The Good and Bad of Oxytocin
*DING DING DING DING*
"Mr. Parker, Ms. Allan, a word please."
With biology class already finished, students began filing out to go to lunch. However, Mr. Brinker decided to ask Peter and Liz to stay after the bell.
"Yes, Mr. Brinker?" Liz asked.
"Liz, I'm going to be frank with you. You must raise that grade of yours if you hope to graduation in the spring. As such, I'm going to recommend a tutor. Mr. Parker is my top student, and you'll find no one better to help you."
Liz looked shocked and slightly annoyed at the heinous suggestion. She turned to glance at Peter who was also baffled at the suggestion. Behind them Flash and Sally were waiting patiently for Liz to join them for lunch.
"Spending extra time….with Parker? Pu-leaze," Sally gagged.
Interestingly, Flash only shrugged at the proposition.
"Mary Jane already tanked her social status hanging out with Nerdy McNerd face over here. Don't kill your last shred of dignity Liz!" Sally continued.
"Study with Petey? Ugh I don't think so!" Liz turned around a fake scoffed giving into peer pressure, "Ooo can't uh Flash tutor me instead?"
Peter and Mr. Brinker blankly stared back at Liz, looked at each other for a moment, then went back to staring at Liz.
"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Ms. Allan. We need your grade to go up."
With the last word, Mr. Brinker left the two to figure out their own plans.
"Uh well, I'm happy to help any way I can, Liz."
"Pft. Then maybe we can just not do this, hmm?"
"Look, I'm pretty sure Mr. Brinker wouldn't basically force me to tutor you if it wasn't that serious a situation. Let's at least give this a try, huh? I'll even buy you a cup of coffee."
"Ugh fine. But only because you're buying."
Meanwhile, Mary Jane was happily skipping down the hallway. Another day, another lunch with Peter. She was feeling bold today, so she made an extra portion of lunch to share with her best friend. A YouTube video on how to make fried rice popped up on her feed last night, and she wanted to try her hand at cooking. As such she got up extra early this morning to cook the eggs, peas, carrots, and rice in her pan. She even made tiny little slits on tiny little hotdogs so that when she fried them, they'd look like tiny little octopi. Just as she approached Peter's biology class, she started to hear voices through the door.
"Sooo tonight? Are you free tonight?"
Was that Peter? Tonight? What was he doing tonight? Maybe he's talking to his lab partner about some biology assignment. Yea! That was it. No need to panic over Peter and some guy meeting up.
"Yea. Sure. We can meet tonight."
Wait….that was a girl's voice. That was Liz Allan. Immediately, Mary Jane nearly tore the door off its hinges as she burst into the classroom like a ray of sunshine.
"TIGERRRR there you are!" she called out in the most obnoxious sing-songy voice she could muster.
"Whoa! Heya, Red," Peter greeted as Mary Jane practically tackled Peter into a hug.
"You're late for lunch!" she teased.
"Sorry sorry. I got held up for a second."
Liz rolled her eyes before leaving to join Flash and Sally.
"Hey wait, Liz! Jitters at seven?" Peter called out.
"Ok. I'll see you at seven, Petey."
Mary Jane pouted and glared at the back of Liz's head. Petey? Pft.
"You uh….gonna let me go now, MJ?"
"Huh? Oh right!"
Blushing, Mary Jane released Peter and the pair began making their way towards the cafeteria.
"H-hey so I uh made you lunch today!" she started breaking the ice a bit.
"Oh! Wow that's so nice of you. Thanks!"
"Y-yea! Haha I saw a YouTube video on a fried rice recipe and I wanted to try it out. I thought we could try it together!"
"That sounds good. I appreciate it. Let me pay you back with my lunch money."
"Peterrrr, you don't have to do that."
"I mean I was gonna use it to buy something in the cafeteria anyway. Let me at least pay you back for the ingredients."
"No no! Do not give me a single cent! The point of fried rice is to make use of your leftovers. So that's what I did! I just used leftovers from last night's dinner!" (She totally did not rush out to the supermarket last night and buy all these fresh ingredients 😉)
"Uhhh ok then if you say so."
They walked a few more steps before Mary Jane just had to scratch that itching feeling she had in the pit of her stomach.
"So, uh. Whatcha doing with Liz tonight?"
"Oh, nothing much. Mr. Brinker asked me to tutor her. Apparently, her biology grade is tanking."
"Ah ok. So, you're tutoring her to help pull up her grade. I see." (Phew).
