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Ned knew exactly why he was here, in this cafe that he’d never heard of before but was obviously a very popular one.
He was here because he cared about Peter. Peter was more than his best friend, and there was no way he was going to let him get sucked into another bad relationship. So when Peter mentioned he found someone he liked online and was setting up a date with him, of course Ned was concerned and maybe just a little jealous.
***
Peter was acting weird when they met up for their study session. He kept glancing at his phone every time it went off, and being disappointed when it wasn’t a text message. He also wasn’t listening to Ned completely butcher the plot of Star Wars to test if he was even paying attention. He was just biting his lip and staring at the pages of his textbook, flipping a page every few minutes, in between his glances at his phone.
Ned looked to MJ at the opposite end of the table, but she just shrugged before looking back at her own phone. Probably working on her tiktok page content for her Social Justice class. Ned sighed and tapered off in his rambling about Chewbacca’s knowledge of the English language and his pranking of Han to stare at his crush Peter.
Finally, Peter’s text tone went off and he jumped for his phone, but seemed disappointed at who texted him. He dropped his phone and glared over at MJ.
Oh. Huh. Smart.
“Okay loser,” MJ said as she moved to the chair next to them. “What are you anxious staring at your phone and ignoring Ned for?”
“What? I- I’m not-” Peter flustered and switched his phone over to silent, pushing it away from him.
“Can it. He literally talked about Han Kirk and Spockbacca’s adventure on the Millenium Enterprise for ten minutes.”
“That doesn’t mean-”
“He also went off about storm trooper health care, didn’t you Ned?”
“I- Come on, I really don’t think they even had dental, Peter! And their aim was probably bad because they were all half blind - like literally just their right eyes-”
“Alright, we get it nerd.” MJ had just enough affection and curiosity in her voice that Ned thought he might be able to continue this conversation later. “But back to the issue at hand. You called this study session because you’ve been busy all week working, and you missed us and you needed help studying for your history exam tomorrow. Instead, you’ve been silent and not asked either of us a million questions. Your lip is two seconds away from bleeding, and since you silenced your phone you’ve looked at it no less than 10 times. What. is. bothering. you?”
Ned watched as Peter stared resolutely up at MJ, not once glancing at his phone that lit up with a text message from “H. from Bumble”.
“Who’s H? And why are you on Bumble?” Ned felt a bit of hurt that the guy he shared almost everything with didn’t tell him that he was back in the dating pool.
“You’re dating again?” MJ’s voice was icy and sharp. “What happened to letting us know if you were even considering it? I- I’ll be at the gym until it closes. Don’t come after me.”
Ned watched as MJ walked away, wishing he could walk away from this terrible new reality he had stepped into. He thought when Peter mentioned he was ready to date again, he would have a chance to step up and ask him out.
Peter just stared after their friend, confusion shining in those adorable Bambi his eyes.
“Peter?” Peter’s head snapped back to staring at Ned, and Ned squashed the little bit of triumph that tried to rise up when Peter looked at him, because there was fear in those eyes. “Is everything ok?”
“I- yes. No? Sorta?” Peter sighed and Ned just waited patiently for Peter to finish his thought process. “A while back, like two weeks ago, Erin, my psych teacher, gave us this assignment for our love and relationships unit to create multiple profiles on a dating website and see how many swipes or whatever the platform uses we would get on a profile that displays only our good, only our bad, or a mix. And like it was a cool assignment even if I was a bit iffy with it being an actual dating site thing and I wasn’t expecting many swipes on any of them, but like I did? On all of them?”
Of course you did, anyone would be an idiot to pass you up, Ned thought to himself as Peter rambled on. I’m going to make sure you get the right person that you deserve, even if that’s never going to be me.
“And then there was this one dude that swiped on all three of my profiles? He messaged me and asked if I was taking Erin’s Intro to Psych class and then conversation just ensued from there and I just- I think I like him? So like I asked if he wanted to meet in person once I learned he took the class last spring and he actually lives just off campus, and he said yes, and like I think it’s a date because he asked if we could meet at a very specific cafe and when I asked if we could go to The Honeybee, he was insistent that we only meet at the cafe he mentioned, and only on a Monday, Friday, or Saturday.”
