pier pressure // ch.1 // soaked
Peter Parker x fem!Reader // College Summer Vacation AU
warnings: flirting, intro, and just fun :))
summary: It was finally summer vacation and you were spending it all summer in California. You and your five best friends had been invited to the Stark STEM Summer Program and couldn’t wait to start; but of course, it got off to a rough start. You met someone and quickly hit it off but when disaster strikes, he disappears. But where to?
a/n: chapter 1! i will do my best to stick to the schedule and this is the start. so excited for you all to read! much love, lena
reader’s outfit // val // hope // wanda // okoye // peter
Spring semester was finally over and it was finally your favorite time of the year: summer. Except for this summer, you’d be spending time with your best friend from Columbia University at UCLA in California for the Stark STEM Summer Program. Tony Stark himself selected the students who were accepted to go for the summer and you were one of the lucky 100 selected to go from all around the country.
Never did you imagine that Tony Stark would invite you to spend a summer learning from him but let’s be honest, it was probably Pepper that chose everyone.
You and Valkyrie, who you called Val for short, met as freshman at Columbia as roommates. She was a complete extrovert and party animal while you were the complete opposite; the ‘sit inside, read or watch movies and eat snacks’ kinda gal. But you brought out the best in one another, playing off of each other’s strengths and becoming the complete power duo. You loved your best friend with all your heart and could not be more excited to be going to the summer program with her.
You met other girls from the Columbia campus that you knew of at the airport so you could all fly together. Hope, Wanda, and Okoye were all best friends and we’re some of the sweetest girls around the campus but always knew how to have a good time and make memories.
Waiting in the airport, the five of you talked about the summer and how awful spring semester always is, with finals and essays due but it’s always worth it.
“Now boarding, sections 10-26,” said the young woman at the front desk of your terminal.
Val wrapped her arms around you and you around her, both squealing loudly and grabbing the attention of fellow passengers, but the two of you didn’t care. You were too damn excited to spend the entire summer in California with your best friends and learn so much from Tony Stark.
You grew up hearing about him from 2012 and the historic battle of New York but were more interested in working in engineering and possibly one day, working under the direction of Mr. Stark himself; this was the perfect opportunity to prove yourself to Mr. Stark.
Which meant no distractions.
Just as your boarding pass was scanned, you ran down the hall to board the plane and sat at the window seat of the plane, preparing for the 5-hour flight to California. Val was sitting next to you and Hope was closest to the aisle, with Wanda and Okoye in the middle of the plane. You knew it would be a long flight but the five of you had a chat together, so you’d be busy trying to laugh quietly and sending pictures throughout the whole flight.
You felt a tap on your shoulder, covered by a short-sleeve grey blouse and looked over to see Val pointing at Hope who had fallen asleep on her shoulder and was snoring.
You immediately took a picture and was laughing so hard you were crying, and Val was trying to keep you from waking her up but was unsuccessful. Wanda was videotaping her waking up, with her hair in all sorts of directions and red shot eyes. You were all giggling and then she was too, unable to keep herself from joining in. Before you all knew it, you were in California.
“This hotel is so nice,” you said, getting out of the van from the airport.
You had slept for the last hour on the flight and knew you looked like you’d just slept for 3 days but didn’t have time to check your appearance after getting off the plane. You and the girls raced to the van who almost left without you and Hope and Wanda packed the bags into the back, while everyone else piled into the van. The drive was short and fun, but you were all exhausted and really just wanted to go back to sleep.
“Try not to burn it down,” Okoye said, walking up behind you and Val.
“I set off the fire alarm, I didn’t burn it down!” Val said as you all grabbed your bags out of the van.
Staring up at the hotel, it must’ve been 45 floors tall and probably full of students here for the summer. You and Val were rooming together for the whole summer, knowing there would be many late nights and snacks and so much noise, you were sorry for who would be rooming near you two.