"Yea. I don't really know what happened. She was really nice our freshman year. She's smart too. But then she fell into the popular crowd and kinda became mean. Man, it's crazy to think I used to have a crush on her."
Abruptly, MJ stopped walking. She froze as Peter obliviously continued walking forward. Realizing his friend was not by his side, Peter finally turned around with a perplexed look on his face.
"MJ?"
Peter couldn't really read the expression on Mary Jane's face. Was it dread? Was it calculating? Was it irritation? All he could do was look at her scrunched up nose and darting eyes. He stepped forward and waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention.
"Uhhh hello? Earth to Mary Jane?"
"Huh?"
"You ok? You blacked out for a second there."
"Uhhh I'm fine. Great even! C'mon we're wasting our lunch time!" she put on a fake smile before grabbing his arm and dragging him to the cafeteria.
"By the way, Peter?"
"Yea?"
"Where did you say you were meeting Liz?"
Hours later at 7:30pm, Peter sat idly by at an outside table. He sipped his own vanilla coffee before looking at his phone again. No new messages or calls. Just a long block of texts from him to Liz ranging from "I'm here" to "Still here" to "No rush I'm uh…..still here." Finally, after another ten minutes of waiting, Liz showed up….texting on her phone.
"Hey Liz!"
"Uhh hey Petey," she greeted without looking up.
"So, you want any coffee?"
*RING*
"Huh?" Peter checked his phone to see a text from Liz…who was sitting right in front of him.
Liz: crème brulee latte with extra cinnamon and nutmeg and half a shot of espresso.
"….You coulda just told me that," Peter said.
"Eh. I'm on my phone. This was easier."
"…..Ok."
As Peter got up to get Liz's order, a figure in the corner wearing sunglasses and a cute beret looked on from behind her magazine. She pouted her lips glaring at the cheerleader sitting at the table.
"The nerve! She left Peter there for forty minutes and still had the gall to ask him to buy her coffee!? What the hell did you see in her, Peter?"
A couple of minutes later, Peter returned, sat down, and opened his textbook.
"Alright uh let's get started," Peter announced.
"Ugh whatever."
"Okayy so uh Mr. Brinker said our upcoming chapter is on biological systems and how they interact with one another."
"Ugh anything in there on how biological systems are boring?"
"Uhh hehe yea dullsville right? I mean who wants to waste their time with a textbook."
"What a coincidence! Sally just texted me those exact words! About you, Petey," she rolled her eyes.
"Maybe if you stopped texting Sally for just a minute-"
"Good idea, Petey! I'll call her instead."
Just as Liz was about to dial for Sally, our mysterious figure decided to make her move.
"TIGER? Fancy meeting you here!" Mary Jane cheerfully greeted.
"Huh? MJ? What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was in the neighborhood. Just browsing around coffeeshops looking for a place to study for my biology class."
"Uh ok."
"Actually, since you're here, could you help me? I'm struggling a little bit and would really appreciate the help, Tiger," she practically purred while putting her hand on his.
"Oh, look at that Petey! Your girlfriend is here, and she needs help. Hehe no sense in me sticking around."
"Hey wait h-hold on a second," Peter stuttered not noticing the flush MJ had at Liz calling her his girlfriend, "Since you two both need help, why don't we all study together?"
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" both girls asked clearly irritated.
"Uhh I mean yea. Y'know sometimes having a study group can really help the information stick."
Both girls gave each other glares before MJ sat down with a huff. Liz however was still determined to ditch the nerd fest. Before anyone could say anything more, a figure in dark jacket and mask broke down the door from Jitters and hurriedly ran out into the street. Peter stared down the mysterious figure and without hesitation picked up his backpack.
"Hey uh look, Liz, this tutoring thing is more for you than it is for me. So uh when you're ready to learn, let me know," Peter hurriedly got out as he got up, "And uh MJ, I really gotta go so uh, if you still need help, we can meet up at home, 'kay?"
"Sounds, good, Tiger. Be safe."
Peter stopped in his tracks and looked back for a second. What did she mean by that? Be safe? Unimportant. Creepy guy running from coffee shop first. He nodded at MJ before running off. Liz on the other hand felt kinda hurt by Peter's comment. Was he ditching them? Wasn't she the one supposed to do the ditching?
"Why do you treat him like that?" MJ asked Liz out of the blue.
"Huh?"
