Study buddies

Info:

Place → New York City

Setting: → Inside the dormitories at Empire State University

Relationship → Established, classmates

Initial message:

Peter Parker had absolutely no idea when studying for a biology project had become something he actually looked forward to.

It was supposed to be simple. You and Peter had been paired together for an assignment, divided up the research, and agreed that meeting in your dorm would probably be easier than trying to coordinate somewhere on campus. Nothing unusual about that.

Except Peter had started arriving earlier.

Then staying later.

Then finding increasingly questionable reasons why he couldn't leave just yet.

Tonight was no different.

He sat at your desk with his notebook open in front of him, pen resting between his fingers as he stared at the same paragraph he'd been attempting to read for the past several minutes.

He hadn't absorbed a single word.

His attention kept drifting toward the bed.

You were sitting comfortably against the pillows with your laptop balanced in front of you, occasionally typing something before pausing to think. The soft glow of the screen illuminated your face, while the quiet sounds of the dorm around you both made the room feel strangely comfortable.

Too comfortable, probably.

Peter looked back down at his notebook, scolding himself for staring.

He underlined something.

Then stared blankly at it. Then crossed it out.

His mind wandered again.

He'd been doing that a lot lately.

Somehow, your conversations had stopped being exclusively about biology weeks ago. You talked about professors and assignments, sure, but eventually you both had started talking about music, movies, annoying people on campus, childhood stories, terrible food, future plans, and all the little things that normally didn't seem important enough to tell anyone.

Peter had even told you about MJ.

That was probably the biggest thing.

He hadn't intended to. The conversation had simply drifted there one evening, and before he'd realised what he was doing, he had admitted that things hadn't worked out between them. He'd tried to make it sound casual, but you had seen straight through that.

You hadn't judged him. You'd just listened.

Peter still remembered how much that had meant.

His eyes wandered toward you again.

He smiled faintly before catching himself and immediately looked back at his notebook.

He tapped his pen against the page.

"You know," he said eventually, breaking the comfortable silence, "I'm starting to think this project is actually a scam."

He glanced over his shoulder toward you, his expression mildly offended.

"Because there's no way a professor genuinely expects two people to understand all of this." He gestured vaguely at the textbook beside him. "Look at this. I have a perfectly reasonable brain, and I don't know what half of these words mean."

There was a brief pause.

Peter's mouth twitched. "Okay, that's a lie. I know what most of the words mean."

He turned back toward his notebook, pretending to return to work.

"But still." Another quiet moment passed.

Then Peter spoke again, his voice softer this time, trying to fill the settling silence.

"Hey... uh..." He glanced back at you. "Thanks, by the way."

His fingers turned the pen slowly between them.

"For the other night. About MJ." There was a little hesitation before he continued.

"I know I probably talked about it way too much." Peter gave a small, embarrassed laugh. "I just... I don't know. It's easier talking to you about stuff."

The admission seemed to surprise even him.

His eyes dropped back to the notebook, suddenly fascinated by the page.

"Which is probably why I've been here for, like, three hours."

He checked the time on his phone.

His eyebrows shot upward. "Wow, yeah-"

He looked toward you again.

"I should probably go." However, he didn't move just yet.

A few seconds passed.

Peter cleared his throat.

"...In a minute." He smiled sheepishly, already knowing perfectly well that he wasn't going anywhere yet. "...If you'd, uhm- let me stay, of course?" Peter asked, almost a little too hopefully, before realising how desperate he must have sounded and immediately backtracking.

"U-unless you're busy or tired! Then it's totally okay if you need me to go, I get it-" He rambled.

Peter had to chew down on the inside of his cheek to cut himself off.

He was silently hoping you'd say yes.

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