End Of Beginning

Peter

Peter feels underdressed.

Karen knocked gently on his door as he was fixing his hair in the bathroom. Did it really matter what his hair looked like? He’d never been to a club before and he wasn’t sure. Once he saw Karen though, he was sure that it probably mattered.

“Holy shit Karen.” He clamps his hand over his mouth. Karen stood outside his doorway, long and looming in her high heels. Her dress was short and Peter tried his best to ignore the bruises on her thighs. Karen laughs. “Sorry, wow I should probably change.” Peter said, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

“No Peter, I think you look quite handsome.” Peter looks down at his jeans and short sleeve button up. He’d tucked it into his pants, hoping that it would make him look more dressed up.

“I don’t know, are you sure?” Karen rolls her eyes, pulling Peter out of his apartment.

“Yes Peter I’m sure. C’mon let's go have some fun!” Peter nods, locking his door. He was going to have fun. This was going to be great.

~~~~~~

This was not great.

This fucking sucked.

He smiled and nodded at Karen every time she asked if he was having fun. He wasn’t, but Karen was and that’s all that mattered. Peter spent most of his night trying not to cover his ears, and shooting glares at people who got a little too close to Karen for comfort.

The music was loud and made his ears ring. His shoes stuck to the floor and the air smelt like… Peter wasn’t too sure what it smelt like, but it wasn’t good.

“You’re having fun right?” Karen yelled for the umpteenth time. Had he not had enhanced hearing he probably wouldn’t hear her. He smiles, nodding.

They had done some shots which had burned Peter's throat, but Karen's intoxicated giggles made up for it. She had stopped drinking after the shots, but continued to buy him drinks despite his apprehension. His head was starting to spin and his body tingled with energy that he was sure was from the alcohol.

He needed some air.

“Hey Karen, I need some air.” Peter yells. Karen looks at him, confused.

“What?” She yells back, cupping her ear. Peter moves closer so his mouth is almost touching her ear.

“I need some air, are you okay here for a minute?” Karen nods.

“Yeah, there's a balcony that way, just text me if you need to leave.” She yells back, pointing vaguely towards the balcony. Peter shoves his way through the crowd, warm bodies rubbing against him making him squirming.

Finally he’s made it out. The air, despite all the city smog, smells fresh as it hits his face. He takes a deep breath, smiling. He thinks he’s only been drunk once, and he isn’t too sure if he is right now. Whatever he’s feeling, he likes it.

There are less bodies to push through out here, but they all seem to be crowded towards each other in pairs of two. Peter turns towards the city skyline, avoiding looking at all the lip locked couples.

“Would you look at that, Peter out of his work uniform.” Peter’s head whips to the side. Of course MJ had to be leaning against the railing next to him, smiling at him drunkenly.

“What the- MJ, what are you doing here?” Peter asks, leaning closer to her. He didn’t have to, she could hear him perfectly fine, but he found himself doing so anyway. She narrows her eyes.

“Why’d you call me MJ?”

Fuck.

Peter feels himself start to sweat.

“Did I? I think I called you Michelle.” MJ purses her lips looking at him. She shrugs.

“I must be drunker than I thought.” She says, smiling.

“I didn’t think you drank?” Peter says. She hated parties in high school, and hated alcohol even more, so it was strange seeing her like this.

“What makes you say that?” MJ asks, leaning closer to Peter as well. She’s talking louder than she usually would and her breath smells like cherries. Peter loves it.

“I don’t know, you don’t look like you would particularly enjoy alcohol.” MJ shakes her head, leaning back to look up at the sky. There wasn’t much to see, considering the light pollution, but she seemed to enjoy the position.

“I don’t but I’m celebrating. I am no longer a broke college student.”

“Are you a rich college student?” Peter asks, confused. MJ laughs, the type of laugh that only Peter and Ned ever got to hear and it makes his stomach knot.

“No, I wish. I am now a broke college graduate!” She says, smiling proudly.

Graduate?

