been here all along so why can't you see (you belong with me)

by StellaHunterOfArtemis

When MJ and Peter first thought of the plan, they expected they'd make the invite and get the present. Of course, their lives could never be so easy. Or, MJ and Peter read a tumblr post and decide to invite Tony Stark to their non-existent wedding. Only he says yes. Obviously, this means that they have to throw a whole wedding, even though they're not dating and not in love, nope.

So, after almost four months, I've finally finished this! Guess quarantine is good for something, hehe. S/o to my friend Kai for her beta work! Ly 3

This fic is inspired from a tumblr post - post/ 189956944748/ awful-brew-xxfangirlanonymousxx. Thank you so much to awful-brew for letting me borrow their idea and make it my own!

Few notes: most movies in Phase 3 never happen, except Homecoming. Therefore, Tony knows Peter's secret identity but he approached May instead of Peter post-Homecoming, and Peter has no idea that Tony knows. MJ figured him out and confronted him at some point during high school.

Title from 'You Belong With Me' by Taylor Swift.

---

MJ and Peter were best friends.

Just friends, no matter what Ned or anyone else thought. Why would they be anything more? They didn't have any feelings for each other, after all.

That's what they told themselves, anyway. It was a comfortable lie, because it meant not having to confront their feelings. Easier to live in denial, and all that.

And yet.

They acted like an old married couple most days, constantly bickering but almost always sitting next to each other, stealing glances and touches as often as they could get away with. They had inside jokes even Ned didn't understand, despite the fact that they all lived together, and you would often find Peter in Harvard, dropping off MJ's favourite calming tea as she worked, and MJ in MIT, dragging Peter to their favourite diner when he was deep in projects. But that's just what friends did, right?

Spring semester of senior year would beg to differ.

---

MJ was in the habit of scrolling through Tumblr whenever college stressed her out. She often found gems of insults to throw around at people, and everyone using the website was unhinged. It was solid entertainment and distracted her from the woes of young adulthood pretty well for an hour, until reality kicked her ass at the end of it. But it was a risk she was willing to take.

This particular time, though, parked in the living room, she couldn't find anything particularly entertaining, despite refreshing her dash multiple times. She sighed in frustration, about to abandon the laptop altogether and focusing on her assignments instead, when a new post finally popped up. Uncharacteristically pouncing at the opportunity to waste some time, she began to read it.

The door clicked open, interrupting her, and she rolled her eyes and held up the finger to whichever of the losers had deigned to grace her with their presence. It was probably Peter; Ned had work today, he'd be back after at least three hours.

"Hey MJ," Peter said cheerily, tugging on a lock of her hair as he collapsed next to her on the couch, leaning to look into her laptop. She twisted it to give him easier access, and they read the tweet-screenshot post together. Peter hummed in interest as he read, collapsing on the cushions once he was finished, pulling out his phone to scroll through.

MJ, however, kept staring at the screen, mind whirling through a million possibilities. When Peter looked up in a minute and noticed MJ's gaze intently locked on the tweet they had read, he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"MJ, no," he said firmly, breaking her out of her thoughts. She turned wide eyes pleadingly towards him, which he studiously ignored.

"Peter, come on!" she wheedled, nudging his shoulder with hers. He kept shaking his head, moving away, keeping up a steady stream of 'nope's under his breath.

"Hey, loser, before you keep saying no, will you listen to me?" she said, yanking his arm to keep him from shuffling away any further. Despite being fully capable of doing as he pleased if he so wanted, he didn't move any more, sighing deeply. She directed a long-suffering look towards the ceiling, then huffed when she realised he still hadn't turned to face her. One pull on his arm fixed that problem.

"Remember those textbooks we needed to get?" MJ said enticingly, and Peter's face changed instantly. Both of them had avoided buying the more expensive textbooks on their lists, each one costing $350, and as luck would have it, it was an important requirement of their respective classes and no one was willing to sell one second hand.

Peter deliberated for a few more seconds, before letting out a loud groan in acceptance as MJ whooped. "You drive a hard bargain, but okay," he said resignedly, shifting to sit beside her. "Whom are we scamming, then?"

"Don't call it scamming if we're doing this with a billionaire," she said, face twisting as she opened up an invite designing website and clicked on the most gaudily wedding one she could find. "Trickle down economics is a scam and there's no ethical way to become a billionaire, blah blah. Aha!"

"Yeah, whatever, who is it?" he asked, affection colouring his voice as she began to fill it out.

"Tony Stark, obviously," she said, clicking her tongue as she made a mistake. Peter's jaw dropped open beside her.

"Iron Man? You want to scam Iron Man?" he all but shrieked, voice rising up a couple octaves. She directed him a scathing look, abandoning her laptop to look at him.

"Dude, that's exactly why. If there's anyone who's randomly going to give presents to a couple strangers, it would be a superhero philanthropist," she pointed out, and he had to concede (as was usual in their disagreements). "Besides, he'd be way too busy saving the world or whatever to check whether or not this whole thing is legit."

"You're right, but I don't like the idea of scamming Tony Stark," Peter said anxiously as she closed the invite, designed to her liking, to open a wedding registry website. "Hey, what do we need that for?"

"Dumbass, how else are we supposed to get what we need from someone who doesn't know us?" she asked scoffingly, Peter's frown fading as he directed an admiring look at her. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Of course you hadn't, that's why I'm here," she rolled her eyes, playfully flicking his ear. He rubbed at it half-heartedly and shook his head, messing with his phone for the few minutes that MJ took to finish up with the registry, muttering under her breath, "Obviously this only works if he goes for the most expensive thing. Let's hope."

After a while, a patronising voice floated toward him."So like a man to leave all the work for the women."

Peter rolled his eyes and looked at MJ, who was staring him down with a twinkle dancing in her eye.

"You and I both know that you would have skinned me alive if I tried to mess with your work, why do you always do this," he replied in a bored tone. MJ gave him a brilliant smile, dropped a kiss on his head and walked towards the kitchen, leaving Peter to sit on the couch, slowly turning red as he processed what just happened.

"By the way," MJ said, poking her head around the wall, her own cheeks a little pink, "I've sent the invite to Stark, just so you know."

Peter didn't even have the capacity to think of how MJ found Tony Stark's personal contact information as he replayed the casual kiss over and over in his head. What he didn't know was that she was doing the same, marvelling her audacity the entire while.

---

"Boss, a wedding invite has been delivered for you," said FRIDAY's calm voice, cutting off the AC/DC song blasting from the speakers. Tony's head popped up from where he was working on the Iron Man suit, an indignant expression painted on his face.

"FRI, you know the policy, send them the most expensive item on their registry, and don't tell me about it."

"But Boss, you'd asked to be informed if you received correspondence from this person," FRIDAY objected.

A little more interested, Tony laid down his wrench and folded his arms. "Alright, then, who is it?"

"Peter Parker," came the reply. Tony's expression changed into one of absolute delight.

"Wait, you mean Aunt Hottie actually decided to send me an invite to her precious nephew's wedding?" He asked gloatingly, already picking up his phone to place a call.

"What is it, Stark," said a distracted voice, three rings into the call.

"So I suppose you like me more than you let on, May," he said, twirling a pencil and leaning on his workstation.

"I don't have time for your games, Tony, just say whatever you have to," May said with a sigh, voice echoing slightly.

"I didn't know that we were close enough for me to warrant an invite to your nephew's wedding," Tony said after a second's pause, expression slipping slightly. All sounds on the other end came to a screeching halt, before May shouted, "My nephew's WHAT?"

"Your nephew's . . . wedding?" Tony said, scratching his beard, confusion replacing smugness.

"You mean to tell me that THAT BOY decided to get married without telling me? And invited you?" May was clearly fuming, and with a thrill of horror Tony remembered the time she stormed his office because he'd neglected to inform her of Peter's superhero antics until after she'd found them out for herself. Ruthlessly squashing the memory, he tried to interrupt, but May was on a roll, and she would not be stopped.

"What is he doing getting married anyway? College isn't over yet! And who is he even getting married to? Doesn't matter, does it? Oooh, I'm gonna skin that boy alive," May said, loud clattering interrupting her conversation randomly.

