"Did you pay attention at all in class?" MJ deadpanned, looking across the kitchen counter at Ned.

"Of course I did," Ned argued.

"Then why is everything you're saying wrong?"

Peter sighed, chuckling as he lowered his head. He expected stuff like that to happen when they all decided to do the group project together, but it was a bit funnier when he wasn't directly involved in those little arguments. Anyway, they'd been working for hours, much longer than intended, but they had a due date to meet that weekend and scheduling a time to meet all together was difficult.

Peter's phone buzzed on the table, and he smiled to see Grace's name pop up. He opened the message.

'I'm on my way.'

She sent another. 'So I'll be there in like an hour or two, depending on traffic.'

Peter chuckled at that. She was coming over to drop off a book for him to read. He had to choose one to do an assignment on for his English class, so of course he turned to Grace to help him pick one out, and she was letting him borrow her copy. Bringing it over, though, was partly an excuse to see him. They were both so busy with school.

'You're telling me you're on your way right now?' Peter asked.

'Yes,' she replied.

He was already chuckling at his own joke. 'Then stop texting me. You not supposed to text and drive.' He then added, 'I know you're new to this, but come on.'

She sent the emoji that was rolling its eyes. 'I'm not driving YET. And I won't ever get to if you don't stop texting me your little jokes.'

'Rude.'

She didn't respond to that one, so Peter, laughing quietly, put his phone back down. MJ looked at him with a brow raised. "Something more interesting that this project, Peter?"

Peter shrugged. "I mean, yeah."

"Fair," MJ said, "but Ned and I are not doing this by ourselves."

"Fair."

"He was totally texting Grace," Ned butt in, typing something on his laptop. "He had that look on his face."

"What look?" Peter asked, brows furrowing.

MJ nodded. "The longing, dreamy one."

"That's the one," Ned replied, then flashing a short, sympathetic look at Peter. Ever since the Blip, things had been weird in their relationship. For then, they acted just like friends. Best friends. They hadn't kissed since he came back, but they weren't giving up on it. Just waiting until it wasn't so weird.

He sighed and got to the task at hand, helping his friends complete the project, though it certainly wasn't done by the time Grace got there.

She knocked on the door, and May, who was in the living room about to order a pizza, went to go get it. Peter couldn't see Grace at first, but he heard her say, "May!" warmly. He smiled at that, and then his smile grew when she walked into the kitchen.

"Hey," she said, looking at him with a smile of her own, but glancing at his guests. Ned waved at her, also smiling, and she returned both greetings. MJ didn't look up, her face leaned close to the computer as she read something. Grace looked back at Peter. "I didn't realize you were gonna have company."

"Yeah, we're working on that project," Peter replied.

"Still?" Grace said in surprise, walking over and setting the book down on the table next to Peter.

"Yeah. We weren't planning on it, but... well, this is taking longer than we thought," Peter said. Grace nodded, and then Peter sat up a bit, turning away from his laptop. "So, um, you know Ned," he started, gesturing to his friend. Ned looked up and smiled again, and Grace nodded once more. They met shortly before the school year started, at Peter's "birthday party." It was just Peter, Grace, Ned, May, Pepper, and Morgan having pizza and cake and giving Peter a few presents. He went on. "But I think you and MJ haven't met before."

"We haven't," Grace said, turning to MJ, who finally looked up.

"I'm Michelle. My friends call me MJ."

"I'm Grace," she said, smiling.

"Trust me, I've heard," MJ replied, and Grace laughed while Peter blushed.

"I would say I'm hoping for all good things, but based on what May and Ned tell me, I already know he over exaggerates a lot," Grace said, still laughing.

"Definitely. He's so in love with you it makes me sick sometimes."

Grace, with pink cheeks, laughed again, especially as Peter opened his mouth to speak but couldn't say anything; he wanted to defend himself, but he was in love with Grace and he wasn't about to refute that. Not that they tended to discuss that much now.

Grace shook her head. "Well, I guess I'll get out of your guys' hair so you can work."

