Chapter Text
Peter sniffed. The room was filled with a pleasant mix of floral and fruity scents, reminiscent of Mary Jane herself. He couldn't separate the smells any more than that. Show him pictures of the flowers, and he'd have a good chance of rattling off their scientific names, native habitats, and a half-dozen odd facts about them, but of all the senses his radioactive spider bite enhanced, smell wasn't one of them.
"Come on, Pete," Mary Jane said, already sitting on the pink bed. It was covered with a character he was sure Mary Jane must have outgrown long before moving in with her Aunt Anna. "Don't tell me you're shy about being alone with a girl in her room."
Peter swallowed and pressed his lips together, forming a smile. "What do you mean? I've been alone with girls lots of times."
"Yeah? Like who? In the year and a half I've known you, I don't think I've ever seen you with a girl."
"I'll have to tell Aunt May you think she's a dude in a dress. And I've been alone with her in her room lots of times."
The comment earned a snicker from Mary Jane, causing his heart to skip. She leaned back on the bed, supporting herself with her arms, unintentionally highlighting her full breasts. Peter's heart skipped again.
She's so beautiful, and clever, and funny, and — not for me, not interested in me.
"Well, if you've been in a girl's room so much, I'm sure you'll have no problem coming in here and helping me out with my algebra."
"Just another day for Casanova Parker," he said, stepping into the room. He bit his lip, trying to clear his head of the fantasies swimming around, knowing none of them were coming true.
The room looked not too far off from the teenage girls' rooms on TV. He'd already known as much, being able to see her window from Aunt May's room, but it felt surreal to actually be in it. The walls were a yellowish-tan—a remnant of the office it used to be before Mary Jane moved in—but that was the only hint of its former purpose. Posters of boys and boy bands covered the walls, and where there wasn't a poster, a stick-on wall decal of a '70s-style' flower or the like was displayed. Knowing Mary Jane's Aunt Anna, she'd probably had a fit after Mary Jane's redecoration, but it was still up. Of the two Watsons, it was clear who was less willing to back down.
Passing the old desk covered in what Peter could only identify as makeup, he sat down next to Mary Jane on the pink bed, by her feet. The bed itself was old—the guest room bed Anna Watson had for years. In fact, he was pretty sure Anna had lent it to Aunt May and Uncle Ben ten years ago when he suddenly moved in with them, until his uncle could find an affordable bed.
"So, math homework," Peter said.
"Yes, thank you so much, Pete," she said, grabbing a notebook from the table by her bed. She sat up, closing the gap between them, likely without noticing. "This is what I did so far. Can you look it over and tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
Peter took the notebook, careful not to touch her hand, despite every impulse. Exhaling, he tried to focus on the notebook. The problems were done in pink pen, with scribbles covering the page, making it hard to read, and Mary Jane looking over his shoulder wasn't helping.
After a minute that felt four times as long, he looked up. "Mary Jane, these aren't bad. A good chunk of these are right, and most of the others, you aren't too far off."
"Really? So, like a C?"
"Well, if we had anyone besides Ms. Applewood, I'd say a B-." Peter looked up, his hazel eyes meeting her green ones. His mind went blank for a second before he stumbled out, "You're smarter than you give yourself credit for."
She smiled. If this had been one of the movies Aunt May was always trying to get him to watch with her, this was where she would have kissed him, the hot, sweet girl seeing the stringy nerd for the first time. But he forced himself to remember this wasn't a movie.
Forcing a smile, he pulled a pen, with the FEAST logo, out of his pocket and flipped to a new page. "You see, with foiling, you have to…" A chime followed by a vibrating buzz cut him off.
Mary Jane reached over, grabbing her phone, its back covered in stickers. Shooting Peter an apologetic glance, she opened her phone.
"Shit, I can't believe this, Liz is breaking up with Eddie again!"
Liz was the kind of girl he first expected Mary Jane to be: hot, popular, and she treated him like dirt. But she was one of Mary Jane's friends, though he guessed that was more about being in the same social class than any real connection.
"Oh, really? What has it been, four weeks this time? A new record for them."
"Come on, can't this wait?" she mumbled into her phone as she texted, either not hearing or ignoring Peter's comment.
"It's okay, I mean, it sounds like Liz needs you, and well, I don't have much going on this weekend. We can just meet up tomorrow."
Letting out a sigh, she looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Pete. Liz can be a handful, especially if you blow her off."
Peter started for the bedroom door.
"Hey, Pete, let's meet at that pizza place down the street tomorrow. I don't think Aunt Anna likes me having a boy up in my room."
"Well, she knows my reputation," Peter said, smiling and adding an arm flourish that he hoped made him look like some kind of Latin dancer. Either way, it got a giggle out of Mary Jane.
"I'm sure. She likely just wants you for herself," she paused, meeting Peter's eyes. "Hey, thanks for this, Pete. You know, you're like... the only person who doesn't treat me like I'm either an idiot or something to be ogled. So, thanks for this."
Peter smiled, his breath catching in his throat. "Yep, you're really someone special, Mary Jane." His face turned red at what he just said, not that Mary Jane noticed, her attention back on her phone and on the breakup.
Allowing himself one last look, he shut the bedroom door behind him as he walked down the stairs. He had things he needed to do before tonight; his supply of web fluid was running low, and there was still a rip in his suit he needed to fix before his patrol tonight.