Michelle was never your typical girl.
She was blunt. She had opinions, and never shied away from announcing them. She revels at the idea of making someone uncomfortable or confused. She didn’t do people, she had acquaintances, people who owed her favours, or even associates. But never friends, let alone a romantic partner. That wasn’t a requirement, and she didn’t plan to have one.
That is until she met Peter Parker.
When she first saw him, he was a nerdy twig with glasses. He wore sweaters twice his size, he carried at least five textbooks with him at all points, he babbled on and on about Star Wars with his best (and literally only) friend Ned. He smiled a lot for someone who from what she’s heard, has been dealt the worst set of cards Life could ever give.
Her first interaction with him was right after she walked in on Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson tripping him and sending his books down the hall. After the idiot left she bent down and picked up one of his ADVANCED UNIVERSITY LEVEL PHYSICS BOOKS that had slid near her feet, she handed it to him, and was hit with a blinding smile and a “Thanks!”.
She never knew why, but after that moment she always took notice of him when he entered a room, if he spoke she would listen. Which is why she was the first to notice when there was a physical and mental change only weeks after the Oscorp Trip.
Obviously she could understand the mental change, as anyone would expect when the main father figure in your life dies before your eyes, but how was she the only one who noticed the physical change? Granted she has always found him cute and appealing, but then he somehow gained godlike abs and she found herself cursing teenage hormones.
She noticed he was Spider-Man when she’d see him come to school with bags under his eyes and bruises on his arms, she also noticed he no longer struggled to breathe during Gym, nor needed his glasses.
She definitely noticed when Spider-Man had showed up to help Iron Man fight Captain America in Germany, and about two weeks later Peter comes back from “seeing family” with souvenirs from Germany.
Of course she could’ve also said that she found out due to Ned and Peter talking about it during lunch super loudly.
There’s a reason she sat with them (other than the obvious) her presence tended to push others away if she wanted them to leave her alone, and therefore no one ever eavesdropped on their conversations
She knew him inside out which is why she was currently hiding in the bathroom trying to hide a panic attack because for the first time, ever, she had no idea what he would think.
“Okay, oh god, okay Michelle breathe. It’s just a question. A question that could possibly destroy everything about us. Come on! You can handle this!”
“Hey MJ! You okay in there?” A very concerned Peter said from the other side of the door
“Yeah, I’m good! I-uh just really needed to um go!” Oh god!
“Um, okay! I’m just asking cause you ran off in the middle of the movie with any warning! Anyway, take your time!”
She could hear his feet walking away and she gave a sigh of relief.
Why was this so difficult! She angrily huffed as she dusted off her pants and reached for the door handle when she heard Pepper, Rhodey, Harley, Cassie, Ned, May and Happy chatting with Peter who held an extremely sleepy looking Morgan
Oh great. Do I have to do it in front of them????
She opened the door and walked towards the group. Her hands sweaty and her heart beating fast!
“Hey MJ!” Harley shouted, directing everyone’s attention towards her (idiot!)
“Uh, hey! *Cough* what’s up?”
“Honey are you okay? You’re hyperventilating” Pepper said concerned causing Peter to zero in on her and she knew he was listening to the Rock Music level drumbeat her heart was making.
“Em? Is everything okay?” He said with the adorable stupid concerned tone and that absolutely cute terriblehead tilt. (Dammit! She has a reputation to uphold!)
Before she had a chance to respond, he handed a suddenly wide eyed and intrigued Morgan to Pepper and walked over to her. He grabbed her hands and looked at her as if he was hoping to find the answers in her eyes.
“You know you can tell me anything, right?”
She could feel her face turning hot and red with embarrassment and love.
Taking a breath, she looked up at Peter, “Okay, don’t laugh at me. Okay?” He nodded while smiling softly.
Breathing again she closed her eyes and nervously blurted out “Iminlovewithyouandiwanttomarryyou!”
She gave a peek to her boyfriend to see his baffled face, he quickly said, “Sorry, I didn’t quite get that.”
With a slight huff she repeated slowly, “I’m in love with you and I want to marry you.”
…
“…Pfft!”
While MJ expected many reactions and despite ensuring that he wouldn’t laugh she was still surprised and slightly crushed when he started chuckling.
“Haha! I’m sorry I’m not laughing at you! I’m just amused by the irony.” Before she could question the meaning of the statement Peter let go of her hands and looked towards the group behind them.
“Harley? You still got it?” Said man just reached into his pocket and tossed him a small black box. He caught it and proceeded to open it and inside was a beautiful diamond ring shaped like a dahlia flower. MJ covered her mouth in shock, her gaze switching between the ring and her blushing boyfriend.
“I guess you both had the same idea then right Jones?” Harley said smirking as he held out a phone to capture the moment (this was totally going in the wedding video he and Ned were preparing)
MJ blinked, and then gave a smirk of her own. “It’s actually Parker now.”
Peter’s face lit up while there were whoops, and sounds of coins being passed around in the background. MJ ignored all of that and zone in on Peter, she took the ring and slipped it on her finger, she closed the distance between the both of them, melding them both together.
“it’s Parker-Stark.”