Peter Parker

We spent the rest of the night watching movies. As promised, after each Star Wars movie, we saw something MJ wanted to see. We ended up seeing the original Star Wars trilogy, The Black Phone, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. After that, we called it a night, with each couple and Kitty taking a room for themselves. After we took turns in the shower, MJ and I went to bed wearing nothing but our underwear. I lay on my back as MJ laid her head on my right shoulder. She traced lines up and down my sternum with her finger as I moved the fingers through her hair, lightly scratching her scalp.

"Did you enjoy yourself, Tiger?" MJ asked.

"Yeah, I did," I replied. "How about you, Em?"

"I did. Granted, I could've done without Brad trying to make a move…"

I nodded slowly. "Mhmm."

"…but, overall, I'm happy with how the night went."

"I'm glad." We both went quiet for some moments. I felt my eyelids getting heavy. I was ready to go to sleep. But, as sleepy as I was, I couldn't help but think ahead to graduation and college. We still needed to talk about that. However, before all of that, there was a certain event that was on my mind. Slowly, I moved from underneath MJ as I turned onto my side. I looked at MJ, who also moved onto her side. She gave me a look of confusion.

"Is everything okay?" she asked in concern.

"Everything is fine," I assured. "But um… Okay, I know this may not be the best time to ask this. And, I'm sorry if this is coming out of nowhere. But, it just crossed my mind just now, so…" I trailed off for a moment before I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Michelle… will you go to prom with me?" Michelle stared at me quietly for a few moments. I was expecting her to turn me down. Why? I don't know. I guess there was still a part of me that tends to second guess myself when it came to MJ. After a while, she closed her eyes and made a noise that sounded like both a laugh and a scoff.

"You know, Peter, you're the only person I know who would wait until we're about to go to sleep to ask me something that," MJ commented. There was no criticism in her voice, though. She brought her face forward and pressed her lips against mine. I closed my eyes as I moved my lips against hers. The kiss didn't go on for too long before she ended it. I opened my eyes, seeing her with a small smile on her face. "Of course I'll go to prom with you. Who else could I go with but you?"

I smiled. I knew I was looking goofy, but I didn't care. I was happy she said yes. So, I closed the gap between us and kissed her. While we were kissing, MJ pulled me close. Just like with the kiss before, this one didn't last too long. I pulled away. We both smiled at each other. It was official. This night was, at the very least, in the running for the best night of my life.

"Thank you, Em," I whispered. "…I love you."

"You're welcome, Loser," MJ whispered back. "And I love you, too. Now let's get some sleep already."

I nodded. "Okay." I moved in closer to her. I snaked my right arm underneath her as I embraced her. She wrapped her arms around me and rested the left side of her face on mine. "Good night, Em."

"Good night, Tiger."

I closed my eyes, ready to let sleep take me. I then slowly opened my eyes.

"…M?"

"Yes Peter?"

"…Are you grabbing my butt right now?"

"…Let me have this, dork!"

The next morning, the seven of us made our way over to Jackson House for breakfast. Along the way, Kitty called up Scott, letting him know that we're okay and that we had a great time. She also took some time to let him know that we overheard him and Joanna. I slumped down in my seat when Kitty mentioned that I got the worst of it because of my senses. I really wished she didn't mention that.

Once we arrived at Jackson House, We got ourselves a roundtable in a corner. After we were sat down, Craig ordered us all water and coffee with cream on the side. We looked over our menus before we gave the waitress our orders. As she walked away, Betty looked around at all of us.

"So, best night ever or what?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"For most of us," Carmilla pointed out. At that, a look of regret came over Betty's face. Before Betty could apologize, though, Carmilla spoke again. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm happy you guys had a great time. I just felt a bit left out, and I was feeling a little bit envious since Craig had a great time without me, even though it was kind of my fault to begin with."

Betty nodded. "Well, okay." She smiled again. "But you are going to prom with us, right?"

Carmilla chuckled. "Of course I am!" She leaned back in her seat and looked at Craig as she smirked. "I already asked the All-American out last night, and he said yes."

