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“Okay so,” Mr Harrington started as he placed the hat with the crumpled-up pieces of paper down on his desk and looked up at the waiting students. “It was a draw, you both received equal votes.”
“What! How’s that possible?” Peter scoffed, getting out of his chair to approach the teacher’s desk at the front.
MJ snorted at his words, “There are an even number of people in decathlon, ergo it’s possible for the vote to be split,” her tone was patronising. She similarly got out of her seat and followed him to go and speak to Mr Harrington.
“Wow, thank you so much for explaining simple Math to me,” he retorted sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“I figured I had to simplify it for you to get it,” MJ mocked, a wide taunting grin plastered on her face.
“You know what-“ Peter erupted, turning to face her.
Mr Harrington quickly got out of his seat to stop them before another argument between the pair broke out. “Guys, how about we step outside for a moment and calmly discuss this, eh?” he advised calmly, gesturing for the pair to follow him outside.
“Fine,” they simultaneously huffed.
They shuffled out of the room side by side, with MJ elbowing Peter out of the way so she could get out first before him.
“Look guys,” Mr Harrington began speaking, taking a deep breath to level himself before he addressed the feuding pair. “Obviously this isn’t the result we wanted-“
“I obviously should’ve won,” MJ interrupted.
“What?” Peter regarded her incredulously. “How did you come to that conclusion, then?”
“I don’t flake out of practice like you,” MJ declared simply, looking at her nails like she was bored.
“I have a higher point average over all our competitions!” Peter fired back.
“I’m smarter than you,” she declared, staying as calm as ever.
“Sorry, what was your SAT score again?” Peter questioned.
That seemed to get a reaction out of MJ who finally looked up at him, “Listen here, you little shit-“
She moved to take a step closer to him and was only stopped by Mr Harrington, who they’d forgotten was even there, finally speaking up, “That’s enough guys and MJ what did I say about language?”
“Sorry Mr Harrington,” MJ said quietly.
Mr Harrington exhaled loudly, asking some unknown deity for patience. “I was saying, how about you guys just be co-captains?”
“No!” both students exclaimed at the same time.
“Mr Harrington it’s not-“ Peter started to argue desperately.
At the same time, MJ tried to make her case, “Why should I have to-“
The pair went quiet when they realised they were speaking at the same time.
“Don’t speak over me, white male,” MJ said with eyes narrowed at Peter.
Peter rolled his eyes at her words but remained quiet and allowed her to speak first.
“Look Mr Harrington I love and respect you but that’s a dumb idea. I don’t see why I, the rightful Academic Decathlon captain, should have to share my title with someone less deserving.”
Peter opened his mouth to argue against her words but Mr Harrington simply put up a finger in warning, causing him to deflate and close his mouth.
“Well, what do you suggest MJ?”
“Just choose one of us to be captain right now,” MJ dictated. Her and Peter both stood up straight, awaiting the older man’s decision.
“I’m not gonna choose a captain,” Mr Harrington responded.
“Well, why not?” MJ asked in disbelief.
“That defeats the purpose of democratically choosing a captain,” Mr Harrington explained, trying to be patient.
“Fuck democracy!” MJ exclaimed but at Mr Harrington’s warning look she went quieter, “Sorry. What I meant was, I think in this situation where there’s been a stalemate it’s fine for you to choose someone,” she explained, calmer.
“I’m not doing it,” Mr Harrington stated simply.
“Well who can do it then?” MJ asked, thinking out loud.
“Principal Morita could choose,” Peter finally spoke up.
“Yes! C’mon dweeb, let’s go,” MJ said already turning to head to the principal’s office.
“He’s just gonna tell you the same thing I’ve-“ Mr Harrington tried to tell the pair but they missed the rest of his sentence, already halfway down the hall.
They raced down the halls, each determined to reach the principal’s office first. MJ put a foot out to trip him at the last second just before they reached the office meaning she was first to step into his office whilst Peter was left to scramble off the floor.
He caught up with her as she spoke to the principal’s assistant to see if he was free to meet with them.
“Yes go on through, guys,” the assistant instructed, pointing towards the office entrance.
