The next week went by incredibly fast. Peter was always on edge, trying his best to dodge and avoid Michelle at all costs. She had tried to sit with Peter and Ned during lunch, but Peter had to do some studying by himself and bolted before Michelle could even question it. Peter would text Ned the entire time he was away.

The most difficult part was during Decathlon meetings where Peter could not physically escape. At first, Michelle didn't question him, but as the dodging and avoiding pursued, she got annoyed. She would lean across the table and whisper harshly at him and Peter would tap his earbuds to signal that he couldn't hear her during independent studies.

Eventually, Michelle just gave up.

She stopped trying to sit with Peter and Ned during lunch and stopped bothering to talk to Peter about his strange and rude behavior.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it, Peter?" Ned asked cautiously. "Like, you're really starting to piss off MJ."

"Trust me," Peter said while putting his books in his locker, "it's better this way."

"Better how? It's a little mean."

Peter shut his locker with a heavy sigh. He pressed his shoulder against the metal door and slouched. "I don't have a choice, man. She knows that I have a secret. Michelle can't know about it, Ned. Mr. Stark will kill me."

Ned exasperated, "Can't you just make up a secret and not avoid her?"

"That would be lying."

"You've been lying to her!"

"Oh, right," Peter bit on the bottom of his lip trying to think. Nothing came to mind. "I can't. I don't like doing this to her but she can't know."

"She can't know what?" Michelle's voice made both Peter and Ned squeal. Peter spun around to face her with his hand over his thumping heart.

Michelle stared down at Peter and Ned, her height making her look intimidating. Her lips were drawn in a fine line and she flicked her messy curls out of her face in annoyance. "Well?" she pressed. "What are you talking about?"

"Uh..." Ned's eyes slowly hovered to land on Peter as Peter backed up to stand behind his best friend. Ned continued, "Nothing!"

She looked unimpressed. "Really? Sounds awfully suspicious for nothing."

When the pair didn't speak up, she sighed. "You were talking about me, weren't you?"

"No-" Peter began.

"Yes!" Ned cut him off. Peter sent a menacing glare at Ned, who shrunk and blushed. He wasn't very good at keeping secrets. "Yeah... I think I am gonna..." Ned placed his foot behind him and retreated back a couple of steps before he hurriedly disappeared down the corridor.

Peter was left alone with Michelle. She clenched her jaw and folded her arms across her chest, waiting for an answer.

His mind began to race. Peter wasn't good when he was put on the spot like this. He felt himself sweating and his hands began to shake.

Her eyes were dark and calculating. She studied every bit of him and it made his skin crawl. Peter felt his mouth opening, not quite sure what was coming out of it until he blurted, "I like you!"

The atmosphere changed as if someone had died. All the students' conversations around them in the hallway seemed to be muffled and nonexistent.

Peter's heart raced and his mouth felt dry. Why on Earth did I...?

He had never seen Michelle visibly shocked. Never. Not even when Peter had snapped at her during lunch. She was surprised yes, but she managed to suppress her feelings until she was out of the public eye. But this... she was completely dumbfounded.

Her strong jaw hung and her dark eyes widened fully. Her thick eyebrows lifted high and she made this coughing sound at the back of her throat. She blinked hard. "You what?"

Well shit, Peter couldn't get out of this one. He had to play along. He nodded his head eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, I just... I like you a lot, MJ."

Her face contorted. "Yet you've been avoiding me?"

"Because... I can't think clearly when I'm around you!" he added. Peter was going to punch himself in the face. He took a step toward her, shortening the distance between them. Michelle's eyes skeptically drifted down to his feet as he did so. Peter rapidly said, "I just... I get so nervous and anxious. I don't know what to say because of you honestly, you knock me speechless. I don't want to look stupid in front of you anymore. I've embarrassed myself enough, like right now. I keep talking, and I don't know when I'll stop-"

"Slow down, Parker." Michelle held up her hands to signal him to calm down. "You're... kidding right?" She held his gaze and she huffed. "Wow, you're serious."

She bought it. Yes!