"HAPPY!" Tony said loudly, in the exact second May stopped to take a breath. For a second time, all sounds ceased ominously, and in a very dangerous voice, she said, "What?"

"Happy can drive you to Cambridge," Tony said, struggling to recover. "He doesn't have anything to do at the moment, and you clearly need to go and speak to Peter!"

"You're damn right I do!"

"Right! So it's settled! I'll ask Happy to come pick you up in an hour," he said, gesturing frantically to FRIDAY, whose soft voice said, "Informed Happy, Boss."

An unarticulated scream ripped through the phone, and Tony pulled it away from his ear, staring down at the device, where the call had been terminated

"Well," he said to no one in particular. "That went well."

MJ was casually scrolling through her Tumblr dashboard when a blinking notification appeared on her screen. Abruptly pulled out of reading a detailed analysis of John Williams' music, her eyes focused on the email, eyes widening in horror as she read the first line. As such, she screamed the first thing that came to her mind.

"PETER!"

---

When Ned walked into his apartment to see Peter and MJ furiously whispering at each other, he thought nothing of it. It was pretty normal for him to come back from work to find his roommates (who were totally in love with each other, by the way, which they'd told him themselves, on two very different, very drunk, equally memorable occasions; also, they weren't subtle) arguing amongst themselves.

This time, though, seemed different from normal. Both of them seemed to be pretty serious, and the tone of their conversation seemed worried. Ned shrugged, knowing that they would approach him themselves if it was serious enough, so he didn't have anything to be worried about. If only he knew the hurricane that was about to hit him, he wouldn't be so flippant. As it was, he just went to grab a snack, and was confronted with two comically serious faces when he exited the kitchen.

A thrill of foreboding raced down his spine, and he stared dumbly at Peter and MJ, who manhandled him into a chair before he could realise what was happening.

"Um, guys, what are you doing?" he asked, utterly confused, and more than a little concerned. MJ had started pacing behind the chair that Peter slowly lowered himself in, maintaining eye contact with Ned the entire way.

"So, um, we have a bit of a situation," Peter said, putting his hands on the table, looking as serious as the time he told Ned to not reveal his secret identity. The parallel stressed Ned out more than it should have, and he started eating the cheese sticks he'd pulled out of the fridge at an astonishing rate.

"What's the situation?" he asked from in between bites. Neither MJ nor Peter blinked an eye, far too used to Ned's stress eating habits. Peter leaned forward, saying, "I need my guy in the chair, Ned. We don't know what to do, and we're hoping you can help."

"Of course, Peter, you know I'll do anything to help you," Ned said, swallowing the last bit of his snack, wishing he had the foresight to pull out more of them.

"So, MJ found this life hack that we thought we'd use, and it had a bit of an unexpected consequence," Peter said, a tad sheepishly, which just set off alarm bells in his mind. Any time Peter was both serious and sheepish, things did not bode well for Ned.

"What this loser is trying to explain, is that we made a fake wedding invite to send to Tony Stark, thinking we'll get a free present out of it and that he wouldn't check, but he RSVP'd to say that he's coming, and we don't know what to do," MJ said impassionately.

It was like a dam broke. Both of them started talking over each other, trying to explain their reasoning, throwing excuses around and blaming each other like toddlers. Ned just blinked at them, a blank expression on his face. Both Peter and MJ's voices slowly faded off as his silence continued on. Ned opened his mouth a few times as if to speak, then closed it. The deafening quiet stretched on until he finally found his voice. "I need hot chocolate."

The duo followed their roommate into the kitchen. Nobody said a word as Ned made his drink, poured it into his cup, added a few marshmallows and walked out to take his seat on the dining table. Exchanging alarmed looks, Peter and MJ followed suit, sitting down in front of Ned, who was taking a large gulp out of his cup.

He put it down, arms folded on the table in front of him as he stared at them. "WERE YOU OUT OF YOUR MINDS?!"

Both Peter and MJ winced, and spoke over each other in their haste to explain themselves. Ned just held up his hand, totally done with the lovesick fools he was forced to call his friends, and they stopped talking as fast as they had started.

"Why would you go through with an idea this dumb?" he asked. He wondered what he'd done to deserve this kind of torture in his life. Holy motherforking shirtballs, this is the Bad Place, he thought dispassionately. His dumbass friends needed therapy, and he, being the brilliant person that he was, would have to provide.

Said dumbass friends exchanged glances. "Well," Peter said, dragging the word out. "We needed to buy some textbooks and didn't have enough money for it?"

Ned stared at the two of them. "THERE'S BETTER WAYS TO GO ABOUT BUYING ITEMS YOU CAN'T AFFORD THAN INVITING A FAMOUS BILLIONAIRE AND SUPERHERO FOR A NON-EXISTENT WEDDING!"

Peter and MJ winced, looking appropriately cowed.

Obviously, Ned knew that wasn't the only reason they agreed to go through with this harebrained scheme; the two of them wanted the thrill of seeing a wedding invite with their names on it. Instead of proposing to each other, or, at the very least, make one far away from the other's eyes, they had to write one and send it to Tony freaking Stark. Ned hated his life sometimes.

"What do you need my help with?" he sighed, knowing there was nothing else to be said on the subject of why. It was time for damage control.

"Well, we'll have to stage a wedding," MJ said, exchanging a look with Peter. "Either that, or 'break up' a while before we're supposedly getting married."

Both of them looked slightly disappointed at the second option, but Ned didn't have the patience for these shenanigans.

"Okay, you're gonna 'break up' a month before the so-called wedding," he said, rubbing his forehead to stave off the oncoming headache. Peter let out an audible groan of disappointment at that. Both Ned and MJ turned to him in disbelief as his cheeks darkened to a cherry red.

"I mean, it's Iron Man, dude! When else would I get a chance to meet Iron Man?" he said quickly. A little too quickly, in Ned's opinion. MJ's face smoothed out at the declaration, and, calling him a loser under her breath, she turned back towards Ned. Peter's eyes widened slightly at him, his request clear. Ned internally rolled his eyes, but decided to follow Peter's unvoiced plea. After all, he wanted to meet Iron Man too.

"Alright, fine, go through with the wedding," he shrugged, downing the rest of his hot chocolate and getting up to make another one. MJ looked like she was about to voice a half-hearted protest, but then her eyes lit up in realisation. "Wait, if Tony Stark is coming, what if Pepper Potts does too?"

Ned snorted at the enthusiastic "Yeah!" that echoed behind him. His oblivious best friend wouldn't realise that MJ, too, was scrambling for any reason to go through with the wedding. He stared down at the slowly-warming milk, wishing that they kept alcohol in the house, because this seemed exactly like one of those times that would be the perfect occasion for some.

Both of them were deep into a conversation about schematics and fake-wedding planning when he exited the kitchen (if this was their way of saving money, Ned would hate to be their accountant). He only caught the tail end of the conversation, and both Peter and MJ stopped talking when he walked in.

"We wrote down June 3rd as our wedding date on the card," Peter said, both their faces going slightly pink, though they tried valiantly to control their expressions (and mostly succeeded). "So, I guess we'll go forward with that."

Ned sighed in exasperation, waving his hand in agreement. "Whatever you want to do, I don't care. I don't want to hear anything more about this."

"If you say so," MJ said, patting his hand in apology as Peter nodded frantically. "We'll get out of your hair. Come on Peter, let's leave him alone."

"Sorry for dragging you into this mess, dude," Peter said before he could be dragged out. Ned stared at him for a few seconds before letting out yet another sigh, holding his hand out. Peter's face broke out in a grin as they did their super-secret best friend handshake.

"Yeah, yeah, now leave me alone," Ned said fondly, Peter continuing to holler apologies all the way to the front door. MJ just rolled her eyes, gave him a half-smile before leading the way out. Ned settled down on the table with his study material. At least he could always count on science to make sense.

---

Ned's (finally) peaceful time was interrupted by a loud banging on the door, causing him to spill his hot chocolate on the floor and all over his robotics manual.

"WHERE IS MY NEPHEW?" came the loud voice from outside while Ned scrambled to mop up his drink. The moment he realised who it was, he froze, then deflated with a gusty sigh, trotting to the front door.

"Coming, May," he said, before opening the door to said woman, about to punch him in the face instead of knocking on the door.

