What an odd feeling, thought Peter, sensing that his backpack was noticeably lighter than usual.

He still carried the same amount of textbooks as before, so missing books was not the cause. Today was his first day in a long time that he wasn't carrying his Spider-Man suit to school, no thanks to his aunt. His old suit was in need of repairs after his late-night flight with Toomes, leaving that out of the question. Peter was just gonna have to suck it up and refrain from being a hero for a week.

Stepping out of the subway train, Peter headed toward the front doors of the school, thinking of ways to keep himself busy for the day. Ned was suspended for the next three days, including today, making Peter friendless for the time being.

Well, I did refer to Michelle as MJ, which would make her my friend, I guess? he thought. Peter recalled what she had said when Mr. Harrington announced her as the new captain for the decathlon team.

"My friends call me MJ"

Thinking about it for a while, Peter found that he didn't actually hate the idea of hanging out with her; she did seem like a pretty cool person, though he couldn't really say he knew her too well. The few times they did have conversations were during their decathlon meetings and at random times they happened to bump into each other. Which, actually, seemed like all the time. She did seem to know a lot more about him than he knew of her, but Michelle did say she was a very observant person.

Peter just hoped she wasn't too observant.

Arriving at his locker, Peter stuffed his sweater away before sensing someone behind him. Hoping it was Ned, he turned around only to find Mr. Harrington, head organizer of the decathlon team, giving him a pointed look. Hoping he wasn't in too much trouble, Peter breathed out, "Hey."

"Hey yourself, Peter," he responded with a hint of coldness to his voice. He then paused, and took in a deep breath before continuing, "See me in the decathlon meeting room after lunch tomorrow, alright?"

Before Peter could get a word in, Mr Harrington turned and walked away. Judging from his cold tone, Peter was probably in trouble for something, and it most likely had to do with his absence from the decathlon event in D.C.

"Hey loser, what might that have been about?"

Peter spun around only to find Michelle leaning against a locker a few feet away from him with a smug look on her face. Before thinking about what he was saying, Peter spoke.

"Probably something to do with me skipping the decathlon final." said Peter nonchalantly.

Michelle raised an amused eyebrow at him. "So… you did skip the nationals, huh?" she said cheekily as Peter's eyes went wide. "To do what? Jack off to your math homework?" she quipped sarcastically (or was it playfully?).

Feeling relief wash over him, Peter chuckled, "No, nothing like that…" Wow, Peter really had a way with words didn't he? First he let slip his guilt last night to Aunt May, now he was just admitted to skipping the decathlon. "Uh, something, just er- came up." he finished, unconvincingly.

Smirking, Michelle retorted, "Ohhhh, so I was right."

Getting flustered, Peter tried to come up with something. "I uh, had an allergic reaction," he said unconvincingly, again. Damn, I really have to work on lying properly, thought Peter.

Michelle didn't seem to react before deadpanning, "Yeah, and I'm Spider-Man."

The color drained from Peter's face.

Seemingly not noticing the shocked look on Peter, Michelle continued sarcastically, "Sorry, I thought we were telling each other obvious lies." Peter just stayed still, not knowing how to respond before she said, "You aren't allergic to anything, genius."

Peter gave her a weird look before asking, "How do you know that?"

Michelle suddenly avert his gaze and her smirk disappeared. "I- I'm just very observant." she said quickly. After a couple of awkward seconds lacking any elaboration, she turned and walked down the hall. "See you in class, Peter," she unenthusiastically called back without looking in his direction.

Observant, huh? thought Peter as he turned and faced his locker. Yeah, how did she know that? He could've sworn he'd seen her blush a little was she told him that.

A very confused, relieved, and flustered Peter finished packing away his stuff in his locker before the bell rang, signalling him to join Michelle in biology.

The day seemed to pass by surprisingly quickly, probably due to the fact that Peter wasn't actually waiting all day to rush out and stop criminals for once. There were a few times Peter would text Ned telling him what schoolwork he was missing and how easy and boring classes were.

