Reconcile › P. Parker [2]

004. andiamo

› CHAPTER FOUR ‹

Once the plane landed in Venice, Raleigh almost couldn't hold back the excitement of being able to stand once again onto solid land. His legs, and especially his knees, were aching painfully by the time they were told they were about to land. It wasn't just because the seating arrangements were small and weren't good for people with long limbs like him, but also because Jaron had ended up not returning to his seat beside Mr. Dell and fell asleep beside him. He wanted to wake him up and tell him to scram, but upon seeing the frown on his face as he slept, he deiced against it. Just because he can't nap, doesn't mean Jaron shouldn't. So once the commotion upon landing woke up his annoying friend, Raleigh had been one of the first to stand up and stretch his legs.

His relief quickly ended, though, when the students were ushered by the teachers to head towards the baggage claim area. Jaron had run off once they were in the terminal building and was now chatting away with MJ and Zoha, leaving him standing alone by the baggage claim while he waited for his suitcase to roll through. He was still tugging at his arms, trying to wake them up and get them used to moving around after almost eight hours pinned between Jaron and an armrest. He didn't even realize Peter was headed towards him until the brunet was right beside him.

"Hey."

Raleigh turned to the greeting and a smile crept onto his face upon seeing Peter just an arm's length away from him. He had apparently already found his luggage since he was hauling it at his side. Peter's suitcase had been one of the few things that were left in the Parker families ownership after most of their things had been auctioned off when Thanos had snapped—and considering it belonged to Ben Parker, Peter's late uncle, he was happy that it was back in Peter's hands. He knew how much Peter's uncle meant to him.

"Hey, back," Raleigh replied, swinging his arms back down to his sides, and glancing back at the belt just in time to see his used luggage case push through the open flap and saunter in his direction. He pushed through the few people in front of him and snatched the aging case just before it could disappear with the others, and lugging it to his body. He made his way back to Peter, who was quietly watching him.

"Um..." Peter shuffled on his feet and Raleigh stopped from heading towards their teachers to watch him. "How was your flight?"

Raleigh settled his weight on one leg and hummed to himself. "Oh, you know, sitting by myself for most of the flight was loads of fun. How was sitting next to Mr. Harrington?"

The brunet boy cringed to himself and opened his mouth, looking as if he was going to apologize for something, but then quickly shut it right after. He couldn't outwardly admit to Raleigh he put Ned up to the scheme just so he could sit beside him! Even if Raleigh already knew it was a lie, it would be too embarrassing! Instead of admitting anything, he rocked on his heels and nodded to himself. "Yeah, it wasn't great. He kept showing me—"