"Christ!" he yelped, jumping back, providing just enough space to allow May to push herself into the house like a hurricane, pulling her scarf off and wiggling her finger at the same time.

"What is this news I'm hearing about my nephew?! He's getting married? Without telling his poor old aunt? The NERVE!" she shouted, grabbing Ned's shoulders and shaking him. Apathetically limp, he wondered what he'd done in life to deserve this mess that he was stuck in.

Then her words registered, and he pushed her off, asking, "Wait, what? Peter's getting married? Who told you that?"

His voice was drowned out by the scorned woman, who had abandoned her scarf and was now pacing through the hallway furiously, still shouting.

"I raised him as my own, and this is the thanks that I get? No information, no invitation, and I hear about this from Tony Stark? How dare he!"

"Hold on; did you just say Tony Stark?" Ned exclaimed, puzzle pieces vaguely coming together to form an altogether too amusing picture. "Since when have you known Tony Stark?"

"Ever since that stupid boy slipped up about his 'secret identity'," May said, finally lowering her voice a little and pinching the bridge of her nose.

A cackle interrupted her irate internal ramble, and she looked over to see Ned howling, hanging on to the breakfast counter for dear life.

"And what, exactly, is so funny?" she asked, tapping her foot impatiently. Ned, on the verge of turning blue, waved his hand, attempting to catch his breath before speaking.

"It's all a scam," he finally gasped out after a few seconds, his laughter fading into hiccups, tears gathered in his eyes. May finally slowed down, her anger ebbing away at this startling new development.

"What do you mean, it's a scam?!"

"MJ found a life hack about inviting a billionaire to your wedding, and you'll usually get a gift because their secretary isn't going to think too hard and just send a gift to them. Of course, MJ told Peter about this, and they decided to do it. Only, Tony Stark said he'll attend, and they decided that they need to have a fake wedding to save face!"

Throughout the explanation, May's shoulders slowly lost their tension, and she fought against the smile threatening to appear on her face. As Ned succumbed to his laughter again, she slowly joined in, tickled at the brilliant set of circumstances that had presented themselves.

Once they calmed down a little, the two got themselves cups of hot chocolate and settled down in the living room, still chuckling intermittently.

"So how exactly did you find out?" Ned asked, sipping his drink, face still a brilliant pink.

May blew on her cup, before taking a sip. "Tony called me up, congratulating me on my nephew's wedding. I was, obviously, furious at him being invited and not me, his only aunt, and when I started shouting, Tony offered to have me driven here. He is," she said, with a measure of satisfaction, "still completely terrified of me."

Ned stared at her in awe, before asking, "Why is Tony Stark scared of you?"

"It might have something to do with me going to his office and dressing him down for not telling me about my nephew's extracurricular activities until after I found out for myself," she said smugly.

"And how did he find out about Peter?"

"Oh, I wouldn't know that, I never actually asked. He is Tony Stark though, I wouldn't put it past him."

Running out of steam, Ned kept his huge eyes trained on May, for whom his respect had shot up exponentially in the course of their conversation, and May continued drinking her chocolate in peace, smiling beatifically.

"So, do you want to tell them what's up?" Ned asked after some length of time. May, downing her last sip, got a twinkle of mischief in her eyes that made Ned equal parts terrified and excited.

"Let's not," May said. "Let's see how far they're willing to go for this wedding of theirs."

"Yeah, I don't know if they're gonna tell you it's happening," Ned said with a loud laugh, though he raised his cup in agreement. "But are you gonna tell Tony Stark?"

At this, May let out a wide smile with too many teeth, and said, "No. I don't think I will."

The two exchanged looks, and burst into gales of laughter, preparing to watch the world burn around them.

---

"May!" Peter exclaimed far too loudly, coming to a halt right inside the apartment door. MJ, who was walking a step behind, almost ran into him and spilled their coffees. His spidey senses coming into play, he dodged out of the way, huge eyes still trained on his aunt, who was scrolling through her phone without a care in the world. May startled a bit before putting her phone down, her eyes lighting up as she looked at her nephew.

"Peter!" she trilled, coming over to give him a hug. Peter bemusedly returned it, having a frantic, silent, conversation with his best friend that she pretended to be unaware of. Ned just gave him an unamused look in reply to his unasked question, and scurried off to the kitchen with two mugs in his hands. If anyone had paid any attention towards the kitchen, they would have heard suppressed snorts of laughter, but alas, they were far too occupied in the situation happening outside.

"What brings you here, May?" Peter asked, smiling just a little too widely when his aunt relinquished her hold on him. Behind him, MJ had kept their coffees away and stood nervously, wiping her hands on her jeans every five seconds.

Even to an untrained eye, they looked shifty, and if May didn't already know what was going on, she'd have sat them down and grilled them. As it was, she ignored their behaviour and gave MJ a hug, and the two youngsters exchanged panicked looks, before wiping their faces clean as May stepped back.

"I came to visit my favourite nephew, of course! Thought I'd give you a surprise," she said smilingly, laughing internally at the freaked-out faces that looked back at her. That's what you get for giving me a heart attack, Peter Parker.

"What a wonderful surprise, May!" MJ intervened, shooting a warning look at Peter, who looked like he was about to burst a vein in his forehead. As Ned exited the kitchen, with just a tiny smile on his face betraying his amusement, Peter let out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, and on such an unremarkable day, too! Life was going too smoothly, I was getting suspicious, haha."

While MJ facepalmed internally, Ned was pretty sure he'd broken a bone somewhere from holding in his laughter. May directed an Oscar-worthy bemused expression to her nephew as he continued to ramble on, tugging at the sleeves of his hoodie and gesturing with his hands in turn.

"Okay, I get it," May intervened, pulling Peter and MJ toward the couch and making them sit, with a touch more aggression than was strictly required, something the not-actually-getting-married couple didn't notice. May sat down across from them, giving them kind smiles. They were so deep into devising excuses that they didn't notice the predatory position May had assumed. After all, Peter's dearest Aunt May, a troll and devious woman though she may be, wouldn't set off his spidey senses for anything.

"So tell me, you guys, how's college been going? I haven't heard from you at all, MJ, and Peter, you would think that your poor old aunt would deserve at least a little head's up regarding your activities every now and then," she said, smirking internally as the two clammed up even more, exchanging looks and fiddling with their hair and clothes.

"What are you talking about, May? I just called you last night!" Peter exclaimed, way too fast for a normal person. Her eye twitched just a little before her face smoothed out, and she laughed. "I know, but we didn't meet since New Year's because of that stupid internship, and I missed you! You aren't even coming home for spring break!"

Peter's expression pulled into a genuine smile at that, nervous energy slipping away, and May's internal knot of leftover fury and mischief loosened up when faced with her nephew's shining brown eyes. No matter what shenanigans he got up to, the scares he gave her, she never could hold it against him for very long.

Soon enough though, Peter remembered his predicament and his face tightened considerably, and May's plans came back to her with a vengeance. This was going to be the perfect revenge to the Spider-Man Fiasco of '16, and she intended to see it through.

"You know how college goes, May," MJ said with her usual flippance. "Professors who don't know what they're doing, and students who are sure they can do no wrong."

May let out a loud laugh, leaning forward to pat her cheek. "I knew you were my favourite for a reason."

Peter and Ned let out twin shouts of disapproval, and MJ ducked her head, a sudden warm feeling spreading inside her. May could always make her blush, not unlike her nephew, who was also sweet and kind and made her laugh. She would be the best mother-in-law, said a traitorous voice in the back of her head, which MJ squashed ruthlessly, getting her feelings under control.

"Why do you think I'm friends with Peter? If you weren't part of the package deal, I would have ditched these losers before we left high school," MJ said, a small smirk curling her lips. May laughed even louder than before and the boys shot her betrayed looks.

MJ's eyes involuntarily turned towards Peter, the sparkle in his eyes and the soft smile causing her laugh to fade away, her smirk dissolving into a bright grin. After a few seconds, they abruptly turned away from each other, only to find May and Ned staring avidly at them. Coughing and blushing, the two shifted apart, withdrawing into themselves, and May and Ned gave each other exasperated looks.

"So, anyway," May said, after a few seconds. "What's going on with you guys?"

"MJ and I are getting married!" Peter blurted out.

