Chapter Text
The large screen that projects J Jonah Jameson’s face continues playing, with the right-wing pundit continuing to talk about how he’s always known this so-called "Spider-Man" was a menace and a criminal. But Peter can’t hear it over the ringing of his ears and the suddenly too loud thundering of his quickening heart.
Peter finds that he’s suddenly having difficulty breathing, the respiration centre of his brain feeling like it’s shutting down and he has to kick it back to life, reboot it so he can breathe again. His nerves are frayed at the ends and he feels trapped in his own body. He wants to get away, to wake up, to just be anywhere but here on this lamp post, here at a moment where his entire life has been destroyed. It’s akin to the feeling he’d experienced on a battlefield not even one year ago, looking down as his mentor took his final breaths- that feeling of this can’t be happening.
He has a vivid memory of a conversation he’d had with MJ a handful of months ago where she discussed a book she’d been reading at the time on mindfulness which posited that life can be boiled down into a few key moments. MJ had argued for and against the theory, comparing and contrasting it to other philosophical theory and schools of thought. Peter didn’t really get it but had listened intently, hanging on to every word out of MJ’s mouth- as he always did- as they sat side by side in a small dingy café to escape the biting February cold, both clutching cups of hot chocolate closely to warm up their frost-bitten fingers.
It’s funny isn’t it? He thinks that now he finally gets it. The moments thing, because right now feels like one of those key moments that will define the life of Peter Benjamin Parker. His identity being revealed to the world along with being framed for the murder of a man and attempted mass murder of thousands in London.
The weight of the situation at hand settles heavily at the pit of Peter’s stomach as he starts to processed what’s happening and the sheer gravity of the situation. He manages to tamper down the imminent panic attack long enough to swing down and grab MJ who some of the onlooking crowd were beginning to turn to with keen interest seeing as she was the girl who was just with the accused.
Peter wastes no time to swing them away from the chaos likely to ensue and almost functioning on auto-pilot, swings them to the outskirts of the city to an abandoned office building he’d sometimes come to when he felt the need to get away from the overwhelming pressure of everything.
Once they settle down inside the building, and only once they settle down, does Peter hurriedly pull off his mask and allow himself to panic. His breaths come out in hurried pants, gasping for air that his brain which is in fight-or-flight tells him he is not getting enough of and desperately needs more of. He paces up and down in front of MJ who just sits on the dirty and likely uncomfortable ground leaning against the far wall.
“Peter-” she tries to call to him, but her voice sounds muffled and distant to his loud warring thoughts.
He paces some more, his mind moving a mile a minute as he tries to sort through his thoughts, tries to formulate a plan of action of some kind. How’s he going to prove the footage is doctored? Does EDITH have a record of what actually happened? Where did the video come from? Is Mysterio even dead? His brain fires off the questions rapidly, not giving him enough time to formulate responses or plans.
On top of that his heart feels like it’s constricting in his chest, and he feels suddenly hot and sweaty- he’s pretty sure these are all symptoms of a heart attack. Logically, he knows it’s just a severe panic attack so he hangs onto that logic and uses it to try and coach himself through some breathing exercises to help him calm down but it only works to a limited extent.
A warm hand gently landing on his shoulder brings Peter out of his head, he thus stops pacing and looks up at her, willing his breathing to calm down.
“Hey, um, where are we?” MJ asks gently, treading carefully around him. He hates that she has to do that but he can’t seem to make himself calm down, can't slow his rapid heart rate or stop hyperventilating.
He struggles to find his voice but eventually he manages to get out a, “Uh, it’s- it’s an old office building that's gonna be turned into an apartment complex. I think.”
“What are the main landmarks that you see along the way here?”
Peter blinks once, twice, unsure what she’s asking or why. But he answers her because he’d do or say anything she asked, would go to the ends of the earth for her, so he lists each landmark he remembers from the countless times he’s come here.
As he does so he finds that his once hammering heart rate gradually slows to a steady beat once more, and his breaths come more easily, the mundane task of listing New York’s landmarks helping to ground him and bring him away from the ledge he was precariously balancing on.
