Mixed POV
Peter's POV
Turns out, Peter did not have time to shake the hornet's nest of MJ's world because his own life became a hornet's nest itself.
It was during lunch while Peter was waiting for Ned and MJ that he felt his phone buzz with a notification from Facebook Messenger.
Liz: Hey, Peter. You busy next week?
His heart froze for a second before beating erratically. He kept reading the same message, over and over again.
"You okay bro?" Ned asked as he took a seat next to him. MJ slid into the seat across from him, eyeing him quizzically before pulling out another book to read. "You look pale."
"it's nothing," his voice sounded a higher pitch than usual and he coughed to clear it. "Just a meme Aunt May sent me."
"Can I see?" Ned reached for his phone and Peter pulled it back towards his chest, clutching it tightly.
"Sorry Ned, too inappropriate for your eyes," he tried to joke and thinking quickly, entered his pin and searched for naughty memes hoping nothing too pornographic would come up. "Just kidding. I just don't want you to see our other messages, too personal even for us bro."
Ned's hurt expression relaxed back into a grin as he waited for Peter, taking a big bite of his egg and lettuce sandwich.
"Understandably," he spoke with his mouth full. "You would die if you saw what my mum sends me."
MJ let out a snort and Ned glanced at her.
"Oh sure, I bet you're mum doesn't send you any lovey-dovey messages."
"No actually," she replied coldly, staring him down. "She's a crackhead so only messages when I need to save her from an overdose."
Peter felt his mouth drop open and his fingers stilled as both he and Ned stared at her with wide eyes. Peter's arm hovered over the table, phone extended to show Ned a meme which both had forgotten about now.
"Umm," Ned coughed and swallowed his mouthful. "I can't tell if you're joking or not."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" she smirked, eyes returning to her book, satisfied with the reaction she received.
Ned laughed and began to chat about a new movie he had watched last night, but Peter wasn't listening properly the way he usually would. He surveyed MJ, taking in her dishevelled appearance. They hadn't met up for a few nights now because her mum hadn't been working as late. Was she joking? He had come to learn that under MJ's barbing comments and jokes that there was sometimes a level of truth.
"Stop thinking so hard," MJ muttered to him behind the pages of her book and peered over at him with a frown. "You're giving me a headache."
He continued to stare at her, trying to read something in her face and her frown quickly deepened as she stared right back.
"You should probably get back to that text," she finally said, snapping her book closed and standing to her feet. "It looked really important."
Peter's stomach dropped.
"Wait, what?" Ned asked, glancing from Peter to MJ and then back again. "What text?"
But MJ had turned sharply and was strolling back through the crowd, Peter staring after her.
MJ's POV
It shouldn't bother her, but it did. She had stood in line for lunch with Ned, chatting about the latest Doctor Who episode and she was feeling surprisingly good and she was looking forward to continuing the conversation with Peter. However, as she walked to the table with him, she had passed a glance over Peter's shoulder on her way to her usual spot and her stomach had dropped. She hadn't seen the full message, just the name attached to it.
Liz.
She didn't need to see the full message to know that whatever its content, it had probably triggered Peter's obvious crush all over again when she saw his reaction. She probably wouldn't have been as bothered if Peter didn't lie and say it was a text from Aunt May. She felt something roil in her gut, watching his pitiless performance that only Ned would find to be convincing, that was unfamiliar, raw and straight-up uncomfortable. So when Ned had made his jab that did actually hit home because of her practically non-existent relationship with her mother and the words fell out of her without thinking.
God, fucking dammit.
Stupid Peter Parker.
She found her usual place in the library and curled up with her book, finding her chest aching. She hadn't done this for a while, but it felt important now.
Peter's POV
Peter finally worked up enough courage to reply just before the start of his next class.
Pete: Me? Busy? Pfft, who do you think I am?
Her reply came back almost instantly.
Liz: True. That was a stupid question.
He laughed and quickly covered it with a cough while Ned looked at him sharply. After MJ had made her exit he told Ned who was only slightly annoyed at his lie before they began to talk excitedly about what the heck someone like Liz could want with someone like Peter. He was trying to focus on the board when his phone buzzed again and he took a quick peek.
