Chapter 1
Peter’s breath hitches as he reads the text that pops up on his phone. He blinks furiously, yet the message is still there.
Message from “MJ gave me her number!!!”,
Hey, I was wondering if you’d want to go out for lunch some time? I found a small café that I thought a cheesy sap like you would enjoy, but you can always check it out on your own. It’s called “Brewed Awakening”, isn’t that stupid? Anyways, we can go there whenever, if you’re interested.
Peter re-reads the message multiple times, wondering if he missed something.
Wait, she wants to hang out with me? Is this a date, or… a friend thing? It couldn’t be a date… but how do I respond?!
“Peter, you know what I said about hyperventilating. What’s happening, kiddo?”
Peter looked up at Mr. Stark with wide eyes. Peter had been coming to the lab with Tony after school for a while now. He usually worked on his suit, amazed and flustered every time that Mr. Stark offered to help him out. When Peter had a problem, Mr. Stark could always help him. Peter hoped that he would know what to do in this situation as well.
“Oh my god— uh, could you help me out, Mr. Stark?”
“Kid, I couldn’t beat that Homescapes level either, so—“
“No, not that… um, it’s just… MJ asked me on a date? I don’t know what to do… oh my god.”
Mr. Stark broke into laughter, earning a glare from Peter that only made him laugh harder.
“That girl you always talk about? It’s about time, from what I’ve heard.”
“But what do I reply? I can’t seem too desperate…” Peter was blushing furiously.
“Just say yes already! But be cool about it.” Mr. Stark’s voice was laced with sarcasm.
Peter took a deep breath to steady himself before typing out a reply with shaking fingers.
That would be great! I’m free whenever.
Peter held his breath and sent the text, immediately cringing at his reply. When he saw MJ begin to type he let out a small squeak, anxiety coursing through his body. Even his spidey senses were lightly buzzing in anticipation.
Cool. Tomorrow it is. Meet you there at twelve?
Peter envied her ability to be so casual.
Sure! See you there.
Peter sent his reply before he could doubt himself, and then the situation hit him.
I’m going on a date. With MJ. Tomorrow.
“Hey Mr. Stark? I don’t think that I can come again tomorrow… I’ve got a date? Yeah, I’ve got a date. I’m sorry.”
“No problem, kid.” It was hard to miss the fond smile Mr. Stark sent him.
——
It took Peter a total of fifteen minutes to figure out what he was going to wear. He was looking for something different than what he normally wears, but then that was too different. She’s gonna think I spent a lot of time deciding on this weird new outfit… But what he normally wears just didn’t feel good enough for her… He ended up on one of his more normal and casual outfits, a science pun shirt and a jacket with jeans.
“‘I tell bad chemistry jokes because all of the good ones Argon’, a classic.” Peter reads his shirt with the symbol for Argon, chuckling at his bad sense of humor.
He lifted his phone to check the time, his heart stopping. It couldn’t be that late yet. “Crap! I’m gonna be so late if I take the bus… I could run? No, there’s too many people on the streets… Crap, crap, crap!!” He dug his fingers into his hair, cursing himself for not getting ready sooner. I’m supposed to be smart, dammit!
He looked wildly around the room, searching for some kind of solution, before his eyes landed on his suit. It had been thrown under his bed from the night before. That could work…
Throwing on his suit and shoving his clothes into his backpack, he rushed out his window into the streets of Queens. Usually, swinging through the buildings would do wonders for whatever was stressing him out, but it failed to do so this time.
“Uh, Karen?” Peter shot a web onto another building, going as fast as he could.
“Good morning, Peter.”
“Can you give me the quickest route to… Brewed Awakening? It’s a café.” Peter explained.
“Of course.” A map popped up in the corner of his vision, showing the route and estimated time of arrival. 11:58. I can work with that.
Peter raced through the streets, grateful that there was nothing going on that would need his attention. When he saw the café on the street he turned onto, he swung into an alley nearby. He changed, as quickly as he could with shaking hands, into his clothes and webbed his backpack behind a dumpster.
When he finally arrived at the cafe, one minute late, he saw MJ sitting on a stool in the corner of he shop, sketching. She looked up as he approached the table, putting her sketchbook away.
“Hey,” she greeted him, and read his shirt. “Man, I didn’t think that there was anything cheesier than this café’s name, but I stand corrected.” She commented dryly.
“Good to see you too. What were you drawing?” Peter sat down across from MJ. She nodded to something behind him, and when Peter turned around to look he was met with the most ridiculous looking man he had ever seen.
He had a huge blonde afro, a stupidly curled mustache, and aviator sunglasses to match. Peter turned back to MJ, failing to contain his laughter. She showed him her half finished drawing of the man, in which he was posed painting a tree on an easel with a squirrel on his shoulder. The drawing was titled “Bub Ross”.
Peter laughed loudly, laughing even harder when the man actually turned and looked at him. MJ snorted at him, her lips upturned in a smirk.
