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Saturday Night Raids
“Oh my God Ned she’s back.”
Peter hears Ned curse under his breath as the monster they’re currently fighting hits him with a particularly sneaking hit. The two of them fall back in perfect synchronization as Peter casts a spell to heal his best friend. “Who’s back?” Ned asks, flinging his halberd towards the monster to try and reach for his weak point.
“That girl with the mace,” Peter answers, finally managing to slow down the monster with his magic. Ned lunges instantly, hitting it right on its weakest spot, and the two of them cheer excitedly – careful not to be too loud though, because May is asleep in the next room, and so are Ned’s parents. “Good job dude,” he congratulates his best friend as both their characters reach for the loot the mob dropped. It’s mostly useless junk but Peter still grabs most of it – who knows, maybe it’ll serve some day.
“Thanks,” Ned exclaims happily, “you did awesome too. So where is she?”
“I don’t know,” Peter says, looking around to try and catch a glimpse of the other person between the dark trees of the forest their characters are currently making their way through. They’ve been spotting this person a lot lately, being paired with them almost every time they start a dungeon. You would think it to be pretty unlikely – being randomly paired with the same person multiple times – but the beta they’re playing isn’t really well known yet, and they’re also always playing at the exact same time every week, so yeah.
Which is, every Saturday night, in between 10 PM and 2 or 3 AM (depending on the degree of impending doom of the upcoming week at school.)
That’s because May told Peter that he could not go on patrols on Saturday nights because he needs to, quote, ‘balance his Peter Parker life and his Spider-Man life better’. Peter’s pretty sure she chose Saturday nights because it’s usually then that parties happen, and she wants him to socialize a little more – probably, although she never really said so explicitly. But the last party he went to was that one back in Sophomore Year at Liz’ house, and he destroyed a bunch of stuff back then, and almost drown too, so yeah he’s not doing that again. Plus he’s always having a lot of fun with Ned anyway.
Back to the girl with a mace.
She – he? them? He doesn’t know, but the character is female so yeah – is pretty good at the game, and when they’re paired with her in particular they always nail the dungeon faster. But, and that’s a big but for Peter, she always claims the same items as him when they get to the loot at the end of the dungeon. And, obviously, Parker Luck strikes almost every single time, and Peter never gets the items he needs, because he always draws a number lower than hers. She’s not even open to trade stuff, which sucks. He tried that, but nope. And, she never joins the vocal chat either, so he cannot even ask her for real what’s her deal!
Peter’s a pretty forgiving person, but it’s been five weeks and he’s getting frustrated.
He’s – mostly – keeping it to himself though, because he knows it’s just a game and everything, and the other person is probably not even doing it on purpose or whatever.
But still, ugh.
“Do you think she’s spying on us?” Ned asks.
“I don’t know,” Peter sighs, “I don’t even know what guild she’s from. What’s her username again?”
“Wow, dude, I have a hard time even learning my irregular verbs in Spanish, how do you expect me to commit to memory such a trivial piece of information?”
“Dude, you know the PokeRap by heart.”
“But that’s vital information Pete,” Ned deadpans.
“Yeah that’s true,” he concedes with a chuckle. “Speaking of Spanish, you coming here to work on it tomorrow?”
“Yup, you think we could make cookies when we take a break?”
“Ha, already thinking about taking a break?” Peter laughs.
“Breaks are very important.”
“Vital, one may say.”
“Exactly right, my young Padawan.”
“I’m older than you,” Peter snorts in amusement, and he can hear Ned chuckle on the other side. “Anyway, I should probably get to bed it’s already almost 2.”
“Yeah that would be wise,” Ned sighs. “Alright, see you tomorrow, I’m bringing the chocolate chips for the cookies!”
“Cool!”
“Also, don’t worry about that mace girl,” he tells him, and from his voice Peter knows Ned’s sensed that the whole thing annoys him more than what he’s letting on. “She’s gonna go away eventually and we’ll never hear of her ever again.”
