The night had started to come to a close- the lights were dim; the music was slow. There weren’t too many people left, but there was enough to make the apartment feel small. MJ sat on the couch soaking it all in, people watching mostly. The loud drunkenness was gone, small chatting in groups- just enjoying each other’s company. She didn’t really know anyone here; she had only invited one person. Well, correction-- she knew her roommates, Gwen, and Bridgette. Everyone they invited, were whom she had met that night.
When the idea of a Halloween party was pitched a few weeks before, she reluctantly agreed. Not really wanting to be a bore about it, and not that she had plans otherwise. Up until yesterday she fully planned to not attend. She only would have known her roommates and the thought of having to mingle with strangers was uncomfortable. However, yesterday— Peter, her lab partner mentioned how he didn’t really have any plans for tonight. Before she could even process what she was doing, she invited him. He accepted, smiling brightly.
She considered Peter a friend, at least she thought they were friends. They did friend things, though she had never confirmed it with him. They shared a few classes and had become lab partners in their last semester. This was the real pushing off point for them to hang out. They would frequent the library, go to lunch, get coffee, and occasionally come to her apartment to study. That was a friend, right? No, yeah, they were friends. Over the summer they went to the MET, the first un-school related thing they had done. Gwen insisted this was a date, however MJ didn’t remember asking him on the “date.” Nor did he act any differently.
“Oh, come on, he clearly has a thing for you.” Gwen had said when she had gotten back.
She remembers being a bit taken aback by this. She tried to question Gwen further, but she just shrugged and said, “I see the way he looks at you.”
This was three months ago, and she didn’t really notice Peter “looking” at her in any type of way. He seemed the same. Now, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t have a little crush on him when they first met. But since becoming friends she didn’t want to jeopardize anything by confessing feelings. They just settled into becoming friends, and she liked it. She’d remember the crush occasionally; maybe when she’d see him super focused on a lab, or one of those days he had woken up late and his hair wasn’t done just so, or the quick quips he made during their time together, he always had a joke locked and loaded. She tried not to think about it too much.
Her Halloween costume had luckily remained largely intact through the night. She was the moon, or the cow jumping over the moon. Regardless, she was able to wear her knit sweater that had a cow jumping over the moon on it. (She enjoyed being a bit on the nose) About cried when she found it in her grandmothers old things. This costume also gave her the opportunity to do some fun make up, half-assing something she saw on the internet. Glitter stars peppered over her nose; they matched her tights. Though she had explained her costume a million times over tonight— she still felt pretty good about it, she felt clever. She also felt very pretty.
Sinking down further into the couch, she people watched. She had a few drinks that night and was feeling incredibly warm and content. Bridgette, her other roommate had insisted on only using the record player for music. She could hear Bridgette sigh loudly across the room as the record finished its last song. This has been a repeat event all night, not being able not to laugh a little at the dedication to the aesthetics of it. Bridgette had been the one to decorate the apartment to the nines for the spooky event. Her eyes slowly drifted around the room as the record was replaced with another- Mazzy Star’s So Tonight That I Might See album flickered to life. Her gaze landed to the edge of the room where Peter sat. He was alone. They had hung out almost the whole night. Beer pong partners, shot buddies, and he even asked her to dance. It was sweet, and his hands were warm. A few other people danced around them as well. Conducting poor attempts at waltzing. As the party started to dwindle, he started to mingle, chatting to a few people here and there.
He caught her looking at him, he smiled and stood up. Walking across the room to sit next to her. He sat close, very close, she could feel the warmth of his thigh touching hers.
“Hey, thanks for inviting me, it was a good night,” he said not looking at her, now leaning back to mimic how she was sitting.
“It was a good night, wasn’t it? I’m glad you came,” she replied turning to look at his profile. His features were soft, he rested his head on the back of the couch.
“I haven’t done anything like this since… well I guess since ever. I just get so busy sometimes, school, work. I like a no responsibilities night...” he trailed off.
“Yeah, I get that, it also probably helps that it’s a Friday,” she replied.
“It doesn’t help that I have to be at the Bugle at 7am tomorrow,” he chuckled.
She shot a look at her watch, it was midnight. “Oh god, Peter it’s late, you can go if you need to.” A frown flashed across her face. She didn’t want tomorrow to be miserable for him. He had gotten drunk, and even if he left now he lived in Chinatown, her mind was fuzzy, but she knew it was far.
“Nah, I’m still having a good time. And I didn’t say I planned on being there at 7.”
“I think Mr. J would have your head if he heard you say that.”
