Work Text:
*tap tap tap*
The gentle rapping on her window had MJ to her feet in an instant.
What the Hell is that? She thought to herself, bare feet quickly padding against the floor as she made her way over to the window.
She realized it was probably just a tree branch, but she couldn't put her mind to ease without checking; she'd only been back to her hotel room for an hour, and there was no way she'd even think of sleeping before hearing from Peter after she'd just witnessed him...or Spiderman...or... whoever fight a giant fire-monster.
She opened the curtains and immediately jumped back, letting out a startled yell.
It definitely wasn't a tree branch...unless trees were suddenly producing Peter Parker-shaped branches.
She stared, dumbfounded as her classmate leaned against the window, his dark, skintight suit outlining his silhouette against the moonlit sky. His face was uncovered and a mask hung limply in his fingertips.
Once she got over the initial shock, she pulled open the window and grabbed his arm, helping him inside quickly.
The figure that was now practically falling in through the window with a groan was definitely Peter, and he was in rough shape. There were small cuts showing on his face, and the heat that radiated off of him made it clear that he was feverish. He half-fell against her and stumbled into the dark room.
"N-Ned?" He mumbled in confusion, careening away from her and into the nearest wall, his body hitting it with a thud.
"No..." She found herself at a loss for words, wondering what the best course of action even was at this point. "It's, uh, it's me, MJ." She stammered.
"MJ, yeah," Peter replied, still sounding a little out of it as he slid down the wall, breath coming out in quick huffs, "I n-need you to tell MJ I'm back. I promised her."
She walked over to him and squatted down beside her friend, taking in his pale complexion.
"Peter...It's me, it's MJ. Not Ned. MJ. Are you, like...okay? When you said you were going to let me know you were back, I didn't think you'd come in through my window..."
Peter's eyes suddenly opened wide and recognition washed over his face; even in the dim lighting, she could see his cheeks turn a rosy pink as he realized his mistake.
"Oh my God...this isn't my room, is it?" Peter groaned, bringing his hands up to cover his face.
"Nope...that would be the uh, window next door," MJ grimaced awkwardly.
"I-I can explain," he stammered. "I, uh...the thing I told you I had. You know, back at the theatre...it...uhh.."
MJ could see that he was at an utter loss for words and couldn't help but smile a little in spite of her friend's condition.
"Let me guess...it involves a better excuse than 'I'm Spiderman and this is just my night costume'?" MJ ventured.
"This is NOT my night costume," Peter snapped, then quickly added "I mean I'm not Spiderman, either, I just...uh...these are my pajamas."
MJ quirked an eyebrow.
"Really? Your pajamas?" She snorted, looking at the ensemble. "And do you always sleep with your shoes on?"
"Of course not," Peter retorted, "I just put on my pajamas before I went out."
"And the mask? Gloves?"
"I put those on too. It was cold outside." Peter had begun to slowly climb to his feet. MJ straightened up too.
"Okay, fine. How did you get outside the window then? We're on the third floor."
Peter knit his eyebrows as if he was trying to think of an answer, swaying lightly on his feet as he did. His mouth was pressed in a firm line, and he swallowed thickly.
"What's the matter? Spider got your tongue?" MJ quipped.
No sooner than she'd spoken, Peter was suddenly stumbling towards the bathroom, and in a moment she could hear the telltale sounds of vomiting echoing back into the room.
Oh, right...
She'd almost forgotten he was sick.
Wincing a little at the gagging noises, she slowly walked over to the bathroom door, her mind immediately floating back to the earlier events in the theatre.
A sudden pang of guilt tugged at her gut as she walked over to the bathroom.
What was she thinking? The poor guy was sicker than Hell and was just off doing...well, if she was being honest, she didn't exactly know what before this, and here she was, badgering him about being Spiderman...
...I mean he IS Spiderman, this pretty much confirms it, right? She thought
...Unless he has some other reason as to why he...No. He's totally Spiderman. Or is he...?
Another loud gag from Peter brought her back to reality.
Focus, MJ. Not the time.
She took the last few steps into the bathroom to find Peter hanging his head miserably over the toilet, a low moan escaping his throat and echoing around the bowl.
