Chapter Text
Dating MJ a second time around is harder than it was than the first time, simply because they manage to make it past the first week as a couple. While Peter managed to successfully make it to their first date on time, and their second and third, his brief sabbatical from Spidey freeing him from getting delayed too much, they start to encounter more issues than just Spider-Man.
With the summer creeping gradually to a close, teacher training days starting to crop up in his calendar and emails from his school about the confirmation of lesson plans, last minute changes to the curriculum, and MJ’s preparation for Janey’s first day of Kindergarten as well as juggling her own workload on top of parenthood, he thought that time might end up being the thing that began to put pressure on their blossoming relationship.
Of course, Peter was still at their apartment frequently for lunch or dinner - if they were careful with how they explained it then he could also appear for breakfast. Janey was always excited by his presence and MJ was grateful for the help. Janey might be growing up faster than her mom would have liked but there were still some habits that she’d yet to grow out of, and Peter was still ‘cool enough’ in her eyes to be believed when he said that carrots were essential to being a good superhero.
While he loved spending time with both MJ and Janey, he was pleased to say that they were lucky enough that Flash was feeling sentimental enough about Janey growing up too fast that he took her out for dinner and dessert a couple times, and that Jackson’s current job allowed him to maintain Janey’s scheduled visits.
However, these nights alone couldn’t always be spent with candle lit dinners that didn’t feature any jurassic shaped food and ending with MJ pressing against him. Despite her new relationship, the nights that Janey was away were still the few opportunities that MJ had to get back on top of housework, time that could be spent working on upcoming deadlines and doing the grocery shopping in a reasonable amount of time. She couldn’t ignore that. And if Peter wanted them to really work out this time around, he couldn’t either. They needed to find a way to juggle real life with them.
A lot of those evenings that Janey was away were spent with takeout on MJ’s couch because they didn’t want to clean anymore dishes after getting through the backlog. They would be sat on opposite ends, only MJ’s feet crossing the distance to tuck under his thighs, working on their own thing.
It wasn’t extravagant or particularly romantic. If Janey was not set to return until the morning, it would still end the same way as their other dates - the way MJ shivered when his fingers would graze over her waist becoming on of his favourite sights to see - if Flash was bringing Janey back later that evening, they’d remain on the couch, only scrambling up when there was a precautionary knock on the door.
It wasn’t lavious or how he envisioned it in his head, wanting to arrive on time to reservations he’d had booked at restaurants he couldn’t afford as a way to prove something. Yet. If he was honest with himself, those quiet nights were the times when that big feeling in his chest grew even larger.
The nights where he was helping MJ fold laundry and clean up after hurricane Janey were the closest he’d come to telling her exactly how he felt. If he stared at her instead of the lesson plan he was meant to be working on the words would be on the tip of his tongue.
These nights weren’t perfect. They were just real. A compromise made so that they could spend any time they had together. While Spidey wasn’t currently an issue for them, it gave him enough hope that if they could handle making time for each other like this then they could handle whatever the city decided to literally throw at him.
Whenever MJ finally looked up and met his gaze, a confused but pleased smile taking over her face.
“Something wrong?” She’d say, and the words nearly fell out then.
‘I love you’ .
It’d be as simple as that but he swallows them back, instead leaning over to kiss her. Things might be good now, but there was no need to rush. He wants to prove that they can weather through everything else before he says anything that might scare her. Prove he’s here for the long haul - even if he might not always be there when he should be.
The main problem that Peter didn’t anticipate isn’t spidey or the amount of time they have for one another, but it was instead just how perceptive Janey was.
Peter has always known Janey was a smart kid. She was MJ’s kid. Of course she was going to be brilliant. He just thought that she had more blindspots to her logic than she actually did. Especially when it came to his continual presence in their home and in their lives. He always thought that Janey just accepted he was around a lot. She’d grown up with him constantly in their apartment or with him taking her out to the park to give MJ a few moments of reprieve. He has been by their place significantly more lately, but he hadn’t thought it would be noticeable to her.
How wrong he was.
“I’m bored.” Janey whines. Her feet stomping along the aisle to exaggerate her point. It’s the third time she’s said this while they’ve been shopping and with a glance back to MJ, he can tell she’s running out of options to make this trip exciting.