"That's... the big secret."

"Yeah," she scoffed with a small smile. "No kidding." Michelle rubbed her arm, unable to look him in the eye anymore. "Peter, I-"

The bell rang for class to start. It was time for Peter's escape. He made a hasty exit by dashing past Michelle and calling out, "'Kay bye!"

She stared at him, her eyebrows drawn close together, lost in thought.

.

.

.

Later on that day, Spider-Man sat on the edge of a tall building with his legs swinging over the side. He peered below, his stomach churning as he did so. He wasn't the biggest fan of heights, ironically, and he figured that if he was going to be the defender of this city, he would learn to get over his fear. He would slowly build up to taller buildings and get used to the view.

The city looked gorgeous. He loved watching the small people walk beneath him going about their lives and the scattered lights in the buildings around him- each with their own story to tell.

It was a picture perfect moment. Huh... that never occurred to him. It would be seriously cool to take some rad shots of the scenery from Spider-Man's high perspective rather than Peter Parker's. Those were bound to get a ton of likes on Instagram.

"You like sightseeing too?"

He knew that voice. Spider-Man leaped up from his spot, planting his feet firmly on the edge of the building and lowering himself into a defensive position on instinct.

In front of him, it was the young man that saved his life. Spider-Man was relieved to know the name of him; Robbie had called him Paradox. Edgy but effective.

Paradox stood in the shadow of the door that led to the rooftop. He stepped out from the shadows. His blonde hair caught in the sunlight, making it glow. "Spider-Man," he said, "We didn't properly meet last time. I am Paradox."

"I heard..." Spider-Man lowered himself to the solid ground away from the edge. He stood tall.

Paradox ignored Spider-Man's guarded demeanor. He slowly stalked forward to peer below the edge of the building like Spider-Man had done. He seemed to talk to himself, "You seem so much bigger compared to everyone else when you're given the gift."

Spider-Man drew a breath. "What does that mean? The gift?"

Paradox turned to face him halfway. "The gift. Powers. I've only recently got mine."

"How?" Spider-Man could remember how he had received his powers months ago... now that was a wild story. He wondered if Paradox experienced as something as freaky as he did or something completely different somehow.

It was hard to read the expression on Paradox with his mask covering the lower half of his face. The green accent on his suit was also on his mask, making the mask look more like a green skeleton of a jaw. "How about you first?" Paradox retorted. When he noticed that Spider-Man wasn't going to offer his origin story, Paradox chuckled. "Yeah, me neither. I'm secretive too."

"Not to sound rude or anything," began Spider-Man. "But what do you want from me? You're here for something, aren't you?"

"Well, geez, I just wanted to make a friend." Paradox faced Spider-Man now with his hands planted on his sides. "It's kinda lonely leading this life, isn't it? I just thought you might be the only person I could relate with."

Spider-Man tensed up. There was something completely off. He didn't like this. Paradox made him nervous and he kept his distance from the hero. "Yeah, you're right," Spider-Man agreed, "It gets pretty lonely sometimes."

Paradox snapped his fingers. "But you don't like me. I see, I see. No big deal. Maybe eventually, you'll warm up to me, yeah? Until then, I hope you'll give me a chance."

Even though a mask covered his face, Spider-Man could tell that Paradox was smirking from beneath it. Paradox's calves touched the edge of the building. He spread his arms wide and Spider-Man watched as he tilted backward over the building.

Spider-Man dashed toward the edge and searched below. As Paradox fell, his body became the mysterious black bubbly substance. It headed straight for a shadow from a walking couple and it disappeared straight through the shadow.

Spider-Man had to admit that was a dramatic exit, even if it was too overboard. But the conversation had left him anxious and uncertain.

.

.

.

Now that Peter had made an epic fool of himself and revealed his "secret" to Michelle, Ned had convinced him that it wasn't necessary to hide whenever she was around the following day. Yep, good ol' Ned even convinced him to apologize properly. Peter didn't deserve such a good friend.

She sat under a tree with her sketch pad on her lap. She usually sat there after school ended and waited for her mother to pick her up from school.

