"I can't believe they're making us go back to school!" Ned complains. She is wearing a faded Captain America T-shirt and slacks that are a little too tight around her waist.
"It's fine, Ned." Peter tells her best friend. "It's not like there's anything physically wrong with us."
"But they don't know that!" Ned says gesturing toward the school. "As far as they're concerned this is some crazy contagious sickness." Ned looks around and sees a few students trickling in. It's clear not a lot of students showed up regardless. "We could be dying!" Ned says, looking directly at Peter.
"We're not dying." Peter reassures Ned. "I told you what happened. You actually saw what happened."
"I know," Ned responds. "Big purple alien dude steals a bunch of magic stones and makes a wish, but how do we know exactly what he wished for?"
"Ned, I doubt he wanted to kill us in such an awkward way." Peter counters. "And Mr. Stark said Thanos accidentally changed himself too."
"You spoke to Mr. Stark?" Ned asks. "What did he say? Why hasn't he released a statement yet? Nobody knows what really happened."
Peter thinks about his little slip and has to tell the truth. "I'm not at liberty to discuss, but he has a plan. He's also probably too busy to make a statement. I mean right now, the world isn't exactly ending."
"Not exactly ending?!" Ned asks, frustrated. "Look at me!" She grabs her massive breasts and bounces them in the air once. Even after she lets go, they continue to jiggle. She turns to show her butt to Peter. "I'm a high school boy in his prime, and I look like Nikki Minaj! They're gonna eat me alive in there!" Ned points at the school again.
"Ned!" Peter has to snap at her. "Nobody's gonna care. The snap has affected everyone in some way. They're all going to be thinking about their own problems. I bet no one'll even notice you."
"Ned?!" a familiar voice calls out.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Peter whispers loudly without turning her head to look.
"Looking good Kim!" Flash Thompson says as he approaches them. He is holding a milk carton in his hand as he does a little dance down the steps. "Did Kanye West drop you off at school today."
Ned doesn't answer, she just angrily points at Flash while giving Peter a 'You see!' look.
Peter turns toward Flash to defend her friend. "Alright Flash, we get it, it's funny."
"What's up numb nuts." Flash says moving closer. He grabs Peter's arm and lightly shakes it. "I was really hoping the swap would have gotten you too."
"What?!" Peter asks in shock. She doesn't know if he's being sarcastic or legitimately cannot tell. Part of her wonders if it's because she is wearing a hoodie and jeans.
"Today has been a great day!" Flash says letting go of Peter and approaching Ned. He kneels a little to get a better look at Ned and makes sure to do grandeur gestures as he tries looking at her from all sides. "Not bad Ned!, not everyone else was so lucky. You're gonna be popular with all the boys."
Ned crosses her arms in embarrassment and looks away. "Peter, can we go?" She asks.
"Yes!" Peter says now concerned Flash might notice her changes also. "Go bother someone else Flash!" Peter says, trying to sound a little more masculine.
This doesn't go unnoticed by Flash. He makes a face and looks Peter up and down, but decides nothing is different. "Laters ladies!" He says pointing at them. "I've still got my eye on your Peter." He shouts as he wanders off to bug someone else. "Jason! Was that your mom or your dad that dropped you off?"
Peter and Ned make their way into the school. There are a handful of teachers guiding students in, but they look just as confused. One of the unfamiliar teachers, a young wavy haired woman with glasses spots the two and calls out to them.
"Peter! Hey, over here!" The woman says. They approach closer cautiously. "Hey Peter. We could really use your help." She says.
"Okay." Peter answers, unsure of what else to say or who this is.
"Listen," The lady starts. "The other teachers and I want all the students to meet in the auditorium first thing in the morning, and we're a little understaffed. Do you think you can go up and down the halls and make sure no one is going into the classrooms? Also, if you see any late stragglers, after most of us are gathered, can you guide them this way?"
Peter tries to avoid looking embarrassed but fails. "Yeah, sure thing Ms..."
The teacher picks up on the question quickly and answers. "It's Mr. Harris, Peter, but you can call me Mrs. Harris if that makes it easier.
"Mr. Harris?" Ned asks aloud in surprise. "You look good!"
"Thank you!" She responds happily, doing a little wiggle. "This is why we need you Peter." Mrs. Harris turns back to Peter. "We figure it'll be easier if students see someone who hasn't changed. It'll be less confusing if it's a face they recognize."
"I um..." Peter starts to say in a mixture of surprise and a little sadness.
