It had been about two months since you started talking to Peter. It was weird, finally having a friend to talk to at school again. Four friends, actually.

The same day that Peter had decided to sit with you, his whole gang followed him. Ned Leeds and his new girlfriend, Betty, and Michelle. Michelle was a loner like you, but you two somehow hit it off and immediately became best friends.

It turned out that you all shared some classes. All five of you had the same science class. Ned shared math with you. Michelle and Betty were in your Government class. And Peter was in AP English with you.

You had no idea why Peter had decided to take such an advanced class in a subject that he was awful at. And by awful... well, let's just say you had seen his most recent homework assignment. It was bad.

"Pete, that isn't even a word!" You laughed, pointing out yet another error in the paper that was due tomorrow morning.

"What do you mean?" He asked, hanging by his knees from the ladder of Ned's loft bed.

"I mean, you can't just put 'e-y" at the end of a word to make it an adjective."

"Well how else can I say it tasted falafeley?"

You looked up from your vantage point on the floor to see his upside-down grin and resisted the urge to facepalm.

"I don't know! Maybe, 'It had a taste reminiscent of falafel?'"

"No," he stated bluntly.

"Why not? It gets your point across!"

"Because it sounds like you wrote it!" he exclaimed. He flipped down to the floor, then sat across from you. "Can we work on something else? You and Ned have math homework, don't you? We've been proofreading this paper for forever."

"It's been fifteen minutes, Peter."

He flopped onto his back. "Ugh..."

- - -

"Bye guys! Thanks for the help!" Ned yelled across the lawn. He waved to you and Peter as you reached the sidewalk.

Peter had insisted on always walking you home from all of the group get togethers. You didn't mind.  Queens wasn't exactly the safest place to walk around at night, especially with all of this superhero crap going on.

Your dad had made it clear that the city was even more dangerous now that those supers were running rampant. He was reluctant to let you walk anywhere  by yourself anymore. It was only after Peter assured him that he would make sure you got home safe after all of the study meetings with Ned, Betty, and Michelle, that he let you go. It helped that you and Pete were practically neighbors, as he lived in the apartment complex across the street from yours.

"(Y/N)?" Peter asked, once you had been walking for awhile. His voice sounded awkwardly tense.

"Yeah?"

He paused for a second. "Oh, uhh... just," he cleared his throat, "thanks for helping me fix that paper. I'd be failing this class if it weren't for your help."

"Oh, no problem, Pete," you said, causing him to smile. You were the only one who called him that. You attempted to ignore that breathtaking grin as you tried to piece back together your train of thought. At this point, there was no denying that you liked him. Of course, you would never say so; you didn't want to ruin the great friendship you guys had.

"I'd be failing science if you and Ned weren't there to help me," you continued. "So that makes us pretty much even."

He chuckled. "Nah, you're too smart for that."

You walked along in silence for awhile. It wasn't uncomfortable, though. You were both the kind of people that didn't mind being lost in thought together. You kept catching Peter looking at you, however, which had you a bit confused. Everytime you looked up at him, he would jerk his gaze to the ground and grimace in frustration.

After the third time, you were genuinely curious, so you spoke up. "Do I have something on my face?" you asked, bringing your hand up to the edge of your lips. You had been eating Flaming Hot Cheetos at Ned's house earlier, so you wouldn't have been surprised.

"What?" He looked at you. "No, no... I just-"

His phone rang.

He looked at you apologetically and brought his phone to his ear. "What, Ned?" He sounded annoyed.

You couldn't tell what Ned was saying, but he sounded excited.

"No, I didn't." He glanced at you for a moment. Was it your imagination or was he blushing? It was hard to tell in the dim lighting.

"Okay! Just stop calling me and I might be able to!" He hung up abruptly.

"Gosh, what was that about?"

"Nothing," he said, too quickly. "He thought I had left my homework sheet behind. It must be Michelle's." He refused to make eye contact with you.

"Hmm..." you gazed at him quizzically.

"What?"

"You're hiding something, Parker. You know you're a terrible liar." You poked his chest accusingly. "And I'm going to find out eventually, so it would make it a lot easier for both of us if you'd just tell me." You were only half serious, but Peter didn't know that.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

You had almost reached your apartment complex now, and Peter was still acting weird.

"Are you okay, Pete? This isn't about that paper, is it? 'Cause you're gonna be fine. It'll at least be worth a B minus, maybe more."

He smirked. "Only because you practically rewrote the whole thing."

You stopped on the steps of your building. Peter kept shuffling his feet.

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!"

"You're my friend, Peter. I can tell when something's wrong," you said pointedly.

"No, really, (Y/N)... I just," he sighed, "I wanted to ask you something."

You blinked. "Okay. Shoot."

He took a deep breath. "Will you go out with me?"

Your eyes widened and your breath caught in your throat.

He continued. "We could go see that new chick-flick if you want? I know how excited you've been for it. Then we could get some food? I'm not sure where yet, since Delmar's is still under reconstruction, but..." He started rambling.

You giggled and put your hand on his shoulder to stop him. He looked at you, embarrassed but expectant.

"Yes," you said, smiling. You couldn't stop smiling, actually. "Of course I'll go out with you!"

He looked astonished, as if he had thought you would walk away and never speak to him again. "Really?"

"Yes!" You laughed, smacking him on the shoulder. "Don't act so surprised. You're a pretty great guy, Peter."

He blushed. This time it was pretty obvious. "You're- you're pretty great too."

"Thanks. So when are we doing this?"

"Friday is opening night?" he phrased it more as a question than a statement.

"Sounds great!" You began to walk inside. "See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," he replied, sounding almost breathless. He watched you run inside and shut the door. The realization that he was actually taking you on a date this weekend finally hit him. "Yes!" He exclaimed quietly, pumping his fist.

He jumped out into the street, headed home. He wasn't paying much attention to where was going until he heard the screeching of tires and a horn blaring. He looked with just enough time to leap up and avoid getting run over by a taxi.

He landed on the hood of the yellow car in a crouch. The driver screamed furiously at him. Peter put out his hands in apology and slowly dismounted the car.

"Watch it, kid!" The cabbie yelled, speeding off.

"Sorry!" Peter yelled after it. This time he looked both ways before continuing across the busy street.