Archive of Our Own

MJ sat at her desk with her laptop open, using the tip of her unopened pen to read through her notes in her notebook next to her. The dorm was quiet for once, so she wanted to take advantage of it for as long as she could. Really, she was looking forward to when she could pick her own roommates next year instead of the university assigned ones. They seemed like they only came to party. Which was honestly probably where they were at.

Speaking of parties… her pen strayed from the sentence she was looking as her thoughts strayed. It seemed her lab partner frequented them too. She picked up her phone and used her thumb to open her recent texts. Sure enough, when she opened the text chat with Peter, there was no answer. He hadn’t even read it yet. She had sent it an hour or two before, when she finished dinner. If this was how the semester was going to be… well, she figured she should get used to doing most of the work herself. 

Sighing, she opened a fresh document on Google Docs and shared it with the email Peter had given her before starting to work on their report. She split it into sections, as they were expected to, and went ahead and split them between Peter and herself. Then, maybe, when she eventually had to do all of his last minute, he would see them and feel bad about it. However, making people change their entire lives by basically guilt-tripping them with one assignment wasn’t likely. Whatever. She sat her phone back down and started working on the first section.

When woke the next morning to her alarm, MJ’s roommate groaned and turned over in bed, covering her face with her pillow. Quickly, MJ reached out to turn it off, pulling the phone back into the cover of the blankets to clear her notifications. No matter how many filters she put on her email, it seemed she always had something stupid in her inbox every morning. What surprised her was the couple of text notifications that she had. There weren’t many people who had her number, and out of those people, there weren’t many who would text. Regular texts were out of the question.

She was surprised to find they were all from Peter after she fell asleep. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as she first thought.

Sorry! Was at work

She snorted. Sure, Peter. If that’s the lie he wants to go with, she’ll allow it. She won’t believe it for a second though.

I got the doc. Will work on today!

Empty words or a real promise? Only time will tell. An empty promise is real easy to make, and even easier to make dumb excuses for. Someone asks you to get eggs while you go out? ‘Oh, I forgot! I’m sorry!’ The only thing that kept her from writing him off completely was that he actually answered, and he did so last night. As her roommate proved, anyone who was out drinking really late and drank a lot would have never responded to her. Oh well, she could worry about it later. Right now, she had to get ready for work. She pulled herself out of bed and dragged her feet all the way to the bathroom to start her morning routine.

The library was quiet when she arrived, but then again most libraries are. This wasn’t that kind of quiet though. This was an empty quiet. It was a Saturday morning though, and early in the semester. Her job would be much easier today.

She spent the morning at the desk after she clocked in, clicking through the emails in the inbox in one tab while waiting to see if anyone was going to ask for help online. She also had to wait for the possibility that other people would walk in and want help. It wasn’t really hard work, helping people understand how to use their resources and find decent sources for their papers, but it kept her busy. And she got paid for it. It was always good to get paid. 

Though her shift was slow, as she worked the morning shift and a good portion of the afternoon, she still couldn’t get much else done. She had brought along her backpack and did some class reading and anything else she could do physically, but work didn’t want her using the computers for her classwork. They also encouraged limited use of personal devices, so really the free time was just begging for her to study. 

When she finally got back to the dorm, her roommate’s bed was made and she was already gone again. She considered turning the TV on for a couple of shows or a movie to relax after work, but remembered that lab paper was due later in the week. She should double-check the progress she had made and what still needed to be done before she considered taking a break.

Surprisingly, when she opened the doc, she found Peter had worked on it like he said, filling in the entirety of his first section and making progress on his second. She sat back for a moment and skimmed his sentences, finding them almost perfect, as if he had already edited them as well. There was definitely something strange going on with him, she could feel it. And, well… she had some free time, especially since Peter actually worked on it. Why not go digging around the internet for a little bit?

MJ sat her bag down next to the lab table and pulled out her notebook. The seat next to her was empty. She wasn’t really surprised, as she always tried to arrive early to ‘people watch’ the rest of her classmates, but as the clock grew closer and closer to the start of class, she grew concerned.

“Alright class,” the professor said, gathering his notes on his desk, “today is a lecture day. So if you don’t already have notebooks out, get them out now. We’ll be learning about–”

There was a loud skidding sound from the hallway before Peter rushed in, his eyes wide.

“Mr. Parker, you’re late.”

“I know, I’m sorry!” He hurried over to his seat next to MJ, pulling his notebook out as he did. “Did I miss anything?” he whispered to her, and she shook her head. He looked relieved.

