To say Peter was stressed was an understatement. His bowtie felt too tight around his neck and his hair definitely had way too much gel in it from his relentless effort in trying to get it to stay put.
“You look like a mess man,” Ned said from the other side of the room, Peter turned away from the mirror and frowned, glancing down at his tux.
“You really think it’s that bad?” he gestured to himself and Ned looked up from his phone where he’d been texting Betty the entire time Peter had been getting ready.
“Not the suit, that looks nice, it’s just...” he paused motioning to his hair, “you probably have a whole bottle of gel in there.” Peter glanced back in the mirror and frowned again, maybe Ned was right.
“Do I shower again and wash it out?” Peter glanced down at his watch, something May had given him before he’d left for Europe. She said it belonged to his Uncle Ben, he was glad he was able to wear it.
He had plenty of time but Ned hadn’t even started getting ready yet and probably needed to use the shower, “if you mind me using the shower again?”
“Just use the sink,” Ned said typing furiously, not even glancing up, “hang from the ceiling or something.”
“Hang from the- Ned are you even listening to me?!” he didn’t mean to raise his voice but he was panicking. Tonight was the night he decided he was going to tell Michelle he liked her. Originally he had wanted to do it at the top of the eiffel tower but Nick Fury had ruined those plans quite nicely. Tomorrow Peter had his mission to fight the fire monster with Mysterio so tonight would probably be the only chance he got.
After the convention, when everyone would be dressed up, he would take her somewhere quiet and tell her. And if everything went well, she would tell him she liked him too... hopefully. Should he kiss her? Would she even want that? He forced himself to stop thinking about it.
“Woah dude, you don’t have to freak out, it’s just a convention meeting...” Ned now put down his phone and raised his eyebrows at Peter.
“Everything has to be perfect tonight, it just has to be, I’ve planned it out and if everything goes right I’m gonna tell Mj how I feel after the convention.” It sounded scarier now that he was saying it out loud, he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.
“I’m sure everything will turn out great, just...” Ned paused and tilted his head, “just loosen your bowtie and brush some of that gel out of your hair. Mj will like you better if you aren’t so stiff.”
“Right, not so stiff,” he repeated as he pulled at his bowtie, moving it so it wasn’t choking him as much.
“And maybe we can go on a double date sometime!” Ned exclaimed excitedly turning back to pick up his phone again to text Betty.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, I don’t even know if Michelle likes me back,” Peter bit his lip and pulled out his comb from his suitcase.
“Dude she definitely does, it’s obvious,” Ned scoffed, “now I have to shower!” he added as he jumped up and pulled his suit off of the hanger in their closet.
Peter rolled his eyes and forced the comb through his hair which was very difficult considering the amount of hair gel he had put in. Everything would turn out perfect, right?
***
It took Ned the remainder of their time to get ready, Peter kept running his hands through his now mostly gel-free hair. Ned was right, it looked much better without all the product.
“C’mon boys!” Mr. Harrington called through their door as he knocked, “we’ve got places to go! People to see!”
Peter took a deep breath, straightening his jacket. He pulled open the door and held it open for Ned before walking out, no turning back now.
They walked down the stairs where everyone would be meeting, Peter scanned the room and immediately noticed that Michelle hadn’t come down yet. He straightened his suit again letting out a sigh.
And then she came down the stairs.
Peter felt like he lost all circulation when he saw her. Her hair was curled and her makeup was done, she looked absolutely beautiful.
“Woah,” Ned muttered out, “I’ve never seen Mj in makeup and stuff.”
Peter tried to respond but he felt like he was frozen in place, was he dead? Honestly he might be dead. He couldn’t stop staring at her, he knew he should stop because he didn’t want her to be weirded out but he just couldn’t.
“Hey losers,” she said as she walked up to them, her dress was red, it matched her lipstick. And it was long, though he could see her converse peeking out from underneath.
“Mj, just wow, you look really good.” Brad said walking up to them and holding out his arms like he wanted a hug.
