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“Peter, you cannot possibly be serious.”
Michelle pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing.
“It’s a great place, MJ. It has the windows that you like, it’s within walking distance to the Bugle and plus,” Peter’s face lit up in excitement, a look Michelle couldn’t help but slightly melt at, “they allow dogs!”
“Who is going to take care of a dog, Peter? You? Cause I sure as hell am not.” She swiped to another page on her ereader, barely paying attention to the novel she’d checked out from the library.
They were still in the apartment Peter had lived in since his freshman year in college, Michelle officially moving in after graduation. Almost a year afterwards and suddenly – at least to Michelle – it seemed as if Peter was raring to get out of there.
She liked Peter’s place, considered it her home as well. Michelle may not have contributed much to the rent – Peter’s trust from Tony Stark seemed to take care of that – but she helped out with groceries when they got them, helped fund their seemingly endless takeout dinners.
“Come on, Michelle. Just think about it. Consider the possibilities.”
Michelle studied Peter, the pleading expression in his eyes. She pursed her lips.
She had thought about it – moving in with Peter, to a place that was truly theirs – but there’s a part of her that wondered why exactly Peter was in such a rush.
They’d been living together just fine – in the same place – for the past five years. What could possibly make Peter want to move in somewhere new now?
“What exactly kind of possibilities are you thinking of Peter? You know that marriage fraud is a crime?” Peter raised his eyebrows in alarm, shaking his head.
“No, no, no Michelle we’re not going to actually fake being married when we sign the lease!” He leans in closer, whispering even though they were in the safety of their actual, current apartment. Michelle would roll her eyes if the proximity of Peter’s face to hers didn’t warm her cheeks.
Almost six years after they first started dating and Peter’s presence still set off fireworks in Michelle.
“We’re just faking it for the showing. The landlord’s apparently got some rule about only showing the place to married couples?”
Michelle focuses herself, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.
“Well then what’s the big deal? We’ll just find another place.” Peter rolls his eyes this time, giving her a look from his side of the couch.
“MJ, come on. You know how long it’s taken me to find a place that could even match what we have here.”
“So why are we moving?” Michelle flicks through another page, nudging her leg against his. They were on opposite sides of the couch, Peter sprawled out with a StarkPad in one hand, a stylus in the other, twirling it as he talked.
Michelle, comfortable with an ereader, was feeling exasperated.
This was the fourth time Peter had talked about moving into another apartment this week alone, had bugged her incessantly about considering it.
It’s not that Michelle didn’t like the idea, wasn’t even that she was fully opposed.
She just didn’t understand why Peter was so adamant about doing it now.
“Because…” Peter took a deep breath and sighed, Michelle watching as his gaze shifted from one of excitement to remorse. In that one instant, just a subtle shift, Michelle automatically recognized it for what it was.
It’d been almost seven years since Tony Stark left Peter Parker’s life. But Michelle – better than anyone – that there were parts of him that would always be touched by his memory.
“Because I want to make a life with you Michelle. And I’m tired of pretending to play house in this apartment, the same one we’ve been in since college.” Before Michelle can open her mouth to argue, Peter barrels forward.
“I’m not saying I don’t love this place, I do. I love it.” He sighed, twiddling the stylus in his hand as Michelle considered him.
“But Pepper picked this place you know? And I love it, I love that she did. I know… she didn’t have to.” Peter’s eyes looked away then back to her.
“But this time around, I want to it to be something we chose, you know? Something just for us.”
Michelle couldn’t begrudge him that. She sighs, letting the fight out of her leak out with the exhale.
“So am I Mrs. Parker then? Or are we enlightened enough to hyphenate or whatever?” The switch from melancholy to joy is immediate, causing Michelle to break out into a smile that almost matches Peter's.
“You can call yourself whatever you want, MJ. But you’re in? For real?”
The look on Peter’s face makes Michelle laugh, reminding her so much of the loveable dweeb she first fell in love with all those years ago.
“Yeah you dork, I’m in. Let me know when the landlord wants to meet.” Peter only smiles, shifting his bodyweight to lean in and give her a quick kiss. When they part, Peter’s grin illuminates the entirety of Michelle’s world.
Damn, she thinks. I love him.
“I will. You’re gonna love it, MJ. I promise.”
Michelle was pretty sure she could’ve cared less about the apartment.
But seeing Peter Parker smile? She would do almost anything to see him do that.
“Peter, are you serious now?”
“MJ, come on. It’ll be—”
“I am not going to let you buy a whole ass engagement ring for the sake of some bit part with a landlord. You have got to be kidding me if you think I’m actually going to go through with this, Peter.”
Peter’s eyes are pleading, the sincerity in his look almost breaking Michelle’s resolves. They were standing outside of some random ring store in Manhattan, her patience running thin.
Partly because she was hungry, and Michelle always felt a little agitated when she skipped lunch – as she had earlier because of a deadline she couldn’t miss.
Mostly because Peter – her idiot, the absolute love of her life – seemed damned and determined to walk into this store.
“I’m not saying we have to buy one Michelle, I’m just saying we should get one. Not like a real or expensive one, just something you can put on your hand so when the landlord asks about it, I don’t look like some cheap husband.”