“Peter and MJ,” Principal Morita greeted exhaustedly. He’d been privy to a lot of their arguments over their time at Midtown already- the only reason he bothered entertaining them was because they were both excellent students who’d brought the school a large amount of publicity and attention through their achievements which meant financial donations to the school. That said, he couldn’t wait for them to graduate.
“Hi Principal Morita,” the pair greeted together as they took their seats opposite him.
“What’s the issue today, then?” He asked the students, leaning back to settle comfortably into his chair.
“We need you to choose a decathlon captain,” Peter explained.
“From the two of us,” MJ added.
“Why? The decathlon captain is voted for by the decathlon members.”
“Yes but we received an equal amount of votes,” Peter elaborated.
“So just be co-captains,” The principal suggested impatiently.
“No!” The pair exclaimed simultaneously.
“A team needs one voice of leadership to guide it,” MJ noted, trying to get him to see where they were coming from.
“Yeah and that voice should be me,” Peter declared.
“No, you’re unreliable!” MJ huffed.
“Am not! Not anymore at least and anyway, I’ve had the better overall performance as part of the team. Our competition point averages show as much, I deserve this.”
“You’re already king of the nerds over at Robotics and Coding club,” MJ said, rolling her eyes.
“And you’re already leader of model UN and debate club!” Peter fired back.
“I don’t have time for this,” Principal Morita interjected. “You’re co-captains.” Both of them opened their mouths to protest so he spoke up again, “That’s final, now get out of my office.”
They left his office sulking to go back to the rest of the decathlon team. When they got there everyone was gone however, the only person remaining being Mr Harrington who was cleaning up and putting chairs and desks away.
“Where is everyone?” Peter inquired curiously.
“I sent them home, we weren’t going to accomplish much today. What did Principal Morita say?” he asked knowingly.
“We have to be co-captains,” MJ said dejectedly.
Mr Harrington burst out laughing before he could control himself, he eventually caught himself and cleared his throat to compose himself, “Go home guys. We’ll work things out before practice next Wednesday.”
“Hi May!” Peter greeted as he locked the front door and dumped his backpack on the floor when he got home.
“Hi sweetie!” she shouted back over the sound of pots and pans clattering, meaning she was attempting to cook dinner tonight. Oh no.
Peter’s suspicions were confirmed as he walked into the kitchen and saw his aunt intently reading over a recipe.
She looked up when she noticed his presence, “So? Am I looking at Midtown’s newest Academic Decathlon captain?” she asked excitedly.
Peter exhaled at the reminder, “No. You’re looking at its newest co-captain.”
“Oh,” she wiped her hands on her apron before coming to wrap her arms around him. “Co-captain is great honey don’t look so sad. You can still put that in your application right?”
Peter relaxed, savouring her hug as he leaned down to rest his head on her shoulder. “Yeah, sure. But I have to be co-captains with MJ,” he pulled away from her and noticed her confused look at the name, “You know, Michelle.”
“Oh New York’s Attorney General Jones’ daughter, right?”
“Yeah, she probably got her mom to scare the school into giving her the captaincy,” Peter said with a pout.
“Peter, that’s not very nice. Michelle is a very smart girl and I raised you better than to suggest a girl used her parents’ influence to get something just because you wanted it too. Girls can be powerful all by themselves,” May chastised with eyes narrowed at him.
Peter ducked his head in shame, “Sorry May, you’re right. We just don’t get on at all so it’s not gonna go well.”
“Oh Peter- shit!” May rushed to the cooker that she’d forgotten about when the smell of smoke filled the kitchen. “How about we get Thai food and we can talk more about all this,” she suggested once she’d cleaned up the burnt pan.
Peter laughed at his aunt failing another one of her culinary adventures but acquiesced, “Sure, May.”
~~
At the same time across the city MJ was sat with her mom filling her in on the day’s events and lamenting about having to be co-captain with Peter.
“I thought you’d have got captain but we can still work with co-captain,” MJ’s mom reassured as they walked out of the home office of their Upper West Side brownstone.
“I should’ve got captain though! Peter is useless and never shows up to practice, I don’t know why half of our team voted for him,” MJ sulked.
