Making it official
“You, you actually got him to see you?” Gwen asked, she sounded hurt.
MJ grimaced at her tone, but tried to play it off, he hadn’t been talking to anyone about anything recently anyway. “He’s off the menu until you cancel your current dinner arrangements Gwen,” She tried to giggle her way into finishing the sentence.
“I uh, actually talked with him.” Gwen said, she sounded. Stiff, like someone reciting something from memory.
“Oh? How uh, how’d he take it?” With how long Gwen had been pining over Peter, it shouldn’t have been this complicated for them to just get together, right?
“He accepted the apology, actually. And we’re staying together, we laid out some ground rules, but I think- I think we’re gonna be okay.”
God damn it Gwen! She’d been racked with guilt over the relationship for the past few months, but there was no helping her if she insisted on still dating him! Not that there was anything wrong with Harry. Mostly. He was kind of clingy.
But she couldn’t say that to Gwen, attacking someone for their more intimate decisions never led to them wanting to listen.
“You sure about this Gwen? You were holding out for-“ MJ whispered into the phone,
Gwen’s tone was assertive now, “I was holding out for a flake, MJ. Dating me wouldn’t suddenly make him on time or change his priorities.”
MJ felt her lips go thin and flat in annoyance, of course she was right. She took another gulp of her coffee as Gwen went on.
“-And besides, I won’t be his second choice. Harry’s my choice now, I’ve taken the time and changed my priorities. -But at least he’s open, we’re working together. Peter always stayed behind to get the perfect shot, leaving the rest of us in the dust.”
MJ felt a cord struck, and went in to defend Peter. “Wasn’t Harry your second choice?”
Silence on the other line.
“Listen, just- be careful girl, you’ve got the guts to do great things,” MJ could hear Eddie, maybe even some Harry in Gwen’s words but with the way Peter had been acting since the funeral, Gwen’s starry eyes towards him turning dull was understandable, MJ supposed.
Unfortunately Gwen was still rambling on, she had a knack for that. She was lucky it was cute. “We even got to talk about how we could work together, about OsCorp helping the community, -he even offered you a job at OsCorp-“
Now that made MJ laugh, “I love you Gwen, but god no. I’m more of the freelance type, you dig, right?” She could hear a fond sigh from Gwen, but she saw a familiar face in the corner of her eye, and went to end her call.
“Here comes Mister Flake, I’ll uh, meet you and Harry later, okay?” MJ quickly but quietly muttered into her phone,
Gwen said something, but MJ clicked end call.
“Hey Tiger, I was wondering when you’d show,” MJ grinned when she saw Peter,
“Can we cut it with the nickname? It’s getting kind of old MJ,”
The frown immediately settled back onto MJs face, and she tried to replicate Gwen’s ‘the stare’ as best she could.
“MJ *is*a nickname Peter”
That one seemed to stump him, he muttered out “Well you never really gave off Mary Jane vibes, MJ fits you”
“You fit with Tiger, at least, I think so.” MJ smiled.
“Sure,” Peter scoffed.
There was horrible silence, and MJ stared at her drink while Peter chugged down his own. It was exaggerated, the way he flipped his head back to drink, she knew he didn’t want to make this talk easy.
“You know we all love you, right? Dearly, Peter.” MJ said this quietly, trying to meet his eyes.
“Go find a new guy to “love” you always do,” Peter still avoided her gaze, his voice went weird as he spoke.
“What’s going on?” MJs voice was more firm this time, to hell with the niceties, something was wrong. Peter was above this, he was dorky and sweet. This was him pushing away his feelings by being a jerk.
“I’m transferring to another school.” Peter said, looking at the bottom of his styrofoam cup like there was something very interesting there.
“Senior year in a new school?” MJ was really confused now, hadn’t they all been so excited for senior year? It meant driving lessons from the school, off campus lunch, earlier release-
“You changed halfway through a year, that’s not great thinking either” Peter reasoned, “I just need it so that nobody bothers me.”
MJ felt like she had been slapped in the face “Nobody bothers you? Peter we-“
“Right. Nobody, not Harry, not Gwen”-Peter made an empty laugh, “especially not Eugene.”
More awkward quiet, MJ tried to look Peter in the eyes, but he was still avoiding her gaze. He moved his eyes around constantly like he were following a fly.
Peter suddenly stood, his eyes resting on the floor, and tried to march away.
MJ gripped his hand as he tried to leave, he didn’t meet her eyes as she tried to reason-“If this is about Harry’s dad-“
“This is about everything MJ. All the people I’ve hurt. It’s time I do everyone a favor and buzz off.” Peter stood up, taking his drink in his hands, crushing it. It was clearly an accident when his angry look turned into just a frown. He looked like he was gonna cry.
“Please MJ, make sure that everyone’s okay.” Peter whispered, looking down at his feet.
MJs words were stilted, “I’ll do it, but not because you told me to.”
Peter gave her a sad smile, and she watched intensely as he left the coffee shop, not taking her eyes off of him until he joined the sea of pedestrians in New York traffic.
…
“So he just left?” Gwen asked, leaning over the table, enraptured in MJs retelling of her meeting with Peter.
“Yeah, it was so unlike him-“MJ agreed.
The three sat in (even more) uncomfortable silence. Harry had offered dinner, and of course it was at one of the fanciest places Gwen had ever been to in her life. She couldn’t tell if it was better or worse that they had been given a private room to dine in. There was a nice balcony that embraced the late summer air, allowing for small dents of New York City traffic to be made in the relaxing atmosphere. MJ missed the talking and spoon scraping of the rest of the restaurant, it was so much quieter with just them. But quiet provided an easier way to talk, especially with the rumor mill going in on the Osborn family.
“Maybe he feels guilty for something.” Harry said to the room.
Gwen turned to face him, eyes inquisitive “What do you mean?” She was now sat with her fingers interlocking, she rested her chin on them to look at him.
Harry shrugged, “He worked with my Dad for a while, maybe he knows something?” It seemed to be just a stray idea let loose.
Face turning more serious, Gwen leaned closer “Are you saying Peter may have known about him being” Gwen’s eyes darted around the empty room, as if anyone could hear the, “the green goblin?”
Harry scrunched his nose, “I think- I think maybe he knows something, he could know about…that…or he could know more private OsCorp stuff. I mean I was able to get access to the green.”
“Yeah but you were his son, that’s a little different right?” MJ asked, tilting her head.
Harry raised his hands, looking between the two girls. “All I’m saying is that Pete might not be okay right now. The only thing we can do now is wait for him to be okay and come to us again, I know how it feels to have a secret like that from the ones you love,”
Gwen smiled at Harry, giving him a reassuring hold of his arm.
MJ considered herself pretty open minded, it was 2009 after all, times were changing. But these two together just set something off in MJs brain.
…
It was early evening and The Spider-Man was on patrol
There were no criminals, no masquerading mooks, no more “big men” to control it all either, at least none yet. As soon as the city’s goons realized that the position of power was open, they’d all be kicking and screaming to be the one to inherit the title. And there was only one guy to stop em.
Him.
He missed when the feeling of a quiet night didn’t disturb him, how he could use the time to think about his friends, maybe even spare the moment to hang out with them.
All tonight did was remind him how no one was going to answer.
It was only senior year. He could focus on class. Not cause waves.
Despite himself, he thought about what happened senior year. The final football game, senior prank, senior prom-
It didn’t matter. All those things would be clouded by Spider-Man’s responsibilities anyway.
It was Spider-Man’s time to give his all to the city, no matter what it cost Peter Parker.