Throughout the day, Peter could not help but keep stealing skeptic glances at Michelle. It was almost like she knew his secret. Their earlier conversation kept replaying in his mind and he felt suspicious that she in fact, knew about Spider-Man. It also didn't help that he happens to be the worst liar in all of existence. Though, it was quite hard to tell if she had just been joking around about his disappearances or suggesting something, due to the fact that she hid her true emotions quite well.

When the final bell rang, indicating that school was over, Peter took his time packing his books away prior to unhurriedly standing up to leave. Before he made it to the classroom door, someone spoke up behind him.

"Well, this is a first," came the voice of Michelle.

Turning around to look at the now empty classroom, Peter spotted Michelle sitting in her usual seat in the back corner with a book in one hand, a sandwich in the other, and her feet resting on her desk. She had a neutral and slightly bored expression on her face as she looked at him. Peter did have to give her credit. Michelle's controlled expressions and emotions allowed her to keep secrets, unlike himself. Like, right now, he had no idea what she was thinking, or no idea if she knew about his red and blue suit. If she did in fact know, she showed no signs of it.

Realizing he had probably been staring for too long, Peter snapped out of his daze and asked, "What's a first?"

"You're not in a hurry today," said Michelle simply, as she took another bite out of her sandwich. Peter just stared, at loss for words. "It's weird," she added, between bites.

Peter had previously been so caught up in his thoughts about Michelle knowing his secret that he himself didn't even realize he was breaking his usual schedule. If Aunt May had not taken his Spider-Man suit, Peter would probably be swinging between buildings by now.

"You must hate this place almost as much as I do if you're always so desperate to leave," said Michelle, breaking Peter out of this thoughts.

Peter gave an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I don't hate this place, but it's not that I like it either..." he trailed off.

"Whatever loser," muttered Michelle as she finished her sandwich. After a short pause she continued, "Ya know, it doesn't take a genius to notice all of your disappearances and excuses lately."

Peter just stayed silent.

"I sure noticed it during our decathlon nationals, I bet Ned really noticed it when you left him at that party, and I know for a fact that Liz sure noticed it during homecoming," said Michelle, looking slightly annoyed.

"That's cold," replied Peter, now feeling ashamed. But, she was right. Peter hadn't exactly been discreet with his disappearances. It's not he like he had any choice did he? If he had to choose between winning some stupid trophy or saving innocent lives, Peter would definitely pick the latter. Now somewhat irritated, he asked, "Why do you care anyway? Why do you even bother to 'observe' these things?"

Michelle stayed unmoving for a moment before she took her feet off of her desk and started to put her book away. Peter thought he must have hit a nerve. After zipping up her backpack and throwing it over her shoulder, Michelle finally replied, "You tend to notice these kinds of things when you don't have any friends."

Watching her walk away, Peter was left in disbelief and felt a bit, hurt? They did seem to talk a lot more than he previously thought and found himself wanting to get to know her better. With her mystifying personality, Peter could help but think there was more to her under the surface. Seeing how lost she looked when she had said that, Peter knew she felt lonely.

Peter came to his senses and rushed to catch up to her in the hallway. He stopped her by gently laying a hand on her shoulder and faced her, asking her with all sincerity, "Am I not your friend?"

Michelle's deadpan expression softened slightly, before faintly smirking and replying, "I don't know, are you?"

Peter merely smiled back, as they fell into comfortable silence. After a few moments, Peter frowned to himself and said, "Sorry about what I said earlier, I was just... a little irritated."

Michelle just rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't apologize," she quipped, "it makes you seem like a decent human being."

Deciding to play along, Peter retorted, "Who ever said I was a human being?" before snapping his mouth closed. Excellent choice of words, Parker, he thought to himself.

Not noticing his slip-up (or ignoring it), Michelle let out a short giggle and started walking towards the school exit, Peter's hand slipping off her shoulder. "See ya tomorrow, loser," she called back good-naturedly, not bothering to look his direction again.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, MJ," he shouted back as she left the building.