“What did you graduate from?” Peter asks, curious to see how she had graduated from MIT in only three years. MJ smacks her lips, gesturing frantically with her hand.

“Well, Peter, I was going to MIT, because my best friend and I were convinced we wanted to go there.” Peter nods, glad that her and Ned were still friends. “But, I realised, it just wasn’t for me. I was working on their student newspaper and stuff and realised that was what I was interested in.” Peter nods along. This is the most he’d heard her say at once in a long time and he was drinking it up. “So I finished the semester, worked for a couple of months and then took a two year journalism program, which I just finished.”

“Wow MJ- Michelle, that’s amazing.”

“There you did it again.” MJ says, pointing at him. Maybe he was more intoxicated than he thought he was.

“Did what?”

“Don’t play dumb Peter, you called me MJ again.”

Peter shakes his head.

“No, you’re drunk, remember.”

“Mhm, I’m drunk but I’m not stupid.” She changes her position again, leaning closer to him. They meet eyes and she narrows hers. “What’s your deal Peter.”

Peter stutters for a moment before noticing the necklace around her neck. It was the black dahlia flower he had gotten her.

“I like your necklace.” He says, changing the topic. “Black Dahlia, like the murder.” MJ smiles, relaxing back against the railing. She purses her lips for a moment, looking Peter over with a scrutinising gaze. He shrinks in on himself, confused.

“Have you ever heard of the atom theory, Peter?” She asks coyly. Why did she keep saying his name? Peter felt all of his insides do a summersault every time she said it.

“Yeah of course I know what atomic theory is? The theory that matter is made up of particles called… What?” He trails off, noticing MJ staring at him, eyebrows raised.

“No, not the nerdy atom theory, the other one.”

There was another one?

“What other one?” Peter asks, curiosity bubbling up inside of him. He loves science.

“So there’s this theory, some people call it atom theory, that people keep coming back together because their atoms were near each other when the universe was created.” She smiles, moving closer to Peter. He was not used to her being so forward and he wasn’t too sure how he made it feel. He thinks he likes it. “Why do you think we keep coming back together, Peter?”

There it was, she said his name again.

“Because you keep coming to my job?” MJ’s brow quirks upwards again.

Fuck that wasn’t what he wanted to say.

Ah what the hell, they called alcohol ‘liquid courage’ for a reason.

“I’ll be right back, can you promise me that you’ll stay here?”

“Only if you promise that you’ll come back.” MJ says with a smirk.

Peter disappears back inside, and it’s even more overwhelming now that he’d had a break from all the chaos. He spends a few minutes looking for Karen, keeping an eye out for the shimmering of her silver dress. The lights seemed to reflect off of her, which made it a hell of a lot easier to find her.

She was dancing with a random group of girls, smiling and laughing. Peter approaches, pushing through the girls, who give him dirty looks. He smiles at them embarrassed.

“Guys, this is Peter, isn’t he adorable?” Karen yells. Peter’s face flushes.

“Hey Karen, do you have a pen?” Karen nods, rooting around in her small purse.

“I always carry a pen! I’m always prepared!” She says smiling. She hands Peter the pen and he runs back outside. MJ is exactly where he’d left her, staring at the couples around them. Peter makes his way towards her and she smiles.

“Finally, I thought you were going to leave me alone with all of these people.” She says, indicating to the groups of couples. A couple next to them is making out very loudly and Peter grimaces. “I hate PDA.”

I know.

“Same.” Peter agrees. He remembers the way the two of them used to make fun of couples in the hallways at school.

“What did you disappear for?” MJ asks, bringing the conversation back to them. Peter lifts up the pen.

“I wanted to give you my number, y’know in case you ever need tech help or something.” Peter jokes. MJ snorts.

“Right, how helpful.”

“Just living up to the five star review you left me.”

“Y’know I didn’t actually leave one right?” She asks. Peter nods, smiling. MJ puts out her arm. “I don’t have any paper, write it here.” She points at her inner forearm. Peter grabs it, gripping it lightly. Her skin was so soft.

