Chapter Text
Michelle Jones was a bit of an introvert. It wasn’t that she disliked people. But she just preferred to be on her own, and didn’t care much for socializing. That's the way it had always been. Even on her first day of kindergarten when the other kids asked her to play, she said nothing, and decided to seclude herself in the corner and read.
Every teacher and student who knew the girl who called herself 'MJ' knew that trying to get her to talk was a hopeless case. Getting MJ to be fake to someone was a waste of time. Getting MJ to meet new people would certainly end in disaster.
Which made it all the more curious when the principal asked her to ‘show around the new kid’. Halfway through the meeting, MJ realized that she wasn’t really asking, but subtley getting told to show around the new kid.
MJ didn’t really know what to expect from this boy. And if there was one thing Michelle Jones hated, it was a lack of information.
Obviously because of the incompetence of her school, she knew very little. The information provided was relatively standard. His name was Peter Parker, he was in the eighth grade like her, lived with his aunt and uncle, and just moved to New York from a small town in Canada. The big city was definitely going to terrify this shy country boy.
Unfortunately, they didn’t really learn much about the Great White North in this school. All she had were unconfirmed stereotypes - none of which would be useful. She would be going into this thing blind.
What also confused MJ was why they were meeting at the end of the day. Seriously. Why the hell would that make a difference?
Now, almost an hour after the final bell rang, MJ sat on the steps outside of her school, staring down at the current book she was reading.
Of Human Bondage.
A book about an orphan boy who goes to live with his aunt and uncle. It was really a complete coincidence.
“Excuse me, miss?” A voice practically squeaked.
She let out a slightly annoyed sigh and looked up to see who was interrupting her novel. Her eyes locked with dark brown eyes, and round glasses, immediately turning her from an irritated state to having butterflies in her stomach.
A boy with floppy brown hair, and rosy cheeks was smiling down at her. He was far shorter compared to her, and he was quite skinny. His flannel seemed to hang off of his shoulders instead of him actually wearing it. She could easily wrap her hands around his incredibly small wrists that were practically just skin and bone.
MJ never really thought much of people’s appearances, but holy crap, he looked adorable!
“I’m really sorry if I’m bothering you, but are you Michelle Jones?”
MJ quickly got up from the steps - possibly a bit too eagerly - and brushed the dirt off her jeans.
“Who are you, exactly?” She asked, beginning to smile uncontrollably
It was a pointless question. She was already pretty sure what the answer was, but MJ always wanted to confirm her suspicions.
“Peter Parker. I’m uh, I’m supposed to meet a girl named Michelle Jones here to get a tour of the school.”
“T- that’s me. B- but you can call me MJ.”
What?! Only you call yourself that! Why the hell are you giving this kid permission to do that?
“MJ,” He smiled back, extending his hand. “Cool name.”
She shook back firmly. MJ prided herself on being observant, and noticed something about his hands. They had plenty of thick calluses, and were quite rough. It appeared that he worked with them a lot. She was also pretty sure there were traces of dirt under his nails, but for some reason, it didn't bother her in the slightest.
Nervously, MJ tucked her hair behind her ears, feeling her face heat up.
“Thanks.”
A few things to note. A: The Canadian accent is very faint when compared to the American one. B: They don’t end every sentence with ‘eh’ like they were portrayed to on television shows. And C: This boy made her legs feel like jelly.
As hard as it was to admit to herself, she was human. Although she had successfully conviced the entire school that she was a vampire - a fact that she was extremely proud of. Despite this horrible fact, MJ had never found someone attractive before.
“So, you’re from Canada?”
He let out a small chuckle.
“Yep. It’s a pretty small farm in Manitoba. Way different from here.”
Her school didn’t teach anything about geography outside of America. MJ reminded herself to look up the location when she got home. Another thing that she didn’t care for was asking for help. If she was going to achieve something, she wanted it to be done on her own merit
But the farming did explain the poor condition of his hands.
“Where to first?” Peter asked happily.
“I’d say the library. But you probably don’t want to go there. No one ever does, outside of myself. So, we can just –”
“Actually, I love reading.”
He’s already perfect!
Shut up! You’re not supposed to be thinking about boys! They’re horrible!
Except this one.
“You do?”
“Yep! I spent a lot of my free time at the library. What kind of books do you like? For me, it’s mostly history, science, and sometimes Sherlock Holmes.”
And he reads REAL books!
Okay. Maybe he’s kind of, just a tad, cute.
MJ began to blush again, but it was almost unnoticeable, thanks to the combination of her darker complexion and her incredible self-control.
“I- I’m sorry. What was the question?” she asked, not entirely sure what he just said.
“What kind of books do you like?”
“Oh, uh, right. I read Shakespeare a lot. And pretty much anything else I can get my hands on. I don't really care if it's good or not, sometimes. And the occasional French novel. I don’t want to bore you with the details.”
“Ce n'est pas ennuyeux.”
MJ had totally forgot that they had two official languages up in Canada.
“C- cool.” she barely got the words out. “Let’s go then.”
The two started to walk towards the library. MJ had no idea what she should say.
“So, what do people do for fun around here?”
“I uh, I don’t really know what other people do. I don’t have any friends.”
“Oh. A- are we going to be friends?” he asked hopefully.
“I’d like to be.”
But people suck!
It was hard to tell with his rosy cheeks, but she was pretty sure he was blushing.
“And to answer your question, I like to read, draw, go on walks, and sometimes protest.”
MJ stared down at Peter
“What were the people like? Back home, I mean.”
“Super nice. Everyone knows everyone, we see each other all the time at church, and people are very trusting. One time, our neighbor borrowed our car for a week. Came back without a scratch and a full tank of gas.”
“You lent them your car?”
Peter shrugged.
“Why wouldn’t we? Is that not normal?”
“I’ll save you the trouble. If you did that with your new neighbor, you’ll never see your car again.”
He smiled brightly
“Good to know.”
Cute, loves books, and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.
Is this what it felt like to have a crush for the first time?
Crush?! What is the matter with you?!
Nothing. Does he seem like a bit of a dork? Absolutely. But that science pun t-shirt was adorable!
MJ wanted to know everything about Peter.
She wasn’t obsessed with him though. She just liked information.