She grabbed a plastic cup from next to the sink and filled it up before sitting on the edge of the tub.
"Maybe you wanna drink a little water?" She ventured, holding out the glass to him, "getting so close to that fire...thingy on top of a fever probably didn't do much for keeping you hydrated..."
Peter lifted his head a little, nodding as he took the plastic cup from her. He slumped back against the wall before bringing the cup to his lips, hands shaking as he did.
"Thanks, MJ," he said after a minute, giving the water a second to make it to his stomach, "You know, you really don't need to be in here. I'll be fine in the morning."
"I mean I'd leave, but this is definitely my hotel room," MJ laughed, crossing her legs where she sat.
Once again, Peter's cheeks turned a rosy pink against his pale face. "Oh, right. I-I'm sorry, I could go back to my-"
"Peter, no, I was kidding, I don't care," she shrugged, "Besides, I feel like I haven't seen you this whole trip...you know...because as you practically just admitted, you've been off being Spiderman and stuff..."
Peter's eyes suddenly got wide, realizing that he hadn't corrected her comment about the fire elemental. "Oh! You- When you handed me the water I...I actually was by that fire thing, y'know because it was near the place I went when I had my...I wasn't fighting it though, I...I...um..." Peter stopped, shaking his head a little. He brought a hand up and wiped some sweat from his forehead, closing his eyes. There was no way she was buying this.
He put his hands up with a shrug before allowing them to drop to the floor with a sigh.
"I'm Spiderman," he said, taking a drink of water as if to wash the words from his mouth.
"Wait, really?" MJ deadpanned, not actually expecting to hear him say the words. "Because I was only actually like 75% sure."
Peter nodded, a nervous look coming over his face as he spoke next, "You- you're not gonna tell anyone, though, are you? I mean, I have this whole secret identity thing, MJ, and I kinda can't-"
"Oh, duh, of course not, " MJ said coolly, trying to contain her excitement, "I won't tell a soul...But this is so cool!"
A look of relief came over Peter's face, but it wasn't there long before he was diving over the toilet once more, retching until the water he'd just drank came spurting through his mouth and nose, straight into the bowl. This brought MJ back to reality, and without really thinking, she moved to rub Peter's back. He continued to dry heave after for some time, his stomach clearly still upset.
As the last few heaves wracked his body, he took in a gasp of air and said, "It's-it's NOT my...night costume."
"Huh?" MJ was confused.
"This isn’t my night costume," Peter repeated, his breath steadying as he sat against the wall once more.
"Oh," MJ laughed, "You mean the spandex?"
Peter nodded. "I needed something to keep my identity safe...if Spiderman happened to be out of the country at the same time as our class-"
"People might put two and two together, " MJ finished, understanding in her voice, "Gotcha..." She thought for a second;
"...So 'Night Monkey' huh?"
"Okay, the name wasn't my idea either," Peter smiled a little, picking up his water for another sip before swishing and spitting it into the toilet.
"Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't, " MJ said with a sarcastic chuckle.
Peter began to laugh too, but it quickly turned into a moan as he grabbed his stomach, closing his eyes as he continued to lean over the bowl. MJ couldn't hide her concern.
"I don't mean to be weird, but...have you kept anything down today? Not to pry, but you kinda just barfed up, like, the tiniest bit of water that you drank a second ago."
Peter shrugged. "I don't know...It’s probably nothing."
"Well, you've had the fever at least since we were at the theatre, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," Peter moved his shoulders. MJ could tell he was trying to downplay the situation.
"Maybe...maybe you need, like...I don't know, a doctor or something?"
Peter shook his head. "No, my healing factor should take care of it by morning...it's a spider-power thing, don't worry about it. Besides, hospitals don't really have superhero-strength Advil anyways," he let out a short laugh before snapping his head up. "But Ned does!" He suddenly started getting to his feet, leaning heavily against the wall.
MJ jumped up from the edge of the tub and held her hands out, ready to catch her friend if need be.
"Peter, what are you talking about? What about Ned?"
"He has some pills Mr. Stark gave me...ones that work with my metabol- woah..." Now on his feet, Peter's face lost what little color it had and he stumbled for a second, catching himself on the counter before MJ could steady him.