“That’s-” Ned was trying to get Peter to calm down a little.
“I just- I don’t know? I know that’s sort of suspicious but I sort of want to give it a chance because he said he like every single bit of me that I presented on all of the profiles-”
“Peter.”
“-and now I’m waiting for his response on what time would work best for him? I’m just hoping it’s when it’s busy even though it will be killer on my hearing,”
“Peter,” Ned tried to interrupt again.
“-it would be easier to disappear into a crowd and I really don’t want to have to disappear but I don’t want tomakehimsuspiciousbybringinganyonealongbutBrentwasn’treallythatlongagoandI-”
“Peter!”
“Shhhhhhhhh. You’re in a library.”
“Sorry.” Ned turned away from the other student with a grimace, continuing on in a whisper. “Peter, if you really want to give this a chance, do it. Just don’t leave us in the dark like that again, okay? You’re right that his behavior is a lot of suspicious, you have every right to be wary. But part of the problem with Brent was that you didn’t let anyone know what was happening, and it just kept escalating because you refused to get help. It didn’t just scare you, it scared us too. And no get that guilty look off your face, if we had put in more effort we could have seen the signs too. Anyway it goes, the only thing, the only thing we have ever asked of you is to not keep us in the dark when something is bugging you. We care about you. We want to make sure you’re safe.”
Peter sighed and glanced down from Ned’s intense gaze to where he was toying with the edge of the textbook page. Ned followed his gaze, then trailed his own to Peter’s phone that now laid in between them. Why am I about to do this, why, why, why?
“Here,” Ned handed Peter his phone, already unlocked to the text message from H. “He responded, just let us know when the date is, yeah? And send us some more information on him.”
“You’re leaving?” Peter looked at his friend with a hint of hurt and bewilderment across his expression.
“Peter, you’re obviously distracted trying to set up this date, and I can see what’s in that textbook - Mr. Stark taught you all of that back in senior year. As much as I would love to stay and hang out with you more,” I would love to stay, I would love it if you would choose me, if you would come with me, “I have to go grab my textbooks on fashion history and start thinking about an essay topic for that class.” No, I don’t, I did that all yesterday.
“Oh, okay, are we still on for lunch tomorrow then?” Yes, you beautiful human being you, I’ll take all the time I can get with you, no matter how much it pains me. “Ned?”
“Totally!” Ned hid his grimace behind a smile. “See you after class! Love you, man!”
“Love you, too!”
“Shhhhhh, you’re still in a library.”
Ned nodded in apology at the annoyed blonde sitting in the corner studying an advanced medical psychology book. She just rolled her eyes, sending a glare Peter’s way before turning back to her studying. With one last glance at Peter, who was already smiling down at his phone, Ned left the library with his heart heavy.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see a message from MJ.
From: Mini-Pepper
Meet me at coldstone, gym was closed.
Before he could reply or put his phone away, he got three more texts in quick succession.
From: Mini-Pepper
Don’t.
Bring.
Peter.
From: GITC
Love it of my usual please
He put his phone away and started the small trek to Coldstone. After a moment’s thought he pulled it back out.
From: GITC
Extra sprinkles
From: Mini-Pepper
Walk faster.
From: GITC
Aye Aye Cap’n
***
So yeah, Ned knew exactly why he was here at this cafe. He may never get Peter, but at least he can make sure Peter is safe with whoever he does end up with. In this case, said person is very, very cute, and Ned is absolutely not jealous.
“Why does Peter always get the cute ones?” Ned absolutely did not pout or whine. He didn’t. He just absolutely despised the fact that the universe decided to put together two of the cutest people he’d ever seen into each other’s arms. “I’m just as gay, and just as adorable, so, like, I don’t get it.”
MJ reached across the table and physically turned Ned’s head from where he was staring at his best friend on his date. Ned resisted the urge to turn back anyway.
“You’re gonna make him know we’re here, dumbass. Show some tact.” Ned finally gave his full attention to MJ. She was wearing one of his old shirts, one she had cut the sleeves off of, something she only did when she was worried about either of her boys. Ned thought quickly on how best to distract her from her worries, not wanting his friend to be hurting.
“It’s just not fair,” he continued on his previous conversation, hoping it would be enough to keep her from spiralling, but still looking for more distractions for himself her. “What do you think it is, is it just his vibe, or something else?”