Peter's lungs took in the air and cycled it out. He balled up his fists and made his way toward her, trying to pump himself up for this heartfelt apology.

His feet crunched golden leaves that had fallen from the trees. The trees were stripped bare, exposed to the cold wind which had been blowing Peter's scarf in his face about a dozen times now. He puffed out air as he tightened his scarf and secured it down so it wouldn't get in the way and smack his face. That would make him look like an idiot.

As he drew closer, he suddenly became aware of how he looked. Was his hair alright? He smoothed through the curls with his fingers and tried to tame the mess- the gel was wearing off and making his hair fall out of place.

Was his breath not terrible? He lifted a hand to cover his mouth and nose. Peter blew out and sniffed. Not too bad, Petey, although next time, lay off the amount of chocolate you eat.

Fuck. Where does he even put his hands? Peter fidgeted and tapped his sides before he decided to stuff his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

Now he was ready... or so he thought.

Peter didn't know what else might be the matter, so he pressed on. As he trudged further, Peter peered over Michelle's shoulder to see what she was doodling. He managed to creep behind her silently, his steps careful and precise.

On her sketch pad, there was a face laughing. It looked an awful lot like Peter, but that just sounds conceited. There was no possible way that Michelle would be drawing Peter of all people. Same floppy brown hair gelled back, same square jaw, same wild eyebrows, same straight nose and the same thin lips... it can't be...

"Peter, fuck!" Michelle hissed. She pressed her sketch pad to her chest and locked it with her arms. "Why are you just spying like that?"

"Oh, oh, sorry!" Peter's cheeks tinged. "Was that me?"

She grumbled, "You wish."

Peter thought it was best to change the subject before she would get pissed at him again. He came here to apologize after all. Peter lowered himself to the ground and brushed away leaves so he could sit in a spot in front of her. "So, uh, I just wanted to apologize for acting all weird for... well, awhile now. I know I'm not the easiest person to understand, but can you forgive me?" He looked up at her with pleading eyes.

Michelle diverted hers. "Yeah, sure. Just... don't be a dick again. It's getting old."

Peter broke out into a smile. "Really? Thanks, MJ. It means a lot, you know."

"Peter?" Michelle shakily asked. She sheepishly licked her lips and kept dodging his eye contact. She rubbed her sides, but something told Peter that she wasn't cold. "I wanted to tell you that-"

"LIZ!" a girl shrieked. Both Michelle and Peter searched around for the source of the shouting. A group of people crowded a girl standing on the sidewalk. It was Liz. She was being crushed with hugs from her friends. Liz didn't wear a backpack obviously since she didn't attend to school. She laughed and smiled and greeted all of her friends in warmth.

Peter gawked. He didn't know how long he was distracted, but he couldn't help it. She was here. Back in New York. Back at this school. Here.

He turned to face Michelle and she was already studying him. She swallowed hard. Something in her had changed. Her eyes were cold and her expression stoic. Michelle finished, "I wanted to tell you that I don't feel the same. I don't like you. I don't have a stupid crush on you. So... you shouldn't bother with me, got it?"

"I..." Peter's chest caved in. He didn't like her. He didn't have a crush on her either, so why did it hurt so much to hear her say that? Peter was playing a role that he invented: a flustered boy who couldn't be in the same room as his crush. The feelings weren't meant to be real.

They're not real.

Peter nodded. His voice low and soft. "Oh, okay. I-I understand, MJ. Friends, right? I promise I'll be a better friend."

Michelle pursed her lips. "Sure, Parker."

Peter rose. He had done his job: he apologized. Peter glanced over at the girl of his dreams being flanked by all sides by friends and knew what he had to do.

Say hello.

Peter made his way over.

Michelle watched him go, her shoulders slumped and her breathing shaky. She rubbed her hand down her face and shook her head. She cursed under her breath and crushed leaves in her hands. The dead, vibrant colors of the leaves sprinkled all over her lap and sketch pad. The drawing of Peter was a ghost of the real one.