Work Text:
MJ is only just closing the front door to her and Peter’s apartment when her phone starts ringing.
“Hi, Peter,” she answers, immediately putting her phone on speaker and placing it on the kitchen counter while she starts fixing up a cup of coffee.
She’s been out of the apartment since eight this morning and has been dying for a cup since.
“Em, did you know people used to use spider webs as band-aids?” Peter says from the other end of the line in lieu of a greeting.
“Hi, bud,” she whispers to their orange tabby, Benjy, who’s comfortably sitting on a chair at their dinner table. “I didn’t know that one,” she tells Peter.
She had a long day and also kind of a shitty one and Peter’s voice immediately makes her feel better.
After getting the water poured through on the coffee machine, she fills up Benjy’s water and food dish and gives him a couple of head scratches.
“How was the meeting with your prof?” Peter asks.
“Fine, fine. Had a ton of edits for me to go through.” Her professor also told her to rewrite an entire section but she leaves that for a later conversation. It was a fine meeting and probably very productive in the long haul, but it was also a long meeting and she’s exhausted and was dying to get off campus by the end of it. “Where are you? I hear music.”
“Groceries,” he says.
“Put me on speaker,” she tells him. She’s in great need of a pick me up.
“You’re ridiculous,” he says while putting the speaker on.
“Twenty-second dance party, go!”
It’s some popular song that MJ’s not sure the name of but has heard on repeat at the cafe near their place. She dances around the kitchen, prepping the area for supper. She then moves to dance around Benjy at his dish. He thoroughly ignores her as he’s used to dancing in this home.
She can hear Peter laughing on the other end.
She fucking loves him.
“I miss you,” he says when he takes her off speaker.
She scoffs and blushes at the same time. “You saw me this morning.”
They try to meet while on campus a few times a week but midterms are upon them and they both had too many meetings today to make it work. She had to settle for the eight voice messages he sent her today while she was in class. And he had to settle for the silly couple of snapchats she sent him while he was in class.
“I know.”
“And you’ll see me within the hour,” MJ says, looking at the clock.
“I know, I’m excited.”
“You’re silly.” But she is just as excited. This weekend could not have come sooner. “Don’t forget that ice cream I like.”
“You know I wouldn’t.”
“Just making sure,” she says though Peter has never once not gotten her ice cream when he gets groceries.
“It’s already in the cart,” he says.
Her phone then goes off. “This you?” She smiles, pulling her phone away to bring up the picture he’s sent to her of himself with the ice cream pressed against his face. “Adorable,” she says through her smile. “Okay, hurry up, May will be here soon.”
“Heading to the check out now. Be home in ten.”
“See you then.”
“Bye, love you.”
“Mhm, you too.”
MJ snaps a picture of her and Benjy and sends it off to Peter before placing him on his cat tree by the door so she can get going on dinner.
May comes over for dinner every other Friday and they go over to May’s place the other Fridays of the month. MJ had always felt like they needed to make a huge meal any time May came over but she’s since tried to focus more on just spending time together and less about what the food will be. But she still puts more effort than she would for a Tuesday night on her own.
Peter comes in the door right on time carrying his school bag in one hand and groceries in the other.
“Hi, Em,” he says, hanging up his coat and bag.
“Hi.”
“And hi to you my love.” He drops the groceries next to the fridge and picks up Benji for a quick kiss before setting him back on the tree to put away the food.
When he’s finished, he steps up behind MJ wrapping his arms around her. “Hello,” Peter sings in her ear.
“Hi again.” She leans back.
“Smells good.”
It’s the same pasta dish they have at least twice a week. It’s fancy enough to need twenty minutes to prepare but easy enough to make it semi-regularly.
“There’s decaf in the pot, if you’d like.” She nods over to the side.
“Thanks.” Peter grabs a small cup of the coffee left over before stepping beside MJ. “What can I do?”
They finish supper with ten minutes to spare before May knocks on the door with her usual bottle of wine and infectious smile.
An hour later and that full bottle of wine gone and they are sitting in the living room with an earl grey tea pot in front of them.
Benjy is in MJ’s lap with her head resting on Peter’s shoulder and May is across from them trying to tell Peter he doesn’t need to bring anything to her Halloween party next week when they all know he’ll end up bringing something anyway.
“You have your costumes ready?” May asks.
Peter and May have always loved Halloween and MJ doesn’t mind a bit. Meaning, her and Peter have had their costumes planned out for months. They found a blue floor length jacket at the thrift store over the summer and they immediately thought of Drakken from Kim Possible so naturally MJ is going as Shego. Peter had finished sewing the rest of the costume pieces together before the summer ended.
