Chapter 1
Peter Parker smoked weed. And he loved it. It started out innocently enough when he confiscated a couple grams from a thief while on patrol in the hopes that it might teach him a lesson. When his patrol had finished, he had deciding to swing by MJ’s house, only then realizing that he’d forgotten to throw the weed away like he usually would when something like this happened. When she had discovered that he had the drug in his possession she had encouraged him to try it. She told him it would be a fun experiment; would he be able to get high or would his powers prevent it? And honestly, he really did want to try it. They snuck up to the rooftop of her apartment building with the spliff that MJ had rolled. She smoked occasionally because she preferred it to alcohol but was far from a frequent smoker. Half an hour later, the pair were laying on their backs, Peter’s arm wrapped around MJ’s shoulders with big smiles on their faces as they stared at the light-polluted sky above them and listened to the murmur of voices reaching them from the street far below. Peter’s head felt hazy and weird, and stringing together the words to form a sentence seemed kind of difficult, but he loved the way he felt. Long gone were his worries about school, Spiderman, or the recent loss of his Aunt May. All he could focus on was the feeling of MJ breathing next to him, the softness of her skin and her comforting aura, making him feel safe despite the strangeness of it all.
He was thankful when MJ banned him from committing a SUI (swinging under the influence), because it meant that he wouldn’t have to leave her. He snuck back into her bedroom through the window and sat on the edge of her bed and spoke the words that he never thought he’d be able to say. Peter didn’t know if it was the adrenaline from patrol, the weed, or the fact that it was nearly 3am, but he found himself confessing his feelings. Because he really did love her. And he knew it wasn’t a secret and he knew she felt the same way after everything he’d gone through after losing Aunt May and everything MJ had done to help him. But this was the first time they’d really acknowledged it. And if their night ended in deep conversation mixed with gentle kisses as MJ’s tough exterior melted away, no one else needed to know about it (except Ned, of course).
When Peter arrived in the penthouse of the tower the next morning he was greeted by a smug Tony. Peter mentally cringed when he realized that he’d forgotten to tell Tony where he was. His parenting wasn’t too strict, because Peter was 17 and had grown up a lot in the past couple of years, but nonetheless he like to at least know where Peter was and what he was up to. This seemed like a fair enough deal to Peter, considering his track history of getting into bad situations and having buildings crush him. Which was why he immediately felt crushed by guilt.
“Sorry, Tony. I swear I’m so sorry, I completely forg-”. Peter stumbled over his words, desperately trying to apologise for his mistake.
“Kid, hey, don’t worry. I was in the lab when I realized I hadn’t heard you get back from patrol. I had FRIDAY track your suit and I figured I wouldn’t interrupt your little romantic night with your girlfriend. Seriously though, next time just shoot me a text, okay? I don’t care if your sneaking off to do god knows what with MJ, you’re basically an adult now. Just let me know where you are because I can’t deal with any more grey hairs”, Tony replied smugly. Of course, he wasn’t going to let Peter get away lightly. Being mad at him wouldn’t do anything but embarrassing him would be extremely gratifying to Tony.
“Ew, Tony! It wasn’t like that. And she’s not my girlfriend. MJ just said I couldn’t swing home because I – um”, Peter stuttered, realizing that if he continued that sentence, he’d definitely be incriminating himself and knowing Tony’s past, it would definitely be an issue.
“Because what, Pete?” Tony replied. The kid was never one to lie about things unless they were big, so he was genuinely confused about what had occurred to keep the kid out all night.
“Oh, just, um, you know… I was tired. She didn’t want me to fall asleep mid-swing and crash face-first into a building. MJ’s very sensible, you know that.” Peter decided not to try to come up with an elaborate lie, because Tony knew him too well for that. And technically it was true… mostly.
“Right, that makes sense.” Tony responded. Because it really did make sense. Tony and MJ had only met a handful of times in the past few months since Peter had moved in but he’d already grown to admire her no-nonsense attitude and the softer side that was hidden beneath her mean remarks and tough demeanor. He’d only seen that side to her a couple of times; once when Peter came down with a pretty bad bout of the flu and again when he’d managed to get himself pretty roughed up in a crime-fighting-spider-related incident. However, he could remember the concern etched across her face as clear as day because it was the exact same way Pepper would look at him whenever he’d ended up in a bad situation.
Tony stood up from the couch and walked over to the kid, ruffling his hair. This brought a smile to Peter’s face as he realized that he’d manage to keep the events of the previous night a secret from his guardian.
“Wanna go down to the lab? I missed you last night. Could’ve really done with a spare pair of hands.”
And just like that, everything was back to normal. Soon enough, the pair were settled into their usual routine, each working on different projects but helping each other out when they needed it. Peter’s thoughts soon started wandering, as it often did when he was in his element in the lab. His hands were working hard on altering the tech in front of him, but his mind was on the rooftop of MJ’s apartment block. He wished he could replay the night all over again. He’d left the weed at MJ’s because he didn’t know how tight FRIDAY’s security would be if he brought weed into the tower. But he wanted to be high again as soon as possible and MJ had left first thing to visit relatives and wouldn’t be back until late tomorrow night. Also, surely it wasn’t good to smoke weed for a second day in a row. He knew the drug wasn’t addictive per se, but it was still a bad habit when he had a lot of responsibilities and high expectations placed upon him.
Tearing his mind away from the thought of getting high, he decided to send a quick text to MJ.
Peter: Hey MJ
Peter: I really enjoyed seeing you last night, miss u already 😊
Peter: Wait no, is that creepy??
Peter: I mean I do miss u but like I don’t expect anything from u just bc we hung out
Peter: and slept in the same bed
Peter: im rambling sorry
Peter sighed. Why was he being weird about it? They were friends after all, and they were totally comfortable with each other. And nothing had really changed. Apart from the kissing. And there he was totally spiraling because suddenly he couldn’t keep his cool around a girl. He put his head in his hands, which caused Tony to look up.
“Kid? Something up?” Tony enquired.
“No, I’m good,” he called over, followed by a “I’m just a fucking loser” under his breath.
“Hey, I heard that. What’s up?”
A moment later, Peter’s phone pinged causing Peter to nearly drop the screwdriver in his hand as he rushed to see the text.
MJ: its all good, loser. i miss u too
Instantly, Peter’s grin returned to his face. Maybe, things were finally looking up for him.
“Everything’s good, Tony.” Peter replied, unable to hide his ecstatic expression.