“Fuck. Here we go again…” Michelle whispers to herself. She had seen Peter Parker with that smiley face he has all day. It annoyed her. She didn’t know why, but she believed nobody’s that happy.

“Hey Michelle!” He had told her as he and Ned walked by.

“Hey loser.” She had to put up with him all day, every day. Even after school, in decathlon practice. It’s not that he was a bad person or anything, that wasn’t the reason she hated him. He just annoyed the shit out of her, sometimes even talking her ear off every day.

***At Lunch***

“Umm.. Michelle?” Peter called out to her from the far end of the lunch table.

She sighed, putting her book down. “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to ask if you could help Ned and I with that assignment you gave us last meeting. We can’t answer the last question.”

“Fine.” She scooted over to them and moved her things. Her mood got even more ruined because she was sitting next to Peter, but his face lit up like a christmas tree. He and Ned grabbed their papers from their bags. As she taught them the solutions, Peter had stared at her with complete admiration. He had idolized her from the very beginning. Hell, it wasn’t even idolizing anymore. He had a crush on her.

“Okay. So, y’all get it now?” She asked, looking at Ned first. He nodded. Then, she looked back at Peter, who was still staring at her. When they met eyes, he shook his head and fell out of the gaze. “You get all that, lover boy? You were staring at me the whole goddamn time.” Peter blushed, Ned was silently giggling.

“Yeah, I did. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She scooted back to her original seat. This was another reason why she dreaded being with him. He would just stare at her like she was some magnificent being. She wasn’t, and she knew that. She hated it when people assumed that she is. After that embarassing incident, Peter decided just to leave her alone for a while. He didn’t want to be the cause of ruining her day.

***At Class***

“Inhale. Exhale. It’s okay, Michelle. Just breathe in, then breathe out.” His voice stood out from all the others that she heard. He squeezed her hand tightly as she heavily breathed. She couldn’t stop crying because she felt the air closing in on her lungs. Everything around her spiraled, her vision became blurry because of all the tears, but he remained standing there by her side, guiding her through all the pain.

“You’re gonna be fine.” said her teacher. “Come on, Ms. Jones, you can sit down on the side for a bit. It’s okay.”

“Come here,” He sat her down on her chair and stayed there. “Relax, MJ. Everything is gonna be fine.” She recognized the voice. It was coming from Peter Parker. His comforting tone calmed her down. She closed her eyes for a bit and nodded. Slowly, her breathing became normal again.

“Thank you, Mr. Parker. Now students, kindly go back to your seats and the presentation shall continue.” Peter patted her hand twice before going back to his desk. She grabbed her water bottle and slowly drank.

After the class, Michelle rushed towards her locker and organized her things. A few inches away was Peter’s. He shot a quick glance at her but when she noticed and looked back, he pretended like he wasn’t doing anything and went back to his business. It was one of the first times she wasn’t bothered by his stares and gazes.

Michelle was never really seen or noticed. But after her anxiety attack, everyone would get a quick glimpse at her and mutter some sort of rumor under their breath to the person beside them. That weirdo must’ve gotten out of rehab recently or something. Or something absurd like, Yeah, I heard that girl spent some time in an asylum when she was younger. The only people she noticed that weren’t really paying attention to these rumors other than herself were Peter Parker and Ned Leeds, and she was very thankful that there were at least some sane people left in her school.

Later that week, they had another decathlon practice. When she walked into the room, everyone stared at her. She suddenly felt embarassed (not that she wasn’t expecting this, but she just wasn’t used to all the unwanted attention). She briskly walked towards her usual chair and shot a quick glimpse at Peter, who was looking at her with a softened expression. But he stayed back, despite his longing to give her a hug.

“Alright. Let’s begin.” She said.

***After decathlon practice***

“Uhh.. Peter?” She called and he turned his attention immediately to her.

“Yeah?”

“Can I.. talk to you, for a bit?” She gestured to the side. He nodded.

“What’s up?”

“I just.. I never really thanked you for helping me during my anxiety attack. It just feels good to know that someone really cares, you know?”