Now that he’d asked the question, Ned was curious what MJ thought the answer could be, so he stared her down.
“Christ,” she muttered, and he watched her glance towards the counter before shaking herself ever so slightly and looking back at him. “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s his eyes.”
Ned felt a sense of righteousness as someone else voiced the power of Peter’s eyes, and he couldn’t stop his fist from slamming against the table, watching MJ roll her eyes and glance back over to the counter. Perfect, her gaze is staying over there, let’s figure out what’s got her attention. He continued to ramble about Peter’s eyes as he followed her gaze. “I knew it! Those - those - those damn Bambi eyes. God should not have graced him with those, let me say that right here, right now.”
“Yes, yes, they hold a power that no mortal should be allowed to have,” MJ continued the train of thought that Ned had voiced aloud many times before, waving him off and keeping her attention focused on the barista. A cute girl, wait isn’t that the girl from the library? She was studying psychology, right? She could be good for MJ. MJ could use someone else to hang out with than the two people she called losers. “We know.”
Ned drew his thoughts back to the present, and once again was slammed with the thought that Peter, his Peter, was on a date with a very persistent stranger. He turned back to his friend. “We do know. And now they’re probably wooing his date into loving him forever, which is so not fair, I’m telling you.”
It’s not fair because I want to be the one he stares at like that. But, no, he’s found this new guy, this “Harley”, and he seems absolutely enamored with the guy too. Just look at him, he hasn’t looked this excited since- since… Ned resisted the urge to shake his head, and continued what he was saying.
“I mean, as long as he’s not another Brent, I’m fine with him.” With one last glance to the happy duo, and a passing glance at the barista who was staring at their table, Ned turned back to MJ. Her gaze went a little cold as she thought back on Peter’s last boyfriend, her voice just as cold when she spoke.
“Brentley was a dick.” She always did like annoying him by saying his full name. “A dick who wouldn’t leave Peter alone until we went to the cops.”
Ned thought angrily back to that night, the fear in Peter’s eyes the only thing keeping him next to his side, opposite MJ, as cops looked around his apartment. He still hadn’t figured out how to get payback on Brent outside the restraining order Peter got. No one would hurt Peter and get away with it so easily.
“And now we’re just. Looking out for Peter. Making sure that this guy isn’t another Brent.” Ned nodded, thinking back to their conversation the other night at Coldstone when Peter had sent the finalized date details.
“Yeah. Yeah, I know. And that's a good thing, 'cause we're his best friends. It's just." Ned bit at his lip as he tried to think about how to not be obvious with his feelings for Peter. He was just glad the sunglasses he was wearing blocked MJ’s ability to see his eyes clearly. Girl was scary when she was in a psycho-analyzing mood. "We talked about what we'd do if this went bad. You know? Like, we know the plan if this guy turns out to be a bad apple. But. What if it goes well? What if they, like, hit it off?"
He hoped the pining wasn’t as obvious to MJ as it was to him. Ned listened to her curse and stare at the table as she thought it out, throwing a few glances at Peter and his date. “Well, I guess we’d. Do nothing. Just call him as soon as he leaves and be done with it.”
Ned nodded, accepting his fate to forever pine after his best friend. He went to glance back over at Peter, but stopped when he saw the barista staring again. Perfect distraction. He gave MJ a shit-eating grin as he formulated a plan in his head.
“The barista keeps looking at you,” he told her happily.
“What?” He watched as MJ’s head snapped over to the barista, just as the barista snapped her gaze away. “Oh. That’s.”
Ned choked back a laugh as he watched the stoic Michelle Jones get flustered at the thought that a girl was looking at her. “Are you kidding me? You’re not, you’re not going to do anything about it?”
“No?” she frowned, and Ned could not believe her. She always put on a selfish and uncaring front, but right now she was denying herself what she wanted because she was worried about Peter. Ned had to fix this. MJ deserved the world, she did so much for her boys. “Why would I?”
"You're literally–" No, he thought, shaking his head, that won’t work, different approach. "She's cute, you're cute, she's obviously somewhat interested in you. Go, I don't know, talk to her. Make conversation. Be your friendly self."