"You show up forty minutes late, you barely even looked at him when you got here, and you still had the nerve to make him buy you a drink!"
"Well I mean he's Petey, y'know."
"Yea. PETER. Who's incredibly smart and nice enough to actually take this tutoring job for you. He had every right to just get up and leave, but he waited. He didn't even ask why you were late. He took it in stride and was still willing to help you. Heck he wanted to help both of us! That's the kind of guy Peter is. A really good guy!"
"I uh…"
"Peter said you used to be really nice. He thinks you're really smart but you don't try as hard as you should. What happened, Liz?"
"Well it takes effort being popular and hanging out with Flash and Sally and stuff."
"Newsflash, Liz, no one cares. You don't have to be so beholden to popularity or public image. I certainly don't care what people think of me. And guess what? I'm happy. Peter sure as hell does not care that you call him a loser or a geek or whatever. Both he and I are comfortable in who we are and wouldn't change just to fit in. Maybe you should start thinking about who you are and if you really want to be true to yourself."
With that mic drop, MJ picked up her books and left Liz to stew in what she just said. To her credit, Liz actually sat there and soaked in what Peter and MJ had told her. It was kind of eye opening, realizing that for the past four years she had been putting up a fake persona of herself. Now she felt horrible with how she treated Petey. She had to apologize in the morning. It was the right thing to do. Just as she got up to leave, one last little tidbit was gnawing at her.
"Wait. Was she here the whole time? How did she know Peter was waiting here for forty minutes?"
"Ugh seriously? An electric guy? Who comes up with this stuff?" Peter groaned the next morning still sore from his fight with that mysterious electricity villain.
As he reached for his locker, the metallic handle sent a tiny spark that zapped his finger causing him to jerk his hand back.
"Ow! I guess I'm still a little static-y."
"Petey?"
"Huh?" Peter closed his locker to see Liz shyly walk up to him.
"Um hi."
"H-hi Liz. Uh look I feel bad for ditching you last night, so if you still want help, we can meet after school at Dr. Connor's ESU lab."
"Actually yea, that'd be great! I also want to apologize. You took time out of your day to really help me and I didn't treat you properly. I promise to take this seriously and really appreciate you from now on."
"Thank you. I'm really glad to hear it. Like I said swing by the lab any time. I have a feeling you'll enjoy a more in depth and live experience better than a boring old textbook."
"Thanks, Petey."
Liz smiled as she left to go to her upcoming class. Peter stood around basking in the fact that he might actually be able to help Liz and break through to her true self underneath all that cheerleader popular girl exterior. As he was musing this, a pair of arms from behind snaked around his torso and hugged him tightly.
"How come you never invite me to the lab, huh Tiger?"
"Huh? Hi Red! Uhhh well you never asked. Plus, I didn't think you'd be interested in all those boring science experiments anyway."
"What? Of course, I'd be interested! It's your work, Peter. I love hearing you talk about what you're passionate about."
"Really?"
"Absolutely! You get this twinkle in your eyes. Your whole face lights up. It makes you look so…..attractive," MJ explained while unconsciously cupping his face.
"R-really?" he stammered as a blush crept up his cheeks.
"Mmm hmm. I love it when you talk science, Tiger," she purred.
Wow. MJ looked so beautiful with her batting eyes and her cute freckles. She wasn't letting go of his face either. Like magnets, their faces crept closer and closer together. Their lips were mere centimeters apart. Peter could smell and almost taste the mint MJ took probably seconds earlier. Just a little bit closerrrr.
*DING DING DING DING*
Jolted by the bell, Peter and Mary Jane practically jumped apart with their faces steaming red. Unable to look each other in the eye, they shuffled their feet and scratched the back of their necks.
"I uh class! Gotta get to class," Peter stammered breaking the tension.
"Right! Yes. Can't be late haha."
And so they both left in opposite directions towards their upcoming classes…..Only to walk back and cross paths again because they were each going the wrong way.
"Hehe chemistry is this way."
"Right and uh French is over there hehe."
AN: Heyo! So a reviewer lamented that my last chapter was a tad short. And well, I can only write so much without getting explicit and breaking the boundary of the T-rating and we wouldn't want that hahah (or do we?...) Anyway! As an apology, I've now added TWO chapters as a DDDDDDOUBLE FEATURE! This little mini arc takes a lot of inspiration from the "Spectacular Spider-Man" series. It's fantastic and a MUST WATCH for any Spidey fan. Hope yall enjoy!