She wasn’t surprised when Peter seemed to stop paying attention and started to focus on doodling something. Sure, some people doodle to help them focus better, needing extra stimulation, but it felt like he was off in his own little world after a few minutes. Late to class, ignoring the professor… why she’d almost hate him if it wasn’t for the fact that everything he wrote in their report was perfect. Maybe he took a high school class similar to this one? There was always the possibility that he had failed it before too and was retaking it, but somehow, he didn’t seem like the type. Even if he did spend a lot of time at parties. Besides, she was pretty sure he was also a freshman. 

“Hey,” MJ said as class dismissed and Peter started packing up in a rush. He looked up at her, confused.

“Is everything alright?”

“Don’t forget the report is due at our next meeting this week. That’s in two days.”

“Right. I won’t forget, don’t worry. And hey, thanks for splitting the work up like that. It makes it a lot easier to do.” With that, he swung his backpack over his shoulder and hurried out of the classroom at almost the same speed he had entered it. Where he could be in such a rush to go to in the middle of the day, MJ was unsure. He didn’t seem to have a problem being late for this class. She’ll keep an eye on him. His mysterious nature was the most exciting thing about this school anyway.

Peter did hold to his promise and finished their paper. Strangely, it happened while MJ was away from it again. This time, she had gone to sleep, had a few classes to go to, and when she logged in again to finish up her last part, the rest of the paper was done. She didn’t trust Peter to print it out for them though and printed it herself after getting a confirmation text from him that he was finished. It was a good thing she did too, as he was late to class. Again. He showed up after their professor already asked for the paper and MJ already turned it in.

This turned into a strange habit of his. He was always late for class and always rushing out of it when it ended. Whenever they had papers and lab reports to work on together, Peter would always get his work done and on time, but MJ never actually saw him do it. He somehow managed to do it whenever she was away. 

It soon came time for their first test. The professor was allowing them all to use one index card on the test, filled with whatever they wanted. MJ wasn’t quite sure what would be important enough to remember on the test, so she asked Peter about it while they worked on the lab together.

Peter was leaned over the table, trying to measure as close as he could, when MJ asked, “Since we’ve got that test next week, would you want to meet up and study together? Two brains might be better than one, and we can fill out our notecards together.”

He looked up at her, almost unsure, before a shy smile appeared on his face. “Uh – sure! Are you free sometime this weekend?”

She had to repress a smile of her own at his, thinking the dorkiness of it was almost endearing. No, snap out of it. He wasn’t endearing, he was just her lab partner. He probably went to parties and seemed to have a weird relationship with his academics, which was not anything she would be interested in. Besides, she came to college to learn, not find a boyfriend. “I have work Saturday morning, but… I could meet you in the library that afternoon?”

“Sure. Let me know what time, and I’ll be sure to be there.”

It was surprisingly easy to set that up, she thought. Especially when he offered to do it on the weekend. She turned away to start setting up the next part of the lab, wondering if she had misjudged him. But one thought still clung to the back of her mind. If he hadn’t answered her that Friday night, what was he doing? And if he wasn’t going to parties – which he could still be doing, she had no definite proof - then what was he doing?

They set a time that Saturday after her work shift, as it worked for both of them. The shift went by as usual – most of the people actually checking out books were education majors, and most of the people who needed help were history majors. There were a couple of English majors scattered in the midst as well, but usually they knew what they were looking for, and often left the books behind. The one interesting part of her shift was when she was tasked with using one of the return carts and putting the books back where they belong, but that was only because she overheard a lot of gossip. This person got wasted, that person slept with another, typical college things. 

When her shift ended, she clocked out and climbed into the elevator. There were a few quiet places in the library, so she needed to avoid those. The whole point of this study date was to talk to each other, after all. Ugh, why did it have to be called a study date ?

She found a nice isolated table a few floors up and decided it would work well enough. She could even sit and see the elevator from this angle, meaning she could wave Peter over when he came in. A quick text was sent his way to tell him where she was. Being that he was almost always late to class, she really didn’t expect him to show on time. So she started on other work. Five minutes past the time they were supposed to meet, she finally started watching the elevator, waiting for him to show up. Somehow she believed he wouldn’t blow her off. Not without telling her beforehand, at least.

Peter finally came in in a rush, like he usually did, a little winded as he sat down in the chair across from her. “Hey, MJ. Sorry I’m late!”

She raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been watching the elevator to wave you over, and I didn’t see you come in. How did you get here?”

“Oh, well… you know.” He scratched the back of his head. “I walked.”

“You mean you took the stairs?”

“...yes.”

“Peter, we are several floors up right now. Why would anyone in their right mind take the stairs?”

“I’m – scared of elevators?”

She studied him closely for a few moments before blowing a piece of hair out of her face. “Alright. The library one is super sketchy. I’ll agree with that.”

He chuckled and opened his bag. “Again, I’m sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

“I got here early anyway. Not like I work very far away.”

Peter sat his laptop on the desk and started it up, earning a whistle from MJ.