“Oh uh thanks, my mom bought me this back home and said I have to wear it sometime during the trip and well,” she shrugged, “this seemed like a good time.” She ignored Brad’s outstretched arms and turned back to Peter and Ned.
“You do look really good Mj,” Ned said, Peter still couldn’t find any words, what was wrong with him?
“Thanks Ned, you don’t look too bad yourself,” she glanced at Peter and licked her lips quickly, “oh uh, Betty said to tell you that she would be down in a few minutes.” As she spoke Betty came down the stairs, Ned practically ran toward her leaving Peter and Michelle alone.
“Uh, you clean up nice Parker,” Michelle said, breaking the silence that had settled on them, she gave him a small smile that made his heart flutter.
Peter forced himself to cough, and out of the trance he had fallen into, “you look really pretty.” He sounded choked, he was not coming off cool... at all.
“Thanks Parker, and just a tip, you could take a picture of me and stare at that so you don’t have to stare at me the rest of the night,” she said sarcastically, giving him a punch in the arm for good measure.
“Oh uh, s-sorry,” he immediately looked down and started playing with the cuffs of his sleeves.
“I was kidding nerd,” Michelle said, then added softly, “you don’t have to-” she moved a finger under his chin and lightly moved it up so he was looking at her again. It seemed like they were frozen in that moment. Michelle dropped her hand from his chin and Peter realized just how close they were. He could smell her vanilla perfume. It was nice.
“Mj!” Brad’s voice made them both jump back, Peter coughed loudly and swallowed, trying to regain his composure. “Do you want to walk together to the convention?”
“Oh uh” she looked at Peter, and raised her eyebrows slightly as if she were waiting for him to do something, and of course, he was frozen. She sighed and looked back at Brad, “sure, just as long as you’re down with making fun of everyone we see.” Peter watched as they walked out together, he turned around to find Ned but him and Betty walked right past him, deep in conversation.
“C’mon Peter! The world awaits!” Mr Harrington said, pushing Peter forward and out the door, he felt sick as he walked behind the group. He watched as Brad and Mj joked in the front and how Ned and Betty were giggling and holding hands. Mj glanced back and locked eyes with him, she looked almost sad for a second before looking away, he sighed and tried not to think too much about it.
***
By the time they made it to the convention center Peter was in an extremely bad mood. No one except for Mr. Harrington had talked to him the whole walk there and he was forced to watch Brad and Mj laugh together the whole time, it was the plane ride all over again. But it was kind of his fault too now that he thought about it, that look that Mj had given him when Brad asked her to walk with him… what if he had said something? Would he be the one next to Mj instead of Brad? There was really no use in thinking about it since there was nothing he could do about it anymore.
They found their seats amongst all the people, they were each sitting at a circular table with fancy silverware and china. Peter hoped he wouldn’t break anything. By the time he reached the table both seats next to Mj were taken, one by Mr. Harrington and the other by Brad. Peter thought about asking Mr. Harrington to move but he decided against it, he really didn’t want to cause a scene. Besides his plan was for after the convention, everything would still turn out fine, right?
He took his seat next to Ned and found his mind wandering as the speakers spoke. He kept looking at Mj, checking to see if she was talking to Brad, which she almost never was. But she never looked at him, if made him uneasy, he was used to her constant looking at him, that’s what made him believe that she might like him back in the first place. Was he wrong all this time?
The presentation was a blur, usually he would be excited by this kind of thing but he was too distracted by trying to think of an excuse to talk to Mj again, and to get her to come with him after the convention ended. Turns out he didn’t have to, she came up to him.
“Hey loser,” she stood next to him as he stared at the table of food in front of him. He jumped at her words and she laughed, “little jumpy today aren’t we Parker?”
“I uh, I’m sorry I couldn’t walk with you here,” he said it without thinking, immediately turning red and ducking his head.
“You could’ve,” Mj shrugged, “but you didn’t.”
She was right, Peter knew that, and that sick feeling came back to his stomach, so he blurted “do you want to get out of here?”
She raised her eyebrows at his question, her red lips turning into a small smirk, “where would we go?”
