BENEFITS — CHAPTER TWENTY!

been lower on the social scale the next day at school. If Peter got a dollar every time someone mad a snide comment at him in the halls, he'd be a millionaire. "Thanks for bailing on me, last night." Ned had said accusingly as he approached the brunette boy in Woodshop.

Before Ned had arrived, Peter was trying to pull apart a piece of technology the weapons dealers had dropped. It was a glowing purple oval with an intricate metal casing. Peter was still extremely puzzled as to what it did. "Yeah, well something came up..." He trailed off, hitting the 'glowy thing' with his hammer again.

Neds eyes widened, "woah... What is that?" He demanded, moving closer so he could have a better look at it.

Peter shrugged, not looking up, "I don't know. Some guy tried to vaporize me with it."

"Seriously?" Ned says, doing a double take. He was even more fascinated by the mysterious device.

"Yeah.."

"Awesome!" Peter gave Ned a weird look, not expecting that reaction. He kind of expected Ned to be at least slightly concerned about his safety. "I mean, not awesome, totally uncool of that guy. So scary." Ned rambled, making Peter roll his eyes playfully.

"Well, look," Peter says pointing to the orb, "I think it's a power source."

"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors. That's an inductive charging plate." Ned says pointing to the various parts. "That's what I use to charge my toothbrush."

"Whoever's making these weapons is obviously combining alien tech with ours." Peter sighs, jabbing the thing with a screwdriver.

Ned eyes widen and he grins, "That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said." He gushes, flicking some hair out of his face. "I just want to thank you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing—"

Peter began tuning him out, hitting the 'glowy thing' with his hammer again. This time, the 'glowy thing' made a loud zapping noise, popping out of the metal casing. Both their heads shot up as they looked over at the teacher. "Keep your fingers clear of the blades!" He shouted from his arm chair, not even looking up from his book. You'd think this was a public school, Peter thought to himself as he turned back to Ned.

"I gotta figure out what this thing is and who makes it." Peter says, staring at the alien technology.

Ned nods, "We'll go to the lab after school and run some tests."

"Let's do it," Peter says, raising his fist up to do their intricate handshake.

"Do what?" [Y/N] asks, causing the two boys to jump. "What are you's working on?"

Panicking, Peter threw the purple orb at Ned, who quickly shoved it in his backpack. "N—nothing." Peter says, awkwardly leaning against the desk. "What are you up to? Done anything exciting recently?"

[Y/N] tilts her head in confusion, deciding not to question her friends behaviour. "We talked this morning..." [Y/N] replies. "Nothing interesting has happened since then and now..."

Peter mentally face-palmed himself. Why was he so bad at being subtle? "Well, you never know," Ned shrugged, saving Peter. "You can't blame us for being interested in your life."

[Y/N] raised her hands in surrender, "jesus, calm down." She joked, pulling her safety gloves back on.

"We don't know about this calm down you speak of." Peter joked.

"I think we have it in the bag," Harry Osborn's voice rang through [Y/N]'s room, his voice and from her phone that rested beside her open suitcase. They decided to call whilst she completed her last minute packing.

"I don't know, I mean, Peter quit so we might struggle if they do a physics challenge..." [Y/N] sighed, thinking back to a few days ago when Peter quit on the team. She didn't understand how an internship could take up that much of someone's time.

Harry made an annoyed sound, "pfft, we don't need Parker." He replied.

[Y/N] picked up two T-shirts and examined them both, trying to decide which one to pack. "I suppose..." She mumbled, tossing one of the tops on the floor and shoving the other in her suitcase. "But he is kind of a genius," she let out a small laugh. "I remember for this one assignment in middle school—"

Harry cut her off, his tone had a bitter edge, "can we not talk about him? We're not exactly besties."

[Y/N]'s face fell but she nodded before realising he couldn't even see her. "Uh, yeah sure..."

The two quickly fell back into a comfortable conversation, talking about some of the most random things. Study might have stayed on the phone all night if Harry's mother hadn't told him to go to bed. "Goodnight, [Y/N]." Harry whispered.

"Night Harry, see you tomorrow." She replied, letting out a yawn.

"Save me a seat on the bus, yeah?"

"Sure thing."

WRITTEN: 24/07/19

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WORD COUNT: 838