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Somewhere between the heartbreak of not remembering who Peter is and figuring out how to move forward in each other’s lives, MJ finds that it’s comfortable to be with him.
She’s accepted the fact that the memories may never return, but Peter himself feels familiar, and that alone feels like something she wants in her life, whether she’s known them before or not.
In the months since being reconnected, MJ hasn’t learned all that much about Peter. She knows he lives in Queens, and he doesn’t really have friends or family to count on. She knows that his day job is private but he spends his free time as Spider-Man. She’s positive there’s a million battles and secret missions going on that he can’t talk about, but she doesn’t pry.
What she does come to learn, however, is that Peter has lost more than just her and Ned. He’s mentioned some people, of course, but she never felt like it was appropriate to pry about a situation that he clearly didn’t want to talk about.
It wasn’t often that MJ and Peter were left alone without Ned there. MJ preferred it that way most of the time - not that she thought Peter would do anything - but more that it just felt right to be there as a group, where they could talk and hang out and things would feel even slightly normal among being friends with a literal superhero.
But Ned had been running late from work, and Peter showed up with dim sum and a smile, and MJ couldn’t help but let him in, knowing they’d be comfortable together while they waited.
She doesn’t know what possesses her to even think about Peter’s circumstances, or why she brings it up while they’re just trying to choose a movie to watch when Ned gets home, but she speaks before can stop herself.
“You’ve said before that you’ve lost someone through all of this, right?”
MJ pulls her knees up to her chest from her spot on the sofa, glancing at Peter as he flips through one of their million streaming services.
Peter pauses, looking up at her. “Yeah, my Aunt May,” He eventually answers. “She died a few years back because she was too involved with some things I was fighting,” he says softly.
He doesn’t seem put off by her asking, and although it took him a moment, he doesn’t seem upset about mentioning her by name. Gauging the scene, MJ decides to continue.
“I’m sure you don’t talk about her much anymore considering no one really knows who you are,” she says, cringing at how insensitive that sounds. “I’m sorry, I didn’t -”
“I knew what you meant,” Peter smiles. “And no, I don’t talk about her as much anymore. It’s hard when people who do remember her don’t remember that she was my aunt.”
MJ nods. She sketches in her book, watching Peter from the corner of her eye. Shifting, she focuses back on her book and speaks again.
“Tell me about her.”
Peter’s head snaps up to look at her, but MJ can’t read his expression. Before she has a chance to say that he doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to, that she doesn’t know why she’s being so invasive, he sits back, smiles, and focuses back on the instruction book for the lego.
“I was 7 when I first came to live with her,” he begins, and his voice is softer now, his fingers fumbling with the lego pieces. “She always said she was better being an aunt, that she didn’t think she’d have kids, and then I showed up and kind of changed all of that,” he laughs.
“We didn’t have a ton of money, and obviously, I was never really in the plans for her lifestyle, but she made it work,” he continues. “She made sure I was able to play t-ball, and when I joined clubs at school she shifted her work schedule to make sure she could pick me up.”
“She loved helping people. She was involved in FEAST, and she made sure that the people who needed help the most got what they needed, and she did all of it without complaining. There were times where it would’ve been so easy to turn people away, or not help as much as we did, but she always told me that that wasn’t who we are.”
Peter swallows, and MJ gives him space before he continues.
“When she found out I was Spider-Man, she freaked out,” he laughs, chewing on his bottom lip. “I mean, I guess in hindsight it was terrifying to know that her 15 year old nephew was fighting crime with Avengers, but she handled it as best she could. She didn’t love it, I know she didn’t, but she tried to keep an open mind. She tried to see the positive in me helping the city, even if it put me in danger every night.”
MJ glances up from her sketchpad, watching Peter. “She sounds like an amazing woman, Peter. You were so lucky to have her.”
Peter huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I was,” he whispers. His fingers shake as he tries to focus. “She died the same day you forgot who I was,” he whispers.
MJ sets her pen down, looking at him. “Oh, Peter.”
Peter shakes his head. “It was my fault, you know. She shouldn’t have been so involved. If her nephew wasn’t Spider-Man, she would still be here,” he says softly. “The day she died, she was helping me try to cure villains and send them back for a second chance at life. It wasn’t - it’s not something that someone like May, or anyone without powers, should have been involved in. But I was alone and she was worried, and because of me, she’s not here anymore.”
MJ frowns. “I’m sure she didn’t see it that way. I’m sure she was proud of you, right up until the end.”
Peter snaps two legos together, setting it down and rubbing at his eyes. “She was. She told me that all the time, even when she was dying, although it wasn’t exactly those words,” he confirms, sighing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it’d make me cry.”
Leaning forward, MJ rests her hand on Peter’s arm. “It’s okay to cry, Peter. She was so involved in your life, it’s hard not to believe that you’d miss her as much as you do. And it must be nice to talk about her again.”
She’s relieved when Peter nods.
There’s a kind of stillness in the apartment that MJ doesn’t think she’s felt before. Peter shifts his attention back to the legos, sighing, and tries to make anything feel normal.
“I don’t think she’d blame you for what happened. It sounds like she was supportive of what you did, and she understood the risks of going with you that day. You can’t blame yourself for that.”
Beside her, Peter nods. “No, I know,” he sighs. “And you’re right, she wouldn’t blame me for what happened. She’d say it’s all part of it, and that she died because we were doing the right thing. It was what was so frustrating about her. She always saw the positive of things.”
MJ smiles. “Must be nice to have had someone like that.”
“You wouldn’t believe how nice it was,” Peter says softly, wiping at his eyes.
A comfortable silence passes over them. MJ continues sketching, Peter makes progress on the lego he and Ned had been working on, and MJ doesn’t really think she needs to fill the space.
“She really liked you, you know,” Peter says after a while, clearing his throat as he flips through the instruction book.
MJ looks up, surprised. “What?”
Peter smiles, looking up at her. “You guys only met a few times, but she really liked you. She said that you reminded her a lot of herself at that age, and she said that you were good for me both as a friend and when we were dating.”
MJ sinks back against the sofa. “I mean, from what you just told me, I have to think I liked her too,” she says quietly. “You were really lucky to have her, Peter. I’m just sorry it wasn’t for longer.”
Peter nods, swallowing, and focuses back on the lego. “Yeah, me too.”
Beside them, their phones go off. Ned lets them know he’s on his way home, and the two of them take a break, getting everything out to eat dinner together. “Thank you for letting me talk about her. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to tell people how amazing she was.”
They move around the kitchen with ease. “Of course, Peter,” MJ says quietly, handing him the dishes to set on the table. “You can talk about her whenever you want. I’d love to hear more about her when you’re ready.”
Peter thanks her softly.
Ned returns home and Peter sets out the dim sum they’d warmed up after he arrived, and the three slip back into their normal conversation, almost as if none of it had happened.
That night, after Peter returns to his own apartment, MJ looks up May online.
Photos pop up alongside articles of the charity work she did when she was alive. MJ reads them all until her eyes blur and her heart aches for the boy she can’t remember who lost everything, wanting nothing more than to make it a little easier for him to get through life.
She’d find a way to keep May’s memory alive for Peter no matter what.