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The first time she called, he nearly dropped his phone. Would have if it didn't stick to his fingers.
"How?"
Surprise. Worry. Maybe a little bit of happiness. Jean wished she was near him so she could sense exactly what he was feeling. She longed for the warmth of his mind.
"Is it that surprising?" she asked him, trying to play it off. "I was in your mind. I saw." Searched. "Some things."
Controlling her expressions proved hard. Maybe making a video call wasn't the smartest idea, but she had really wanted to see him. Not wounded—because of her—but awake.
"Okay," Peter said, slowly. Testing it out. She could see some of his room behind him. Spartan, yet messy at the same time. "Okay. That's...I was not expecting this, but...Good to see you?"
She beamed at him. Such simple words shouldn't have affected her so much, but they did.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay," she hurried to say. "I really wanted to thank you personally. For helping me, I mean."
"No, that's… that's fine," he said, running a nervous hand through his hair. She liked it messy. "From what Frank told me, I should be thanking you."
I breathed for you.
"I am going to look for others like me," Jean told him. "I want to try to help them like you helped me and stop people like Damage Control from trying to take advantage of them."
That drew a smile out of him. Jean immediately felt proud of herself.
"That's amazing," he told her. Approved of her. "I think you're going to do great."
Jean badly wanted to jump and pump her fist into the air, but she refrained and hid the magnitude of her emotions behind a bashful smile.
"That's the idea," she said. Then, softly, almost as an afterthought, she added, "Say, is it okay if I keep calling you?"
It caught him off-guard. She could see a hint of caution appear behind his eyes. He had such beautiful eyes.
"Please?" she needled him. A little pouty, a little demanding, and just a little helpless.
She was inside his mind. She knew what worked.
"Interstate travel is so boring." She tilted her phone so he could see the bus station. "You're the only one I have."
Like that, she had him.
"Big Wheel?! Really? That was his name?"
"I'm not kidding. Look it up," he said, wildly gesticulating with his arms. "The guy had a giant wheel armed with cannons and claws and went wild with it all over Fifth Avenue."
Jean put a finger under her chin.
"You'd think that, if he could build that, he wouldn't need to steal."
"That's the weirdest part. Apparently, he bought the thing," Peter said. "There's a market for super villain equipment somewhere in the city."
Jean considered the matter seriously.
"Do you think he was Big Wheel only because he couldn't afford the rest of the car?"
"Peter!" she said, trying to contain her giggles. "This is serious."
"The effects of the economy on super villain activity are absolutely serious. Who knows? Maybe there are three other Big Wheels out there. Maybe even a Big Replacement Wheel. Perhaps even a-"
"A Big Chassis?
"See? That's the type of big-picture thinking you need for proper heroics."
"You should ask her out."
"What?" Peter asked her with his mouth full of instant ramen. He slurped it before opening it again. "Debra?"
"Why not?" she asked him. "She's cute, and she likes you."
"I didn't say she was cute."
"It was implied cuteness," Jean said.
"How is there implied cuteness?"
"A girl always knows."
"Look, I just met her a couple of times. You don't know that she likes me," Peter said, which was silly because liking him was the most natural thing in the world.
"Just ask her out," Jean said. "What do you have to lose?"
Peter did not answer right away, and when he did, it was in a voice so low the phone barely picked it up.
"It's not that simple."
The pain on his face was a raw wound. Jean's heart yearned to comfort him, but she had to do this.
"Peter," she said softly. "You can't keep to yourself forever. I'm happy that you aren't just stalking your friends online and spending your day next to the police scanner anymore, but you still need to put yourself out there."
"I know, okay?" Peter said. "I know! It's just hard to accept that things...changed."
She doesn't love you. She doesn't remember you. Forget her already!
"Just think about it," she said quietly.
She had read enough minds to know post-breakup relationships rarely lasted, but that was exactly why she wanted Peter to have one. Once he did, his mind would begin to accept that things were over with his old girlfriend. Once that was done, and once this Debra—whose main qualification was that she was not a brunette and thus was less likely to make Peter think of his old girlfriend—had served her purpose, Peter would finally be ready to move on.
