Chapter Text
This time, when MJ eventually fell asleep, Peter knew he had to go. Comforted by the quiet sounds of the television and the light weight of MJ’s feet resting on his lap, he found himself reluctant to get up. But he had stayed longer than he should have after she fell asleep. Rising slowly, he was careful not to jostle MJ too much as to not wake her. He snuck into her room, returning to carefully lay her fluffy blanket over her, making sure she wouldn’t get cold in the night. With that, he quickly grabbed a notebook that was open on the kitchen counter and wrote a quick note. He left it on the coffee table in front of Michelle before he climbed back out of her window, closing it behind him.
When Michelle woke, it was still early morning. The sun was shining into the windows and she had slept more soundly than she had in a while. Glancing around, she realised Peter was no longer there. Sitting up groggily, she noticed the notebook she used to jot down messages was positioned in front of her.
Happy birthday MJ. I hope you have a good day with your family. Sorry I had to go but May has something planned for this morning, I had a nice time though and I’ll see you tomorrow. – Peter.
It was short but made Michelle smile.
A few blocks away, Peter was still asleep. After leaving Michelle's he had been conflicted. He knew he liked her, he knew he wanted to be there for her, but he didn’t know if it would be right to tell her he was Spider-Man. Telling her, he reasoned, would just put her in danger if some other great danger came for him. He stayed up until early morning in dispute with himself. Finally, he reached the decision that if things became serious with Michelle, then he’d tell her. There was only so much he could keep from her but there was no use putting her at risk which could easily be avoided.
The rest of his day was spent, as usual, helping May and hanging out with Ned. Today though, he’d also made an effort to message Michelle and see how her day was going and to solidify their plans for the next day. It was nice to talk to her, easy even. He enjoyed it.
Ned caught Peter smiling down at his phone, though. “Who are you texting all smiley?” Ned asked, “Has Liz messaged again?”
Liz usually messaged Peter every month or so. It was just to catch up and see how the team was doing. With her being in Oregon, any chance at a romance fizzled out. Though Peter admits, once he found out her Dad was the Vulture and put him in jail, he had lost feelings for her fast. It was too complicated and the guilt was too strong for their still-budding romance.
Peter had chosen not to tell Ned about MJ. He felt the events of the past month were too private. Sure, Ned had noticed Peter reach out more, but he just figured he wanted to be more friendly to the new team captain.
“Um, no. It’s MJ.” Peter said, looking up from his phone, judging Ned’s reaction.
The other boy’s face shifted. “MJ?” Ned wasn’t an idiot, and after noticing Peter’s extra attention to her he grew suspicious. “What are you messaging her about? Is there another meeting next week?”
“Just stuff,” Peter said, trying to be dismissive. “It’s her birthday today.”
Ned didn’t believe him but smiled anyway. Peter was the type to go out of his way to message a girl he liked, especially on her birthday. “Okay, tell her I said hey and happy birthday.” Ned said turning back to his current Lego set, eyes still narrowed questionably.
“Will do bud,” Peter replied as he typed out Ned’s greeting. He checked the time, seeing it was approaching ten, and thought he better go visit Michelle. Her party was over and she would be waiting for her friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man to check-in before tomorrow. “Hey, uh, Ned. I just got to go do something I’ll be right back.” Peter said as he grabbed his spidey bag.
“Off to save the city?” Ned said, watching Peter approach his window, used to his friend's sudden departures.
“Something like that, I’ll be right back.” With that, Peter hoisted himself out and down into an alley to get changed. He was soon in his suit and scaling the buildings towards Michelle’s apartment. He figured as it was only a quick trip he’d keep his backpack so he wouldn’t lose his clothes, and could more easily carry her present.
Climbing up Michelle’s building was considerably faster than using the fire escape. Peter swung himself over the ledge and onto the roof. Michelle was already standing waiting for him.
“Hey,” she greeted casually. “I was wondering if you were planning on showing up. Tomorrow could you take me at like five?” Michelle asked, still hesitant but assured by the fact that he had already accepted.
“Yeah sure,” Peter simply said, not wanting to take up too much of her evening while her family was still around. “I’ll see you then.” He nearly turned away but quickly remembered. “Oh.” He pulled his strap off of his arm, twisting his bag to rummage past his clothes to the bottom. “Here.” He handed Michelle a small box. “Happy birthday. Sorry I can’t stick around for cake, but I got to go.”
