They had returned from the compound with a training regiment as well as firm instructions not to engage with anything or anyone without giving someone a heads up. Each of them had contact information not only for Tony but Steve and Natasha as well. All four boys were more impressed with the fact that they had Black Widow's cell phone number than anything. Peter understood the affect she had on most males. For him, she was more like a big sister. She always had been. Between training and school, their nights out were limited to only a couple nights a week.

Peter rested his chin on his hand and watched Davis and Johnny shoot paper footballs at each other. So far, Davis was ahead by two but Johnny had made the last three shot so he definitely had the momentum. Whoever lost had to cook dinner Sunday night. Peter had felt off all night. His Spidey sense was buzzing but not in the 'you're about to be attacked' kind of way. As far as he could tell he had three different levels. Level 1 was someone is watching you but you're not currently in danger. Level 2 was 'someone is watching you and they're planning to hurt you' or a general 'danger' warning. Level 3 was 'duck because you're about to get hit'. This was somewhere between 1 and 2. Until it ramped up to 2 he wasn't going to worry about it.

Wyatt had gotten bored with the competition. Gwen was playing pool with some guy. Wyatt had seen him around before. His eyes started traveling through The Odyssey. He always enjoyed people watching. It was generally the same people who showed up at The Odyssey which is why new people always stood out. "Whoa...". His eyes landed on two girls by the door. The taller one looked vaguely familiar and was obviously looking for someone.

Bobby looked up at Wyatt's 'Whoa' and looked in the direction he was staring. "Uh...Peter...she looks a lot like the picture you have in your phone."

Peter glanced up and froze. "MJ?" MJ was in Boston. Why was MJ in Boston.

"That's MJ? Holy crap. Forget everything I ever said about you needing to move on." The five boys stared in the direction of the door. Peter was completely frozen. His brain had shut down. As if it were slowly booting up again he started noticing things. Like the fact that her hair was a little longer. And it was completely down, not pulled back like she usually wore it. It kind of reminded him of the way she looked when they had gone to the ill-fated 2nd homecoming dance. He shook himself out of the mental reboot when he realized she had spotted him and was headed his way. Launching to his feet he met her about five feet from the table.

"MJ. You're in Boston." He breathed out the words in what he was sure was probably about a quarter of the time it should have taken to say them.

"I am." MJ smiled at Peter. In that moment she was absolutely sure that coming to Boston had been the right move.

"Why are you in Boston? I mean, I'm really glad you're in Boston but I don't understand why you're here...in Boston." He felt like he had probably said the word Boston a few too many times. His brain definitely was not firing on all cylinders at the moment.

MJ took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You drove 5 hours to talk to me?" Peter frowned with confusion.

MJ laughed, "It was more like 4. My friend Jennifer drove." She nodded her head in the direction of the girl standing next to her.

Peter looked over and saw Jennifer who until that moment he had been completely oblivious to. "Hi. Jennifer. I'm Peter." He could feel Wyatt stand up behind him.

"And I'm Wyatt, Johnny and Davis are playing table football, and that's Bobby." Wyatt pulled over two chairs and gently nudged Peter to move. For someone who normally processed things so quickly MJ's appearance had turned him into a slow moving turtle with apparent brain damage.

MJ grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him into a chair next to her. "So this is the Odyssey. I can see why you like it. It's not too loud."

Peter stared at MJ. "MJ?" He shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah, this is the Odyssey."

Wyatt leaned between MJ and Jennifer. "What are your plans? You probably need somewhere to stay, right?" He smiled at Jennifer. "I am more than happy to sleep on the couch and you can take my bed."

"That's sweet." Jennifer smiled back at Wyatt. "We really didn't make plans past getting here, so having a place to crash would be great!" When MJ had brought up the idea of going to see Peter, she had offered to go with her partially because MJ would have had to borrow her car and her dad would have flipped if she had just let MJ take it but also because she and MJ had become pretty good friends over the last year and she knew how much MJ wanted to get things worked out with Peter. She would much rather have a roommate that wasn't pining over a boy, although MJ would never in a million years describe herself as pining.

