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“I, um, have to go to the bathroom,” Peter whispered, rising up from his seat. MJ looked up at him but said nothing, casually shrugging in his direction before turning her attention back to the 4-hour long European opera their teacher had brought them to as Peter Parker scooted himself past his classmates’ legs and made a dash for the back of the theatre.
She sat for a moment, contemplating her options; she could suffer through another 3 hours and 45 minutes of musical torture, or she could go see what Peter…what Spiderman was up to.
It has to be him, right? She thought to herself for the umpteenth time. Not that it necessarily meant anything, but she’d never seen Peter and Spiderman in the same room…Then again, there were probably plenty of people who’d never seen her and Spiderman in the same room, though she’d definitely been there on countless occasions when he’d shown up to save the day…and she definitely wasn’t Spiderman.
But what about the Washington Monument? What, her class just happened to be on a field trip there, and their “friendly, neighborhood” Spiderman happened to be in Washington D.C. too, and Peter just happened to be gone when everything went down? It was all too weird to be a coincidence. Peter was Spiderman. He had to be.
But she had to be sure.
Her decision made, she got up, moving away from Brad and past Ned and Betty as she made her way out of the row and into the aisle. She noticed Ned get up behind her but ignored him as she sped her way to the back of the theatre. Ned and his girlfriend went straight past her and out the doors, apparently as eager to get out of the show as everyone else. She had assumed Ned was coming to check on Peter before whatever Spiderman-thing was about to happen, but the fact that he hadn’t made her second-guess herself. If he even knew Peter was Spiderman, that is…If peter even was Spiderman…
Her heart pounded as she approached the men’s bathroom door, and she froze; She had never exactly just barged into a men’s bathroom before and didn’t particularly like the idea now. She brought up a hand to knock hesitantly on the door and heard a muffled response from Peter that she couldn’t quite make out.
Oh, God, what if he’s just peeing in there? Duh, that’s what literally everyone used the space for, and it was certainly a possibility. She checked her phone and shook off her apprehension. Enough time had passed that Peter was definitely not peeing…or at least wasn’t anymore. Guys take like, what? Two minutes to pee? It had been at least ten. By now, he was either about to head back to his seat, or about to come out clad in Spiderman gear.
…Or he was pooping. Oh, God, what if he was-
Before she could decide whether to go through with her plan or not, the door to the bathroom swung open, and Peter stood before her, leaning heavily on the doorframe.
“M-MJ!” He stuttered in surprise, his pale face growing a little pink as a faint blush came over his cheeks.
MJ took a moment to take in his appearance; Peter did not look good. She’d seen him look nervous before suddenly disappearing on a few occasions, but this was different; He was way too pale and way too sweaty, and it looked like he could barely stand upright.
“Are you okay?” she asked, wondering how she hadn’t noticed anything was up before this.
Peter barely seemed to hear her, though as he straightened and began running his fingers through his hair, which had been plastered to his forehead with sweat a moment ago, in an attempt to make it look a little nicer. “What’re-What’re you doing here?”
Brushing it off, MJ tried to get her thoughts in order. She hadn’t exactly thought of what she’d say at this point, but the word ‘Spiderman’ had been going through her head for so long leading up to this, and she couldn’t stop herself from saying it out loud.
“Spiderman,” She said, keeping her cool as best she could.
The blush instantly left Peter’s cheeks and once again, his face became a ghostly white. “W-what?” he stammered, trying to casually wipe away the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
“You’re Spiderman,” she said with a shrug, keeping the casual look on her face but searching his eyes for some sort of confirmation. Instead, she saw panic as Peter opened his mouth to respond, but promptly gagged before quickly clamping a hand over his mouth.
Without really thinking, MJ jumped backwards, but Peter had already spun around and ran back into the restroom. She instinctively caught the door and saw Peter just barely make it to the sink before doubling over it with a retch and bringing up more than a mouthful of vomit. Seeing that there was no one else in the bathroom, she slowly moved in and ripped some paper towel off of the dispenser before turning to Peter, who had begun to dry-heave over the sink.
With a little hesitation, she walked up behind him and placed a hand on his back, patting awkwardly as he coughed up the last bits of his dinner into the sink. God, why am I so awkward? She thought.
…Then again, who wouldn’t feel awkward in this situation? There she was, standing in the men’s room, patting the back of her crush while he vomited, after accusing him of being Spiderman. Yep. That pretty much took the cake.
She would have felt worse about the whole ordeal had worry not been so present in her mind. The heat radiating off of Peter was enough to cause a little concern, and she considered going back into the theatre then and there to get their teacher. She figured it would be best to wait by him instead, though. Just in case.
When the worst of it seemed to be over, Peter stood, shaking violently, still hunched over the sink and looking no less pale and sweaty. Keeping a hand on his back, MJ offered him the paper towel, which he took without looking her in the eye and wiped his mouth.
“Uhh, Peter?” she said, reaching a hand to turn on the water, hoping to wash some of the sick down the drain, “Maybe you want to sit down? I can go get Mr. Harrington, I’m sure-“
“No!” Peter’s head suddenly snapped up in her direction. “You can’t…He can’t…” he stopped for a moment, swallowing thickly, his chin pressed down into his neck. When he brought his head back up, he seemed to have gathered his bearings a little. Meeting her eyes, he sucked in a deep breath. “I just…I need to do something important. Harrington’s gonna have me back in the hotel the second he realizes I’m sick, and I have something I need to do. Please, MJ. It’s important.”
“Okay, okay…” MJ replied, putting her hands up. “It’s cool, I won’t tell.”
Peter breathed a shaky sigh of relief.
“…I won’t tell him that you’re Spiderman, either,” she muttered under her breath, turning off the water. Peter froze.
“I’m not Sp-Spiderman. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
For someone with a secret identity (MJ was now almost certain), Peter was a pretty bad liar. MJ wasn’t going to press him anymore, though. Peter clearly wasn’t in for a great night.
“Yeah, okay,” she said with a coy smile, turning towards the door. She hesitated as she reached for the handle, turning back towards Peter for a moment. “Are you sure you’re alright to leave like this?”
Peter gave a forced smile and nodded. It wasn’t very convincing.
“Will you at least stop by my room when you’re back at the hotel? It’d be nice to know that you got back from your Spider-…”important” stuff in one piece.” MJ couldn’t help but voice her concern for her sick friend.
“Scout’s honor,” Peter responded, holding up a shaky hand in true boy scout fashion.
MJ nodded, turning back to the door.
“Seeya later, Spiderman.”