Tag. Ever since you were 5, Peter, Ned, Mj and yourself had played a game of tag for the entire month of June. It was the bond that held you together all through elementary, Jr. high and now high school. Now it was after your senior year and with the threat of being pulled apart by college, this year had definitely proven to be the most extreme yet.
The only ground rules were as follows:
- No tag backs
- No hitting of private parts
- No outsiders allowed to join
- Nothing is off limits
- No superpowers
fuck you Peter
In the 13 years of the game all of you had gone to extreme lengths in order to get rid of the cursed tag. Highlights include: crashing Ned’s aunt’s wedding and tipping over the cake in the process (smooth move Parker), running through a protest and accidentally breaking your arm while going after Mj and lastly finding out Peter was Spider-man when you sneaked up on him and he jumped to the ceiling. After that you had to add the 5th rule.
With school out, nothing was holding you back from putting everything you had into this motherfucking game. You were it with 5 days to go. Ned had tagged you so he wasn’t a target. Mj and you had made a truce to get Peter, he hadn’t been tagged yet this year- that was unacceptable. Luckily, you had Peter wrapped around your finger. Mj knew this was because that boy had been head over heels for you since the 3rd grade when he realized girls didn’t have cooties.
Mj put a tracker she and Ned had made into Peter’s backpack earlier that day. You followed him to a park, happy to finally have the upper hand. You hid behind a rock and watched the small dot on your phone get closer and closer to you. Finally you heard his voice, you couldn’t hear what he was saying- honestly in the moment you couldn’t care less.
As soon as the dot pass the rock and you saw his black converse appear on the path you jumped up and threw yourself on his back “You’re it!” You laughed as he let out a surprised yelp. You hopped down and started to take in the world around Peter Parker. Right behind him- who he had probably been talking to was Tony-fucking-Stark. Your cheeks heated up and you felt your knees go weak. You had just jumped on a guys back in the middle of a park while they were walking with a famous billionaire who had no idea you even knew him.
Peter turned to you and bit his lip. “I-I… I’m sorry- I didn’t. Shit.” Peters cheeks were pinker by the second. “Mr. Stark, this is uh, (y/n).” Peter motioned to you Tony put his hand out to shake, “I’ve heard quite a bit about you. I didn’t think this is how we’d end up meeting.” He smiled and you nearly fell over. Peter talked about you? You’d be sure to bring that up later.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I don’t normally go out and jump on peoples backs by the way.” You quickly grasped onto what was left of your reputation. “That’s a relief. Can I ask what made you do it now?” Peter rubbed the back of his neck before sighing, “It’s a game. We um- Us and our friends play this game of tag every June- its kinda a big deal and (y/n) was it and I hadn’t been tagged this year. How’d you even know where I was?” You turned him around and unzipped his front pocket, digging out the small device and handing it to him. “Mj made a tracker.”
His eyes widened, “wow.” You nodded and shifted awkwardly, “I um- should get back to Mj… We were uh, studying…” You nodded to Peter and waved to Tony while backing up, ready to run away as fast as humanly possible. “Nice to meet you Mr. Stark!” He smiled again before you took off.
You didn’t see Peter for a 2 days until you and Mj were taking your weekly trip to the beach. This wasn’t to say that either of you were very inclined to go sit on a crowded beach that smelled of bird shit and sunscreen but you both did enjoy the people watching. Ned decided to join after the promise of ice cream.
You sat on a towel, sunglasses blocking out the harsh light, bathing suit covered with a loose white tee. Mj was reading a book- more than likely about a civil rights issue that you would definitely learn about as soon as she finished the book and was able to properly argue with no one but direct the rant at you. Ned was sitting back and just enjoying the heat with earbuds playing music softly.
Everything was at peace until out of nowhere the book was knocked from Mj’s hands and Peter appeared running by and leaning down to tap her shoulder, “gotcha!” Mj didn’t miss a beat to lean over and hit you, “Go get em tiger.” You scrambled to your feet and took off in his direction.
You maneuvered between towels and kids playing, never letting your eyes off of Peter. He looked over his shoulder to see you closing in on him. He ran onto a volleyball court and barely missed the bottom on the net while attempting to make it, you let yourself slide under on your knees with ease, quickly catching up. Peter took a sharp turn for the ocean. Sadly for him, some kid had been working on a sandcastle and left the bucket lying around, catching his foot and causing him to topple over. You couldn’t stop yourself soon enough and fell right on top of him. You laughed against his chest, “Not fast enough Parker.” You chuckled again before being knocked off Peter by a wave.
Peter got up and started back towards where you both had left Ned and Mj. “If I tag Ned, we both run and let Mj fend for herself?” He asked, you chuckled and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” When you reached the towels you quickly picked up your phone and towel as Peter tapped Ned, “Sorry!” You yelled and then took off laughing with Peter once again.