“Yes, but it’s a surprise,” Peter tells her.
MJ listens to May and Peter catch up on the past week while she starts to doze on Peter’s shoulder. Benjy ends up moving over to Peter’s lap, looking for someone more conscious to give him pets.
There is no other way she would rather spend her Friday night and once May retires, Peter and MJ stay on the couch with Benjy and Nailed It! playing on the TV before Peter eventually carries her to their bed to spend the night.
*
Peter is late.
It’s their Monday night study date that they’ve had regularly all term and MJ knows that he hasn’t had a class in hours.
MJ is in their favourite spot in the library that they’ve gravitated towards ever since their first year in undergrad and she’s been there since six. It’s probably too soon to start stressing but she shoots off the singular eye emoji anyway.
She has been keeping busy fine without him, she’s got a paper due in a week that she’s put off for too long and is finally making a dent in it.
“I’m here!” He slides into the chair across from MJ just before seven. “Hi. You look good.” He stands back up, leaning over to press his lips against her temple before sitting back down.
“You saw me before I left this morning.” She smirks over at him.
“Yeah, and you looked good then too. Sorry, I’m late.”
“S’okay. I got you some ginger tea.” MJ pushes the to-go cup over to his side of the table. It has a stopper in it but is probably cold anyways.
“Thanks.” He takes a sip. “How’s your paper going?”
She looks down at his torso.
“You’re bleeding, Peter.”
“Oh.”
**
Peter shoots a text off to MJ that he’ll pick up supper before looking up at the cafe’s menu already knowing what he’ll get. He’s at the cafe only a block away from campus meaning it’s filled with university students as usual. Also meaning he’s also a regular and rarely branches out from his usual order.
After he’s got his tea, he sits down across from Ned in their spot by the window.
“You ready for May’s party tomorrow?” Ned asks, as if they haven’t been texting about how hyped they were since October first.
“I’m ready. Thank god, midterms are over. I swear in undergrad, profs lived off of giving exams on November first. MJ's mostly got papers over exams and still has one left but it's almost done."
They catch up and Ned tells Peter about a couple of dates he has been on recently and Peter tells Ned about his attempts to make his webs antiseptic so he can use it as band-aids. MJ doesn’t think it’s necessary considering they have no shortage of band-aids and hydrogen peroxide but Peter is trying anyway.
They’ve barely stopped for a breath before Peter realizes it’s dark.
“Okay, I should go. Need to get food and flowers for MJ.”
“Later.” Ned waves him off.
Peter heads to the flower shop outside Delmar’s and grabs a small bouquet. MJ always tells him that she doesn’t care about flowers and they’re a waste of money but every time he gives her some she gets quiet and immediately puts them in their best vase which admittedly isn’t very fancy. But he knows they’re not for nothing.
He’s about to head in to Delmar’s to get their favourite sandwiches when his tingle goes off.
**
“What the fuck, Peter?”
MJ stands at their bedroom door, frozen and staring at Peter bleeding all over the floor.
He's lying against the wall next to the window with his mask already discarded by his feet.
“Fuck,” he groans out. His eyes seem to take a second to find MJ. “Em! Hi.”
She rushes over, closing the window before kneeling next to Peter. She fusses over where she can put her hands before just grabbing his hands.
"What the fuck happened?" She tries to make eye contact but his eyes seem to be struggling to focus.
"MJ, I love you so much but can you quiet down?"
MJ softens immediately. This is no time to freak out. Especially if he has a concussion. "Sorry," she whispers and then his eyes close. "Peter," she whispers again, pressing her palm against his cheek. "Peter," she says a little louder and this time his eyes squint open. "Let's stay awake, okay?"
"Okay, Em." He smiles up at her.
She looks him up and down. “Can you walk?”
“I brought you flowers.” He looks around beside himself. “Well I tried to.”
She takes that as a no.
“Take this off,” she pats his suit, “let me grab the first aid kit.”
She races to the bathroom to get their too large first aid kit. This is familiar but it somehow never gets easier.
She runs back to Peter and it luckily doesn’t seem to be his worst patrol. Whatever is wrong with his head seems to have gotten the worst but she quickly cleans the gash on his leg before she starts to stitch it up.
She always tries to keep her emotions in order until Peter is fully patched up but it wouldn't be the first time she failed. He is out of it but every wince is like a stab to her heart.
