𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 — 𝙜𝙪𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧

☕

"COME ON, PETER, time to wake up."

He felt a hand on his back, patting him lightly, but still he jolted at the sudden movement on him and the soothing voice right near his ear. The voice was more familiar, he had heard it many times – and it certainly wasn't the first time he had heard the person say this to him – but still he looked up at Brendon and gave him a smile.

(He didn't let anyone know, but was quite proud that he finally remembered Cute Boy's name, no more Brandon with a question mark.)

Peter couldn't help the yawn that escaped his mouth next and he moved his hand to cover it but Brendon didn't seem to mind. The boy just stood in front of him for a moment before saying, "Class is over. I'll send you the notes later."

It also wasn't the first time Brendon had done that for him. Despite barely knowing each other, well Brendon barely knowing him and Peter now having a better understanding of the boy, Brendon was always there to hand him a pencil when all he had was his notebook because he forgot his computer again or it was dead. Or send him notes because he fell asleep during class.

Peter could never figure out why Brendon was so kind to him, he had never made any move to talk to the boy and here he was, willing to send him notes. Even though he didn't know why Brendon did this, he felt immensely grateful because otherwise his grade would be suffering and that meant an angry phone call from both Aunt May and Mr. Stark (he still refused to call him Tony, much to the older man's chagrin.)

"Thanks," Peter managed, standing up and putting his laptop in his bag, "Really, you are a life saver."

Brendon just gave him a grin that Peter didn't know what he did to deserve. "No problem. I get it. Just stop making it a habit, okay?" the boy asked before saying, "Bye, Peter," and leaving him.

Peter stared for a moment where he left before following him out the door. He knew that it was a habit, a terrible one, and Harry was already getting onto him enough about it. He hated being woken up at three in the morning when Peter was shuffling around after just returning from patrol. Aunt May never let him stay out that late, but Aunt May was back in Queens.

Still, Harry got back at him in his own way by constantly reminding him to pick up his underwear in public. With other people around. He sighed, life would be so much easier if Ned was his roommate like the originally wanted and planned on before Ned get a single and that was too good to pass up. He couldn't ask his friend to refuse it. Plus, it made it so much easier to put together Legos without the judgement of others. Or play video games without being called nerds.

He got out of the classroom, meeting up with Harry would had just finished his own class. While Peter was taking Spanish, Harry was taking French and after their classes they met up together. Peter was done until three but Harry had a class an hour later and during that time they talked.

"You're late," Harry said, propped against a wall with his phone in his hand as he looked at Peter.

Peter looked at the clock on the wall, "By three minutes, let me live. I fell asleep during class again."

Harry rolled his eyes, standing up from the wall as they began to walk out of the building, "You have a real problem. Seriously, instead of going out to meet with your secret boyfriend or whatever and have sex, sleep. That way you don't fail your classes."

Peter blushed at the thought of that. "I don't – I'm single, Harry."

"Fuck buddy then. Friends with benefits, pick your title. Doesn't make any difference to me," Harry offered, "How does some coffee sound? I'll pay."

"You don't have to always pay for me, Harry," Peter told him, hating whenever someone did that. He could pay for himself, he could, but Harry and Mr. Stark never seemed to listen to him. "And Brendon said he'd send me his notes."

Harry groaned, "Brendon is too nice. I'll have to tell him not to do that again, just to make you suffer. You should pay the consequences for your actions."

Peter rolled his eyes, refraining from making the easy comment about how could Harry knew about that? He was a spoiled, rich kid. However, even the thought of saying that made him feel guilty.

"Who were you texting earlier?" Peter asked, steering the conversation away from where it could've gone.

"My dad," Harry said nonchalantly, but the two of them knew that there was more to it. Harry didn't talk about his dad very often and he never even spoke a word of his mother – that was strictly off limits – but when he did mention Norman Osborn it was never casually. Never lightly. Peter learned to never ask questions.

Peter hummed. "Coffee, you said?"

Harry nodded, "You know the one they have on campus, right? Where Bren works?"

"I think I've been there once," Peter said, "Brendon works there too?"

Harry gave him an odd look, as if suspicious and Peter could feel his heartbeat increase. Oh God, did he say something wrong? Did Harry know? Fuck – fuck. But then Harry nodded, "Yeah, he does. Why?"

Peter just shrugged and lied, "I thought I saw him there."

He definitely knew the coffee shop now, and he really didn't want to go there anymore. But, he already brought it up again and Harry was leading him there and pulling away would be suspicious and he could not afford to be suspicious. No one could know. Not even Harry.

