Midnight.

Peter didn't come back to the hotel until midnight.  He had just swung around for hours upon hours, being careful not to go close to home or do anything big.  If he had, then his dads would have found out that he had skipped, and Peter would be in big trouble.

When he found his way back to the hotel, he started to find his way to him and Ned's window, which was hard considering how big the hotel was.

He found their window and slowly and quietly opened it, surprised that it wasn't locked.  Then again, Ned probably left it unlocked for him.

He snuck in and crawled across the ceiling, not looking down.  He'd close the window later. Right now, he just wanted to get out of his suit.

He jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the floor as quiet as he could and took a deep breath before turning around.

You know in movies when the dad is waiting in a chair right next to the lamp, turns it on, and then asks why you were out past curfew?

It was like that, but with Ned.

Ned was in a chair next to his bed and had just turned on the lamp beside him.  He closed the laptop on his lap without looking away from Peter.

"So, you're finally back."

"Look, Ned, I'm really-"

"They believed me when I said you were sick. Flash didn't.  He said 'I wouldn't be surprised if he just left.'"  Ned stood up.  "Where did you go, Peter? Why were you gone so long?"

Peter felt guilt drape over him. "Look, Ned. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stay out this late.  I just needed to blow off some steam."

Ned shook his head and sat down onto the bed.  "Whatever, man.  I'm going to sleep.  Talk to you in the morning."

——————

Peter barely slept that night.  He hated Ned being mad at him.  This had only happened a few times before. Ned was his best friend and nothing is worse than your best friend talking to you.  Okay, getting stabbed or shot, maybe, but that's beside the point.

It was quiet the next morning.  By the time that Ned got up, Peter was already ready to head to the reunion.  Having not slept, he decided at a certain point to just get ready.

Ned still seemed upset.  Not as much as the night before, but he certainly wasn't happy about Peter's excursion.

Together, they walked out of the hotel room at nine, not a word being spoken yet between the pair.  They headed down to the conference room where they would be meeting for the reunion.  Most likely, they would be answering decathlon questions, and that was honestly fine with Peter.  He could use that as a distraction from... everything.

They were the last ones to arrive.  Not by a lot, but by enough for Flash to give Peter a look that made him want to punch Flash in the face and then himself.

"Ah, Ned!  Peter!"  Mr. Harrington exclaimed as they walked over to the large table where they all were sitting.  "I was told about what happened yesterday.  Are you feeling better?  We wouldn't want to send you home early."

Peter nodded and did his best to push down the guilt.  "Much better.  Thank you."  He sat down beside MJ, who gave him a slightly confused look. 

"Alright.  Well, now that we have everyone here, let's get started, shall we?  Everyone pair up."

Peter turned to Ned, who turned away from Peter and to Abe.

"You want to be partners?"  Ned asked Abe.

Abe looked at Peter from around Ned for a brief moment before nodding.  "Yeah, sure."

Peter felt his heart sink.  Before he could dive deeper into a pit of self loathing, he felt a hand land on his shoulder.  He turned back and saw MJ.

"Partners?"  She asked, cheering up Peter.  Peter nodded in response.

"Yeah," He said, clearing his throat.  "Partners."

As the teams finished getting situated, Mr. Harrington began asking them all questions.

"Three of the moons of Saturn."

Ding!

"Enceladus, Titan, Rhea."

"That's right!  Point for MJ and Peter!"

This continued on for a while, the answers bouncing around the room.  After a while, it was Ned and Abe versus Peter and MJ for the top.

Peter looked over at Ned, who, unlike him, seemed pretty focused.  He was looking at Harrington, hand hovering over the button.  He hadn't seen Ned act this way in a while.

Ding!

Peter lifted his arm up in surprise as he felt the bell ding below his elbow when he wasn't paying attention.

"Ah, Peter!  Got the answer already?"

Peter looked at the teacher and froze up. "Er, um, no." He looked down.

"He was too busy staring at Ned," Flash stated with a smirk. Ned looked back at Peter who quickly looked away. "Jeez, first MJ, now Ned? Man, you've got low expectations."

Peter clenched his fists and stood up, Flash joining him. He was ready to smack Flash when he felt a hand land on his arm. MJ's. He took a deep breath and tried to restrain the urge to strangle.

"Now now," Mr. Harrington said quickly. "We don't want to have people get injured. It was only a distraction, everyone is fine."

Peter nodded and went to sit back down.

"Probably got his overreactions from that idiotic family of his," Flash commented slyly. "Always overreacting about everything. Getting everyone killed."

Peter couldn't take it. He bolted out of the chair he had just sat in and ran to Flash. He could hear his classmates and teacher yelling at him to stop, but he didn't care. He couldn't take it.

He hit him. Hard. The punch landed on his nose, a loud cracking noise following.

Flash screamed and held his nose. "What is wrong with you?!" He sank to his knees.

Peter looked up, taking in what he had just done. Ned was shaking his head, Mr. Harrington has an astonished and disappointed look on his face, his other classmates looked at him, horrified.

MJ.

MJ wore a tight frown and looked into Peter's eyes. She looked surprised and almost scared. What had Peter just done?

Peter knew only one thing:

He was in deep, deep trouble.

A/N: Okay. I am sounding like a broken record right now, I know. I'm sorry this was short. I just finished up with the school musical, so I should be able to post more often. I promise, I think you'll like what I have planned - or maybe not, but I will.