Peter frowned. "But you just got here."

"I'm ordering a pizza," May piped up from the living room. "You can totally stay..." Grace turned to Peter, who looked at her with pleading eyes. He missed her — and she missed him. Her mom wasn't expecting her back for a bit, anyway.

She sighed. "Alright, I'll stay. But I seriously don't want to be in the way."

"You're fine," Peter and Ned assured her, almost simultaneously.

"You're not in my way," MJ admitted with a shrug.

"She'd let you know if you were," Ned said. "Believe me."

MJ chuckled quietly.

Grace sat down next to Peter, looking over his shoulder at his computer, and, despite probably already completing whatever class it was for, didn't understand any of it. "So, what exactly is this project about again?"

"Molecular biology," Ned said. "Like, the basics, basically."

"We're supposed to present it as a field of study," Peter added. Grace already knew that part, but she also wasn't taking classes on molecular biology. Or much science in general, really. Peter, on the other hand, went to a science and technology school. "We're making a PowerPoint," he said.

Grace nodded. "Now that part I know how to do."

"You're an artist, right?" MJ asked; Peter, of course, had mentioned it, but one of her pieces was already hanging in MoMA; MJ would've known even if Peter had managed to find other things to talk about.

"Yeah," Grace replied.

"Help him with his slides. He won't listen to me, and they look awful."

"They do not!" Peter exclaimed. Grace reached over and looked at Peter's slides.

She grimaced. "They kinda do."

"They aren't that bad."

"You need to fix them. Barely any of this is cohesive." Peter sighed, and Grace laughed. "Here, I'll help you. Just give me the information you need on here."

She helped him complete his slides, then, using Peter's computer, helped the other two with theirs as they all ate pizza. She and MJ talked the most through the work, and by the time the pizza was done, so was the presentation. Even though what Grace and MJ were primarily discussing was books.

Peter sat back. "Now we just need to send it to our teacher."

"And present on Monday," MJ added.

"Yeah, I can't help you with that part," Grace said with a laugh.

"You could just walk in and pretend you've always been there," Ned replied. "And the three of us could, like, back your story up until we make everyone think they're going crazy."

"Senior prank," MJ said.

Peter thought about it, how funny it would be, especially if they got more people in on it. "No, but actually... that'd be hilarious."

Grace laughed. "I don't know, guys; I've gone this long never setting foot in a high school building, and I'm not sure if I want to now."

"Lucky," MJ said.

"Why?" Ned asked.

Grace shrugged. "Just for the sake of being able to say that I never have."

"What about my graduation?" Peter asked.

"I think that'll be out on the field," Ned said, "so technically not in the building."

Grace looked at Peter with a bit of triumph on her face. He looked back at her with a cocky smile. "What about when Morgan goes to high school?" he asked.

"If she doesn't do online schooling like I did, I'm just hoping she won't do any extracurricular activities I actually have to show up there for."

MJ looked at her for a moment, then said, "You get it." Grace smiled, and then MJ added, "Which is surprising for a senior citizen."

Peter and Ned started laughing and MJ had a small smile on her face. Grace's mouth flew open, but she was laughing, too. "I'm only four years older than you!"

"If Grace is a senior citizen, what does that make me?" May asked from the couch. "A senior senior citizen?"

"The coolest senior senior citizen we know," Ned replied.

A few minutes later, Pepper texted Grace, so Grace knew it was time to head home. She said goodbye to Ned, May, and Peter, then MJ, who asked, "Hey, what was the name of that book you were talking about again?"

"The Book Jumper," Grace replied. "Here, I'll pull it up..." She got on her phone, and the next thing they all knew, she and MJ were talking about books again for nearly an hour.

"Dude," Ned said at one point, "isn't that your thing?"

"What?" Peter asked.

"Isn't talking about books your thing to do with Grace?" Ned repeated.

Peter sighed. "Yeah, kinda. But MJ reads more than me."

Grace and MJ didn't notice this exchange in the slightest.