“I wanna go home!” She huffs, Peter putting in another set of folders to the trolley.
“We’ll be going home soon. We’ve just gotta grab a couple more things. We’re still looking for the perfect water bottle, remember?”
When they’d set out for today’s ‘back to school’ shop, MJ had been adamant that Janey didn’t need a new water bottle for Kindergarten, thinking it was an unnecessary expense. Janey, on the other hand, had decided a new water bottle was essential so that it could match the new backpack she’d gotten.
MJ had given into the search since it seemed to be the only thing that made Janey amenable to trawling through school supplies. Her patience seems to be running thing now though.
Peter can’t say he blames her. He’d tagged along to spend time with them both. MJ’d had to cancel their date because Jackson’s parents wanted dinner with the whole family. This wasn’t an ideal consolation but he needed to grab a few things for his class. There was only so long he could spend debating between binders, though. Even he was growing a little bored and he was only a third of the way through his list.
“I don’t want a water bottle!” Janey grumbles. “I wanna go home!”
MJ sighs, looking over to him apologetically. They’re on the brink of a tantrum. He nods to reply silently; ‘ It’s okay’.
“We need to check out then we can go, okay?”
“I wanna go now .”
“Peter needs to check out then we can go. One more aisle and then we’ll go to the check out. I promise.”
It’s a compromise that seems to placate Janey for the moment, but she continues to make her frustration known, stomping ahead of the cart in step with him rather than by her mom’s side. When Peter stops to grab some pen packs, he turns to find Janey staring at him. HEr brows are furrowed and her mouth is pinched, deep in thought.
“Why are you here?”
“Uh. I needed to do my school shopping too. I’m a teacher and we need things too.” He glances back to MJ who just shrugs. If she’s asking questions she isn’t complaining. They’ll take what they can get.
His answer isn’t enough though, only making Janey tilt her head and think more.
“Is it because I need a teacher to make sure I’m getting everything I need?”
“Nope. No. Your mom has your list, I’m here for my stuff. I just wanted to spend some time with you guys and do this together.”
“Why?”
“I like you two. You’re funny.”
Normally complimenting Janey is enough to make her break. Today this doesn’t work. She doubles down.
“But you spend time with us allll the time. Why do you want to spend more? This is boring. I’m bored.”
Truthfully, Peter hadn’t expected her to notice that he was around more often. Whenever Janey was around, he and MJ kept their hands to themselves. They had risked a few minutes in the kitchen while Janey was preoccupied but otherwise nothing had changed. Janey was still the focus of both their attentions.
MJ is still hesitant to introduce Peter as her boyfriend at the moment, wanting to slowly introduce the idea to Janey. If she’s noticing a difference then they might have to reconsider how often he is around.
The idea of their time together dwindling pulls at his chest. A part of him already making so many excuses for why they don’t need to worry. But he won’t voice them. He’ll follow MJ’s lead on this and hope this doesn’t spook her - out the corner of his eye he can see her lip caught between her teeth.
In the meantime.
“Well, because I like spending time with you two. I wish I could spend all the time in the world having pancakes with you and playing with you but you’re a very busy kid. You’ve got loads of friends to see, more to make when you start school, your mom does boring adult stuff, so we can’t always spend our time doing the fun stuff. If I want to see you then sometimes, I gotta tag along for the boring stuff.” He explains, holding his hands out to pick her up and resting her against his hip.
“But it’s so boring.” She answers.
“Not to me.” He shrugs, “You and your mom make the boring stuff fun. Like… You’re gonna tell me which markers I should use for grading; red, blue or green.”
Janey looks unconvinced. She glares at him from the corner of her eye, a look that is uncannily similar to one he’s seen on MJ, then looks back to the shelf, point grumpily at one of the packs.
“Alright.” He nods, reaching for it. “Why this one?”
“Green’s stupid.”
“And why is green stupid?”
“It tastes like p‘tacos.”
“Pistachios.” MJ corrects from behind them. Janey repeats it, still stumbling over the word a little bit. Peter tries to bite back a smile.
“Why’s that a bad thing? I like pistachios.”