“He can have it,” he laughed, “they’ve got me down in the bowels of the building developing film. I haven’t even seen anyone from the office in a week.” He shrugged.
“Wow, rebel without a cause, huh?”
“What can I say? I’m a bad boy.”
She snorted a laugh. “I wouldn’t really call the guy who spent all last weekend taking pictures of dogs- a quote on quote ‘bad boy.’”
“They wanted a puff piece!” He said in a fake-exasperated tone, “and that was a good article!”
She nodded in agreement. “It was indeed a good article, no argument here. Spider-Man even retweeted it.”
She could feel Peter wince ever so slightly “Yeah, that was nice of him to do. I think, uh, he’s done it a few times.”
“He has indeed, he seems to be quite the Peter Parker fan.”
“Heh, yeah I guess so.”
“The concept of ‘superhero’s’ that has social media is kinda funny, ya know?”
“What do you mean?”
“I dunno, it’s hard to imagine them leading normal lives. I mean, I guess Spider-Man is different— us not knowing his identity.” She laughs a little, “I mean hulk tweeted about some restaurant he went to the other day.” She pauses, “weird, oh man and all those podcasts that Antman guy went on.”
“Yeah, I guess I see what you’re saying; but You keep tabs on all of them, huh?”
She laughs a little, “I guess I do, have no fear though your number one fan is my favorite.” her voice drops, and she whispers to him, “I’m currently telling you a joke, it’s Spider-Man.”
He stares at the ceiling, still resting his head on the couch and laughs, “I gathered as much. Spider-man does seem like a cool dude.”
She hums in response and looks at his profile again. His eyes are closed. “Who’s your favorite?”
She feels him slightly wince again, this must be some sore subject, she made note to move on.
He opens his eyes, and she notices the tiniest facial expression flash across his face. It’s gone as soon as it came. She can’t quite make out what it means, it doesn’t seem comfortable though. “My favorite is definitely Iron Man.”
“I think that’s an excellent favorite to have.” She says earnestly. She sees him give a small smile and look back up at the ceiling. “You know, our costumes kinda match.”
He looks down at his shirt, probably forgetting he was wearing a costume. He was coincidentally dressed as the solar system. He had hot glued several puff balls across the shirt— to represent the planets. “Oh! We are, aren’t we? Maybe once your cow is done jumping over the moon it can jump over all the planets.”
“Ha, oh to be a cow in outer space, traveling our solar system.”
He gives a light laugh. “I completely forgot to say something earlier.” He pauses for a long second. She can see the red in his cheeks and on the tip of his nose. “I think you look really pretty tonight.” His eyes are lazily wandering around the room, he won’t look at her.
She feels dizzy, first an adrenaline rush pulses through her, she can feel it in the tips of her fingers. Then a warmth spreads through her chest. He’s never complimented her like that before. He has complimented her, i.e., he likes her shoes or her shirt; maybe she did her hair differently and he noticed— but he’s never called her pretty. It makes her giddy. It’s so innocent and sweet, she felt the genuineness in it. Maybe she always wanted him to think she’s pretty. In a mild panic, she realizes she’s taking too long to respond. “Oh, uh- thank you Peter, you’re looking pretty handsome yourself, out of this world one might say.” And she means it, he did look good tonight.
His face goes beat read, and he looks at her. “Aw man, I really like you …” he pauses for a long time, putting his hands over his face.
She sat dumbfounded, surely, he means like like right? They sit in silence for a long moment, not really looking at each other. She finally breaks the silence, deciding to take the safe route. “Well, Peter, I like you too.” And she truly meant it, she wanted to keep it more open ended and vague. His silence was making her nervous.
He sat up straighter and twisted his body to face her. His face was so red, she can only imagine hers mirrored his. “No, gah like I really, really like you …, you remember those flowers I brought to lab last week?”
She hummed “I do remember.”
MJ internally laughed, he was so weird that day.
He had brought in a small bouquet of flowers, wrapped together with a twine bow. They looked like wildflowers; it was very beautiful. Peter had many talents, but she didn’t really think floral arrangements were one of them. They must have been from the bodega down the street.
Once she saw him with them, she had asked, “oh wow, very beautiful Peter, who are those for…” she paused for a beat. “Or who are those from?” She turned to look back at the lab report she was writing out.
The prolonged silence made her look back up. He looked like a deer in the headlights, he stood frozen staring at her. His face was starting to get red; she didn’t mean to embarrass him.
