Chapter Text
If you told Peter eighteen months ago that swinging around New York, dangling from skyscrapers at incredible heights, stopping crime, and being the subject of awe at his school would feel mundane, he would have never believed you. Now though, after the events of Berlin and his takedown of the criminal organisation fronted by the Vulture, Peter thought that he was missing something. Some unknown element to make his life exciting.
He had stopped a handful of crimes tonight and helped a little girl find her house, but now perched on top of a billboard, overlooking the city. He often gravitated to the fringes of built-up areas when the night went slowly, finding the surrounding dark alleys the meeting place of most of the city’s delinquency.
He would never say it aloud, but he hoped there would be a mugging, or maybe a dealing of weapons for him to intercept. Those crimes were always the most entertaining to handle, though he felt guilty thinking that way.
As he surveyed the city, Peter spotted a man trying to remain unseen from behind a dumpster near the middle of a narrow dead-ended alley. “Alright, Karen. What’s going on here?” Karen zeroed in on the man in the alley and activated advanced reconnaissance mode. The man was ducked down, peering intermittently at the people passing on the quiet street, seemingly waiting for a queue. Peter had seen this set up countless times before. Usually, there were multiple men from what Peter could tell. Someone usually stayed out of sight, ready to strike, while another lured bystanders into the trap. It was so predictable. Swinging closer, knowing he had to wait out these criminals in order to identify the man’s accomplice, Peter perched on the edge of a nearby rooftop, prepared to swing down.
A girl passed the opening of the alley, her head was down, focused on something in her hands. She was clearly not paying much attention to her surroundings. A man beside her on the sidewalk quickly shouldered her in before she knew what was happening. The jostle sent her falling into the alley, the object in her hands flying onto the floor. She managed to right herself before hitting the floor, looking quickly back towards the street. The man had now blocked off the exit. Escape was impossible.
“Look what we have here, pretty little thing.” The man sneered, eyeing her up and down. She backed up slowly from him, throwing a panicked glance backward. The second man still remained hidden behind the dumpster. From his position behind her back, her grabbed her by the wrist, and pulled her against him. He locked her scrambling body against his chest by her stomach. She screamed and Peter swiftly swung down, landing near the entrance. He drew closer to the man that shoved the woman into the alley, he was now closing in on the woman. “Whump,” Peter said behind him. The man turned around, angry but confused.
“Excuse me?” the man said, stepping closer to Peter.
“I said,” Peter began, quickly drawing back his fist. “Whump!” He repeated the noise again, this time louder as his fist connected to the man’s jaw, sending him spiraling to the floor. “Ah man, why am I always funniest when no one’s around to hear it,” Peter whined, shaking his fist off lightly from the force of the punch.
The girl took the opportunity to ram back her foot, connecting it with the other man’s groin. He let go of her, reflexively grabbing himself and groaning. She took off running before Peter had a chance to face her, so he quickly webbed the men to the ground and hurriedly followed after her. He spotted her brown hair retreating down the street and quickly webbed up to swing ahead of her.
“Hey, hey, hey. Slow down.” He tried to calm her, but she was shocked and frightened. She stopped briefly in front of him before running across the road at top speed.
Peter recognised that face though. “Michelle?” He said, just loud enough for her to hear as she was midway across the street. She slowed, turning back to the masked boy confused, when a loud horn blared. She turned toward the noise, eyes wide and reflecting the dazzling headlights of the car.
As the car was about to connect with her, she was quickly pulled out of the way, swooped up by Spider-Man as he swung her away from the road. He didn’t put her down when they were across to the next side, afraid she’d try to run off again. He decided instead to swing towards a nearby high rooftop. They soon landed on the roof, Peter finally putting her down. She jumped away from him a few feet before bending over to catch her breath.
“Alright, so you got me up here. What do you want?” Michelle asked, still shaken up and not impressed by the theatrics.
“I wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Peter said as if it were obvious. “those guys nearly-”
“I’m fully aware of what nearly happened,” She quickly cut him off, wincing at the thought. “but why did you drag me up here? And after nearly getting me ran over?” She was angry at him. Crap.
“I’m sorry, it wasn’t supposed to happen like that. You just kept running, I didn’t mean for you to nearly get hit by that car.” Peter apologised, regretting how it had played out.
“It only happened because you called out my name. Who even are you?” Michelle stalked towards him, her anger increasing as she continued. “How do you know who I am?”
“I- I didn’t say your name.” Peter sputtered, backing up with hands up, but she was impatient.
“I don’t need some guy following me around.” She continued, wildly gesturing to him.
“I’m sorry, I’m not stalking you. I just wanted to help.” Peter said as earnestly as he could. He needed to calm this situation down because she was too freaked out. She sounded like she was going to hyperventilate soon if she continued. “I saw those guys pull someone into the alley and I just wanted to stop them.”