"How's Ned?" Harry asked him. Even though he roomed with Peter, he didn't know much about his best friend. They didn't hang out in their dorm, always preferring Ned's for the obvious reason and because of that, Harry barely knew a thing about the boy.

"He's good. I'm spending the night over there," Peter informed him.

"Are you?" Harry asked with an edge of something else in his tone, a smirk on his face.

"Yep," Peter confirmed with a nod before looking over at Harry and raising an eyebrow, "What?"

Harry blinked before giving him an innocent look. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," though the edge still remained and the silhouette of a smirk was still etched on his face.

"No, no, no. Harry, what?" Peter questioned, looking him dead in the eyes, not caring that they just stopped in the middle of where they were walking.

The Osborn boy laughed at him, eyes crinkling. "Nothing. Seriously, Parker, it's nothing." Still, he laughed, but he said nothing else and Peter huffed, knowing that was all he'd get out of Harry.

＆

"Peter fell asleep during class today," Brendon informed Cindy as he collapsed on his bed, a sigh of relief breaking from his lips.

The Moon girl raised an eyebrow as she dressed in her Silk suit, no need to go in the bathroom to change or have Brendon close his eyes and turn around. They both agreed that doing that was ridiculous, especially since both of them were attracted to the same sex.

"And this is pertinent how?" Cindy asked him in a slow drawl. She had one foot in and was working on the next, her hair already in her braid.

Brendon rolled his eyes and huffed, "Because he looks cute when he sleeps. I could barely pay attention during class today because he was so damn adorable. I can't function like this! Why did God have to make me gay and have Peter Parker go to college with me?"

"Because God hates you, obviously," Cindy deadpanned, "But seriously, I'm sure there's a reason and that might include in one-day Peter becoming your husband or whatever you want."

Brendon sighed dreamily, staring up at the ceiling. "That would be the dream. I'd be a wonderful trophy husband, I tell ya. I am a mad cleaner and not a terrible chef. With some practice I'm sure that I could be spectacular, even get some recipes from my grandma. Cook him some real southern comfort food."

Cindy stopped and frowned at him. "Hey, how come you'll cook him southern food and not me?"

"Because I'm not gonna be marrying you, am I now? And because we don't have a kitchen here unless you count the communal one and I don't like anyone else in here," Brendon said.

"I'm sure that Harry has an apartment close to here that he'll let you cook in. Seriously, you could cook us a southern Thanksgiving meal," Cindy suggested, pulling on her mask, finalizing the suit.

"I think you're overestimating my cooking abilities. I'd need a lot of time and practice and I definitely don't have that because of classes and work," Brendon said, taking a look at her, "Well, I'll see you later."

"Bye. Call me if you see anything in the news," Cindy told him, opening the window.

Brendon nodded, "Got it. I'll be the damn best guy in the chair that you've ever seen!"

Cindy laughed at him, taking a final glance back at her friend before going out the window. "Don't let me down!"

"Never," Brendon called back, but it was too late as Cindy had already shut the window. He sighed to himself, sitting up as he looked around the empty dorm room. It was so sad when he was alone.

He got to his desk, phone sitting up on the wood, and he opened his laptop. He had work to do and notes to send to Peter. God, he was too far gone for the guy who had barely given him the time of day. His life was sad. Too sad, and that was sad.

Pining over a guy who didn't care for him at all. A lot of people did that, that was just a fact of life, but still. He was a college student who dreamed of marrying a guy and being the stay-at-home husband and never actually using his degree. Not a lot of people dreamed of that, and if they did a lot were aiming to high (much like him), and that was sad.

He should probably dream for something else. Well, he did want to be a translator. He already knew Spanish, thanks to his mother, and it was his primary language, now all his need with the college degree to back it up. Then he could be a translator and maybe that would be good. Or he could be a Spanish teacher, even though that sounded a little like torture.

Whatever, that was better than having his heart crushed when his dream didn't come true. He didn't know why Cindy encouraged him, played along with his little fantasy and asked him to map it out more, detail it until it became almost real. It was cruel, but it wasn't. Because she never asked him condescendingly, she asked him with an amused look on her face and a look of genuine curiosity on her eyes. She only meant the best. But it was sad, at the end of the day. To pine over a guy and have these ridiculous dreams that would never come true.

Maybe it was even borderline weird or obsessive. It wasn't like he thought of Peter constantly or how to trap him into a marriage. No, if he did on the off chance marry Peter, he wanted it to be out of life. Not out of trickery. But seeing as Peter probably didn't even know his name – he's sure he heard the boy call him Brandon once – that wasn't going to happen.

