'Idiot!' Peter flinched as the memory from the night before flickered in his mind. 'How could you possibly make that joke? Why did you think that that was a good idea? God Parker, you are the stupidest idiot in the history of the-'
"Dude," Harry interrupted Peter's mental rant. "What did the eggs do to offend you that badly?"
The shorter teenager blinked slowly. He glanced down at his plate, and sure enough, his eggs had been smashed to bits.
"Nothing." Peter replied grumpily. "I'm just in a bad mood."
"Yeah, that's pretty clear, man." Harry replied, as he ate his eggs like a normal person. "What's up?"
"Bad dream." Which was true. Than again, Peter couldn't really remember the last time he had any good dreams.
The sounds of footsteps heading in their direction made Peter scarf down his eggs. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, I need to jet." May said as she entered their tiny kitchen. She kissed her nephew's cheek. "I left you two money for takeout. Please get something with vegetables, please."
"No promises." Peter replied.
May ruffled his hair (which was finally neat for once, after Harry nagged him for it. Apparently, the universe wanted Peter's hair to remain a mess). She did the same to Harry though, which he clearly didn't mind.
"Love you!" May called out before closing the door.
Harry turned to his eggs. "Your aunt is the best."
Peter smiled sadly at his friend. He finished his eggs and took both their plates to the sink. "What are you going to do while I work?"
Harry shrugged. "Homework? It's a Tuesday night, what else would I be doing?"
"TV?" Peter offered as he grabbed the frying pan. "Drugs? I don't know, normal teenager stuff, I guess."
Harry snorted. "You're one to talk, Mr. I'm-Too-Smart-For-Honors-Classes."
"Okay, I have never said that before in my entire life!"
The pair teased each other for a bit. Before they knew it, it was time to catch their train.
"Today isn't going to be a good day." Harry commented as the pair walked to his locker. "I can feel it."
Peter rolled his eyes. "Wow, that's reassuring."
"We have a math quiz today. I'm gonna fail."
"Oh, c'mon. I didn't tutor you last night for you to believe in failure."
"I'm sorry for wasting your time."
Peter opened his mouth to argue.
"Flirting in the middle of the hallway?" MJ said. "I knew the whole 'shy guy' routine you two had going on was an act."
The freckled brunette immediately blushed.
"We-well," Peter stuttered out, a joking smile on his face. "We can't hide our love from the world forever. Right, Harry?"
Mary Jane snorted. "And this is why everyone at school thinks that you guys are a couple."
"Huh. That's the reason?" Harry selected his English textbook. "I thought it was the hand holding during class."
Peter snorted.
"So, how was your guys' sleepover?" MJ asked as she leaned against a locker.
They both shrugged.
"Uneventful." Peter glanced at MJ, noting how pretty her hair looked that day. He quickly looked away. "We studied. We watched some TV. That's it."
Mary Jane adjusted her bag. "No work?"
"That's after school." Peter shrugged.
The trio walked to the brunette's locker.
"Oh, by the way, Gwen's going to kill you." MJ informed Peter.
Peter cursed. "Ugh! I knew I was forgetting something."
"I reminded you last night." Harry replied. "Twice. Just get it over with, man. The longer you wait, the angrier she'll get."
"Oh yeah." Mary Jane nodded. "Than she'll give you 'The Look'."
The trio shuddered at the thought of 'The Look'.
"Well, I need to see if I can revive my phone first, anyways." Peter huffed. "I don't exactly have her number memorized."
MJ raised an eyebrow. "'Revive your phone'?"
"Oh...right," Peter sent Harry a pleading look. "My phone fell in water. It's busted."
Mary Jane sighed. "You gotta be more careful, tiger."
"'Careful' isn't exactly something that's in Pete's vocabulary." Harry said. "I had to remind him to not forget his glasses this morning. Twice."
"'Twice'?" The redhead bumped Peter's shoulders. "How did you manage that? You're blind as a bat without your glasses."
Peter shrugged, his face turning warm at the sudden contact. "Cause I'm me, I guess."
MJ sighed as they entered their homeroom classroom. "Oh, and you're early, again. Maybe you and Harry should start dating. He keeps you more organized."
Peter's face immediately turned a brighter shade of red.
Harry laughed awkwardly. "That would be weird. Like….we've known each other for too long for that..."
"Yeah, too weird." Peter added.
MJ raised an eyebrow at the pair. She put her bag down. "K, well, I need to use the bathroom."
The pair waited until the door was closed.
"She doesn't notice…" Peter said.
"Are you kidding?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "She's MJ. She notices everything."
A gloomy expression flickered on Peter's face.
"Is it really that weird," He said slowly. "To like someone that you've known forever? Am I weird for liking her?"
Harry eyed him. "Dude, you're asking the wrong person. I don't know anything about dating."
Peter considered that. "Right. Sorry…."
He picked a splinter on his desk. "Maybe I should give up. I just...We've been best friends since we were four, and if me liking Mary Jane ruins that, than I should value my friendship…"
Harry shifted uncomfortable. "Are you going to tell her?"
"That I like her?"
"No, about...the guy?"
Peter stiffened. "We've been over this, Harry."
The taller one sighed. "Pete-"
But whatever Harry had to say, it had to be saved for later. Two students entered the classroom, and immediately went to separate desks.
Harry and Peter exchanged looks before Peter sat down.
It was when Peter was halfway through editing a Spider-Man pic (that featured Captain America) that it hit Peter: He called Captain America 'dad'.
Peter groaned, and face planted into his desk.
The memory made him want to knock himself unconscious. At least than, he'd have the sweet relief of not having that memory pound into his skull.
