*Music is provided for when you see this: "🎶"

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Thursday, 27th of October
2 Day(s) Until Party
6:21pm

     Ned Leeds sits on the bottom of Peter's bunk bed, completely focused on the computer in front of him. He munches on a slice of pepperoni pizza as he fast-types his way into Peter's phone. The amount of de-coding in a simple iPhone is what Ned loves to nerd-out about. But the fact that Peter asked him if he could find an old call he picked up a day ago really had him confused.

"So, tell me why I'm doing this for you again?" He asks Peter while typing in a few digits of code in his computer, "What's so important about a call that didn't even last for a minute?"

Peter sighs exasperatedly while putting on his blue jacket over top his green flannel. He'd tried to explain about the call as best as he possibly could to Ned, but it wasn't easy when he didn't exactly have a good story to tell.
"Ned, you'll see when you hear it okay? It was..some sort of an ear-busting opera lady's scream that made me go deaf for like—a minute straight."

Ned closes his laptop a little bit, enough for the screen to still be on.
"And you want me to play it back? Do you want me to go deaf?"
"No—just—find it, alright? I-I have to go before the store closes." Peter quickly combs his fingers through his hair, trying to fix it as best as he can.

Ned rolls his eyes and opens his laptop to continue his search for the history of Peter's calls. He opens a file containing all of the previous calls, one that is used for if the police department are trying to listen to past incoming or received calls. Ned's granddad was a technological expert in the NYPD so him knowing this stuff is just child's play.

"Okay, I got the list of numbers that called you yesterday—damn, you don't have that many. Most of these are just from Aunt May."

"Yeah, yeah, I have no friends," Peter mumbles and finishes his hair the best he could, and it really was no improvement, so he just leaves it as is. He goes over to where Ned is and leans over his computer and plugged-up phone, "Did you find the call? From around 8pm?"

"8:02pm..Yup, it's there. It'll take me about an hour for the recording to process through the metric system in the computer, then decrypt the code for the recording—"
"—An hour? Could you possibly do it any faster? I also still need to call the restaurant on a reservation for Saturday."

Ned shakes his head, a corner of his mouth smirks upwards, "Sorry dude, I'm not some sort of technopath that can speed up a loading screen."
Peter groans annoyed, getting up from the bottom bunk of the bed. "Woah—wait, restaurant reservations? Are you taking Madeline out or something?"

Peter shrugs, "I-I plan to," he says, quite embarrassed.

"Oooh, very suave, my good friend. The whole 'watching Netflix and fattening out on popcorn' thing will get old pretty quick." Ned says, pointing a waving finger in the air while also scrolling through code.

Peter scoffs, "Well..you know the money that I got for placing second in the science fair last year?"

"Two hundred dollars? Sounds familiar. Why—are you gonna spend it all for her?"

Peter nods and smiles with his head down, thinking about his plans on how to ask Madeline to the Halloween Party. It won't be much, but he at least wants to get her something.

"Yeah. I mean, she's worth it, you know? And I wanna take her on an actual date and make Saturday really special." He picks up a Rubik's cube from his cluttered desk and tosses it in between his hands.

He continues while walking around the circumference of his small room, "I'm still really confused on why she would even think about going out with a guy like me..so I just want to make it last and show her that I'm grateful she gave me chance."

"Oh God, just propose to her already, Romeo."  Ned groans from his mouth and his head hits the back of the backboard.

"Ha Ha." Peter remarks and playfully throws the Rubik's cube at his friend sitting on his bed. Ned tries to catch it but ends up failing miserably, earning a smirk from Peter.
"You know," he says with a thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure that would be illegal to get married at fifteen."

"Not if you get the parents' blessings! Then you can get married, I've seen it on TV." Ned says smartly and throws the cube back at Peter. He scoffs and catches it with ease, using his fast reflex time.

"Dude, whatever. Look, I need to leave now and make that call, can I borrow your phone for a bit?"
"Sure, just don't loose it," Ned gets his Samsung from his pocket and hands it over to the rushing teenager.

"Thanks, and May is making dinner so when your finished you can stay over if you want," Peter grabs a pair of keys from his desk and slings his backpack over his shoulder, "I'll be back in time for that to be done." He points to Ned's laptop and opens his bedroom door, letting in a scent of his Aunt's walnut meatloaf. He's silently thankful he decided to go out tonight, he would do anything to get out of eating walnut meatloaf leftovers.