Liz: So since you don't have a life, I'm going to give you one. Meet next Friday at the Dunkin's near mine? 7pm.
His stomach did summersaults as he typed his reply quickly.
Pete: Hell yea.
MJ's POV:
Michelle's day only went downhill from there and it was one-hundred per cent Peter's fault. After she had peace in her English class following lunch, she had to endure Peter's constant glances and red face throughout their shared Geometry class. He had tried to strike up a conversation, but MJ had timed her arrival to class just perfectly so he only managed to open his mouth before their teacher strolled in.
When the alarm sounded, she bolted without a backwards look even though their new tradition was to walk to their next classes together because they were right next to each other.
She didn't want to talk to Peter right now. She wanted to take the time to think about what the roiling in her gut all was about and it was throwing her off. She usually had tight control over herself; emotions and words especially but she knew something was off when she made the comment about her mother. She needed to fix herself before she could risk engaging with Peter again in case she said something else.
Michelle had been surprised to see her own text from Liz when she hid in the library. She usually kept her phone on silent to give the school day the proper attention she should, but she had grown bored. She and Liz had kept on and off contact since she had first moved away. MJ liked Liz and they had been sort of friends since the start of high school. She admired Liz's gentle spirit while maintaining a killer mind. She was nervous to take her place as the leader of their Decathlon team because she knew just how much the rest of them admired her and that included Parker. She remembered the first time she had realised he had a crush on her. She thought it was hilarious. Liz had commented on how well Peter had answered questions during a Decathlon practise and as he had made away back to his chair next to her, a big grin plastered on his stupid face, he missed a step and succeeded to land the perfect smack to their table, face hitting the wood sharply.
Michelle had laughed until she cried, stumbling herself while she kept doing so as she pulled him to his feet and subsequently to the Nurses office when it became apparent his nose had been broken.
She couldn't blame Peter for his crush. Honestly, she had had one herself, especially the first few months of their friendship. Like herself, Liz was bisexual and because they were mature, intelligent individuals, they had decided to sit down and discuss what was going on between them. Michelle had been excited to find out Liz had a crush on her too but they eventually concluded that they would rather stay friends because, despite their personality differences, they were still too similar and realised they would essentially be dating themselves.
Liz had been super supportive to MJ after the Blip had happened as well. They called nearly every night for the first few weeks, Liz helping her catch up with what she had missed in the past five years and on her college experience and was someone Michelle could rely on to speak her through the panic attacks that she rarely got now. Despite their age difference now, not much had changed.
So she was excited to read Liz's text. She's coming to Queens for a few weeks from next week. She wanted to catch up and MJ was surprised she didn't feel as eager as she usually would be.
"Why?" she asked herself when the final bell rang and her brain immediately answered. She didn't want it to be the case.
"Peter."
Peter's POV
Peter's good mood was tarnished by only one thing: Michelle. Something was wrong. She had been ignoring him since lunch. He knew she liked Liz so the text couldn't have been it, but if it wasn't that, what else could it have been?
He decided to be straight up and ask. When he saw her grabbing her books from her locker, he quickly walked over before she could bolt again.
"11?" he asked simply as he leaned on the locker next to her. Tonight was going to be the first night her mother worked late this week and he realised he missed their rooftop rendezvous. They texted when they couldn't meet, staying up for hours, but it wasn't the same as being together in person.
"Actually, Peter," she sighed as she snapped her lock shut, heaving her backpack onto her shoulders. "I think I'm going to stay in. I have an English assignment to work on." Her eyes met his, unwavering and grim.
"Oh," he said simply, face falling. "Okay, but we'll text right?"
"Sure, I guess," she said and began walking. He had to jog just to keep up with her. "I'll talk to you later, Parker."
And then she was striding even faster and he had no hope as she disappeared through the crowd. It wasn't until he saw Ned that he realised what she had said.
They were in the same grade. They had different classes sometimes but everything was streamlined here.
There was no English assignment.
His stomach somehow fell further.