Field Day

Peter’s fingers interlaced carefully with MJ’s, his eyes not leaving the board as their teacher continued explaining some mathematical equation or another to the class. It wasn’t that he wasn’t paying attention, it’s just that…well, yeah, he wasn’t paying attention. Peter was freaking out about the field trip tomorrow. He’d managed to keep the information from Mr Stark for a week, but it was only a matter of time before he found out. Peter had practically had to beg May not to say anything, and Pepper already knew, she’d spoken to him about it briefly the day he found out, checking whether he was included in either of the groups that were attending. Pepper was easy to win over in agreeing not to tell Tony, she ran SI with a lot of respect and didn’t want things to turn south because Tony felt like roughing the kid around a bit for fun. It wasn’t often they allowed school groups, and she really didn’t want to have to hand out another set of forms on top of the stack they had already had to sign regarding Non-Disclosure.

“Hey dork,” MJ’s voice snapped Peter back to reality, the class was packing up their belongings, some people already on their way out of the room. “Where’d you go there?”
Peter shook his head, giving her a small smile. He felt bad sometimes that he couldn’t be completely honest with her. He still hadn’t dropped the whole Spiderman bomb on her, so when she asked about why he took a lot of days off school and she asked, he gave her a little lie about migraines. It wasn’t like it wasn’t entirely true, sometimes things got extremely overwhelming and it did cause migraine-like symptoms. “Just thinking about the field trip tomorrow,” he murmured, giving her hand a small squeeze before releasing to put away his books.
MJ nodded, shouldering her bag, “Didn’t think you’d be that excited about it, don’t you go there like…twice a week? Or is that a lie?” she teased. She had never doubted Peter worked with Stark, she knew it wasn’t an internship, but she had never accused him of not attending Stark Industries multiple times a week. Oh yeah, she knew he was Spiderman, she’d seen what happened in Washington, she’d seen him slip off the bus when there was the weird alien ring in the sky a couple months back. Hell, she’d heard Spiderman talk, and she knew Peter. She could tell. But she wasn’t going to out him. It didn’t bother her too much that he hadn’t said anything about it, it was Peter’s secret and when he was ready, he’d tell her.
Peter shot her a half-hearted glare at the teasing, the pair leaving the room slowly. Their relationship was still fresh, and sometimes Peter wasn’t entirely sure how to behave around her. He’d never had a real relationship, what had happened with Liz could never count as dating experience. So this was all new and kind of scary if he were being honest with himself. “Are you…busy this evening?” he asked her slowly, keeping their pace in line with one another.
“Not particularly, why?”
Peter shrugged, trying to shake away the nerves that settled in the pit of his stomach. “Would you like to come to dinner? At mine? Meet May?”
“Peter, I’ve met May.”
“No, I know, I know,” Peter frowned, his heartrate increasing rapidly in his nerves. “I mean…like, as my girlfriend.”
“You know, I’m not your property now, Parker.”
“No! I know that, I didn’t mean it li-”
MJ laughed, giving him a small shove, “I’m just messing with you, I’d love to.” She said, looking away with her own shy smile. “What time should I come by…or,” she hesitated. “Should I bring anything?”
Peter instinctively pouted at the teasing nature that MJ had released upon him before shaking his head. “No, no. Just yourself. Uh, does six work for you? You can come earlier if you’d like, we normally sit down between 6:15 and 6:30 when May isn’t working late.”
MJ smiled and nodded, “Six it is then.” She breathed. “I’ll let you know when I’m leaving my place.”
Peter nodded, hesitating before pressing a light kiss against MJ’s cheek and moving away. “See you tonight, then.”

