Hey. Just wanted to clarify that i choose the pics above on whether or not i find them cute. If I've picked pictures that hint at starker, i apologize. I do not ship them and I'm sorry if any implications offended you. I will stray from using those pics in the future. In other news, enjoy this chapter:)

  It turns out the next thing was school. Tony promptly woke him up the next morning without any warning and basically said, 'good morning time to learn' as he rushed him to get ready. Peter had been too tired to argue and so here he was, in the back of Happy's limo with his dad seated in the passenger seat.

"You got everything? Grabbed your lunch?" Tony asked for the third time, twisting around in his seat to look at his kid.

Peter stifled a yawn. "Yeah, i got it, now can you stop being such a dad?"

Tony rolled his eyes behind his tinted shades. "If i could i would," he mumbled, but with Peter's enhanced hearing, of course he heard.

"Hey!"

"Okay! Here we are! Get out. And have a good day or whatever," Tony said, turning back around as the limo pulled up to the curb in front of the school. Peter grumbled but kicked open the door nonetheless. He stumbled out onto the sidewalk, rather ungraciously for he couldn't seem to shake the sleep out of bones. A gentle hand stopped him from tripping right into the wall of bushes lining the sidewalk. Peter glanced up to thank them but the words died in his throat.

MJ offered the tiniest of smiles, the right side of her mouth turning up slightly. "Hey, loser," she said, the usual hardness absent from her voice.

Peter frowned and shook her off, straightening up. "Hey," he snapped back with all the anger he could muster with being as exhausted as he was.

MJ ignored the harsh reply, letting her arm swing back to her side. "Surprised to see you back so soon," she continued on as if nothing was wrong, as if the two teens hadn't confessed their love to each other and then forgotten about it when one betrayed the other. "You know, with everything."

Peter barked out a dry laugh. "Oh, i sure do know. MJ, what are you doing?"

The teen girl shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?" She knew exactly what he meant.

Peter knew that she knew exactly what he meant. He rolled his eyes and pushed past her. "Whatever. See ya later, MJ," he grumbled over his shoulder as he started up the steps into Midtown School of Science and Technology.

***

  Although MJ had practically destroyed his home life by uploading that video, Peter was still grateful that she had at least edited him out of it.

  Talk of the superhero scandal had spread like wildfire across campus. Peter heard mentions of both Steve Rogers and Tony Stark as he made his way to his locker, and that was only the start. He could only imagine how much worse it would be if he were featured in it too.

  "Do you think it was staged?"

  "Why did Steve do that? Doesn't he know he just ruined the Avengers? Dumbass American."

  "Oh yeah, that was a whole lotta sexual tension in my opinion. Tony definitely enjoyed it."

  Peter visibly gagged at that one.

  But luckily for him, "Peter!" shattered the cloud of circling rumors.

  The teen turned at the mention of his name. Ned Leeds came crashing through the crowd, barreling towards his best friend at the speed of a charging rhino. The pair collided.

"Peter, omg have you seen the video?! Were you there?! Did you release it?! What happened?!" Ned gushed immediately after he broke apart from their embrace. Peter sighed heavily and beckoned his friend to the back of his locker as to somewhat conceal their conversation.

"Yes, Ned, i saw the video," Peter started as he collected his books for the first half of his day. "Yes, i was there. No, i didn't release it."

"What really happened, Peter? I don't know anything with all these rumors flying about. Some kid is going around saying it was all sexual tension! Can you believe that?" Ned said.

Peter cringed. "Yeah, actually i can."

Ned snorted. "But really, what happened?"

Peter really didn't feel like getting into it. The story was longer and more complicated than it seemed from the video. But he knew his best friend deserved an explanation, especially if he was going to continue being friends with MJ.

"So you know how i got bitten by that monster?" He started. Ned nodded. "Well, MJ saved me and i bit Natasha and it was this whole thing. After that happened, Steve basically told Tony that i couldn't be Spider-Man anymore, which, of course, didn't go over well. They got in a fight about it and that's what happens in the video-"

  "Then who took the video if you didn't?" Ned interrupted.

