It took a total of five seconds for me to remember why I never went to parties: people.

There were too many of them—standing around on the front lawn, clustered inside, and even still arriving.

Did Liz invite the whole damn neighbourhood?

I wanted to leave.

Sensing my discomfort, Peter squeezed my hand again. I leaned into him gratefully, knowing full well that if he wasn't by my side right then I would've turned and ran.

"Cold?"

I shook my head. I was too focused on my hammering pulse to feel cold.

"Dude," Ned hissed, "you have the suit, right?"

Peter nodded, his hand still grasped tightly in mine.

His friend grinned, probably doing a little happy dance in his head. "This is gonna change our lives!"

I felt him tense at the words and I knew he still hadn't decided whether to follow through with a Spider-Man appearance or not.

I desperately hoped he wouldn't.

"There's a ton of people here," Ned noted gleefully, glancing at us. "Which means they're all gonna get to see it. Man, this is gonna be so sweet."

I offered the excited Filipino boy a small smile in an attempt to conceal my borderline terror.

Peter pushed the front door open uncertainly, releasing my hand so I could walk inside ahead of them even though that was the last thing I wanted to do. My only consolation was in recalling Peter's promise not to ditch me. I'd survive this horrid night as long as he was there.

I slowed to a stop, allowing two girls I recognized from my Spanish class to walk by, calling happily to their friends, before continuing inside the huge, crowded house. My nerves kicked into high gear when I saw Flash DJing at a table in an adjacent room. I glanced behind me at the boys, feeing unbelievably relieved to find them just as nervous as I was.

"Okay," Ned whispered, directing it mostly at Peter, "we're gonna have Spider-Man swing in, say you guys are tight, then I get a fist bump or one of those half bro-hugs." His eyes fell on me, mouth open to ask what sort of recognition I wanted before a familiar voice interrupted him.

"I can't believe you guys are at this lame party." Michelle Jones was in the middle of buttering a slice of toast, of all things.

"...You're here, too," Ned pointed out, sounding confused.

Michelle narrowed her eyes at the three of us in an unsettling manner. "Am I?" With that, she set the butter knife down and walked away, eating her toast.

What? I glanced at Ned, sharing a bewildered look with him before yet another familiar voice drew our attention elsewhere.

"Oh my gosh, hey guys!" Liz appeared, a red solo cup in hand, and approached us with a friendly smile. "Cool hat, Ned."

"Hi, Liz," Ned grinned, shooting his best friend a wide-eyed, suggestive grin that was completely ignored because all of Peter's attention was on the pretty, dark-eyed senior girl in front of him.

"Hi, Liz," he said, sounding almost breathless.

Her smile widened. "I'm so happy you guys came! There's pizza and drinks—help yourself."

"What a great party," Peter remarked, looking around as if he was gladly taking in the chaos. I hoped nobody else noticed how forced it sounded.

"Thanks."

Something shattered nearby, quieting a once-heated argument, and I almost felt grateful for the distraction from this suffocatingly awkward conversation.

"Oh," Liz grimaced at the situation. "I...My parents will kill me if anything's broken, I gotta, um..."

Peter nodded. "Yeah."

"I love your necklace," she added quickly, walking past us to deal with the drunken party-goers. "Have fun."

"Bye," Ned called, clearly more concerned with Peter's lack of initiative. "Dude," he hissed, "what are you doing? She's here, spider it up!"

"Ned." When he turned his head to look at me, I shook my head softly. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Peter shook his head as well. "No, nono, I can't–I cannot do this," he insisted. "Kasey's right, Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just gonna," he shrugged, "...be myself."

Ned sighed and shook his head. "Peter, no one wants that."

My jaw dropped.

Thankfully, Peter didn't look too offended. "Dude."

I slapped Ned's shoulder, making him jump and rub the spot gingerly. "Ow," he muttered.

"Penis Parker, what's up!?" Flash called over the music speakers, having finally caught sight of the three of us standing near the entrance. Instantly, I felt Peter tense up. The laughter floating through the room and the faces turning toward us made me hide slightly behind him.

"So where's your pal, Spider-Man?" The bully continued. "Let me guess: in Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?" The stupid horn sound effect he was using after every pathetic joke was starting to piss me off. "That's right, folks; Kasey isn't the first fake girlfriend, and she won't be the last."

Despite knowing full well Flash Thompson's comment was untrue, I still had to stop myself from squeezing Peter's hand or even just brushing up against him to let him know I was there—a support beam.

"That's not Spider-Man, that's just Ned in a red shirt."