When he’s done answering her question he takes a few deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, the way MJ instructs him to and does with him. Eventually after a while he finally feels better- as better as someone who’s wanted by the authorities for murder and terrorism currently can feel, that is.
MJ wordlessly grabs his hand, initiating their physical contact the way she’d done at the airport what feels like a lifetime ago though he realises it was only yesterday. She gently tugs at his hand to get him to follow her to go and sit down on the ground, leant against the wall.
“Can I have your phone?” MJ asks after they’re sat down. Then more quietly she adds, “Please.”
He hands her his phone and watches as she copies something from it onto her phone then scrolls and types a few things for a few minutes before she switches it off.
“I’ve deactivated all your social media accounts and switched it off. You probably can’t use this anymore.” Then after a beat, “Sorry.”
He hadn’t even thought about how people would look him up and find all his social media and contact details on the web. He hates that he’s dragged MJ into all this, but he’s also glad to have her here at the same time.
“Thanks MJ,” he rasps, his voice feeling like it hasn’t been used in days.
“I also copied Happy’s number from your phone. I’ve texted him and your aunt to let them know we’re laying low till it’s dark at least.”
Peter swallows down the pang of guilt he feels at her use of the word we, as in her and him, as in she’s just as in this as he is now. He never wanted this for her.
“Thanks,” he sighs out, worn down.
After that they settle into a loaded, uncomfortable silence with neither of them knowing what to say. They stay like that for God knows how long.
“I come here quite a lot when I need to- when I need to get away from it all,” the words tumble out of Peter’s mouth before he can stop them, breaking the silence they’d settled into.
MJ doesn’t say anything in response, but she looks up to meet his eyes and watches him with soft eyes to encourage him to carry on.
So he does, “After Tony- after he…Sometimes it just gets overwhelming, people asking if I’m the next Iron Man and what’s happening with the Avengers. Or even when May looks at me with this pained, heartbroken sort of expression like she’s hurting for me. This is one of the spots across the city I come to just get away sometimes.”
He’s not entirely sure why he’s telling MJ this, or even what the relevance is given his current predicament but he doesn’t know what else to do and sitting here in silence ruminating is making him want to crawl out of his own skin.
“Sometimes it’s nice to get away,” she responds.
He wordlessly hums in agreement.
“But sometimes, sometimes it’s also good to reach out for a hand to pull you to the surface when you feel like you’re drowning,” her voice is quiet, almost sounding shy but her gaze on him is steady and assured, like she means what she’s saying.
Peter only momentarily holds her gaze before looking away, exhaling audibly.
They stay in the abandoned building for a few more hours, occasionally talking about random topics though they steer clear of anything related to Peter’s identity being revealed to the world or anything about Mysterio. But mostly, they sit in silence until daylight gives way to darkness outside and sunlight is replaced by moonlight.
“Happy texted me an address that he said we should come to,” MJ tells him. “He says there are federal agents and press camped out at your apartment so it’s not safe to go there.”
Peter swears under his breath at the disruption to May’s life this has also caused.
“Is May with him?” He asks and he’s scared of the answer.
“Yeah, he said she’s safe.”
He sighs in relief, at least in this whole shit storm he can at least be assured that she’s safe.
“Listen,” MJ starts, once again bringing him out of his thoughts. “I’m gonna go ahead first to my apartment to grab some stuff whilst you stay here then I’ll come back and we can head to the address Happy texted.”
“What? No MJ, you can’t go out across the city by yourself at night. It’s not s-”
MJ interjects to stop him, “You’re in your spidey suit, Peter.” Then when she’s assured he’s done with his protests she carries on. “I’ll grab some clothes you can wear then bring them back here for you to change. The suit isn’t exactly inconspicuous, even at night-time”
Peter has to concede to that. He couldn’t even claim to be a cosplayer because it’s his new black and red suit, not enough time has passed since his return to New York for the black and red to be selling in masses like the blue and red. “Okay,” he sighs defeatedly.
“I won’t be long, okay?” MJ says in farewell.
