AUTHOR'S NOTE: Guy You Wish You Didn't Know, thanks for looking over this one.
I'm sorry this took so long to put up, but 7th Grade homework is a major pain. Seriously.
On Sunday evening, the Mighty Avengers, Kitty, and Young Bobby all got together at Stephen Rogers and Young Bobby's place. Everyone was sitting in the living room. Peter was tuning his bass when Stephen Rogers made an announcement to everyone:
"We have a show this weekend."
Kitty jumped off the couch. "OH HELL YES WHEN?"
Stephen Rogers was startled by this show of excitement. "It's on Wednesday. At the S.H.I.E.L.D."
Scott raised an eyebrow. "They have shows at the S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Yeah. Upstairs."
"I had no idea." (NOTE: Even though Jan's mentioned it, like, a thousand times in the past.)
Kitty clenched her fist. "Wednesday, huh? It's going to be hard to pull it off on a school night."
Peter put his hand on Kitty's shoulder. "You don't have to come if you can't. We're not even that good, anyway."
Jan protested. "Peter, she's our best fan."
Young Bobby stood up. Sniff.
AND THEN HE RAN OUT OF THE ROOM CRYING.
"Aside from you, Young Bobby!"
Kitty changed the subject. "Is it just you performing, or are other people going?"
Stephen Rogers thought for a second, then replied. "Stephen And The Defenders."
Peter stamped his foot. "Oh, come on! I hate those guys!"
Peter had another dream that night about Mary Jane.
In this one, he was walking through the halls of his old high school, Mighty Thor's Secondary School. He saw Mary Jane skate past him. Peter followed her. She stopped in front of a door with the number 27 on it. It stood out from the other doors, though. This one had a tiny little doorbell next to it. Peter realized: This was the door to his apartment with Johnny.
Peter quickly woke up and ran to the door. As he opened it, Mary Jane stood there about to ring the doorbell.
"Uh... Peter Parker?"
"I would ask you out, but that would be a pretty dumb move."
"Definitely."
"So can we go out? We should so date."
"Uhhhh... no. sorry. Can you sign for this?" She held out a pen and notepad.
"But then you'll leave."
"Yeah. I have other packages to drop off, you know."
"Sigh. Well, that's true. But you know what's weird? Before I answered the door, I was dreaming about you knocking on my door. Isn't that weird?"
"Nope. I guess what happened was you saw me travel through a subspace route that goes through your brain. I just use it for delivering packages because it makes my job a lot faster."
"Subspace? What's that, now?"
"It's... well, it's hard to explain. I'm not sure how to put it into words. Did you learn about them in school?"
"No."
"That makes sense. You guys probably just don't know about them up here in Canada. I guess that's why they're empty up here."
"Um. So where are you from?"
"America."
"The states, huh?"
"Yeah. Why, am I rude or something?"
"Do you remember me? From that one Carol Party?" (Eager to change subject)
"Were you the shoe guy?"
"Oh, no, I wasn't." (NOTE: Oh, yes, he was.) "I was the other guy... remember?"
"No. Sorry. Well, you have to sign for this now."
"But then you'll leave."
"Yeah. I have a job. Didn't I say that already?"
"No, you didn't." (NOTE: Yes, she did.) "So... can we? Go out? You just moved here, right? I've lived here my whole life. I could show you around. And stuff. There are reasons?"
Mary Jane sighed, knowing that Peter was persistent and that she couldn't shake him. "Fine. Is tonight good for you? Will you just sign for your damn packages already?"
Peter took the pen and pad, signed his name, took the package and threw it over her shoulder. It landed point-blank in the garbage can behind him, in front of his and Johnny's bed. "So yeah. 8:00 fine for you?"
MUCH LATER
Peter walked over to the children's park that Mary Jane told him to meet her at. She was waiting at the entrance. He called to her. "Why are you just standing there?"
"I was waiting for you, man."
"Oh."
"Um, please explain the patch."
"What?"
"On your parka."
Peter remembered he had a "T.A." patch on his parka. "Oh, that! Oh, yeah, I went to the Tomorrow Academy. And, clearly, you didn't."
"Clearly, you're a total New Mutants: First Class nerd. Did you buy it, or is it homemade?"
"I'm not answering that!" (NOTE: It was homemade.) "Shut up, person who writes notes at random moments! Anyway, how come you came to Toronto?"
They made their way over to the swings. "I had some... boyfriend issues. So I decided to move and figured this would be a good place. That's what Norman told me."
"Who's Norman, now?"
"Friend of mine from the states. So, what do you do here for a job?"
"I am between jobs."
"Between... what and what? Clarify."
"My first job was... at a place... I'd rather not talk about it."
"I'd rather not talk about mine either."
Then they noticed that a major snowstorm was brewing. Mary Jane motioned for Peter to come with her. They walked over to a door with a spider emblem on it.
"Mary Jane... what's that?"
"A door. Come on..."
And they walked through it.
Together.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Anyone know who "Norman" is? (You can't call yourself an honest Marvel fan if you don't...)
In this AU, New Mutants: First Class is their equivalent of the June 2011 movie X-Men: First Class. The New Mutants are a superhero team from the Ultimates Universe that studied at the Tomorrow Academy.
"Stephen And The Defenders" is a reference to the superhero team known as the Defenders. More on them next chapter.
'Till then!