The room fell silent as though all sound had been sucked out. Peter's face slowly got redder as he retreated into his hoodie, with three jaw-dropped faces stared at him. All of them were absolutely stunned that he would reveal that to May so casually, and were waiting for him to reveal the actual reason, or that the whole thing was fake.

"Surprise?" was what came out, a very red forehead poking out of his hoodie, voice muffled. They were further shocked, but May was the only one to have her wits about her enough to react.

"PETER!" she shouted, jumping off her seat to grab and shake him by the shoulders. "What do you mean, you and MJ are getting married?!"

Ned had started laughing disbelievingly, staring at Peter, while the man himself looked like he was ready to die. MJ's face showed more emotion than she ever had in her life, cycling through disbelief, frustration, and suppressed happiness.

Peter did not take the gift-wrapped opportunity to come clean that his aunt had presented him, instead electing to say, "Uh, sorry about not telling you before?"

MJ's eyes widened further, which Ned absently noted to be an anatomical marvel as he excused himself from the trainwreck in front of him to laugh in the hallway. So much for waiting till the wedding to watch things go down.

May, it seemed, had decided to run with Peter's answers instead of forcing him to come clean. She grabbed her nephew in a hug, and, as an afterthought, pulled MJ in it too. After a few seconds, she let them go to reveal faces red as tomatoes.

"When did the two of you even start dating?" May asked in disbelief, though not for the reason the young duo thought.

It appeared that Peter had enough of talking, and just looked at MJ to answer, which, MJ thought savagely, was probably for the best. If left up to him, they'd probably have skipped dating and jumped straight to marriage. Or maybe they started dating in high school. She might love him, but he was dumb as rocks.

Whoa, wait. Love him?

May's questioning noise brought her back down to earth, and she pushed her epiphany away to focus on spinning a believable story.

"Um, we got together at the beginning of last semester," she said bashfully, not fully faking it. "We wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit, in case it didn't work out, but it was just more and more awkward the longer we waited."

May smiled understandingly, though it did not stop her from smacking Peter's arm lightly. "So much for not keeping secrets from me."

"Heh, sorry May," Peter said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just didn't know how to tell you."

"Why did you decide to get married so soon, though?" she asked shrewdly, eyes jumping from Peter to MJ. She refused to let her nephew get away with saying that he was marrying his best friend out of nowhere. Granted, they were so in love with each other that it was more than a little believable, but it was the principle of the matter.

The young pretend-couple exchanged looks that bordered on panic. Then Peter reached over to intertwine his fingers with MJ, locking his eyes with hers while answering May's question.

"We've known each other for so long, it felt stupid to wait for some 'appropriate' amount of time to make it legal," he said, so earnestly that MJ couldn't look away from him. May let out a quiet aww that snapped them out of their daze, and they looked over to find her misty-eyed, hands clasped at her chest.

"Oh, look at you two! I always hoped that this would happen since the day I met you, MJ, but to actually see it? You make me so happy," she sniffed, hugging them again. Her tears were involuntary; Peter reminded her so much of Ben in that moment that she couldn't control herself.

A cough interrupted the moment, and the hug broke apart to find Ned, a tray full of mugs in his hands, tears gathered in his eyes.

"That was so sweet!" Ned exclaimed, rushing to put the tray down and join the hug. Giggles echoed around the tiny living room, accompanied by May's sniffles. After a bit, they all pulled away, May wiping at her eyes. Ned took the opportunity to hand everyone their preferred drink (a green tea for MJ, a mocha for Peter, coffee with a splash of cream for May and hot chocolate for himself). MJ gasped.

"Our drinks!" she said, standing up to head to where she'd put her and Peter's drinks. Ned pulled her back down, saying, "These are your drinks, I just reheated them."

MJ sighed in relief, giving him a thankful half-smile as she accepted her drink. Peter just stared down at his mug dismally. "It doesn't taste half as good when it's reheated!" he complained, before MJ elbowed him and gave him a warning look. He shrunk back slightly before looking up at Ned, saying, "Not that it's in any way your fault, thanks Ned."

Ned just shook his head and handed May her own coffee, settling down with his. As they started talking again, Peter awkwardly put his arm around MJ. The woman stiffened slightly, turning to look at him. He just offered her a shrug before gulping half of his drink and sputtered into his mug, squealing about how hot it was.

MJ just looked at him with a soft look peeking through her blank face as he coughed, his arm not budging from her shoulders. She slowly leaned on him, adjusting herself and resting her head on his shoulder. Peter stiffened at her response, and she could feel him staring down, before he too relaxed in their new, but entirely welcome position.

May and Ned pretended not to notice their interaction.

---

"Oh my god," May said, after some length of time, staring down at her phone, which had just flashed with a message. "I didn't realise how late it had gotten. I have to go!"

Peter stood up immediately, jostling MJ, who'd been dozing lightly on his shoulder. "Oh, come on, May, you can leave tomorrow morning! It's very late for travelling, especially to New York."

May smiled affectionately, leaning over to pull him into a hug. "It's fine baby, my ride is waiting, I need to leave tonight."

While Peter's face scrunched up in confusion, May gave both MJ and Ned a hug as well, and gathered up her things to leave. Ned volunteered to walk her down, knowing that his friends needed a minute to talk. As she moved toward the front door and picked up her scarf, she yelled out, "I'll be calling you guys to plan the wedding!"

Peter and MJ blushed heavily, having forgotten about the entire thing in the easy conversation that had taken over their apartment. Ned, who was putting his shoes on, snorted.

"If you insist," Peter said hesitantly, walking to the front door to send her off. He hugged her one last time, and she pulled back to look into his eyes for a second. She kissed his cheek after a few seconds. Then smiled at him. "I'm so proud of you for finally making a move."

Peter ducked his head in embarrassment as she laughed, and then she had left, a force of nature to be reckoned with. Ned walked out behind her, gesturing to behind him, towards the living room, and Peter was suddenly sure that he was walking to his doom.

Ned just gave him a sympathetic smile as he closed the door behind him with a soft click. Peter took a deep breath before going back to the living room, only to find that MJ was sitting on the other end of the couch, her face a mask of eerie calmness. She wordlessly gestured for him to sit in front of her, and he did so, steeling himself for the explosion to come.

"What is wrong with you, Peter?" MJ asked, deathly calm. He cringed back and away from her, looking down at his sock-clad feet, feeling more and more stupid by the second.

"I didn't know how to tell her, okay, she'd be weird about it," Peter defended himself in a small voice. MJ stared at him for a few seconds before punching him on the arm.

"Ow!" Peter exclaimed, rubbing at the spot she hit, not entirely for her benefit. Man, can she punch. MJ grabbed him by the collar, pulling his face close to hers. His eyes widened, and she willed herself to not melt at the baby browns she was confronted with.

"What the hell, Parker! She's literally the only person who'd not be weird about it! We had the option of not going through with it if my parents and your aunt didn't know, but now that she knows, we're definitely going to have to tell my parents!" she squeaked angrily, pulling on her curls and standing up to pace.

Peter's face paled, a new set of variables presenting themselves before him. With a groan, he collapsed on himself, resting his head on his knees.

"God, I'm sorry, MJ! I froze, and didn't know how to react. And now your dad's going to kill me," he said, voice muffled. He heard MJ's pacing slow down before coming to a stop, her gusty sigh echoing through their tiny living room. Peter felt her sit beside him, running her hand up and down his back to calm him down and coming to a rest on his shoulder, and he felt even worse for his rash words.

"Yeah, I don't know why I expected you to handle the situation with any semblance of grace," she said with badly-disguised affection. "You're such a loser. I'm surprised the entire city of New York doesn't know your secret identity."

Peter turned his head and gave her a half smile. MJ just rolled her eyes and let a smile flit across her face, before vanishing. Then she let out a groan of her own, slumping into the cushions. This time, Peter was the one to comfort her, putting a hand on her knee and drawing circles with his thumb as she rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palm.

"Sorry that this is such a disaster," he offered, guilt rising by the second. A snort interrupted his internal ramble. "You better be, asshole."

They looked at each other, then, and before long, they'd dissolved into a pile of giggles. "This could only happen to you, Parker," she gasped out, out of breath and laughing even more. "Why I'm even friends with you is a goddamn mystery."

