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Some spoilers for Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #20, so...I hope you've read it! Happy New Year.
Peter is mostly okay with shopping, really.
But Mary Jane is a girl.
Mary Jane isn't a girl like Aunt May is a girl. Aunt May is just a girl in gender. MJ wears nice clothes and is young and pretty and not related to him, and all that stuff makes shopping for her impossible.
He doesn't know exactly where he stands with her either, which doesn't help. At all. He knows she likes him. He knows they're both single.
He hasn't really managed to get from that to anything else, though. And really, Christmas is as good a time as any for that, right? Right.
He got up the guts to ask her out once, and she broke his heart. Even knowing she confessed her love for him to his alter ego (which was one of those statements Peter though he'd never be able to make about his life), it's still tough.
The last time still hurts, a little.
So he wants to get her something nice. Something that says "it's Christmas, we're friends now and that's great, but I want more and I think you do too." He doesn't really know what kind of gift says that.
He thought about getting some advice about it, but dismissed the idea about as quickly as he came up with it. Really, who was he going to ask? Peter doesn't have a lot of friends--mostly it's MJ, Harry, and girls he's broken up with. The fact that he's broken up with more than one girl (well, one was Spider-Man's girl, but who's counting? Right, Peter is) is amazing to him--he figured Peter Parker, terminal geek, was pretty much doomed. And then MJ started being his friend. And then she fell for his alter ego and he ended up dating Gwen Stacy.
In retrospect, having no friends wasn't so bad.
***
The first step to finding a good present, Peter had found, was wandering around the mall.
The second step was getting really, really tired of the mall, possibly getting abused by Flash Thompson, finding nothing good, and going home.
The final step was buying something online.
But the first step was important.
So he's wandering around the mall, thinking maybe jewelry would be a good idea, when he hears someone calling him.
Revised first step: don't wander around the mall where the girl you're getting a present for works.
"Hey Peter!" says MJ, catching up to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Shopping," he says back, managing a real smile.
"Peter Parker doing Christmas shopping at a mall? Stop the presses."
"Hey, what do you know about my shopping habits?"
"I know about your people habits, Peter. It's almost Christmas. I thought the crowds would scare you off."
"I have to shop somewhere," he says with a shrug.
"So what are you looking for?" she asks.
He pauses. He considers. "Something for a girl," he says.
She stiffens, slightly, but recovers. "A girl?"
"Yeah," he says, pretending to be casual. "Me and a friend of mine had a fight for a while. Not a fight, I guess. But, um. We had some trouble. So I wanted to get her something nice. For Christmas. To let her know how I feel."
Mary Jane stops behind him, and when he turns around she pretends to be looking in a store window. He can see the side of her face, but can't read it, exactly. "What were you thinking?" she asks.
"I don't know," he says. "I'm not very good at this. Maybe a necklace. Do girls like that stuff?"
She smiles, her real smile, the smile he hasn't seen since she got that date with Spider-Man. "Girls like when you try, Peter."
"I do try," he says, looking straight at her.
"I know." She starts to walk away, waving over her shoulder. "Good luck shopping."
He's not sure if she's being hard on him or not.
***
"Um," says Peter, because that's a good way to start a conversation. "Mary Jane Watson works here, doesn't she?"
Mary Jane's boss looks up at him. "Yes, she does, but she's not on shift right now."
"I know. I was, um...wondering if there were any clothes she really liked? I wanted to buy her a Christmas present and...I'm not very good at it."
The boss looks sympathetic. "Nothing here... But you know, she was saying she really wanted a new pair of hoop earrings. She lost one of her old hoops here and we never could find it."
"Really?"
"I think she'd like that."
"Thanks!" says Peter.
That's trying. And it's succeeding, which is even better.
He doesn't even mind that much when Flash knocks his tray down in the food court. He's got better things to think about.
***
His courage runs out at giving her the gift. Which is sad, really. She's as much as told him she wants it, she likes him, and all that stuff, but he still kind of worries that she just...won't like it. And he knows she'll be grateful and she'll get his message, but he doesn't want to see her disappointed. He wants her to be happy.
So he leaves it in her mailbox, which is cliched and stupid and cowardly, but he doesn't know what else to do. He wants it to just be tomorrow already, and she'll already have found it and it will be her move.
He's being so stupid.
So he decides to go fight crime. If he thinks much more, he'll start getting nostalgic for her rejecting him, just because then he thought it was simple and over.
When he gets home, MJ has her "SPIDEY!" sign in the window, and he knocks.
"Hi!" she gushes. She's wearing the earrings he bought for her.
Not that he can say that.
"Hi. You should invest in a bat-signal."
She smiles. "I don't work enough hours."
"So what's up?"
"Remember that guy I said I liked?"
"Always."
"He bought me earrings," she says, showing them off.
"They're...they look nice? Jewelry isn't really my thing."
"They're perfect. And my boss said he asked her about it. It was really sweet of him. And...I didn't get him anything nearly this good."
Peter manages not to groan. "He probably doesn't mind."
"He said it was to let me know how he felt."
"Does he know how you feel?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe you should just tell him that."
"Yeah, I think I will," she says, clenching her fists.
Peter wishes he could tell her he isn't home.
"I need to change first," she says, giving him a signficant look.
"Oh! Sure. Sorry," says Peter.
He gets out. After all, he needs to change too.
***
"Hi," says MJ. She's breathless and she looks beautiful and he's gaping the same way he always gapes when she shows up at his door. It's a problem.
"Hi," he says.
"I got the earrings."
"Oh."
"They're perfect."
"I'm glad you li--"
"Do you want to be my boyfriend?" asks MJ.
It's not subtle and it comes out all in a rush when she says it, strange and sudden, but Peter is so far from caring it barely registers.
"Yes," he says, without hesitation.
"Oh," she says. "Good." She straightens, and there's that smile again. For him, not for Spider-Man. "Merry Christmas, Peter."
"Merry Christmas, MJ," he repeats.
She kisses him very quickly before she leaves.
It's a Christmas miracle.