“If he’s so unreliable then Mr Harrington will realise that soon enough and appoint you the rightful captain anyway sweetheart,” her mom moved her hands to frame her face and bring it up to face her from where MJ had been looking down sadly. “Don’t sulk, just focus on proving you’re more deserving and getting your letter of recommendation from Mr Harrington, okay?”
MJ huffed, “Fine.”
“Now turn that frown upside down and come help me make dinner,” She said warmly as she pinched MJ’s cheeks.
“Ew mom, gross. Stop.” MJ feigned disgust but she found herself smiling again.
“There’s that beautiful smile I-“ her words were interrupted by her cell phone ringing. “Miller this better be good,” she answered in her Attorney General voice as MJ had dubbed it, which was so different to how she normally spoke to her only daughter.
Her mom gestured for her to give her a minute as she turned back to the office to take the call. MJ went ahead to the kitchen to get out all the ingredients and put them on the counter which was the extent of help she was able to provide given her lack of skill in the kitchen.
Peter looked up from his phone to apologise to the person he’d just collided with to find MJ stood opposite him, staring down at him impatiently.
“MJ,” he greeted coolly before proceeding to walk ahead of her into the classroom reserved for the decathlon practice this week. He smiled to himself when he heard her huff disbelievingly at how he just went ahead of her. He did make sure to hold the door open for her because you know- May.
They found Mr Harrington waiting for them, having set up a pair of chairs for them opposite him on a desk which they immediately took.
“Afternoon Harrington,” MJ greeted.
“Good afternoon, Mr Harrington,” Peter greeted formally at the same time in contrast to MJ’s more casual greeting.
“So guys, I know this co-captain situation isn’t what both of you wanted but I need you guys to accept it, okay?” He asked gently. The pair only nodded in response so he carried on, “We have regional qualifiers in six weeks and the team needs you two to be on the same page so we’re ready for them, is that understood?”
“Understood.” The two promised.
When the rest of the team came and practice started the two were anything but on the same page.
“I think we should focus on strengthening our Physics, that category is one of our weakest,” Peter suggested.
“Of course you’d say that science nerd, clearly we need to do more work on Humanities subjects. The team’s literature and art knowledge is abysmal,” MJ countered.
“Sorry we don’t all know obscure 20th century female surrealist artists or spend all our time with our noses buried in books like you MJ!”
“Maybe if you did, your art and literature knowledge wouldn’t be so lacking!” MJ argued. She moved closer to him so the pair were now stood face to face really close together, breathing heavily and seething with frustration.
“Okaaaaaaay,” Ned interrupted. “Time for a break, maybe?” He asked looking desperately between the pair and Mr Harrington.
Peter and MJ finally broke off their staring contest and both took a tentative step back away from each other.
“Great idea, Ned,” Mr Harrington said from the corner where he was sat observing. “Everyone take 5, go to the bathroom, stretch your legs, grab a snack, whatever,” he said gesturing to the group to leave the classroom. “Not you two,” he said, stopping MJ and Peter in their tracks.
Once everyone had left giving them some privacy, Mr Harrington got up to approach the pair who were stood side by side near the door. “Same page remember?”
“Sorry Mr Harrington,” the pair said apologetically at the same time.
“If you two don’t learn to co-captain I’m not doing either of your letters of recommendation,” he declared, crossing his arms to appear authoritative.
“What?” Peter exclaimed, eyes widening.
“I’m pretty sure you can’t do that Harrington,” MJ stated at the same time.
“Can’t I?” Mr Harrington asked curiously.
The students looked at each other and back at Mr Harrington hurriedly in a panic.
“Let’s see what my mom has to say about that,” MJ eventually came up with, eyes narrowed.
“Oh of course you’re gonna tell your mommy,” Peter mocked.
“I’m trying to get us our recommendation letters, would you shut up,” MJ said, elbowing him in the side.
“Okay fine, maybe I can’t do that,” Mr Harrington admitted in defeat. MJ smiled victoriously but her smile fell when he carried on, “But I want you two to start meeting up outside of school to strategize and figure your stuff out starting this weekend. Give me proof that you met up then I’ll give you your letters of recommendation next week and you have to keep meeting up even after you get the letters.”
The pair were quiet as they considered their options for a moment. Eventually they both gave in, “Fine,” they huffed out at the same time.
