“Alright fine”
Peter let’s out a victorious yelp through a mouth full of Cheetos, pumping the air with his fist.
“BUT, if I do this, we’re making it interesting”
He nods eagerly, licking the Cheeto dust off his fingers.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Bets.” MJ replies with her signature smirk that makes Peter simultaneously want to swoon and run away terrified.
She leans back on the carpet, placing her hands behind her to sustain her weight.
“Bets?” He asks with furrowed brows.
“Bets,” She confirms, shrugging her shoulders in a show of nonchalance,”Best out of three, whoever wins owes the other whatever they want.”
Well…. That doesn’t sound like it will end well for him.
“I don’t like that look in your eyes.” He gives her a nervous look.
She scoffs “Lighten up loser” She bumps her shoulder against his with a roll of her eyes,” It’s just harmless fun.”
He studies her for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of saying yes.
She stares right back with a steady gaze, no qualms about making direct eye contact with him.
They’re locked in this silent game of back and forth for what feels like an eternity in only a few seconds.
MJ narrows her eyes at him.
He’s narrows his back,
…….
…….
…….
He tears his eyes away, letting out a irritated growl just for show.
“Alright fine.”
Her smirk is smug as she silently revels in her ability to always cause him to break.
“Okay,” she leans up and crisscrosses her legs under her,”So what do you want, if you win that is, which is highly unlikely but whatever.” She says, gesturing to him with a Cheeto between her fingers.
He sends her a playful glare at that last comment before pursing his lips, racking his brain for something sensible to answer with.
“Mm, okay, how about this, I win, you owe me a Delmars sandwich after school tomorrow.”
She shrugs
“Kinda lame, but alright,” she leans up to grab a wii controller,” Let’s do this.”
“Wait a second, what about you?” He asks as she clicks on the Mario Kart app
“Hm?” She doesn’t look away from the screen.
“What about you? What do you want if you win?”
She turns her head to give him a once over before a mischievous smirk appears on her face, “You’ll see.”
Sometimes Peter thinks his girlfriend is the most adorable, wholesome human being on earth, other times…..
“Al-right,” he responds reluctantly, grabbing his own controller,
”That’s not terrifying at all.”
He whispers that last part, though she obviously heard it by the amused look she shoots him.
“It’s alright tiger,” She says patting his knee,” Just win and you won’t have to worry about it.”
He rolls his eyes at her
“”Don’t worry about it” she says, knowing good and well she wins at everything we play.” He mutters childishly under his breath.
She actually gives a genuine chuckle at that, a small one sure, but a chuckle nonetheless. The world seem to pause around them for a few seconds, everything moving in slow motion as he just observes her, the way her eyes light up, the way her mouth stretches as she laughs, the way her curls bounce as her body shakes with amusement.
She’s beautiful.
He wishes he would see her like this more often. Happy. Carefree. Her complete self.
He’s been seeing it more often ever since they started dating, but that’s only when they’re alone. It’s like as soon as they leave her safe bubble of his apartment, she shuts that part of herself off. And it’s not that he doesn’t love that she feels comfortable enough around him to be herself, don’t get him wrong, he just wishes she would be herself with more than just him, frick what other people think. But he knows she won’t, and that’s due to multiple factors of her life : social anxiety, fear of rejection, her home life. And he wishes he could help her overcome these things, and he does try to help her with them, but it’s a sensitive subject that he’s scared of bringing up in fear of her closing off with him too.
“It’s your turn.”
Peter’s head jerks up. How long was he just staring into space?
“What?”
She raises an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
“To pick a character,” She points at the character selection screen,” It’s your turn.”
“Oh-oh yeah right,” He picks his controller back up and looks through the selection” Uh, who did you pick?”
“Donkey Kong, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he confirms, still slightly dazed from his daydreaming.
She must notice something in his tone, for she gives him a suspicious once over.
“You good?” MJ asks.
She always has been good at reading people
“Huh? Oh yeah yeah I’m fine.”
Way to go Peter, ruining a good moment with your overthinking
She gives him one more glance before turning back to the screen,”Alright weirdo.”
He searches through the menu until clicking on a character.
MJ snorts,”Of course you’d pick Toad.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He tries his best to sound offended though his smile is contradictory.
She shrugs,”Nothing, it just fits.”
Peter rolls his eyes,”Whatever, let’s see if you can put your money where your mouth is.”
——-*———
Their first game goes exactly as suspected, with MJ blowing him out of the water.
The second game’s outcome was….unexpected.
(“You bastard! I had you beat to rights!”
Peter leans back and props himself on the pillow behind him with a smile “That’s what a blue turtle shell will do for you Em..AH!”
The pillow was promptly yanked out from under him.)
Which then leads them to the third game.
“I gotcha this time Em.” Peter exclaims boastfully, his smile prideful.
Things are looking pretty good for Peter. He’s kept first place for the first two laps with a wide berth between him and MJ.
“Yeah, you keep thinking that.” MJ responds under her breath, focused intently on the screen.
“Keep dreaming, you’re not coming back on this one.” Peter was getting waytoo much joy out of this.
He’s sees the finish line upfront, he gets so dang close, victory already on his mind, when his screen starts beeping.
Peter’s smile immediately drops.
“No no no NO,” Swerve as he might, he can’t dodge a blue turtle shell,”AH, COME ON!”
MJ’s cart passes by him, taking first place. She doesn’t whoop or pump her fist in victory like Peter did, only flashes a smug smile.
“Really?! That’s so unfair!” He exclaims, hands gesturing wildly towards the screen.
MJ shrugs,”Karma’s a B.”
Peter’s head shoots towards her, a look on his face as if he just uncovered some kind of great revelation.
“Did you plan this the whole time? You were saving that turtle shell the whole time weren’t you?! That’s why you let me have the lead th-“ His frantic rambling is interrupted by an object colliding with his face-wait no that’s not an object, it’s soft and isn’t sliding off his face, and it’s moving-oh gosh it’s moving, that a person, that’s MJ.
And she’s kissinghim
Ok maybe this shouldn’t be so incredulous, they had kissed before, granted it was only a few times but still. Maybe it’s just the suddenness that catches him off guard.
Enough for him to not kiss back.
Oh gosh he’s not kissing back.
He should probably do that right?
MJ pulls away before he gets a chance.
“Uh-wha-you-“
She looks way too amused about this,”You alright there Parker?”
“Uh-wha-what was that?” His fingers come up to touch his lips.
She shrugs like she didn’t literally just fry his brain,”My prize.”
“You’re-prize?”
“My prize, for our bet,” she’s says slowly, as if talking to a child.
“Oh right right, the bet.”
Brain malfunctioning
Cannot compute
Its overloading
shutting down.
“Was that—alright?”
His head whips towards her, something in her voice caught his attention, something that is rarely there.
Doubt, nervousness.
It’s all over her face too.
Crap he stayed caught in his head for too long hadn’t he? She thought his silence meant he wasn’t okay with the kiss, or that she did something wrong.
Stupid Parker you’re doing it again.
“Oh yeah yeah, more than alright.” He flashes her a wide smile, letting her know that it was truly okay with him.
Way more thanokay
He receives back a smile, not quite as big as his, though it has the same light shining through it all the same.
“Good, that’s good.”
Her eyes flick back down to his lips.
His to hers.
He gives a little boyish laugh,leaning in a little closer, “I’m just gonna-“ he trails off, pointing in the general direction of her face.
She leans in closer too, letting out a little chuckle of her own,”Yeah you do that.”
Then their lips are meeting again and all seems right in the world.
Jeez Peter that was so freaking cheesy.