Peter could already tell that the party was going to be amazing.

He wasn't even entirely sure that he was invited- well, he'd sort of been? Ned and Peter had been invited by Betty Brant, who had been invited by Liz, who was back in town for a week this summer. Liz had been invited by some guy named Ricardo, who had been invited by Theresa Pickerton, and so on. But it didn't matter, he reasoned as he pulled on a button-up shirt in his room and rolled up the sleeves. This wasn't the sort of party that used invitations.

This was the kind of party that people went to just to have a good time, though sometimes that ended up with a lot of regrets being revealed by the morning sun.

Peter finished getting ready, running a hand nervously through his hair as he looked into the mirror. He was a little more well-dressed than he was normally. It was an attempt to look relaxed and casual, and he didn't think that he'd done half bad.

He was just steeling himself to pull on his jacket and leave when May called out through his door. "Peter, Ned's here!"

Peter glanced down at his watch and took a deep breath, moving to open the door. When he did, May's eyes widened. "Oh, honey, you look great!" she exclaimed. "Go on, turn around. I want to see it from behind, too."

Peter let out a groan and failed to hide a grin as he slowly revolved in a circle. When he turned around, May was nodding in approval. "Mhmm, it's perfect," she informed him. "The sleeves are a nice touch, girls like that." May paused for a moment, ruffling her long hair as she grasped for something else to say. She seemed unsure what to do in this situation; granted, Peter hadn't gone to enough parties for this to be a regular thing.

"So, a party, right? Fun! You said Liz is going to be there?" Her eyes were curious, and he knew that she was trying to pin down exactly what was happening tonight.

If he was being honest, Peter didn't know how he felt about it either. Liz had left with her world destroyed. He had not exactly helped to make it any easier to deal with by ditching her at homecoming. Of course, it was to take down her super-villain dad, but even if she knew, he didn't know if she would understand or if she would just slap him.

"Yeah," he admitted. "But I don't-I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair again, running it through his head. "I think I'm over her, you know? I mean, it sucked that she left, but I don't think that we would have been able to make it work anyway. But..."

"But you had a crush on her for a while," May finished, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "And even if you don't like her anymore, what's wrong with impressing her a little bit? You never know."

Peter grinned slightly up at her. "Yeah, exactly," he agreed.

May leaned over and wrapped him in a quick hug before letting him go with a pat on the back. "Have fun," she encouraged. "That's an order. But be careful, too... I mean, it's a party. Make good choices. Drug records don't ever go away, honey, and your brain is still developing, so alcohol is a bad idea-"

"I know, I know," Peter said quickly. "I don't even think it's that kind of party, I promise. But Ned and I are gonna stay together, and I'll be careful. I promise."

May scanned his face one last time, and she seemed satisfied with his candor as she moved to let him step into the hallway. "Okay, good. Now you two have fun."

"We will," Peter conceded, grinning. "Bye, Aunt May."

"See ya later," she chirped. As Peter moved to walk down the hall to meet Ned in the living room, she added, "Go get 'em, Tiger!"

Sure enough, Ned was waiting for Peter with his signature fedora, and when he looked up his eyes were wide with excitement. "Are you ready?" He asked, eagerly beginning to walk towards the door. "The cab's downstairs, and we're all set to go."

Peter followed, and as they began to walk down the steps to exit the apartment, he grinned. "Yeah, of course I am! This is going to be awesome," he promised. "So you have the address, right?"

"Yeah," Ned confirmed as they stepped onto the street and climbed into the cab. "It's a house party, in that one neighborhood where the houses are huge. It's gonna be huge."

"Cool," Peter said as the cab began to move. "So, did you text Betty at all?" Another major reason Peter was going to this party was because of Ned, who had liked Betty for a while now. This had been a major thing for him, and Peter knew that Ned really wanted to impress her tonight.

"Yeah, we texted a lot sounds like she's already there, and there's apparently a ton of food-"

As Ned rambled on about the party, Peter listened and watched out the window. Sure enough, the houses outside began to get nicer until he was pretty sure that three families could have lived in one of them. After maybe twenty minutes, the cab pulled up on the curb next to one of them. It was huge, and it looked insanely fancy. Peter could already hear the bass-line of whatever song was playing, and there were lights flashing in the windows.

Peter and Ned paid the driver before climbing out of the cab, hesitating on the doorstep for a minute. Peter took a deep breath and glanced over at his best friend. "You ready?"

Ned looked nervous, but he resolutely tugged down his fedora and nodded. "Of course," he confirmed. "Let's do this thing, man."

The two of them walked up the steps and tried the door handle. It was completely unlocked, so they stepped inside. Immediately, warmth rushed over the pair of them, along with the pounding music. Peter recognized the song as something that had been playing on the radio, but he didn't know it very well. The lights were low, but there was a DJ who was flashing a lighting system along with the music. The speakers blared and the noise was enough to wash away all thought.

The party was massive.

"Whoa!" Ned called over the music as the door swung shut behind them. "This is the real thing!"

