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“I had forgotten you looked so good in the morning, Short King.”
Peter folded his arms and pouted slightly, despite Felicia’s half-smile. They were in his kitchen, the sunlight painting everything golden, making even the unwashed dishes look like art.
“I’m not short,” he said, even though he didn’t really care if people thought he was. He used to be extremely self-conscious about his height as a teenager, but, honestly, when he got his abs he hardly ever thought about it again.
Felicia shrugged. “Fine, but you’re not tall, either.”
Peter put a hand on his heart. “You’re hurting me, Felicia, but I wish you all the best in your pursue of a tall man. I’m deeply sorry I couldn’t meet your standards.”
“You’re so lucky you’re hot, because you’re not funny at all,” Felicia said as she got up from her chair and opened the fridge to put back in the milk.
Peter took a dramatically deep breath. “See, now I can’t decide how to react because you think I’m hot, which is awesome, but then you said I’m not funny which honestly hurts more than if you had said… I don’t know, that I’m terrible at sex.”
Felicia turned to face him. “I’m an honest woman.” She slowly stepped closer to him, eventually leaving only a few inches stand between them. “You’re not funny, but you make me laugh. And the sex is not bad,” she added with a wink.
Peter stood there and looked at her, eyebrows raised and mouth struggling to come up with actual words.
Felicia smiled as she leaned in and placed a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. “You’re cute.”
Peter almost whined when she took a step back. “Wait, we could… I have some time to…”
Felicia shook her head, a few stray silver hairs swaying. “We’re going to have all the time in the world tonight.”
Peter nodded fervently. “I’ll hold you to that.”
He was in patrol when he got the call from MJ. An actual call that didn’t end after he reassured her he was alive and well.
“I’m happy to hear that.” Silence, and then, “Hey, Pete, do you have time to talk?”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He was hoping she would reach out to him again, but this felt a tad too sudden. He kept his expectations low, thinking it would be something for work.
“Sure,” he said. “It’s an uneventful day, by the looks of it. All I have done so far is direct a tourist to an authentic New York pizza place.”
“You sent them over at Al’s, right?” MJ asked from the other end of the line.
Peter nodded. “Of course. Now all they have to do for the actual New York experience is to eat their slice in an alleyway while a rat is staring at them dead in the eye.” He was surprised to hear a laugh, and he felt the corners of his own lips quirking up. “Do you want to meet up there? Al’s, not the alleyway.”
“Yeah, okay. See you there.”
Peter tried hard to keep his excitement down as he swung through the tall buildings. She didn’t sound serious, she must be ready for us to be friends again he thought, right before But she said we have to talk, and it can’t be just a friendly catch up. Ah, God, I have so much to tell her.
He jumped down to the alley he had left his things at and couldn’t help but laugh at the feeling of deja vu when he ripped his backpack from the wall: he had been in this for twelve years, and yet he was still changing in an alley to meet MJ.
Okay, ready to go, he thought to himself after spraying a generous amount of deodorant.
He spotted the familiar ponytail of red hair at one of the tables at the back when he opened the door. The warm air that smelled strongly of cheese invaded his nostrils and his stomach rumbled abnormally loud, as if it was protesting that he hadn’t been there in so long. Apparently, it didn’t agree with his new plans of cooking more and eating less like a college student.
MJ waved her hand when she spotted him, a smile stretching across her face. Peter relaxed as he strode to the table, knowing for sure that it would be a happy reunion.
“Hi, Peter,” MJ said. “I already ordered, if that’s alright.”
Peter gave her a look. “When isn’t it alright?” He shook his head. “How have you been? And can we never…”
MJ winced, her eyebrows furrowing in a pained expression. “Yeah, I…” She put on a smile. “How is it being a dad? How’s Walter?”
Peter exhaled. “It’s only the best thing in the world. I mean, sure, it takes some work sometimes and there’s the constant doubt that you’re doing everything wrong but Walt is the best kid I could have asked for and it’s just…” A big smile adorned his face, like every time he thought of his son. “It’s crazy how much I love him. They tell you you’ll know when you have kids and I used to think Oh big deal, as if people don’t love babies anyway but it’s even better.”
MJ nodded with a proud smile. “See? I told you you’d make a great dad. And now you have an excuse for all the bad jokes.”
Peter huffed. “What’s with everyone-” He pointed a thumb to himself. “It’s my copying mechanism. Let me have it.”
MJ put her hands up. “All yours. Oh, this-” she lifted a colorful paper bag from her side of the booth and handed it to Peter- “is for Walter. I didn’t know what to get for a three-year-old so I just went for clothes.”