“No problem. I’m always here to help, you know that right?” Her cheeks reddened.

“Yeah. Yes, of course. Thanks again, Parker.”

“Hey, it’s not ‘loser’ this time! At least that’s some sort of improvement, right?” He said, making her laugh.

From that point on, her hate for him lessened. It didn’t go away, but she could tolerate him a little more now.

***The Next Day***

Peter and MJ didn’t have decathlon practice today, but he asked her if she could help him with their math assignments.

“But you’re a genius, a literal genius. Why do you need my help?”

“Okay first of all, I’m nowhere near a genius. Second, I don’t know everything there is to know about math.”

“Fine. My place?”

“Sure.”

***At Michelle’s house***

As she opened the door, Peter greeted her with one of the biggest smiles he’d ever made.

“Come in, loser.” She stood to the side as Peter walked in.

“Hey, I thought you didn’t call me that anymore.”

“Well you thought wrong, my friend.”

“Since when did I become your friend? You hate me.”

“Do you wanna be called my ‘friend’ or not?”

“Well, I mean, it’s a good start, I guess.”

“Good. Have a seat.” She gestured towards the couch.

As he sat down and unpacked his things, he asked, “Your parents aren’t home?”

She went to the kitchen. “Actually, it’s parenT. And no.” She paused. “Do you want something to drink? Or eat?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Michelle grabbed a bag of chips and plopped beside Peter. “So, where’s the homework?” She asked, ripping the bag open.

In between their session, they had at least 10 minute-breaks. They spent this time talking about life, in general.

“Listen, I know we might’ve stepped in the wrong foot and I just wanted to ask why you’re always so mad at me. Maybe I need to change something about myself.” said Peter.

“It’s not that I’m mad at you, I just get so annoyed seeing you.”

“Why?”

“You’re always smiling like there’s no tomorrow. Like, I don’t understand how a person could be that happy, you know?”

“So, you’re saying I should stop smiling? Cause I will.”

“I’m not telling you to do anything, Pete. You should really stop pleasing other people. That’s the most annoying thing you’ve ever done and are still doing.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll try not to do it more often.”

“Good.” He grinned at her.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” She nodded. Peter looked around and the stereo at the front with the TV caught his eye. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and went for the stereo. “What are you doing?” Michelle asked.

“Something…” He looked for the cord and plugged it into his phone.

“Peter, I don’t like the sound of that.” She stood up and followed him as he searched through his music library. They went silent as the music started playing. He turned the volume up. MJ slowly familiarized what the song was and she started tapping her foot. Peter started to dance awkwardly but later felt comfortable being weird around her.

“Come on!” He took her by the hand and made her join in.

“I’m not gonna dance!” She chuckled at him flapping his arms everywhere, shimmying here and there.

“Oh come on, please MJ?”

“I’m a horrible dancer.”

“It’s okay, I am too. And I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

“Well…. Okay!” She started dancing weirdly like Peter did and lip synced the lyrics along with him.

"I want you to want me.

I need you to need me.

I'd love you to love me.

I'm beggin' you to beg me.

Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I,

See you cryin' (cryin, cryin').

Oh, Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I,

See you cryin' (cryin, cryin')

Feelin' all alone without a friend

You know you feel like dyin' (dyin', dyin').

I want you to want me.

I need you to need me.

I'd love you to love me.

I'm beggin' you to beg me."

She laughed and he laughed along with her. MJ’s arms were draped on Peter’s shoulders. As their loud giggles came to a halt, so did their sight. They had only stared into each other’s eyes in that moment as the music continued to play loudly (and at a loop, at that). Faster than the speed of lightning, Peter had leaned in and kissed her and she immediately kissed back. They had pushed each other onto the couch and they both fell over, Peter falling atop MJ. They continued kissing and as they went on, they started undressing each other, making a mess in the entire living room.

“I never do this. I don’t even know why we’re doing this.” said Michelle, gasping for air.