"Yeah, whatever," Peter said, wiping a tear from his eye. "You know you love me."

MJ snorted and punched him again in lieu of a reply, ducking her head as she did, so he wouldn't find out that he was right on the money.

---

"So, how did things go with Spider-Man and Mrs Spider-Man-to-be?"

"It went fine! Turns out, they were planning to come down to New York over the weekend and break the news to me, and her parents!"

"Hey! Problem solved! But, uh, when did they get engaged, exactly?"

"Just a couple days ago! Peter found out recently that I'm friends with Pepper, and he decided to send the invite for a tentative date, to make sure you'd be free to attend."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense. Well, I just wanted to RSVP to the mother of the groom, Pepper, Morgan and I would be delighted to attend."

"Oh, that's wonderful! I'll be sure to include all three of you in the seating plan."

"I look forward to it!"

---

An hour later, after treating herself to a warm bath with the fancy bath salts and a smuggled glass of wine, MJ sat herself down at the kitchen table with Peter, who would have easily picked out the scent of alcohol and yet was being kind enough to not mention it. Damn her for liking the most considerate white boy in the country!

She put her phone on speaker after dialling the number, fingers drumming on the table as she exchanged a half-panicked look with Peter. They (him more than her, but since she sprung the idea on him, she'd keep her mouth shut) got themselves into the mess, they'd have to clean it up.

"Michelle, hi!" Angela answered, sounding surprised. MJ heaved an internal sigh of relief; clearly, May hadn't called them yet. "Is everything alright? Why are you calling so soon after our last conversation, it's not like you to call twice in a day!"

"No, Mom, everything's fine," MJ said, worrying her bottom lip. She was not looking forward to this conversation. Peter took her hand and squeezed in comfort. The contact gave her a much-needed bit of confidence, and she took a deep breath, trying to find the words to break the news.

"So, I have something to tell you," she said finally, deciding to go for the proverbial kill. "Peter and I are getting married."

She preemptively cringed, knowing what was coming. But her mom didn't shout at her for being hasty or reckless. Instead, there was absolute silence on her end.

"Um, Mom?" she prompted after the silence dragged out.

"This is such a surprise, Shelle! I mean, I always knew this would happen, and I'm so happy for you, but isn't it a bit sudden, honey?" Angela asked, sounding taken aback. MJ sympathised. Her mom would never have seen such a call coming.

"I mean, Peter and I have been dating for a few months now," she said, knowing that this would probably result in her mom shouting. Instead, sounding even more perplexed and a little hurt, her mom asked, "And why didn't you tell us?"

MJ's face twisted at the hurt she had inadvertently caused, which made Peter feel terrible as well. So, stepping in, he said, "Um, Mrs Jones? We both decided that it was best that we not tell anyone right away, because it was so new. And the longer we waited, the more awkward it became to tell you."

Voice softening slightly, Angela replied, "Peter? Well, I suppose I understand, but sweetie, isn't this too soon?"

And there it was. "I mean, yeah, I'm not going to deny that, but we've known each other for so long that we decided not to wait for much longer."

"If you're sure," her mom said, sounding more than a little dubious. "But I don't know how your father's going to react, though I doubt he's going to be happy."

Peter's face lost all colour and he slumped into his seat, looking every inch the man who had just been sentenced to death, and MJ wasn't faring any better.

"Um, could you get him on the call as well, so I can tell him too?" she asked tentatively, biting on her nail.

"Well, if you're sure," her mom said, before muffled voices took over the other end. MJ's head thumped on the table, but now they had committed; had to follow it through.

"Shelle? What's up?" her dad said, sounding puzzled. Of course, hoping that her mother had told him was a pipe dream.

"Um, the thing is, Dad, that Peter and I are getting married," she said, phrasing the statement like a question. A loud "What?!" had them nearly frightened out of their seats, and MJ rushed to speak, only to discover that the phone had cut off. Too terrified to try and call back, she let her head fall into her hands, the phone lying abandoned on the table.

"This is a disaster, isn't it?" she muttered into her hands, knowing Peter would have heard. He chuckled a little darkly, and said "Yeah, I think it's safe to say that this whole thing is pretty bad."

Over the course of the next day, MJ went back and forth in her mind about whether or not she should go through with this stupid scheme. They'd get the textbooks from somewhere else, they could figure it out! It seemed like too much work when it was giving her so much grief. Yeah, she got to pretend that she was marrying Peter Parker, but at what cost? Of course, cleaning up the mess with her parents would probably be worse.

The answer to her problems came in the evening in the form of a phone call from her mom. Abandoning the assignment she had anyway been unable to focus on, she picked it up. "Hey Mom!"

"Hi Shelle," Angela said. "I know Dad and I didn't exactly act understanding yesterday –"

"That's okay," MJ said quickly.

"I know, baby, but Sam and I were talking about this, and we're really happy for you. We just expected we'd have more notice, is all," she said, voice a lot calmer and more like the rational mother she knew.

Her mother sounded a lot more supportive, and seemed to have done a complete one-eighty regarding her thoughts, but MJ was too thankful to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Ooh, I'm so glad to hear that, Mom!" MJ said, pumping her fist. "I really am sorry, and I'm so glad that you're not mad!"

"Oh, I am, a little bit," Angela said, rolling her eyes towards May, who just laughed silently and gave her a thumbs up. "But it's your decision, and we'll be there for you, no matter what."

"Thanks, Mom. You're sure Dad is okay though, right? He didn't exactly say anything yesterday," MJ said in a quiet voice. She could her the smile in her mother's voice as she replied, "Of course he is! He was just shocked, that's all. I'd love to continue this, but I have to go now. I'll speak to you soon, okay? Love you baby."

"Love you too," she said as Angela hung up. She smiled down at her phone, her mind made up. They would go through with the wedding.

(For the college textbooks, of course. No ulterior motive.)

---

On Sunday, Peter and MJ sat down to discuss logistics. They had got a message from the registry that their textbooks had been paid for, and decided to get the bulk of the planning over with.

"Aunt May and my parents will probably handle the actual booking of stuff, we just need to send them the names," MJ said, poring over a printout of the things they needed to accomplish. "Do we want to treat it like a wedding or a glorified party?"

"Party, definitely," Peter said, looking up from Google Maps. "Come on, we don't have that much money."

"So, a small wedding that's more like a party, got it," MJ said, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she wrote. Peter absently noted how cute she looked before turning back to choosing a venue.

"Are we telling any of our friends here?" MJ asked after a while, both of them working in tandem. Ned was out cold in his room, and neither had the heart to ask him for advice.

"I think we should, but clarify that it's fake," Peter said thoughtfully. "Because it would be very weird if none of our friends except Ned came."

MJ hummed in agreement, staring down at her list. "Fine, but I don't like it."

"Neither do I, but it be like that sometimes," Peter shrugged, smirking at her out of the corner of his eye. She rolled her eyes in response, and they both went back to working in a companionable silence.

"When should we do it, though?" Peter asked when they took a break for snacks.

MJ knew immediately what he was talking about. "We could call them all over for dinner, I guess."

Peter gave her a thumbs up as he downed the last of his orange juice, and both of them sent out messages to all the friends they wanted to tell the whole story to, inviting them over for dinner. While he was on the phone, Peter placed an order for pizza.

Cleaning up the kitchen once they were done (Ned, much like his mother, would have their heads if they left it messy), by mutual agreement they set about to clean up the mess that had taken over their living room. Ned stumbled in when they were around halfway done, still groggy from his impromptu nap, and helped them in the last of the cleanup. Peter took it upon himself to bring his best friend up to speed.

"– And so everyone's coming over now," Peter finished around five minutes later, Ned looking far more awake than he had before.

"Wow," Ned snorted, looking between them. "You guys sure like playing with fire."

Just as MJ opened her mouth to respond, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Peter volunteered, and jogged over to the front door as MJ and Ned argued quietly in the living room. "Hey, guys! Come on in!"

"Hi Pete," Meera smiled charmingly at him, dragging Josh behind her as he struggled to keep his hold on the bottles of beer he was carrying. Oscar and Atif brought up the rear, and there were a lot of manly pats that went around as they walked in, Ned and MJ greeting them loudly as they entered.