"Let's go," I urged, barely heard over Flash's sound effects and everyone's laughter. Fortunately, the boys listened and followed me in search of a less-populated space.

"I'll be right back," Peter mumbled, turning to head in another direction. Ned didn't protest but I immediately went after him.

"Peter, wait," I said, weaving my way through a cluster of drunken, dancing girls to reach him. He turned around when my fingers closed around his arm, his face a terrible mixture of sadness and anger and determination. I could feel my heart fracturing at the sight of him.

"Peter," I murmured, looking up into his teary eyes, "are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Did you not hear anything he just said?" Peter hissed, "about any of us?" He threw a hand in the general direction of Flash. "I can't listen to him anymore, it's driving me crazy. I can't keep...being the joke of the school, I can't, Kasey, I..." He fixed me with such a sad, exhausted look I knew there was nothing I could do to talk him out of it right then, even if he knew in his heart it was wrong. This wasn't a decision I could make for him, and we both knew that.

"I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."

He nodded. "I do."

"Okay." I looked down at my feet, feeling suddenly like a child. "Ned and I'll be on the patio."

Peter's warm fingers brushed my cheek, gently cupping my face as I looked back up at him, surprised and confused. He smiled despite his state and I realized this was his way of saying thank you, please don't be upset, I'll be right back.

"Don't do anything too stupid," I added quietly—my own way of saying I care, don't ditch me.

•••

"Where's Peter?" Ned questioned immediately upon my return. "Is he gonna do it?"

Wordlessly, I nodded and walked past him to head out one of the many sliding doors onto the patio. Ned followed me with a barely-there, excited skip in his step.

This better be worth it, I thought ruefully, trying not to appear too annoyed as we navigated the throngs of kids both in and outside. I spotted an unoccupied space right outside the glass wall of the 'dance floor' so Flash would be one of the first to witness Spider-Man's appearance.

"Okay," Ned turned to face me. "So we'll pretend to be a little surprised, but not too much, like, we were expecting him but also not really, y'know? Oh, and..."

Without really meaning to, I tuned out his spiel and thought about how much I wished I was home and with May and Peter. And not this Peter, who was so caught up in Liz Allan's rich brown eyes that suddenly he wanted to be more than himself, but the Peter who turned a deaf ear to Flash's jibes and was glad to build LEGO with Ned or fight crime instead of attending one of these dumb, drunk fests. I wished I was home with that Peter, watching Star Wars or doing homework together or even just having him in the same room.

"Kasey."

All at once, the party around me came back into focus, along with Ned standing beside me, currently looking around for Peter—Spider-Man—without trying to make it too obvious.

"Do you seem him anywhere?" He asked. "Do you think he's in the front, instead?"

"No." A confused frown fell into place over my irritated one. "I told him we'd wait here."

Ned sighed. "Maybe he changed his mind again and went back in."

A spark of hope caught flame in my chest. "I'll go check." I turned to walk inside through the nearest door but thought better and went in search of another instead of risking Flash Thompson's unwanted attention.

Please be in here, please.

I squeezed through the cramped house, feeling like I was back at Midtown trying not to get swept away in the rush of students between classes. Only this was worse because all I could smell was this horrendous mixture of sweat and alcohol and too many different perfumes and I couldn't hear anything past the loud conversations and laughter and Flash's appalling taste in music as it boomed and echoed in every room. Finally, I reached the staircase and threaded my way through everyone to reach the top. I knew what usually went on upstairs at high school parties, so I wasn't surprised to find just about everyone up here with their tongues down someone else's throat.

I gagged and averted my gaze. If Peter was up here I just might kill him.

"Kasey?"

I spun around in search of whoever said my name. Usually I could place someone's voice, but there were too many people and too many jumbled thoughts in my mind. When my searching gaze landed on Jason Ionello, who'd already had his eyes on me, I knew it was him.

He grinned from his place leaning against the wall and I pushed my way through people to get to him.

"Never thought I'd see you at a party," he said when I at last reached him.

"That makes two of us."

He chuckled and offered me a sip of his beer. I shook my head firmly, unable to even think about consuming alcohol after my experiences with it.

"You look lost," he remarked, lifting the can to his lips.

I was, in a way. "Have you seen Peter?" I asked instead.

He narrowed his eyes in thought. "I think so." He pointed, though I couldn't see where through the press of bodies. "Went in the washroom...six minutes ago, maybe."

Damn it. "Okay," I smiled at Jason gratefully. "Thanks."

"Yeah. Good luck."