“Okay.”
They both kind of hover awkwardly for a moment, neither sure what to do before MJ eventually gets up off the floor and leaves the building.
MJ is gone for maybe an hour tops, Peter playing with different web combinations to entertain himself and doing his damned best to distract himself from panicked thoughts about the Mysterio situation whilst she’s gone.
When she comes back she has the large military style backpack she’d had on their European trip, the large one that looks like it could fit an entire walk-in closet worth of clothes.
“Hi,” he greets her with a small smile hurrying to stand to his feet and trying to tamper down the relief that floods through him at the fact that she came back. He'd spent the entire hour she was gone constantly reassuring himself that she wouldn't just leave him and trying to silence the small voice at the back of his head which kept asking but what if.
“Hey,” MJ greets briefly, her small smile visible under the lone light by the wall which is the only one in the abandoned building that still works, before she busies herself with digging out clothes from her bag. She hands him a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt and a hoodie he remembers her wearing at various points. The familiarity he has with MJ’s wardrobe is embarrassing and creepy, but mostly creepy.
Without thinking, he strips off his suit to start changing and only realises what he’s done when MJ freezes, watching him with a wide-eyed stare before she rushes to face the other way to give him some semblance of privacy.
Where it under different circumstances Peter would appreciate the way MJ turns around every so often to steal glances at him as he changes but it's not so he just focuses on changing as quickly as he can.
Once he’s done changing, he pulls the hood of his borrowed hoodie up so it nearly covers his eyes then MJ takes his suit and shoves it to the bottom of her bag before they walk to a nearby bus stop and catch the bus to the address Happy sent.
The journey doesn’t take too long, maybe 45 minutes, 30 of those being on the bus then 15 on foot to walk the rest of the way. Happy is waiting for them by the door of the non-descript apartment complex and immediately ushers them in and leads them upstairs to one of the apartments.
The apartment is relatively sparse but from the few items he can see strewn about he works out that this is Happy’s place which surprises him because in all the time he’s known Happy he’s never been here. There they find May waiting, pacing up and down the length of the living area and biting at her nails- something Peter hasn’t seen her do since Ben died- but she stops as soon as she hears them walk in.
“Peter, oh my God!” She shouts when she spots him.
Immediately she rushes to wrap him up in her arms. And though Peter is 16 now, he can’t help the calm that immediately washes over him with the warmth of May’s embrace. Being held by her feels like home and for a brief second he almost forgets what’s happening currently, all that he feels being that sense of “everything is gonna be okay” he always feels when he’s around May.
“Are you okay? Wait, dumb question. I’m just glad you’re here sweetie,” she mumbles into his shoulder, her hands gently carding through the hair at the nape of his neck.
They stay like that, arms wrapped tightly around the other and swaying in place for a while until May eventually lets him go then goes around him to greet MJ whom she’s met the times MJ has come to study or for movie nights with Ned.
He doesn’t hear the words the two women exchange as Happy leads him further into the apartment so they’re not all gathered by the front door.
May makes him and MJ sit down on the couches which make a nice change from the hard concrete floor they’ve been on all day, before forcing food into them. Peter hadn’t realised how hungry he was until he digs into the Thai food May got them, and he’s glad she had the foresight to buy so much food because it’s been hours since he last ate and with his increased metabolism and calorie requirement he needs all of it.
May makes the two teenagers stay put whilst she cleans up once they’re done eating, then when she comes back they finally discuss the elephant in the room.
“What are we gonna do?” May wastes no time jumping into it. Peter has to again ignore the stab of guilt he feels at her use of the collective pronoun, tamper down the disgust he feels at himself for dragging so many of his loved ones into his mess.
“I’m trying to get in touch with Pepper, see if we can get you access to her fancy lawyers to see what they say you should do from a legal standpoint,” Happy offers.
“Will I need lawyers? It’s just his word to say I’m Spider-Man and we could prove the video is doctored, right?" Peter tries.
