Truth or dare and you can't lie
The Academic Decathlon is practicing in their rehearsal classroom. Suddenly they’re in full lockdown, because of an alien attack. No one in or out the school. A truth serum is spread among the streets, seeping through every crack of every building, affecting everyone.
Tony texts him to stay put, to avoid the aliens uncovering Peter’s identity. He reassures him they’ve got it under control, but he needs to lay low. The team discovers quickly what’s happening, as Betty is unable to lie when she is asked who ate the final biscuit. Abe finds information on the news feeds easily after that. Peter can only think of one thing: don’t ask him about Spider-Man. But the truth they wrestle out of him is much, much worse.
‘As we can’t lie, let’s play some good old fashioned truth or dare! Say, Penis, how old were yóu when you got your virginity taken?’
‘Flash!’ Offended voices sound. MJ looks at Peter, sensing how uncomfortable he feels. And then she sees Ned fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie, stubbornly looking down at the floor. Huh. Did they….? Nah, that can’t be… Could it?
Fuck. Peter is fucked. He tries to not answer, tries to fight the magic so badly. ‘I really don’t want to answer that.’ He feels relieved as the answer rolls off his tongue. It is what he feels, the truest answer. Truer than the truth. MJ notices the relieved look on Ned.
‘Oooooh, ‘ittle Petew still a virgin?’ Flash mocks.
Peter closes his eyes. Tries to stop the answer from blurting out. ‘No’. Fuck.
MJ’s eyebrow shoots up. She definitely didn’t expect this answer. It wasn’t with her, but suddenly her stomach hurts. All the times she tried to initiate sexual contact. All the times Peter flinched when she got too close. She’d chalked it off as Peter not being ready. But suddenly she’s not sure at all.
‘Leave it, dip-shit.’ MJ intervenes. ‘Or we’ll ask you some fucking uncomfortable questions too.’
‘Oh yeah? Like how old you were when you lost your virginity?’ You gotta hand it to Flash. Bigger assholes are hard to find.
MJ feels the answer bubble up. ‘Still a virgin, not that it’s any of your business, Flash.’
Gasps sound. If not with her, then with whom? Ned looks like he’s about to throw up. But Peter? He’s looking the worst.
Flash smells blood. ‘Oh, then it must be you, big guy.’ Ned shakes his head vigorously.
‘Don’t ask, Flash. Please.’ Something in his tone is off. MJ has only seen him like this when someone is close to uncovering the Spider-Man secret. A little voice nags in her head. She knows she’s reading Peter’s signs right. It can’t be- No… not Ned. Peter is too comfortable with him. Or is he?
‘Well, Ned, how old were you?’
‘Still a virgin, asshole.’
MJ is relieved. She shouldn’t have doubted.
‘Oh my, couldn’t get in either of their pants, Penis? Or were you so bad at it they’d never let you near their sweet spots?’ Flash looks deviously at Peter.
‘No.’ Something seems to snap in Peter. He wants to know? He gets to know. Peter’s eyes are fierce when he looks at Flash. ‘Eight.’
‘Eight what? Eight people? You had sex with eight people?’ Flash looks taken aback for a few moments, as others seem to piece together what Peter means. Ned has tears streaming over his face. MJ thinks she’ll puke.
‘Eight years, Flash.’ Peter rubs his hand over his face.
‘You were… eight? Damn. You jumped the gun.’ He looks at Peter with renewed respect.
‘Flash’, MJ wants to moan, ‘stop being a stupid fuck and think. You don’t go to a school for geniuses for nothing.’
She watches as Flash’ face turns pale. ‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah, fuck.’
‘What happened?’ Betty clamps her hands over her mouth as soon as the words leave her throat, tears well up in her eyes. He looks at her betrayed. ‘Fuck, Peter, I’m sorry.’
‘I was eight and he was sixteen. I-‘ he’s struggling again. Doesn’t want them to know more, but he’s unable to stop the words from flowing out. ‘He showed me magazines. Porn mags. He…’
‘Peter, please. You don’t have to tell us.’ Betty looks on the verge of crying.
‘But I do, don’t I? Can’t stop it.’ Peter’s voice is soft. ‘He said we could recreate those images. I-‘
‘Okay, this is it. Everyone, cover your fucking ears and hum a goddamn song.’ It takes a moment, but then MJ sees them all comply as Peter continues his story. MJ watches Ned, who mouths ‘thanks’ at her. Only Flash seems unable to comply, looking at Peter with sad, remorseful eyes.
