Mixed POV
MJ'S POV
When Michelle opened her eyes the next morning, they still felt swollen and puffy. She felt incredibly warm despite the cool bite to the tip of her nose and she let out a groan as she rolled over, right into a warm, hard lump. Michelle bolted upright with a yelp as the lump beside her did the same and dark brown eyes met her own blue ones. Michelle clutched her hand to her chest, exhaling sharply as she tried to regulate her breathing.
"I'm so sorry," she croaked out. "I completely forgot."
Peter's alarmed eyes settled as he also took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair.
"Don't apologise. You did scare the crap out of me though."
They surveyed each other; Peter with a light smile on his face. His hair was ruffled and sticking in all sorts of directions. There were light circles under his bright eyes but they weren't the deepest she'd seen. Considering the late-night, she expected worse. She suspected she looked worse for wear compared to him though.
MJ cleared her throat and looked away, suddenly feeling very awkward. There was a boy in her bed. A boy who she'd cried her eyes out to last night. A boy who listened to the story she had yet to tell anyone else.
Peter knew her secret now, just as she knew his. It was a fair trade, but she began to reassess her decision to tell him. When it was just her that knew, it could be ignored and pushed aside and let out when she felt like it. But now he knew, would he want to talk about it? Would he bring it up randomly?
She stumbled out of the bed and slid as far away from him as possible in her tiny room. She surveyed him with a scowl while his eyes shifted to confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"You need to promise me something," she demanded and after a pause, he nodded slowly. "What happened last night stays between us. Please don't tell Ned. Please don't tell a teacher or literally anyone. Not even your Avenger buddies. When I want to tell people I will, should I ever decide to"
He looked away momentarily before also climbing out of the bed and standing before her.
"Okay, I promise," he met her gaze. "but..."
"But?" she bit. "There is no but."
"But," he continued, watching her cautiously, "I want you to consider telling someone who can properly help you, sooner rather than later. And I want you to promise that you'll tell me or literally anyone if you ever see that man again."
Her scowl turned into a blank stare. She didn't like being told what to do and frankly, it felt unfair for him to request that of her.
"But it is a request. A suggestion," her brain prompted so she took a breath.
"Fine," it came out terse. "I'll think about it."
Peter visibly relaxed at her response, offered a nod and headed for his discarded Spidey suit he had stashed in the corner.
"What time is it by the way?" he asked as he began to head towards the bathroom. "I need to get back to my Aunt's before I go to school."
The pale light was a sign it wasn't too late in the morning but she checked her phone.
"It's only 7," she told him through the bathroom door.
As Peter changed in her bathroom, she quickly got herself ready for the school day as well after telling Peter sternly through the door not to leave the bathroom until she told him she was done. MJ pulled on a pair of dark grey slacks, a black singlet and then her favourite cardigan before stuffing her feet into her favourite pair of black converse. She knocked on Peter's door to say it was okay to leave before trying to pull her messy hair into a high bun. He left the bathroom as she was adjusting the stray strands, hoping she looked semi-decent.
"Nice outfit," he commented awkwardly, handing her the clothes he had borrowed.
"Thanks," her eyes lazily swept his own figure. "Your outfit is pretty cool too."
He laughed awkwardly, face flushing red as he looked down at himself.
"Yep. As you can tell I have a distinct style."
"Red and blue are definitely your colours," she said as she began to stuff her school things into her bag. She'd have to catch the bus today because there was no time to walk.
"And yours is black," he laughed and she offered him a tight smile.
They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before he made to move past her towards her small window, pausing momentarily to place his hand on her arm. She shook it off, not even remotely awake enough to deal with the idea of physical touch but he didn't look offended.
"Thank you for telling me," he said quietly, eyes scanning hers.
She wanted to say something back, possibly snarky just to remind him that just because he knew didn't mean he got to comment on it whenever he wanted. Instead, she settled for,
"Thanks for staying with me" though she hated that she asked him to stay in the first place.