“Thanks dude, I hope so,” Peter smiles, grateful to have someone as amazing as Ned in his life. Who needs socializing when you’ve got a Ned Leeds, right? “Night dude, love ya!”
“Love you Pete, bye!”
Ned is awesome, but sadly he’s not right this time. Three more weeks go by, and it happens again and again, every Saturday nights. They get paired with Mace Girl, they nail the thing, she gets all the items Peter needs. It sucks. He’s getting really pissed, pissed enough to offer to postpone their next gaming session after the third time. They do a movie marathon of those really old Alien movies instead. It’s still pretty cool. Then they get back to the game the week after, and sure enough she’s still there.
Peter’s openly complaining about it to Ned the next Monday during lunch time when Michelle Jones sits down next to him, grabs one of his fries and pops it into her mouth. She’s barely taken her eyes off the book she’s currently reading but Peter still feels his cheeks blush just a little. MJ’s been doing this – stealing his fries – every now and then since the beginning of their Junior year, and it might be a little stupid but Peter kind of likes it? As in, he kind of feels honored she does? Because she doesn’t do it to anyone else, as far as he knows? Okay, when he really thinks about it it’s probably exactly what she wants him to think so that she can keep doing it, but well. He never complains. He thinks she’s very cool. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she steals fries from him.
He’s not gonna think about all the things that make her cool though, because that would probably take up the rest of their lunch break so… yeah. He’s a little embarrassed.
“What up dorks?” she deadpans just like she always does, looking up from her book when she feels their eyes on her. They’ve stopped talking as soon as she got there, and Peter realizes it might come off a little rude but he doesn’t have the time to say anything that MJ continues: “What were you two nerds rambling about?”
“Beast Slayers,” Ned answers.
“I should have known,” she sighs, getting back to her book. “You guys are losers.”
“Yeah we know.”
Peter focuses back on his burger and fries, almost jumping when MJ’s hand shoots to grab another one of his fries at the same time, accidentally brushing against the back of his hand. There’s an awkward silence after that, both avoiding each other’s eyes because that was kinda embarrassing, and Peter can feel Ned’s curious gaze switching between them the whole time. Okay, now he’s pretty sure he’s blushing. Hopefully she doesn’t notice – it doesn’t seem very likely though, because she is very observant.
“So, what’s up in the Beast Slayers world?”
Ned and Peter look at each other in surprise, before glancing at MJ. She’s closed her book, and taken out an apple from her backpack, her eyes dancing between them with a very not-impressed expression à la MJ. Peter has no idea what to say, and luckily it’s not Ned’s case because he sits up in his seat, a gleam of delight in his eyes as he launches in an elaborate explanation of what’s been up in the Beast Slayers world. Peter vaguely listens, still very much shocked that MJ would initiate conversation like this with them, because it’s never really happened before.
It’s cool.
It’s fine. Nothing to be stressed about right? Why is he all freaked out suddenly?
“Oh, and Peter’s pissed because someone keeps taking all his stuff!”
Peter looks up at his name and frowns. “They’re not taking my stuff, they’re claiming everything I want and I never get anything because of Parker Luck.”
“So it is a thing then?” MJ asks, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at him, her lips slightly perking up in an amused smile that might be messing with Peter’s heartbeat for some reason. “I thought that was one of Flash’s stupid inventions or something.”
“Oh no it is very real,” Ned supplies and Peter makes a face at that to emphasize his best friend words. “It’s a curse.”
“Poor baby,” MJ snorts, bumping Peter’s elbow with hers, and his brain short-circuits just a little because of it. “So who’s the mean guy?”
“It’s a girl actually,” Ned explains, “or well, the character is one anyway. Some girl with a mace, they’re pretty good at the game and all but yeah, they’re pissing Peter off.”