Her eyebrows were knitting waiting for a response. Deciding to just drop it she had said, “well you don’t have to tell me.” She gave a light laugh. “It can be a secret.” She said earnestly. She turned back down to her paper to proceed. If he didn’t want to tell her, it was so genuinely fine. She didn’t want to push him, evidently the answer wasn’t easy.
After an even longer pause, he spoke up, his voice sounded a bit strained. “Oh, um well they’re for my… cousin, yeah my cousin.”
She looked up to him, “ah, well they’re beautiful, Peter. They’ll love them.” She gave him a big smile. This conversation was weird, but shortly after they got to work on the report it started to slip her mind. He took the flowers as they were leaving, now holding them limply in his hand.
“The flowers were for you. I got them for you. I had every intent on giving them to you. But when I got to the lab and saw you sitting there all focused. I panicked and chickened out.” He covers his face with his hands again. “And it was so embarrassing! I said I was giving them to my cousin! I don’t even have a cousin, why did I do that?” There’s another beat of silence. “I had this whole plan to ask you out with them. Like a proper date.”
The adrenaline spread throughout her body again. The very thought of him picking out flowers for her. A date?Butterflies were going mad in her stomach. Her mind was ablaze going over everything thing he had ever said to her. Was he good at hiding things, or was she just clueless? Gwen was going to have a field day with this one. She realizing she’s taking too long to answer again. She doesn’t look at him as she answers. “I would have said yes… if you asked.”
He looks at her, then does a double take. He breaks out in the biggest smile. “Wait, really?”
She looks to him, his eyes are twinkling. She can still see his cheeks are hot. “Yes. I really, really like you too, Peter.”
“Wow.” Is all he says.
“Wow indeed.”
They both lean back into the couch silently. The record comes to a stop, she hears Bridgette huff and then flip to side B. Fade into you by Mazzy Star starts up. She feels a bit dizzy, not from anything else other than him. It feels so good, warm. They’re quiet but it’s fine, it’s comfortable and familiar. She can faintly smell his cologne, feel the warmth of his body next to hers. She smiles to herself, and can’t help but let out a small giggle, she’s giddy. He looks over to her questioningly. She simply smiles back at him and lays her head on his shoulder. She can feel his body relax; he intertwines his fingers with hers. Her heart wants to explode, she never wants to leave this moment.
They stay like that for the rest of the night, quietly enjoying each other’s company. The guests start to head out and her roommates say they’re goodnights. She catches Gwen winking at her as she disappears down the hall. They’re alone now.
Peter broke the silence first. “So, uh, what do we do now?”
She looks to him. “Well, I gonna be honest, I was thinking about bed.” She looked down at her watch. It was 2am, time had flown.
“Oh, well, yeah, I was thinking that too. But I mean… like us?” He unlaces his fingers from hers to gesture between them.
She makes an ‘O’ with her lips. “I don’t really know.” She laughs. “I never really thought we would get this far.”
He laughs. “Me either honestly.”
She can’t help but laugh again. “I think we’re supposed to go on dates.”
They’re both laughing now, through his laugh he manages to say “Oh, right I forgot about those.”
“Well, Peter, would you like to go on a date with me?” She’s still giggling.
“I would love to.” He smiles at her; his eyes are twinkling again.
“Can I kiss you?” She slaps a hand over her mouth. That was not what she meant to say. But it was too late, the words left her lips.
Before she could think another thought, Peter kissed her. She was caught off so caught off guard her body tensed. This quickly passed and she melted into the kiss. He moved his hand to the side of her face, holding it softly. MJ’s hands rested on his chest; she could feel his heart beating quickly. The smell of his cologne was stronger. The kiss is gentle, her upper lip catches his and it deepens. She can faintly taste something strawberry he was drinking earlier. She grabs a fist full of his sweater, his cupped hand is now firm on the side of her face— his thumb delicately stroking her cheek. Peter snakes his other hand around her waist now holding onto the small of her back. She hears his breath hitch; he starts to take deep short breaths. Her chest is fluttering, now this was the moment she didn’t want to leave. It felt like she was waiting for this forever. Their lips move to a silent beat, it’s sickly sweet. He lightly pulls away and rests his forehead on hers, he’s grinning brightly. She can see her lipstick smeared on his lips. His nose is red. They’re both breathing a little heavier. She looks into his eyes, there’s that twinkling.
Unmoving, he speaks first, “So about that first date?”
Breathily she replies, “yeah?”
“I’m thinking star gazing?”
She laughs, “we can sure try.”
He smiles to her, kissing her again.