Chapter 67: Catching a Break III

What the actual hell was that?! That was barely coherent, man! C'mon! It's just a hangout, relax!

Again, Nejire laughed for a second before stepping through the door, Peter noticing how her ponytail trailed behind her the slightest bit.

"Good to see you, too!" She said, Peter closing the door behind her and laughing a bit.

Alright, just… relax! Don't be awkward!

...

Just as the door clicked closed, Peter began to turn around to face the girl… Only to feel her crash into his chest in a hug.

Oh! They were hugging! Uh, alright!

Quickly realizing he was supposed to hug back, Peter wrapped his arms around the girl and laughed a bit.

"Wow, you smell really nice, you know? Like high-grade perfume!" She commented, before thinking for a second about what she said and blushing. "Oh, uh, that sounded kinda weird, didn't it? Sorry."

Peter smiled at her and shrugged before letting go, waving her off quickly.

"Oh, that's web-fluid. I put rose water and aloe vera in the formula, you know? For supple skin." He told her, the girl laughing.

Seriously, the least he could do for people he webbed up was give them clearer skin! Besides, it made his house smell good all the time so that was a plus.

You wouldn't believe how bad his first web formula smelled, it was such a pain to hide that from May.

Just as Nejire was about to say something, a ding went off from the kitchen that made Peter perk up.

Oh, popcorn's done! Sweet!

"Hey, so you said that we could watch a movie today so I set that up!" Peter called as he walked into the kitchen, opening the microwave and webbing the popcorn into his hand. "We got popcorn, got a cooler with sodas next to the couch, and a bunch of movies we can watch. I… don't know what you like so just grabbed every movie I had."

Walking back out into the living room, Peter smiled at how Nejire flew up to him and grabbed the popcorn in his hand.

"Uh, I don't know! You got a box full of 'em! I feel like you have something good in there, right?" Flying back onto the couch, she plopped down on it.

Huh, he was picking? A part of him wanted to watch something actually good but another part wanted to make fun of something bad.

Eh, might as well ask Nejire!

"Do you want to make fun of the movie or actually watch a good one?" Peter asked her, the girl currently eating a handful of popcorn.

"Little bit of both?"

You know what? He was cool with that!

Walking over to the case-filled box next to the couch, Peter dug his hand in and rummaged around before pulling something out.

1988's Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

Perfect!

Oh, she was gonna love this!

...

"Wait wait wait, so they kill people by putting them in cotton candy cocoons?" Nejire giggled, Peter only smiled and nodded. "That's so cheesy!"

"Yeah, but isn't it great? They literally have a circus tent spaceship!" Peter laughed, Nejire giggled again in a way that made Peter feel warm.

"Do Americans really like this type of stuff? It's so dorky!"

Hearing this, Peter turned and rolled his eyes at her.

"Excuse you, but I'll have you know this movie is the best! It's literal killer clowns from outer space! It can't get better than that, you know?"

All in all, Peter had to admit that he really missed out on not having friends before he got to UA.

Seriously, Peter and Nejire have spent the last hour eating popcorn and laughing at clowns wobbling around with 1980s CGI.

Can it seriously get better than that? Half an hour in, he could already feel the tiredness and stress in his body simply flowing out of him as he sat on that couch with her.

This didn't have to do with Spider-Man or S.H.I.E.L.D or… anything! This was just him catching a break, having fun.

Even if he knew deep down it would probably be a while before he could just relax like this, he didn't care.

He just wanted to stay there for today, and not think about anything else.

Now, he knew she'd ask about what happened yesterday sooner or later. it's obvious she's been trying to find the right moment to bring it up for the last half hour.

And be knows the whole point of this hang out was to talk about, but…

Why couldn't he just forget about that? Just enjoy watching a dumb movie with a friend?

Why couldn't he enjoy that for just a bit?

The movie went on, Peter and Nejire joking around and laughing until the credits rolled. As the screen went black, he knew what was coming next.

"So…" She began, fidgeting with the sleeves of her sweater ad Peter smiled sadly for a second. "About the uh, the thing from yesterday? I know it's a weird tone shift and all but… you know."

His heart would've dropped had he not been expecting it, he didn't even dread it! It was just something he had to do since it was the healthy thing to do

"Yeah," Peter muttered sadly, seeing how he had to face his problems again. Digging into his pocket, Peter pulled out both cards that Tony Stark gave him and handed them to her.