"—Wait, I got it!" Ned exclaims to his friend. Peter whips his head around, surprised of how fast that took for Ned to finish the software.

"The recording's done?" He asks.

"No, no, you and Madeline can move to Kentucky."

Peter gives Ned a confused look, "What?" He says while chuckling.

"To marry her! You only have to be sixteen in that state so maybe next year—"
"—I'm not gonna marrying her while I'm still in high school, Ned."

"Ahh, not yet though. Am I right?" He keeps pressing on with a mischievous smile on his face. But Peter has had enough of his shenanigans and closes the door behind him with an annoyed shake of his head. He couldn't take anymore of his best friend's teasing so he walks half way down the hallway and on his way out of the apartment.

He could barely hear the last words that Ned says from behind the closed door. Something on the lines of, "You didn't deny it!"

Peter ignores the comment and slips on his beaten up sneakers by the door. He dismisses the thought of ever marrying at a young age, he's only a sophomore. He knows he's a pretty serious person about commitment, he'll go to the ends of the Earth for a person if he cares enough for them, but he doesn't think he could ever do something like that at this young age.

He already has what he ever wanted, school, working with Tony Stark, saving the city, and now an amazing and beautiful girlfriend; he wouldn't change anything about his life at all.

Peter notices his Aunt May zipping around the small and cramped kitchen, finishing the last touches on dinner. The burning smell of walnuts is all Peter inhales as he tries to not make a disgusted face in front of her. She notices him about to head out the door when she puts down the glass tray of meatloaf, almost burning herself with a seething hiss through her teeth.

"May, do you need help or something?" He asks his Aunt while tying his shoe. Peter notices the slight smoke that covers the entire ceiling and the kitchen lights peeking out of the thin gas.

"No—Peter it's alright," she says in between coughs. She uses her oven mitt to shoo away the smoke from triggering the fire detector, "Where are you heading off to?" May clears her throat while placing a hand on her hip, acting like nothing happened just now.

"Going out to get some things for tomorrow, if that's okay?"

"For the party—Yeah, sure, that's fine." She waves him off using her oven mitt, gesturing him that it's okay to go.

"Okay, cool." Peter finishes putting his shoes on and opens the door to their apartment, "I'll be back in a bit—"

"—Oh wait, Peter," Aunt May runs around the kitchen counter and grabs her wallet from her purse. She grabs a couple tens and goes over to her nephew, "could you perhaps grab some sandwiches from Delmar's? Dinner is—um, well.." She points to the smoking kitchen using her thumb and Peter nods.

"Got it. Oh, and Ned's here by the way. He's finishing up a project for school."

"And your not going to help him?" May asks, crossing her arms.

"I-I've already finished my part in it." Peter squeaks out and tries to convince his Aunt with his tiny fib, "I'll be back in a few with food, then I'll help okay?" He reassures her while fiddling with his apartment keys.

Aunt May squints her eyes for a moment at the teenager, digging her eyes into Peter's soul. She almost seems scary but he tries his best to keep a straight face. She sighs, giving up, and nods her head, "Fine. Go on. Be back by 8:30 please?"

"Sure, thank you May." Peter sings and almost flies out the door.
It doesn't take him long to be down the condominium hallway and out of his apartment complex.

The outside weather hits him like a bus, almost paralyzing him where he stands. The chilling breeze spikes his spine all the way up and down. The many hairs on his arms rise as Peter exhales, a trail of frozen air escaping his half-closed mouth. He puts his exposed hands in his jacket pockets for warmth, balling them into fists. His metal webshooters are still wrapped around his wrists, freezing his skin by the touch. Looking above him, the shine of what is little left of sunlight peeks through dark and gloomy clouds.

Peter has always loved the beginning brink of winter solstice, the time where fall slowly deepens into a colder weather little by little. He also loves this time because it holds his three favorite holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It's the three holidays where he could spend time with his friends and only family, happy and living life in the moment.

Peter takes out Ned's phone and types in the number for the restaurant he wants to make reservations for. And after awhile of walking up the street and talking to the man on the other side, he finishes placing his reservation for Saturday at 7pm and hangs up the call. A proud grin spreads across his face as he happily feels content with the place he picked out to eat with Madeline.

Peter opens the Spotify app and scrolls through the list of songs Ned has; it's mostly songs he himself has put in his friend's account.