He writes out his number, adding a smiley face to the end. MJ takes the pen from him, grabbing Peter’s arm and writing hers as well, doodling a star.

“Y’know, just in case I lose my arm or something.” Peter laughs, taking the pen back.

“I’m going to head out, my friends left while I was waiting but I’ll text you.” She says, standing back up straight. Peter nods, waving at her as she leaves.

He didn’t regret that like he thought he would. Maybe when he’s sobered up he’ll regret it, washing MJ's number from his arm and then scratching off a layer of his skin for extra measures. He’ll block MJ if she texts him and hope and pray that he’ll never see her again. He’ll get Matt to teach him or to pray or take him to church or something.

But for now, he was going to bask in the fact that MJ was back in his life.

Peter heads back inside to find Karen sitting at the bar. She wasn’t drinking anything, just sitting and watching people dance. She perks up when she sees Peter approach.

“Ohhh, what’s that on your arm?” She asks, grabbing it. “Oh my gosh, did you get someone's number?” Peter nods, handing back her pen. She takes it with a smile. “Good job, that was one of my goals for tonight.” She slides off her seat, standing close to Peter. “Want to head out?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty tired.” Peter says, pulling her towards the exit.

“Ditto. I’ll walk you home.”

Karen complains about her shoes for most of the walk, with Peter offering to switch shoes. He had small feet, he’s sure he could fit into her heels.

“Peter no, you can’t roll your ankle. How is Spider-Man supposed to save people with a rolled ankle?” Karen asks, laughing.

“It’ll heal in five minutes, just switch shoes with me, I can see blisters forming on your feet.”

She doesn’t switch shoes with him, she just hobbles her way back to his apartment building, even after Peter offered to carry her.

She gives Peter a tight hug when they get back to his apartment, holding him for far longer than she needed to. Up this close Peter can see even more marks on her collarbones that she had tried to cover up with makeup. He was never going to look at Matt the same way.

“Thank you for letting me take you out tonight.” Karen says, swaying as they hug.

“Of course Karen.”

“Thank you for being my friend and letting me be your friend.” She continues on.

“Mhm.”

“I’m so proud of you Peter, for everything. You deserve all the people that you are letting in, don’t forget that.” She finally lets go, patting Peter on the shoulder.

“Thank you.” Karen nods, giving Peter one more hug before heading towards Matt’s apartment.

Karen sighs as she takes off her heels, stepping out of them, bare feet meeting Matt’s cold floor. Although it was later in the night, it was still early for Matt. Karen shrugs out of her dress, laying it over a chair in Matt’s room.

She likes Matt's shower much better than her own. She liked a lot of things about Matt’s apartment better than her own. The thick layers of makeup that she had caked on comes off as she scrubs her face in the water. She was glad to be able to clean off all of the club grime.

Matt was waiting for her in bed when she got out, chest bruised and lip busted and bloody.

“Hey.” Karen whispers as she exits the bathroom wearing one of Matt’s shirts that she had grabbed before showering.

“Hi.” Matt says, smiling. Karen climbs into the bed next to him, groaning as she lays down. Matt’s hand makes its way to her hair, massaging her wet scalp. Karen sighs. “How was your night?” He asks.

“Mmm. It was good, did most of the things I wanted to do tonight.” Karen replies.

“And what was that?”

“Got Peter his first legal drink and I think set him up with someone.” She pauses. “He did most of the work, but he borrowed my pen to give her his number so I basically set them up.” Matt smiles.

“Couldn’t they have just put their numbers into each other's phone?” Karen is quiet for a minute.

“Huh. I didn’t think about that.” She turns over onto her back, climbing under the blankets. “I don’t know, Peter was a little drunk.” She says with a laugh. “It was cute though. I don’t think he was having fun at all, now that I think about it he was probably super overwhelmed.”

Matt nods.

“I would be too.”

“Mhm, damn you two and your enhanced hearing.” She quirks upwards “Oh my gosh, speaking of, you would not believe what Peter told me the other day.”