“The feds are still gonna wanna question you, and due process doesn’t apply to potentially super-powered individuals. They’d throw you in the Raft,” Happy says it all matter-of-factly. He must see the way Peter tenses at the mention of the water prison because his tone softens, “We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen though, kid.”
“Even if you weren’t super-powered you’re poor and the American criminal justice system isn’t in favour of those without money,” MJ adds with a mirthless snort.
“I need to run,” Peter declares after a moment of thought. “We can work to prove the video is fake, and maintain that I’m not Spider-Man since there’s no proof beyond Mysterio’s word but I can’t stay here.”
That sets off the dominoes as the group comes together to start planning.
“I can get access to S.H.I.E.L.D. safe-houses across the country you can use, I just need to call Nick Fury,” Happy says, phone already in hand as he starts dialling.
“I’ll be the voice in your corner advocating for you from here,” May says earnestly.
“No May, I need you to maintain that you didn’t know anything about this. You have to denounce me. I don’t want them to bring you in for aiding and abating. Ned too.” He looks from his aunt to MJ, “I need you guys to publicly distance yourselves from me in case we can’t make this go away and I’m brought in, I couldn’t live with myself if you guys got into trouble as well.”
“Peter,” May says, sounding heartbroken and she looks at him with that same pained expression like she thinks he burdens himself too much.
“I need you to do this for me. Please, May.” His eyes bore into hers, pleading with her.
After a tense moment where he thinks she might continue arguing with him, May finally sighs dejectedly, “Okay sweetheart.”
Next he turns to face MJ to plead with her too.
“No,” she tells him point blank.
“MJ-”
“No, I’m coming with you.” And she must see the way his mouth opens, ready to protest because she carries on talking without allowing him the chance to get a word in. “I’ve already been seen getting cosy with Spider-Man today. I’m coming with you,” she declares simply.
“MJ, please.”
“I didn’t tell you this but when I went to get my stuff I watched the news quickly and they- they have a picture of me on the news with you. They’re looking for me too, so I’m just as in this as you are. I’m coming with you.”
Her tone leaves no room for argument but he still tries to stare her down, to get her to back down and concede to stay and distance herself from him and his alter ego, to protect herself, but it’s useless because MJ doesn’t back down, only stares back at him with steely eyes and arms folded.
“Okay,” he eventually agrees when he sees it’s no use trying to argue with her. That and the fact that May is sitting there next to her so it isn't the right time to get into it.
From then on, him, MJ and May work together to make a plan. The two women help him pack a small bag from the clothes May had brought over with her then they make a shopping list of supplies May agrees to go out and get for the two of them.
May and Happy head out of the apartment, to get them the supplies they need and to meet a S.H.I.E.L.D agent respectively, leaving him and MJ alone in the apartment.
They stay sat with him on the large couch, and her on the armchair in the corner, in silence for a stretch of time, neither sure what to say.
Peter is first to break the silence, “MJ, are you sure about this? You can just say I rescued you from a mugging or something and you didn’t know that I’m Spider-Man. Distance yourself from all of this,” the from me goes unsaid.
“God, Peter. You know that I can’t do that.”
“I just want you to be safe, MJ. Just say you didn’t know, you have nothing to do with Spider-Man,” he begs her.
“I can’t turn around and say I didn’t know it was you when I was literally straddling you Peter. I’m in this whether you like it or not!” she fires back loudly, louder than Peter has ever heard MJ’s voice go. Even when Flash is being extra dick-ish in Academic Decathlon MJ never shouts, she’s always calm and composed, never gets emotional.
Peter sags, his guilt overcoming him again. “You shouldn’t be in this. You don’t deserve this.”
“What, and you do?” she challenges.
Right now with the way he’s put his loved ones in danger and dragged them into his mess he certainly feels like he does. “I’m really sorry, Michelle,” is what he says instead, speaking around the lump forming in his throat.
MJ stands from the armchair and comes to sit right next to him then she turns him to face her with a gentle hand on his shoulder before hugging him, and it’s as he rests his head on her shoulder that he realises that he’s crying, his tears likely making her clothes wet in the process.
