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MJ would usually consider herself pretty cool headed, which probably stemmed from her general cynicism about life and her ability to take things at face value. She had an ‘it is what it is’ attitude, and it got her through pretty much anything.
Except this. Her first university party. She was going to puke.
“MJ, chill, seriously,” Ned said, walking beside her and rapidly texting on his phone. “We literally have had multiple near death experiences, all of which we only survived because of Spiderman, and this is what has you pissing yourself?”
“Well, yes,” she replied, “I don’t think Spiderman can save people from social anxiety or cheap alcohol, so…”
“Hey, you never know,” he joked. “Spiderman can do anything.”
Ned was a Spiderman addict. MJ thought he might actually be in love with him. He was a relatively good roommate, except for the fact that he was up almost all hours of the night, either theorizing on Spiderman’s identity or working on developing his app to track him. Totally not creepy at all, he claimed.
“Oh, this is it!” He stopped walking and pointed at a two story brick townhouse. It was a generic piece of frat-boy architecture, a house made a home by way too many boys and beers. How exciting.
“Do we have to?” MJ sighed.
“Um, yes. You have to get the full MIT experience. Plus, this is how we meet people. No offense, MJ, I love you, but I can’t be the only person you speak with for the next four years. I’m pushing you to branch out because I care, okay?”
She rolled her eyes and followed him to the front door. “Oh, great, thanks.”
“You’ll thank me later! Unsarcastically!”
Inside was everything she had been expecting, nothing less, nothing more. Red solo cups, disgustingly loud house remix music, boys in baseball caps, girls in jean skirts. MJ already had a headache. She wasn’t trying to be pessimistic, at least not today, but all of this was genuinely headache-inducing. She supposed that was why they all drank so much; to try to forget their surroundings.
Ned got them drinks, and she became another red solo cup holding student, another face in the crowd. She felt fine melting into the wall and letting Ned chat it up with some people he knew from his classes, but she felt…strange. From her vantage point, she scanned the room, clenching the plastic cup in her hand. At first, nothing seemed out of place. On her second scan, her eyes connected with someone else’s. A boy, from across the room - watching her.
Immediately, she felt insecure. She tugged her shorts down on her legs and adjusted her position on the wall, trying to play it cool. Why was he watching her? He felt…honestly, kind of familiar, but she didn’t recognize him from any of her classes. Ned was still engaged with another conversation, and she was too scared to ask him for help. She would have to figure this out herself.
Quickly, she glanced back again. The guy was still watching her. It was sorta creepy. No, it was really creepy, actually. He had an intense stare.
MJ inhaled nervously and then tried for a subtle move, raising her eyebrows at him. It was almost a silent fuck-off. Unless it was taken as flirting.
His eyes widened from across the room, almost comically, like a puppy that got yelled at. He quickly averted his gaze to the floor, and she exhaled in relief. Okay, problem solved. Clearly he wasn’t confrontational.
Except…her eyes kept wandering back to him now. She was curious. He was probably just a creep, but what if…What if what? She reprimanded herself. She was being stupid. What did it matter?
“Hey, MJ,” Ned tapped her shoulder. “You good?”
“Hm?” she said. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine, there was…” she trailed off. The staring guy was gone now. Well, good riddance. Creep.
“There was what?”
“Nevermind, nothing. I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick, I’ll be back, k?” she said, planning to get out of the stuffiness for a minute and maybe go outside. Ned waved her off after making her promise to be quick.
MJ traversed through the sea of drunk students, dipping and weaving through sweaty bodies. She spotted what she was looking for, her salvation, her only hope; the back door. It was a sliding glass door, and seeing the night sky and grass outside was like seeing the sun for the very first time. When she made it to the door and slid it open, the cool air hitting her face was pure bliss. She stepped outside and leaned against the wall.
After a few moments, she heard the door slide open again. She inwardly rolled her eyes at someone interrupting her precious peace. When she turned around and saw who it was, she almost dropped her cup.
“Um, hey.” It was the staring guy. He stood there awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.
“...Hi?” she replied. Up close he was…kinda cute? No, she reminded herself. He’s a creep. …Is she being too harsh?
“I just wanted to- uh, you know, apologize,” he stuttered.
“For?” she prompted.
“For staring at you. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. I’m not a weirdo, M-” he paused, looking momentarily panicked. “I mean, I’m not a weirdo, I swear.”
“Okay…” she nodded. “Well, thanks for saying sorry, I guess.”
“Yes, of course.”
They stood there in awkward silence. He was blocking her way to the door, and he didn’t seem keen to move.
“Do you go here?” she asked.
“Here?” He looked around at the frat house.
“Here as in MIT,” she clarified.
“Oh. Um…” he took a very long pause. “No.”
“Right…” she said. “I’m MJ.”
He took a sharp breath, his face twisting like something was paining him. She furrowed her brow in confusion.
“I’m…May-nard. Um, Maynard,” he spat out. “Yep, that’s me.”
“Nice to meet you…Maynard.” She took a step forward, trying to sidestep him and get back to the door.
“Wait,” he reached out like he was going to grab her arm, but he stopped himself. “I- MJ, I…I lied. My name isn’t Maynard.”
“What?” she scoffed. “Why did you lie?”
“Um, because…I can’t explain…”
She took a step away from him. “Are you like, on something?”
“No! I’m sober as a…rock. I…” he laughed breathlessly. “My name is Peter.”
MJ bit her lip to hold in her laugh. What a strange guy. She couldn’t get a read on him. Was he a creep or just not that good at social cues? Also, why was his nervousness kind of adorable?
“Peter,” she repeated.
“Yes. I’m Peter.”