———
The time passed quickly, as they ordered food and talked. Peter was expecting the date to be awkward, where he would inevitably run out of things to talk about and ruin things with MJ. But they were constantly joking and talking, and shit it was fun.
Hanging out with MJ was different than hanging out with anyone else. She balanced out Peter, where he was over-talkative; she was more of a listener, where he was shy; she was bold and carefree. It was just so… easy being with her. Her responses and jokes seemed cold and rude to most people, but Peter had learned that that was simply how she talked.
“Why’d you order a coffee? It’s like two in the afternoon.”
“What? I’m thirsty. Plus, the waiters looked like they’d kick us out for loitering.” MJ shrugged.
The waiter, who happened to be Bub Ross, came over to give MJ her coffee. As soon as he left, MJ started to drink it.
“Uh, isn’t it hot?” MJ glared at him, deliberately drinking her coffee while Peter laughed at her.
“I know you said you don’t like coffee, but I want to see you try it. I bet you can’t handle it.” She dared with a raised eyebrow, nudging the cup of black coffee closer to him.
“I can totally handle it, I just don’t like to get jittery.” Peter huffed. It was technically a lie, the reason he didn’t like to drink coffee was because it was usually too bitter and strong… which isn’t fun with enhanced senses.
Peter picked up the cup, taking a sip and regretting it. He must have made a funny face, because MJ started laughing. He wasn’t sure he had ever really heard her laugh, and he decided he had to make her laugh like that more often. It might have been his favorite sound.
They both fell into a fit of laughter, knowing that the employees and customers were probably staring but not really caring. It was amazing.
But like most amazing things in Peter’s life, it had to come to an end.
MJ was talking about how she knew that one of the teachers in their school was sexist, and how she was planning to prove it, when Peter’s spidey sense buzzed.
It wasn’t extremely intense or painful, but it was definitely there. Usually when his spidey senses started alerting him, his enhanced senses would be dialed up to assist him. His senses flared, hitting him in a wave of woah…
His vision was suddenly super high definition, and he could see the different shades of brown in MJ’s eyes. There were even some ribbons of green that he hadn’t noticed before. The taste of coffee that had barely lingered now tasted almost as strong as the real thing. He was sure he could hear and smell everything in a couple miles radius.
This all hit him in a split second. “Woah…” He rested his forehead on his palms, cursing his Parker Luck. His senses flared like this quite often, but he never got used to it. While he was fighting it could be extremely useful, and he never really minded it until after.
The heightened senses could sometimes stick around for long after the fight, causing sensory overload where everything became way too much. His spidey senses would usually decide to stick around as well, causing him to be on edge on top of the sensory overload. This only happened when he was particularly stressed, and he hoped it would go away when it was supposed to this time.
But what’s happening that triggered this?
“... Are you good, Peter?” MJ’s voice sounded careless, but there was a hint of concern underneath it. Her heartbeat picked up its pace just a bit.
“Oh, yeah… just a stupid headache. I’m fine, sorry.” Peter lifted his head, giving a small smile.
“I’m sure I have some Advil…” MJ started digging through her bag.
Peter heard someone’s phone as if it was being played right into his ear. “... This lunatic is currently raging through Queens with several strange and unidentifiable missiles. He doesn’t seem to be harming anyone except the police, yelling demands that he must defeat Spider-Man. Please stay inside or evacuate the area if safe…”
“Crap, I must have left it at home…” Peter was drawn back to MJ, his mind racing. He wants Spider-Man… He’s attacking the police and they haven’t been able to stop him so far? I have to help…
“I… I’ve gotta go… I’m so sorry, MJ, I just… sorry.” Peter got up, rushing out of the cafe.
“Oh… bye?” Peter hears MJ mutter as he runs towards the alleyway, checking that no one is there to see him before ducking into it.
Peter would always choose the safety of others over his personal life. He didn’t leave MJ because he disliked her or wanted to leave, but because there were people in danger that he could help. He would always choose helping people in danger over doing things for himself, which kinda terrified him.
“Karen, what’s the situation? Heard there was some guy with… missiles? What’s happening?” Peter perched himself on top of a nearby building.
“A man, whom a facial scan has shown is a friend of Toomes, is parading through the streets with unidentifiable missile technology and demanding to see you. You must be fairly popular now, Peter.”
“You know it, Karen. Do we have a location?”
A green blip popped up on a map of Queens in the corner of Peter’s vision. He leaped off of the building's roof, shooting a web and heading in the direction of that man.
The fact that the man was a friend of Toomes was frightening him. Sure, they had taken away all of the crazy powerful tech that he and his comrades possessed, but that didn’t mean that one of his friends couldn’t have any themselves. But Peter had defeated Toomes, so he could take one of his less powerful friends with ease.
Right?
As he turned the corner, he was met with a blast that knocked him out of the air.