“That’s some sweet tech.”

“Thanks! My da– …boss gifted it to me.”

“Did you just call your boss dad ? Like this is fifth grade?”

He buried his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to, it just – look, I’ve known him since high school, and he’s always kind of acted like that strange family relative that always gives you good advice? So yeah, he’s kind of like my dad, but he also runs my internship, so… it’s a strange relationship.”

“Yeah, sounds like it.” She chuckled lightly.

“Where do you work?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “Is it nearby, since you got here so early?”

“Downstairs.”

“Oh, so you work at the library. Interesting.” He turned his laptop on and studied her for a few moments. “If I’m honest, you don’t look much like the librarian type. Why here?”

“For the ghosts.”

“Ghosts?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Almost all libraries have ghosts haunting them, especially school ones. Have you heard about the third floor?”

“Do I want to?”

“There’s rumors of doors closing by themselves–”

“Probably just the air currents.”

“-and books falling to the floor–”

“Might be harder to explain that one.”

“-and strange noises.”

“Strange noises? Do they not know we live in the city ? Wouldn’t be surprised if it was just mice in the wall or something.”

She shrugged. “I think it’s a ghost. I want to try and communicate with it one day, but I think I’d probably get in trouble for lighting candles in the library.”

Peter laughed. “Yeah, one wrong move and all the books go up in flames.”

MJ smiled before turning back to her computer. “Alright, we should really start studying.”

“Right."

It was the first time the two had really interacted outside of class. MJ was enjoying herself, getting to know him and studying at the same time. Even though Peter probably went to parties, she thought it might be nice to be friends with him.

They stuck around for a while after they filled their notecards out, just chatting. There were always crazy things happening, and MJ liked to talk about them. Peter seemed a little hesitant to talk about the Avengers, or really any superhero. But then again, that’s just how some people were. They didn’t know how they felt about being protected by those with power who could easily abuse it, so didn’t like to talk about it. But yet they talked about government officials just fine…

By the time Peter had to leave, getting some alert on his phone, MJ had a warm feeling in her heart. It seemed strange, but she really had grown fond of him.

It was after their test that things started to get weird. Peter didn’t rush out after, for once. Both he and MJ had spent the entire time on their test, checking and rechecking their work to be sure it was good. They had the extra time, and could have left early, but it was never too safe to just check again. He walked out of the classroom with her and they started chatting. They stopped though when they heard a commotion down the hall, turning to see what had happened.

They were expecting a fight, but were met with a very different sight. None other than Tony Stark was roaming down the hallway as if he belonged there, gaining long, shocked stares and even a small crowd of students.

“Pete! There you are. I was hoping to catch you when you finished class.”

MJ turned to look at him, surprised, only to see he had gone red. 

“Mr. Stark! What are you… what are you doing here? In the middle of the science building of my school?”

“Something came up,” he said, clapping Peter on his shoulder. “I need you to come in.”

“Now? But – I still have another class today…”

He was wearing sunglasses even though they were inside, probably as some sort of statement. But since he had gotten so close, even MJ could see his eyeroll. “Your teacher will excuse you for the day if I have anything to say about it. Now come on, we have to go.”

“Alright. I’ll see you in class then, MJ.”

“Yeah,” she said, still shocked. “See you around.”

Peter followed Tony back down the hall and MJ stood and watched as they disappeared into the midst of the crowd. Peter knew Tony Stark ? Now this was something to look into.

Everyone has a digital footprint nowadays, and it’s impossible to hide from. While there’s lots of information that isn’t easily accessed and would probably have to be hacked (bank accounts, credit card uses), there is still plenty available with a quick search on your favorite search engine. Especially Google. 

Using her classlist, MJ found the correct spelling of Peter’s last name and typed his whole name into Google, letting the search engine do the rest of the work. She found lots of legal information on him. He went to high school here in New York. He was on the decathlon team, spent some time in the marching band, and graduated at the top of his class. It seemed he first started his internship in high school. He must have done something really impressive to catch Tony Stark's attention that young, and to keep the internship for this long. She wouldn’t be surprised if he was made a full-time Stark Industries employee after he graduated. 

Something wasn’t adding up. Surely, whatever had caught Tony Stark’s eye would have been mentioned in the papers somewhere, but the news articles about his ‘new’ intern seemed as baffled as she was. No one had any information on why Peter was given an internship, and even a couple of more recent articles have mentioned not knowing anything. 

She sat back in her chair and worried her lip with her fingers. This missing information was definitely suspicious, and she was surprised no one else at any of the newspapers has tried looking into it more. She supposed, since he had just been a minor, no one could do much, or were afraid to in case something violated rules around minors. And now everyone’s forgotten about it, for the most part. She needed to figure this out.

