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First Moves
One moment, MJ is the self-designated school loner- always in the corner away from her peers, simply observing. Then the next moment before she’s even realised, she suddenly finds herself no longer the scary, quiet girl with no friends and is instead now best friends with Ned and Peter with the three of them now being a nice little trio.
It all happened somewhere between her appointment to decathlon captain following Liz’s unfortunate departure and Peter’s (along with half the world’s) disappearance for some months in junior year; though none of them like to talk or even think about that time.
The point is, whilst Peter was away her and Ned grew closer. It started with her noticing the boy staring sadly ahead at the empty, usually occupied, seat opposite him, his lunch forgotten. She had plopped herself down in front of him in the empty space and started ranting about their history project with no preamble in order to distract him.
Before she knew it, the two of them started sitting together every lunchtime and they started hanging out outside of school too, having Friday night movie nights at each other’s houses or doing homework together. Ned would also constantly text MJ when they weren't together, sending her memes he claimed reminded him of her or slightly panicked texts about his ever-growing crush on Betty Brant. It was initially slightly weird and overwhelming to have someone constantly checking in on her, constantly trying to make her smile and sharing updates on their life and in turn wanting updates on her life but she supposes that’s what friendship is- she’s never had it before, so she’s not so sure.
A small part of her, that insecure part of her she is always constantly trying to suppress, told her she was simply a placeholder in Ned’s life until Peter’s return. But when Peter ultimately did come back, she found that Ned didn't abandon her the way she expected and she was simply adopted into their friendship group with Ned forcing her and Peter to form a friendship amongst themselves because “you guys are my best friends and I want you to be best friends as well”.
Forging a friendship with Peter was relatively easy because despite his unreliable nature on the count of his secret identity- a secret identity he doesn’t yet realise she knows about- he’s genuinely kind and always puts in the effort to earn her friendship, carrying her various books for her, getting her tea every morning and actually being committed to academic decathlon.
So all in all, being friends with Peter is nice and easy.
The only problem is that towards the end of their junior year her slight fascination with him from before grows into an embarrassing crush. Each time Peter does something annoyingly cute like buy her the exact water color set she wanted because he remembers her mentioning it at some point or send her a video of Viola Davis saying, “Hi MJ!” because he happened to bump into her in the city and knows she’s a big fan, MJ feels all warm and fuzzy and her heart flutters in her chest. It’s disgusting and embarrassing.
She however resolves herself to not acting on her feelings because she’s certain Peter only sees her as a friend and she doesn’t want to ruin her precious friendship with the boys by confessing to Peter that she thinks about him for an embarrassing proportion of her days.
Her plan is going accordingly even if she is now spending a lot of time with Peter. This only gets worse at the start of the summer when Ned goes to a family wedding in The Philippines, meaning she’s forced to spend time with Peter, alone.
Peter invites her over to basically fuck about and have dinner with May when she tells him she’s home alone and she can’t say no because they’re friends and friends hang out alone and it’d be weird for her to say no because then his feelings would be hurt and he’d ask why not and she couldn’t exactly say “because I am physically incapable of being alone with you lest I have a heart attack or pass out” without ruining their friendship and she cherishes his and Ned’s friendship so much and- yeah. When he invites her round, she has to say yes.
They binge watch episodes of ‘Parks and Recreation’, refusing to leave the comfort of the air-conditioned apartment in the sweltering heat outside. They’ve watched the entire series over multiple times already so them watching mostly consists of their stupid commentary and MJ throwing various confectionery at his head because it’s funny that he has to let her hit him since she’s not supposed to know he’s Spider-Man so he can’t duck using his enhanced reflexes.
It’s nice.
It also makes MJ think things along the lines of “what if...”, though she tries to squelch those invasive thoughts and act as normal as she can.
Her acting “normal” is apparently not as convincing as she thinks it is however because come dinner time May sends Peter to pick up some takeout, leaving the two of them alone and that's when May directly addresses MJ’s apparently obvious crush.
“You know MJ, Peter always talks about you,” May starts out of nowhere as they are sat side by side watching the news as they wait for the pizza.
Part of MJ gets giddy at her words before she gets a hold of herself. “Ned, Peter and I have grown really close over the last few months.”