“May!” Peter called out a short while later as he walked into the entry of their home. “May, I need to talk to you.” He dropped his bag by the door, then, on second thought, grabbed it and threw it into his bedroom, scurrying around the house in search of his Aunt.
“Hey, Peter…” Tony’s voice sounded from within Peter’s bedroom.
Tony?
Peter frowned, spinning himself around and returning to his bedroom to find Tony sat at his desk, fiddling with a pen. “What…what’re you doing here, Mr. Stark?” he asked nervously.
“Just thought I’d pop by, see how my favourite protégé is doing…” Tony said, glancing the boy up and down.
Peter raised an eyebrow in disbelief, not saying a word.
“Alright, I was coming to see why you sent me a text this morning cancelling tomorrow’s session,” Tony admitted, setting the pen down where he had picked it from, watching Peter in expectation of an answer.
Peter shrugged, shaking his head a little in faux confusion behind the question. “I just have a lot of schoolwork…and robotics club has a late meeting. And I just figured it’d be easier to cancel than to come late and disturb your night. I know you and Pepper usually do something Friday nights and didn’t want to interrupt that…”
“So it has nothing to do with you forgetting about the Avengers meeting then?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.
Avengers meeting? Avengers. Shit. Oh shit. Peter had completely forgotten the scheduled meeting at the Avengers compound, he was supposed to take the afternoon off school to drive up there with Tony and discuss with the others the announcement of Spiderman publicly becoming part of the Avengers. It was also going to be the first time Peter had seen Tony and Steve in a room together and he was curious to see how that would go, he’d heard that they were reasonably civil now, but things were apparently still very tense.
“Oh…uh…” Peter hesitated, going blank on an excuse for it all.
Tony shook his head, “You disappoint me, kid,” he breathed. “How about Pepper and I postpone our date night ‘til Saturday. And I’ll have the team come down here to the tower for the meeting, that way you don’t have to miss more school. Does that work?”
“No! Don’t bring them here!”
“And why not?”
Peter paused, still drawing a blank on an excuse behind why he didn’t want the Avengers at Stark Tower the next day. He really didn’t want to tell Tony about the field trip, but he also really didn’t want to risk any of the team hijacking the day.
“Great, so it’s settled. Tomorrow, right after your Robotics Club meeting whatever, I’ll organise Happy to collect you, bring you to the tower for the meeting,” Tony nodded, standing up. “Good chat, kid. I’ll be seeing you.” He nodded, leaving the room and Peter, who was still standing by the entryway in complete silent shock over the conversation – if you could call it that – which had just taken place.

5:35pm MJ
I’m leaving now, see you soon. :)

The knock on the door had Peter twitching nervously. After Mr. Stark had left, and he’d settled down his nerves, he had spoken to May about MJ joining them for dinner, ensuring they were able to prepare a vegetarian dish for her, before slipping out. He spent just under an hour patrolling the neighbourhood, before returning home, showering and changing. He wore a pair of dark jeans, a tee, and a blue flannel shirt over the top of it. Not completely lazy outfit, but still appropriate for a simple home dinner.
Peter opened the door and smiled at the girl where she stood. MJ was wearing a dress. He couldn’t think of one time where he’d seen her in a dress, and it was kind of surprising to him. “Hey…you look really pretty,” he blurted, flushing pink at his own immediate reaction.
“And therefore I have value?” MJ asked, raising an eyebrow at him teasingly.
After a brief moment of panic, Peter gave her a small shove before stepping aside, inviting her into the apartment. “It’s not much, but it’s home. Come in.”

It was a nice dinner, the three of them eating, chatting and catching up. Of course May had known the pair were dating, Peter had all but yelled it at her when he’d gotten home the day it happened. But this was the first time she’d seen the pair together as a couple and it was nice to see that MJ stepped out of her bubbled. Every time she’d met the girl she seemed very closed off. It was refreshing to see the young couple bringing out the best in one another.
After eating and about five minutes of the three bickering over who was going to do the dishes, May finally agreed to allow Peter and MJ to clean up, while she slipped out to the living space to give them some privacy.
“So you wash, I’ll dry and put away?” Peter asked slowly, leaning against the counter after stacking the dishes beside the sink, his eyes following each of MJ’s movements.
MJ reached past Peter to turn on the hot water, using the brief moment of opportunity to give him a light kiss. “I’ve really had fun tonight,” she told him quietly. “I hope we can do it again sometime.”
The request came as a surprise, but Peter didn’t hesitate in the quick nodding of his head, “Of course, whenever you want!” he exclaimed, a little too excitedly. MJ didn’t notice. Or if she did, she didn’t show it, for which Peter was eternally grateful.

“She’s nice,” May smiled, watching Peter as he stepped back inside after walking MJ home.
Peter smiled shyly, “She’s more than just nice, May,” he told her, his cheeks pink – which, if May dared comment, he would blame on the chill in the air outside.
May nodded, “Of course she is. Now go do your homework and get an early night. You have a big day tomorrow.”
Peter didn’t argue, just made his way to his room, letting the door swing shut behind him.