She smiled. “Okay, Peter. If you don’t go to MIT, what do you do?”
“I’m sort of…taking a gap year. You know how it is.”
“Eh, not really, no.”
“Oh…right,” he frowned.
MJ couldn’t hold in her laugh this time. Peter looked up at her as she threw her head back, unabashedly taking amusement in his awkwardness. His face was almost reverent.
“You’re not that good at questions, huh?”
He smiled lightly. “I guess not.”
“Okay, well here’s another one for you,” she said. “Why were you staring at me?”
Peter opened his mouth and closed it. He seemed to attempt to start to speak multiple times, but he wasn’t able to get the words out. He looked at the ground, at anywhere but her.
“MJ…” he tried. “You…and…well, you and I…um…”
She gestured for him to continue, bewildered by his odd behaviour and overall demeanor.
“I was staring because…” His eyes darted towards her. “I think you're very- um, beautiful.” He said in a rush.
Before MJ could respond, or even process what he had said, the glass doors slid open again. Ned stepped out.
“Hey, MJ, what’s-” He noticed Peter standing there, looking red as a tomato. “Oh, hey, who’s this?”
“This is Peter. Or Maynard.”
“No, no Maynard,” he corrected quietly. “Just Peter.”
“Alright, Just Peter,” Ned said. “I see you’ve connected with my friend MJ here.” He gave her a pointed look. She narrowed her eyes.
“Uh, yeah,” Peter took a step towards him and stuck his hand out. “And it’s nice to meet you too, um, what’s your name, sorry?”
“Ned. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
They completed a clumsy handshake. Peter seemed to try to do more, but Ned had already put his hand back at his side, and he had to pretend like it didn’t happen.
Then all three of them stewed in the awkward silence. Ned appeared to think that MJ was going to lead this interaction, but she had as little of an idea as to what was going on as he did. And Peter- well, Peter didn’t even seem to be on the same plane of existence as them. He was staring right through them, looking almost sick. Maybe he had too much to drink tonight, and that’s why he was acting like this.
“So…” Ned pursed his lips, clearly attempting to cut through the tension. “You like Spiderman, Peter?”
He snapped out of his trance. “Um, sure, I mean, who doesn’t. Ha.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty cool. I don’t know how anyone could hate him.” Ned bumped MJ’s shoulder. “Not to brag, but he did save our lives a few times in high school. So it’s not like some parasocial thing, he’s my personal hero. We have a real connection.”
Peter blinked a few times and visibly swallowed. “I’m sure you do. You- you do have a connection with him.” Ned gave her a discreet look, probably asking how she had ended up locked in a conversation with this dude. She shrugged. In the few short minutes she had known Peter, most of the adjectives she had ascribed to him weren’t exactly positive. Socially inept, awkward, shy, weird, odd, etc. But also, cute. Endearing. He was growing on her, okay? She just couldn’t figure out exactly why.
“Spiderman’s great and all,” Peter burst out. “But you guys are cooler. You’re MIT students. That’s pretty awesome. First year MIT students. You guys are living the dream.”
MJ nodded and quietly giggled to herself. “Thanks, Peter. I’m sure taking a gap year is pretty great too.”
“I’m not being sarcastic.” He looked away, seeming strangely melancholy. “Some people would kill to be where you are. Enjoy it. Really, enjoy it as best as you can.”
Ned gave her another subtle what the fuck? look, but she ignored it. Maybe it was the unfamiliar and overwhelming environment getting to her, maybe she was tired, maybe she was crazy, but she understood what he was saying. She understood that…well, okay, she didn’t understand that much, but in a sense, she got it. Their eyes met and she nodded, face completely serious. Ned was glancing between them like they were both totally insane. Maybe they were.
“Okay, well, I’m gonna get more drinks,” Ned interrupted. “You two can come in when you’re ready.” He hurried back inside, and as soon as the door slid shut, Peter and MJ both started to talk at the same time.
“You go first,” Peter said.
“Okay,” she laughed. “Um, this may be a little weird, but…do you wanna exchange numbers? Perhaps? Possibly?” She bit her lip.
He appeared to forget how to breathe for a few seconds. “Yes! Yes, sure, not weird at all.” He fumbled around in his jeans pocket, pulling out his phone.
“Great,” she hoped the night was too dark for him to see her blushing as she typed her number into his contacts. She named her contact ‘MJ (MIT)’ and sent herself a simple hello text. Then she pulled out her own phone and named his contact ‘Peter/Maynard’.
“Great,” he repeated.
The glass door slid open again and Ned poked his head out. “MJ! People are saying that Spiderman was spotted near this area like, an hour ago. That means he could be nearby! Ugh, this is exactly why I need to finish SpideyTracker, I could hear about things like this so much sooner.”
-
“You gave your number to him?”
“Don’t sound so shocked,” MJ said. Her and Ned were walking home after the party, Ned far more drunk than she was.
“I am shocked, though. The first university guy you give your number to, and it’s…Peter. Whoever that is. Does he go to MIT?”
“No.”
“No? Okay, he gets more and more confusing by the minute.”
“Alright, sure, he’s kinda strange. But I think he’s interesting. Clearly he has some story to tell under all that stuttering.”
Ned crossed his arms and looked up in thought. “Fine. I’ll give him a chance. You know, even though my only impression of him was incredibly odd, I have a good feeling about him. It’s hard to explain. Like I just know him…” MJ was silent. She laughed, but it didn’t quite land as genuine. Maybe because she knew, deep down, that Ned was right. Somehow, she felt like she knew Peter.
“Jeez, Ned,” she said instead. “How much have you had to drink?”