“That’s not what I mean, MJ,” May eyes the younger girl with a knowing look.
MJ is smart. Possibly the smartest person- bar Peter and his annoying I-never-study-and-always-miss-class-but-still-do-well-in-everything self- at Midtown which is filled with New York's youngest and brightest so that's saying a lot, but all she dumbly comes out with is, “I don’t know what you mean, May.”
May mutes the television before turning to face MJ fully, oh, so this is serious. “MJ I have seen the way you look at Peter and how you are around him. I just want you to know that Peter feels the same way. I mean- that boy is basically my son so I know what he’s like when he likes someone and he definitely likes you.”
MJ stutters, suddenly at a loss for words which is uncharacteristic for her usually self-assured, well-spoken and articulated self. “I-“ she comes up with nothing.
“I love Peter with all my heart so I mean it with love when I say that he’s a dumbass and he’s slow, so you’ll probably have to ask him out yourself, okay?” May says it like it’s that simple. Is it that simple?
MJ agonises over May’s words trying to process it all and think of how to respond but Peter returns, takeout in tow, before she has the chance to respond.
May simply winks knowingly at her as they move to their small dining table in the corner of the living area so they can eat. She doesn’t say anything more.
Stood Up
May is an incredibly smart and perceptive woman, though MJ already knew that simply based on how Peter would talk about her before May had encouraged MJ to act on her feelings for him, and so MJ does as she suggests and asks Peter out. Peter sputters and goes red and mumbles something about how he “was gonna do it himself soon” but he gladly agrees to go on a date with her.
That was three months ago. In fact, it is currently their three-month anniversary.
MJ is generally someone who doesn’t get the big deal about anniversaries. It seems kinda dumb to celebrate the passage of time, the voyage of the earth around the sun, spent with another dumb human being- especially when you’re celebrating in increments of months.
But Peter is the exact opposite. He got her increasingly elaborate gifts or planned out special dates for them on their one-week, one-month and two-month “anniversaries” and it’s clear to MJ that it is something important to him and despite her reputation of being a cold bitch she knows that relationships are about give and take and she’s not above doing something she’s against just to make Peter smile; she loves his smile.
So she plans out a special date for their three-month anniversary consisting of a Star Wars marathon of the original trilogy at the movie theatre followed by a romantic walk around the city, because Peter loves New York probably more than he loves anything else and simply walking around the city is the idea of a perfect date to him.
She’s actually really proud of herself for pulling this off and is looking forward to surprising him with the plans when he comes to her apartment at 6pm like they’d agreed.
When 6:15 comes, she’s still as excited because her boyfriend has a penchant for being late to everything, it’s basically a personality trait of his.
Then it’s 6:30 and she’s still excited because she reasons that he probably saw a mugging on his way over that he felt compelled to stop because, well- he’s him.
When the clock reads 6:45 her excitement starts to dampen slightly but she still tries to reason that it may have been a bank robbery or a more complex crime beyond a simple mugging.
By the time it’s 8:00 she is no longer excited. Two hours is too much, and he hasn’t even texted an apology or explanation.
So she disappointedly drags herself over to his apartment, her cheeks tear stained. She didn’t realise she’d even been crying.
She doesn’t really know why she goes to Peter’s apartment until the door opens and May immediately takes her into her warm arms and embraces her for a long time until MJ’s cries finally subside.
May doesn’t immediately ask her what’s wrong and instead grabs a tub of vegan ice cream for them to share and opens up Netflix and scrolls through the rom-com selection. The whole situation is so corny to MJ but she finds that she doesn’t mind it as she settles into the couch with a film playing in the background as they share the tub.
Eventually MJ feels like she should explain herself for showing up at the woman’s door, crying. “I’m sorry for turning up like this. I guess, um, I just wanted to see if Peter was here or whatever,” MJ’s voice is barely a whisper above the dialogue of the characters on the screen.
May grabs the remote to pause the TV and MJ briefly feels a sense of déjà vu to a previous conversation on this very couch in front of the TV.
“MJ, I want you to know that I’m always here for you whatever you need, no questions asked,” she declares it so simply that MJ feels more tears starting to form in her eyes. It’s embarrassing how much she’s cried tonight considering she’s usually not an emotional person.