He puts one of his personalized playlists on shuffle and the song Yellow by Coldplay comes on. The music drowns out any and all city ramble, the cars honking, rain pitter-pattering on windows, and the occasional street talk on the side. Having an enhanced power could be a bit much for the boy to handle every single second, so music could be his only escape.

🎶

Peter walks past the many unnoticed civilians wearing snug clothing and holding different colored umbrellas. The rain softly hits the top of his head as he walks among puddles of water. He looks up toward the sky, squinting his eyes as a reflex from the rain dripping on his face. The sun begins to set as the rain seems to only come down faster, but the teen doesn't seem to mind it. A light burst of chilling wind whips around his body, finding a way to enter in his hood and sending goosebumps down his neck. He shivers, rolling his shoulders back and takes a few heaving, cold breathes.

The walk to Mr. Delmar's sandwich shop wasn't that far, six blocks away from his apartment at least. Peter could've taken the bus, but he wanted to enjoy the peaceful walk for as long as possible. He quickly runs across the street and on the other side of the bodega, a couple cars flashing bright headlights honk their cars.

The sandwich shop isn't as busy as it normally is, probably because of the freezing weather. Only a couple of people are there, including Mr. Delmar himself running the counter. The forty year old man looks up from helping a customer to Peter, greeting him with a friendly smile, "Ah, there he is!" Mr. Delmar announces with a hearty laugh. Peter returns the grin and unplugs one of his earbuds from his right ear.

"How's it goin' kid? Want the usual?" He asks the fifteen year old while handing a wrapped sandwich to a customer.

"Pretty okay—and yeah, could you also add on a-uh..Turkey Valentino and a Sinatra Special?" Peter says while spinning an earbud in between his fingertips.

"Sure thing, un número cinco, Valentino y Sinatra por favor," Mr. Delmar says over his shoulder to his part-time helper. The skinny Puerto Rican boy nods and starts to quickly put together Peter's order. "Getting dinner for the fam or are you gonna eat all three," the Latino man jokes with a low-bellied laugh.

Peter shakes his head while grabbing a bag of his favorite gummy candy off the shelf next to him, "Yeah, just grabbing some stuff for May and a friend who's staying over."

"Ahh," Mr. Delmar sighs and leans on the counter in front of him with his elbows. Peter notices the warming smile that spreads and touches his ears, "how's your Aunt, doing good?"
The teen gives him a skeptical look, ". . .fine."

He silently bets on the next thing the man is going to ask him. Peter always knew that Mr Delmar has had a liking for Aunt May, but he honestly couldn't see the two together.

"She still single—?" He asks him, earning a spiking sigh from the boy,
"—C'mon man," Peter grumbles under his breath that's loud enough for Mr. Delmar to hear. His bet was right.

"Never hurts to ask, little hombre. That'll be seventeen by the way," he shrugs and the high schooler rolls his eyes. Peter grabs a couple of tens from his jacket pocket and hands it over to pay for his food. "Speaking of single, I should be congratulating you."

"On...what?"

"On getting out of being single, 'bout damn time too if you ask me," Mr. Delmar chuckles, and expects Peter to laugh with him too. But he just stares at the man with a graying beard in surprise.

"How-how did you know that—?"
"—Word of mouth spreads pretty fast around here, kid. That, and Rosalyn goes to your school. She's seen you and that Osborn señorita around together for two weeks now." Mr. Delmar turns his conversation away from Peter to count the money he gave him, leaving him to his thoughts.

"Yeah..right," Peter says nonchalantly, looking down at his feet while nodding his head subconsciously.
He knows there's no getting away from word of mouth, Madeline Osborn is a popular girl in school and out.

"Oye, Parker, you gonna take these or what?" Peter is suddenly snapped back into reality when Mr. Delmar waves a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, yeah," he shakes his head to get rid of the lingering thoughts and scoops up the plastic bag with sandwiches in it, "hey, I'll see you around, Mr. D."

Peter quickly jogs out of the door and waves him off, putting the earbud back in his ear. The music is loud enough to almost drown out Mr Delmar voice, bidding him goodbye.

The once warmth Peter felt just seconds ago now is slowly dropped away as the crisp air nips at his nose. He searches for the fastest route to the nearest drug store and spots one only a couple yards away called Polymer's. On the way, the boy couldn't stop thinking about how unbelievably fast word travelled around in Queens about him and Madeline. He doesn't know wether that's good, or bad yet, but it's definitely something he'll have to eventually get used to.

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