She huffed at that, stopping her assault on him but still wasn’t appeased. She crossed her arms and frowned at him. “How do you know me?”
“I- Well I,” Peter began, unsure how to explain it. He took a breath. “I recognised you from DC.”
She contemplated that for a second but was quickly frowning at him once again. “I never told you my name in DC.”
“Yeah, well, I was busy.” Peter shot back.
“I know that, what does that have to do with this?” Michelle asked, puzzled.
“I don’t know!” Peter admitted. He wished Ned was here, he was terrible at this. “But I didn’t say your name.”
“Fine,” Michelle huffed again, frustrated. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. This was too much for her. “Just take me back down. I want to go home,” Michelle said, emotionally exhausted. “I don’t want to be stuck here arguing with some stranger in a bright spandex suit.” The thought of locking herself in her room for a few hours currently sounded extremely appealing.
“Uh, okay,” Peter said, unwilling to leave her alone when she was so upset. “How about I take you home? We can swing there if you want?” He framed it as a question rather than a statement, allowing her a choice.
Michelle took a minute to weigh her options, either she allowed this stranger to walk her home in the dark or she’d do the trek alone. She knew the choice that was obviously safer. If she was honest she didn’t want to be alone in the dark streets after what had happened. “You can take me. Though I don’t want to swing there, I’d rather walk, it’s not far.” She was more herself now, “I’m not okay with this,” She gestured to him again, “You said my name. You’ll have to give me an explanation at some point, but right now I can’t be bothered.”
“Okay,” Peter nodded.
He slowly lowered them back down into an alleyway and they began the short walk to her apartment. It was quiet. Michelle was exhausted and Peter too anxious to think of something appropriate to say. When they approached her building, Peter stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Michelle continued on. She stopped at the top of the stairs before turning back to him. “Thanks,” she began in her usual tone. “I, uh- don’t like to think about what would have happened if you didn’t help and I wanted to say I appreciate it.”
“Oh, you’re welcome.” Peter said, “I’m sorry for freaking you out.”
Michelle figured she’d trust him--considering all that he’d done--to explain himself later. “It’s okay, as long as you keep your word.”
“I will.” He said but that was enough for her, she turned and entered her building. When inside her room, she finally felt safe enough to face what had happened.
A couple hours later, when Peter crawled into his room, he found a text on his phone.
Received: 00:04
MJ: Hey loser. You up?
She never usually texted him, especially not this late at night, but he wasn’t going to mention that. He thought about how she must be feeling and checked the time, 00:42, hoping he wasn’t waking her by replying. He quickly typed out a response.
Peter: Yeah just about, what’s up?
He washed up, not anticipating a reply from her until morning. When he re-entered his room, he saw he had a notification waiting for him.
Received 00:46
MJ: Can’t sleep, cons of living in the city.
Any other night, Peter would have brushed off the comment. But with context as to why she was still awake, Peter felt a pang of something in his chest. The same pang that caused him to send back an unusual response.
Peter: Want to hang out?
As soon as he sent it, he felt stupid. They’d never met up outside of school before, why would she now? She’d think he was being really weird. She’d probably call him a creep. Before he could think about it any further he saw a response pop up.
Received 00:48
MJ: Yeah alright. Meet you at the side of my building.
Her response was so casual, and she quickly added her address. Peter didn’t know how to respond. Instead, he threw on some clothes, texted May that he was okay, and quickly climbed out his window yet again. Peter pulled the hood on his jacket up as he scaled down the building, thanking whatever god there was that no windows faced his wall. In the night air, without his costume, Peter felt the rush of the cool breeze. He was glad he’d thought to bring a hoodie.
He got to Michelle’s in a few minutes, she only lived a couple blocks away, and entered the alley beside her building. He looked around, confused why she’d want to meet him there. There was only a fence at the end and a few dumpsters around.
Psst .
His head shot up to the source of the noise, Michelle was on the bottom level of the fire escape. As their eyes met she quietly lowered the ladder for him to climb up on to. It was still a few meters off the ground so Peter jumped, grabbing the bottom rung and hoisting himself up.
“Nice one, Parker,” She said as she bumped arms with him. “You should try out for the gymnastics team, though I don’t think they accept flakes,” Michelle said with her usual sarcastic tone, her hair was tied back in a bun and she was in her pyjamas, he would think she looked sort of cute.When he met her gaze though, Peter could tell she’d been crying. Instead of saying anything he just smiled, sheepishly.
“I am not a flake, I’m just a very busy guy.” Peter knew it was a lame excuse, he didn’t even have the Stark internship to cling to anymore, everyone on the decathlon team knew that had ended.