“Huh.” MJ stays quiet for a moment, and Peter glances at her. She’s picking at her half-eaten apple with a thoughtful expression that he can’t quite read – not that he can read much of her anyway, she’s just so… mysteriously cool all the time. Oops, he’s thinking it again. “Wouldn’t think you could get pissed at anyone, Parker.”
“Oh he’s trying to hide it,” Ned chimes in before Peter can say anything. “But I know better.”
“I’m not exactly pissed,” he sighs, fiddling with a fry as he tries to find the right words. “It’s just, I don’t know, they’re not even talking or anything, and they’re not open to trade stuff either, and I’m trying to upgrade my stuff in a specific way and I just, ugh I don’t know.” He shrugs, and neither Ned nor MJ say much after that.
A couple of weeks go by, and then it’s Winter break. When Ned’s not playing his guy in the chair while Peter’s on patrol, they either watch movies or play Beast Slayers. They get paired up with the Mace Girl just once. Then there’s a war between their guild and another one, and that’s when they realize she’s in the enemy guild. Their guild gets obliterated the first time around, which sucks. They win the fight the second time around, then lose again, and then there’s a truce during the end of the year festivities so they kind of forget about it.
Then the Saturday before the end of the break, they get paired up with Mace Girl to do one particular dungeon, and the last mob drops a particular scimitar that Peter’s been searching for, for at least six months now. He claims it, she does too. The dice rolls on his screen.
And she. gets. it.
Peter’s not really proud about it, but he does Alt-F4 at this and doesn’t reconnect for the night, barely sending a ‘sorry’ text to Ned before slumping down on his bed and groaning in his pillow for a good five minute afterwards.
Then something happens. Well, something happens the next Monday during lunch break actually. Ned and him sit down at their usual table, and MJ sits with them. She’s wearing her black hat with the two pompoms on it, the one that Peter might like a lot. She asks how their break was, and Peter makes a grumpy face despite himself, which grabs her curious eyes instantly. Ned tells her a little about what happened, and she nods with an unreadable expression, stealing one of his onion rings before going back to her book.
When it’s time to get back to class though, she catches up to him, holding him back just as Ned enters their Spanish class. Peter turns to her in surprise. “What’s up?” he asks, a little curious, and a little freaked out too because she’s just grabbed him by the sleeve which is not something that’s ever happened before but whatever.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll eventually get that sword of yours,” she tells him quietly, before turning heals and leaving just like that, without a glance back.
It takes him a minute to realize something. “Hey, we never said anything about a–”
But she’s already gone.
She avoids them for the rest of the week. Ned doesn’t think much about it because that’s how MJ usually rolls, sometimes she sticks with them for a while during lunch, and sometimes she doesn’t. Peter thinks about it a lot though. At first he thinks he might be wrong about it. How could MJ and Mace Girl be the same person? Then again, he is definitely sure that Ned never said anything about a sword, so how could she know about it? The fact that she’s avoiding him – or, well, them – is an indication in itself right?
There’s really just one way to be sure.
Well, actually that’s not true, he could just ask her for real, but he’s definitely not bold enough to do that in real life. So there is one way he can know for sure, and he’s gonna try it next Saturday.
He’s very anxious when he turns on his computer that night. Ned’s already there when he logs in, and they talk for a little while before queuing for a particular dungeon Ned’s been rambling about for weeks now. Peter hovers over the invite button, suddenly unsure about it all. Maybe she’s not even there. Maybe it’s not her at all.
One way to know for sure.
He’s memorized her username without even realizing it. He sends the invite, quietly crossing his fingers as the ‘pending’ logo flashes before his eyes. Maybe she doesn’t want them to know it’s her. Maybe she’s not even there at all.
Ned’s gone to pick up some yummy treats, and just as Peter hears him sit back down on his chair, his heart leaps in his chest. There she is. Peter can barely breathe. Maybe he’s entirely wrong. Maybe she’s just another random dude he’s never met, and not MJ at all. He presses the request voice chat, and hears Ned’s surprise in his ears. “What are you doing? We don’t know them.”