When he’s finished, they all sit in silence for a while. They’re still in lockdown, the Avengers outside solving the situation. MJ scoots over to Peter.
‘Are you-okay?‘, way to go MJ, she thinks. Of course he isn’t. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’
‘No.’ Peter shakes his head. ‘I’m sorry. I was going to tell you. I… wasn’t ready yet. I’m sorry, MJ.’
‘Don’t you dare apologise, loser. Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault. And you don’t deserve to be outed like this.’ She’s careful to state, not to ask, so she doesn’t accidentally force Peter to tell more than he wants. ‘May I touch you?’
‘I- don’t want to be touched. But I also won’t let him win.’
MJ swallows.
‘So, no, but yeah. I’m sorry. I’m not making sense. You’d think this serum would help me out the truth.’
‘It’s possible to feel several, all true things at once.’ She smiles reassuringly at him.
‘But… I wish I could… could just let it go.’
‘Peter, you can’t control feelings like that. You are, however, in control of the physical contact we have right now.’ She leans against the wall. ‘I’m sitting here, and you may come over to hug me anytime you feel comfortable with it, okay? Equally okay if you choose not to.’
He nods. Trust MJ to respect his boundaries. She’s always done it, even when she wanted to take the next step, and without knowing why, she never pushed him. And even as she knows something happened, she wants him to hug her. Oh, shit. If she knows exactly what he did… he pales again.
‘Pete? Don’t overthink. We’ll talk about this without the serum, okay?’
Peter nods. ‘Thank you, MJ.’ He shuffles a bit closer, leaning against the same wall MJ is.
She counts that as victory over the fucker who abused him. It’s even a greater victory when he grabs her hand and intwines their fingers. She looks sideways. The interaction seems to cost him. ‘No obligation, Pete.’
He nods. ‘I want this.’ He states plainly. ‘Even if it’s difficult.’
MJ has to look away from his earnest eyes should she do something stupid like cry or smile like a lovesick puppy.
‘Hey, Flash?’ Ned’s voice starts shaky, but regains composure. ‘That was fucking inconsiderate. Why do-‘
Flash looks sick. ‘Don’t ask me that.’
‘Not so fun when you can’t lie your way out of a question, is it, fucker?’ MJ can’t help herself.
‘No.’
Ned continues. ‘Why are you always like this? Why do you have to be this mean?’
‘I’m…’ Flash looks like he’s struggling. ‘Fuck it. I’m jealous, okay.’ He looks away, cheeks red.
Peter thinks he’s misheard. ‘You’re-‘ he shakes his head. ‘You’re seriously jealous? Of me? I’m… Why?’
MJ’s heart breaks a little. How can he think so little of himself?
‘Because you have fucking everything, okay?’ Flash almost shouts. ‘You’re smart, pretty, and you have- fuck this serum- you have people who care about you. Your aunt, your friends.’
‘Right, like you don’t, Flash.’ Betty chimes up. ‘Rich boy, who’s daddy gets him out of every situation. Doesn’t your daddy love you dearly?’
Flash deflates. ‘He…’ Flash is struggling again, losing against the serum. ‘Must be, as he only aims where you can’t see it.’ Flash clamps his hands over his mouth.
Fuck. Peter has always suspected. He’s seen enough abuse over the years patrolling the neighbourhood. ‘I think we should lay off questioning him.’
‘Why?’ This time it’s Abe. ‘Why should we, after what he just did to you?’
‘Because he’s hurting too.’ Peter looks at Flash, who’s pale and shaking. ‘We shouldn’t let this serum do more damage.’
‘As much as I want to cut of his dick and feed it to a zombie, so they’ll keep on chasing him after that taste, I agree with Peter.’ MJ squeezes his hand.
Betty looks conflicted, but nods. ‘We have to talk about this later.’
Relief floods off Flash in waves. He nods.
Peter sits next to MJ. ‘That was oddly specific.’ He whispers. ‘Remind me not to get on your bad side.’
MJ just raises an eyebrow.
Peter smiles softly at her. ‘Thank you, MJ.’
‘You’re welcome, loser.’
‘I would like that hug now.’
‘Demanding, ey?’ She smiles, but pulls him closer, letting him decide how tight the hug is. It will be okay, she thinks. It’ll take time, but they’ll figure it out.