“You don’t have any drugs to give me?” He smiles up at her like it's funny but she’s not really in the mood for jokes.
“I can get you ibuprofen but you’ll burn through it in seconds. Actually I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.”
“Oh. You’re right.”
“Let’s just focus on getting better right now, okay?”
“Deal," he nods slightly before looking up at MJ. “Em?”
“Hm.”
“I’m sorry,” he just whispers.
“What for?” She stays focused on his leg.
“The flowers. And I was supposed to get dinner. Oh my god.” He starts rubbing at his eyes. “And everything. Every time I see your face I just want to say sorry. You’ve gotten too good at this.”
It hits MJ in a way that she doesn’t expect. This is a normal thing for them. MJ patches him up weekly it seems. Which should be weird. But it's not and it's worked so far.
“I know what I signed up for, Peter,” she says, still not looking up at him.
“I hate when you get that look on your face.” MJ tries to school her face into a neutral expression. She didn’t mean to give him any kind of look. “Like I disappointed you. I feel like I do that too much. I never wanted to.”
She swallows. “Please don’t make me cry.”
“Oh.” He looks down at his lap. “Yeah, don’t do that.”
She finishes off the stitch and checks if he needs any more. He’s badly beaten up but none of the other marks seem to be too deep. “What did you hit your head on?”
“Um, I don’t know.”
“Okay let’s stay up for a little longer, hey? We can start that Hanukkah puzzle or we can watch Bake Off?” She's sure he would be fine to sleep but she likes to make sure.
Peter ends up laying on the couch with MJ on the floor with puzzle pieces scattered in front of her. She hopes it's a good distraction for Peter, or at least restful. Because she still feels tense.
Every once in a while he points out a piece to her and lets her know where it goes and when she's got at least a quarter done she turns to see Peter with his eyes closed.
"Hey, Peter," she whispers, sitting next to him on the edge of the couch. She pushes his hair out of his eyes and he stirs. “Should we head to bed, tough guy?”
"Yeah," he whispers before opening his eyes up at her. "Thanks." He takes a second before sitting up on the couch so he's next to her. He presses his lips against her bare shoulders. "I'm good." He stands up, grabbing MJ's hand and they head to their room.
They quickly make work of getting into bed. Peter seems to need a minute to get himself in a comfortable position and once he does MJ hops into her side and rests against their headboard.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” she says.
“Em, I—” He reaches his hand out to hers.
“Let me finish,” she tells him, grabbing his hand and rubbing his scraped knuckles.
“Okay,” he whispers.
“I love you. Sometimes it’s really fucking hard. And I can never shake the feeling that when I say goodbye it will be the last time but it’s all worth it, okay? It's dumb to say you could put me through hell and it would be worth it but that's like how I feel."
“Okay,” he whispers again.
“Get some rest,” she says, leaning over to turn the lamp off. She doesn’t think she should touch Peter, not knowing how his healing is going but once she lays down Peter presses himself against her and she presses closer.
**
Peter feels like shit when he wakes up. His eyes hurt and his entire body aches.
He should have picked a Halloween costume that included sunglasses.
He sits up in bed and can hear MJ humming to herself in the kitchen and he has a brief second of calm wash over him despite his leg screaming at him before he vaguely remembers MJ telling him not to make her cry and that kind of makes him want to cry.
He had a bad night on patrol. He was stupid and was too confident and it gets him in a lot of shit that it shouldn’t.
He eventually convinces himself to get up and he then heads to the kitchen where he can hear MJ moving about.
“Morning," he says.
She turns around and smiles at him. “How are you feeling?”
“Good.” He falls into his chair at the kitchen table.
She gives him the eye. Sometimes he feels like she can read his mind.
“So good.” He jumps up, moving over to MJ in the kitchen where she’s making tea. He puts his head over her shoulder and presses his lips to her collar bone. “Should we get married?”
“Yeah, yeah, once we’re done our masters.” She turns around in between him and the counter, passing a steaming cup to him.
They talk about it all the time. Marriage. And getting this close to finishing their masters should make it easier to wait but it isn’t.
“Maybe we should do it now though.”
“We can’t. We need to get ready for May’s place. You still good to go?”
“I’m good.” He nods. He’s been looking forward to this since May’s last Halloween get together.
*
Peter’s eyes haven’t left MJ all night.
He's proud of the bodysuit he put together for one but also she looks amazing like always.
It’s like she can feel his eyes on her because she turns to smile at him every once in a while.