"Peter, are you okay?" MJ asked, tentatively putting a hand on Peter's back. Almost instantly she felt him convulse under her touch as he hunched back over the toilet and let out another gag, only bringing up a little spit this time before crumbling back to his knees and gripping the sides of the bowl.
"Hey! You're alright, I gotcha," MJ said, trying to lead him to the ground gently, "I'm...do you want me to get Ned?"
Peter continued to heave once more, but nodded his head, giving her the go ahead to run to the room next door.
And she did. After a few loud knocks, the door to the adjacent room swung open, and MJ found herself staring frantically into the eyes of Ned Leeds.
"MJ?" He queried, a puzzled look on his face, "What's wrong? Have you seen Peter?"
"It's...uhh, yeah, actually," she stammered, trying to find the right words. "He...he's not feeling so great and uh...he says you have some medicine from Tony Stark?"
"He wants his...wait, where is he?" Ned was already headed back into the room to look for the medication, but shot MJ a confused look over his shoulder.
"He's, uh...in my room next door," she shrugged, deciding that there was a good chance Ned knew Peter's secret identity already if he knew about some ‘superhero medicine’ that Peter needed. "He came in through my window a little while ago."
"Through the window ?" Ned's eyes grew wide as he exited the room and followed her next door, meds in hand.
Ned took in the situation immediately upon entering, and looked from Peter (who was now seemingly half-asleep, face leaning on the toilet seat) to MJ and back again before speaking.
"Oh! You're probably wondering why he's dressed like that, with the...the black suit and the, uhh...mask. Well, sometimes Peter likes to, umm...he, uhh...
...Those are his pajamas."
"Ned, I told her. She knows," Peter mumbled, apparently more awake than he seemed to be. Ned looked relieved.
"Good, because I had no idea how I was gonna get you out of that one, man."
"I mean I kind of figured it out myself," MJ shrugged, reentering the bathroom to refill Peter's empty water glass. “Y’know...the whole Spiderman thing.”
"Oh," Ned fumbled, looking to his half-conscious friend. "Well, I figured it out too..."
"No he didn't," Peter slurred, a smile playing at his lips, "He walked in on me hanging from my bedroom ceiling."
"Did not!" Ned shot back, "I was already in the room, you're the one who crawled through the window in full spider-mode-"
"Okay, sorry, didn't mean to turn this into a competition," MJ said quickly, cutting the boys off. "Ned, you wanna give him the super...super Advil or whatever?"
"Oh. Right," Ned seemed to suddenly remember there was a bottle of pills in his hand. He unscrewed the cap and handed two to Peter, who groggily lifted his head and swallowed them down with some water.
"We should probably get him into a bed," said MJ as she gently helped Peter move away from the toilet, "He looks like he's about to pass out."
Ned nodded in agreement, and they each took one of Peter's arms to help him up. Peter let out a groan as his friends peeled him off of the floor and began moving into the hotel room. MJ looked at her own bed and then back at Ned.
"I think it might be better if we just put him down in here, you know? In case there's anyone in the hallway or anything who might recognize-"
"The Night Monkey getup..." Ned finished with a nod. "Are you sure? I could go check to see if the coast is clear."
"That's alright," MJ replied, "It'll be easier to just move him a few feet anyways."
With another nod from Ned, the pair maneuvered Peter over to the bed and got him under the covers, his eyes closing before his head even hit the pillow. MJ grabbed two of the other pillows and a blanket off the foot of the bed before making herself a bed on the floor.
"You know, you can sleep in Peter and I's room if you want to," Ned offered. "There's an empty bed in there now." MJ shook her head.
"Nah, I'll be alright here. I'd rather have someone keep an eye on Peter in case he wakes up."
Ned set the bottle of pills on the nightstand next to the bed and turned off the lamp. As MJ climbed into her makeshift bed, he made his way over to the door.
"If you need anything, I'll be right next door," he said on his way out.
"Thanks, Ned, " MJ returned. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight MJ."
As the door closed, Peter let out a loud snore that made MJ laugh a little bit.
"Good night, Spiderman,” she whispered.