“Great! Go tell everyone practice is done for today since we aren’t getting anywhere but we can’t keep cutting it short this close to qualifiers so you two need to get your shit together,” he told them.
“Language Harrington,” MJ chastised good naturedly.
“Just go,” he replied tiredly.
Peter stepped back after ringing MJ’s doorbell so he was in view of the camera at the entrance of the grand brownstone. This was a long way away from May’s 800 square foot Queens apartment.
“You can just leave the package by the porch then I’ll get it later,” MJ said over the comm.
“Ha, ha very funny MJ. Let me in, we need to do decathlon stuff so Mr Harrington gives us our letters,” Peter said into what he thought was the mic. He probably looked like an idiot speaking into the wall to onlookers.
MJ sighed loudly, “Gimme two minutes.”
A little over five minutes later the massive door opened and MJ was stood on the other side.
“I expected your butler to open the door,” Peter greeted.
“Shut up. C’mon, we can work in the upstairs library,” MJ said, gesturing for him to follow her once he’d taken his shoes off.
“Oh, of course. Of course you have a home library,” Peter commented in disbelief.
MJ elected to ignore his comment and instead walked ahead to take him to the home library.
Their home was so large and extensive and now Peter understood why it’d taken her over five minutes to get to the front door. He’d initially just assumed she was messing with him.
They eventually arrived at the library and Peter looked around in amazement, a lot of people had home studies but given that this was the size of their entire apartment he could see why it was a “library” rather than a study. It was impressive but he wasn’t going to give MJ the satisfaction by telling her as such.
“C’mon loser,” MJ brought his attention back to her. She’d already settled down on a couch at the centre of the library whilst he’d been stood at the entrance admiring the space.
Peter cleared his throat, embarrassed, then walked over to settle down onto the couch next to her keeping a safe distance between them.
“So, Liz sent me tons of documents with data on our competition performance and all the data she collected on each member of the team. It’s like 100s of pages.”
“Holy shit, she kept track of all that information? Wow- wait, how come she sent it to you,” Peter queried.
“Because I’m the team captain,” MJ deadpanned.
“Co-captain!” Peter argued. “That’s so disrespectful to-“
MJ interrupted him before another argument erupted, “Look, can we just read through this stuff and get this done so you don’t need to stay here longer than you need to then you can go have an aneurysm over how I’m better than you back at home.”
Peter looked ready to argue but stopped for a moment to think it over and eventually he gave in, “Fine, let’s get this over with,” he huffed out. “What are you doing?” He asked her curiously when he noticed her taking a picture of him.
“Taking a picture to show Mr Harrington we met up so we get our letters,” MJ explained simply.
“Oh, can you take another one? I wasn’t ready before.”
“What- no. We have work to do Peter,” MJ punctuated her words by handing him a large pile of paper she’d printed out.
“Fine,” Peter grumbled accepting the pile to start going through it.
They managed to work through the various, very detailed and extensive reports Liz had made and they summarised the information to make their own reports then they started strategizing on how best to utilise each team member’s strengths.
They managed to do hours of work without argument, pausing occasionally to grab snacks. Before they knew it, it was evening and MJ’s mom’s arrival was what stopped them working eventually.
“Good evening Mrs Jones,” Peter greeted the woman stood at the library entrance watching them nervously. “Err, I mean Attorney General Jones?”
“Evening Peter, Ava is just fine,” she greeted warmly. Peter was expecting her to be a mean, hard-ass boss woman based on her reputation as the state’s Attorney General but she seemed lovely and warm which somehow made him even more nervous.
“Uh, I should get going. I told my aunt I’d be back a while ago, she’ll be getting worried,” Peter said, hurriedly packing away all his belongings.
“Okay, I can have my driver take you home?” Ava offered.
“Mom,” MJ huffed rolling her eyes. She didn’t need Peter to gain more ammunition to think of her as a princess or spoilt rich brat.
“Err no Mrs Jones- I mean, Ava, it’s okay. I’ll catch the subway,” Peter tried to reassure.
“At least let me give you cash for a taxi,” the older woman was insistent as she reached into her handbag.
“No!” Peter stopped her. He cleared his throat in embarrassment at how much louder than intended that no had come out, “Sorry, no, honestly Ava it’s okay.”