They made themselves comfortable, cracking jokes all the way, when Meera asked, "So, did Gwen and Peni say when they'll be here?"

The doorbell rang as if to answer her question. The remaining few members of the party trickled in, with Peni leading the pack. Gwen, rolling her eyes at her girlfriend, followed at a more sedate pace with Zara and Ivy. They soon settled down, breaking off into different conversations. Despite being from rival schools, the group that bonded because of MJ, Peter and Ned was a tight-knit group of friends.

A loud cheer went up as the pizza arrived, and the chatter quieted down a little as everyone helped themselves. MJ caught Peter's eye, tilting her head slightly, and he cleared his throat, groaning internally. Everyone's focus shifted to him as he stood up, smiling nervously.

"So, not that we don't love you guys, we actually had a reason to call you here," he started, eyes flicking towards MJ. Interest piqued, the group's attention flickered between the two. Ned just pressed himself into the couch and picked up a cushion to muffle his giggles. Zara, who was sitting next to him, gave him a confused look, but he waved her off.

"Um, MJ and I are getting married," Peter said very fast, as if to get the words out before he could change his mind. He opened his mouth to continue, but the room blew up before he could.

"PAY UP!" rose Josh's loud voice, over the groans and cheers around them. MJ and Peter exchanged bewildered looks as Ned doubled over, gasping for air between his guffaws. MJ stood up slowly, moving to stand next to Peter as they watched their close friends exchange money, laughing the entire time.

"Guys. Guys!" MJ tried after a few moments, bringing attention to herself. Meera's face lit up even more than it already was, and she bounced over to give them both a hug. Gwen high fived them over the table, and all the men came up to them, punching shoulders and ruffling hair. Ivy and Peni were debating something, and only spared them a distracted 'Congratulations!' before they went right back to arguing.

Failing to get their attention after trying for more than two minutes, MJ gave up and whistled like a true New Yorker. The room went silent, and Ivy stopped trying to tug the cash in Peni's hand.

"WE'RE NOT ACTUALLY GETTING MARRIED!" MJ announced loudly, and the room, with the exception of Ned's barely-suppressed laughter, froze. She directed a half-annoyed look towards Peter, who was sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"Seriously, Peter, would it kill you to tell the whole thing at once?" she muttered exasperatedly, before turning to the group, whose faces had dropped quite a bit. "We're pulling a scam, the entire thing is fake."

Atif's face cleared first, and he pointed at them in dawning realisation. "That tweet!"

MJ nodded, smiling slightly in relief, as the entire group seemed to groan as one, all the money that was getting passed around being returned. Ivy snatched the cash from Peni's hand with a smug grin as everyone settled down to hear them out, disappointment evident in their faces. MJ explained the entire situation to them, and even Ned had mostly calmed down.

"You guys are so stupid," Gwen announced when she was done. A smattering of assent followed her words, and MJ opened her mouth, indignant, before Peter interrupted her.

"Okay, whatever you say, Gwen, but we wanted to invite you to our 'wedding', which is going to be in New York on June 3rd" Peter said, trying to control the situation. Oscar slammed his drink back, exchanged a look with Ned and announced, "I'm in. I will actually die if I'm not a fly on that wall."

Josh voiced his agreement, but Meera's face fell as she cried, "Oh, but I have to go back to India! God, I wish I could attend!"

Ivy, too, looked disappointed, having to return to China over the holidays. Peni, Gwen and Atif, who all lived in New York quickly announced that they were attending as well, looking ecstatic, and Zara bluntly said that she would fly back from Texas if that's what it took for her to attend.

"Great! I'm so glad you guys can come," said a relieved Peter, high-fiving MJ. She put her arm on his shoulder to lean against, her normally bored features pulled in a smile. They maintained eye contact for a few seconds, grinning stupidly at each other, while their friends all exchanged exasperated looks and rolled their eyes. Gwen snorted and not-so-softly said, "They're getting together before she can walk down that fake aisle."

"Yeah, that's not difficult to figure out," Ivy said, shaking her head at her lovesick friends, so lost in their world that they didn't notice what their friends were saying.

---

A week after their dinner party, Peter found himself winding his way through the Harvard central library in search of MJ. He found her buried in her usual corner, brow drawn together in concentration. He took a second to appreciate how the sun was hitting her hair before approaching her.

"Hey," Peter said, coming to stand next to MJ. She acknowledged him by flashing him the finger, focused on the passive aggressive email she was writing to a bitch from Journalistic Ethics, who clearly didn't understand the material for the class she had taken.

"I was thinking, we should probably get you a ring if we want to sell the engagement to May and your parents," Peter said, trying desperately to not sound too eager about it. MJ's eyes snapped up to give him her full attention, email forgotten, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her.

After a thoughtful pause, she said, "That's actually a smart move, Parker."

"There's this tiny jewellery shop I saw on my way from class yesterday, so maybe we can try going there?" he said, playing off his two hour hunt for an appropriate store as flippantly as he could. MJ, too busy trying to squash the happy balloons swelling up inside her, didn't notice.

"Sure, we can do that," she said, standing up. Peter helped her pack her stuff up before they left the library, hands swinging in tandem and brushing against each other between them, before they pulled away.

Happily talking about everything other than their upcoming fake wedding, they managed to distract themselves from the task at hand until they reached the artsy-looking shop Peter had found. Exchanging a loaded look that neither of them paused to interpret, they walked in together.

The lazy looking attendant barely glanced up at them as they crossed him, waving them to help themselves to the goods in the shop. Peter and MJ studiously avoided looking at each other when they found the shelf filled top to bottom with rings of all kinds.

"So, where do you want to start?" he asked haltingly, trying to push the picture of MJ in a ring that he gave her out of his mind. Squinting at the various examples on display, she said, "Well, I know what I don't want: big flashy diamonds."

Peter let out a small laugh, and as a reply to her questioning look, said, "I thought that might be the case, which is why I brought you here, where you will find everything except big flashy diamonds."

Suddenly overcome by the amount of effort Peter put into a small thing like buying a fake ring, MJ's cheeks became hotter, and she had to focus on the display in front of her to avoid meeting his eyes. They spent the next few minutes searching through the available options, MJ searching the higher shelves and Peter the lower ones, until she heard an "aha!" which had her turning, to find nothing but air.

Looking down, she saw Peter looking at a gorgeous ring that glittered not unlike a diamond, which he presented to her with a flourish. It was only in that second that MJ noted that he was, in fact, on one knee, holding out an engagement ring to her. Her eyes widening, her gaze flicked between the ring and Peter's triumphant look, which rapidly changed into panic as he realised the same thing MJ had. Scrambling to his feet, cheeks burning in a way that would have had MJ laughing if not for the last image that had burned itself to the back of her eyelids, he offered her the ring again, this time far less dramatically.

Gaze lowered, suddenly shy, MJ's eyes fell on the gorgeous ring in Peter's hand. A simple black band elegantly curling around a small red stone, with two tiny white stones on either side, her breath caught as she reached for it.

He let go of it willingly enough, and she turned it in her hand, giving an exasperated look to her fake fiancé when she realised exactly what the (albeit beautiful) ring was meant to represent. Peter only offered her a sheepish shrug in response, but her heart was too taken by the jewellery to offer him much reprimand beyond the one look.

When she didn't speak for a minute, Peter nervously said, "If you don't like it, I'm sure we can -"

"No! I love it!" MJ said, protectively clutching the ring closer to herself, then cursed as she let her devil-may-care facade drop too much. Judging from Peter's soft expression, though, he didn't seem to care. Then again, she reflected, looking down at the glinting band, she didn't mind letting her guard down around him as much as she should.

Peter watched MJ as she fiddled with his (absolutely perfect) find, a dreamy look in her eye, lost in her thoughts. He had hoped to tell her that he liked her, long before this mess started, but despite her slipping on a ring that was both his and not, he ruefully thought that there was no way things weren't going to go completely sideways where they were concerned; he'd see how everything played out, and hopefully, somewhere along the way, confess what he really felt.

---

"Peter!" MJ gasped, skidding into the living room, frantically clasping her bracelet. Peter, who had been napping, woke up with a gasp, punching furiously into the middle of his palm, attempting to activate web shooters that were sitting in his nightstand. Blinking a few times, he rebooted his brain to find MJ squeezing her feet into her shoes and trying to tie them at the same time.

