A/N: BPP: Oh, we changed Peter Parker back to Tom Holland.

Div: Yeah. He just made more sense ever since we watched the movie.

With a groan, the teenager practically collapsed on his bed, face covered in soot as beads of sweat dripped from his face. His skin was covered in bruises and cuts, which should heal in a day or two, but his ankle was twisted, most likely swelling by now. He was too tired to care, or to even look at it, all he needed was the fresh air of sleep...

A shrill ringing interrupted his sleepy thoughts, and the teen flinched violently in his bed, limbs tangling in his blanket. His heart hammered in his chest, he could hear boom in his sensitive ears. He blinked dazedly as his blurry eyes blinked a few times before clearing as he got a better look at the alarm clock on his bedside table. The numbers cleared.

7:18

Shit. he chanted in his head, aggressively pulling at his sheets as he attempted to escape his blanket-jail. He was almost late for school! Suddenly, he found himself colliding face first onto the floor, a muffled grunt escaping his throat, landing with a dull thud.

Blearily blinking down, he lifted his head, twisting his body around and hurriedly shredded the blanket off his legs, springing up like Jack-In-The-Box, jarring his ankle as he winced.

"May?" he called, pulling off his mask, transitioning from Spider-Man to Peter Parker. Why didn't she tell him he was going to be late?! Anytime he was close to sleeping in she would pull a bucket of water out and splash him with it. And believe him, that was not fun.

Hopping on one foot, he clawed the Spidey boot off, repeating the same with the other, his butt almost colliding with the floor as he stumbled.

Today was not getting off to a great start. He had a SUPER late night patrol, chasing down a drug lord, stopping a bus from crashing into a car with his bare hands, yada yada yada...

Add that to the fact that he had a history essay due today, which he hasn't even started on, and only had lunch to get it done, so there goes his lunch plans...and his breakfast. Stupid metabolism.

The only upside was that it was Friday, and Tony Stark's party with the Avengers. The Avengers!

So yeah. That was a bonus.

Peeling off the rest of the suit (and he did not fall on his butt a bunch of times. No way), Peter dove into his closet and found whatever clean thing he could find. Quickly pulling on his shoes, basically shoving and pushing his books into his backpack, Peter ran out of his room and flung the door open in his apartment before May could blink.

And he ran like hell.

He was three seconds late for school. His teacher scolded at him, and left a warning. Which was stupid, in his opinion. What was three seconds? Sorry if he was too busy trying to keep his city safe and all. He should be given a break, a golden medal or something, a certificate signed by the president...well, maybe not the current president. The good one.

But unfortunately, life didn't work that way. At least not for Peter Parker.

With a dejected sigh, the teenager forced his pencil to scribble as he hurriedly wrote his history essay. Which meant no staring at Gwen and no lunch. Yay...

At this point he was just copying his history textbook, brown eyes glancing at the printed letter every second or so, writing at breakneck speed, hardly recognizing the rushed handwriting himself. He wasn't really sure what he was writing. Something about the Indus River Valley and the Phoenicians.

His eyes stung with sleep. His head pounded. And his ankle hurt like hell. It starting hurting more after the adrenaline worn off. Not fun. Not fun at all. He was so tired. He wanted to curl up in his bed, drink some hot chocolate and go to sleep. To forget about Spidey, school, even his internship.

Sleep, sleep, sleep...

He hadn't realized he'd started to fall asleep until a hand softly shook his shoulder.

He flinched violently, nearly knocking himself off the chair, stumbling as his hand shot out for the edge of the desk. He grunted in pain as his ankle throbbed yet again. Blinking away the spots, he forced his heavy head to turn to whoever interrupted his almost nap. He paused.

Staring at him with a mixture of concern and amusement was Gwen. Her lips perked up just a hitch, her glittering emeralds blinking down at him, her blue baggy sweater hanging off her petite form. She held her books in the crook of her arm, her backpack hanging off her shoulder loosely. And her blonde hair was pulled into a neat ponytail, black headband on top to complete her ensemble.

He felt the tips of his ears burn, smiling sheepishly as he forcefully cleared his throat. "Uh, h-hey," he stuttered, wincing at his voice. Way too high for his liking. When was puberty gonna kick in?

Gwen didn't seem to notice, smiling as she giggled quietly, "Hey," she said, tapping her foot.

His mind reeled and spun as he thought for a phrase - any phrase. He didn't know about Gwen, but he sure felt awkward. Exposed. "Uh, what's, um - what's up?" God he was such a nerd.

Gwen shrugged carelessly, "Nothing much. I just came down here to check out a book for English when I saw you dozing off." she had a teasing tint to her tone, grinning toothily.

A nervous laugh bubbled in his throat, his stomach fluttering, "Oh. Was I sleeping? I didn't know." he lamely excused with one of his sheepish smiles. She rolled her eyes at him, smirking, "Didn't look like for too long. Thanks to me."

"I was just, um, tired, is all." he shrugged, shuffling his pages into a neat stack, closing the textbook. Gwen nodded slowly, her brows meeting as she frowned. "How come?"

He pursed his lips, trying his best at nonchalance. Good thing he wasn't planning to be an actor when he grows up. "Oh, well you know, stuff." he trailed off, plastering a fake smile on his face. Yeah. Definitely not an actor. Stick to science, Parker.

Nodding slowly, Gwen tilted her head, lips slightly parted. "Really? Stuff?" she said slowly, "What kind of stuff? 'Cause last I heard, you quit quite a lot of stuff. Like chess and robotics."

It was true; he dropped out of robotics and chess club after a week of Spider-Man. It made sense, really. Between science club and the decathlon team, Spider-Man was sure to take up his time. And he didn't want to face Aunt May's wrath if she ever found out he quit all of his extracurricular activities. That woman was terrifying sometimes.

Shrugging, "Just stuff." he said again. What else could he say?

A/N: This meant to be longer. Div and I have been really busy. School can be a pain in the ass. We'll come back and make this chapter longer when we figure it out a little more. Consider this a sneak peek. Catch you guys soon. Hopefully.