MJ didn’t look like she agreed with him. Especially that last bit. "She's probably looking at you, loser. Not every girl is a lesbian, you know."
“Oh my gods, why do I befriend self-sabotaging people?” Ned muttered to himself, rolling his eyes and staring MJ down. “Look. Maybe she's into girls, maybe not, I don't know. What I do know is that she keeps looking over here to stare at you."
"She could be staring at you for all we know."
Ned wanted to throw his arms in the air. This girl. Alright think, how can we prove it? He looked back over to the counter, feeling MJ’s glare across the table. The barista was staring at the table once more, and he waggled his eyebrows to see if she was in fact looking at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw MJ grip the edge of the table, unknowingly flexing her arm in the process. The barista’s mouth fell open and a flush spread up her cheeks. Interesting. He hummed in thought.
"So why, when I looked over, did she keep shooting looks at you and didn't even notice me?" Ned looked back to MJ when the barista looked away, and watched as his friend’s lip twitched upward while looking at the other girl.
“I…” Ned groaned inwardly as MJ shook her head and looked away. “We’re here for Peter, not for me to.”
MJ waved her hand about again, at a loss for words it seemed.
“Get a girlfriend?” He finished her thought, standing his ground against her glare. He had gotten used to pretending he had become impervious to her glares over the years. She still somewhat terrified him, but only because her affectionate glares were hard to tell from her ‘Don’t you fucking dare’ glares. He loved her for her stoicness, but he knows he never would have befriended her if he wasn’t so set on sticking with Peter. But now he really only wanted the best for both of his best friends. Even if that left him lonely and single as they moved on with their lives. “I mean, Peter and his date are obviously having fun. And are probably gonna be here for a while. And I’m here, so you’d be good to go talk to her. If you wanted.”
Ned hoped she would, because no matter how much it would hurt to see them happy without him, he really did want them to be happy.
“I’m fine.”
Ned stared at his friend, trying to figure out how to get her to gut up and go talk to the girl that had piqued her interest. He thought he had handled part of it with his explanation, but there had to be something more. She may pretend not to care, but she does.
With a new idea, Ned slid his face into a more innocent, and stoic expression, digging for his wallet. “Sure, fine. Cool.” He slid a ten from his wallet across the table. “Can you go pick me up a coffee? And an apple fritter, please.”
When MJ just glared at him, he blinked back with all Peter-innocence he could muster, putting his less powerful puppy dog eyes on standby. “What? I’m hungry.”
Ned sighed in relief when his friend took the excuse and made her way up to the counter. With her gone he could finally wipe away some of the tears that were forming in the corner of his eyes. Peter may have Parker luck when it comes to a lot of things, but it apparently just gave him a great guy, if what Ned was seeing across the cafe was any indication. This Harley guy gave off absolutely no creepy vibes, and had even sent a questioning glance Ned’s way when he got caught staring. Ned shook his head and frowned back at the table.
Peter was happy, Ned should be happy for him. MJ was about to be happy too if the vibes from the counter were right. Would Ned ever get more than just second-hand happiness watching his friends get everything they deserve?
Ned was lost in his thoughts until he heard Peter call out MJ’s name. Oh no, shit, hide.
“Wh- I told you not to come!”
“Ned made me.” Hide, hide, hide.
“Ned!” Too late.
As Peter approached, Ned gave up all pretenses of hiding and stood up to face his friend so fast his chair clattered backwards. At the sight of Peter’s anger, Ned just squeaked out a quick “Sorry” and ran out the door, a stream of apologies following him.
Idiot. I’m such an idiot, I spied on a date he specifically asked I didn’t, of course he’d be angry with me. Oh god, what if he doesn’t trust me anymore? He’ll cut me out and I’ll have to watch from afar as he falls in love with this other person and I’ll never be able to tell him that I think I’m in love with him. Oh god, I am absolutely in love with my best friend and he’s never going to feel the same way about me, is he?
“Ned, wait! Where are you going?” Still angry, go faster, hide if you can. Ned looked around frantically for any place he could hide. There, he thought as he saw an alcove in a building that had just enough foliage around it that if he crouched, Peter should run right past.
He was almost to the alcove when Peter caught up with him, grabbing his shoulder to bring him to a halt. Stupid spider speed.