“Okay, if you say so,” she eventually gave in.
“I’ll walk you out Peter,” MJ said getting up as well.
Once MJ had seen him off, she came back up to the library to clean up the mess they’d left over the course of the day to find her mom waiting for her. “Well he’s nice,” her mom said with her eyebrows raised suggestively.
“Mom stop,” MJ rolled her eyes as she got to work cleaning up.
“I’m just saying.”
“So between the picture of Peter in my home library and all the reports we wrote, you have ample evidence that Peter and I met up like you suggested,” MJ said closing her laptop.
“Okay guys, you can have your letters of recommendations.” MJ and Peter high-fived in celebration but faltered when he spoke up again, “But, I want you guys to keep having these captain meetings. You managed to achieve a lot and practice was way better today.”
“But why,” MJ and Peter whined simultaneously.
“I just told you why, and you shouldn’t be questioning me I’m the teacher and you’re the students,” Mr Harrington said moving to cross his arms to appear like an authority figure but he fumbled and somehow managed to mess up that simple action undermining his words.
“Oh my God,” MJ groaned.
The pair didn’t argue further beyond that though and instead left the class at the same time.
“So meet at yours this Saturday?” MJ asked as they walked in step side by side.
“Err,” Peter looked to her with panic in his eyes. “We don’t have a home library like you guys.”
“Then we can just work in your living room, don’t be stupid,” MJ replied exasperatedly.
“MJ-“ Peter tried to explain but she’d already walked well ahead of him.
“Text me your address, I’ll be there at 9am sharp!” MJ shouted back before heading off in her own direction.
“Hi, you must be MJ,” May greeted excitedly as she opened the apartment door to her.
“Yeah, good morning. I hope I didn’t wake you,” MJ said as she took her shoes off and placed them on the shoe rack near the door.
“It’s no problem sweetheart, I’m Peter’s aunt May by the way.”
“It’s lovely to meet you,” MJ said extending her hand to shake the other woman’s hand. May only laughed at the outstretched hand and pulled her into her arms for a hug which MJ found she didn’t mind at all because it was really warm and welcoming, which was weird considering she was not a physical contact type of person at all.
Eventually May pulled away with one final soothing rub to MJ’s back. “Peter’s waiting in the living room just through there,” she said pointing ahead.
“Thanks,” she said then walked down to meet with her co-captain.
“Hey MJ!” Peter greeted in a similar excited tone to his aunt when he caught sight of her. “We’re just about to have pancakes, do you want some?”
“Err no, I don’t usually eat breakfast it’s fine.”
“Oh c’mon MJ, it’s chocolate chip pancakes. They’re about the only thing May makes well,” Peter tried to persuade her.
“Hey I heard that!” May called from the kitchen which made MJ laugh.
“Fine,” she finally agreed.
They sat around the Parkers’ small kitchen table eating and chatting, carrying on conversation long after the pancakes were finished with May asking MJ about how her college application and school work was going. The older woman had a surprising warmth to her and listened with such keen interest that it disarmed MJ. Whilst her own mom was a very warm and loving woman, a large chunk of her life was taken up by her work for the state meaning she wasn’t always wholly present which MJ didn’t resent her for but it was nice to sit and talk to someone so engrossed in everything she had to say without an interrupting phone call; MJ loved May. She still hated Peter though.
May eventually kicked them out of the kitchen and told them to go and work whilst she cleaned up so they moved to the living room to go over the team’s performance at the last practice. They also worked together to make flashcards with questions in areas they felt the team were underperforming in.
“We need more chemistry flashcards,” Peter said not bothering to look up from the flashcards he was going over after hours of work.
“No. We need more History ones, the team didn’t get any of the History questions right this week,” MJ argued.
“Yeah but there are proportionally less questions on History than there are on the Sciences so it’s better for us to focus more on science,” Peter had put the flashcards down and was staring MJ down.
“Oh my God, would it hurt you to be interested in anything other than science you stupid nerd.” MJ rolled her eyes.
“”Stupid nerd” is an oxymoron,” Peter retorted, pleased with himself. “And need I remind you of our SAT scores to prove to you I care about and am good at Humanities?”