“Just wanna check something.” Peter doesn’t think his mouth’s ever been that dry before. His hands are clammy and his heart is about to beat out of his chest. This is it, he thinks. The moment of truth.
There’s a beat when the call is answered, and then,
“What’s up losers?”
“OH MY GOD IT’S MJ!”
And Peter cannot stop smiling – even though his ears are killing him because wow, Ned is loud.
He really can’t blame him though.
And so next thing they know, their Saturday night gaming sessions gain a new participant. They go on for a few weeks, and then it only seems natural that they would invite her for their movie nights as well. They cram up on Ned’s tiny couch in his bedroom and stuff themselves with snacks. MJ even lets Peter steal some of her sour gummy worms – which are her absolute favorite – and when he makes a shocked Pikachu face at her she snorts and nudges him in the ribs with a smirk. “Consider it a repayment for all the fries I stole.” He then points out that if that’s how it is then he should get the entire bag, and she gives him a ‘don’t push your luck’ look that makes him chuckle. Ned’s a quiet observer of the whole scene, and neither Peter nor MJ catch the knowing look of their friend.
They banter a lot, and it’s really fun. It’s amazing how quickly she made her way into their lives, Peter thinks. He knows Ned thinks so too. They cannot imagine things differently than what they are now that MJ is friend with them. When June wheels in, and with it the end of their Junior Year, Peter really considers her as much of his best friend as he does Ned. Which is awesome. Especially as they get even more time to hang out now that school is over for the summer.
He gets her a white mug with ‘Fuck off I’m reading’ in big black letters on it for her birthday. She rolls her eyes in amusement, but then when they’re lying on the couch, with The Two Towers’ credits rolling on the TV and Ned’s gentle snores lulling them to sleep, she whispers to him that she loves it. He falls asleep with the biggest smile on his face.
A few days later, Ned tells him that he thinks MJ and him are made for each other, and Peter gets a little weird because that’s not true at all because MJ is his friend but then again yes maybe sometimes he kind of wants to kiss her just a little bit. He tries not to overthink it too much, and hopefully she doesn’t realize it – he knows she does, because she always notices everything, but she doesn’t mention it.
Then one day in the middle of July she casually drops in passing that she knows he’s Spider-Man. Peter freaks out a little – or a lot – about it, but he eventually gets over it. She tags along with Ned when Peter’s on patrol, and they call themselves ‘Friends of Spider-Man’ or FoS for short – well, Ned does, and MJ just rolls her eyes a little to try and hide her smile whenever he does. In any case, Peter finds it extremely cool.
Then it’s his 17th birthday, and MJ pushes him to log in Beast Slayers – although they’ve kind of abandoned the game since the start of the summer. And there it is. The scimitar she’d claimed and that made him realize that she was the one behind the Mace Girl that had been tormenting him for months beforehand. Peter is suddenly overcome by the urge to hug her, but since they’re not even in the same room at the moment he settles for a little happy dance from his character. They both end up spending the day geeking with Ned on the game, then they all go out to a nice restaurant with May, and it’s a pretty amazing birthday in Peter’s opinion.
It all kind of changes one week later.
MJ’s just made it into his apartment one evening when Peter gets a text. May is off on a date with Happy and said not to wait up, and Ned, MJ and him planned on watching a couple of movies while stuffing themselves with snacks, and maybe playing a few board games too. Quiet night in like they like. Peter checks his phone to see it’s a text from Ned. Telling him he has to cancel on their plans because of a ‘family issue’. The fact that his best friend doesn’t even explain what it is and just tells him to ‘have fun with MJ’ makes Peter very suspicious – and also very aware of the fact that he’s never really been alone for a whole night with MJ before.
His mouth goes super dry super fast as the realization downs on him. He watches as MJ sets down her backpack on the floor, her brown curls cascading from behind her shoulder. She waves them off impatiently, taking off the black hair tie she always keeps on her left wrist to tie them off in a loose bun on top of her head. Peter realizes he’s gaping a little so he clears his throat, waving his phone around to grab her attention – before stopping abruptly because it’s obviously ridiculous. Why is he so stressed out?!