She holds him like that for a while and lets him cry then speaks once his cries have subside some. “Peter, you’re a good person who just wants to help people and you don’t deserve any of this, and I want to help you. I am coming with you out of choice not because I’m being forced to. This is Mysterio’s fault, not yours.”
Her tone is so even and sure that he almost believes this isn’t his fault even though deep down he knows the responsibility lies on him, but he decides to stop fighting her. “Are you sure this is what you wanna do?”
She finally lets him go and scoots away to put a bit of space between them; the physical contact aspect of this whole thing between them is still awkward and new to them despite the adrenalin-fuelled kisses they’d shared on Tower Bridge in London, so they don't know exactly how to navigate it all.
“Well, this isn’t exactly how I had planned to spend my summer but yeah, I’m sure.”
“How were you planning to spend your summer then?” He asks. He already knows because they’d discussed it at multiple points- she planned to catch up with her reading list and attend art classes at a local college- but he’s yearning to hear MJ talk about something she’s excited about, yearns for a break from the nightmare that is his life right now.
MJ surprises him with her response. “It’s stupid,” she says, her eyes going to her lap instead of looking at him as she plays with her hands in a nervous gesture. “I had kind of hoped to spend the summer going on dates with you and doing all the gross, mushy stuff I’d deny enjoying if ever questioned about doing. I wanted to take you to this gallery that has an exhibition by my favorite local artist and do the cheesy stuff like go on a movie date and share popcorn and gummy worms, hold hands and sneak kisses in the darkened theatre." She exhales audibly, continuing to play with her hands and refusing to meet his eyes. "Like I said, it’s stupid,” she says, clearing her throat and shaking her head, putting on a mask once again.
Peter’s mouth twists into a grin at its own accord. MJ never ceases to amaze him.
“Maybe after all of this is over we can do all that “gross, mushy stuff”.” The lie sits heavy on his tongue. He doesn’t know if this living nightmare will ever end, if they'll ever get to be normal teenagers who do normal, dumb teenage couple things ever again but it feels like the right thing to say in the moment.
“Yeah, maybe,” MJ breathes out but he can tell by the way she squeezes on the nail-bed of her right thumb with the fingers of her left hand that she’s not so sure about that either, the doubtful undertone to both their words lingering in the air between them.
After a beat of silence Peter speaks again when a thought occurs to him, “What about your parents? Will they be okay with you just leaving to go on the run with a wanted criminal for an undetermined time?”
MJ huffs out a laugh though it sounds mirthless and sad rather than humourful. “You're not a criminal, and my dad would have to be around to even realise I’m gone.”
Peter doesn’t know much about MJ’s parents or home life. She’s never invited him or Ned to her house, instead always opting to hang out at one of the boys' houses- mostly Peter's- and whenever the topic of her parents comes up she expertly changes the subject in a way that tells him she doesn't want to even broach the topic. Peter has never questioned her about them because he respects her boundaries and had figured she’d tell him in her own time if she ever wanted to. He respects her privacy and autonomy to decide which aspects of her life to share with him more than he wants to know everything there is to know about her.
He wants to triple check that she’s sure about this whole thing, to maybe try and talk her into staying just one more time but May walks back in at that moment with bags of items and stops their conversation before it can carry on.
“Hey, I got the hair dye and a bunch of other stuff you’ll need,” she says in greeting.
Though him and MJ weren’t doing anything, Peter still shuffles away from her to put some more distance between them just on impulse as he turns to greet his aunt.
MJ gets up off the couch to accept a bag from May and help her unpack everything.
“I got a bunch of dyes, I think there’s blond, black and red in there. You guys can choose,” May explains as she sorts though the bags once her and MJ have placed them on the kitchen counter.
MJ wordlessly picks out two colors and comes to hand him one which he sees is the blond one. He starts to protest the choice, “I don’t know if this blond is really me.”
“That’s the point, dork,” MJ snorts bemusedly. “They have a physical description of you and whilst there are some things you can’t change about yourself, like your height for example; this is something we can alter so you have to. I’m doing it too.”