With someone far more deserving of him.
Peter was very stubborn. It took three weeks of vague implications and hints for Jean to convince him. Naturally, Debra jumped at the chance like any sane woman would. Jean had to smile and nod while seething inside her heart as Peter kept her updated on his new relationship.
Then, the expected happened.
"I don't know," Peter said. "Things were good at first, but we have been arguing more and more lately."
"Spider-Man?" she guessed.
"Spider-Man," Peter confirmed. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Every time I miss a date or don't answer a call, it gets worse. I think she thinks I'm cheating on her."
"How terrible," Jean said.
"Yeah, I know this could all be solved if I tell her I'm Spider-Man, but then she'd know I'm Spider-Man," he says. "I'm not sure if I can do that. I mean, with MJ-"
"Maybe that's your answer then," Jean interrupted him. "If you can't trust her with Spider-Man, then maybe things have run their course."
"Just like that?"
"Would you rather keep missing dates? Constantly have her wonder where you are? It's just going to make things worse," she said. "You dated a few times. You had fun. That's good for you. It proves you can. Next time, maybe you can start looking for someone who will be okay with you being Spider-Man."
"The Blob? After you made so much fun of poor Big Wheel?"
"It was his circus name. Shut up," Jean said, pouting at him.
"But he looked like-"
"Fat jokes stopped being funny years ago."
"Blasphemy!"
"Anyway, he seemed to have things handled," she said. "That seems to be the trend with the people I find. They are all happy where they are."
"Right, you told me about the Native American guy."
"Ugh, don't remind me of him," Jean said, rolling her eyes. "He was insufferable. Besides, his power was barely noticeable. Just some speed and strength. Nothing that can be compared to you."
"Then there was that Jewish girl."
"Her power was a little more troublesome, but she has a good family," Jean said, not wanting to dwell too much on Kitty. The girl fit Peter's tastes a little too well. If she had her way, they were never meeting each other. "She'll be fine with them."
"Good for her."
"I'm coming to New York," she told him.
"Oh?"
"I'm following some online rumors. Some blurry phone pics of a winged guy in the Upper East Side. Maybe there's something there," she said nervously. Her heart beat hard against her chest. "I was wondering if I could...maybe stay with you? Please?"
He looked at her with surprise.
"Here? Really?" He asked her. He angled his phone so she could see the state of his room. It was clean while he was dating that bore Debra, but Peter had gone back to his old habits since. "You sure?"
"I don't really have anywhere else, and traveling around all the time doesn't leave you with a lot of money," Jean said, trying to sound casual even though her nails were digging into her palms so hard they were about to draw blood. "I could control some hotel staff into letting me stay, but-"
"You can stay," Peter said. "You can take the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."
After the call was over, Jean muffled her happy cries with the hotel pillow.
She wanted to be inside him.
It was her first thought upon seeing him again, but she knew he would sense it if she tried it. He would take it the wrong way. He didn't understand how special he was. How special his mind was. The only thing she could do was linger around him, brush psychic fingers against his warmth while desperately wishing for more.
"I've missed you," she said, hugging him. It caught him by surprise.
His arms twitched slightly before wrapping around her.
"I've missed you too," he said, as if finally realizing it.
"Come on!" she said. "The police scanner has been quiet all day. I'll even let you pick one of those boring, old movies you like."
"They are timeless classics," he immediately corrected her.
"Is that a yes?" she asked him, patting the spot next to her on the couch. She was wearing one of his old sweaters. She claimed it during the first week because it was the one that smelled most like him. Peter had already given up on ever getting it back.
"Fine," he said.
The popcorn was ready in a moment, and the movie was soon playing in front of them. It was winter, so Jean could freely inch closer to him in search of warmth and lean her head against his shoulder. Without thinking, Peter's arm came around her.
Jean smiled. Her eyes looked at the movie, but her mind replayed a memory that happened shortly after her return to New York. A visit to someone she would not name. She had gotten much better at using her powers. She could hold those memories in her hands now, so she did what was best.
She tossed them off a cliff. Never to be remembered again.
Peter laughed. She laughed with him and snuggled closer.
All was as it should be.