“Would you stop bringing up the SAT scores?” MJ huffed annoyed. “I got 1550 and you got 1600 that’s only a 50-point difference!”
“It’s just interesting that I did better than you when you can afford all the SAT tutoring in the world is all,” Peter fired back.
At his words MJ paused, looking at him hurt. She looked down at her lap in response which made Peter realise that he’d crossed a line, “I’m really sorry MJ, that was out of line. I didn’t mean that.”
MJ kept her eyes down and spoke quietly, “No it’s okay I’m aware of the privilege my socioeconomic status affords me. That was just- unexpected is all.”
“Hey,” Peter said gently to get her to look up at him. “I’m privileged as a cis white male as well, possibly more than you even though you’re rich because well, this is America.”
MJ laughed at his words and finally looked up to face him again, “And straight. Don’t forget you’re straight.”
“Well…” Peter said, his voice raising an octave.
“Huh,” MJ said intrigued. “You might be more interesting than I give you credit for Parker,” MJ remarked, going to gently punch his shoulder. “Me too, by the way,” she confessed.
Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise at her confession then the two just watched each other for a prolonged quiet moment.
MJ was first to look away after a while, clearing her throat she said, “I think we’re done for today so I’m gonna go.”
“Yeah cool, I can walk you home,” Peter said getting up, still in a slight haze.
“I live in a whole different borough Peter,” MJ said, rolling her eyes.
“Oh yeah- right, right. I’ll still see you out,” Peter eventually composed himself.
“And I drove here.”
“Yep, yeah, got it. Let’s just go.”
He walked with her down the stairs to the front of his apartment building where they stood awkwardly, unsure how to go their separate ways.
“Well,” MJ spoke up first again. “See you Monday Parker.”
“Bye MJ!” Peter said waving to her as she walked down the block to get to her car.
They continued to meet up each Saturday until the regional qualifiers, which they managed to qualify for meaning the next goal became State Championships. Because of the team’s great performance and MJ and Peter finally managing to work well together, minus a few disagreements here and there, Mr Harrington stopped asking them to keep meeting each Saturday but they continued to do so anyway.
Only because it was beneficial to the functioning of the team and for no other reason, of course.
On this Saturday, Peter was the one who went over to MJ’s. He rang the bell then stood back to be in view of the camera.
“Are you a Jehovah’s witness? We’re Jewish, sorry,” MJ joked over the comm like she did each time he came over.
“Ha, ha,” Peter responded sarcastically. He didn’t bother arguing or pleading with her to let him in anymore, having become accustomed to this little routine.
A few minutes later MJ opened the door to him and greeted him, “Sup, Parker.”
“Is your butler gonna open the door for me one day?” Peter asked curiously after removing his shoes as he followed her into the house.
“Ha, ha. Yes, all rich people have butlers. Good one,” MJ replied sarcastically.
“Sorry, wouldn’t want to stereotype the rich. Don’t want to oppress them more than they’re already oppressed,” Peter teased back easily.
“Shut up,” she said giving him a shove. “But seriously, we don’t have a butler. Besides the cleaner, my mom does as much as she can herself- something about being as present as possible or whatever,” MJ said quickly trying to brush it off.
“Oh. That’s really nice,” Peter said earnestly in response to her having briefly opened up to him.
“We have work to do c’mon,” MJ dismissed as they settled into the home library.
After a couple of hours of work going over past State Championship questions and making new flashcards for the team, Peter leaned back away from his computer. “Can we stop for lunch?”
“It’s 11:30,” MJ informed him irritably.
“Yeah but I’m hungry and I can’t focus,” Peter whined petulantly.
“See this is your problem, you’re so easily distracted and unreliable!” MJ huffed looking up from her laptop.
“No I’m not!” Peter defended.
“Yes you are. This is why you shouldn’t have been captain,” she stated matter of factly.
“Not this again. When have I ever been unreliable?” Peter protested. “I haven’t missed practice or anything this year!”
“You did all of sophomore year!” MJ shouted back at him.
Oh.
Peter went still and quiet at that. MJ watched him for a moment before getting back to making a quizlet for the team, figuring she’d won this argument.
“My uncle Ben was murdered start of sophomore year,” Peter said quietly.