Peter's eyes scanned the rooms. They were on the main floor, but a spiral staircase led both down to a basement and to an upper level. The whole place was open-concept, and Peter could see that the largest amount of people were gathered near the DJ, dancing.

"Do you think Betty is over there?" Ned asked, and Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I think that's your best bet, man," Peter agreed loudly. "Come on, let's go!"

The two began to navigate through the crowd of people towards the dance floor, and Peter found that he understood why people came to these. It would be so easy to get lost in all of the people, just watching and listening and existing in the middle of something bigger.. Peter thought that he could've gotten lost in it if Ned wasn't there. It would definitely be nice to come to something like this and just sit after a rough night out 'spidering.'

It took them a minute to maneuver through the crowd, since everyone was focusing on where they were going and not on their surroundings. After a moment of shoving their way through people, Peter and Ned reached the edge of the dance floor. For a moment, Peter got caught up in watching the surging mass of people, all moving to the same song. It was hypnotic, the way that a huge mass had all come together to do the same thing of their own accord. Peter did not notice at first that Ned's jaw had dropped to the ground until his best friend's voice reached his ears.

"Holy crap… No way."

Peter glanced over at his friend, assuming that he'd spotted Betty. He was worried that something was wrong based on the way that Ned was gaping. "What?" He asked over the music, turning to follow Ned's line of sight.

As soon as he saw her, his heart skipped a music was suddenly drowned out by the blood roaring in his ears.

Dancing in the middle of the floor, beside Liz Toomes, was MJ. With her loose curls forming a dark halo around her face, she looked incredible.

For a moment, Peter barely recognized her. MJ's hair was loose, and Peter had not ever realized how long it was. She was dressed up, though in a very 'MJ' way, with a pair of jeans and booties on where most of the girls were wearing dresses. Somehow, she didn't look underdressed at all. Peter thought that it was because she was so at ease in her own skin, whether she was wearing jeans, a dress, or even her decathlon uniform. She wore a white top with thin straps beneath a leather jacket, which gave her an edge that Peter knew wasn't obvious to those who hadn't interacted with her. She even wore a bit of makeup, including red lipstick that Peter couldn't seem to look away from.

It wasn't that MJ didn't usually look good, of course. MJ was easily one of the prettiest girls in the school, in Peter's opinion. It was just that she didn't normally flaunt it, preferring to go without makeup and show her own quirky sort of style. Personally, Peter thought that her taste was great, and that the way that she was comfortable in herself was amazing. But tonight, she was comfortable in a different way.

The funny thing was that it wasn't the way she was dressed that stunned Peter, it was the way that she was carrying herself. He didn't think he'd ever seen MJ as relaxed as she was now, with her eyes closed and moving to the music. Peter hadn't seen her dance before, not even at homecoming- probably because he left halfway through to beat the crap out of the murderous, metallic version of Big Bird, but that was beside the point. Here, on the dance floor, she moved as if the music was pulsing through her, mingled with her blood. It was so natural, it almost looked like she wasn't even trying. Her eyes were closed and one of her hands was in her hair. She was even smiling, something that Peter had never seen her do like this before.

Everything about her had him starstruck.

"...Peter? Peter!"

Peter blinked several times and shook his head slightly, looking back over at Ned. If he had looked stunned before, now he looked positively alarmed. Ned had called out to Peter just as the music ended, leaving a slight gap of silence in the music. When she heard Ned's voice, MJ's eyes snapped open. Liz, who stood beside MJ, glanced over at the pair of boys, and a smile bloomed on her face.

"You made it!" she exclaimed, moving to leave the floor to approach them. Liz linked her arm with MJ's causing the girl to stumble off of the dance floor with her. MJ's eyes were wide, and Peter could practically see the gears turning in her head as she struggled to figure out what to do. He couldn't help but feel like he had intruded on a private moment, like catching someone singing to themself in the car or something. He didn't know how to react at the moment, still momentarily struck dumb, so he was grateful for Liz's energetic, authoritative presence. "I was hoping you could come."

MJ finally seemed to regain her composure, turning to face Liz. "Wait… You knew they were coming?" she asked as the music began to blare again,

Liz gave MJ an innocent smile. "Yeah… I invited Betty, and she invited them. I thought it would be a fun surprise."

MJ seemed just about ready to speak again, but Ned chose that moment to pipe up, "Right. Um, it's really good to see you, Liz! How's Oregon?"

"It's alright," she said with a nod and a little smile. "But I've missed decathlon. Anyway, do you guys want to-"

At that moment, someone called something from the staircase, and some people moved to leave the floor. "What was that?" Ned called.

"Oh, it's time for party games!" Liz exclaimed. "Come on, let's go! Unless any of you are too scared to play truth or dare, that is." Her eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief as they turned towards Peter.

Peter did not know why, but when he spoke, his eyes drifted to meet MJ's own wide brown irises, framed with long, dark lashes. "I'm ready for anything."