“Ned? Are you okay? I swear I’m not that mad that you spied on my date. I do get why you did it.” Ned still couldn’t focus past “mad” and “spied on my date” and “why you did it” - missing all the words in between. Why couldn’t he breathe? “Ned? Ned?! Are you-”
“I’M SORRY!” Ned’s scream pulled the attention of several of the surrounding students, and very much concerned his friend.
“Ned? Why don’t we go somewhere private?” Ned glanced up just in time to see Peter throw an apologetic look over his shoulder. His head whipped around to see Peter’s date - Harley - nod in understanding, but glance at Ned with confusion once more.
“No, no, no. I’m ruining your date. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” And Ned used the fact that Peter’s hand was still on his shoulder to turn him around and shove him back at Harley. “Go. Go back to your date. You looked happy.” Before you saw me, when you thought I wasn’t there. Which is fine, that’s allowed, but god I wish you’d look at me the same way you were looking at him.
Ned turned around before he could see Peter’s face fall more into confusion as Harley stepped up next to him. Ned swallowed harshly as he made his way back to his dorm, refusing to think about how much it was going to hurt to watch the person he loved fall in love with someone else. Someone he very much deserved.
Ned had done his research when he was given Harley’s name. Even used some of Mr. Stark’s resources, not that he knew he still had access to those. Harley hailed from a small town in Tennessee, he was studying to be an engineer, and somehow had his college fees paid for by Mr. Stark himself, including his own apartment just off campus, on the opposite side of campus from Peter’s Stark-funded apartment. His forwarding address for the breaks was the Avengers Compound, and further digging showed that he was in Mr. Stark’s will. Even if they hadn't met now, they would have later, and Ned would still be absolutely screwed.
Ned had just made it back to his dorm room when MJ caught up to him. “You like him.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious. I figured that out myself in 7th grade.” Ned shoved the stubborn door open and resisted the urge to shut it on MJ. She’d just open it anyway.
He flopped down on his bed just in time to hear her say, “Oh. Shit. You’re in love with him.”
He whined into his pillows, sunglasses pressing into his face. He very much did not want to think about his situation, thank you very much. He had done enough thinking in the past few days, he just wanted to forget the world existed for a bit. He knew that would not be happening however, when he heard the door shut and MJ sit in his squeaky chair across the room.
“Well, that certainly is a sticky situation, what with you already giving your blessing for him to date again.” Ned whined again. “Wanna play Mario Kart?”
Ned picked his head up to look at her suspiciously, but she just went over to his TV to set everything up. They played in silence for a while before he spoke up.
“He was the first friend I made when I moved here. It was about two weeks into the school year already, and I had never been to such a big school, so the front office assigned him to show me around, and gave us pretty much the same schedule, too. Flash showed up at one point, and I actually stood up to him for what he was saying to Peter. I don’t regret that, even if he was horrible to us both for a long while after. He invited me to sit with him and this kid named Harry that transferred later in the semester. We talked about Star Wars all of lunch, and I brought up that I thought it’d be cool if we had a marathon.
“So we did, and then his uncle got us into the lego sets. We would all get together and have a guy’s night of watching Star Wars and putting together lego sets. We spent a lot of time at each other’s houses. When he learned about my family participating in First Friday, he asked if he could help. He refused any payment, but my parents always made sure he had any snacks he wanted at our house, and that they kept extra inhalers on hand, and extra glasses for him. They fell in love before I think I did.
“And then came high school, and I had to watch him get crush after crush on different people. There was Liz, then you for a short while, and Brad after the Blip. Senior year was just. Nothing. I think he was too worried about May when she had that accident, and then he overworked himself with Spiderman and college applications, and too many hours spent in the lab with Mr. Stark.
“And all the while, everytime he looked at me, I fell a tiny bit more in love. Everytime he went on about a new invention Mr. Stark approved of, or he listened to my outlandish theories about Star Wars and coding, or he saved another person on the streets, or stared Mr. Stark down to let him finish out high school the normal way, or any of the other millions of things he does that just make him, so, Peter.