Peter couldn’t help a smile. “MJ, thank you so much. Clothes are a great gift, we can hardly keep up with his laundry. Wait… So this means you considered coming to the party?”
MJ shrugged. “I really wanted to but… I don’t know if I had any place to be there. I mean, Felicia and her mum would be there and I would just be the ex. Awkward,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Peter tilted his head to the side. “MJ. You’re family to me. I wouldn’t say you’re like a sister because it would be super weird but…” His face lit up. “You could be a very distant cousin that I met once and we became best friends.” His shoulders fell. “It would be fun to have a sibling.”
“You could have siblings in law,” MJ offered.
“Yeah, well, Fel doesn’t have any siblings so-” Peter stopped mid-sentence.
MJ flashed an awkward smile. “Oh. You’re with Felicia now?”
He let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah. I mean, we’re trying, we’ll see how it goes.” A waiter set their pizza in the middle of the table, and Peter grabbed a slice mostly because he hadn’t thought about how hard it would be to tell his ex that he’s dating his… ex ex? “It’s good so far,” he added carefully when he noticed MJ’s skeptical glance.
MJ let out a breath. “Peter… I don’t want to be that person but… she hasn’t been good to you in the past.”
“But-”
“She hid your son from you, she manipulated you into helping her get all the flash drives, and honestly?” She hesitated for a moment. “I’m not sure she’s the most ethical person out there.”
Peter set his slice on his plate. “Look, I know what it sounds like. It’s been a while, though. She has grown and so have I.”
MJ leaned forward, as if she was about to share a secret. “Pete, how do you know she’s not going to go back to crime? What are you going to do if she does?”
He forced a smile. “She’s not. And if she does… I’m just going to do all I can to protect Walter. Look, I know you care about me, but I’ll be fine.” More than fine, he wanted to add.
“I just don’t want to see you get hurt again,” MJ whispered. “It’s… it’s been a lot. You deserve some peace.”
Peter smiled, this time for real. “I have a good feeling about this. And if I’m wrong, you have every right to say you told me so.”
MJ shook her head. “I don’t want to be right about this.” She took a breath. “I’m not Felicia’s biggest fan. She’s charming and all but…”
Peter felt a pang of guilt. He knew where MJ’s not-so-positive sentiment came from, and he couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to see him with her again. Sometimes he wondered if MJ could see things he was trying to ignore, if she had sensed him falling out of love. He was happy with her, but ever since they got back together something was missing. What if he wasn’t the only one who felt that way?
A part of him wanted to come clean about these thoughts, but what good would it do?
So he changed the subject. “Enough about me. What’s new with you?”
MJ shrugged. “Oh, you know. Same old. I’m trying to convince Urich to let me chase stories, he tries to keep me away. It’s fun.”
“Have you met anyone fun?”
MJ snorted. “No, but there’s this weirdo at work who keeps asking me out.”
Peter winced. "How weird are we talking?"
MJ blinked. "He said that Paul Watson has a nice ring to it that one time we had lunch with Glory. Since then I've been telling him I'm not interesting but he says he'll wear me down."
"MJ, you should-"
"Go to HR," she finished. "Yeah, I already did that. I'm even hanging out with Robbie more just to get rid of Paul."
Peter smirked. "Robbie?"
MJ's cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "New guy. Seems legit."
Peter nodded. "Uh huh. Cool."
MJ kicked him under the table. "I don't know if like him like that."
"I hope you do because then we can go on double dates."
MJ rolled her eyes and grabbed another slice of pizza. "Yeah, we'll see about that."
"And if you want to have kids in a few years, I could totally let you babysit Walter for practice."
"Not because you want a free babysitter?" MJ asked with a chuckle.
"Pfft no. I have Miles for that."
He wanted to ask her to come over when they walked out of the restaurant. He wanted her to meet Walter and say how they look so much like each other and have a proper conversation with Felicia to see a glimpse of what he sees in her. In that short time they spent together after these months of not talking, Peter remembered why he was best friends with MJ all these years: he felt safe when she was around, he smiled, he knew he was loved even when he was yelled at.
But he also knew that MJ wasn't ready. Maybe soon they would be playing old games on the PS3 that currently sat unused in his living room and maybe he would get jealous of how quickly she would become friends with Felicia and they would exclude him from girls' nights. It wasn't time for it yet. But the day would come eventually, and Peter knew they weren't going to push each other away until then.