After a moment, he realized that he looked like an idiot, so he continued working. Unfortunately, it was one of those days where ever cringe-inducing memory Peter ever had flickered in his mind.
Giving himself that haircut in sixth grade, Flash pushing him on stage during a Holocaust commeration assembly, accidentally getting snot all over that girl after coming back from the hospital in fifth grade…
Peter shook his head.
'Focus on something else.' He told himself, as he tried to not be angry at himself for all the embarrassing things he had done. 'Just...you'll avoid Cap from now on, and never talk to him again. Just finish the picture, and then you can bury yourself under a rock.'
The teenager nodded to himself.
'Only twenty five more minutes until your shift is over,' He reminded himself. 'Than you can ask Mr. Robertson about the records….'
"PARKER!"
'Or not….'
"What is this?" Jameson pointed to the picture on his computer. "I am paying you to take pictures, not photoshop them into oblivion!"
Peter gulped. "That's a real pic, Mr. Jameson. Honest! Captain America and Spider-Man were fighting some thieves on-"
"You really expect me to believe that some vigilante like Captain America would fight along-side a petty criminal like Spider-Man?" Spit flew from Jameson's mouth. "The Bugle only prints the truth! Now, get me some pictures of Spider-Man's hand in the cookie jar, or don't bother coming back into my office tomorrow!"
Peter nodded meekly. He waited until Jameson was gone, before biting his nails.
Ugh, he knew that Jameson wasn't actually firing him, but he wished he would stop saying stuff like that to him. Jameson knew that the Parkers needed this job, it was why Peter was able to work there as a fourteen year old.
Well, actually, it was mostly because Peter was the only person who could take pictures of Spider-Man, but that wasn't the point.
Sighing to himself, Peter scraped that picture (that he had been editing for hours), and mentally prepared himself for the overtime he would have to do in order to get that picture ready.
"Where were you?"
Liz glared at Peter as he walked into his living room.
"Sorry." Peter laid his large pile of newspapers on the coffee table. "I was having some…technical difficulties at work."
"Meaning that Jameson gave you a hard time?" Harry asked.
Liz raised an eyebrow. "Jameson?"
"J. Jonah Jameson." Harry turned to Liz. "Pete works for the Bugle."
Liz's eyes widened to the size of tennis balls.
"You work for the Bugle?" She exclaimed.
"Okay, that doesn't matter right now." Peter took off his uniform jacket and threw it onto the empty armchair. "Now, are we tutoring first, or are we mystery solving?"
"Tutoring." Harry replied. "Than dinner. Than mystery solving."
"Right. Good idea." Peter threw off his messenger bag, and began to ruffle through his stuff until he pulled out his biology textbook.
Liz huffed. She nodded to the pile of newspapers. "What's that?"
Peter paused. "Articles. Any newspaper with a major story about Oscorp from ten years ago until now."
Harry frowned. He plucked up one of the yellowing papers.
"There's...a lot less than you'd expect from a major company." Liz's eyebrows furrowed.
"Oscorp has a good PR team." Harry replied. "Not as good as Stark Industries, (that's why there wasn't a ton of bad press when Tony Stark was still in the weapons making game), but still...Dad hired some good lawyers."
Liz stiffened. "Oh. But...that doesn't make any sense! How could anyone silence a big newspaper company like the Bugle? No one's that powerful."
Harry and Peter exchanged looks.
"Well...Oscorp is under contract with the US military." Harry said slowly. "So, that gives them some…"
"Wiggle room?" Peter offered.
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "Oscorp has US government secrets, the US government has Oscorp secrets. Plus, Oscorp is making bank, so-"
"They have the money to silence the press." Peter added. "Either to bribe them, or to threaten them. You have a lot of reach when you have all that power."
Liz frowned. She glanced at Harry. "You said that...Did you tell Pete, yet?"
Harry shook his head. "I was waiting until the meeting."
"Right," Liz turned to Peter. "Harry and I were talking a little earlier. He told me how he stopped by his house and tried to get into the Oscorp databases-"
"It was a no-go." Harry continued. He gulped nervously. "Dad's office door was locked."
Peter stiffened. "I sense a 'but' approaching."
Harry nodded. "But, we both know that…"
The brunette shook his head. "We can't involve Gwen into this mess."
The black haired teen stared at him.
"We can't!" Peter exclaimed.
"Why?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Cause she's sick? Pete, she's the best hacker that we know. Besides, you and I both know that she's bored."
"I can't stress her out like that!" Peter insisted.
Liz watched their argument like a tennis match.
"You know that she always wanted to do this sort of thing." Harry continued. "I bet this wouldn't even be the first time she hacked into my dad's systems-"
"Your dad." Liz interrupted.
The pair froze.
"Oscorp...Norman Osborn is your dad." The black haired girl continued. "Why not ask him to help us?"
"No." Harry replied immediately.
Liz raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
Harry avoided her eyes. "Trust me. You don't want my dad to be helping us."
Liz opened her mouth to argue, but paused.
"Okay," She stated slowly. "Than...I don't know...What's the harm is asking that Gwen girl to help us?"
"It's bad enough that you guys are involved." Peter huffed, and opened up his textbook. "Can we, like, focus on studying? Please?"
Harry and Peter stared at each other for a moment. Harry raised an eyebrow at Peter, and Peter glared at him.
"Alright." Harry tugged out a textbook. "Are you alright with that, Liz?"
Liz sighed. "Do we have a choice when Peter's acting all grumpy? As long as we order Italian, I don't care what we do first."