Despite her smile, he still feels like absolute shit.
He hits his head regularly enough and that rarely sends him into a spout about their relationship that ends with MJ almost crying.
May seems to sense he's going through it and slides up next to him. The second they walked into the apartment it was like she could sense that Peter was injured and gave him the disapproving once over. “How’s it going?” She asks, following his gaze on MJ.
“Good.” He turns to face May. “Why? Does it not seem good?”
God, can everyone tell he's a shitty boyfriend?
“You’re being a little touchy tonight. Which could be either a good or a bad thing.”
“Oh.” He looks back at MJ. “Well I think it’s good. I did lose consciousness for a little bit last night and maybe said dumb things akin to she should leave me and I’ll never be good enough for her. Etcetera”
Couldn’t be that.
“Peter!” She smacks his arm.
“Not sure if you're upset about the unconsciousness or what I said to her.” He tries to laugh but May just raises her eyebrows at him.
“Both, Peter. Both of those things.”
“Yeah, well. Not my finest hour.”
“And was this all resolved?”
“Yeah, I asked her to marry me this morning.”
“Peter, oh my god.”
“Yeah, maybe a dumb idea.” He picks up his glass from the counter. “I should go see her though.”
“Okay, Peter,” she says before he heads over to MJ who's chatting with one of May’s co-workers in the corner.
**
The party has started to die down and MJ’s started cleaning up the kitchen with Peter gathering empty plates in the living room. He’s kind of being weird and has been all night but what’s new.
Both her and Peter received numerous compliments from everyone on their costumes. But she’s long wiped off her lipstick and is ready to get rid of the rest of her outfit.
MJ's always loved May's Halloween parties and especially so after volunteering at FEAST and getting to know a lot of the people that come more.
Peter and her scored best couple costumes like they do every year considering May is the sole judge. MJ doesn’t complain because May always gives them homemade cookies. Ones that she bakes them regularly but it’s nice to win them once in a while.
“Hi hun," May says, coming up beside her with a few empty wine bottles.
“How’s it going?”
“Good," she says. "Is my boy getting on your nerves?”
“Yeah,” MJ sighs. “Good thing I love him so much though.”
“I can hear you guys talking about me.” Peter comes over, setting the glasses on the counter and then lying his head on MJ’s shoulder.
“Good,” MJ says, leaning back into him.
“Love you,” he whispers.
“Are you two good to get home tonight? You can stay here if you’d like.”
“We'll be good," MJ responds. Peter's old room still has his bed but it's under May's collection of books that would take too much effort to move and she thinks Peter should have a bed to sleep in and the couch probably won't do any good with his healing.
Once the last of May's friends have left, they start getting ready to head home.
MJ sees May give Peter the ‘mom stare’ while saying something before patting his back and sending him over to the door while following behind.
“Text me when you’re home, okay?” May tells them.
“Will do,” Peter says.
“Thanks, May,” MJ says, leaning over to give May a hug. “For having us over and the cookies.”
May ends up sending them off with a bottle of wine that wasn't opened and a box of Halloween treats as well.
It’s only just over a ten minute walk back home that they spend in comfortable silence hand in hand.
They get a couple of compliments on their way back and Peter beams every time.
Once they've gotten back to the apartment and MJ has said her hellos to Benjy, Peter grabs her hand again, pulling her closer to him.
“I don’t feel sorry when I look at you… Just like a lot of love that I don’t know how to show you and I think I’m doing it wrong.”
“I think a lot of people think that. That they’re doing love wrong.” She plays with his fingers. “That made me sad, Peter. That you look at me and get sad or feel sorry for me.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You shouldn’t think that,” she whispers.
“I don’t know how to not think you don’t deserve to have gotten good at stitching up your boyfriend.”
“Well I already have so it’s too late to leave me.”
His returning smile is a little sad but eventually turns into his full one. “I guess, that’s too bad and you’ll have to stick around.” He pulls her up against him.
“Yeah, always.”
“Also you look really hot,” he says then presses his lips against hers.
“Yeah, well you look kind of ridiculous.” Especially with his blue facepaint having rubbed off in a couple of areas. “Come on, let's get your makeup off.”
*
MJ loves November. She’s never minded the colder weather and secretly likes when people start decorating for the holidays too soon. And her walks home from campus are still bearable with a light jacket.
She stayed in the library after the class she is TA-ing for to finally finish her essay and turn it in with hours to go before it’s due. Thank god. She’s now able to give herself the night off from studying until she gets right back into it tomorrow.