Peter sighs, opting to ignore the short joke. She’s right and he knows it. “I’ve never done this before,” he admits quietly, trying to come to terms with the reality of the situation.
“I’ll do it for you, c’mon,” MJ says before she starts heading to the bathroom without waiting for him.
She makes him sit on the closed toilet lid of the toilet once they get there then gets to work mixing the contents of the dye pack. She then dons the plastic gloves and gets to work on putting the dye into his hair, section by section.
She stands between his legs as she works and Peter feels overwhelmed and breathless at her heady proximity. He tries to work to breathe normally whilst MJ for her part works meticulously, almost like she’s done this before.
“You used to dye a streak of your hair,” he declares out loud without meaning to, it’s an answer to a question he'd been asking himself in his head.
“Uh, yeah, yeah.” And she sounds vaguely embarrassed in the same way she always does when anyone talks about her or notices a detail about her, especially when he’s the one who does it. He doesn’t get why she does so, but suspects it’s because she’s worked very hard at being invisible, at blending into the background as an observer rather than the observed.
“I really liked the purple streak,” he admits shyly.
She gasps slightly, like she’s surprised he noticed. Which is ludicrous to Peter, and he almost tells her as such, tells her just how much about her he’s noticed but MJ finishes up, removes her gloves then disposes of everything.
“Wait a few minutes then wash your hair. I’m gonna help May with, um, stuff,” she says and gives him a small smile before practically running out of the bathroom. Peter would be amused by her reaction if his own heart wasn’t embarrassingly fluttering in his chest from spending that stretch of time in the position they were in.
Once the door clicks shut behind MJ, Peter just stays sitting on the toilet lid for a while longer as instructed both to allow the dye to work and to catch his breath and try to think about something else besides the feeling of MJ’s hands in his hair.
Eventually when the timer of MJ’s phone he hadn’t even realised she left on the bathroom counter goes off he gets up and heads into the shower.
When Peter comes out of the shower sometime later, he wraps a towel around his waist then opens the door to find some clothes on the floor by the door laid out for him which he grabs then closes the door again.
He uses Happy’s deodorant and other toiletries in the bathroom, dries his hair with the nearby hairdryer, then changes into the clothes he realises he doesn’t recognise as being his. It’s a simple pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket but they are more form fitting than he’s used to as someone who normally wears clothes that are a size or two too big to hide his radioactive spider-bite derived physique.
He looks at the reflection and between the clothes and the now-blond hair, he doesn’t really recognise the person that stares back at him. He looks older and just all around, different. It’s slightly unnerving but he supposes that’s the whole point of all this.
After giving up on trying to style his hair in some way using just his fingers he eventually leaves the bathroom. As soon as she sees him, MJ hurriedly and wordlessly slides past him to head into the now free bathroom before he can look to see what colour dye she chose.
“Peter, you look…different,” May says when she spots him, her eyes narrowed and focused specifically on his hair.
“You hate it,” Peter declares.
May’s eyes finally pan down to look at his face rather than at his dyed hair. “No, no honey.” Lie. “It’s just different to what I’m used to. I like the natural curls, I much prefer this to when you lather your hair in hair gel,” she says as she reaches up to ruffle the aforementioned curls. It’s clearly a diversion tactic but he elects to ignore it.
“May,” he whines at the action, but doesn’t bother trying to fix it when she moves her hand away- he might as well let his hair do its own thing.
“Do you like the clothes by the way?” I figured something different to your usual nerdy garb would be good for the whole covert, on the run thing,” May says conspiringly. Her tone matches that of an out of the loop parent trying to use modern slang to relate to their teenage child, like a parent trying to throw in a “lit” into conversation and Peter almost wants to laugh at how much his life differs to that of normal teenagers.
“My clothes aren’t nerdy!” Peter protests, finally registering the jibe.
“Oh sweetheart,” she responds, and her voice is laced with pity like he’s missing something that’s so painfully obvious to everyone else.