“Yeah whatever, follow me,” Michelle said as she turned from him, starting up the flight of stairs. They climbed all the way to the roof. It wasn’t a tall building, Peter had been considerably higher in the past. Michelle seemed to enjoy the height, quickly going over to an area already set up near the edge.
Peter followed her over, seeing she’d set up a few blankets and pillows. She had a few books up here and an empty mug. He figured she’d already been up here when she’d messaged.
“Awwh, how sweet,” Peter said when he was sat cross-legged with her on the blanket, looking around at the makeshift bed.
“Shut it, Loser. this isn’t for you,” Michelle said as she settled into her mountain of pillows.
“Course not, MJ,” Peter said, smiling over at her. She threw an unimpressed look his way but didn’t offer any other response. Instead, she looked out over the city. Peter took the opportunity to make himself more comfortable. She’d taken her shoes off and he made quick work of following her lead, relaxing into his side of the pillows. They weren’t overly close, but they were close enough. Each of them on either end of the duvet, shoulders a foot apart, leaning against the pillows. Their feet might have overlapped if Michelle hadn’t tucked hers under her, but Peter didn’t mind the closeness.
As he looked out on the city, for once not looking for danger, he thought about the night they’d both had. She had been understandably freaked out, and he too felt like he was still recovering from the shock of the night's events. He watched her as she peered out, wondering what she was thinking. If he hadn’t known her as well as he did after years of quick interactions and decathlon training, Peter wouldn’t have noticed the concentrated gleam in her eye. Sure, she was never usually talkative, but she normally occupied herself on a book or her sketch pad. Now though, she was purposefully focused on the city.
“Tryna catch someone changing or something there MJ? What are you staring at?” Peter laughed at his joke, trying to bring her back to reality.
“Have you ever met Spider-Man?” Michelle asked without missing a beat or looking away from the lights surrounding them.
“What? Um, no? I- Why are you asking?” Peter was flustered again that night, completely caught off guard by the question.
“I met him earlier, I think he knew me,” Michelle said, still gazing out.
“Didn’t you meet him before though? Why are you- why do you care?”
She turned to him, finally, and he could see the confused expression on her face, “Because he said my name. I think. I don’t know. I was crossing the road and I wasn’t exactly listening but I swear he did.” Her eyebrows remained scrunched together as she looked back out.
“What if you just thought he did?” Peter tried to reason, hoping he could cling to her uncertainty but his voice sounded too high for his liking.
“Maybe,” Michelle said, but she didn’t sound like she actually believed it. She turned to him again, and he made the mistake of locking eyes with her. She looked determined and that look made him feel so exposed. “I felt like I knew him too though. It was his voice, it’s like when you hear an actor in an animation but can’t recall their name.”
Peters' cheeks were flaming, he was sure of it. “What are you going to do?” he asked, looking away, trying to be casual.
Michelle shook her head. “I don’t know.” She looked defeated, knowing there was only so much she could do. “I just feel so powerless to the world I guess. I mean, I can’t even choose whether some guy knows my name.” Her openness shocked Peter, she wasn’t being herself. Or perhaps, he thought, maybe this was the first time she’d ever been herself in front of him.
“Are- are you okay MJ?” Peter shifted slightly closer to her, wanting to help her in some way.
“Yeah I just, I nearly had a really bad night.” She sighed, looking down. She didn’t have to say anymore, Peter already knew and she couldn’t cope with talking about it.
Peter took a risk, shuffling over so their sides were nearly touching and put his arm around her lightly. She had ample opportunity to pull away but leaned into him slightly. He got the message, pulling her into his shoulder. She melted into him, arm coming up to clutch at the front of his hoodie. Now that he couldn’t see her face, she finally relaxed and let out a quiet sob. Peter pulled his other arm around her, shifting so her face was on his shoulder and his arm was around her waist. They were faced towards each other and her legs rested on his own. He gave her a moment to pull away, hoping he wasn’t being forward, but when she just continued to clutch at him he squeezed her into him gently.
His heart broke at the sounds of her pain, so Peter continued to hold her to him until she slowly settled, tired out from her crying. When she was still for a long time Peter made a move to get up but she held him tighter.
“No,” She said, voice a worn-out whisper. “Don’t.”
Peter stopped, conflicted. “MJ, you’ll freeze if we stay out here, why don’t we get you to bed.” He tried again to move but this time her hand raised to grasp the other side of his neck.
“Stay the night. Please? Just for the night.” She sounded like she was heartbroken, and Peter couldn’t bring himself to fight her. After a quiet agreement, he shuffled them into a more horizontal position. “There’s another blanket to your left.” He glanced around, spying the blanket and draping it over them the best he could with one arm.
“Night, MJ.” He said. She was already asleep.