I took a deep breath before leaving the safety of the little wall space and began making my way through everyone in the direction he pointed in. When I found the washroom, it was empty and the window Peter must've used to sneak out of was closed.

Great. Realizing my trek upstairs was for nothing only irritated me further as I continued to squeeze by everyone crowding the stairs until reaching Ned, who stood in the same spot as when I left him. He had his phone pressed to his ear, likely calling Peter.

"Peter, where are you!?" He hissed into the phone. "The hat's not working, this is not cool." He sighed heavily. "Call me back."

"No luck," I reported once he'd hung up. Ned frowned and kept looking around as if expecting his best friend to suddenly pop up out of nowhere. "Something must've happened," I continued, trying to reassure both him and myself. "We both know he wouldn't leave without a reason."

Especially after he promised he wouldn't.

Ned looked down, scuffing his feet against the patio deck sadly. "Yeah, I know," he mumbled. "At least you're here...So, have you watched The Empire Strikes Back, yet?"

Ned and I proceeded to talk about Star Wars to pass the time, though there wasn't much to talk about without spoiling anything since I'd only seen the first of seven movies, Ned being Ned still seemed as if he could go on all night about it. I, however, hoped it wouldn't come to that.

After over twenty minutes of no Spider-Man appearance and Peter having disappeared long enough for everyone to notice, Flash had begun to publicly humiliate him yet again; cracking more stupid, insulting jokes and shouting at us asking where Peter and Spidey were while we pretended we couldn't hear him.

Liz, to her credit, asked Flash to stop once, but when he continued and escalated it until nearly the whole party was chanting 'Penis Parker,' she was nowhere to be seen.

I smiled grimly at Ned. "This sucks," I mused dryly.

"Yeah, no kidding," he said, pulling his phone out. "I'm gonna try him again."

To my surprise, I heard Peter's voice coming from Ned's phone. And this time it wasn't his voicemail.

"Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen to this," Ned held his phone out so Peter could hear Flash talking into his microphone at the DJ booth.

"When I say Penis, you say Parker! Penis!"

"Parker!" Everyone shouted.

"Penis!"

"Parker!"

Ned brought his phone back to his ear. "Sorry, Peter," he said, still watching Flash sadly. "Guess we're still losers. I'll see at school on Monday." He nodded, listening to his friend. "Yeah, I'll tell her...alright, see ya." He hung up and turned to me. "Said he's sorry for ditching us, and he'll be five minutes if you wanna wait for him or start walking." He waved his phone in the air. "My mom just texted, she's on her way to pick me up."

"Okay." I nodded. "Thanks." I took my phone from my pocket to text Peter. "I'm gonna start walking," I said, turning to leave. "See you at school."

AN: Hey my dudes it's been a minute lol sorry a ton for that

So I think I want to enter either this story or my TMNT fanfiction, The Shadow's Secret, in a contest on Wattpad's Fanfic profile, which means I have to choose a 2k word excerpt from one of them that best showcases my writing and that story! So if you guys have any suggestions (basically what's your fav chapter from TUG or TSS) feel free to let me know! :D

Ik this chapter was kinda boring and I'm really sorry for that, honestly, I'm just glad to finally be giving you guys some much-deserved content. ALSO I know Peter and Ned say "see you at school tomorrow" in the movie but isn't Liz's party on a Friday? And if not, who would have such a huge party that obviously goes pretty late, on a school night? So I changed that cuz it didn't make sense to me. Lol the next chapter won't be very exciting, but should be filled with a ton of cute Kasey/Peter moments! Hopefully that'll make up for it! I'm in the middle of looking for a job (again bcuz the one before was seasonal) and trying to figure out what to do for school next year (basically figure out the rest of my life) and I also decided to start a huge project for one of my stories (it's another trailer shh) because why not lol

um has anyone ever worked at a laser tag / virtual reality / escape room / paintball facility that hosts lots of kids birthdays? I'm considering applying at a place like this cuz it sounds cool / fun but I'm not a huge fan of kids (they can be really gross/rude) & I'm always worried they don't like me idk also because public speaking is stressful but I feel like once I nail the speech about rules it won't be too bad so ya anyone worked at a place like that before? any advice? lol

IN CONCLUSION I'm a mess and the -50°C weather is not helping ! I go outside in the full arctic getup and it's like.. instant frostbite. hope you arent attached to your extremities lmao. I can honestly say I have never experienced weather so cold before

Looong AN sorry lol make sure to review and lemme know if you liked this chapter + ur fav chapter from TUG or TSS! Love you guys and thanks so so much for the patience and understanding! :D