The Intro
The wind howled, screeching at the world as thin tree branches clawed at the window, begging to creep inside. The night was loud with the fervor and rage of the wind picking up, rain splattering against the windows as they pelted against the solid concrete outside of the dorm room. Against the window, an unmistakable Peter Parker’s face was lit up by the blue screen beneath him, fingers typing away, as the lights had turned off.
“Are we still on for tomorrow?” One text read, and three bubbles popped up before the reply.
“Yeah! There’s a small gaming store I found the other day that we could drop by and visit”
A smile lit his face up, and he shot back another message.
“Awesome! Can’t wait :) “
Then, no reply. No three bubbles illuminating his screen. Turning off his phone, he could picture her now- broad-shouldered, hair in a bun that showed off her high undercut, amber eyes wandering as she took in the sight of some new place.
Amira.
A familiar name, one that he had grown to warm up to. The first friend he made at college, despite not being from his college, and his closest. MJ had gone to a college in Seattle, reputed for their journaling program, and Ned had gone to Virginia Tech, so MIT left him feeling alone for the first time in a while.
It was summer, orientation had just finished, and he was exploring Boston by himself, soaking in the sun during that warm summer day. He had made his way far across the city, reaching the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport district when somebody else there caught his eyes.
Honestly, he didn’t remember how or why they started talking, but they had bonded pretty quickly over a shared interest in all things nerdy- she had gone to the American Chemistry Society meeting there a few summers back, and he knew that any sort of ComicCon conventions later in the year would be held there, and they started to bond. They spent the rest of the day together, her a bit of a native in the region and him basically clueless, before they exchanged numbers. Since then, they had been chatting nearly every day, and spent their weekends helping each other study, even if they had completely different majors.
Amira.
He had felt like he had known her for a lifetime, not just for a few months. And as the December rain turned to sleet outside of his dorm room, he felt a smile creep up on his face. With winter break around the corner, he would be returning to the Avengers facilities, cozying up in New York, but this would be his first winter break where he was alone. Ned was staying at VT to work on some big project that he had planned, and MJ was taking the break to travel. Sure, some of his friends at MIT were nice, and he could ask them if they wanted to spend a weekend in NY with him, but this felt different. None of them knew who he was, who he was connected with, of his secret identity.
Amira was the only one who sort of did- well, she knew he was Spidey after a particular event one September evening, but she had stayed silent on it, and while she probably assumed that he was connected with the Avengers, she never probed or made a fuss out of it.
And Amira was a mystery anyways. She never really spoke about her family, and she was from somewhere in Massachusetts, but he felt bad for forgetting where exactly. Plus, she said that she was interested in just staying in Boston for the break, where she was free to drink an ungodly amount of tea, find a place to spend some afternoons ice skating, and just overall stay in and probably play too much Dungeons and Dragons.
Peter thought about it, thought about her and their time spent together, and turned on his phone again. One new message from Tony Stark, and opening up revealed the million dollar question that had been on his mind:
“Hey kiddo, you mentioned earlier today about maybe inviting a friend to stay at the compound over break with you. Have any ideas on who the lucky winner would be?”
He had been planning to return to New York for the break for weeks now, but he wanted to share it with somebody else. Not just so they made sure he didn’t work himself to death, but because he just wanted to, wanted to spend his time with a friend.
And so he switched the conversation, and started typing something for Amira:
“Hey, you want to come over for the holidays? No pressure if you don’t, but since you had been mentioned staying cooped up here alone…”
And send. Not even a minute later, the familiar three bubbles popped up, and a reply came in.
“Sure, as long as it isn’t a bother to you! Where would we be staying, exactly?”
“With my fam, in the Compound. Is that alright with you?”
“Fine by me, you need me to bring anything?”
“Just some of your famous macarons plz”
“Okay, I can do that. Thanks for the invite!”
And with that, he went back to his conversation with Tony’s, and typed in:
“Yeah, I’ve got a friend staying with us. Do you mind?”
“Nope. Send me her name, and she’ll be all set”
“Amira Beaulieu”
And with that he felt a giddy feeling rising in his chest, as he breathed a sigh of… relief, anticipation maybe? He couldn’t tell, probably a mix of things. But nonetheless he was excited for what was coming.