Peter always felt weird when someone acknowledged his heroics, since he was so unused to praise. It gave him a fuzzy feeling and made him want to squirm away from the person praising him at the same time. It was a weird dichotomy. It was easiest just to ignore the compliment and forge ahead with the rest of the conversation.

"I know, I know," he said, raising his hands in apology to Steve's chiding tone. "I was the good kid in high school. And then, in college, I was kind of busy with my, uh, off-campus job and didn't get to go to many parties."

Still playing along and joking back and forth with Steve, he laughed again. "Got it. I'll be on the lookout for that."