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Peter narrowed his eyes. Someone sounded like they were breathing through a bowl of jelly. He could hear the soft crackle of congestion in someone’s chest as they breathed. It didn’t sound all that concerning, but it was irritating all the same. At least he didn’t have to feel guilty about being annoyed by the constant rattle.
High school was a petri dish. He knew that better than anyone. He’d been like a glue trap to illnesses growing up, and he would’ve been rich if he put money on whether he’d catch the next round of viral infections. Hearing someone sniffle had been like hearing the trumpet sound, and he’d prepare himself for the four horsemen of sickness to get him.
He glanced around the room, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Hopefully they wouldn’t be in his next class so he could actually concentrate on what the teacher was saying. It was somewhere near the back of the class, around where MJ sat so she could draw in peace. She’d only let him peek at her sketchbook a handful of times, but with how often he spotted her with a pencil in her hand, she must go through them like crazy. He wondered how many were of him. Maybe he should get her one of those massive sketchbooks for her birthday, but he didn’t know the first thing about what made a sketchbook good. Perhaps a small one would be better so she could covertly draw without being spotted as easily, but that would mean she’d have to draw smaller than usual. Was that harder? It must be harder to capture all the details.
“Mr Parker, is there something interesting back there?” the teacher asked, smug as all teachers are when they catch you out. He whipped his head back to the front of the classroom, kicking himself for being so obvious.
“I was just stretching my neck, sorry,” he lied. He really needed to get better at lying.
“How about we save that for between periods?” The class tittered, and he thanked every higher power that Flash hadn’t been in attendance.
“Yes, sir.”
Whoever it was could now introduce themselves to Peter’s top five most annoying people, right below the person who kept getting the last number 5 at the deli but above the person who closed the emergency door behind them so he couldn’t fare dodge. He could obviously push the door back open, but he felt too guilty to do it himself.
They kept sniffling but never blew their nose, so every few seconds he could hear the mucus gargle in their nose. They’d cough pathetically and hear the phlegm in their chest jiggle, but never fully clear. The whole thing knocked him sick, and he chalked up the day to a loss. It wouldn’t kill his GPA, and he could always go back to the lesson plans, but it still irked him that this was out of his hands. At least MJ was coming over after school to hang out for a bit before he went swinging around New York.
As sick as it made him, he still sat down at lunch with his double helping. The lunch lady definitely shouldn’t be giving him without charging double, but he wasn’t complaining. Ned passed him a pack of gummy worms as soon as he sat down in front of him, conveniently leaving the space by his side open for MJ.
Their relationship was still brand new, but Ned was all for it. He was probably their biggest fan, which was great but came with its own set of challenges. If they didn’t chat as much as usual, he would pull Peter aside and ask what happened, and no wouldn’t be a valid answer. If MJ didn’t let him pick off her plate, he’d ask her if she wanted her boyfriend to starve. It could be worse; he could get incredibly jealous of their newfound closeness and act petty about it.
“It’s driving me nuts! It’s worse than that one guy who kept chewing gum but couldn’t blow a bubble to save his life,” he complained.
“Worse than the guy who used to Lynx bomb the changing rooms?” He thought about it for a moment the shook his head.
“No, I think nothing can top that guy,” he replied. “They’re always near MJ, though. It’d suck if she got sick.”
“Nuh uh! That’s prime brownie points territory.”
“I don’t think that’s how relationships work.”
“Oh, it absolutely is.”
“It-” He paused as that dreaded snotty sound assaulted his ears. Great, he couldn’t even eat without hearing all the human body had to offer in the mucus department. It wasn’t like he got to eat in peace in the first place since he could hear all the food sloshing around everyone’s mouths, but he’d gotten good at drowning it out. This sound was new, though, so it took up more space than the others.
Ned saw his face fall and raised an eyebrow.
“They’re here.”
“Who’s here?”
Peter turned to find MJ and realised, in complete and absolute horror, his biggest enemy of the day was none other than his girlfriend. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and plopped herself down next to him.
“You’re sick.”
“Ya think?” she answered sarcastically. “You want my lunch?”
“You should really eat it,” he protested weakly. She was already divvying up her portion onto his plate, but he forced her to at least keep the orange for the vitamin C. It was a bit late for that now, but it couldn’t hurt. “Why didn’t you say you were sick?”
“You’ve been staring at me all day.”
“I didn’t know that was you!”
It was even worse close up. He could practically feel every ounce of congestion. The crackle in her voice popped in his ears, making his skin crawl. The irritation he felt had been bulldozed by concern, which he admittedly preferred. He wasn’t sitting on pins anymore, at least.
“You sound really bad. Shouldn’t you stay at home?”
“It’s a cold, not the plague. Probably sounds worse with your hearing.” She sniffled and, thankfully, he didn’t gag as the noise assaulted his ears.
“I’ll go get you a tissue,” he mumbled, escaping quickly. He may be concerned, but that didn’t make it any less gross.
If she didn’t need to keep her attendance high to compete on the Decathlon team, MJ wouldn’t have bothered to come in until she could breathe through her nose again. Everything she drew seemed to reflect her sickness, the lines wobbly where they shouldn’t be, and all the faces looked incredibly stiff. Her schoolwork didn’t fare any better.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sick before,” Ned commented, then gasped. “Is this your first time being sick with Peter?”