"I already have Flash helping up front," Mrs. Harris continues. "I just mostly need you to help inside."
Peter looks to Ned with concern and they both clearly have the same thought. "You can't leave Flash out there." Ned tells Peter.
"I'll go switch with him." Peter says. "But there's not much I can do, short of tying him up?"
"Oh, please do!" Ned responds a little too sincerely.
"I got this, Ned." Peter reassures her. "I'll catch up to you and see you at the auditorium." She jogs away toward the front of the school.
As Peter rushes off Ms. Harris approaches Ned. "Ned? Is that really you?" Ned shyly nods. "Wow, you look great too!" Mrs. Harris says trying to return the earlier compliment and not realizing it was the wrong thing to say.
Ned begins to whimper loudly and cover herself as Mrs. Harris's eyes widened in shock.
Peter Parker exits the school just in time to see a small group of student's arguing.
"You're a monster, Flash!" Betty shouts! "A little monster!"
"I'm just saying," Flash answers back. "He did say his little brother was acting like a girl."
"He said, it's not funny Flash!" another heavy male voice chimes in.
Peter rushes out in an attempt to jump in between them all.
"Whoa! Whoa. Whoa... Let's calm down." She interrupts them. "Mr. Harris wants us all to meet in the auditorium."
"Yea!" Flash interrupts Peter. "That's what I was trying to tell you guys!"
"No you didn't!" Betty protests. "You started making fun of Jason's brother!" she says as she wraps her arms around Jason's waist.
"I was just repeating what Jason said last week." Flash tries to defend himself.
"You were saying, he should be happy it happened." The male student grumbles. "Like this is a good thing." He gestures to himself. Peter notices the student has long hair and a somewhat tight looking feminine top. She tries to determine who it is, but is quickly distracted again by the argument.
"All I was saying is," Flash continues. "Maybe his brother doesn't mind. Did he bother to ask him that?"
"That's not what you were saying!" Jason snaps at Flash. "You were acting like this was all my fault."
"Whoa now, that's a bit of a stretch!" Flash answers, a little taken back now.
"Okay, okay!" Peter exclaims getting between them and Flash. "Listen, we're all having a hard time dealing with this. I'm sure Flash has someone he loves or cares for directly affected. He's just misdirecting his frustration."
"No," Flash blurts out. "My family is fine. I just think everyone's taking this too seriously."
Peter looks over her shoulder and gives Flash a confused and shocked look. "Eugene!" she says, knowing it annoys him. "You're not helping." It has the desired effect causing flash to glare at Peter.
"Why are you defending him?" Betty asks.
"Yea," Jason chimes in. "Why are you defending him?"
Peter actually catches herself wondering the exact same thing. She contemplates leaving Flash to face his own repercussions, but chooses to stand her ground.
"I know why!" the third boy says, raising his hand and pointing at Peter. "It's because both of you weren't affected." The boy starts poking Peter in the center of her chest too far in to feel her new breasts. "I saw your aunt this morning." He says. "You guys just don't understand what we're going through."
Peter feels very hurt for so many reasons. She contemplates saying something but the mood seems to be calming.
"Come on Sally" Betty calls out. "Let's leave these two jerks." As Sally walks away Betty shakes her head at Peter. "I really thought better of you, Peter." she tells her as she begins to walk away, as well.
'That's who that was.' Peter thinks to herself.
"Nobody asked you to be my girlfriend, Peter!" Flash grumbles as he reaches around Peter from behind and smashes his milk carton on Peter's chest.
Peter feels a rush of fear well over her as she can feel Flashes wrist resting on the inside of her right boob. Surely Flash will have noticed this, but that doesn't seem to be the case as he starts waving the milk carton in front of Peter. She reaches up and grabs it out of his hand and holds it with both of hers.
Flash doesn't seem to notice anything amiss as he starts to walk away. "See you on the inside, loser." He says as he walks away. Peter breathes a sigh of relief.
"You handled that pretty well." Another voice unexpectedly chimes in, disrupting Peter's moment's reprieve.
Peter looks around before her eyes settle on a young man sitting on the school steps leaning against a column. The young man is very thin. He has a very thin wispy mustache and long curly hair which is tied back tightly in a ponytail. Peter recognizes who it is immediately.
"MJ?" Peter asks hesitantly despite her certainty.
"In the flesh." She says as she stands up and approaches Peter.