“Oh, uh. Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Michelle said, a little blindsided by the gift. As he turned to leave, Michelle’s eyes squinted “Hey I know-” she began but stopped herself. “Never mind. See you, Spidey. Thanks for the present.”
“Bye,” Peter called over his shoulder as he jumped off the ledge, swinging quickly back to his apartment. His work for the evening was done.
The next day, Peter fretted over his outfit until he was found by May, digging through his wardrobe on his hands and knees.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were stressed.” May said, a sly tone in her voice as she eyed the piles of clothes thrown out of his wardrobe. Her eyes landed on a gift sitting on his bed and she smiled. “Now what’s with all this.” She asked as she gestured to all his clothes.
“I don’t think I own any clothes,” Peter said as he continued to dig through the mass bundles on his floor, glancing up at May.
“I hate to contradict you but I’d argue you have plenty of clothes,” May said, pointedly looking around at the crumpled shirts laying on his floor.
“Not nice shirts. Well, not nice, nice but nice. Presentable. All I have are science or math t-shirts.” Peter said, sitting back to look around.
“You like those shirts,” May defended. “What’s this for?” She asked, moving to help him search.
“The movies,” Peter stated, going back to throwing around his clothes.
May sent him a knowing look.
“What about this?” She asked, holding up a checked shirt. “You could go casual and put a jumper over it?” She said, pointing to the heap of jumpers by his dresser. Peter considered this, quickly jumping up to dig through the heap. He eventually pulled up a soft blue jumper, holding it up for May's approval. “See, not so hard.”
“Thanks, May,” Peter called, running out of his room to the bathroom with the clothes bunched in his hands. He exited with his Spider-Man suit on, ready to pick up Michelle as Spider-Man as promised, his bag slung over his shoulder. Grabbing the box from his bed and placing it carefully in his bag.
“So who’s the special someone?” May asked, watching Peter hustle around his room, shoving his clothes back into various drawers. When he finished, he did a final spin, checking that his room was clean.
“Oh, Michelle. You know, MJ? From the academic decathlon.” Peter said awkwardly. “You met her when we came back from the DC trip. Or, wait, no. I don’t think you did. She kind of slipped off when everyone was being picked up.”
“Whoever she is you seem to quite like her,” May said with a knowing smile.
“I do, she’s so smart, she knows like, everything. It was her birthday yesterday so I asked her to see the Blade Runner re-run. I’ve got to do something before the movies though.” Peter rambled. Quickly checking his phone. Peter panicked when he saw it was quickly approaching five. He still had to hide his bag near the cinema before going all the way back to MJ’s. “Sorry but I’ve got to go, I meant to leave ten minutes ago.”
“Okay, have fun and be safe. Let me know if you’ll be out late.” May called as Peter rushed through the window.
“Will do, love you,” Peter yelled over his shoulder. He swung as fast as he could to an alley a few blocks from the movie theatre, figuring then he could change back once he dropped MJ off and casually walk to meet MJ. He webbed up his bag and rushed back towards her building.
Two minutes after five, Peter landed on her rooftop. It was clear she’d made some effort compared to her usual look. Her hair was secured up in a bun but a few curls escaped, framing her face. Her face remained bare of make-up, as it usually did, but seeing it without obstacle made it strikingly obvious how beautiful she was. Her high rise ripped black skinny jeans were paired with beaten up high tops, under a large denim jacket with various pins from causes she supported. All in all, Peter thought she looked breathtaking.
“Wow,” Peter let out as he stood, looking at her. He couldn’t think past that she was so pretty. He realised, however, that he was currently Spider-Man so he should keep the staring down to a non-creepy minimum.
“Thanks, spider-boy,” Michelle said, blushing slightly, “We going?” she asked to cover her slight embarrassment, impatient to leave.
“Uh, yeah sure. Grab on,” Peter said, holding out a hand to her. She eyed it contemplatively before reaching out and grabbing it. Peter pulled her to him lightly, remembering that she still wasn’t completely comfortable with unknown people and strange boys who dressed in spandex. “Hold on.” With that he was off, careening down to the street below. Michelle adjusted to the web-slinging quickly. Taking the opportunity to peer down at the people below. She decided she enjoyed the experience and felt comfortable in this boy’s arms. He used her presence as an excuse to do various spins or sharp turns, no longer worrying about rushing. With his playful attitude and slightly awkward demeanour, Michelle found it hard to not consider the face hidden beneath the mask. That was until her stomach fell in dread when he let them get a little bit too close to the ground before slinging up to the next building. After that, she decided to just enjoy herself.