"You're pathetic," her inner voice whispered to her and she grimaced. Peter didn't see it though because, after a quick smile, he jumped out of the window.
Peter's POV
After dashing home to shower and having a quick bite of toast with Aunt May who didn't seem too concerned that her nephew was out all night, Peter found himself back in school. His skin felt electric, like he was expecting something to happen but it wasn't like his tingle. It was just a charge of adrenaline that he realised was all about Michelle as soon as he saw her and felt the energy die away.
He promised her not to mention it to anyone, but now he knew what was happening in her world, he felt obligated on a deeper sense to make sure she was okay. The balance of being a supportive friend and not pissing her off and having her push him away, as a result, was going to be difficult. When their eyes met in the hall and she dropped hers immediately, pushing past Ned and Peter both, he wasn't offended. He knew feelings for her were like the kryptonite to Superman and she'd need to recover. He knew that last night was going to change this dynamic they had because she prided herself on being a strong individual. Last night though, she was vulnerable with Peter so that meant on some level, Peter was now a threat.
He'd have to tread carefully.
Ned watched MJ walking away with a frown.
"That's weird. Is the old MJ back do you think?"
Peter just shrugged, playing oblivious.
"Michelle will always be Michelle. I wouldn't worry."
Ned seemed happy with that answer but Peter couldn't take his own advice. He was worried. He felt momentary relief when she joined them at their lunch table, even though she did choose to sit distantly to read her book. She did smile at Ned though and chimed in even now and then with some insult towards them, but she was reserved and quiet. Even in classes today when questions were asked that Michelle would usually be the first to answer, she was quiet.
Peter missed the loud MJ.
The week flew by and soon it was the weekend. The whole week, MJ kept her distance and didn't respond to his texts. He still checked in each night, asking if she wanted to meet but she had replied "no" each time. He wasn't offended, but he was worried. He wasn't sure at what point he should demand to see her or demand to talk, but didn't want to even consider that because she would definitely shut him out then. He started to wonder if it was a lose-lose situation regardless because he felt pretty shut out now, even though he knew it wasn't logical.
In the MJ shaped absence of his life, Peter found himself texting with Liz more and more each day. She was coming to spend a week in Queens, to give a talk at a few schools across the town about college to students that had Blipped; students that should have been in college now like her. They bantered back and forth, exchanging memes that including some he didn't understand because he was still trying to catch up with the last five years of pop culture, and he found himself grinning whenever he checked his phone to see a snarky comment.
He discussed the Liz situation with Aunt May over dinner, the Monday night of the week as he got too excited thinking about Friday.
"Do you still like her?" she asked quizzically as she chowed into the enchiladas Peter had made for them both. "Is this still a thing?"
He thought about it, shoving aside his awkwardness because Aunt May was his number one support right now.
"I don't think so. I mean, it's super different now. She's in college, she's way older than me and I think she has a boyfriend anyway."
Aunt May's eyes assessed him as a thoughtful expression crossed her face.
"You know, that doesn't really change much if you're crushing on her."
"But I'm not," he replied and meant in truthfully. "I'm looking forward to seeing her but more so just to catch up. I feel like I'm different and she's different and I just don't think about her that way anymore."
He didn't mention that it only really changed because of the relationship status he had seen a few months ago.
"It is a little strange though," she gestured to him with her fork. "What with her being half a decade older than you."
He gulped.
"When you say it like that, you make her sound ancient."
"To be honest, Peter, when girls are in their twenties, they are way more mature on a general level."
"You said girls are usually more mature right from the start," he argued.
"Yes," she agreed, nodding. "So if she was more mature at fifteen than you, before the blip and I don't mean that as an insult, honey, I'm talking psychologically here, she's way more mature now that she's five years older than you."
Peter grimaced into his enchilada.
"I don't see where you're going with this."
Aunt May leant across the table and grabbed his arm.
"All I'm saying is prepare for it to be different. She's not a teenager anymore, honey. She's a woman. She's not going to be the same."
"Yeah," he thought. "Neither am I."