  Peter glanced away as he answered, memories of the night before all of this flashing through his mind.

  "No, you don't get it!" MJ exclaimed. "I care about you so much because I'm falling in love with you!"

  "I think I'm falling in love with you too."

"MJ," Peter finally ground out, the name sticking to the roof of his mouth like a wad of peanut butter. "MJ recorded and released the video." After telling me she loves me.

  Ned's mouth formed an O in understanding as he processed what he had said. Questions pushed at the back of his teeth, just waiting to be said, but he swallowed them down. He could sense how painful the topic was for Peter.

  "I'm sorry," was all Ned said instead, walking side by side with Peter as he closed his locker and started to make his way to first period. Peter nodded stiffly.

  "Yeah, i am too."

***

"Sooo, are we like not friends with her anymore or?" Ned asked two periods later as the duo took their seats at their usual lunch table. MJ wasn't there yet.

Peter sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. "I don't know, if I'm being honest. I want to be...but how can i if i can't trust her?"

Ned nodded. "Valid point."

Peter frowned at his lunch tray, the pile of mashed potatoes just taunting him. It was a tough decision, one that had been haunting him ever since this whole ordeal started. He liked MJ, like really liked her and she liked him back! But then she just had to go and do this terrible thing and destroy his trust.

"Oop, here she comes. Let's not talk about it anymore," Ned said under his breath as he shoveled a spoonful of soupy glop into his mouth.

Peter nodded but couldn't help looking up and tracking the girl with his eyes.

MJ was wearing a pair of ripped black skinny jeans with her pigeon shirt and a jacket thrown over. Her curls were clipped back in a half-up, half-down hairstyle that was Peter's personal favorite. She looked intimidating, pretty, but intimidating. But the best girls always do, right?

She inclined her head their way when she caught him staring. "'Sup nerds."

Ned turned in his seat, a pink flush tinting his cheeks. "H-hey, MJ! What's up? Anything new going on?" He stammered, totally conspicuous. Peter kicked him under the table.

MJ took the opening of the conversation as an invitation to sit next to them, more accurately, next to Peter.

  "Nothing much," she said casually as she cracked open her iced tea, her elbow bumping Peter's in the process. "Well, actually there is this one new thing."

  Peter made a confused noise around the food in his mouth.

  "I actually worked up the balls to tell my crush that i liked him, and he likes me back. But then i messed up, like real bad, and i don't know how to fix it. You guys got any tips?" MJ finished, her hazel eyes finding Peter's and holding onto them. Peter struggled to keep his blushing under control.

"Oh shit, MJ! That's great!" Ned congratulated her, totally oblivious. "But what did you do?"

MJ twirled the cap on the bottle of her iced tea. "I kinda posted this really personal thing about him? But i didn't know it was personal."

Peter finally tore his eyes away, not being able to stand her piercing gaze any longer. Intimidating, pretty, but intimidating.

Ned nodded along, eating up every detail of MJ's twisted love story. "Well, have you tried apologizing? Explaining yourself-?"

"Yes."

"And what happened?"

MJ looked to Peter as if to say, 'yeah, what did happen?' Because honestly, she didn't know where the other teen stood.

Peter could only glance at her. The tension surrounding them was suffocating.

When he didn't react, MJ threw her knee against his to further get the point across. Where do you stand?

  I don't know, Peter thought as he pushed himself back from the lunch table. He scrambled to get away, to rip himself out of the conversation as messily as possible. He found himself sprinting to the bathrooms, if only to let himself breathe without MJ burning holes in his back with her eyes.

Once Peter made it to the bathrooms, he splashed his face repeatedly, letting the sink water drip down his chin and onto his shirt. Where did he stand? No, he didn't stand at all. He was trapped, stuck between the girl he liked and his collapsing family back home. Whatever he chose, the other side was sure to suffer. But he had to make a choice, didn't he?