“So um, Ned just–”
“I know dork,” she cuts him before he can ramble on – which he’s honestly pretty grateful for. “He sent it to the group chat.”
“Oh, right, yes, sorry,” he nods and shrugs at the same time, and really he has no idea what the hell he’s doing. It doesn’t have to be weird at all, he reminds himself, because they’ve been friends for a long time now, and it’s not as if they’ve never been just the two of them without Ned before. Once back in March Ned got sick for three whole days, so MJ and him were together for lunch and stuff at school, and it wasn’t weird? Well it kind of was the first day, but then it got better? So he’s fine right? Nothing weird with hanging out alone at night with one of his best friends.
It does not matter in the slightest that this particular best friend also happens to give him the butterflies every time he meets her eyes. He’s fine. Everything’s fine. MJ is staring at him now, and she’s biting her lower lip, her face a little unsure, and that’s when it strikes him. Maybe she doesn’t want to hang out with him alone and would rather postpone the night. It kind of sucks, if it’s true, but Peter still gets it. Plus, it wouldn’t be fair to her anyway, since she doesn’t know that he’s kind of attracted to her just a little bit. Like, this night would mean something different for her than it would for him, which he thinks would be a bad idea anyway. He doesn’t want to lose her friendship by being greedy and asking for more.
Ugh, not that he would be brave enough to ask her in any case. Wow this sucks.
Peter makes a mental note to roast Ned next time he sees him.
Then he scratches the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle, their eyes meeting for a split second before they both look away awkwardly. “Um, do you,” he starts, the words struggling to get out of his mouth, “do you still wanna…” He gestures to something, he’s not even sure what exactly, and watches as MJ sticks a curl that’s already escaped from her messy bun behind her ear.
“I mean, yeah?” she says a little hesitantly, wetting her lips, and wow Peter really should stop looking at her lips because that’s just trouble. “Unless, um, unless you’d rather not?”
“Oh no,” he quickly assures, shaking his head, which makes her smirk, “no I mean uh, I’m fine with still uh, yeah it’s, it’s cool.” Oh God what the hell is he saying? He has no idea.
“Cool,” MJ nods, the ghost of her smirk shining in her eyes. They stare at each other for a moment, then she shakes her head and walks past him, directly to the couch. Peter had been setting the snacks on the coffee table before she arrived, so the only thing left to do now is to follow her and sit down next to her, so that’s what he does. He’s pretty sure he’s never been that awkward in his entire life before, which is a lot to say because he’s almost always awkward.
MJ puts the movie on without saying anything, and grabs the bag of sour gummy worms he purposefully bought for her because he knows they’re her favorite. She pops one in her mouth, then offers the bag to Peter, her gaze trained on the TV. He takes a couple for himself, trying to ignore the small fact that doing so his pinkie accidentally brushes hers. This is fine. Friends touch each other every now and then, right? Ned and him fist bump all the time. They bump shoulders, sometimes they cuddle on the couch too, it’s not weird at all. They hug too. Peter’s not sure he’s ever hugged MJ before. He remembers really wanting to when she gave him the sword on Beast Slayers for his birthday but…
“Shut up, Parker.”
“W-what?” Peter gapes in surprise, glancing at her to meet her amused gaze.
“You’re thinking too loud,” she tells him with a smirk, and he feels himself blush. He mouths a sorry and she shakes her head with a light chuckle. Then she folds her legs under her – she’s wearing shorts but Peter’s definitely not thinking about that – and somehow this brings her even closer to him, their shoulders slightly brushing now. Five minutes later she’s leaning in his shoulder completely, and he has no idea what he’s watching or if he’s even breathing anymore. He’s very tensed, and he’s pretty sure she’s gonna notice it fairly soon – and he’s right. “Are you okay?” MJ asks suddenly, and Peter gulps.
