use one of the old sweaty wrestling mats again, I might throw up," he said, maneuvering his way around the lingering bodies.
Ned followed closely, offering to hold Peter's feet first as they started the first round of sit ups. If he noticed that Peter managed to choose a spot only three mats away from Y/N's, he didn't say anything.
"You should just tell her about the 'internship'," Ned suggested quietly, halfheartedly holding Peter's feet in place as he mused out loud. "That'd definitely impress her."
"Ned, I can't tell her about you-know-what just to get her to like me. I've told you before, Spider-Man's not a party trick. If I ever talk to her, I want to do it as me, not him," Peter explained, grunting softly as he pulled himself up repeatedly, stopping only when Coach Wilson was turned around on the other side of the gym.
"You wouldn't have to tell her that part! Just casually mention that you know Captain America and you're in! No one would suspect it now that everybody know that you've got the internship, anyway!" Ned exclaimed.
"Parker, Leeds, get back to work," Coach Wilson reprimanded from his spot by the bleachers, hardly looking up from his phone.
"Sorry, coach," Peter muttered, glaring slightly at Ned's innocent smile.
"Look, Peter, it's easy," Ned reasoned, turning to face her mat. "Hey Y/N!"
Peter sat up in a panic, eyes widening in alarm. He turned in her direction, watching her wave back to Ned with the hand that wasn't holding Liz's ankles.
"Hey, Ned!" she responded with a bright smile.
"Ned!" Peter whispered loudly, trying to hide behind his friend so he wouldn't be seen.
"Did you do the algebra homework yet? The last two questions killed me, I think," Ned continued to speak over their neighbors' heads, receiving glares and strange glances. Peter silently willed him to stop talking. He didn't. "By the way, did you know Peter knows Captain America? They're super tight!"
"Ned!" Peter repeated more firmly and out loud this time.
"No way!" she beamed, attention now fully on the two boys. "Do you really?"
Liz's head also shot up as she pulled herself into a seated position, tuned intently into the conversation.
"Uh... n-no? I mean, yes? T-technically? I guess so? It's complicated. I've seen him like... twice during my internship, but I wouldn't say I know him know him," he rambled, flushing when her lip quirked up in an amused smile.
"That's so awesome! I bet he's super cool! Does he look the same as he does in the videos? What's he like? Is he nice? What am I saying? Of course he's nice, he's Captain America! Does he know who you are? Would he ever come here? Would-" she trailed off, noticing Peter's dropped jaw and Ned's giggling face.
"Oh, sorry. I'm rambling. Sorry. Wait, I already said that. Okay, I'm sorry. I mean! You know what I mean..." she blushed, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from saying any more.
"Um, no that's okay! I guess he looks the same in real life. A little bigger, I suppose, and more lifelike, but overall the same. The last time I saw him he was sort of... in a bad mood? But I think he's a nice guy," Peter spoke cautiously.
"Oh! C-cool! Yeah, cool, that's cool! Sorry, I said the word 'cool' like, three times in the past five seconds," her blush deepened.
"You apologize a lot," Peter stated without thinking. "I mean! Not that that's a bad thing! I was just... observing! Yeah! Sorry!" he rushed, his own face beginning to turn red.
"It's okay," she smiled. "And sorry... for apologizing so much, you know." She laughed awkwardly. A moment of awkward silence passed between them.
"Wow. That was painful," Liz remarked, sharing a look with Ned. "I think I'm gonna go... grab a drink of water. Wanna come, Ned?"
"Yup! Water! Gotta go guys, sorry!" Ned stood abruptly, following Liz to the bleachers.
Y/N stood and made her way to Peter's mat, sitting hesitantly across from him.
"Do you actually know Cap?" she asked, staring into his eyes so intensely that he had to look away.
"Y-yeah. I was telling the truth. Um, do you really think he looks good in that uniform?" he asked as he toyed with the aglet on the end of his shoelace.
She cocked her head to the side as a confused look overtook her features. "How did you know about that?"
"Huh? Know what? I didn't say anything," he sputtered, tugging the shoelace with a fervor.
"I mean, I was talking about Cap's uniform with Betty and Liz while we were watching the video earlier, but you weren't sitting anywhere near me. How'd you know what I said?" her eyebrows furrowed as she stared Peter down.
"Um... I'm really good at reading lips?" He coughed in an attempt to divert her attention from his little slip-up. "Anyway, how'd you know where I was sitting?"
Now was her turn to become flustered. "Um. What? I mean. I just saw you across the room. Not like I was looking for you or anything! I just happened to spot you and Ned," she rushed, pushing down a dent in the surface of the mat.
"Right..." Peter squinted, trying to decipher the meaning of her statement.
"And don't pretend like you're not staring at Liz all the time! We see you, you know. You're like, always looking at her with this completely smitten look on your face," she smiled wistfully, still focused intently on the spot on the mat that kept puffing back up after she poked it down.
Peter scrunched his nose in confusion. Why did she think he was always staring at Liz? "Um, what?" he asked, tilting his head slowly.
"Duh, Peter. You stare at her all day like you're in love with her. It'd be creepy if it weren't kind of cute," she admitted with a shrug, sounding a bit disappointed.
"Um... I don't recall ever looking at Liz like that?" his eyebrows furrowed.
"Then why are you always watching us? Liz and Betty have both noticed it, too," she mentioned.
"Wha-" Peter began, but then a niggling thought poked at the back of his brain. She thinks you've been staring at Liz this entire time! The voice said. "Wait, you think I've been looking at Liz?" he laughed.
"Uh, duh?" she stated. "Everyone thinks that."
"W-why would you think I was staring at Liz this whole time?" he asked, his heart pounding so fast he thought it might burst out of his chest.
"Because she's perfect? Because she's beautiful and smart and you'd be crazy not to?" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "But I guess you've been staring at Betty this whole time, then, if it wasn't Liz."
"What? Betty?" his frown grew, wondering if she was putting herself down on purpose or she really was just that oblivious.
"Yeah, Betty's super gorgeous, too. And she's on the morning announcements, so I get why you'd like her," she mused.
"Wha- no, Y/N, I wasn't looking at either of them!" he explained with wide eyes.
"You weren't? So who- oh." she cut herself off once she realized what he'd been insinuating. "Me?"
"Yes, you. How could I even focus on girls like Liz and Betty when you were there the whole time?"
"I'm sorry, let me get this straight. This entire time, I've been agonizing over the fact that I've been totally crushing on a guy who I thought was totally in love with Liz when he'd been looking at me with those heart eyes?" she asked incredulously.
"Wait, you're crushing on me? What is happening! I didn't even know you knew I existed!" Peter exclaimed.
"How could I not? You're completely swoon-worthy, Peter!" she smiled a dazzling smile, grabbing one of his clammy hands and squeezing it.
"I mean, I'm no Captain America or anything-" she cut his self-deprecating statement off with a shy kiss to his cheek.
"Captain who? As far as I know, he doesn't have totally gorgeous curly hair and twinkly brown eyes. And he's not the smartest kid in our grade who also just happens to have a heart of gold"
Peter blushed a deep red, the skin on his cheek tingling where her lips met it seconds earlier. "Come on, Y/N, you can admit that you think he's... 'hotter' than me. We both know it's true."
"I don't think that at all, Peter!" she defended, giving his hand another squeeze. "If you don't believe me, ask anybody who's seen me staring at you at any possible moment."
Peter's lips turned up as he smiled shyly at her statement. How had he never noticed? It seemed she was just as enthralled by him as he was with her. Somehow, the girl who seemed just out of his orbit had been watching him with those star-filled eyes the entire time.