You walked inside to the lobby to see white and grey furniture everywhere and college kids with loads of bags walking around, chatting and standing in line for the elevator. You walked up to the front desk and told the young man your last name and got the keys to your room for the next three months. Val brought the bags and had to stand in line for the elevator which she wasn’t thrilled about but you saw that you were on the fourth floor so you just took the stairs.
You walked down the hall, looking at all the numbers before realizing that you were at the end of the hall in a larger room, with another right across the hall from you.
You were about to use the key to open the door before you heard laughter inside.
Who was in there? you thought to yourself.
You put your ear up next to the door, but couldn’t hear anything else. Just the sound of a fan and some lights buzzing inside. Nervous to know who was in there, you tapped on the door anyway, hoping it was just the cleaning staff.
This should be your room, right?
You faintly heard a person walking towards the door, hoping it was someone on the hotel staff preparing the room but instead, you were face to face with a young man seemingly your age, who happened to be shirtless and eating an apple.
He had his hand on the doorknob and was chewing his apple but stopped when he saw you. He seemed to be expecting someone else and it obviously wasn’t supposed to be an overly-tired and hungry college junior.
“You’re not Ned,” he said chewing his apple once again.
“Uhh-I um, I-I’m sorry, um-” You failed to make any understandable words, blushing madly at the young man in front of you who had wet hair that was all over the place, and was only in swim trunks. He was still staring at you, and you weren’t quite understanding why. You must’ve looked ridiculous from your airport attire, and your hair must’ve been pointing in every direction. You started to walk away before you saw a hand shoot out in front of you. He swallowed his apple and then spoke.
You must’ve been staring too long at him because he waited for you to take his hand and laughed quietly when you seemed to be staring into space.
You looked at his hand and then back at his face, which had a strong jawline and surprising red cheeks, meaning he thought this entire interaction was just as weird as you did.
“Oh, sorry. I’m um, Y/N,” you said while taking his hand and shaking it. You let go of his hand and just stood there, hands behind your back, palms sweaty.
“You too,” you replied quickly.
He leaned up against his door frame and said: “So, why exactly did a beautiful girl like you knock on my door? You here for the Stark Summer Program?”
Before you could even respond or get any more embarrassed, you thought to yourself, This could not get any worse.
“Y/N!” you heard Valkyrie say.
She ran up next to you and looked at Peter and then at you, proceeding to save your ass by dragging you across the hall to your room, with Peter waving at you slowly. He smirked and trying not to laugh at the sight of Val dragging you away. She walked in and you shut the door, waving back at Peter who closed his door too. You turned around and slid down the door to your knees and put your hands on your cheeks, which you knew were still pink and warm from looking at and meeting your very attractive neighbor.
“Well he seemed to be interested in you,” Val said, dropping the bags and sitting down right next to you, nudging your shoulder.
You looked at her with pink cheeks and shoved her back, “No he didn’t! Not like this. I look like I crawled out of a dumpster.” You still had your big grey shirt on, with black Nike exercise shorts on and sandals, now realizing that was a mistake since your feet hurt from all the walking. You originally put your hair in a bun but it was completely messed up while you slept but you never had time to fix it and your sunglasses that were pushed up onto your head were almost impossible to remove from your tangled hair.
“You look beautiful, idiot. Now stop moping so you can help me unpack!” She jumped up and grabbed your hand to pull you up with her. “We need to unpack and get ready.”
You watched your best friend take her bags to her bed and jump on top. You laughed, knowing it was would be just like back in New York, just a different city and a different room. You grabbed Val’s phone and plugged it into a speaker you brought, blasting Billie Eilish’s ‘bad guy’ and singing together while unpacking.
Little did you know, Peter and his best friend/roommate for the summer Ned were walking down the hall and heard the two of you singing, making him smirk. You had already made a strange but hilarious first impression on the college man, hoping he would run into you at some point.