Peter wasn’t in class the rest of the week. MJ kept waiting for him to show up late, but he never showed. It wasn’t like him to skip class. He wasn’t answering her texts either, which were mostly because of classwork and not because she was genuinely concerned about him. There was another group paper to do again, after all. She didn’t want to turn that in late.

She received an email the next week after another class went by without Peter. Her professor was giving them an extension on the paper, at Peter’s request, due to his absence. MJ suspected that Tony Stark had something to do with that, as she distinctly remembered the syllabus for the class said no late work would be accepted, and there would be no extensions except for dire situations. Meaning, someone had to die and you had to have proof of going to their funeral. Harsh.

Then, one morning, she woke up to find Peter had finally answered her texts. He apologized, claiming his phone had broken and he only just got a replacement for it. And, sure enough, he had started – and finished – the sections of the paper she didn’t do when she checked it later. Her concern didn’t completely go away, and it seemed, for good reason. When Peter arrived at their next class – still late – he had a big black eye.

“What happened?” MJ hissed as he came over. 

Peter didn’t seem to understand her at first, pulling his notebook out, but then his face lit up and his hand reached towards his face.

“Problem at the lab,” he said simply, as if that explained the bruise.

“You expect me to believe there was a problem at the lab and you got a bruise from it when you’ve been gone for an entire week?”

He scratched the side of his head. “It’s uh. A long story.”

“Peter, what do you do for Tony Stark? Is he hurting you? I know a lawyer, I could help you out.”

“No, no.” He opened his notebook and tried to brush it off. “It was just an accident, I swear. No harm done.”

“I need more of an explanation for that. A week, Peter! Did you have to go to his lab in Europe or Asia or something?”

“How about I tell you later?” he whispered back, smiling awkwardly at their professor when they received a strange glance. “Coffee? Tea? This weekend? It’s on me.”

There were a few moments of silence before MJ answered. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“Oh, no, I definitely did not mean it that way. Well, I mean – if you want it to be that, it can, but it doesn’t – you don’t have to–”

“Let’s say no then,” she said, alarmed but relieved.

His shoulders sagged. “Yeah. Just – meeting up. Hanging out. Two friends, chilling.”

“You’re making this weird.”

“Shutting up.”

Since the beginning of class started off so differently than normal, MJ couldn’t bring herself to actually pay attention. She focused on Peter instead. On their strange conversation, on his strange behavior, on the weird little curl falling onto his forehead, on the way his tongue was poking out between his lips as he concentrated… she sighed and shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. This wasn’t like her, fawning over some guy. So what was it about Peter that was so likable?

When she turned her attention to his notebook, she figured it out. He was a riddle wrapped up in a mystery. His secrets had secrets, probably. He hadn’t been doodling, those looked like skeleton formulas for different compounds. That’s not what they were working on in class (she double checked the board to be sure). Discreetly, she pulled out her phone and took a picture of the notebook while pretending to text someone. It might not be the best quality, but if she can read it, it might contain some clues. Yes, this was definitely why she liked Peter. It seemed like every day, there was something new and surprising about him, and she wanted to continue to chase these puzzles and unravel their solutions. 

She pulled the picture up again later, in the safety of her dorm. Unfortunately, because he wrote everything in pencil, it was hard to read in the light. She might have to doctor the image and change the lighting around to be able to read the page. That would have to be done later, though, as she had work she should really do first.

Not long after, her phone buzzed and startled her as she was in the middle of a math problem. She had a text notification from Peter.

Any chance you’re near the library?

She raised an eyebrow. They had agreed to meet over the weekend, so she wasn’t quite sure why he was asking.

I can be.

Vague. I could use a rescue?

Rescue?

… it’s hard to explain

She sighed and closed her laptop and her notebook.

I’ll be there. Bringing stuff to study if you want to

Oh ur a lifesaver. Meet outside?

Sure

She stuffed her things into her bag, grabbed her keys, and walked out. From who or what Peter needed saving from, she wasn’t sure. But, he seemed like the type that would do the same for her, so…

They ended up walking up to the library around the same time, but from opposite directions. It wasn’t hard to figure out why Peter asked for saving then. He was talking to the person following behind him – a tall brunette in sunglasses with a strikingly unique beard. He was trying to disguise himself, but there was no mistaking it was Tony Stark. She slowed down to try and catch some of their conversation before Peter noticed her.

“... I know, Mr. Stark.”

He spread his hands out. “Look, kid, all I’m saying is to not be hanging around, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt after the incident with the robot in–”

“MJ!” Peter said as he spotted her, a relieved smile spreading across his face. She gave a short wave.

“-in the lab,” Tony said, clapping his hands back together and looking at her over his shades. “Nice to meet you – MJ, was it? Are you one of Peter’s friends?”