“What if you are a cheap husband?”
“Hey!” Michelle grins, hooking her arm through Peter’s as she drags him towards the pizza joint they were originally headed to. Peter willingly follows, keeping in step with Michelle’s long legs.
He’d grown since high school, almost toe to toe with her. But old habits died hard and Michelle liked feeling that Peter was still that same awkward sophomore, bumbling over himself in the school hallways.
“I’m just saying, MJ.” Peter continues as they walk. “I think we should really be committed to the part, you know? It’ll show that we’re committed to seeing the apartment you know? Show that we’re actually interested in it so then if we decide we do like it, it’ll give us time to actually consider it. You know that there’s a massive difference between seeing photos of an apartment and actually walking through it.”
Peter rambles on as they continue to walk, something nudging Michelle in the back of her mind.
A question. A thought.
Peter seemed too insistent about faking being married. Too insistent about finding some fake ring for what seemed to be an elaborate and out of character scheme.
This seemed too much like his failed attempt at surprising her for her birthday or the time during college that he and Ned – home from MIT – had tried to prank her in their apartment, only leading to getting themselves locked out and without electricity for hours.
Peter Parker was many things.
A good liar was not one of them.
Before she can think better of it, before she lets her investigative reporter side take over – Michelle blurts out, “Peter, are you going to propose?”
He stops suddenly on the sidewalk, arms untangling, his eyes widening as if she’d shocked him.
Michelle stops, searching his eyes.
Peter’s eyes – frantic, panicked, searching hers back and forth, seem to have a thousand emotions pass through them before he closes them and sighs.
“How did you figure it out?”
A giggle escapes her before she can stop it – half amused at the stricken look on his face, half amazed that Peter thought he could actually keep something like this from her for long.
He should’ve known better by now.
“I hadn’t. Just a guess. But considering you just confirmed it…”
Peter exhales, shaking his head.
“Shit. I thought I could finally, finally do something that would catch you off guard. What gave me away?”
Michelle laughs, linking her arm around his.
“Well, the whole premise of a landlord only seeing married couples was your first problem.”
“You know, it’s an actual thing! I read online that—”
“I don’t care, Peter.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course you don’t.”
“Second, you literally stop me in front of an engagement ring store, on our way to dinner, just to what, look?” She laughs again, Peter joining her.
“Seriously Parker, how the hell does the whole world not know about your bug side gig by now? If you’re this bad at hiding things with me, I can’t even imagine how much you tell random criminals on a daily basis.”
“You’d be surprised. Apparently, I am beloved on the internet for my quick and witty banter.” Peter poses on the sidewalk, Michelle lightly smacking him as she brings his body closer. He complies, a smile forming on his face.
“Are you mad?” The softness of his voice surprises Michelle. She gazes into his beautiful brown eyes, overwhelmed yet again with how much she loves him.
“Why would I be mad, Peter?”
He bites his lip, eyes searching hers before saying, “Cause I know we’ve talked about marriage a lot and while we never necessarily set a timeline, I don’t know. I almost feel like I should’ve asked you first?”
He lets out a small laugh, as he shakes his head.
“I don’t know, I know you’re not the biggest fan of surprises but I still… I still wanted to just do something special for you, you know?”
“And you thought faking being married in same elaborate ponzi-like scheme was the way to go about it?”
Peter gives her a look, Michelle grinning. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”
There’s no space between them now, Peter’s arms enclosed around her as New Yorkers – annoyed at the couple stopped in the middle of sidewalk – pass by them.
Some part of Michelle thinks that they should move, that if she had been in the opposite position, that she would’ve been just as agitated as the looks of the people around her.
Yet looking into Peter’s eyes – those damn, beautiful brown eyes – Michelle can’t quite bring herself to care about anyone else but the man whose arms are wrapped around her.
“I’m not mad, Peter.” She shrugs, leaning in before saying, “I think it’s kind of hot that you still think you can surprise me.”
Their lips meet, Michelle hearing an equal mix of cheers and boos from the city dwellers around her. When they part, Peter’s eyes are gleaming, filled with the kind of love that Michelle used to never think was possible she’d ever feel before she met him.
“I’m sorry I ruined the surprise.” Peter’s smile deepens, only for him to kiss her on the forehead.
“You could never ruin anything for me, Michelle.” He wraps an arm around her shoulder, leading them back towards their original destination.
“Except for the finale of Breaking Bad. I’m still mad at you about that.”
Michelle laughs, the kind of laughter that shakes her entire being as Peter leads her forward.
Peter Parker was still the greatest boyfriend she’d ever had.
And as they continue, their eyes meeting as they walk forward, Michelle thinks that had the scheme actually worked, she wouldn’t have minded faking being married to Peter.
Wouldn’t mind actually marrying Peter.
Michelle may have ruined the initial plan that Peter had, may have squashed his plans to surprise her, but she was at least convinced of one thing for certain.
Whenever Peter did ask her to marry him, Michelle knew there wouldn’t be any faking on her part.
Their hands intertwined as they walked, Peter’s smile lighting up her whole being.
As they leaned in once again, a warm and unhurried kiss, Michelle already knew that when the time came – she knew exactly what her answer would be.
Michelle would say yes.