“I guess? Why?”
“This is a relationship landmark!”
“I really wouldn’t call it that. It’s embarrassing more than anything. I mean, he can hear all this stuff. He probably went to throw up because I sound so gross.” Her own stomach lurched at the thought. She did consider not bothering to sit with them at lunch, but knowing the pair, their bundled anxiety would just result in a manhunt, and she was in no mood for their dramatics. At least she’d have company in her misery if she sat with them.
“Yeah but-”
“Napkins!” Peter announced, setting down a bundle on the table. She picked one from the pile and blew her nose, stuffing the rest into her jacket. “Did you still want to hang out later?”
Her first thought was to refuse. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed and hibernate until she felt better, but there was a nagging voice arguing she’d feel better having someone to look after her. Her parents would just leave her to it, maybe providing some light meals if they found the time in between their shifts, but she’d be left to her own devices for the most part. She knew Peter would take care of her in that awkward way he looked out for everyone around him.
She briefly glanced at Ned, who cupped the side of his face closest to Peter and mouthed ‘Relationship landmark’ dramatically. She rolled her eyes at him. It did sound nice to have Peter all to herself. He couldn’t get sick either, so she didn’t need to feel guilty about spreading her germs all over him. Her mind easily conjured up images of them cuddled up with mugs in their hands and whatever trash TV he got on cable.
“We don’t have to,” he added nervously. “It’s no biggie. I mean, I want to hang out with you because I’ve been looking forward to it, but totally no pressure at all, because I get you might wanna be alone or in your own home, so maybe I could go to yours, but we don’t have to do anything at all, and we could do it another time-”
“It’s fine, Peter. I’m still up for it. If you don’t mind?”
“No, yeah, I don’t mind like at all!” Ned gave her a thumbs up. Nerd.
The trip to Peter’s apartment was thankfully short, and MJ was about ready to collapse onto the first plush surface she found. He took her bag and coat from her, hanging them up like they belonged on his coat rack and motioned for her to take a seat on the sofa. She trudged her way over as she listened to him rustle about in the kitchen and let herself sink into the well-loved cushions. She barely managed to conceal a yawn and fought to keep her eyes from closing.
When Peter reappeared, he did so with a lap tray filled with various items. He set it down on the small coffee table where she got a good look at it. A packet of throat soothers and a few cut-up blister packs with only two or three tablets left in them caught her eye first. She could feel her last dose beginning to wear off, so she snapped them up quickly. He was already passing her a glass of water to take them with. She took it gratefully and took stock of the other items. A plate of plain crackers, some with butter and some without, and gingerbread men, which made her raise an eyebrow.
“May says ginger is good for when you’re sick.”
“I’m not sure how much ginger is in a gingerbread man to make a difference.”
“Hey, I caught everything there was to catch in middle school, and these saw me through. If you feel up to it, I have some ginger cake too, but I thought that might be too heavy.” She blushed knowing he’d thought of her as he raided the cupboard, considering what would be the best. It was weird to be seen like that, but she was glad for it.
Next were three cups. One steamed, one was neon orange, and the last was the water he’d passed to her.
“Warm drink, healthy drink, cold drink,” he explained. “Tea, one of those vitamin C tablet thingies and water.”
“Another thing May swears by?”
“I like having multiple drinks on the go. Usually it’s a warm drink, a fun drink and a cold drink, but I don’t have anything name-brand, and I know people get funny about store-brand sodas.”
“You know I don’t care about that, right?” she questioned. She never cared about what Peter did or didn’t have. She didn’t care when his gifts came from a discount store or were heavily reduced because they were always so her. He was thoughtful; it didn’t matter what money he spent. If anything, she’d hate to have him spend his last penny on her.
“I know, I meant more tastewise. Sometimes they do get a little funky,” he said with a chuckle. “Oh, I could also make you something? We have some tins of soup, but they’re shiners, so I don’t really know what’s in them.”
“How do you know they’re soup then?”
“The last three have been soup, so odds are they’re all soup.” He moved a little closer, awkwardly putting his arm on the back of the couch. She tutted, dragging his hand down and shuffling closer so his arm could wrap around her shoulders.
“I’m sick. Don’t make me work for it.” His face turned bright red. She looked a mess; she knew she did, but she could see that twinkle in his eye like he was looking at the most amazing thing to ever exist. Sap.
“O-Okay,” he stuttered, flustered. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV before surrendering it to her. “We only have a few channels, but I’m working on that. Been a little busy with some Spider-Man stuff, so it fell on the back burner.”
“I don’t mind. I don’t think I have the brain power to watch anything taxing anyway.” She picked whatever came up first and leaned back into him. “You’re cold,” she stated.
“Oh, sorry.”
He moved to create some space, but her fingers dug into his side and yanked him back closer than they’d started. She rested her head in the crook of his neck, and had his burning blush not taken up his focus, he would’ve noted that she felt like a tiny space heater. She let out a contented sigh and eased her grip slightly. Not fully. He had the strength to break out of her hands, but he wouldn’t for anything short of a world-ending threat rampaging outside.
“‘S nice. Move, and I’ll break up with you.” Her head bounced gently as he laughed. “I’m serious.”