MJ simply nods as she wipes at her eyes to stop the tears falling out.
“Well- maybe I’d ask a few questions say if you like, showed up with a dead body,” she jokes causing MJ to laugh as intended. “But seriously, I know I’m basically Peter’s mom so it might be a little weird but if there’s ever anything you’re worried or upset about and you need someone to talk to, you can always come to me. Okay?”
“Yeah, thanks May,” MJ finally speaks.
May nods sympathetically then reaches a hand across to wipe a stray tear away from MJ’s face.
She’s about to un-pause the film when MJ speaks up again, “It’s stupid, I don’t know why I got so upset.”
“Oh honey.”
“I know he’s Spider-Man and so I have to be ready for things to not go according to plan but, I don’t know...” MJ fiddles with her hands nervously, looking down at her lap, as she speaks.
“I know how much effort you put into surprising him tonight, there’s nothing wrong with being upset. Peter may be Spider-Man and has a duty to the city but he’s also your boyfriend and has a duty to you too.”
MJ looks up finally, feeling more at ease now that her feelings have been validated by the older, wiser woman. “Thank you again, May.”
May laughs softly, “I love my nephew but he’s honestly such a dumbass. Did I ever tell you about how he nearly exploded this apartment when he was twelve because of some stupid science experiment he did in his room…“
They carry on talking, May telling MJ all sorts of embarrassing childhood stories about Peter, the film long forgotten as they finish off the tub of ice cream.
It’s lovely and she forgets that she was upset and mad when she initially came here.
Eventually around 10:30 Peter stumbles in through his bedroom window, offering some half-assed explanation about how there was a series of muggings he had to stop and how his phone got shot at as he was texting MJ to tell her he was gonna be late.
MJ finds that she isn’t even mad at him anymore after spending the last couple of hours with May.
She still leaves, with May offering to drive her home, just to be petty though.
First Times
Peter and MJ have been together for nearly five months now and everything is going really, really well. Well, apart from the fact that MJ has an ever-growing, desperate need to have sex with Peter.
Thus far the furthest they’ve gone is getting her top off but MJ finds that she’s getting increasingly overcome with need every time Peter touches her even if it’s completely innocent. And she is getting frustrated at how he never pushes them to go further whenever they are home alone in one of their bedrooms.
MJ knows that she wants to have sex with Peter but she doesn’t know if she’s actually ready to have sex. Generally, she thinks that the idea of sex having feelings attached to it and the notion of how you give “something of yourself" when you have sex with someone, is all sexist patriarchal nonsense conjured up to shame women for their sexuality but given her very strong feelings for Peter she knows that having sex with him would be significant whether she likes it or not.
The trouble is, she doesn’t really have anyone to talk to about all this and find out how one knows when they are ready to have sex. She doesn’t really have girlfriends- she doesn’t have any friends besides Peter and Ned, in fact- so that option is out. MJ’s parents, whilst not being abusive or shitty or anything like that, are high-flying lawyers who constantly work so she wouldn’t say she is the closest with them, so going to her mom like most girls do is not an option either.
Which leaves just one person.
Except that despite May’s reassurances that MJ can always go to her with whatever or the fact that the two of them have grown much closer since having made rom-coms and ice-cream their Friday night tradition, MJ feels like this is not what the woman meant. It’s sex with her nephew, that’s just…weird. She’s sure May wouldn’t want to hear about any of this.
So MJ and her genius-level intellect comes up with the bright idea of trying to go around it, “Hey May can I get some advice, for a friend?”
May looks up from the clothes rack she was rifling through. The pair are currently shopping for dresses to wear to Tony and Pepper’s vow renewal ceremony in a few weeks’ time.
“Sure, honey.”
“So I have this friend who thinks they are ready to take the next step in their relationship and have sex but she- uh- I mean, they aren’t sure how you know if you’re ready,” MJ says awkwardly, keeping her voice low. She’s smarter than that terrible tale she’s just spun. That was really the best her genius-level intellect could come up with? She’s won various fiction short-story competitions during her life for fuck’s sake.
