they were here.
they were here and peter was absolutely terrified.
he’d been through a lot in his now 19 years of life. losing his parents. losing uncle ben. fighting captain america in germany. fighting his girlfriend’s dad on a plane which he then crashed. fighting a purple alien in space and then dying for five years. fighting mysterio and having his identity revealed. losing aunt may. losing ned and mj.
but nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to do.
ned was sitting on the floor, playing with the lego set he’d bought peter for his birthday. he hadn’t actually planned on telling them his birthday until michelle had harassed it out of him. michelle, who was sitting next to peter on his bed, only a few inches between them.
it was crazy to peter how close they’d gotten over the course of eight months. eight months since mj and ned met him for the first time. eight months compared to peter’s years.
mj had never been a very open person. she’d always kept to herself. she observed from afar, but cared deeply. once she let herself get attached, she was all in, and if anyone got in her way, she was going to take them out. it was one of the things peter loved the most about her.
and he really did love her. he loved her so much. he’d never forgotten the feeling of her knowing he was spider-man, though it had been well over a year now. the feeling of normal, like his life was actually what it was meant to be before beck made that video.
but that was the past. he was here, now, with mj next to him and ned on the floor and the empire strikes back playing on the tv in the corner. now, two weeks away from all three of them moving to boston, ned and mj to go to mit and peter to go with them. ned hadn’t questioned the development when mj had brought up that peter would be joining them, and had even found an apartment for them all to share.
it was that moment that peter knew he was meant to be with ned and mj. because no one else would have taken a lonely, depressed high-school dropout under their wing so quickly and so thoroughly as the two of them did. and that’s why he knew he had to just do it.
“i have something to tell you guys.”
four eyes were glued to him then, as he reached back and under his pillow.
his mask was there. mj already knew, obviously. she told him she would figure it out, and he never doubted her for a second. he only wished he’d actually been the one to tell her first.
“ned, mj already knows this, but,” he said slowly, pulling the mask into his lap and lifting it up. ned looked up, making eye contact with peter, then with mj, and then with the large white eyes on the mask.
“bro, what? but you-“ ned’s eyes met peter’s again, a question beginning to shine through the wonder in them. “so your aunt?”
peter had expected the question, but it didn’t make it hurt any less when it came. his breath caught in his throat and his eyes began to burn immediately.
“yeah. it was my fault. i was fighting this villain from another reality, a guy named osborne, and she got caught up in the crossfire. i was there when she died. she was always my biggest supporter in everything and then i couldn’t save her,” peter said, his voice tapering off at the end. he scrubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands, and then felt fingers intertwine with his. he looked at michelle.
“i’m sorry you had to go through that, peter,” she said, barely audible. “i’m sorry you had to go through it alone.”
peter laughed then, humorless and breathy. it was just like mj to give him a perfect opening for his next sentence.
“i, uh. i actually didn’t go through it alone. you guys were there after.”
“well yeah, but we didn’t meet you for a few weeks.”
peter stood up then, untangling his hand from mj’s. she made eye contact with him then, her face hardening slightly.
“that’s not what he means, ned.”
ned looked between the two of them, the lego in his hands now entirely forgotten. just like the time he’d found out peter was spider-man, it crashed to the floor.
“tell us, peter. please,” mj was pleading now, tears beginning the prick at the edges of her eyes. she was scared, and she had every reason to be. she was about to find out that everything peter had ever told her was a lie. that he was a lie.
so he told them.
he told them about getting adopted by may and ben when he was a little kid.
he told them about that time in elementary school when he was getting bullied for loving iron man until he met another kid who loved him just as much.
he told them about the time iron man saved him at the stark expo.
he told them about getting to middle school and meeting this girl who seemed like she hated everyone and everything, but was super smart and passionate about world issues.
he told them about getting bitten by a radioactive spider and how he got so sick he thought he was going to die, but instead woke up the next day with abs and way too much noise going on inside his head.
he told them about the time he came home from school to find a crazy car parked outside and tony stark sitting on his couch eating may’s date loaf.
he told them about fighting captain america in germany and how they had bonded over being from new york and now he’d stolen his shield.
he told them about that kid who loved iron man becoming his guy in the chair, helping him hack the suit and do a lot more semi-illegal things.
he told them about fighting liz’s dad and calling happy too many times and going to space with mr. stark and a wizard and then he died for five years and came back only for mr. stark to die in front of him and for everything to go wrong.
he told them about going on his school trip, where he was going to finally talk to the girl he liked and buy her a black dahlia necklace but then it got highjacked by nick fury and his identity got revealed to everyone.
he told them how that girl became his girlfriend, but then he talked to that same wizard and ended up bringing a bunch of villains in from the multiverse, one of whom killed his aunt.
“and then, i was sitting on a rooftop, alone, when my two best friends in the whole world showed up. you two. you guys were with me for all of it. you held me while i cried and you helped us through big boss battle at the end, but i had to give it up. i had to give up everyone knowing who peter parker was. and i promised you both that i would come and find you and i would tell you everything as soon as i did, but i broke that promise,” peter said, tears beginning to flow freely down his face.
“i broke that promise because i couldn’t bear to let the two of you end up like may.”
he collapsed on the floor then, breathing heavy and pulling his knees into his chest. ned and mj had both gone silent over the course of the story, but now they shared a look before standing and moving to either side of peter.
and then they hugged him. they hugged him exactly like they had on that rooftop, when everything in his life was going wrong. they cried with him, because he had been holding it in for so long.
it seemed like years before mj pulled her head back and reached up onto the bed for her backpack. peter and ned watched in silence as she dug around the back pocket and pulled out a small pouch.
“what-“
“i’ve been carrying this around for months, but i didn’t know why. i didn’t know where i got it from, or who gave it to me, but i knew i couldn’t let it go.”
peter felt something being pressed into his palm, his fingers uncurling to reveal a necklace. it was still broken in a few places, exactly as it had been when happy gave it to mj on the tower bridge.
he looked at her with watery eyes.
“i bought this for you in venice,” he said, wiping his face. “a black dahlia. like the murder.”
the last part was said in unison, and he grabbed her hand before making eye contact with her again.
“i love you, mj,” peter told her. “and i know that i shouldn’t be dropping that on you. i shouldn’t expect you and ned to just drop everything for a guy who lied and couldn’t keep the promise that you can’t even remember, but i do. i love you so much and i’ve missed you so much, but it had to be enough to just be around you guys. my girlfriend and my guy in the chair.”
she just stared at him, her eyes running over his face as she calculated every possibility going on in front of her. exactly like she had the time she had jokingly asked him where he was doing during academic decathlon.
“i think i love you too, peter.”
and when they kissed, everything felt okay again.