“And then Brent happened this last summer, and I was so focused on telling myself that Brent only seemed like he was acting weird because I was jealous, that I missed all the signs of him actually being a fucking stalker. I told myself that I wouldn’t let my feelings for Peter get in the way of his happiness ever again. But it didn’t matter because he swore off all dating until he was out of school. Which was fine, it would give me time to figure out how the hell I could ask him out without ruining our friendship. And then- and then-”
“Harley happened.” MJ monotoned, shoving him off Rainbow Road. He sighed.
“And then Harley happened. I thought I would have more time to spend with him before someone came into the picture. He already is so busy, with his doubled course-load, still putting in hours as Spidey, going to visit May, and the monthly Avenger’s training days. I barely see him anymore. And then when I finally do, it turns out I’ve missed my shot to ask him out, and then today happens and I- I told myself for so long that even if I could never have Peter, I’d make sure that he ended up with someone worthy. And dammit, Harley is.”
“How do you know?” MJ got up to switch the game over to Super Smash Bros.
“Remember how I hacked the suit?” MJ nodded, handing Ned a better controller. “There was a backdoor into Mr. Stark’s servers, and pretty much anything he has access to, I have access to.”
“Cool. Is area 51 real?”
“Yup. Aliens galore. Oh and Peter Quill? The missing kid case from the 80’s? kidnapped by aliens to ship him to his dad, who was a planet that visited Earth.”
“Rad. So, what exactly happened today then? Why did you insist on spying if you already thought Harley was worthy?”
“Because I’m a glutton for punishment? I had to see for myself that I would be losing any chance of ever asking Peter out or having him love me back in the same way I love him. There was also the added bonus of you getting a date with the barista. Did you, by the way?”
“Her name’s Gwen.”
“I’ll take the flush on your cheeks as a yes. I saw you flexing for her.”
“Shut up.”
They played in silence for a while. They were pretty evenly matched at the moment, both distracted enough not to be giving their all, but paying enough attention to not just walk off the map.
“Thanks, MJ.”
“For what, loser?” Ned laughed and bumped her shoulder from where she sat next to him. He was grateful that she trusted him, otherwise he’d probably be very alone right now. They played for a while longer, MJ finally paying enough attention that she could beat Ned’s sloppy playing easily.
He glanced up when there was a knock at the door, and felt his heart rake spike a little. “Ned? MJ? Can I come in?”
“Come on in, loser.” Ned elbowed her before the door could open, and they just glared at each other for a second before returning their attention to the game, where Ned dealt a killing blow to MJ, winning the match.
“Oh no,” MJ said, her voice monotone and sarcastic. “A horrible defeat, I think I’m going to go sulk out in hallway.”
“MJ.” Both boys protested her leaving, but she just flipped them the bird. They watched as she closed the door and her shadow settled on the other side of the door.
The silence in the room was awkward and tense in a way it had never been between the two boys before. You could hear every shift in movement as they both fidgetted, both thinking through how they wanted to start this much needed conversation.
“I’m sorry- Oh, sorry, you go first, no, you, ugh.” A snort could be heard from the hallway after they both spoke at the same time. Peter broke the next silence first.
“Ned, what happened back there man? Is everything okay? I didn’t- I didn’t hurt you, did I? Oh gods, I totally did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, whatever it is I did, I didn’t mean it. I’ll take it back in an instant, just-”
Ned bit out a sharp laugh, and when he tried to hold back the second one, it came out as choked sob. “Oh my gods, I love you.”
“I love you, too, man. But I still don’t understand- what-”
“No, you don’t get it. I-” Ned broke off as he stood up and walked over to Peter. He looked up at him, slowly reaching up to grab each of his cheeks in hand. “I love you Peter Parker. I’ve been in love with you since the first day I met you, and I will continue to love you as you go off and conquer the world. I will continue to love you as I watch you fall in love with gorgeous people who are worthy of your time, and as I become more and more of a shadow in your background, a supporting character in the backstory the story the world will know one day. I love you for the way you get mad at me when I change your alarm tones to the most obscure songs in the middle of our pranks wars. I love you for the way that nothing is too small or too big for you to help with. Cat stuck in a tree? You got it. Bike being stolen? You’ll stop it, even if you can’t find the owner. Family facing homelessness and starvation? Oh, just let you ask your dad if there’s any job openings that happen to fit their exact resumes. Tony Stark shows up asking for your help? You go fight Captain America in Germany. Aliens show up for a second time on a class trip to the MoMA? You’re on it, even if you didn’t come back right away. I was terrified that day Peter. I knew you were doing what was right, but just the thought of losing you, I- I can’t. But watching you with Harley earlier? How your face lit up? And he looked back at you with all the love I’ve never dared to. And he just met you. And so when I finally confronted the reality that you had found someone, and then MJ went and talked to the barista, and then you saw us, and you looked angry, I just- I came to the realization that I’m never going to have you, and that’s okay, because at least you’ll be happy. Even if it hurts me, at least you’ll be happy.”