“IT’S PARTY TIME LADIES!” Hope shouted, joined by Wanda and Okoye’s screams of joy. Tonight was the kick-off party of the summer at Barney’s Beanery, closed off for the night for just students here for the program. It was a formal party but you knew it would get unhinged at some point; it is a college party after all.
All five of you were stuffed into the bathroom in your and Val’s room, putting on light makeup and doing each other’s hair. It looked like something out of a chick flick, but none of you cared. Singing along to old Taylor Swift songs now, Val zipped up the back of your dress and she went to put on her outfit. The five of you looked all looked amazing, and not one person in that room would be able to take your eyes off you ladies.
Across the hall, Peter and Ned both had finished getting ready for the party, dressed in suits but not too fancy to where they couldn’t have a good time.
You stepped out of the room to head downstairs first, at the same time that Peter was locking the door to his room. You turned around and realized it was Peter from earlier that day.
“Hi,” Peter said, a slight tint coming to his cheeks as he saw you in your outfit.
“Hey, sorry about earlier. I don’t normally look like that.”
“Do you usually look this good?”
You had your hands at your sides but they were now clammy, trying not to embarrass yourself again as you did earlier. He was a smooth talker but you could tell he was intimidated by you. He tried not to show it, but he didn’t seem to be as good as hiding his emotions.
“I’d like to think somewhere in between.”
He chuckled and put his hands in his pockets, quickly watching Ned look at him with a dorky grin on his face and continued walking down the hall.
“I don’t think I ever caught your name from earlier?”
“Nice to meet you… again.”
You both laughed, right when your friends walked out to see you talking with the young man, still taller than you in the heels you were wearing. They weren’t tall heels anyway because you wanted to try and be comfortable that night.
“I guess I might see you tonight. Nice seeing you again, Y/N,” said Peter, running off down the hall to join Ned in the elevator.
You suddenly felt two hands on your shoulders that whipped you around to face your friends, knowing you’d be bombarded with questions.
“Nice to meet you again?”
“What the hell just happened?”
You sighed and removed the hands from your shoulders, knowing you would never hear the end of it if you didn’t spill every single detail.
“I will explain everything in the car. Can we go now?”
“NEVERMIND!” you yelled at Val.
“WHAT?” with Val yelled back at you.
This is gonna be a long night. The entire room was filled with voices, lights, and music so loud you could barely hear yourself talk. You had just arrived, knowing people were looking at you and your friends. It may have been a camp for smart college kids, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t dress up every now and then. Your black dress gave you just enough room to breathe and you and the girls were all dancing until somehow you ended up in the middle of a group of people and spilled your drink right on someone’s shirt.
“Oh my gosh, I am so so sorry,” you said, looking at the mess you made and not realizing who you spilled your alcohol on.
“We have got to stop meeting in strange ways.”
Your eyes shot up to see Peter Parker’s chocolate brown eyes staring into yours, which were filled with regret and embarrassment.
I just cannot win today, can I?
Ned looked over and saw what happened, “I’ll be back, there’s a store around the corner and I’ll get you a shirt.”
“Thanks, bro,” Peter looked at you and stopped him, “Ned, this is Y/N.”
“Nice to meet you,” you said, shaking his hand awkwardly.
As Ned walked off, you turned back to Peter and blushed. You grabbed some napkins and started wiping off his shirt.
“You are not subtle, are you?” he said, talking into your ear so you could hear him.
“I wouldn’t include it on my Tinder bio, no,” you replied, earning a laugh from Peter.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said as he grabbed your hand and threw away the soaked napkins. You tried to pretend you couldn’t feel his stomach through the damp fabric while doing that. Looking around the room, you saw your friends dancing with some guys while Val was sitting talking to a blonde woman, drinking and laughing. They all seemed to be having a great night, while you were acting as you’ve never been in public before.
“Do you want to get out of here? It’s really loud!”
You walked side by side out of the club and once you got out onto the street, you could see his messy brown hair and navy blue button down, that now smelled like vodka, with black slacks and black shoes. He was almost too attractive for his own good but didn’t act like it except when he was flirting with you, which you didn’t understand because you were a huge dork.
