Chapter Text
Today was a good day, Peter decided. He aced his chemistry quiz, got his homework done unusually early, and was just finishing up patrol with practically no injuries. By Peter’s standards, that was about as perfect a day as you can have. So of course, something had to come along and mess it up.
He was walking through the streets of New York (he ran out of web fluid about an hour ago), looking for a dark alley to change into his normal clothes. Slipping into the shadows between buildings, Peter ripped off his mask, taking a deep break. “What the actual fuck, Parker?”
Shit.
Peter turned around to face his classmate. “Hey Abe. How’s it going?” Abe slowly raised his phone, camera facing Peter, and took a not-so-subtle picture of him. In his suit. Without his mask. “I promise it’s not what it looks like.”
“Well it looks like you’re Spider-Man. Which, honestly, the whole class was suspicious. You’re not as good of a liar as you think you are.”
Peter winced. “Even Flash?”
“No,” Abe assured him. “Flash is just about the most oblivious person I’ve ever met.”
“Well, it doesn’t even matter because you’ve got it all wrong. I’m not Spider-Man.”
“Then what’s the suit for?” Abe raised an eyebrow.
“Cosplay,” Peter blurted out. “I’m a Spider-Man cosplayer.”
“And you were just walking around in cosplay?”
Too late to go back on it now, Peter decided to commit fully to his lie. “Well, I just got a new mask for my suit, and I wanted to show Ned, but it looks cooler altogether.”
Abe looked at him for too long. Finally, after what felt like years but could have been only seconds, he shrugged. “Are you on social media?”
“Um, yes?”
“Cool. What’s your account. I’ll follow you.”
“Um, I’d rather keep that part of my life separate.” Peter muttered the first true sentence of their encounter.
“Fair enough.” Abe shrugged again. “Can’t promise I won’t find it on my own, though. Or anyone else in class for that matter. Anyways, see ya Peter.”
Peter gave an awkward wave as he slipped his mask back on and watched Abe head back into the street. “See you tomorrow.”
As soon as Abe was out of sight, and Peter was entirely sure he was alone, he took his mask off again, quickly changed into normal clothes, and rushed home. He had a lot of work to do if he was going to make his lie convincing.