Hey guys, here's the new chapter, from MJ's point of view as promised. To be candid, I found MJ a little hard to portray at times. I guess it's because I can't really relate to her - we don't have very similar personalities. I've seen other fanfics that write her so well, and I feel like I've only been able to describe her as some lovestruck dork. I think I might stick to writing as Peter for future chapters. Also, I'm considering changing the pairing to Peter Parker / Mary Jane Watson, but I don't know if that will make it any easier to find. Anyway, enjoy!
Peter Parker was an enigma.
He didn't like to talk about what he did outside of school, which MJ would normally assume would be nothing, since he was a loser, but instead, he constantly had something to do that was better than AcaDec practice, if that was even possible.
And he always came up with the lamest excuses, too. "I have to meet with Mr. Stark," he'd say, eliciting a "Bullshit" from Flash. MJ hated to admit that she agreed with him, but she would never say it aloud. "May called, she wants me to... go grocery shopping." She so badly wanted to call him out, but she also didn't want to say something that would make it sound like she was obsessed with him, like she was worried about Peter goddamn Parker of all people.
So instead, she just let him go, but that didn't mean she neglected to bring it up whenever they were with Ned, or alone. Whenever the conversation steered to what he did in his free time, though, he shut it down by changing the topic.
Besides that, she found him somewhat enjoyable to hang out with. He and Ned were her first real friends. She originally prided herself on being able to carry herself alone, spending most of her time in the fictional worlds of Harry Potter or Game of Thrones. However, with the addition of the two dorks to her life, she found herself wanting to spend less time reading and more time talking to them about absolutely nothing.
The majority of the time they spent hanging out outside of school was spent in Peter's apartment. In his habitat, MJ got to see a different side of Peter that he didn't show in school. He would wear shirts that she would originally think hung off his frame awkwardly, but she found herself focused on the outlines of the taut muscles hidden under his top. It was only because he looked skinnier in school. That. Totally.
He also wore an easy smile that seemed to constantly be on his face, which was a welcome change from his eyes constantly popping out, and his lips tensely pursed. He always seemed like if someone were to poke him, he'd fall over, like a cardboard cutout.
He was even able to match her sarcasm somewhat, and she did not like that. She'd constantly try to beat him with some snark, but he'd retort just as fiercely. She supposed that it was home field advantage giving him this extra confidence.
One time, they were watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off, a favorite of all three teenagers. During the scene where Ferris was running home, dashing through front yards and vaulting over fences, MJ said, "Parker, pass me the popcorn so I can fully enjoy the awesomeness of this scene."
"Come and get it, Jones," he said, tilting his head and giving her a lopsided grin. Groaning, she got up from her slouching position on Peter's comfortable couch and sauntered over to him.
When she stood over Peter, the latter being comfortably seated, the grin still on his face and popcorn still in his hands, she felt a little nervous. He looked really cute, and maybe, just maybe - she wanted to kiss that stupid grin off his face.
She blushed a little at the thought and pushed it to the back of her mind as she reached for the popcorn in Peter's lap.
Of course. Of course, he had to tear it out of her reach, behind the sofa, but at his eye level. She groaned again and reached past his head. She still stood, stiff-legged, not wanting to get any closer than she had to and get super flustered. But even as she reached, her arms weren't long enough to tear the bowl out of his hands. She grudgingly leaned closer, and as her head lowered closer to his, she could have sworn she saw Peter blush and heard him exhale shakily.
She grinned. She'd gotten the effect she'd hoped for. For leverage, and just to tease him some more, she placed her hand on his chest, just below his collarbone, for leverage. Damn if he didn't have some crazy muscles. She thought Peter hated any form of physical activity whatsoever, though.
Finally, she reached with her left hand to the popcorn bowl, now dangerously hanging out of his hand, looking like he might drop it and make it shatter, but somehow, it didn't. She took the bowl, leaned in close to his ear, and whispered, "Pardon my French, but you're an asshole."
As she stood up again, she could see that there was a very red Peter Parker sitting under her, but he was laughing. Soon enough, so was she.
Ned was completely out of the loop, though. "What the hell did I just see?" The two flustered teenagers immediately stopped laughing, and MJ walked quickly back over to her previous seat on the couch.
"The master at work, Leeds. Now shut up. I just missed a few minutes."
MJ may have been the intimidating one in their little group, but Peter was definitely the nice one. Sometimes, it even pissed her off; his constant offers to carry the books in her hands which forced her to strain with the weight of them and the heavy bag on her back with even more books; his refusals to push back whenever she pushed him, not maliciously, of course, it was just something MJ did to mess with him. His antics got on her nerves, and she let him know it.
