She didn't have any idea what to say to him. How do you tell the man who's madly in love with you that you don't want to see him anymore? Especially if you love him just as much, and very much do want to see him? She was sure even Emily Post never wrote about how to break up with somebody at the behest of an evil villain.

She'd kissed him not too long ago. The evil villain, that is. Harry had always been a good friend. A good boyfriend, too, back in the day, back before she fell hard and fast and Peter was there to catch her. So not too long ago, when she had needed somebody to talk to, and Peter had been (as usual) someplace else, she turned to her old friend Harry. They talked about how she'd lost the biggest job she'd ever had (Peter didn't know yet), and they made omelettes (she could barely remember the last time Peter had sat with her through an entire meal without web-slinging away) and they did the twist (Peter was too self-important for that kind of thing lately). And they were talking and laughing and commiserating and just being together, and before she knew what she was doing, she had kissed him.

No.

She knew what she was doing.

She knew that Harry was there, and Peter wasn't. Harry was listening to her, and paying attention to her, and being with her, and he wasn't turning every conversation into an opportunity to talk about himself, or running off right when she was saying something important. She remembered what things used to be, and she kissed him, and then she ran off, because he wasn't who she wanted him to be.

Now here she was, across from the man she did want, trying to figure out what to say to him. She was fidgety, and awkward, and she was wondering how soon he would figure out that she didn't mean what she said, how soon before he'd put his powers to use looking for what was troubling her so much.

Over and over again, all the way here to the bridge, she had imagined his reaction. She had pictured him taking one look at her pale face and her shaking hands, taking one look and knowing. She had seen him nod slowly, understanding that what she meant was not what she was saying. She had heard him whisper, "You know I'll always be here for you, MJ." She had thought that maybe, finally, they would find each other again.

But once they were face to face, she felt like she was hiding right in front of him, like she had somehow acquired the power to be invisible. He wasn't answering her, just her words. And then he was pulling out a ring, and shoving it in her face, and she wanted it and wanted him and wanted to scream because this wasn't how any of this was supposed to happen, and didn't he get it? Didn't he get her?

She didn't have any idea what to say to him, so what came out was the truth.

"I'm so lonely..."