Soon enough, Peter carefully lowered them to an alleyway across the street from the movies. There, Michelle took a second to adjust after her flight through town. Her hair was now more wind-swept but still styled. Her face was flushed from the rush of wind and adrenaline. “Ever the showman.”
“Didn’t want to give you a shoddy experience,” He said, shrugging. “I couldn’t have my TripAdvisor score dip any lower.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” Michelle said, smirking at his familiar humour.
Peter, spurred on by Michelle’s almost-smile, continued to excitedly spout lame jokes, trying to impress the girl in front of him like an idiot.
“Why, look what we got here.” The booming voice instantly halted Peter and MJ’s conversation. Their heads whipped to the entrance of the alley, seeing two looming figures approaching. The men from the previous month. “The spider-punk and his bitch. Aren’t we in luck, Ted?” Michelle squeaked quietly, and Peter took a defensive step in front of her, blocking her body with his.
“Karen, activate enhanced combat mode. Michelle, you need to get out of here. I’ll deal with them.” Peter said, voice low and constrained. “Get across the street and wait in the theater, make sure you’re around other people, your friend will meet you there.”
“What? I can’t just-“ Michelle started, perplexed.
“I can’t stop these guys and worry about you. Please, leave.”
She nodded reluctantly, though he couldn’t see, and waited for her moment. Peter rushed towards the men, preemptively webbing one of their hands to their pant legs and raising his arm to restrain the other. The guy twisted and squirmed, trying to free his arm while also fighting off Peter's movements. The other man ran towards Michelle. She squealed in ill-contained horror. When he got a foot from her, he stopped and fell backward.
“If you go anywhere near her, you’ll have to deal with me!” Spider-Man had webbed his back and dragged him backward. The other man was now on the ground, wheezing.
Michelle saw a path to freedom and ran. As she sprinted past, the half restrained man got up and swung out his unrestricted fist towards her. He blocked her path and aimed to uppercut her. She winced, squeezing her eyes closed and flinching away, halting her escape. Nothing happened. She shot open her eyes to see Spider-Man had intercepted the blow. It landed on the side of his gut.
“MJ, get out of here!” He cried, quickly turning to catch another impending hit from the relentless brute beside him.
She nodded frantically and began to run. As she approached the end of the alley she stopped, head snapping back. One man was now restrained, but the other was in a brawl with Spider-Man as the younger man made bad quips.
If she had any doubts before, MJ now knew for sure.
She continued on reluctantly, glancing back before crossing the street. When she was across, she saw that both of the men were now strung up on the wall. Spider-Man was nowhere to be seen. She searched the rooftops, seeing what she thought might have been a flash of red between two buildings. Feeling slightly abandoned, Michelle frantically looked around. Peter had to be somewhere near. A few minutes later he appeared from the same rough direction Michelle had seen the figure escape to. Was he even trying to be discreet?
Peter’s hair was disheveled, and his clothes crumpled but he had bigger concerns. He had a look of apprehension as he quickly stumbled past the people on the sidewalk, rushing to Michelle. He gave her a quick, inspecting look up and down before forcing an obviously faux-smile.
“H-h, hey Michelle, been here long?” Peter asked, slightly out of breath.
“Really, loser?” Her eyebrow raised, and her gaze pinned him to the spot.
“What, uh- what are you talking about?” Peter’s eyes widened.
“Aren’t you-” Michelle began but shook it off, maintaining her skeptical look. “Where have you been?”
“I was, uh- I slept in,” Peter responded, frazzled. It was a lame excuse. “May woke me up like a half-hour ago.”
“Peter, you do realise it’s five o’clock in the afternoon?”
“I never said I had the perfect sleep schedule, sue me.”
Her eyes narrowed further at his weak excuse, but she chose not to push him. “Uh-huh. Right.”
“Shall we go in?” Peter asked, attempting to side-line the conversation. He gestured to the doors of the theatre. “I think it’s started already.”