"Whassgoingon?" he asked blearily, having concluded that Spider-Man wasn't required. Slumping into the couch once more, he closed his eyes and made to fall back asleep. Before he knew it, though, he'd been yanked off his nap-place by means of his foot. Considering he'd stayed up the whole night, he paid no mind, electing to curl up and try to go back to sleep.

"Ugh, Peter! You have to help me!" MJ said, shaking his prone body. Cracking an eye at her unusually emotional tone, he whined unintelligibly at her. Losing patience, MJ marched into the kitchen, fetched a glass, filled it up and proceeded to throw it at Peter's face. He woke up with a very unmanly shriek, and unceremoniously found himself stuck to the ceiling, dripping water onto the carpet as he blinked owlishly at MJ.

"We have an emergency," MJ said slowly, as he regained his bearings and slowly unstuck himself.

"What kind of emergency?" Peter asked as he fell, landing on his feet like a cat before straightening up, running his hands through his hair and yawning. A small part of her vaguely registered how cute he looked in the moment, but she was soon distracted by the problem that had arisen in her life.

"My mom called me up, asking if I finished my designs on the dress, and I said 'yeah' like an idiot, when I haven't even bought the dress! And we need to leave for New York on Saturday, which barely gives me two days to finish it up!" MJ said, almost entirely in one breath. Being a girl who was always on time for her deadlines did not prepare her for this kind of an emergency.

"Hey, it's okay, calm down," Peter said, grabbing her hand and rubbing circles on it before she could continue, a little scared of the usually unflappable woman. "It's just a dress, we can handle that."

"Only if we manage to make it to the stores before they close," MJ shot back, but her shoulders loosened up a little. Her face regained a little of her usual bored attitude, and their eyes locked onto each other's.

After a beat, MJ cleared her throat and looked away, picking up her purse from the chair, Peter dropping her hand, the sudden lack of contact leaving them both feeling cold. Peter turned to freshen up before they left, and MJ sat down on the couch arm, swinging her leg as she scrolled through Tumblr.

"Alright, let's go," Peter said after a few minutes, bedhead somewhat tamed and wearing her Harvard hoodie. She couldn't help but stare, but shook herself out of her daze in a few seconds; there was a wedding emergency.

Fake, whispered a soft voice in her head, but MJ batted it away. Now was not the time to think of what-ifs and maybes.

The two of them, after exiting their apartment building, strolled leisurely down the street despite MJ's protests. Peter insisted that he wanted to spend some time with her, which he never got to these days, and MJ grumbled but acquiesced, secretly pleased.

They stopped by the ice cream place next to the vintage shop that MJ preferred for all her clothes, where Peter insisted on treating her. She rolled her eyes and they argued lightly as they entered the store, ice creams almost over.

The older woman who manned the store, Mrs Jackson, bestowed them with a sweet smile, offering them napkins to wipe their hands before they started browsing.

"So who's the handsome young man?" she asked MJ, who stopped to chat with her before she started browsing. MJ's eyes widened slightly as she exchanged a glance with Peter, and then ducked her head, eyes drawn to the ring on her finger.

"He's Peter, my, um, fiancé," she said, looking shy. Peter's cheeks had started glowing red as he offered her his hand. She shook it, smiling at him in approval.

"It's nice to meet you," he offered, tucking his hands in the hoodie after pulling his hand back. MJ smiled at Mrs Jackson, then moved on to browse the shelves, pulling out different plain dresses that she could design to her taste later.

"You're not going with white," Peter observed after a few minutes, looking at the growing pile of dresses in MJ's arms. He felt oddly disappointed.

MJ just looked surprised. "I mean, I never thought I'd want to wear white at my wedding, so I'm not hunting for them," she spoke, then got a pensive expression. "Although, white would probably be easier to design on, since these are pretty dark…"

"Here," Peter offered after a short pause, holding out a short, plain white dress that he found. "Maybe you can try this one?"

MJ, not looking particularly convinced, took it from him, and headed into the changing room with her finds and his. He settled down on a chair outside it, hearing her humming her approval (or not) at all the dresses she tried. Mrs Jackson, while putting the shelves in order, came over to stand next to him.

"You go to Harvard as well?" she asked, nodding towards him, and he realised with a jolt that he was wearing MJ's hoodie, not his own. Pulling on a loose thread, he stammered, "Uh, no, I go to MIT; this is MJ's."

His statement earned him a brilliant smile from the woman, and he looked down, slightly bashful. Her tinkling chuckle put him at ease, and he looked up at her to offer a smile of his own, before offering his help.

"No, I've got it," she replied sweetly. "But thank you, young man; I'm glad MJ found a gentleman like you."

Peter ducked his head in embarrassment before he heard MJ talk from inside the room, "Ooh, this is a good choice, cannot believe he selected this, god."

Peter laughed wildly, and raising his voice slightly, called out, "You know it, MJ! Now come on out, let's see it."

He could hear her grumbling to herself about his super hearing, while Mrs Jackson patted his arm and continued to do her work, moving away from him just as the door of the changing room opened.

His throat went dry when MJ stepped out and came to stand in front of him, the skirt on the knee-length dress swishing around. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to string two words around her right now if he tried. But it seemed like his brain had other plans.

"You look really pretty," Peter said, the words slipping out almost before he could stop them. MJ's gentle swaying paused as she saw the look in Peter's eyes, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks at his laser-focused attention.

"And therefore I have value?" she asked stiffly, trying to not let her bored expression drop, even though it had been cracking more and more often as she was around him. At once, the trance that had fallen over Peter's face broke, and he shook his head in alarm, only for MJ to interrupt his panic with a giggle.

"I'm just kidding," she said, a smile playing on her lips. Then her expression slid into something more serious, one which he couldn't decipher the meaning behind even if he wanted to, as she spoke again, softer this time. "But thank you."

Peter nodded and smiled slightly, afraid to open his mouth in case his tongue ran away from him again. She reciprocated, before turning to head back to the changing room, skirt twirling with her.

He watched her as she left, the confession he had been sitting on for so many years on the tip of his tongue, but he tamped it down. This wasn't the right time for it, and maybe it was better to have her in his life as one of his best friends, than lose her altogether.

---

March soon turned into April, and the months sped by as the trio reached the end of their university journey. Their graduation arrived with a lot of fanfare, with all of their family attending. There were a lot of hugs and pictures, and promises to keep in touch thrown around between all of their friends. The entire group stayed in Cambridge until they were all officially graduates, and then parted ways, most of them promising to meet them in June for the wedding.

The first night back in New York found Peter in suburban Queens. He took a deep breath, smoothing his hair down at the back and knocked on the door. MJ cracked it open, and Peter offered her a small smile, holding out the tiny bouquet of wildflowers he'd got from Mr Delmar's. She opened the door wider, accepting them with a grin. With a tilt of her head, she directed him into the house.

They both surreptitiously observed each other as they walked down the hallway and to the living room, admiring out of the corner of their eyes.

"So, listen," MJ said lowly, stopping Peter outside the door. She pushed her hand through her hair, her ring glinting in the low light. Since they'd found it, she refused to take it off, despite all the shit her friends had given her for it.

("Oh, come on, you're not actually getting married, you can take it off!"

"I love the ring, I'm gonna wear it.")

"My parents might be weird, but just ignore it, okay?" she said anxiously, adjusting his hair slightly and patting on his shoulder when she was done. "Don't mind my dad, he's just a bit freaked out."

Peter let out a weak smile and allowed himself to be ushered in, where he was greeted by his fake-fianceé's parents.

"Hey, Mr Jones, Mrs Jones, how are you?" he asked, voice shaking only slightly. Samuel Jones was a big man, an intimidating lawyer to boot, and Peter was terrified of looking wrong at him. Angela Jones, however, was a sweetheart a couple inches shorter than him. She came forward to pull him into a hug, patting his cheeks as she released him.

"Parker," was all that Samuel offered him. Angela smiled apologetically, nudging her husband as she ushered them to sit down.