That made MJ pause in her actions, “Oh Peter, I’m so sorry.” MJ closed her laptop, turning to focus on the boy next to her.
“It’s okay. I just figured everyone in school knew because word got round but um, I wasn’t in school much after that.”
“I don’t keep up with school gossip, I’m really sorry I didn’t know,” she said apologetically.
“Honestly, it’s okay MJ.”
MJ exhaled, “No it’s not. All those times I’ve called you unreliable and said you were undeserving of being captain, that was- that was uncalled for. I’m really sorry.”
“Can you stop apologising, it’s weird because it’s you,” Peter said pretending to shudder.
“What does that mean? Shut up, I’m not a bitch!”
“Well…” Peter said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“Shut up,” MJ said shoving him. That was something she was doing often nowadays.
“I’m kidding, I’d never call a woman that.”
“May raised you right,” MJ said impressed.
“Yeah, May’s amazing,” Peter agreed.
“Let’s go get lunch downstairs,” MJ said putting her laptop down and getting up to go to the kitchen.
Peter got up to follow excitedly but he couldn’t help but tease her, “I thought it was too early for lunch?”
“Do you want food or not?”
They continued to meet up every weekend, alternating between each other’s houses. The only difference was that now, as well as the captain meetings they also now started to go to the movie theatre together in the evenings after they were finished or they’d go out for dinner at a number of cheap fast food places or sometimes, they’d go to the arcade.
They did all sorts of activities just the two of them that were arguably date like but they were not dates, it was just two co-captains bonding to enable them to work together more efficiently so really- they were going out together every Saturday night for the sake of the team.
“I keep telling you, you should try dipping your fries in your shake. It’s heavenly,” Peter said in between bites of his fries.
“Ew no, that’s gross.”
“I’m telling you, the combination of the salty fry and the sweet milkshake is amazing. Just try it this once please,” he pleaded. “I promise I won’t even call you names and go on a rant about how wrong you are if you don’t like it.”
MJ considered him for a moment then eventually gave in, “Okay, but remember no ranting if I don’t like it,” she said in warning as she dipped a fry into his shake. She figured his vanilla shake was a safer option to try this out compared to her cookies and cream one and Peter didn’t protest when she reached over into his shake. They were currently sat in her car at 11pm in the parking lot gorging their food in shame after having ordered at the drive-thru.
“Not bad,” she conceded after tasting it. Peter smiled victoriously, understanding that “not bad” was the equivalent of “amazing” when it came to MJ.
Peter held off on proclaiming “I told you so!” and instead decided to ask her about something else, “How’s your college application going by the way?”
“It’s okay, I’m struggling with my essay a bit but everything else is good to go.”
“Me too,” he sighed. “I wish I had a high school experience to write about.”
“What do you mean?” MJ asked, confused at his words.
“I don’t know I wish I’d had the typical high school experience then maybe I’d have something interesting to talk about in my essay.”
“All the tests, homework, clubs and stress is the normal high school experience, you’re not making any sense Parker,” MJ declared, going back to eating her fries.
“No I mean like other people’s high school experience. We haven’t had that,” Peter said.
“And what exactly is that?” MJ asked with her eyes narrowed.
“Y’know, like the partying, drinking, sneaking out…”
“Lame.”
“Have you never thought about how we’ve spent our entire time at high school just focused on getting good grades and doing as many clubs as possible so we’d have things to talk about in our college applications. Like we dedicated all our time to the future and didn’t focus on the present,” Peter said imploringly, trying to get her to understand what he meant.
“Wow, that’s so deep,” MJ retorted sarcastically.
“Like have you ever had a romantic partner? Or been kissed by someone you like? I haven’t.” Peter asked quietly, undeterred by her snarky remark.
The two were now staring at each other, the car quiet.
“I haven’t,” MJ eventually admitted quietly, almost to herself.
“So you get what I’m saying,” Peter said, equally quiet.
“I’ll drop you off at home,” MJ went to put her seatbelt on, she was now facing forwards and refusing to make eye contact with him.
They drove back to Queens in silence and the only thing MJ said to him was a quick, “Bye Parker,” as she dropped him off in front of his building.
State Championships eventually came and with all the work MJ and Peter had put into training their team, their team ended up coming out on top and becoming State champions.