Knowing that the subway station was on the opposite side of the school, Peter sighed and made his way across the building.

After an uneventful ride back to the apartment, Peter found himself exiting the elevator of the fourth floor only to turn the corner and spot Ned waiting outside his apartment door.

Ned didn't seem to notice him yet, so Peter grinned mischievously and thought he might have a little fun. Making sure there was nobody else around, he climbed up onto the ceiling and crawled just above Ned, who was still oblivious. With a leap, Peter swiftly and silently dropped down feet-first directly in front of Ned, and said, "Boo."

Ned's bored expression immediately changed to a state of shock as he jumped back and let out a very unmanly scream.

"That wasn't funny, Peter!" Ned squealed as Peter laughed on the floor. "You almost gave me my third heart attack this year!" he shouted, as he too, joined in on the laughter.

After they both settled themselves, Peter unlocked the apartment door and invited Ned inside.

"So, whatcha doing here Ned?" asked Peter as they sat down in his room.

"Oh," laughed Ned nervously, "I thought I'd just stop by 'cuz I haven't seen you all day."

Figures, thought Peter, feeling like there was more to it than that. "Okay, why are you really here?"

Ned sighed and asked, "Where'd you go yesterday during school? You kind of just left the decathlon meeting."

Peter perked up at this and excitedly said, "Actually, I've been meaning to tell you about that."

He paused and took a deep breath before saying, "Mr. Stark asked me to be an Avenger."

Ned audibly gasped and asked, "You're an Avenger now?" Ned jumped up and shouted, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I'M BEST FRIENDS WITH AN AVEN-"

"Ned! Keep it down," Peter whispered frantically. He didn't know if he had the heart to break the bad news. Peter gave Ned an "I'm sorry" kind of look before he reluctantly said, "I'm not an Avenger, I- I said no."

Ned just gave him a blank stare. "Wha- why?"

Peter just shrugged his shoulders. "I figured I wasn't ready to take such a big step," he said, "I'd rather just stop robbers and thugs than drop cities out of the sky."

"But-" sputtered Ned, "It's the Avengers! How could you say no?"

Peter just sighed and stood up from his bed. "Joining the Avengers meant giving up my secret identity, something that's a big part of being Spider-Man," he voiced. Having at least three people aware of his identity was stressful enough, Peter figured he couldn't handle the whole world knowing. At least, not yet.

Walking out of his room and to the kitchen, Peter heard Ned mumble behind him, "I can't believe this…"

Smiling to himself, Peter jumped onto the ceiling and started looking through the top cupboards for snacks. This is so much easier, he thought, glad he didn't need to use a stool anymore. He was, after all, only five foot six.

Suddenly sensing movement behind him, Peter turned and saw Ned attempting to sneak up on him, most likely trying to scare him.

"Nice try, Ned," said Peter in amusement. "You're not getting me back for earlier, I sensed you coming."

Ned drooped his shoulders in disappointment before getting a curious look. "You… you can sense me?"

Peter soaked in his words and realized that he did in fact 'sense' him. Recalling the day's events, Peter became aware that the same thing happened with Mr. Harrington earlier that day. Peter gave Ned a sheepish smile. "New powers? Hehe…" he laughed nervously.

"That is awesome!" exclaimed Ned. "Maybe that spider venom gives you more powers over time!"

Peter thought about that for a second. "Maybe," said Peter enthusiastically, trying not to sound too excited.

Before Ned could get another word in, the apartment door started shaking slightly, as if someone were putting keys in it. Aunt May is home, thought Peter as he continued looking for something to eat, his other three limbs still stuck to the ceiling. May already knew about his powers, so there was no use in getting down.

However, Ned tensed up and abruptly moved across the kitchen faster than Peter had ever seen him move. He reached his hand toward Peter and gave a surprisingly strong tug on his free arm.

At that very moment, Aunt May walked into the apartment only to witness Ned pulling Peter to the floor along with half of the kitchen's ceiling.