"Consider it done. For a houseful of guys, we aren't that bad." Wyatt scooted a chair closer to Jennifer. "So I'm assuming you're at Princeton too. Are you pre-law like MJ?"

Jennifer nodded. "We have different interests. MJ's focus is on corporate law and mine is criminal."

"Perfect. You can be my defense attorney if I ever need one." Wyatt looked over at Johnny and Davis who had finished their table football game. "So who's cooking dinner tomorrow?"

Johnny scowled. "I am." He looked around at the other. "Any chance you all want to just head back to the house?" He rotated his neck and heard a distinct pop. Wyatt really needed to ease up a little on the training.

With nods all around, Wyatt reached over and grabbed Jennifer's keys. "Why don't I drive. You just spent 4 hours in a car and the streets here can be a little narrow in places." He glanced down at the key. "SUV?" After receiving an affirmative nod, he glanced back at the others. "Davis, Johnny, Bobby...you're with us. MJ and Peter can fend for themselves."

MJ and Peter looked at the group stand up around them and head for the door. "What just happened?" Peter looked at MJ in genuine confusion.

"Wyatt is quite possibly the best wingman ever. Plus, I think he might be interested in Jennifer." MJ stood up and pulled Peter to his feet. "Come on. We're apparently heading to your house." They walked out of the Odyssey hand in hand. MJ had seen Peter's car when they had gotten there so she knew where he had parked. It almost felt normal when she slid into the passenger seat. She had been in Peter's car more times than she could count. It had a certain familiarity, just like Peter.

Peter had given some thought to just driving around but it was starting to rain a little so he opted to just head to the house although he did take the long way. He was arguing with himself over what to say when MJ spoke up.

"So Johnny is the fire guy and Bobby is ice, right?"

Peter glanced over at MJ. She had always been so observant. He supposed it wasn't a hard leap to make if you had a starting point...like knowing who Spider-Man was. "Yes. Davis can make wormholes. It's how we got to NY so fast."

"Handy. And Wyatt?"

Peter chuckled, "No special ability other than the fact that he landed not only one but five hits on Nat."

"Seriously? That's pretty amazing. Bet she loves having him as a new project." MJ shifted in her seat and looked at Peter. This is exactly what she wanted.

Peter turned down the street that would take them to the house. Even the long way wasn't long enough. "How's school going?" Even though they had been texting pretty regularly since Christmas talking to MJ in person was so much better.

"School is good. Dual enrollment was a great idea in high school. I'm enjoying my pre-law classes. I don't think I would have liked having to take all of the core classes."

Peter nodded in agreement. It really had been a great move. He knew Pepper had pulled some strings to make it all come together their junior and senior year. As a result they had all been able to start essentially halfway through what would have been their sophomore year. Shaving a year and a half off of a 4-year degree and then being able to test out of some of the classes meant they could technically graduate in 2 years. His dad and Pepper were already bringing up getting a master's degree or two which he would probably do. "Where are you thinking about for law school?" They had danced around the question in texts but Peter had never outright asked outright.

"It's a toss up between Columbia, Harvard, or Boston. Probably depends on where this goes." MJ smirked at Peter.

Peter smiled...there was the MJ he was used to. He hated that they were tiptoeing around each other. He pulled into the driveway and waited for the garage door to open. Pulling inside he cut off the engine and shut the door. "Where is this going?"

"Hopefully inside. I was serious when I said I wanted to talk to you." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "So come on."

Peter watched MJ get out of the car. Sighing, he got out grabbed her hand and took her inside. She wanted to talk. The only conceivable place they could talk with five other people in the house was the roof or his room. Since it was raining he opted for his room. Shutting the door behind him he dropped his keys and wallet on his dresser and watched MJ sit on the side of his bed. He leaned against the dresser and crossed his arms. "Ok...talk."