The comment does exactly what he’d hoped, pulling a shocked and betrayed gasp from Janey as she reckons with the fact that he might disagree with her on something. Like her mother, Janey is stubborn and Peter banks on her attempting to convince him otherwise as a way to distract her from her original question and to have her launch into arguing her case - a line of conversation that leads to her giggling as she spins wild lies in an attempt to win.
They make it down another aisle and cash out without another complaint from her.
It isn’t ideal that Janey’s clocking how close Peter and her mom now are, but… Maybe it wasn’t as much of a problem as he’d originally thought.
Things don’t remain as simple as that for long. They manage to find time even when school starts up again and the time they have is even more limited. It starts to feel normal but in the back of his mind, Peter is all too aware of how much time he’s spent away from being Spider-Man.
His doctors, Tony and May are all pleased with the break he’s taking. The fall he had was bad and as much as it frustrates him, requires time to fully heal from. MJ is nice a distraction from that, but soon it’s impossible to ignore for much longer.
During their first date of the new semester, an evening that’s had to be rescheduled twice already, his phone won’ stop vibrating. Crime alerts ringing out from across the city that need his attention.
For the last ew weeks, Matt has been doing him a huge favour by watching out beyond his usual bounds but he is only one person and can’t be in two places at once. Peter has been doing some light swinging, supervised by his physio, and is left sore and aching afterwards. There’s a strong possibility that he shouldn’t head back out so soon, but there’s no better way to see if he’s ready than a trial by fire.
“You need to go, don’t you?” MJ asks, quietly.Her attention is fixed to him rather than the thing that’s interrupting them. There is an edge to her voice, lips pressing into a thin line as he nods.
“I-I’m… I’m sorry.” He starts to say, knowing how little it is likely doing for her disappointment. His phone continues to cry out, making it hard for him to focus on her. “Something is– I can’t ignore this. I’m really sorry, MJ.”
He presses a kiss to her forehead, trying to convey just how sorry he is. Her head tips down and his heart aches, sensing a fight brewing already, scared that they may have made it to nearly a month of dating but have fallen down at the same hurdle as before.
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise, I-”
“Come home. Please.” She asks. Her voice cracks as she does and it takes a moment for Peter to realise that it wasn’t disappointment but rather fear that’d forced her to ask the question. When she lifts her head and meets his gaze, it’s all the confirmation he needs and feel worse for focusing on the city and their relationship when the last time MJ had seen him as Spidey, she was watching news reports that couldn’t confirm whether he was dead or alive.
He can’t offer any platitudes that she won’t immediately see through and any promises he makes have a high chance of falling through. She knows all this and as much as he likes to pretend otherwise, he does too. It’s a struggle he’s faced with everyone in his life that knows his identity; how does he keep them safe? How does he keep them happy? How does he ensure that they’re not worrying about him constantly.
There isn’t much he can do, so he always gives them those empty promises.
This is going to be a part of their lives. They have to face it. Maybe with time, they’ll figure out a way that works for them.
“I will.” He nods.
“You promised Janey you’d take her to the science museum tomorrow.” She reminds him gently, looking up and catching his lips in a quick kiss.
He smiles weakly against her mouth, pulling back to rest his forehead against hers. “That’s reason enough to make it back here in one piece.”
She swallows and chuckles a beat too late, trying her best to bite back the fear. For him. Putting on a brave face even though this is everything that had made her run away the first time and was also the thing that’d brought her back. She’s trying.
He can do the same.
“Go get ‘em Tiger.”
Thankfully, Peter manages to follow through on all the promises he’d made that night. He comes back relatively uninjured, he takes Janey to the science museum and he finds a way to make up for their date needing to be rescheduled yet again.
The reservation at the restaurant is lost. He doesn’t even bother ringing them up again, knowing that the wait staff are likely sick of him by this point. In the end, it doesn’t matter because he decides on a better alternative.
MJ has only known the worst of Spider-Man. The only perk she gets to knowing his identity is that it’s a little extra leverage if she ever needs Janey to do or eat something, having him play the superhero card usually gets her what she wants.