“Yes,” she said, and was surprised at how right it felt to say that. “We’re also lab partners.”

“Mhmm.” 

“We were going to study together,” Peter said, gesturing to the library. “So, I guess this is where we part ways.”

“Eh eh, not so fast,” Tony said, placing his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You can’t escape me that easy.”

“Oh no.”

“If you’re his friend, then do you agree with me?”

She shrugged, not wanting to get pulled into this. “I mean – sure. We really should just be focused on schoolwork anyways at this point in the semester.”

He tilted his head and looked smugly at Peter. “See? She said it, not me. If you won’t listen to me, listen to your friends.” He then looked between the pair and raised an eyebrow. “Are you two dating?”

“No!” they both said at the same time, glancing at each other and blushing as Tony started to chuckle.

“I don’t know, you guys were awfully quick to deny that…” he pushed his sunglasses up and cleared his throat. “I think I like you, MJ. Stick around Peter; I might be able to set you up a job at Stark Industries after college if you’re interested.” With that, he stuck his hands in his pockets and turned around, whistling to himself as he walked back down the street.

“I don’t know how to feel about that,” MJ said once he was out of earshot, turning back to the building.

“He probably means he thinks I’ve made a good friend,” Peter answered, scratching the back of his neck. “Anyway, thanks for coming. I don’t know how much longer I could have withstood that.”

“It was nothing.” She kicked a rock from under her shoe and then gestured to the building. “Shall we?”

He nodded, so they entered the library together to find a study space.

Their time in the coffee shop that weekend only proved to add more confusion to whatever Peter did in his free time. He never directly answered any question, trying to skirt around the edge. It also seemed his story about the black eye was made up. At least it looked like it had healed by then, something that seemed almost impossible really for the color it had been earlier that week. He was deliberately hiding something, MJ could tell. And while it might not be abuse, accidental or purposeful, it wasn't something easily ignored or forgotten.

A few days later, MJ found herself in the dark, eating snacks while illuminated by her computer screen. Her roommate snored loudly in the bed across the room, so she wasn’t planning on getting any sleep soon.

As she typed away, her thoughts drifted to Peter. A common, annoying occurrence really, when she wasn’t doing anything in particular. There were too many strange things going on around him that she felt any reasonable person would be curious. Since she had nothing else to do, she thought it might be worth trying to look into him. It’s not like a little stalking isn’t common – scrolling through Instagram to see old pictures, for instance.

Unfortunately, she came up short. Peter apparently wasn’t really the social media type. He had some, but rarely posted. What he did post were mostly picturesque – skylines, the ducks in a pond, the sunset or sunrise, things like that. The most interesting picture he had was one of him and Tony Stark, presumably meeting for the first time during Peter’s internship. If he wasn’t in and acing this particular science class, she would have thought he was a photographer. 

That had her thinking about their latest lab report. Peter said he would work on it when he was free, but last she had checked, he still hadn’t done any work on it. She trusted him at this point to get it done, as he hadn’t let her down uet, but she decided to go in and check the document anyway. When she did, she was surprised to find that Peter had started to work on it. In fact, his last edit was only a few minutes ago. It was two in the morning, and during the week, no less. What was he still doing up?

As she thought about it, her phone screen lit up next to her. A breaking news article had appeared in her notifications. She pulled it over to open it, only to find it was another article about Spider-Man. He had stopped some late night robbery. It didn’t seem worthy enough to have made breaking news. She pushed it away, annoyed. This happened more often than seemed necessary – Spider-Man would save the day late at night, and then she would get some article notification about it in the early hours of the morning, when most people would be asleep…

Her eyes darted back to the document. Hurriedly, she opened up some of their other projects and checked the times Peter had used them. She also pulled her phone back close and started scrolling through the news app to match up the dates. Every time Peter had edited late at night, there was an article about Spider-Man saving something – a train, a bank, a person… every single time.

She covered her mouth to quiet her shock at this revelation. It seemed too strange of a coincidence for her to be wrong. It would make sense, too, why he would know Tony Stark, why they still seemed rather close for just an internship, and why he had been gone for so long. She double-checked those dates after remembering his disappearance – yes, Spider-Man had been spotted abroad with Iron Man. It had to be him.

Her first urge was to text or call Peter right away, to confront him about his secret. But she knew that was a bad idea. She might have found it out accidentally, but she knew he was keeping his identity a secret for a reason. Phone calls and text messages could be heard or read by anyone. The government included. So she decided against that. Instead, she would try and find him tomorrow, even though they didn’t have class, to ask him about it and find out for sure. The last thing she wanted was him not knowing she had figured it out.