Guess he was just going to be forever alone.

And that was fine. He could get some cats or dogs, maybe even a hamster. Or fish. Fish would be nice, he could go to PetSmart right now and go and get some, bring them back to his dorm and be a loving father. That would be nice, wouldn't it? Maybe.

No, Cindy would kill him if he went out and got himself some fish. So, he settled on working on his Spanish assignment.

＆

Silk swung around, landing on top of the building that held her fellow spider brethren. She didn't know much about Spider-Man, and the superhero didn't know much about her in return (they wore masks for a reason), but they were close enough to crack jokes and sometimes tell each other things that were happening in each other's life. With vague details and fake names.

"Hey, Spidey!" she called out, landing gracefully as she always did. Silk liked to think of herself the more graceful out of the two of them on account of the many times she had seen Spider-Man trip.

"Hi, Silk!" Spider-Man responded cheerfully, waving at arachnid. "How ya doing?"

Silk raised an eyebrow, which was noticeable in the mask. "You alright there, Spidey?" she asked, concerned for her partner in crime. Well, in stopping crime. There were superheroes after all. Correction: Silk was a vigilante and Spider-Man was on the borderline of being an Avenger and being a vigilante. The guy just couldn't choose a side, could he?

It didn't matter though, as long as he stayed with her during college. It was always nice to have someone else around and it would be sad when one day he would commit to the Avengers because of course he would. He'd have to be a fool not to. But Silk would wish him goodbye and watch as he stood beside Iron Man and Captain America along with the others.

She had done it alone before and she could do again. She's always have her guy in the chair at least. Well, hopefully.

"Fine. Great, actually. Amazingly spectacular," Spider-Man exclaimed, "I got coffee today and wow is it incredible."

Silk laughed at him, "Is this the first time you've had coffee or something?"

Spider-Man shrugged, "Mr. Stark doesn't like it when I drink it so he always hides it from me and takes it out of my reach when I do get my hands on it. And I never really get any here, so I go wild when I have some."

"Nice," Silk nodded, "Wish it did that to me. I mean, I still get a buzz, but it's not the same as it was before I got bit."

Spider-Man hummed, knowing exactly what she meant. "Just like painkillers."

"Just like painkillers," Silk recited in agreement, "Any reason you got coffee."

"Well, I feel asleep in class so my friend got me some so I'd stay awake for my next one," Spider-Man explained.

Silk gave him a disappointed look. Even though he couldn't see her eyes, he could feel the burn of it especially after the amount of times he had gotten it from others. "Geez, okay, I know. Sleeping in class is bad."

"Well then stop doing it. Go back to your dorm right now and sleep, I'll take patrol for the night," Silk told him. Even though they weren't too close, she still cared about him.

"I can't ask you to do that. I don't think I'll be able to sleep anyway with how buzzed I am," Spider-Man said.

"I don't care, Spidey, at least try. And you didn't ask me, I offered. Now go before I knock you out and leave you here for the night," Silk threatened.

Spider-Man's eyes narrowed as he looked at her, "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me," Silk shot back.

They continued to have a staring contest for another moment before Spider-Man sighed and relented. "Fine, I'll go and try to catch some z's."

"Good," Silk beamed, "And if I see you out I'll web you up myself."

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you," Spider-Man, "Bye, Silk. See you tomorrow."

"See you then," she called back, watching Spider-Man swing away before swinging in the opposite direction as him.

She didn't want to watch him go or even attempt going in the same direction as him. They wore masks for a reason and she wasn't going to obtrude in on his privacy or even make it look like she was, she respected the guy too much – not that she would ever tell him that.

Still, it was sad to be alone, even if it was only for the night. Silk swung away, keeping her ears open and eyes glancing down on the ground as she swung. It was always freeing, even if at the beginning it terrified her. She felt as if she was flying and she couldn't help but imagine doing it without the mask, feeling the wind fully in her hair and going through her hair.

On second thought, it was better to have the mask on. Her hair would fly in her face and she'd crash into the side of a building. It was a nice thought, though.

She continued to move, going along the campus and the outskirts, trailing into the city. Her city. The one she swore to protect for the rest of her days, or until she was too old to go out swinging.

And, with a last glance at it, she got to work.

yeehaw
comic sans strikes again bish. also i'm starting to show the relationships between peter and harry and peter and cindy because those are also important. also, if you'll notice, i only referred to them as 'silk' and 'spider-man' because neither know the others identity and he kind of (slightly) switches between the both of them.

it's like how when brendon was talking with spider-man he wasn't referred to as peter because brendon didn't know it was peter he was talking to.