He doesn’t get to press her further as after that Happy returns with a small bag in hand. From the bag he takes out four disposable cell phones, two of which he hands to Peter for him and MJ, one to May and one for himself. He also takes out a laptop, keys and a wad of cash all of which he hands to Peter.
“The keys give you access to every S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house in the country, I’ll give you the addresses. The laptop is an encrypted high-grade one from Stark Industries you can use if you need to use the internet for anything but you should only do it when absolutely necessary- buying train and bus tickets and what have you, not to tweeter or anything.”
Peter doesn’t bother to correct the older man to let him know that it’s Twitter and you “tweet”, it doesn’t feel like an appropriate time, so he just nods at the instructions.
Happy carries on, “From now on we’ll use these disposable Stark cell phones to contact each other. They can’t be tracked. Always text either May or I when you get to a new safe house so we can keep track of you guys, okay?”
“Yeah, yep.”
“The cash is all I could get without rousing suspicion, I’m sorry it’s not much,” the man says apologetically and Peter almost snorts because he’s not used to handling money lest of all in such large quantities but he’s pretty sure he has a few thousand dollars in his hand which Happy calls "not much". “But all the S.H.I.E.L.D. houses should be stocked with basic groceries, so you should only need cash occasionally to top things up.”
“Thank you Happy, for everything,” Peter starts to get choked up. In a short amount of time Happy has managed to organise all this for Peter, it’s nice to have people working to help him even if he hates that they’ve all been dragged into this. All his feelings about Happy and May and their thing aside, he’s also glad that Happy will be there to look out for May since he won’t be able to himself.
Something occurs to Peter, “Ned-”
“I’ve spoken to Ned and told him what the plan is,” May assures.
“I’m gonna have a Stark Industries security detail on him and his family, and Nick Fury said he’ll also have some of his people watching them 24/7. Don’t worry, Pete, your family'll be looked after,” Happy adds.
Peter would prefer to ensure May and Ned are safe from Spider-Man's enemies himself, but it’s better than nothing, and he has no doubt that the SI and S.H.I.E.L.D. guys will be able to handle anything that may crop up.
Once he’s done explaining everything to him, Happy has Peter stand against a plain white wall and takes a picture of him and Happy is on the phone once again asking the person on the other end if they got the picture before Peter can question him about what the picture was for.
May then helps him pack up the things Happy got for him and shows him some of the other new clothes they got for him, all of them so simple and plain and yet so different to anything he’s ever worn before. There are no punny t-shirts or wool sweaters to be found anywhere, it’s weird but necessary he has to keep reminding himself.
He’s going over the travel plans with May and reassuring her that he’ll call her as soon as they get to Connecticut when he hears MJ walk into the living area.
Peter looks her over and notes how she’s wearing a pair of blue jeans which she’s paired with a white crop top, the outfit so unlike anything he’s ever seen MJ in though she still looks as great as ever but MJ looks visibly uncomfortable in the clothes, further driving home how this is so not her style. What draws his attention the most is her hair; she has straightened it and it’s a deep red color that really suits her- though he’s certain he would think that whatever hair color her hair was.
Like an idiot he just stares at her, mouth agape and dumbfounded. He can’t find the words to express to her how amazing she looks despite how much he wants to, rendered completely speechless.
He sees MJ bite her lip, likely trying to contain a grin at his dumb expression. Just as he’s gathered enough composure to say something to her that’s not just making incoherent sounds, Happy walks into the apartment and calls MJ over to the same plain wall from before and like he did with Peter, Happy takes pictures of MJ against it.
He then calls someone before wordlessly walking out of the apartment again.
May beats him to commenting on MJ’s hair. “Oh MJ, you look beautiful. I mean- you always look beautiful of course, whatever you wear and whatever hair colour. I didn’t mean to imply that you look beautiful only because you’ve drastically altered your appearance. Oh God, I’m so sorry,” May continues to ramble endearingly, and Peter offhandedly wonders if that’s what he sounds like those times when MJ tells him to stop talking so much.
The two of them go to sort through MJ’s bag, and Peter watches as May hands her a box of tampons with a quick “I got you more just in case” then once they’re done they continue chatting quietly amongst themselves.