"Sometimes I wish I could slap the nice out of you, Parker," she'd said, once.
He gave her that damn grin before replying, "You tried already, remember?"
"Well..." she began, looking down at her Converse-clad feet, remembering that particular experience in Peter's bedroom. She shifted her weight between her feet, looking past Peter's left arm, his muscular left arm, at Ned eating his lunch, unassuming, and finally, back into Peter's eyes.
His grin only grew wider, and there was that impulse again, that impulse to kiss him until they both couldn't breathe and their faces were red from exertion.
Damn it, MJ, pull it together.
"I could always try again," she finally managed after several beats. She tried her best to look unbothered, standing up as straight as she possibly can, giving a little hmph to show she really meant it.
But his gaze is powerful, and she knows he knows she's affected by it, and all she can do is walk past him and plop herself down next to Ned, saying "What's up, loser," and just avoid having to talk to the attractive, nice, funny boy she was falling extremely hard for.
At the end of that day, MJ had packed her bag and was walking home. She lived about a mile away, but she hated taking the bus and walking cleared her head after a crazy day like today.
Of course, though, the gods laughed down at her from the heavens. This walk was not going to be casual or head-clearing in any way whatsoever. Because when she was crossing the street, face buried in her latest read, she heard the loud honk of a car and the loud cry of a somewhat-familiar voice, yelling "Look out!" She looked up from the book and to her right, where the honk was coming from. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. A huge truck was headed straight for her, and all she could do was stand in the middle of the street like a deer in headlights. She looked into the cab of the truck and saw the horrified expression of the man driving it. He was obviously trying to brake, with his constant glances to where his feet would be, but it wasn't slowing down any time soon.
Suddenly, she felt her feet leave the ground and wind whipping her hair into her face. She opened her eyes and saw through her mane of hair that was covering her eyes that Spider-Man was the one who had saved her. He had a tight grip around her waist, and for extra security, she wrapped her arms around his neck, laughing like a maniac. She was a little in shock, but the experience was exhilarating. She could hear her book's pages flapping in the wind, and it was something of a satisfying sound.
A few seconds later, she felt them slow to a stop, and the spandex-suited vigilante lowered with her to the ground. When he let go of the web that was keeping them in the air, her knees buckled a little bit from the sudden contact with the earth. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, holding her tighter when she almost fell.
His weird robot eyes made a sound, like a camera shutter opening, as they grew in size. "Are you okay?" He asked, in a deep voice.
"Wow," she said, still looking up at him, a little out of breath, arms still wrapped around his neck. He seemed to notice this and stood her up. She realized she was taller than him as she slowly gained her footing. Weird. "So is that a voice modulator or something?"
He quickly let go of her, scratching the back of his head and taking two steps backward, and she felt a tinge of recognition in the back of her mind, his quirks seeming just a bit similar to a particular bumbling nerd she knew, but she quickly pushed the outlandish theory out of her head. He laughed uncomfortably. "Nah, I just - uh, I just talk like this."
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him with what she knew had become her signature frown, but he seemed undeterred. This disappointed her slightly, but she supposed superheroes were a little more impervious to curious looks from teenagers than she originally thought.
"Well," MJ said, tapping her foot on the cement of the sidewalk, "aren't there better things to be doing than talking to weird teenage girls? Like fighting crime?"
She thought she heard him whisper something, and almost leaned in closer to hear it better, but she decided to not seem too nosy and just stood there. Then, he spoke up. "It was a pleasure saving you, M - miss. I'll see you around."
Then, he swung off into the chilly Queens sunset, and what she was seeing would make a great photograph, if she had a camera on her: His outstretched hand, clinging onto the length of silk extending from his palm, his admirable muscles flexing under the suit, tasked with holding on to the web. And of course, the sun leaving a shadow she could follow on the ground before it disappeared behind a corner, off to do some more saving bookworms from getting hit by 18-wheelers, or something.
Yeah, Spider-Man was attractive. He had a need to help people. It would have been so easy for him to become yet another low-level criminal, what with his literal superpowers, but instead he took the high road - and that was endearing. He was also funny, and good-hearted.
Did she have a crush on Spider-Man? If not, there were certainly the beginnings of an attraction developing inside her. She didn't need to know who was under the mask to realize it, but she certainly had her suspicions.
I'll find out who you are, Spider-Dork.
So, what did you guys think? Write a review. I finished this chapter a little quickly; I began working on it the second I uploaded the first, and then I finished it a day later. This is really fun to write, as you might have guessed. Also, this isn't going to have too many chapters. I can't commit to a fic for that long. Expect a payoff soon, just probably not in the next chapter. Anyway, until next time!