She didn’t get much sleep that night. She didn’t really pay attention in class either. Her professors gave her limited skip days, and she was still saving those up for the chance that she became sick, or something equally important. Even a big secret like this couldn’t make her use them. Besides, Peter was probably in class somewhere else on campus too. There was more of a chance that they would run into each other after classes let out.

That was when the first problem arose. She didn’t know Peter’s schedule, so she didn’t know where he might be on campus. Considering the news and when Spider-Man articles usually start appearing, he probably left right after class. And he didn’t just operate in a small neighborhood, either. Sightings of him were all over New York, largely in the Manhattan area. She had a subway pass, but… by the time she could make it across the city on the train, he could probably cross the entire city. Somehow, she was going to have to predict his movements.

After her classes finished she rushed to the library, claiming one of the school computers and using as many free articles as she could across a variety of news sites. Maybe Peter had a pattern – did he circle around the city like a clock looking for crime? Or counter-clockwise? Were there specific types of crimes he looked for to help? She tried to connect the dots in any way she could across all of the articles she could open.

There seemed to be no connection to how he moved across the city – as far as she could tell, with articles that were written and posted anywhere from five minutes to an hour after he had stopped a crime. One hour he was in the financial district, the next in Harlem, and the next in Queens. And he could stop any crime he wanted, or help any person – his most popular were stolen purses, car break-ins, and rescuing animals. It seemed to be mostly cats, but there was one strange article involving him and pigeons. She closed out of that one and deemed it irrelevant, and, quite possibly, satire.

As she started to pull these together, she found a hidden pattern she wasn’t expecting. Sprinkled throughout his day to day activities was a recurring gang. They were involved in a few of the petty crimes, but were most of the recent larger crimes he stopped too. It almost seemed as if he was purposely finding them. Maybe she could use that to try and find him.

After a little more research and around the time she was sure Peter would no longer have class, she found where she was going to go. Reports of a disturbance last night that were rumored to involve this gang had appeared in her search. Surely if he was looking into them, he would try and scour the scene and surrounding area for more information. She wrote down the address in her phone notes and hurried out of the building, nose buried in her phone to find when the next train was coming.

The street seemed innocuous enough. There weren’t many people around, but it was one of the smaller neighborhoods anyway. MJ looked around cautiously, trying to keep her eyes up to see if Peter would swing in while also trying to look like a normal, everyday person. She also clutched a bottle of pepper spray tightly in her hand, just in case. Weren’t alleyways usually where the shady business happened? Maybe she should check a few of those. There was a high chance Peter could already be in one of them. 

“What are you doing here?”

She looked down, her gaze having been on the top of the building walls, to see a small group of men staring at her – there were only four of them, but she knew if they got too close she would have little chance of escaping all of them. If only she had been thinking, hadn’t stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk for what was supposed to be a quick search. She could have looked around the corner instead, but she really didn’t think anything like this would be happening in broad daylight. Still, she was going to try and get out of this peacefully.

“I was just – looking for my cat. The window was left open and he managed to climb out. Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you. I’ll just be on my way.” As she took a step back to leave, she froze, hitting someone in the chest. She didn’t bother looking, knowing she had been trapped in. Carefully she took a step forward again so it would be harder for him to grab her.

“I’m afraid you’ve seen too much, sweetheart,” the man from earlier said, stepping forward along with the rest of his cronies. 

“I haven’t seen anything, I promise.” She glanced down and noticed the duffel bags they had been rummaging through, full of smaller bags of what looked like a white powder. She assumed it was drugs. “People ignore drug deals all the time along the streets, don’t they?”

Clearly, that wasn’t the right thing to say. They continued forward with sneers on their faces, and she found herself trying to look around for something to distract them so she could run away… The nearby dumpster was overflowing, and it looked like a piece of wood was sticking out of it. She gripped the pepper spray tighter in an attempt to hide it, waiting for the first strike.

It came from behind – she heard someone behind her quicken their pace and kick a few stones out of the way. As fast as she could she turned around and aimed the spray at his face, sending him tumbling him backwards into another person behind him as he clutched at his eyes. With that, she ran to the dumpster, pulling as hard as she could on the wood to move the other trash trapping it against the inside. She swung it like a baseball bat, hitting the next guy that came close on the side of his head as he too stumbled back.

She had never heard the click of a gun loading ammo in person before, mostly in old spy or murder mystery movies, but it rang out louder than she thought possible as a third guy approached, gun drawn.

“Put the wood down, sweetheart,” he said, gesturing with the gun.

Slowly she complied, not wanting to scare him into pulling the trigger. She stood up again with her hands in the air, showing him she was now completely unarmed as the first guy started to lose the effects of the pepper spray. But she didn’t like the use of that nickname – she didn’t know the man, with his tobacco-stained teeth and balding head, and she certainly wasn’t his sweetheart. So she spit at him.