"What the hell, Ned?!" shouted Peter as he picked himself off the floor.

"Sorry!" replied Ned in a hushed tone so Peter's aunt couldn't hear. "I didn't know that would happen! I was just trying to protect your secret identity like you said!"

Peter instantly realized that he hadn't told Ned about Aunt May and hurriedly said, "She already knows! You didn't need to destroy the kitchen trying to-"

"Boys!" came the voice of Aunt May across the kitchen counter.

Both Peter and Ned snapped their heads toward her.

"What the hell is going on?" she questioned. "Do you realize how much it's going to cost to fix this?" she asked, gesturing at the wreckage.

Ned spoke up and said, "Sorry Mrs. Parker, I didn't realize-"

"Actually," interrupted Peter, "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been on the ceiling in the first place. I'll- I'll get the money."

Aunt May merely raised a skeptical eyebrow at him and said, "Well, you'd better find yourself a job, unless you plan on stealing-"

Peter intervened, "May, you know I wouldn't do that."

"Alright," she huffed. "Now, you two clean up this mess before I ground you for another week, Peter," she said as she left the room, presumably to calm herself.

Shortly after a grueling thirty minutes of picking up chunks of the ceiling, Peter and Ned found themselves back in Peter's room.

"How did she find out?" questioned Ned. Peter opened his mouth to answer, but Ned kept going. "And why isn't she freaking out about it? Who else knows? Are you sure that's even your aunt-"

"Woah, woah," said Peter, putting a stop to Ned's interrogation. "One question at a time, Ned."

Ned closed his mouth and looked at Peter expectantly.

Peter sighed, and answered, "She found out yesterday when I got back from the Avengers compound. Mr. Stark delivered my suit back to me, so of course I had to put it on when I saw it." Taking in a breath, Peter continued, "The thing is, I didn't notice May standing in my doorway."

Ned gasped before putting on a puzzled expression. He opened his mouth and asked "But shouldn't you have noticed her? You have your 'spider sense' right?"

Peter thought about it for a second. That doesn't make sense, he thought before calling back to their conversation earlier. Peter said, "Well, maybe I'm still learning the full extent of my powers?" That sounds reasonable, right?

Ned just nodded his head in understanding before asking, "So, does anyone else know about your identity?"

"Just Toomes," replied Peter honestly before frowning. Should I tell him about MJ? Deciding to voice his concern, he continued, "Though, I think MJ might suspect something."

Ned just blinked. "MJ?"

Rolling his eyes, Peter replied, "You know, Michelle? We talked a couple times today and it seems like she knows something. Or, thinks she knows something." Peter let out a breath. "I dunno."

"Well, she does say she's very observant."

"Yeah, I get that."

"Well," began Ned, as he scrunched up his face in thought, "maybe, try not to talk to her too much. That might help."

Staying silent, Peter had to mentally agree with Ned. Michelle did appear to notice a bit too much about him. Anyway, he would probably let it slip that he was Spider-Man. The thing is, Peter actually enjoyed talking to Michelle. With her snarky behaviour and sarcastic remarks, she contrasted greatly from other girls, which Peter admired. But, he didn't want to risk his identity again.

"Okay, I'll try," replied Peter, even though he was still split in the idea. It's not like he had to stop talking to her though, he just had to limit the times they did.

A few hours later, after a few discussions about the newest LEGO sets and the upcoming Star Wars movies, Ned headed home. Ned was still suspended for the next two days, and Peter couldn't just talk to MJ all the time, leaving him dreading the next couple days. Plus, he still had another six days without Spider-Man

After a quick, goodnight hug from Aunt May, Peter decided to settle down for the night. Stepping under the destroyed ceiling, Peter grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen and headed to his room. He climbed into bed as he realized he needed money to fix the kitchen. One thought then came across his mind.

Time to find a job.

What do you guys think of the chapter lengths? Too long? Too short? Please let me know in the reviews