“Me neither.” Peter kissed her neck softly at first, then it started getting more intense to the point where she started to moan. Then, he stopped. “WAIT!” He whisper-shouted. “When does your parent get home?” Michelle looked at the clock, they still had at least two hours to spare.

“She gets here in two hours.”

“Are you sure we’re gonna do this? Here, even?”

“Well, I mean, if you wanna take it upstairs…”

“Yeah. Let’s go.” They grabbed their clothes and ran to MJ’s bedroom, her heart pounding. They lock the door.

“Do you have a..” Peter was shy to say it, he didn’t know why.

“I think so.. hang on.” She went to the bathroom and searched the cabinet behind the mirror. She found a box full of it, took one, and held it out to Peter. She lied down on the bed and he followed. They removed their underwear and continued on where they had left off.

After all of that, Peter had spooned Michelle and they fell asleep like that. A little while later, she awoke to being in his arms, which comforted her. She wished she could wake up like this all the time. He awoke to her moving around on the bed.

“Hey, sunshine.” He kissed the top of her forehead.

“Hey, loser.” She smiled.

“You see, now I’m confused.” He put his hand behind his head, resting it on the bedrest. His other arm staying wrapped around Michelle. “Do you just call me ‘loser’ as like, a nickname now? Because I thought we’re way past that whole argument.”

“Yeah, we’re certainly way past it. I just like calling you that. It’s cute in a way.” She said, tracing the outlines of Peter’s abs with her finger.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” A few moments pass and they just stay like that, wrapped in each other’s embrace, feeling and finding comfort in the warmth of each other’s bodies. The moment gets cut off by calls of multiple ‘Michelle!’s from downstairs. MJ checks the time, it’s been two hours since they moved to the bedroom, which meant her mom was here.

“Hide!” She whisper-shouted at Peter, scanning around for his clothes and throwing them at him. “Go to the bathroom! Go!!” He hurriedly locked himself in the bathroom and changed.

Michelle put her clothes on, swiftly fixed her bed and tidied up her room. She picked up the condom wrapper and knocked on the bathroom door, to which Peter opened, fully-dressed like nothing happened. “Throw this, please.” She gestured at the trash can. He nodded and threw out the wrapper. “Thanks.” She silently said. “Ooh! Use the other door over there to go to the next bathroom! – I know, the bathrooms are connected. – But listen to me, I’ll just tell my mom that you’re in the bathroom and that we’re almost done with the study session, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Just lock the door, okay? Both of them.” He nodded. She took a deep breath and went downstairs.

“There you are! What were you doing up there?” asked her mom.

“Just cleaning up my room, is all. Don’t want you getting caught up in all the chores again.”

“Well thank you, sweetheart. That means a lot to me. And by the way, who did you invite in?” She pointed at the bag and the scattered math homework papers.

“Oh. Peter Parker actually asked for help with his math homework so, I decided to assist him with it.”

“I can see y’all have finished it already. And where is he?”

“In the bathroom.”

“Okay. Well, I hope you were okay while I was away, honey.”

“Yes, I was fine. I’m 16, mom, I can handle myself.”

“I know that, I just.. I miss my little girl. Why do you children have to grow up so damn fast?!” She rubbed her daughter’s head and pulled her in for a hug.

“It’s life, mom.”

“And life’s a bitch.”

“I agree.” A little while later, Peter went downstairs and to his surprise, his bag was packed and organized by Michelle.

“I’ll see you out, Peter.” said Michelle’s mom.

“Oh, no thank you, Ms. Jones. It’s okay, I can just see myself out.”

“No, no, I insist.”

“No, mom, I’ll see him out.” Michelle butted in. Her mom nodded and grinned after the two.

Once they were outside, Peter held her hand.

“Sooo…” He started.

“Yeahhhh...”

“That happened.”

“Never thought in a million years I would’ve done it with you and this early, yet here we are.”

“Here we are..” He echoed her. “See you tomorrow, then?”

“Yeah. Bye, loser.”

“Bye, sunshine.” He kissed her cheek.