There aren’t many more aside from that. He isn’t rich, he can’t licence his identity and all the toys that are on the market, all the costumes, they line the wallets of someone other than him - he’s only mildly annoyed by that. He has a few favours owed to him by restaurants and establishments across the city, but they’re harder to cash in than the free coffees and hot dogs he can collect on the go - it’s not like he can walk in as Peter and say that Spidey sent him without raising suspicion and he can’t take MJ out while wearing the suit where others might see them.
He can offer her one thing though.
“Shit, shit shit. Fuck.” She screeches into his ear, her screams drowning out his laughter as he swings them further across the city. Her ex was a stunt double, arguably as much of an adrenaline junkie as Peter could claim to be, he thought that maybe there was a reason for MJ being attracted to this type, secretly liking the rush herself.
Very, very wrong.
“I’ve got you, don’t worry.” He reminds her. It doesn’t quite work. MJ’s nails digging in and another scream erupting as they drop on the down swing and rise once more. With how painful it is, he wonders if she and Felicia see the same nail tech. It’d be just his luck that his girlfriend and his ex had something like that in common.
Eventually they land. The small picnic he’d laid out earlier is still there, weighted down and locked in place by webbing that’d yet to dissolve. He lights the candles while MJ catches her breath and then helps her lower to the blanket, struggling not to smile as her hand sits over her chest.
“We’re never doing that again.” She warns him.
“I’m leaving you up here then?” He asks, smirking.
She gently punches his arm. He laughs again, that familiar warmth spreading through his chest as she turns to look over the view. “Where even is here? I had my eyes closed for a good portion of the way.”
“My favourite place in the city.” He answers, “The view is…”
“Beautiful.” MJ finishes for him, her hand lowering and settling over his. He keeps his eyes on her, watching as she looks over the expanse of the city.
“Yeah.” He agrees, unable to stop himself from smiling as she gripped his hand tightly to peer a little closer to the edge of their perch. When she looks back to him, he had to clear his throat, a little embarrassed to have been caught staring once again. “Found it my first year of college. It’s just a good place to… stop. Gorgeous view, no one to bother you… But you don’t feel alone. Everyone’s still down there, but you’ve got your own space. It’s… Nice.”
“You bring all your girlfriends up here?”
“Just the important ones.” Peter chuckles, “I know it’s not much but… Sometimes being Spider-Man isn’t so bad.”
“Being with him is pretty nice too.” She hums.
Her hair is blowing in the breeze, still mused from the swing over here. There’s a flush to her cheeks that hasn’t worn off from the excitement, and as impressed as she seems to be with the view, her eyes keep coming back to him. She keeps reaching for him.
Those words bubble up again and with her here, accepting this part of his life, willing to give it a proper try, he can’t stop them from escaping this time.
“I love you.” He says, breath stuttering but relief washing over him.
Her lips part and eyes widen. Shock? Confusion? He doesn’t know. They’re all reasonable responses given what he’s just shared. More words bubble up, desperate to try and explain. He isn’t trying to pressure her and isn’t trying to rush them along. Just needed to say it.
She has made that apartment feel like home. Even now, halfway across the city, he feels home. Grounded. Safe. Happy. Because she’s here. He needs her to know that. “And you don’t have to say it back, I just… If I keep it in any longer, I’m gonna say it at a really inappropriate time and I need you to know I mean it. I mean it, and I won’t always be… great, but I’m gonna try. You make me really wanna try, Janey too and–”
“Peter.” MJ interrupts, a hand coming to cup his cheek. The shock is gone from her face and instead replaced it with that fond smile that seems to be reserved for him. It is a mixture of bemused and genuinely happy, her cheeks rising and crinkles forming by her eyes. It sends his stomach swooping every single time he sees it.
“I love you too.”
“What?”
MJ laughs, her smile broadening further and she leans forward to kiss him. He responds. The physical side of things is easy. His hand coming to her side and holding her against his while the cogs in his mind still turn and process what she’s said.
“I love you.” She murmurs against his mouth, leaning back and taking him in, fighting off a smile at how dazed he still seems to be before his own face reflects her smile.
“One more time for me.”
“You’re an idiot.” She laughs, leaning back in. She’s right, he is. To him it still sounds like she’s saying ‘I love you’ again anyway.