"So, uh..." Peter starts. "I see it got you too." She states.
MJ takes a few steps forward and studies Peter heavily before speaking. "Actually... no." she tells Peter. "I thought it would make things easier on everyone if I dressed like this."
"What?" Peter asks, confused.
"Gender norms and expectations are a construct thought up by society to label each other and support both capitalism and justify repression." MJ blurts out. "I thought it was a good time to make a statement, but after that..." she points toward the school. "I guess now is not a good time to go all social justice warrior."
"Yeah," Peter answers, finally getting a grasp on the situation. "What about the uh..." Peter points to her own face.
"Oh this?" MJ responds pointing at her mustache. "It's just pen." She starts wiping away her mustache. "I find more is less when it comes to looking real."
"It looks good." Peter tells her.
"Thanks!" She responds, before looking back up at Peter. "Look at you. You look almost exactly the same."
"You can tell?!" Peter asks both relieved and shocked.
"Well, yeah." MJ answers. You always have a confident way of walking, and now it's like you're trying to hide something different." Peter looks at her a little puzzled. "Not that I spend a lot of time studying the way you walk or anything." MJ adds.
"No, of course not." Peter says, implying she never expected such a thing.
There is an awkward silence for a moment as neither knows what to say. Peter realizes he is still holding Flash's empty milk carton and pockets it for now.
"You know, even my aunt didn't notice anything different." Peter offers that information.
"Really?" MJ responds. "That's a little surprising. She seems really nice."
"Well," Peter adds. "She did notice actually. It just took her a moment to realize what was going on. She just thought it was my new suit."
"New suit?" MJ asks.
Peter realizes she's spoken too much and decides to pretend it was intentional. "Yea, Mr. Stark got me a new suit... For work."
"Tony Stark bought you a new suit?" MJ asks inquisitively.
Peter realizes she keeps saying too much so decides to change the subject. "So, do I really look exactly the same? Because it's kind of bothering me. I thought everyone finding out would be awkward, but them not knowing... This is a whole other level."
"I don't know." MJ answers, catching the change of subject. She walks closer to Peter and points at her hoodie's zipper. "May I see?"
Peter is taken back by the request, but nods and agrees anyway.
MJ pulls the lower half of Peter's hoodie and with her left hand lowers the zipper. Peter feels a rush of adrenaline at actually showing someone. When her hoodie is fully unzipped MJ pulls it open and studies the t-shirt Peter is wearing.
The shirt is black with three green lines of text on it
c:/dos
c:/dos/run
run/dos/run
MJ snickers at the shirt and says, "Clever." she reaches in and Peter shuts her eyes, expecting MJ to grope her inappropriately. It doesn't happen.
MJ grabs the sides of Peter's shirt and pulls back the fabric, stretching over Peter's chest and waist. Peter opens her eyes and looks down. She can see the silhouette of her own breasts protruding from the fabric and a little curve on her stomach where her belly button is.
"Wild huh?" Peter asks MJ. She looks up and smiles, a little detail that Peter feels grateful for. MJ lets go of Peter's shirt and closes the hoodie afterwards. "You were quite the gentleman." Peter tells her playfully.
MJ laughs, makes a fist, and after thinking about it for a second, very lightly punches Peter lower sternum with a smile. Peter's joking seems to have lightened the mood a bit.
"So, what about you?" Peter asks as she reaches down and begins to zip her hoodie back up. "Was anyone you know affected?"
"Well, you, a few other friends..." MJ says thinking about it a bit. "And I have two dads now. Which is pretty rad?"
"Two dads?" Peter asks, feeling concerned.
"They still get along pretty great," MJ tells Peter, "so it doesn't really feel so different, at home."
"Wow!" Peter replies. "That's shocking. With everything that's been going on, I get the feeling nothing is ever going to be the same, again... For anyone." Peter turns to the school as she says this.
"No, it's not." MJ replies. "Is it strange that I think that's good?"
"No, I don't think it's... Strange." Peter's mind wanders for a moment on Dr. Strange. "But for what it's worth, I think being strange really works for you." Peter wasn't sure if it was the right thing to say.
"Thanks." MJ responds, turning toward the school also. Peter feels relieved. "For what it's worth, Peter," MJ adds, "I think you look very cute."
Peter snickers and looks toward MJ who keeps peering at the school. "You do know I look exactly the same, don't you?"
"I do." MJ responds while continuing to watch the school.
Peter just smiles and turns back to watch the school as well.