It seemed as if he was going to shoot her for that, or at least rush up and knock her unconscious, but before he could do anything, a white rope shot down from above and attached itself to the weapon before forcefully ripping it from his hand. A second later, Spider-Man had jumped on top of the man with a punch, knocking him out cold.

All Hell broke loose among the small group now that he had shown up. Some tried to grab their bags, and run, some tried to stay and fight, and others still tried to run for MJ. Namely, the two she had already fought. As Spider-Man was busy stopping the ones trying to fight him and trying to run, she picked the wood up again and swung it even harder, this time definitely knocking the man out as he tumbled headfirst into a pile of trash and didn’t move. The man she had pepper-sprayed was larger, however, and weary around her, even though he was surely still partially blinded. 

She swung and he managed to side-step it, faster than she was and better at hand to hand combat, before stepping on it and holding it in place. It was impossible to pull from under him, and even cracked under her efforts. She dropped it and tried to run, but he caught her by the edge backpack and held her tight in his grip, pulling out a knife and holding it to her throat.

Together they turned to Spider-Man, the rest of the men lying unconscious around his feet. “Don’t move!” the man yelled at him. “Don’t move, or I hurt the girl.”

It seemed impossible that the eyes on the outside of his suit could move, but they grew wider when he saw them before narrowing. Behind the mask, MJ could almost see Peter’s exasperated face when he looked up and tossed his hands in the air. “Why does everyone always think threatening with a hostage is going to work?” Before the man could react, another one of those ropes – his webs, she realized – shot out from his wrist and latched onto the knife, wrenching it from his grasp as it clattered to the ground. MJ ducked as Spider-Man ran towards them, yelling “It was knife to meet you!” She heard the man’s body hit the ground seconds later, and there was no more movement from him after that.

Spider-Man crouched in front of her a few seconds later and she startled, starting to fall back, but he reached out and caught her. “You’re uh – safe now, Ma’am.” His voice was a little deeper than usual. He was clearly faking it.

Slowly, she stood, and he stood with her, still holding her arm. “Thank you, Spider-Man,” she said breathlessly. “I don’t know that I would have gotten out of that without you.”

“You should be more careful where you’re walking. People like this will often ignore you if you just walk right past, so I assume you paid a little too much attention to them.” He let go of her and moved to pick one of the duffel bags up. “I should take this to the police and give them this location. I’d get out of here if I were you, so you aren’t caught up in the mess when they arrive.” He turned away and shot a web at the top of the building, using it to pull him up to the roof.

MJ nodded, but as he started to leave, suddenly remembered why she was even there in the first place. “Wait, Peter!”

He froze in place on the top of the roof. Slowly, he turned back around and looked at her. He didn’t say anything, just looked. An awkward tension rose between the two before Peter finally started to jump back down. He landed on the pole of a light sticking out from the building and seemed to stay there, not quite coming back down to MJ’s level. “You found out?” he asked quietly, voice cracking.

“Accidentally,” she admitted, stepping closer so they could be quieter. “Your constant two AM edits to our papers weren’t exactly normal.”

“Ah.” He lifted his mask up, letting the fabric pool around his forehead so she could see him better. “I, uh. Don’t really know what to say.”

“I won’t tell anyone,” she said quickly. “I’m not going to sell you out. I just. I didn’t want to be sitting on this knowledge and not let you know I found out about your secret.”

“So you tracked me across town and interrupted a drug deal just to find me?” he chuckled. “You couldn’t have waited until class? Or our next study session?”

“It felt wrong… to know. Without your knowledge.”

“Well I appreciate you telling me. I guess this explains a lot of things that seemed strange around me.”

“Yeah. It does.” She kicked at a rock in front of her. “What are you doing with this gang anyway?”

“Me?” he pushed air out of his lips, making an audible trilling sound and slid off of the light, a web sticking to it as he moved to hang upside down in front of her. “I noticed they’re trying to start up a crime gang around the city, mostly in poorer neighborhoods like this. And, well, I don’t really want that to happen. Someone has to look out for the little guy, you know? So I’ve been trying to find their hideout while taking out as many other members as I can in the process.” He started to dig through the duffel bag. “And the funny thing about bags like this is, oftentimes, people forget they had their address in it.” He pulled out a card and flipped it around to read it before showing it off to MJ. “If I go here, I might be able to find more clues, or even their main hideout.”

MJ frowned, her eyebrows furrowing at the thought. “Some of them here had guns. Are you sure you want to go in there alone?”

He shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to deal with something like that. I’ll be fine. Probably.”

