Moments | Spideychelle Oneshots Collection

Remember When...

      Peter, Michelle and Ned have all grown up together as next-door neighbors. They always hung out at Peter's house where they'll play all day. Even though they're in highschool now, they still hang out at his place. One weekend while Peter and MJ were playing video games and Ned was browsing Facebook, he saw some old photos that were uploaded on Aunt May's account. They were all uploaded 5 years ago. But all of the pictures were taken from 11 years ago. Ned smiled at each of the photo. He remembered when May took these photos. He turned towards MJ and Peter, still busy with their game.

  "Hey guys, look at this." They paused the game and looked at Ned's phone.

  "Oh my god, look how young we look." said MJ.

  "We look adorable." said Peter. They scrolled through more pictures. They stopped on one and reminisced.

  "Remember when we took this? We were having a sleepover all of us wanted to sleep on Peter's bed." said MJ.

  "Yeah.. and then the both of us got upset when he decided to replace it with a bunk bed." Ned told MJ. She nodded. They scrolled through more.

  "Oh, I remember that!" said Peter, laughing. "MJ had a huge scar on her face after falling from that swing."

  "Yeah, and I never got an apology!" She said.

  "Hey, I said I'm sorry for pushing you harder than I should have back then, remember?"

  "You never said that!" She turned to Ned, seeking backup. "Right?"

  "She's right, you didn't apologize at all. You just stood there and laughed. She cried all day, and the day after that, and the day after that... and the week after that--"

  "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry, MJ." He said patting her hand.

  "It's fine, Pete. We were kids. We didn't know anything."

  "And we still don't." said Ned, making all of them laugh. As they scrolled through the pictures, a thought hit Ned.

  "Why don't we recreate these?" He asks.

  "That sounds fun. Let's do it!" said Peter enthusiastically.

      Ned pulled up the pictures that they were willing to recreate. Some made them cringe but had a great laugh nonetheless. There was this one where Ned and Peter were hugging each other and MJ was in the edge of the picture, with a grumpy face and her arms crossed. The next one was Peter hugging Ned's huge teddy bear and MJ and Ned were grumpy.

      In the next picture, the three of them had to buy a cake just to recreate it perfectly. It was Ned's birthday. He looked like he was taking a big bite out of his cake while Peter and MJ are on either side of him smiling with icing on their noses. The next one was Ned giving MJ a piggyback ride and Peter was in the edge of the picture, grumpy. While they were recreating this, Michelle keeps falling off of Ned and Peter caught her every time.

  "Nice reflexes, Peter." She would say. Peter would blush a little.

      The next one had all three of them on Peter's old bed and they were all able to fit on it. They recreated that on Aunt May's bed, but only two could fit and one of them, specifically Ned, would always fall off since he was on the very edge. Peter and Michelle would holler with laughter.

      The next one surprised the two. It was MJ kissing Peter on the cheek while Ned was on the edge of the picture, both of his hands clasping his mouth. At first, the two were hesitant in recreating this, but there was a voice inside their head that told them that they'll regret that decision later on. So they went ahead and recreated it.

  "Okay... and smile!" said Ned, pressing the snap button on his phone's camera and waiting for the 5-second timer to go off, meaning MJ had to keep her lips on Peter's cheek for five whole seconds. Once the 5 seconds were over, they looked at each other for a while before returning their attention to Ned who was previewing their photo.

  "Hey, it looks great!" He remarked. The two nodded at him. They were quiet for a while which made Ned uncomfortable. "Why are you guys quiet all of a sudden?" He asked.

  "Oh.. nothing." Both of them said. They met eyes then blushed and looked away.

  "Why is there a sudden tension between you two?" He asked, pointing at both of them.

  "Nothing, Ned. It's nothing." They tried to brush it off.

  "No, no, something's bothering the both of you. Tell me, what is it?"

  "No really. Forget about it, dude." said Peter which made Ned brush it off. A few minutes later, he received a call from his mom telling him to help her with some stuff in the house. He left the two in Peter's house.

  "So..." She starts.

  "...Yeah?"

  "Remember when.. we took that photo?"

  "Yeah. You were the one who suggested it and I was pretty excited about it."

  "Yeah. God, I remember when we were kids and we would always go to your backyard and play on your swing and take turns on it."

  "Hmm," Peter nodded. "Those were the days..."

  "I miss it. Where we don't have to worry about anything at all. Where we can be anything we wanted to be. Whereas now, it's so hard to do everything right and live up to your family's expectations, you know?" She rested her head on Peter's shoulder which gave him a tingly feeling down his spine. He put his arm on her.

  "Yeah. I know."

  "How do you do it?" She asked, facing him.

  "...do what, exactly?"

  "Be able to do your internship whilst still doing great at school? I just... You're incredible, Peter. Really, you are. I wish I could be as great as you, like what my parents want me to be."

  "MJ, you're amazing in your own way. You're super smart, you're talented, you're pretty much great at everything."

  "In my parents eyes, I'm not." She twiddled with her thumbs and dropped her gaze from Peter.

  "What's the matter?" He asked, putting his finger on her chin and making her face him.

  "It's just... nothing. I should get going." She stood up but Peter grabbed a hold of her wrist.

  "Stay. Let's talk." He said softly.

  "It's just... my mom and my dad think that I haven't been doing well in school lately."

  "What are you talking about? You're the top student in our class!"

  "Top 2, actually." She said, correcting him.

  "Aren't they proud of you?"

  "Are they supposed to? Considering they really want me to be Top 1?" Peter sighed. He didn't know the correct response for her. MJ continued on. "They keep telling me over and over and over again that I'm not doing my best, that I'm not the best version of myself. But.. but what if this is the best version of myself?" Tears started to stream on her face. Peter continued on listening to her intently. "I just want to go back to the good ol' days. The times we took these photos. The days where we were carefree and were able to do anything we wanted and not have to tolerate with any kind of pressure." Peter hugged her tightly as she cried in his shoulders.

  "Hey, listen," He held her by the shoulders and faced her as she wiped her tears. "You're speactacular, Michelle. They're just gonna have to get used to that. If they still don't want it, don't waste your time trying to impress them. This is you. The best version of you there ever was. And if they're not there to support you or cheer you on, then always remember that I'm here for you. Aunt May is here, Ned is here. We're here right by your side."

  "Always?"

  "Always." He embraced her. As he pulled away, he cupped both of her cheeks and slowly leaned in and kissed her softly.

  "I love you, MJ."

  "I love you too, Peter."