7 am, June 30th. 17 hours until the end of the game. Last you heard Mj was it. You had woken up bright and early to try and get the jump on everyone. You made your way to the coffee shop, you thought it’d be safe there until 10ish, that’s when the rest of the group tended to wake up. You got coffee and sat facing the door, this way they couldn’t get past you. It was around 9:30 when a women started towards you, she was wearing a dress and a hat.
You looked around to check if there was no tables left and she just needed a place to sit… but that didn’t seem to be the case as there was still quite a few empty table and chairs. Then it clicked- Peter had pulled this same shit on you in the summer before 8th grade. “Really this shit again? Learn some new tricks Peter.” You laughed until the women looked up and it was just a random stranger. You turned beet red and started to spew out apologies, “I’m so so so sorry- I thou- I didn’t mean-” that was when you heard the evil laugh from behind you. “Peter!” you whipped around and caught his eye, he leaned to look past you and smiled, “thanks Ms. Samuels!” You glared at him, “I thought Mj was it?” You could see the smirk playing at his lips, “Oh yeah, she is.” “Then why are you… fuck.”
A hand patted you on the back, “we love a good distraction.” “dammit!” You lunged as Peter ran like a mad man for the door. You chased him a few block through the masses of people on the street before he run into the subway. You followed not far behind. The train was just pulling in as you reached the platform. You could see his brown locks speeding towards the cars. “You’re not away this time Parker!” You slipped into through the doors just before they shut. The car was plenty full but that didn’t stop you from pushing past people in order to find him.
It didn’t take long to find him trying to hide in between a man and the doors. You put a hand on your hip and raised an eyebrow at him, “Peter you have to know when you admit defeat.” he peaked out at you past the man’s shoulder and shrugged, “it was worth a shot.” You laughed and tagged him. “Better luck next time dude.”
12 pm, June 30th. 12 hours remaining. Peter tagged Mj and you were once again fair game. In the last hours of the game things got desperate. In 5th grade you locked yourself in a bathroom at Mcdonald’s for 6 hours. Peter made aunt may tell you guys he was sick and Ned and once pretended to get arrested in order to not be it at midnight.
5 pm, June 30th. 7 hours to go. Mj tagged Ned after trapping him with a new lego set. You thought that might have been the end. But you can never truly feel safe as long as the clock remained running. You wondered around the city, just walking the streets in order to stay active and not be anywhere they would expect you to be. You started down a random street when you felt someone grab your arm. You reacted instantly and punched the person square in the jaw before realizing it was Ned.
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry I thought you were some random guy! Are you okay?” Ned nodded and groaned, “yeah I’m fine- now that you’re it.” “are you sure you’re good?” Ned nodded again before reaching up to check if his nose was bleeding, “Yes. Just don’t hit me again.” You sighed, “Shit, how the hell am I gonna tag anyone? How’d you even know where i was?” Ned shrugged, “Peter wasn’t the only one who we can track.” “Are you kidding me? We really need to update those rules.” “Yeah, like maybe no punching.” You shot him a glare, “stop whining and get that fucking tracker off me.”
11:35 pm, June 30th. 25 minutes till your impending doom. You, Mj and Ned had made a truce to work together to tag Peter. He had let it slip to Ned his plan to get out tag free. Hop on the Ferry at 11:45, you had to admit it was a solid plan- or it would have been if not for his big mouth. You hid on the dock as the last passengers of the night found their way onto the Ferry. You waited until 11:44 to run on and find a seat in the corner with a view of the entire level.
As the Ferry left the dock you sent a quick text to Ned and Mj, ‘plans a go.’ Peter wasn’t in sight which meant he had made his way to the second story. You went up to second floor and peeked around the corner to find the target. Peter was nowhere to be seen but you had watched him get on the boat so that only left one place.
You softly walked to the front of the boat and sure enough there was Peter Parker. Your heart leap at the sight of him with the wind pushing his hair back and his sleepy stature leaning against the railing. You looked down to your phone, 11:56. You knew what to do. You knew exactly how to finish this game. Now you just had to wait a few more minutes.
You watched him from against the edge of the doorway out to the deck, careful to not let your shadow ruin the eliminate of surprise. 11:57, this plan was crazy and might just kill you in the process but Mj had promised it would work just fine. 11:58. Too late to back out. You stepped forward and cleared your throat to make your presence known. Peter turned to look at you, his eyes grew wide as he stepped back, pressing against the railing.
“Hey Peter.” You smiled as sweet as you could. “(y/n)…” You moved closer to him, “Ned kinda let your plan slip.” Peter went a little more rigid and mumbled under his breath, “Damnit Ned.” It was now or never, You pushed yourself towards him and kissed him. It wasn’t your first kiss, but it was your first kiss with Peter Parker. You didn’t know if you’d ever have a reason to do it again and you didn’t want to let any second of it pass. You put all the built up passion into a single moment. You pulled away before to long. Peter was staring at you with wide eyes, mixed with surprise and lust. You carefully pulled your phone up and pressed it, letting the screen light up to revel the numbers 12:00 and smirked, “You’re it Parker.”