"What coincidence," MJ remarked. She nudged my shoulder with hers. "This one here asked me out to prom right before we went to sleep last night. He has the worst timing ever." I looked over at her with a halfhearted glare.

"Well, did you say yes?" Ned asked.

MJ scoffed. "Of course I did."

"Then I have to say that Peter's timing was very good," Kitty declared, causing the whole table to laugh, except for MJ, who stuck her tongue out at us. I nudged MJ's shoulder with my own before I took her hand with mine.

"I hate you," MJ said in mock anger as she leaned against me.

"I love you, too," I replied in earnest as I placed a kiss on her temple.

"Speaking of high school stuff, I believe there's something that we need to discuss," Betty said. "It's college."

"I thought you guys were MIT bound," Craig pointed out in confusion.

"We were," MJ explained. "However, there's been a huge push for us from other colleges. And, given recent events, we're not sure we're okay with leaving New York. Or, specifically, we don't want to split The American Idiots up."

"Okay, so you want us to stick together," Carmilla chimed in. "We can do that at MIT or whatever junior college is nearby."

"Are you guys cool with that?" Ned said as he looked from Kitty, to Carmilla, to Craig, and then to me. "I mean, after all, you guys have that thing with Scott and – "

"We can do that in Cambridge, too," Kitty assured. "We used to do it in Westchester, after all." She then tilted her head. "But, if we were to stay, what options do we have?"

"Well, there's Columbia University and Empire State University," MJ replied. "To be honest, I'm leaning more towards the latter than the former."

I tilted my head. "Why's that?"

MJ frowned. "Well, they're both great schools. But ESU is practically on par with MIT. Plus, they don't have controversial ties."

I paused for a moment. "…Now, when you say controversial…"

"Yeah, it turns out that Columbia's Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science is sponsored and funded quite a bit by Hammer Industries. Granted, it was before Justin Hammer became head of the company again, but…"

"Yeah, I'm not going there," Carmilla stated. "Like, I don't plan on being an engineer or scientist, but I don't want anything to do with any institution or organization taking money from Hammer Industries." She frowned. "It'd be dangerous enough for me to go to college as is, given my past dealings with them."

I leaned back in my seat. A part of me wanted to be dead set on MIT. Going to MIT was a dream of mine since my freshman year of high school. But while the desire was still there, I was a lot more open to other options. A lot has changed. I was no longer a solo hero. And, despite my best efforts, I was no longer alone. And with Justin Hammer back in the picture, well, it was either stay in New York or stay nearby.

"Okay," Craig spoke up. We all looked at him just in time to see him take a sip of his coffee. "From what I can tell, the two clear choices are Empire State and MIT. Am I right?" The rest of us looked at each other before we looked back at Craig and nodded. "I have an idea, then." He put his coffee down on the table before he reached down under it. He looked off into nowhere in thought. It took me a moment to realize he was trying to fish something out of his pocket. After a few seconds, he pulled out a quarter out his pocket. "Let's flip for it. Heads for ESU, tails for MIT – whatever side lands up, that's where we'll go. Any objections?"

We looked around at each other once more. After a few moments, I spoke up.

"I say yes," I said.

"I'm good with that," MJ added.

"Sure, why not?" Kitty said with a shrug.

"I guess there are worse ways to decide," Betty conceded.

"I'm down," Ned stated.

"So am I," Carmilla finished.

"Okay, so we're all in agreement," Craig with a nod. He stood up as he positioned the coin on his thumb, which was partially tucked underneath his index finger. "Shall we?"

After he said that, he flipped the coin into the air. We all watched it as it rose and turned. It looked like it was moving in slow motion. I felt my heartbeat go up. Around me, I heard the heartbeats of everyone else. They were anticipating the result just as much as I was. After the coin reach its peak, it started to fall. MJ's hands tightened around my own. I gently squeezed her hand back. After what seemed like eternity, the coin landed the table. The rest of us stood up and looked down at the coin. Slowly, I nodded.

"…Well, there it is," Carmilla said with a smirk.

"So it's official," I breathed out. I looked over at MJ, who looked at me.

"Are you sure?" MJ asked.

"I'm sure." I smiled. "Well, I have to call Pepper and let her know that we will be attending – "