With that said, Ned reached on his tiptoes, tilting Peter’s head down to press a light kiss on his forehead, before returning them to their positions. Peter’s face was still frozen, and Ned, despite all the years knowing him, could not read what it was saying. So he just sighed and moved his hands from Peter’s face.
“I’ll give you some time to think about it. Don’t worry if you need to skip out on lunch tomorrow to take more time to think about it - but don’t actually skip lunch! Please remember to eat! You need to be at full capacity for training day this weekend and- mmphf.”
Ned glared at the arm connected to the hand that was currently pressed against his mouth. His eyebrows raised in shock at Peter’s next words, and he whined in protest.
“Harley! Come in here please!” Peter shouted into the hallway, whispering his next words as he stared into Ned’s eyes. “Trust me? Please?”
Ned just nodded as he heard the door open and a southern drawl speak. “What’s crack-a-lackin’ folks?”
Peter didn’t once take his gaze off Ned’s. “Can you tell Ned what you told me earlier after he ran off?”
“What? That he’s cute, totally likes you, you totally like him, and if half of what you said during our date was true that he’d be just as much of a catch as you are? That’d if he’d be willing and y’all talked it out, I would totally be open to dating you both? That?”
“Yes, that.” Peter rolled his eyes at Harley’s nonchalance before he looked back at Ned’s confused expression, slowly moving his hand out of the way. “And I think there might be a bit more to discuss, but I’m definitely open to the idea as well of dating my longtime crush and the cute southern boy that won’t stop staring at our asses.”
“I- huh?”
“Oh my god, he’s just as cute when he’s confused as fuck, how are you not already dating him? If you do not ask him out right here, right now, I will. Actually-”
“Thank you, Harley. Can I have a moment more to speak?”
“Sure, darlin’, I’ll be getting the shovel talk in the hallway if you need me.”
Peter waited until the door shut and he heard MJ start talking before he spoke up again.
“Ned, you’ve always been there for me, ever since I first had to figure out how to give a tour to a new kid of a school I barely knew. I watched someone who knew nothing about where he was, who was used to always kind people and small crowds, face down someone who said some ambiguously rude things to me, just because he could, when no else ever had. You were there for me when I needed a shoulder to cry on after losing Ben, you supported all the mischief I got up to in high school, and you were the first person outside of the Avengers and May to acknowledge I existed when I came back from that scary ass donut.” Ned let out a small laugh at that, and he felt unbelievable warmth at the smile Peter gave him. “You said that I’m always helping, no matter how big or small the issue? I’m just doing what I know you would do. Ned, you mean so much to me, and I would love to just, give this a chance.”
“Harley has a nice ass too!” Ned gasped and put his hands over his mouth. His next words were very much muffled behind his hands and underneath Peter’s own laughter. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud! Oh my gosh, that was so dumb. I am so glad MJ wasn’t in here for that.”
“You weren’t exactly quiet, loser.” MJ’s voice came from the doorway.
“Hey, that’s my potential future boyfriend you’re talking to.” Harley stood next to her, and though his tone was playful, his expression was completely serious as gazed between the two other boys. “So? I’m assuming the exclamation has some meaning?”
Peter and Ned shared a glance, before Ned nodded.
“How do you feel about a lego and movie night on,” Peter glanced at Ned’s calendar above his computer, “Thursday at 6? We could order pizza?”
“I think you’ve got a deal.”
“I think I’m in heaven.”
“Dorks.”
“You love us anyway.”
“Shut up.”
“Never.”
“Oh god, now there’s three of you. I’m gonna go find Gwen.”