“Uh, y-yeah?”
She grabs the remote and pauses the movie, turning to face him, cross-legged on the couch. “I know you’re not. What’s up?” she insists. If it wasn’t already pretty hot in the apartment, Peter’s pretty sure he would have started to sweat. He opens his mouth but she raises a finger to cut him. “Is this because it’s just you and me? You think it’s weird?”
“What, no!” Peter exclaims, mouth very dry again. He figures the gummy worms didn’t help. “It’s not weird, I mean I, I like spending time with you.”
That’s when it changes. Because MJ instantly looks down at her hands, and she blushes. Her skin tone makes it faint and if they hadn’t been so close Peter’s pretty sure he would have missed it, but right now he sees it. And there’s something else, something that tells him she’s not blushing because his words embarrass her or make her angry. Because MJ is also smiling. It’s not a smirk, it’s not a nervous twitch of her lips, it’s a beautiful grin that he’s sure is reaching her eyes too.
And then the craziest thing occurs to him. Maybe she likes him too?
“What is it then?” MJ asks after a couple of seconds, looking back at him. She’s biting her lip again. Peter wonders if she’s trying to hide her smile. It makes his heart pound almost painfully in his chest.
“It’s, I’m, well,” he stammers, then takes a deep breath and a decision. He’s not sure what makes him take it, if it’s the fact that Ned probably orchestrated it all hoping this would happen, or if it’s the pleased smile she tried to hide when he told her he likes spending time with her, or if the gummy worms are making him bolder somehow, but he just goes for it. “I mean I, I really like you.”
“As in… friends?” MJ retorts, and her voice is very quiet, a little hesitant, and Peter’s pretty sure a little hopeful too. Her eyes are studying his face intently, like she’s trying to read his mind, and for once he doesn’t shy away from them.
“If, if that’s what you want,” he tells her, his heart a pounding mess. “But um, if you want more, I mean, uh, yeah that would be, um, that would be cool too.”
MJ smirks at his rambling, and Peter curses himself. Well here goes Smooth Parker, he will be miss. He figures he still did pretty good though, despite his incapacity to voice his thoughts like a proper human being, because she doesn’t seem disgusted or anything. He’s pretty sure she gets what he means. Hopefully. Oh God maybe she has no idea what he’s saying, he should probably –
“More as in… a new guild ally?” MJ chimes in, and she’s grinning again, this time not even trying to hide it. Peter’s heart jolts in his chest.
“I mean yeah,” he says, attempting a casual shrug but ultimately failing because he’s still very tensed. “Or you know, maybe, I don’t know, boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Oh wow he had no idea saying these two little words could be so scary. He did it though. Wow, that’s absolutely crazy.
MJ is looking him up and down now, and he can see the amusement in her eyes, but he doesn’t get scared. She’s smirking, but not because she finds his idea preposterous, or because she’s making fun of him for telling her how he feels. Her smirk is fond and beautiful, maybe like she’s thinking about how much she likes the idiot in front of her. He wants to tell her he would really like to be her idiot. “You’d have to kiss me for that,” she tells him before he can, and there’s a slight challenge in her voice that turns his brain into jelly.
“Would that be okay?” he retorts, raising an eyebrow at her, and she rolls her eyes. She’s blushing again though, looking down at her hands and biting her lip once more, and when he lets his fingers shyly run on the back of one of her hands then on her wrist, he can feel the goosebumps raising on her soft skin. He can barely hear anything over his hammering heart.
Then MJ looks up at him again, her brown eyes so deep and beautiful he feels like he’s drowning in them instantly – and definitely not complaining about it. Her fingers grip his wrist and his do the same, and then she smiles. “Yes,” she tells him in a whisper, “that would most definitely be okay.”
Peter makes a mental note to thank Ned profusely next time he sees him.
And then he kisses her.
And the best part is, she kisses him back instantly, and he can feel her smile against his lips.