A/N: hellooo lovelies

so i can't stop thinking about tom's latest post and the caption makes me think that tobey and andrew are really actually in the movie and I CANT WAIT TILL DECEMBER I NEED THE MOVIE NOW 😭

anyway, i've been thinking a lot about this book and the marvel shows (also no wandavision spoilers please) and i was wondering what if i made a "what if" book about adie's story after i finish writing all of it and it would be about things like what if her parents never died or what if she never met peter or what if she never got powers, etc etc. not 100% sold on it yet, but i was just thinking it :)

that's still a few years into the future but i pretty much live in the future anyway so

okay, enough talk, here's the new chapter!

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"Keep it PG, Viv."

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It had been a week since the Incident.

Her ankle was much better now and she was easily able to walk around on it by herself. The doctor had given her the green light and so Tony agreed to let her return to school as long as she never took a cab home again. Adelaide repeatedly promised him that she had learned her lesson and she wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Besides, she was more than happy to get back to school. Especially for today because something special was going to happen today.

"How's my breath? Anything stuck in my teeth? Do I have eye goop? Why aren't you saying anything? It's because I have eye goop isn't it?" Ned babbled to Peter who just shook his head and patted his best friend's shoulder reassuringly.

"You look fine, trust me," Peter said.

"I'm just so nervous. I've never done this before," Ned breathed, fixing the collar of his fancy dress shirt.

"If I can do it, you can too," Peter said.

Today was the day.

Today, Ned was finally going to ask Vivian to be his girlfriend and go to the Winter Dance with him next month. He had been planning this for a week now. It was a crowded hallway, right after their last class of the day had ended. Adelaide was the designated lookout, standing at the end of the hall where Vivian would be coming from her final class to her locker any second.

She had no idea what was about to happen. Adelaide smiled to herself. She was about to be so surprised. And Adelaide was sure that Vivian was going to say yes. She had caught the girl staring at Ned across the room and she had seen her blush feverishly whenever she brought up Ned in the conversation. Those two were meant to be.

Suddenly, Adelaide spotted her walking out of the classroom.

Her eyes widened and she ducked behind the wall, waving a signal over to the boys that she was coming. Peter spotted her and immediately jumped into position. He handed the three red roses to Ned who took them into shaky hands. Peter grabbed his shoulders to steady him.

"You can do this, man," Peter said and Ned nodded, trying to believe him. "I'll be right here."

Adelaide quickly jogged down the hall towards Peter and they both hid behind the wall that partitioned the hallway from the school entrance. Vivian wouldn't be able to see them, but they both would easily be able to see — and hear — everything that was happening.

"Oh, here she comes," Peter said and sure enough, Adelaide spotted her friend entering the hallway.

"I hope Ned doesn't freeze up," Adelaide mumbled.

"Don't worry, I trained him," Peter said, "He's practiced this speech so much, I think he knows it better than the alphabet."

"I hope so," Adelaide said, her eyes following Vivian, "Oh, she sees him!"

"Ned? Is everything okay?" Vivian asked, noticing that he was just standing beside her locker, excessively sweating. Ned swallowed.

"Yea-Yeah everything is so fine. It's great, even. You're great. We're great," he rambled, "I-I mean, we would be great. B-Because we're humans and I love humans. Humans are great."

"Uh...Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, beginning to look slightly worried.

"Yeah, of course," he answered immediately.

"What's behind your back?" she asked him.

Ned took a deep breath.

And then he pulled his hands out from behind his back and got down onto one knee. Vivian gasped at the sight of the three red roses. The rest of the hallway fell completely silent and still. Everyone, including Adelaide and Peter, held their breath.

"Vivian...I really, really like you. I-I have since the moment I saw you. You're kind and s-so pretty. Y-You're also smart and I really a-admire the way you came into the school in the middle of the semester and fit in with all of us so easily," Ned said softly. The nervousness had faded away because he was just telling her the truth. He really did think that she was amazing. "I don't think I've ever met someone like you, before and I doubt I ever will."

"So...Vivian Sung, will you be my girlfriend and go to the Winter Dance with me?" he asked, holding his breath.

Vivian looked from his face to the roses with wide eyes. No one had ever given her this much attention in her life. This was the first time someone had really noticed her for who she was. All this time, she had had no idea that Ned felt all these things for her. But hearing him say those things aloud to her now, she could see in his eyes that he was completely sincere. He really meant everything he had just said. He really did like her.

"Yes," she laughed, "Yes! I would love to."

The entire hallway erupted into loud cheers as Ned grinned in relief. Adelaide began clapping her hands together as her face broke into relieved laughter. He gave her the roses and she took his hand to help him stand up.

"Ki-iss! Ki-iss! Ki-iss!" the crowd began cheering. Peter and Adelaide both glanced at each other, shrugged, and began shouting with the crowd.

Vivian laughed giddily as Ned smiled at her. Then, slowly, he leaned forward. When he finally kissed her, it felt like the most precious moment of his life and he never wanted it to end. The entire hallway began clapping and cheering as the new couple shared their first kiss. Adelaide took a picture of it all to keep as a memory, smiling to herself.

She knew that one day, they both would look at this picture and feel extremely happy.

—————

They were sitting at their usual table during lunch.

"I mean, I'm really happy for you guys, but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that Ned actually had the guts to finally, finally ask you out," Adelaide said and Ned lightly punched her arm, making her laugh.

"It was terrifying," Ned said.