In a sudden, spur of the moment action, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. It was a little strange, since he was upside down and her nose touched his chin, but it didn’t matter, as she was pulling away again a second later. She found he was bright red when she did, and felt heat rising into her own cheeks. “Stay safe,” she muttered before turning away, walking briskly back down the alley. “Oh, and Peter?” she said before he could go anywhere, turning on her heel to find he hadn’t moved. “Let me know if you make it out okay?”

He nodded once, slowly, and it was enough confirmation for her to leave before she could become too flustered.

Back in her dorm, she grew anxious and worried. She checked her phone too often for any normal day, waiting for either a text from Peter or an article alert with news on Spider-Man. Maybe both. She even set up Google to send her emails of any and all articles that mentioned Spider-Man, for now and for future moments like this.

She tried to sit at her computer and work on homework, but only found herself zoning out at the screen. Turning it off, she tried to do other, non digital homework, like her math or reading, but she only furiously tapped her pencil against the desk to release some of that anxious energy, and after reading the same page over for the sixth time and still not processing any of it, she decided to put it away, too.

After a few hours of anxiously moving from activity to activity and watching the sunlight stretch across the floor and then slowly fade away, she finally heard something. It wasn’t in any way she had been expecting, though. She was caught in the middle of pacing, staring at her phone screen as she did, when there was a strange noise on the window behind her – almost like a knock. When she turned around and saw Peter still in his suit, waving at her through the glass, she was grateful her roommate had chosen that night to be out.

Quickly she crossed the room and unlocked the window, letting Peter crawl through and into the room, pulling his mask off. Even though she had been worried about him since they parted ways, the first thing out of her mouth was, “How did you find my room?”

He used his thumb to sheepishly point behind him and out the window to say, “I was swinging by to get back to my own, and, well, it’s gotten dark, and your blinds weren’t down, so it was easy to see in… I can leave if it makes you uncomfortable though.”

She grabbed his arm before he could move away. “I wouldn’t have let you in if that was the case, feather-brain.”

“Oh, right.”  He took a step further in and winced, his hand involuntary moving to his side. MJ quickly grew concerned, reaching out to steady him.

“Are you hurt? Do you need first aid? I have a small first aid kit under the sink. I could see what we can use in there.”

He waved it off and pointed between the beds, looking for a place to sit down. When she pointed him to hers, he carefully sat and said, “Just some bruising, maybe a fractured rib or two but they’ll heal. Do you have an ice pack?”

“You want an ice pack to heal a broken rib or two?”

“I have fast healing!” he protested. “I just – need to rest, and they should be almost fine, if not back to normal again in the morning.”

With a sigh, she pulled an ice pack from the small freezer on the mini-fridge. She sat down gently next to him as he held it to his side, and could see his previously furrowed brow relax in relief.

“Did it go okay?” she finally asked.

“Well enough. The police busted them before I left after I tipped them off, but I had to keep them there before they could run off. Even with my abilities, you can’t dodge everything with an entire warehouse of enemies trying to fight you at once.”

“At least you weren’t shot.”

“This time,” he grimaced. “I don’t think I would have stopped here if I was. Believe me, if you don’t clean the blood on the floor right away, the stains are even worse. And then you’re stuck with a bunch of suspicious bloody towels.”

“Why did you stop by here?” she asked suddenly. “You could have just texted if you wanted to let me know what happened. I’m sure your dorm isn’t very far from here, either.”

He didn’t answer for a moment, playing with his mask in his free hand. “I wanted to talk about what happened… earlier.”

“Me too.”

His head snapped up, a hopeful look in his eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah. Did you really say ‘it was knife meeting you’ before you knocked the guy who was holding me out?”

“I did,” he laughed, cut short when he started wincing. “It’s kind of my thing. That’s not really what I meant though.”

“I know.” She gently placed her hand on top of his. She found amusement in how quickly he blushed and turned away.

“You know,” he started, for it was his turn to avoid the topic, “you handled yourself pretty well out there. And even finding me in the first place? Following my trail? Have you ever considered some kind of investigative career?”

She shrugged and looked away. “I guess it was kind of fun, minus the getting caught part.”

Silence fell between the two of them, though their hands remained touching. Slowly, through unspoken words, they simultaneously turned back to look at each other. Leaning in, they pressed a small, chaste kiss against each other’s lips before pulling back apart. MJ was now blushing as well, though she did her best to hide it.

“I think I care about you, you dork,” she said, and Peter laughed before moving back in to capture her lips once more.

MJ broke it off again a little while later to say, “You’re going to have to leave through the window, you know. The people at the front desk won’t take it well to see you leaving the building without having signed you in as a guest.”

“Well, I do have a science project to finish.”

She smiled. “I think your partner would allow you the night off.” Carefully, so that she didn’t hurt his side, she laid her hand on his cheek and led him back to her, stealing one more kiss and hoping her life never went back to normal.