Nothing Happened Next
Peter had some pride. He wasn’t going to hang outside of Steve’s apartment and cry. It seemed desperate.
He wanted to find somewhere isolated and private, but he didn’t know the area that well. So he just walked in the direction of the university. He wasn’t going to risk crying on a bus either. As he walked, he hoped he wouldn’t run into anyone. He couldn’t hold back the tears, but he did manage to hold back the wails he was aching to release. They came out as sobs.
A few hours later, he finally made it back to his dorm. He was tired and dehydrated. He was glad Scott wasn’t home. He drew a warm bath and got inside. He cried some more. And then he showered and did more crying.
The following week was spent cramming. He didn’t text Steve and didn’t receive any messages from him. At one point he noticed the man had unfollowed him and he had to hold back his tears and focus on his studying. At least he hadn’t blocked him. There was still some kind of hope.
For the most part, the studying kept him sane. Trying to memorize random facts made him temporarily forget about Steve. The man would come up in his head every time he put a book down and he was sick of it by the end of the week. He wanted to forget everything about Steve. He wished he had never met the man. He knew thinking about him was detrimental to getting over him. But he also knew there was nothing he could do about it except keep studying.
Scott had noticed something was wrong and asked him about it, but Peter told him he didn’t want to talk about it and went back to studying. He’d tell him eventually, he just didn’t want to burst out into tears as he told him.
The following week was finals week. He would see if all his work the whole semester had paid off. He didn’t feel too bad about it. He had done all his work throughout the semester and had learned a lot of things he didn’t think he would be able to forget, but part of him was still worried. He didn’t want to let May down. Especially after how big of a distraction Steve was.
At his final exam, Peter had to calm himself down and tell himself to stop looking up. Sitting in front of him was another student with the same shade of blond hair that Steve had. It was distracting. He wished he had sat somewhere else, but he also knew it was silly. The student, Thor Odinson, was nothing like Steve. He was surprised Thor had even shown up to the exam. Peter had seen him sleep through class practically the whole semester. Peter focused on his exam and as soon as he was done, rushed out of the room so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at the back of the guy’s head.
As he walked back to his dorm, Peter couldn’t help but look around campus. He wanted to have a moment to reflect on everything that had happened there and everything he had learned. Not so much in class, but outside of class. He stopped when his thoughts got back around to Steve.
When he got to his room, his Aunt May was waiting outside with a gift-wrapped box. “Hi May!” he said excitedly.
“Peter!” They hugged and Peter stared at the present. “How was your last final?”
“Brutal,” he answered. “What’s that?”
May looked down at the box in her hands and shrugged. “I don’t know. It was here before I got here. Maybe it’s from one of your friends. It has your name on it.”
She handed the gift over and Peter did see that it had, “To: Peter” written on it visibly. He wondered if it was from Carol or Hope. He was a bit sad he hadn’t seen them in a while and regretted not going to their final game night. He had to make sure he kept in touch with them over the break.
Peter and May went inside the dorm to grab his stuff. This time he was already packed. He couldn’t wait to get back home. He didn’t know what he would do to distract himself, but he knew he would rather do it as far away from campus and from Steve as he could. Plus, he knew Ned and Michelle would be back so he could spend much needed time with them.
The drive back was spent listening to Christmas music and Peter telling May about how he felt he did in his finals. Eventually May asked about the girl he was seeing and Peter skirted around the subject. He wasn’t ready to tell her that it was over, even if it wasn’t a girl he had been seeing. He just turned up the volume, exclaiming he loved whatever song was playing, and hummed along.
When they got back to the house, Peter went straight to his room, telling May he was tired and wanted to take a nap. He lay in bed staring up at the glow-in-the-dark stars his Uncle Ben had put up on the ceiling when he was little. He’d tried to recreate as many constellations as he could and Peter appreciated it. Eventually he fell asleep, but not before wondering what he could do to take his mind off Steve. He was still taking up space in there, rent free.
The next day, May woke him up to help her decorate the Christmas tree. In his rush to get to bed, he hadn’t even noticed the tree was bare. Apparently May wanted to wait for him to decorate it, because it was tradition that they did it together, especially now that Ben was gone.
It was a nice distraction and a nice trip down memory lane as they looked through the Christmas ornament box. But Peter needed more distractions. He tried to read and watch tv for the next few days, but couldn’t focus enough to actually retain anything. He gave up when he got a message from Ned saying that he was finally back.
The two decided to meet up the next day and as if she had been part of the conversation the whole time, Michelle showed up as well. They met up at the same park they had seen each other last. Peter frowned as he saw both Michelle and Ned had brought gifts; he had forgotten to get gifts for anyone. Still, the two welcomed him with open arms and long hugs. He was surprised Michelle held on so long. She must have missed him a lot.
They spent some time catching up. Ned was doing well in school and had joined a few clubs, making plenty of new friends. Michelle was lacking in the friend department, but she said all she really needed was Gwen. After the long hug, Peter wasn’t sure he believed her. She also said she was doing well with her classes.
The conversation moved to love and Peter sat uncomfortably as he heard about how happy they both were. Ned and Betty were making the long distance work with plenty of Discord calls. They would play video games together every night. Michelle said she didn’t know how they did it, but was happy for them. She was also doing well with Gwen, but attributed that to still living in the same city and not having to see each other every day. She said that, but Peter knew better. He could tell she was lonely, but he didn’t say anything so he wouldn’t hurt her pride.
And then they looked at him.
“So, how’s Steve?” Michelle asked.
“Who’s Steve?” Ned questioned.
Peter didn’t want to talk about it, but he knew he had to. He had a lot to say and he had to get it out before he had a breakdown. He started by explaining to Ned who Steve was and how they’d met.
“A gay bar? Noice.”
Then he explained how they started talking and how Steve had found him on instagram.
“Ooh stalker much?”
He told them about how Steve had reacted when he asked him if he thought of him as more than a friend.
“That’s not an answer!”
And about how they’d first kissed.
“Ooh what!?”
And how they’d kissed again.
“Awww, Peter!”
About their first date.
“That’s pretty darn romantic.”
About their makeout session at the bar.
“In front of everyone?”
“You tried to get it on in the bathroom?”
And about their time in his dorm room.
“You sure do get interrupted a lot..”
But when it finally came down to telling them about his last night with Steve, he hesitated. He didn’t want to relive it.
“What happened next?” Ned asked.
Peter looked away from his friends and behind them, off in the distance, as if it were some kind of sign, he saw Flash Thompson walking a dog. He quickly looked away to not catch Ned and Michelle’s attention. “Nothing happened next,” Peter said. “He found out I lied about my age and...I haven’t seen him since. Haven’t spoken to him.”
“That’s some bullshit,” Michelle commented.
“I’m sorry, Peter,” Ned said.
“It is what it is,” Peter replied, trying to seem as casual as he could about it.
They soon said their goodbyes and merry Christmases. Peter took his gifts and told them he would drop by both of their houses to drop theirs off before Christmas. On his walk back home, Peter was distracted by a thought. A way that he could possibly get what he wanted and distract himself from Steve for good.
There was always the possibility that it wouldn’t work and would only be temporary, but he had to try. And as if fate itself was telling him he was right, he ran into the very person he was thinking about.
“Hey Flash.”