May watches MJ for a moment, a smile barely contained on her face and MJ thinks she might call her out on the fact that she has no other friends besides Peter and Ned but she mercifully goes along with her transparent lie, “Well, tell your friend that…”
She pauses to consider her words before continuing, “There’s no text-book way to know if you’re ready to have sex. If your friend wants to and they feel ready in themselves and have had a serious, healthy conversation with the other person to make sure they’re on the same page, then they’re ready to have sex.” MJ looks around, slightly embarrassed by how May just talks so candidly about sex despite the fact that they’re currently in a clothes shop surrounded by strangers.
“Thanks May, uh-“ MJ clears her throat, “I mean, I’ll let my friend know what you said.”
“I hope that’s helpful to your friend and tell them to remember protection,” May says with a snort.
MJ feels her face heat up so quickly and works to move the conversation on. “What do you think of this?” MJ scrambles, displaying a random dress she’s picked out without even looking from the rack to the older woman, desperately trying to change topics.
“I know you can rock anything and could probably make it look good, but MJ, that dress looks like a La Croix can,” the distaste in May’s voice is clear.
They both laugh softly as they continue browsing.
“Ooh, how about this one?” May shows her a simple black dress that’s more to MJ’s taste. It always surprises MJ how well May seems to know and understand her.
It’s really nice, actually.
Moving Away
MJ finds out that she’s gotten into Columbia around the same time that Peter finds out that he’s gotten into MIT.
The days following are filled with excitement and celebration, with the pair going for dinner with Ned and Betty to celebrate one night then going to dinner with MJ’s parents another night then the celebrations are rounded off with dinner with May. They also celebrate just the two of them, in their own way.
Then the rest of senior year passes them by, everyone being more focused on getting through the last year of high school and making new memories that MJ almost forgets about the fact that they’ll be going to colleges in separate states, around 200 miles apart.
She remembers as they’re nearing the end of their senior year. Then suddenly she’s overcome with dread about having to go from seeing each other every day (which in hindsight, was probably not healthy) to seeing each other only over the holidays and on the occasional weekends when one of them could be bothered to make the trip to see the other.
She starts to question the decisions she’s made. Should she have gone to Harvard instead? Columbia has the best journalism programme in the country but she could’ve easily just gone to Harvard for undergrad then done her journalism masters at Columbia. How could she have been so selfish to not consider that option when applying?
Then she thinks about how not smart it is to go to college in a relationship. College is all about new experiences, right? How could they get that full college experience when they had a significant other in another state to think about?
She grows increasingly anxious as these thoughts plague her, but at the same time she convinces herself that it's simply a case of nerves at the prospect of starting college mixed in with a nice dose of paranoia so she doesn't talk to Peter about her fears and instead, just keeps it all bottled up. A very smart and healthy way to cope with things. Clearly.
May, ever the wise and perceptive person she is, immediately notices that something’s off with MJ during one of their Friday night movie nights. They’ve expanded to genres beyond rom-coms and now take turns to introduce the other to different types of film and May is currently introducing MJ to Latin American cinema that goes beyond Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, who are all MJ knows. Tonight they’re watching a Chilean film- though MJ had been too preoccupied to pay attention when May had told her the film title and given her some background on it- when May pauses the film and turns to face the worried younger girl.
“You’re going to chew through your entire bottom lip if you don’t stop,” May tries to draw MJ’s attention to her.
MJ laughs nervously, “Sorry. Why’d you pause the film?”
“Could you honestly tell me what’s happened in the last fifteen minutes of the film?” May asks with her eyes narrowed at her.
MJ sighs defeatedly, “Sorry, just stressed about college I guess.”
“Okay, let’s talk about it then.” And MJ should’ve known May wouldn’t simply drop this and get back to the film like she’d hoped.
“I just-“ MJ huffs and takes a moment to think about how to say this without sounding as crazy she is feeling. “I don’t know- I’ve just been thinking about how Peter and I are gonna be in separate states for college and whether we’ll survive it or not.”
“MJ, you and Peter are committed to each other and will make the effort to make the long-distance work I have no doubt about it,” she reassures, grabbing one of MJ’s hands in her own.
MJ clutches to May’s hand like it’s a life line. “I’m just worried that being in a relationship with me is gonna hold Peter back from getting to try new things and get the full college experience. I never want to hold him back. And what if he grows to resent me or something?”