MJ buzzed in to answer the winning point and the whole team got up to hug her in celebration. They eventually pulled away from her then they started hugging each other one by one.
Peter went to hug MJ and she pressed her lips to his. It was a brief peck, the contact barely noticeable to anyone given how quick the kiss had been but it was noticeable to Peter who just stood there frozen after she pulled away and didn’t say anything.
He was quiet all throughout the dinner they went to afterwards as a team to celebrate and he was still quiet as they got the bus back to school.
He didn’t utter a word when May came to pick him up and they drove back to their apartment. He quietly went to his room and sat down on the bottom bunk trying to process everything.
Eventually, he quietly got up and grabbed his bike then left the apartment without a word and found himself cycling to the familiar brownstone.
He looked into the camera after ringing the bell and waited for her in silence. Today MJ didn’t make one of her usual jokes over the comm like she used to, she just came and opened the door quietly.
“Sup, loser,” she greeted nonchalantly after he’d stepped into her house.
Finally, after hours of silence Peter spoke and he wished what came out of his mouth would have been more articulate since he’d had hours of silence thinking about everything, instead what he came out with was, “You kissed me.”
MJ rolled her eyes at his declaration. “It’s not a big deal. I was just really proud of us for winning and I found out I got into Harvard this morning, it was an in the heat of the moment type thing. And you told me that you hadn’t been kissed by someone you liked so…” MJ rambled on.
After a moment, Peter closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was very chaste though as he pulled away almost immediately, “Oh sorry, I’ve just processed what you said. You said someone I liked not that you liked me, I don’t know why that’s what I got from that. Again, I’m s-“
The rest of his rambling was interrupted by MJ, “You stupid nerd,” she said fondly then she pressed her lips against his again. This time it was for longer and she licked at his lower lip to which he opened his mouth so they could deepen the kiss and then they found themselves making out by her front door.
Eventually they pulled apart and Peter blinked his eyes open slowly to stare at her. “”Stupid nerd” is an oxymoron,” he teased.
“Shut up,” MJ said with a shove but she then grabbed his hand to put it in hers and didn’t let go as they walked up to the library.
“I thought you hated me,” Peter said as they settled onto their usual couch.
“I don’t hate you Peter, I was just-“ she paused as her voice got quieter, “I was jealous- not a word,” she said menacingly with her eyes narrowed at him, daring him to comment on her admission. “You skipped school and decathlon so much and still did better than me when I worked so hard but obviously now I know, you know, about everything.”
“You had no reason to be jealous of me either way, you’re really intelligent and hard-working and ambitious and smart, did I mention smart?” Peter told her simply.
“So you admit I’m smarter than you,” MJ said crossing her arms triumphantly to stare at him with a wide grin on her face.
“Mmm I don’t know about that but you can definitely be the salutatorian to my valedictorian,” Peter teased.
“In your dreams Parker,” MJ said shoving him as he laughed.
“Well done on getting into Harvard by the way, they’re lucky to have you.”
MJ moved to sit closer to him on the couch then leaned over to kiss him.
They kissed for a while then pulled back to just look at each other, remaining close to each other. “Well done on getting into MIT,” MJ said quietly, her eyes moving between his eyes and his lips.
“How’d you know I got into MIT?”
“I’m really observant,” she declared simply and she closed the gap between them to kiss him again before he could enquire about what she meant by that vague statement.
They made out for what felt like hours, Peter’s arms wrapped tightly around MJ who was draped over him, nearly in his lap with her head resting on Peter’s shoulder.
“So what does this mean?” Peter asked nervously when they eventually pulled apart again. He still had his arms wrapped around her whilst MJ still had her head on his shoulder though she wasn’t craning her neck up to face him anymore.
“I don’t know, but we have way more captain meetings coming up now that we’re going to Nationals,” she said bemusedly, pointedly steering clear of the “what are we” conversation for the time being.
Peter laughed at that, “Okay, so dinner at mine Friday night then?”
“Captain meetings aren’t on Friday nights.”
“Aren’t they?” Peter asked, feigning ignorance.
She looked up at him again to find him smiling down adoringly at her. She leaned up to resume their kissing then they just stayed on the couch for longer making out leisurely for a while.