MJ
MJ knew she had a crush on Peter. Ned knew that she had a crush on Peter. In fact, the only person that seemed to be oblivious that she liked Peter, was Peter himself. But she was fine with that, because she didn’t need him to know. She was more than content to be his best friend, the girl who kept him on his toes and support him from the sidelines. Becoming an independent self-made woman wasn’t easy, and having a boyfriend would change the image that she’d worked so hard to build for herself. If only his damned smile from his damned frog-concealing mouth on his damned face weren’t so goddamned cute, she wouldn’t have a hard time holding herself back.
“What’s up, Loser?” she greeted, bumping into his shoulder affectionately on her way to her locker, and he turned around with a grin (goddammit Parker) on his face.
“MJ!” he squeaked, closing his locker and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “How was the protest?”
“It was good,” she drawled as they walked together. “Nothing much has changed, but at least we got our voices heard.” Over the weekend, she’d participated in a protest against Big Pharma and it’s ridiculously unfair and sexist prices of everyday medicines. She hadn’t told him that she was going, but of course he knew – he was Peter frickin’ Parker.
“I wanted to go too,” he sighed. “But Mr Stark wanted me upstate to work on some stuff.” She snorted at that. Stuff.
“Why would you even go?” She asked, stopping in front of her locker and picking out her books. “Don’t you burn through normal medicines cuz of your crazy metabolism?”
“Well yeah!” He huffed, eyebrows scrunched up in frustration (goddammit Parker). “But that doesn’t make what they’re doing right, y’know?” And this. This, ladies and gentlemen, was why MJ was in love with the resident DorkTM who spent his free time parading New York in a red and blue onesie. Now she had to kill him before she kissed him.
“Guys!” The duo turned their heads.
“Ned!” Peter brightened, rushing over as the two exchanged their secret handshake while MJ silently took another guess at how long it must have taken them to perfect it.
“‘sup Nerd?” She reached over and gave him a hug.
“Oh my god,” Ned groaned. “I slept so late cuz of the freakin’ History essay.”
MJ froze. Oh no. “The History Essay?” She asked slowly. Oh no. Please don’t be due today. Please. Don’t. Be. Due. Today.
“Yeah!” Ned continued, oblivious to the colour draining from her face. “How is it fair to give us a weekend to do 6 pages?”
Fuck.
She’d been so preoccupied prepping for the protest and writing her speech (that went flawlessly, if she could say so herself) that she’d forgotten freaking homework.
“MJ?” She turned her head to see Peter looking at her with concern. “You ok there?”
“Um…” She stammered. “I… I might have forgotten to do it…”
“WHAT?!” Ned screeched, his cheeks wobbling slightly as his hands flew to his hair.
“I was busy prepping for the protest okay??” She argued. Think, MJ, she counselled herself. You could probably bribe Mr I-don’t-know-how-to-teach-History. What do you have to offer? Okay maybe murder would be better. No, no, no. Too far.
Ned was still freaking out, bless the Mother Hen. “But this is 40 per cent of our grade!”
“Gee, thanks for the reminder, Nerd!” She loved him, but God she needed to think.
“Um…” A small, forgotten voice belonging to a small Peter Parker spoke up. “You can use my outline.”
Her heart stopped as she slowly turned to look at Peter. And then it returned with a vengeance, slamming against her ribcage. Sweet, sweet Peter Parker. No one deserved him. Why did he make it so difficult for her to deny or depress her feelings for him? Stop being so goddamn perfect for crying our loud. However, the silence must have been making him self-conscious, because he started rambling.
“WELL, I mean I’ve got some extra quotes that I didn’t use, and I know that you’re a genius so you’ll be able to write it so it doesn’t come out as plagiarism. Not that you, of all people, would plagiarise, but I’ve pretty much outlined the arguments and the necessary facts and highlighted the quotes that I used so you can use the others.” His face was growing pinker by the second, and MJ was relishing in every single one. “I know you probably have a back-up plan, and don’t need my help, so I’m gonna shut up n-”
“I love you.”
She froze. She’d spat the words out before her brain had even processed what her heart had longed to say for years. This was not part of the plan. This was never going to be part of the plan. She was sure Ned was gaping like a fish in the background, but her mind was ferociously working to fix the damage done by her traitorous lips. Should she knock him out? No, Ned was a witness as well. Run? Then he would know that she meant it. Wait for him to react and plan from there. Now you’re talking.
“Wh-what?” Well, that wasn’t exactly what she’d expected. “Really?”
She looked at his wide eyes and stiffness, as though he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. As she observed his fist clenched tightly on his backpack strap, and his jaw muscles working overtime, the first conclusion that her mind came to was the one she chose – he doesn’t like me back; not like that.
“Dude, don’t get an aneurism, it was a joke.”
Immediately the hope in his eyes shattered like a glass window, and the impact nearly forced the breath out of her lungs. Hold your front, she counselled herself.
“Uh-um. Right. Haha,” he laughed awkwardly. “Of course! Ha…Ha!” The way his eyes darted around, looking at anything but her face unsettled her and she sighed inwardly. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t such a brilliant actor.
She rolled her eyes, carefully blinking away the stinging in her eyes. “Outline? You were saying?”
“Right! Right! Here you go!” Before she knew it, the outline was in her hand and she was alone, Peter having hurried off with Ned hot on his heels.
“This is bad,” she whispered to no one. “This is very bad.”