"Either way, I'm really glad you did," Vivian smiled, leaning into him. Ned grinned at his girlfriend.

"Me too," he said, leaning down to kiss her again. Adelaide and Peter looked away, wrinkling their noses.

"Oh come on, man," Peter said, "Not cool."

"Keep it PG, Viv," Adelaide groaned. Ned and Vivian laughed, pulling away from each other.

"Sorry, sorry," Vivian said, grinning from ear to ear and not at all looking very sorry. Adelaide couldn't blame her. She just looked so happy, Adelaide wanted her to stay that way. She caught Peter's eye across the table only to see that he was already looking at her with a tiny smile on his face. She couldn't help but smile in return.

"So," Ned said, "What color are we wearing to the dance?"

"I was thinking we could wear purple," Vivian said and Ned looked at her questioningly for a moment. "What? What's wrong with purple?"

"N-Nothing," Ned said, "It's just...you kinda answered that fast."

Vivian blushed. "Well...I've uh...I've been thinking about it."

"Really?" Ned asked. She had been thinking about going to the dance with him even before he had asked? She really was perfect.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"Aw, you two are adorable," Adelaide said, "But I have to use the restroom so I will be right back."

"Have fun!" Vivian called after her and Adelaide rolled her eyes as she left the cafeteria. She hadn't even turned the corner when she bumped into someone and nearly fell backwards.

"Oh! I'm sorr—" she said, taking a step back.

Looking up, she realized it was a student who was wearing a jacket with the hoodie over his head to cover his face. She squinted in confusion as she tried to make out his face. Before she could even formulate a question in her head, he abruptly handed her something and turned around and walked away.

"Hey!" she shouted after him, finally finding her voice, "Wait!" But he just walked faster until he had disappeared around the corner of the empty hallway and out of her vision.

Adelaide frowned, an uneasy feeling settling in her chest.

She looked down at her hand. He had given her a note. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, she quickly opened the note and ran her eyes over it.

Meet me at the hudson river park at 11.
You'll want to hear what I have to say.

Adelaide immediately crumpled the note in her fist and stuffed it into the pocket of her jacket. Fear ripped through her veins.

And before anyone could notice, she hurried out of the hallway.

—————

Ever since she had read the note, Adelaide hadn't been able to think about anything else.

Which was a problem when she was sitting in physics class and their teacher called on her for an answer to a question that Adelaide had not at all been paying attention to.

"Ada," Peter whispered, nudging her gently. Her eyes snapped to him and he gestured towards the front of the class, at their teacher who was standing there expectantly waiting for an answer.

"I-I'm sorry, what was the question?" she stuttered.

"I asked you what is the formula for total acceleration?" their teacher repeated. Adelaide fumbled for an answer, trying to collect her thoughts.

"That's the square root of normal acceleration squared plus tangential acceleration squared," she answered after a second. Their teacher nodded.

"Correct," she said, turning back to face the class again, "Now the problem gives us tangential acceleration so can someone else tell me the formula to find normal acceleration?"

"What's on your mind?" Peter asked her quietly. Adelaide almost told him about the note. She could feel it burning a hole the pocket of her jacket. Instead, she just shook her head.

"Nothing," she lied and turned back to their teacher again, trying to pay attention this time.

"After we find normal acceleration, we can use the formula to solve for..."

"What did the police officer say to his belly button?" Peter whispered to her. Adelaide scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion before turning to her side to look at him.

"What?" she asked, confused. He grinned.

"You're under a vest," he said and then laughed quietly at his own joke. Adelaide bit back a smile.

He was doing it again. That old habit. A glimpse of the old Peter that she missed. This was proof that he was still here, especially when he was with her. Suddenly, all the uneasiness and stress was gone and she was back with Peter in middle school when her biggest problem was Tony eating her chocolates. It was easy like that with Peter. She never really had to think too hard around him.

"What did the man get hit by a bicycle every day?" he asked. Adelaide turned in her seat to face him and held up her head on her palm as she leaned to the side on the desk.

"Why?" she asked with a smile.

"He was stuck in a vicious cycle," he grinned and Adelaide couldn't help but laugh.

"How do you get a bull to stop charging?"

"I don't know, how?"

"You cancel his credit card," he said and Adelaide thought it was so stupid that she could not stop laughing until she had to gasp for air. The jokes he made were just so darn stupid that she couldn't help but laugh at them. Her laughing slowed to a quiet chuckle as she looked him with a silly grin on her face.

"Do you feel better?" he asked quietly with a soft smile.

"I do," she nodded. Without thinking, she reached over and grabbed his hand from the desk, putting her fingers through the gaps between his. "Thank you."

Peter looked at their intertwined hands and smiled.

"Anything for you," he said. Adelaide studied his face for a heartbeat longer before she turned back to their teacher in one final feeble attempt at paying attention.

Regardless, they didn't let go of each other's hands until the dismissal bell rang.

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A/N: where's my peter already 😤

been feeling extra single lately so, naturally, i'm writing peter and adie to be more in love than ever before bc i have no other coping mechanisms 🤡

anyway, i just wanted to say thank you for 350k! i swear we just hit 300k like last month?? y'all are crazy but i love it, keep it coming, folks

unrelated but i miss writing this story so much. all these chapters have been written like a month ago and i've just been so busy that i haven't had any time to write and i really miss adie :(( i just have to get to may and then i'll be on vacation again, thank goodness

also, has anyone noticed that adie hasn't been speaking russian lately...? 👀

question: you think adie will actually go to meet graves? 👀