MJ took a deep breath. "Peter...I miss you. I miss talking to you."

Peter latched onto the glimmer of hope. If MJ missed him there was a chance they could go back to the way things were. "MJ, I miss you too...".

MJ put her hand up to stop him from continuing. "Let me finish." She paused and took another deep breath. "After I found out about Spider-Man, you kept everything in separate compartments. You'd let me peak into your Spider-Man box if you thought it wasn't too bad or if you thought it wasn't something that was classified. But the longer you were Spider-Man, the more you kept things separate. After the Homecoming dance, the second one, it seemed like you were co-mingling your boxes a little. But instead of letting me in, you closed off more and more until all I saw of you was this little sliver." She met his eyes. "Then you pulled the crap about Africa and it was kind of the last straw."

"How is wanting to keep you safe something that makes you break up with me? You don't know what had just happened...what we took down." Peter was just as frustrated now as he was when she originally broke up with him.

"You're right. I didn't know." MJ looked around his room. It was pretty much the same as it had been in New York, maybe slightly fewer toys but she still spied a couple action figures propped against books and holding the power cord to his laptop. She focused on him again. "You know, other than the pictures in the paper and the interview you had to do, I haven't seen you in nine months. I thought maybe I was getting over you before that, but I realized I wasn't. Then Spider-Man showed up in New York during whatever battle the Avengers got into and I realized that not only was I not getting over you but I didn't want to." She took another deep breath. "When I saw you fighting...I just didn't want it to end up being too late and I didn't try."

Peter stared at MJ. "I may be more confused now than I was when you broke up with me. I don't know what you want."

"Peter...I want you...all of you. Spider-Man included. But not if it means you're going to keep me out of the boxes. I don't want just part of you. I want to know about the bad nights and the things you see and do so no one else has to. You know I know how to keep a secret so it shouldn't be a problem with the Avengers." MJ crossed her arms and stared at Peter. She wasn't sure what to expect at this point. He had kept secrets for so long she wasn't sure if he knew how not to keep things secret.

"You don't want to know everything. Trust me." Peter couldn't even process what she was asking. "I wouldn't wish some of these things on my worst enemy much less someone I...". Peter swallowed and wasn't sure he could finish the sentence. "MJ...you don't want to know."

"I do. I want to know what makes you wake up screaming so I know how to help you. I want to know what makes you get lost in your head so I can pull you out again. I want you to talk to me."

Peter stared up at the ceiling. Keeping things separate was how he ensured everyone's safety. Not just from the actual threat but also from the knowledge of just how evil people could be. Maybe if he gave her a look she'd realize she didn't want to know. He looked back at her. "The Africa mission was to take out a warlord who had gotten a hold of some alien tech and was threatening the surrounding countries. Only when we got there it wasn't just the alien tech. They kidnap women and children to use for slave labor and other horrible things. So when we walk into what we think is a weapons cache, it's actually a room full of terrified girls, some as young as 5 or 6 that had been beaten and raped. Or maybe you want to hear about the Hong Kong mission last summer where some terrorist brutally killed half of their hostages before we got there." He looked at her, tears threatening to fall. "Is that what you want to know? Because those things suck and no one else should have to deal with them."

MJ stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around him. "Yes. Not because I want to know about the horrible things but because you will eventually break if you don't let anyone in. My guess is that Tony is the only one you even halfway talk to. Maybe Steve some. But I know you well enough to know that you don't tell them everything. I don't want you to break. The world needs Spider-Man and I need you."

Peter breathed in the scent of her shampoo. It still had the same calming affect. "MJ...I don't know if I can."

MJ leaned back and looked at Peter. "I'm not asking for things to change overnight. I'm just telling you what I need. You need to decide if it's something you want."