“Anywhere,” he said, and he took her hand and pulled her to the door because he knew if he stopped now he would probably chicken out. Michelle made a small sound of protest at being dragged along but she eventually fell in step next to him. She didn’t drop his hand.
As they walked down the street they didn’t talk, but Peter would steal glances at Mj every so often, maybe to make sure that she was really there and that this all wasn’t just a dream, maybe just to admire how pretty she looked, maybe a bit of both.
“We should go to the carnival,” Peter said suddenly, “I mean, I know we’re supposed to go there tomorrow night as a class but it might be nice, just the two of us?” Peter knew that his class wasn’t going to end up going to the carnival the next night, he knew that Fury would find a way to get them away, but Mj didn’t need to worry about that.
Peter thought she might disagree but she just said “Let’s people watch when we get there.”
“People watch?” he had never heard or done whatever she was talking about.
“Hang on, you live in New York and you’ve never people watched?” she scoffed and muttered “uncultured” before continuing, “people watching is basically what it sounds like, you watch people and try to guess their life story. It’s more fun than it sounds, I do it with my mom a lot at home.”
Peter hadn’t really heard Mj talk much about her mom, he found himself wanted to know everything about her, every single detail. No matter how big or how small, he wanted to know all of her.
“Up here,” Mj was suddenly pulling him up a fire escape on the side of an old looking building, he could hear the sounds of the carnival ahead of them and see flashing lights.
“Mj… isn’t this like… trespassing or something? I really don’t want to get in trouble.” Peter was nervous all of the sudden, maybe everything that had happened was catching up to him.
“Oh c’mon Parker, we’re already going to get in trouble for leaving the convention, might as well make the most of it.” He decided not to argue further and followed her the rest of the way up to the roof. She let go of his hand when they reached the top, he missed it immediately.
“Wow,” he breathed out as he looked at the view. The yellow lights cast a glow on the festival below them, people were dancing and laughing and they all seemed to have no cares in the world. It was as if they were overlooking a different universe, it was amazing really.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” Mj said gazing out at the carnival.
Peter looked at her, the way her hair was blowing slightly in the wind, how her eyes seemed to sparkle from all the lights down below, “yeah, beautiful.”
They sat down next to each other, close enough that their shoulders would brush whenever they moved. Peter wanted to take her hand again, but he hesitated.
“Mj?” his heart began to thud loudly in his ears.
Mj turned away from the festival to look at him, Peter decided he had never seen someone so beautiful.
“Yeah Parker?” her tone was soft, softer than the one she used in front of their class, in front of her teachers, in front of everyone but him.
“Can I uh, can I tell you something?” he swallowed and forced himself to continue when she nodded hesitantly, “I uh, I’m, well uh” he swallowed again, he couldn’t speak, he was freezing up and he began to panic. He stuttered and glanced down at his knees, embarrassed.
“Peter?” he looked back at Michelle, and then she was kissing him. Her lips were soft, and her hand came up to his cheek, cupping it for a second before she moved it to his neck. He froze and widened his eyes as she pulled away, her hand lingering on his neck. “I really hope that’s what you were trying to say, because if not that would be-”
He stopped her by kissing her back, it was the moment he’d been waiting for. Their moment. with the lights all around and with no Brad to interrupt them. And then there were fireworks, literal fireworks shooting off in front of them and Michelle pulled away and laughed, out of breath, “how disgustingly cliché.” Though to Peter, she didn’t look so disgusted.
“I really like you,” he said breathlessly, she smiled one of her soft smiles that was reserved for him.
“I think this goes without saying, but I really like you too.” She bit her lip, obviously trying not to smile, she was failing.
Peter couldn’t even begin to explain the absolute happiness he was feeling. He gazed back over the city. He felt Mj move closer to him and smiles as she laid her head on his chest. He shifted and put his arms around her, pulling her closer, pressing a kiss to her hair.
“Thank you Peter,” without Peter’s enhanced hearing he may not have caught her quiet words.
He didn’t respond, he knew he didn’t have to. Instead he rested his chin on top of her head and watched as the fireworks exploded in front of them.