Nejire raised an eyebrow, looking over the cards and reading the English words. Her eyes widened at seeing Tony Stark's name before she frowned in confusion at the S.H.I.E.L.D logo.

Yeah, he's just gonna get started with this.

"Uh, I forgot to mention that there's a lot of stuff to get through. Like, I have to go back at least a few years to sum up all of it. I-I know it's a lot and it's cool if you don't wanna-"

Placing a soft hand on his shoulder, Nejire cut him and smiled comfortingly at him.

"Hey, I wanna help you, alright? I wouldn't be here if I didn't. So just start from the beginning, okay?"

Peter gave a small smile before nodding, the girl taking her hand off his shoulder as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Before I came to Japan, I-I was quirkless and lived with my aunt and uncle in New York…" Peter began, already seeing Nejire's eyes widen.

And with that, Peter just began talking.

He told her about his childhood in New York, about how he never wanted to be a hero before the spider bit him, about the fight clubs, and about how his uncle died when he got to Japan.

At that point, Peter felt like he'd cry if he didn't pause for a second. The hand Nejire placed on his shoulder helped him keep going and talk about his vigilante days.

When he got to what happened yesterday, that's when things got really messy and complicated.

When he got to that, he began to explain his encounter with Tony Stark, what S.H.I.E.L.D was, and about the existence of mutates like him.

Oddly enough, she actually believed him! He couldn't help but smile at her for that, it was nice to have someone to listen to you.

After getting through the Tony Stark stuff, he then went on to how Nick Fury broke into his house and how he'll work for them for a year once works studies begin.

It took an entire half an hour to get through it all, but he managed it. Somehow, he managed to recount everything he had been bottling up without crying.

"… so then he just teleported me back to my apartment. I just- I'm sorry, that… that was a lot to just drop on you, right?" He chuckled dryly, Nejire simply placing a hand on his thigh.

"Are you… are you okay?" She asked softly, Peter furrowing his brow as he thought about the question.

He… he didn't know.

"I… I'm tired, Nejire. I-I'm just so tired of… all of these things happening. I've been… I try, you know? It's like… it doesn't matter, as if I'm doing something wrong that makes stuff happen to me."

Peter paused again, looking down at the ground.

"It's as if for every good thing that happens to me, s-something worse just shows up for whatever reason. A-And after all the times it happened and how much I've tried to do good… I'm just so tired."

Silently, Nejire hugged him tight and kept listening. Peter found himself leaning into the touch.

It was crazy, you know? Someone was there to listen to whatever he had going on.

That was all he could ask for, now that he thought about it.

"Look, I'm sorry. It's just… a lot has been going on and I really needed to tell someone. I- thank you, Nejire. I… can't thank you enough for being here." Peter muttered into her hair, Nejire only hugged him tighter.

A small chuckle escaped him, Peter rubbing his tired eyes.

"Y'know… it's nice to know you and Mirio and Amajiki are there. Cause even if all that stuff with S.H.I.E.L.D kinda hung over me… it's worth having you guys around. If you guys are there, then it means I'm doing things right."

He chuckled a bit, feeling Nejire's embrace get tighter around him in a way that somehow made the stress and frustration and anger just… fade away as if it wasn't even there.

And for that small moment, Peter simply let himself enjoy the comforting contact. He tried again to forget all about S.H.I.E.L.D and everything else in his life.

For a small bit of time, he just let himself stay there and let the warmth and comfort flow through him.

"Hey, I don't know if this is gonna mean anything or something, but…" Nejire began, hugging him tighter for a second. "When you said about how much you try and stuff? Well, I… I think you're doing great."

Just like that, Peter's world stopped spinning as his heart skipped a beat.

It probably didn't mean anything, just Nejire trying to make him feel better. But when she said that…

That's when Peter realized something.

At that exact moment, that was the second he knew that he had a crush on Nejire Hado.

He didn't know how or-or… anything else, really. He just knew it felt right, that the feeling of having her arms around him was something he loved.

Y'know, maybe today wasn't a bad day.

"Hey, Nejire?" Peter muttered, the girl humming in response. "… thank you."

Yeah.

Not a bad day.

...

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