Soon after Happy comes back into the apartment.
“Okay, my guy managed to make these for you. He said they’re not amazing quality since I quote, unquote "rushed art" but they’ll do you,” Happy says before handing a driver’s license to Peter then handing MJ one when she comes to stand with them.
Peter looks down at the fake ID in his hand which has the picture of him Happy took from earlier and Peter looks as unprepared as he has in every picture that’s ever been taken of him. The ID has a different birthday from his usual one, making him officially 18 rather than 16 and the name on it reads: Benjamin Anthony Reilly.
“I chose the name,” May tells him and he looks up and smiles sadly at her. At least he’ll take part of his family with him despite the circumstances.
Peter turns to look at MJ’s and she in turn tilts the card in her hand so he can read it more easily. He sees that she’s similarly now 18 years old rather than her actual 17, that and she looks much better in her picture than he did. The name on her ID reads: Mary-Jane Watson.
“We’re legally adults now, I guess,” MJ jokes.
“Yeah,” Peter says with a small laugh.
May and Happy walk away to go and print off their bus tickets leaving them alone for a moment.
“Hey, Michelle? I think you always look pretty and nice anyway but, uh, I really like your hair. I meant to say earlier,” he tells her.
She looks down almost-embarrassedly at the compliment, hands fiddling with the fake ID in her hands before she reaches a hand up to tuck a strand of her now red hair behind her ear. Finally she looks up at him again. “Thanks, but I think you mean Mary-Jane,” she teases.
Peter laughs at the teasing comment, warm blood rushing to his cheeks uncontrollably. “It’s gonna take a while to get used to that.”
“You can just call me MJ, it still works,” she says with an easy shrug. Then after a beat, “I like your blond hair too, by the way.”
“Shut up,” Peter retorts when he senses the teasing lilt in her voice.
“No, no I’m serious,” she keeps insisting, laughter barely contained. “Makes you look…whiter.”
Peter playfully knocks his shoulder into hers. “I hate you.”
She rights herself to stand upright again then turns to look directly at Peter. “No you don’t,” she says, voice barely above a whisper.
“No I don’t,” Peter breathes out in agreement. He’s suddenly aware of how close to each other they are like this, he can smell the cocoa butter of her lotion from this close, hear the way her breath hitches as she comes to the same realisation about how close they are. He watches as MJ blinks, doing so hesitantly like she doesn’t want to for fear that she might miss something if she does which is a feeling he can relate to.
Just as Peter makes the decision to close the gap between them and press his lips to hers, May and Happy walk back into the living area with the printouts of his and MJ’s bus tickets in their hands, both Peter and MJ immediately taking a step back away from the other to put a respectable distance between them. They accept the tickets then with the help of May and Happy, they gather up their things and get their shoes and jackets.
They’re all set to go except May continues to fuss over them, double checking and triple checking the plan with them, and giving the pair advice to make sure they stick with each other and lean on each other over this time as well as thanking MJ for choosing to do this, to stick by Peter. She also keeps reassuring him over and over again that they’ll work this out and it’ll all be over soon and he can come home again, back to her, really soon.
She hugs Peter tightly and presses kisses all over his face like she used to when he was younger and Peter pretends to be embarrassed by the affection, weakly protesting and trying to fight it with a “May, stop” here and there. Deep down he appreciates her fussing over him but is also sad that this is the last time he’ll get to experience her fussing over him for God knows how long. That coupled with his lingering guilt about the effect this has all had on all of them despite their reassurances just all weighs on him, but he manages to hold it together, barely, not wanting to make this goodbye even any harder than it needs to be.
Eventually May lets him and MJ go with one final hug and kiss to each of them and Happy drives him to the bus station
It’s only once they’re sat there waiting for their bus that Peter finally allows the toll of the day to catch up to him, and he breaks down and starts silently sobbing. MJ doesn’t say anything, just offers up her shoulder for him to lay his head on as he cries which he gladly accepts.
He cries into her shoulder as she cards her fingers through his curls to comfort him as they wait for their bus.