"It's not that easy. What I want doesn't always happen."

xxxxxxxxxx

MJ woke up to a buzzing on Peter's nightstand. They had fallen asleep curled up next to each other, neither one taking the time change out of what they had on. They had talked, made what she hoped was progress, then fallen asleep. She looked over at Peter's phone and saw "Dad" flashing on the screen. She felt Peter shift next to her so she swiped to answer the call and put it on speaker. "Stark..."

Tony looked at his phone to make sure he had called Peter. "MJ? Why are you answering Peter's phone."

"Because she drove up yesterday and we spent most of last night talking and fell asleep around 4am...after talking." Peter added emphasis to the word talking. "Why are you calling at 8am on a Sunday morning?"

Tony fought back a laugh. This was exactly why he was calling at 8am. "Because Morgan lost her MIT bear in the lake and has been up since about the time you went to bed begging us to bring her to see you so you can get her another bear." He glanced over at Pepper who was currently twisted around in the passenger seat trying to convince Morgan that daddy was on the phone with her brother. "So we flew up and are currently about 20 minutes from the house. Just giving you a heads up...which you obviously needed."

"Talking dad...Pepper and Morgan are with you?" Peter swatted at MJ who was currently trying to stifle a laugh at how completely uncomfortable Peter was right now.

"Yep. See you in 20."

Peter rolled over onto his back. "Pepper will be here in 20 minutes." He yelled loud enough that hopefully he had at least woken everyone up. All of his housemates were terrified of Pepper. She had made an innocent comment on one of their visits about the state of the house after a particularly rough week at school. It wasn't that the boys were messy, they were just boys...and college students. But Pepper had this way of getting a message across with very few words. So now, anytime Pepper showed up, the house was immaculate. Which it wasn't right now. He smiled when he heard several expletives and scrambling.

"They're scared of Pepper?"

Peter turned his head to the side and looked at MJ. "Who do you know that isn't terrified of Pepper, present company excluded of course."

MJ pushed herself into a sitting position. "Good point. Let me grab my toothbrush from my bag and I'll help you all clean up."

xxxxxxxxxx

By the time Morgan burst through the door Wyatt, Bobby, MJ, and Jennifer were sitting at the bar in the kitchen drinking coffee after successfully tidying up most of the rooms. Peter had met her at the door and scooped her up as she ran full steam into his arms.

"Bear!"

"We can go get a new bear but they don't open until later." Peter stepped aside and let Tony and Pepper in, who had at least brought donuts with them.

Pepper crossed over to MJ and hugged her. She had always liked MJ and knew she could be good for Peter. She was glad they were talking.

Donuts demolished, Peter and Tony decided they need to at least act like they were taking Morgan to get a new bear since she was terrorizing everyone. They still had about 30 minutes to kill so Tony drove randomly through Boston with Morgan buckled in the back seat and Peter in the passenger seat. "So MJ? Are you two back together?"

Peter frowned. "It's complicated." He turned to look at is dad. "She wants to know everything. Every crap mission, every nightmare, everything. She said she wants me but only if she can have all of me. No more secrets."

"And you?" Tony knew how much Peter struggled with secrets.

"It's MJ."

Tony smiled. "If anyone could handle knowing everything it's MJ. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea."

"Really?" Peter frowned. He hadn't expected his dad to think this was a good idea.

"It's good to have someone to talk to and it gives you the ability to actually get close to someone. That's not something that everyone has. Out of all of the superhero's you know, Clint and I are the only two that are married. And...to be honest, my getting married was entirely Pepper's doing. It takes a certain type of person to put up with us." Tony glanced over at Peter. "As close as Pepper and I are, there are parts of me that she doesn't see because she doesn't want to know about the bad things. If you have the opportunity to have someone who knows every part of you...you shouldn't dismiss it too quickly." Tony pulled into a parking space in front of the MIT campus store.

Peter sighed as he got out of the car. Reaching in and unbuckling Morgan from her car seat he pulled her into his arms and carried her inside to pick out a new bear.