“So, you never answered my question from this morning,” he said.
“Yeah, I seem to be a pro at making conversation today.”
“Are you here for the Stark Program?”
“Yeah, here with friends from New York.”
He looked at you suddenly while you were up against a lamp post, making you curious as to why he made that face. “You’re from New York?”
“Yeah, Washington Heights.”
“Queens, but now I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.”
You continued to make small talk while waiting for Ned to come back. You learned that he used to live with his Aunt May before starting college and he had known Mr. Stark since he was in high school but had never done his summer program. Once he moved in with Ned as his roommate at MIT, he came back to Queens as much as possible to visit his Aunt May. He also loved pickles, the color red and wants to work for Mr. Stark as well.
“It’s a dream of mine, ever since I was a kid,” you told him. You hadn’t really told anyone that was your plan but it was easy to talk to Peter, confide in him. You were very similar in many ways but also so different.
“Same here, he can be intimidating but he’s like a father to me.”
You were quiet for a second, realizing that the topic of fathers was a sensitive subject but Ned broke the silence, in a very-Ned Leeds way.
“Really? They didn’t have anything else?”
“Oh they did, but as your best friend I must find the best quality and style for you.”
You laughed at the way that Peter glared at Ned while he doubled over laughing, knowing that they must be like this all the time.
Peter must’ve not been subtle either as he unbuttoned his shirt and peeling it off, taking the oversized ‘I LOVE NY’ from Ned who was still laughing and putting his head through the shirt.
You didn’t realize you were staring at him until you saw a hand waving in front of your face, snapping you back to reality.
“You alright?” Peter said.
You hadn’t even noticed that Ned had gone back inside and it was just you two again. It should’ve been impossible at this point to blush any harder but you managed, much to Peter’s delight.
“Yeah I- was that a raindrop?”
You felt the water on your hand and before you knew it, it starts drizzling. You and Peter both look at each other wide-eyed, knowing you don’t have long before you are both soaked.
“DO YOU JUST WANT TO GO BACK TO THE HOTEL?” he shouted at you over the suddenly loud thunder.
You quickly took off your heels and Peter grabbed your hand, intertwining your fingers rather quickly, almost feeling stuck to him. You ran together to his car, your hands feeling perfect together. It was the only thing you could think about while running in the rain, splashing the sidewalk with every step.
Reaching his car, he fumbled with his keys as it was now pouring and you were both soaked head to toe. You sat on the passenger side of his car, a very expensive Audi with black seats that were heated once he turned on the car. You were both huffing from running and you looked over at each other, bursting out laughing.
Your stomach hurt from laughing so bad once you could calm down, and Peter had tears rolling down his face from laughing.
He started the car, and you giggled while saying, “That was insane.”
“Sorry for grabbing your hand like that.”
Peter smirked as he drove down the road towards the hotel, only ten minutes away and you remember thinking that you wouldn’t allow yourself any distractions this summer. Now you weren’t so sure.
You were still laughing in the elevator and down the hall before you got to your rooms.
“Well, I think your shirt is clean now.”
“I think it’s more water than anything.”
“You looked beautiful tonight but I can’t decide whether I like the dry or the soaked version more.”
“Both?” You smiled and put your hands behind your back, missing the feeling of his fingers in between yours.
“Yeah, I think so.” He smiled at you and you reciprocated.
You searched through your purse but realized quickly that you were missing something very important; tonight was only about to get more awkward.
“Do you think I could stay in your room for a couple of hours?”
pier pressure taglist: @storiesandgarbage
permanent taglist: @magic-marvel // @celestialparker // @galaxy-parker // @signed-potato // @imnotbitter-anna // @lokiisragnarok // @veryspectacularspiderling // @hedwigthelegend // @highlady-ofthe-summercourt // @minnie-marvel // @ms-marveleous // @propertyofmarvel //