“Peter could never resent you MJ. As for the new experiences, he’s not gonna feel like he’s missing out on anything because I know you’re it for him,” she goes quiet, allowing the weight of her words to hang in the air between them. “Honey, have you spoken to Peter about this? I don’t want to speak for him when he could just tell you all these things himself.”
“No I- he doesn’t seem worried and he’s really excited about college and I feel kinda stupid,” MJ mumbles, eyes glued to a coaster on the coffee table in front of them.
“MJ you know better than anyone that Peter is an annoying sunshine-y optimist and he probably hasn’t thought about all this like you have, but you should talk about it with him. He would beat himself up if he knew something was eating you up like this and you were going through it on your own. You need to tell him.”
“Yes mom,” MJ grumbles jokingly. She pauses slightly at her use of the word “mom”, thinking it might make things weird but May simply squeezes her hand without letting go then reaches over to grab the remote with her other hand.
“Do you want me to explain what’s happened in the film so far then we continue it?”
“Actually May, if it’s okay with you, I don’t think I’m really in the mood to watch a film tonight,” MJ had finally looked up at the other woman.
“That’s absolutely fine.”
“I got my first pay check from the bookstore so I was gonna take you out for dinner next week but we can do that now instead? Well, we can go get crepes at that dessert place since we’ve already eaten.”
May moves to switch the television off and gets up excitedly, “I’ll go get dressed then I’ll drive us.”
Proposals
Years have passed, with Peter having graduated MIT and started his job at Stark Industries whilst MJ finishes off her journalism masters after a taking a break from education for a while in between.
They share a nice, sizeable apartment in Queens (thank you Stark Industries for Peter’s nice, large pay check) after Peter suggested they get a place together because “It’d just be easier. Plus, Ned and Betty live together now so who else would I live with- May? I can’t live with May at my age MJ! We’re too old to have to wait until she leaves the apartment to have sex or to like have to be as quiet as possible whilst she’s in the next room! MJ please, I just can’t MJ! Please!” until she’d relented, with the condition that May help them find the place and her parents go over their tenancy documents before they signed anything.
They settle in nicely to co-habitation, agreeing on their shared responsibilities and chores so there are no petty arguments about who was meant to take the trash out. They form a nice routine too, ensuring they make the time to spend together between Peter’s job and his Spider-Man duties, and MJ’s studies and her internship at the Daily Bugle.
Part of their routine is the still-ongoing MJxMay Friday night movie nights that have carried on through the years, and during these Peter is kicked out of the apartment and told to go and entertain himself with petty crimes and not bother them unless it’s an emergency.
Tonight, they’re back to their original rom-com genre and have surrounded themselves with an assortment of junk food.
Partway through the film May fumbles around their table in search of a remote, “How do I pause it?”
“Oh- TV pause,” MJ says with a small laugh. The TV is some voice-controlled thing Peter had brought back home from work a couple of days ago and this is May’s first encounter with it.
May laughs and regards the TV in awe before she turns to MJ. MJ stiffens slightly- over the last decade she’s known May, May pausing the TV when they’re sat on the couch next to each other only ever spells trouble, well, it means they’re about to have a serious, adult conversation. So...basically trouble as far as MJ is concerned.
“You should propose to Peter,” May declares it so simply in a way that hearkens back to how she told MJ to just ask Peter out almost ten years ago to this day.
MJ doesn’t respond, not knowing what to say.
“I mean, I know it’s not “tradition”,” she says forming air quotes around the term. “But you guys are anything but traditional and I don’t think that’s something you or even Peter would really care about it, is it?.”
“I, I-“ MJ stutters.
“MJ you know as well as I do now that Peter’s a dumbass and he’s slow so you might as well just beat him to the punch.”
MJ still doesn’t respond.
“TV, play,” May says, un-pausing their film after a prolonged period of silence where MJ doesn’t reply.
“I’d need some help picking out an engagement ring,” MJ finally says quietly, nervously.
“TV pause!” May says excitedly before turning to MJ. “I know this great independent jewellers, real ethical too so you wouldn’t have to worry about blood diamonds or anything like that…”