She’s only three blocks away from campus when she opens up her messenger app and brings up the camera, turning her phone around on herself to start recording. “Hi tiger, I’m on my way home from the library and I saw this guy with three different kinds of coffee on his table all for him and I found out we have been studying wrong this whole time. Also one of the undergrads today told me they liked the Spider-Man sticker on my laptop, so thanks for making me well liked and yeah that’s it. Love you. See you tonight.”
She sends the video off to Peter and watches the message get opened almost immediately.
Peter has a night class coming up so she’ll probably end up just heating up a bowl of soup before getting into bed to watch reruns of something until he’s back. Maybe she’ll make cookies.
She continues her walk back home and is just turning the corner when she feels a familiar arm wrap around her waist. “Hi,” Peter says, squeezing her in a side hug while they continue walking.
“Hi yourself.” She smirks, bumping her hip on his. “You’re a little ridiculous, you know that?”
“Thanks.” He beams.
“Don’t you have class?”
“Got cancelled. So I decided I should take you on a date.”
“Ooh. I love dates.”
“You know that guy Ned went out with a few weeks ago? He’s got an art show and it’s a block down from that restaurant you like.”
“That sounds nice.” MJ has always loved dates. She’s content with a study date or a walk around the block but a proper night out is exactly what she needs after hours in the library.
Peter apparently already made the reservation in hopes MJ would be down with the idea. Which of course she would. The restaurant in question is an Asian-fusion place that she’s gone to with her parents for as long as she can remember. And ever since she took Peter there in high school, they've gone together for every big-ish event.
It’s a quick walk from their apartment and a quicker walk from their current location.
Peter fills the time by telling MJ about the paper he read today all while swinging her hand back and forward in his.
They get seated in a booth in the restaurant by the front and order their usuals and by the end of the meal, MJ’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
They need to make it a priority to have more real dates like this during school.
They get coffees to go and walk the short way to the art studio.
MJ is hoping it’s not a fancy art show because she is in jeans but so is Peter so at least they’ll look out of place together.
He holds her hand as they walk in and immediately spot Ned—thankfully in jeans—across the room with the man of honour and make an immediate beeline for them.
“Greetings,” Peter says with his hand still in MJ’s.
“You made it! Hey. Uh, this is Peter and MJ and this is Rob.” Ned introduces everyone.
“Nice to meet you,” MJ tells him.
“Hey, this stuff is great,” Peter says, shaking Rob’s hand.
“So glad you guys could come. Ned’s told me a lot about you guys. I need to say hi to my sister and her friend over there but look around and let me know what you think,” Rob says.
“Course.” Peter waves him off before turning back to Ned. “He’s cute,” he barely whispers.
“And talented,” MJ says, taking in the room around her. She took studio art in her first two years of undergrad and is always meaning to start up again drawing more seriously.
“Yeah, yeah.” Ned smiles. “We might get drinks after if you two want to join.”
MJ leans in to Peter hoping he’ll turn it down in favour of a quiet rest of the night.
Peter makes eye contact with her. “Think we might just head home after this, but you guys have a good time. And text me all about it.”
“Will do. I’m gonna grab a drink, I’ll talk to you in a bit.”
Ned heads off and Peter and MJ make their rounds of the room.
“You could do this," Peter says when they reach the last frame. "An entire gallery of drawings of my face. That’d be cool.”
“Oh shush.” She is sure she could already fill this room with her sketches of just Peter. Maybe one day she can turn her sketches into final pieces.
Peter takes out his phone, aiming it at her. “Or I could do one of all you,” he says as the shutter goes off.
“Shush, shush.”
Peter steps back into her. “You’re really pretty, did you know that?” He briefly presses his lips against hers.
“Yeah, well, ditto.”
“Ready to go?”
“Yeah, you?”
“Mhm.” He holds his arm out.
She slips her arm in his and they say their goodbyes before heading back into the cold.
Peter holds her hand all the way home and kisses her cheek on every street corner with a don’t walk sign.
MJ can't stop smiling but Peter seems like he's in the same boat so she doesn’t bother trying to suppress a single thing.
Once they are safely home, they crawl into bed with Peter’s laptop playing Cupcake Wars on his lap and Benjy resting on MJ’s.
“Can you believe we get to have sleepovers every night for the rest of our lives?” Peter says, tangling his legs in MJ’s.
“Yeah, this is nice,” MJ says through her sleepy daze. “Night, Peter.”
“Love you, MJ.”