"Peter, darling, don't mind him, we're glad that it's you marrying her. We just think that it's a bit sudden and wish that she'd given us a little more warning," she said, directly a disapproving look at her daughter, who just rolled her eyes and focused on her phone, which had appeared out of nowhere.

"Before we talk about anything else, did you guys finalise the guest list?" Angela asked anxiously as they settled in. Peter nodded hastily as MJ laced her fingers through his, the contact not getting missed by her parents.

The guest list had taken then just over a day to plan out; Peter was just inviting his aunt, while MJ was calling her parents and the one cousin she was close to (who knew the entire story since the morning after their plan blew up in their faces). Their college friends and, unbeknownst to Ned, Betty from high school got formal invitations as well. Ned, of course, went without saying, and the guest of honour responsible for the entire event was best left forgotten.

May had raised her eyebrow when she first saw the list, but she let it slide with almost no comments.

("How come you decided to invite Betty?"

"She and MJ became close during senior year of high school, and Ned has been giving us way too much grief to not take revenge."

"Okay, but when Ned realises that you called his 'one true love' without warning him, I'm not going to help you."

"Love you too, May.")

They thought about inviting Liz, since MJ was relatively good friends with her, but decided that it would be too awkward to handle.

Angela nodded, slightly confused throughout the explanation, and steered the conversation in a different direction. Samuel seemed to loosen up as the evening wore on, and Peter came out of his shell. Soon, they found themselves around the dining table as dinner was served, light conversation flowing between them.

Samuel and Angela watched with interest as their daughter smiled more than she ever did in a day, most of which were directed to her 'friend', the soft eyes Peter looked at her with, and the way their demeanor changed when talking to or about each other.

"I love your cooking Mrs Jones," Peter said enthusiastically as he piled his plate, MJ shaking her head in disbelief. "Ned and I love sneaking into MJ's leftovers when she's not looking."

He leaned away from MJ as she whacked him, a slight smile on her face. Angela, grinning at the display in front of her, pat Peter's cheek. "Call me Angie, dear. I'm glad you enjoy it, have as much as you want."

"Thank you, Mrs Jo – Angie," Peter smiled. The topic seamlessly shifted into an anecdote from college, but neither parent could deny that there was something going on between them, no matter what the oblivious children thought.

---

The night before the 'wedding', Peter couldn't stop himself from suiting up and jumping out of the window. Between his internship and all the pressures of his last semester as an undergrad, he'd barely had a chance to swing through the city and help prevent crime. This time, despite Ned's protests, he elected to go out without his Guy in the Chair. He wanted some time to himself.

As he swung away from his apartment building, he let out a loud, giddy laugh. The satisfaction of saving people aside, there was nothing quite like the thrill of free falling, plummeting toward the pavement, and catching himself at the last second. Rollercoasters never really did it for him after his first time in the mask.

After a few minutes of whooping and hollering, Peter paused on a rooftop to tap into the police frequency that he used to listen to infrequently while in college, just to see how the city was faring. A crackle announced one of the officers asking for backup in dealing with some low-level gang that had featured pretty heavily on the frequency over the past months.

Peter listened in closely and, once he had noted down all the information he needed, backflipped off the roof, stretching in mid air and shooting a web off to swing towards the east.

He found himself on top of a warehouse, observing at the arms deal happening inside from the sun roof. He rolled his eyes, because the Vulture had been more discreet and way cooler than these guys, and taking them down would be a piece of cake. Of course, it wouldn't do to get cocky or he wouldn't be getting any tomorrow.

Giggling slightly at his terrible pun, he eased open the window and dropped down, he interrupted the deal to web them up. His usual quips were absent, however, as he became pensive, thinking about the big day and how he still hadn't confessed to MJ.

In his distraction, one of the gangsters had run out of the warehouse and onto the boardwalk. Shaking his head at his stupidity, Peter chased after him on foot as the sound of blasters rose behind him until it paused directly behind him.

"Hey, Spider-Man," came a suave voice from behind him, sounding amused, and Peter felt his blood freeze as he realised who it was. Turning around, he found Iron Man suspended behind him, repulsors loaded. A soft whine echoed around the abandoned section of the pier as they fired, knocking out the last of the thugs that he'd chased halfway across the city.

"Thanks, Iron Man," Peter said breathlessly after a second, moving on autopilot to offer his hand. The mask receded to show Tony's smirk as he shook the younger man's hand. "Um. What are you doing here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Freaks had been linked to a bigger collar I'd been chasing, but clearly I was beaten to them," Tony said flippantly, waving his hand in a gesture to sit on the boardwalk. In reality, he had tracked Peter down to have a conversation with the man he'd heard much about and wanted to meet while in the mask. "So, what's up with you? You're usually a lot more chatty when fighting crime, from what I've heard."

"Um, it's nothing, just," Peter let out a long sigh, lowering himself on the edge and beginning to swing his legs over the ocean as he stared out at the twinkling city. "Girl problems."

Although Tony was slightly taken aback, he exited his suit and took a seat next to the younger man. Knowing that this was probably just pre-wedding nerves, which he could heartily sympathise with, he was willing to talk him through. Parenthood had made him soft, but that's just how things were sometimes.

Peter gave him what he assumed to be an astonished look, but it was hard to tell with the expressionless mask. Tony shrugged, saying,"I have some experience with that. You can share with the class."

"So, there's this girl," Peter said after a few seconds' hesitation. He turned away from Tony, sighing once again. "She's the funniest, smartest and most awesome girl ever. We've been friends forever, but I can't tell her my feelings in case it ruins our friendship."

Watching him, Tony realised that Peter was probably in love with this girl he was talking about, who was very clearly not his bride-to-be. Dread pooling in his gut, he connected the dots faster than lightning, and came to the unsavoury conclusion that the woman that Peter was marrying the next day was not, in fact the woman he was in love with.

Grappling with this rapid realisation, he struggled to reply without giving away the fact that Peter's secret identity was not-so-secret. "That, um, must be hard for you."

"Yeah," Peter said, laughing dryly. Tony mechanically pat his shoulder, mind still reeling from the reveal.

"I don't think I have any advice for that, Underoos," he said, scratching his goatee. "But, I'd say confess, because trust me on this, you'd regret all the chances you didn't take."

"I suppose I didn't think about that, huh. Good talk, Mr Stark. Thank you," Peter said slowly and thoughtfully. He gave Tony an awkward half-wave before backflipping onto his feet and shooting a web into the distance, swinging away. He left the gobsmacked older man to stare after him, rethinking his decision to attend the wedding.

After a few seconds though, Tony shook his head. He would show up for the drama if nothing else. And with the cocktail of emotions that Peter Parker clearly was, if he was spilling his deepest secrets to a stranger, even one as famous as him? It was bound to be explosive.

---

As planned, MJ and Peter met at 4pm at the small rec centre the next day, dressed in pseudo-wedding finery. May had accompanied Peter, considering his tendency to run off to superhero at the first sign of trouble, while MJ was tasked with the checklist for the day. Ned was supposed to join them before the rest of the guests were poised to arrive, to fulfill his duty as best man to the bride and groom.

"Okay, we have the caterers setting up, the flowers are all here, and the minister is on his way," MJ said, ticking things off at a frightening speed on her notepad. She whipped it shut, a pleased smile on her face as she announced, "Everything seems to be under control."

"Don't jinx it," Ned warned as he walked in, tucking a piece of paper into his jacket (unbeknownst to everyone, it was his contingency plan to expose his best friends at the so-called reception; he couldn't live with himself if they got married to throw off suspicion and didn't confess their feelings). "Don't forget who you're 'marrying'."

"Ah, you're correct," MJ conceded, taking another swing from her thermos, which may or may not have contained alcohol in it. She needed the liquid courage to get through the day without opening her mouth (maybe she'd change her mind if she had enough to drink, but that was Future MJ's problem).

Peter just scoffed at the two of them, though he was wise enough to not say anything. He knew his own track record, and Parker Luck never failed to pull through.

The four of them got to work, with May mostly standing and directing the children she'd seen become the capable adults in front of her. Despite knowing that the whole wedding was a charade, she barely kept her tears at bay. Her little boy had grown up so much!

"Peter, could you put the fairy lights up?" MJ asked, the final box on her checklist glaring at her. Peter, knowing exactly how she wanted them, jumped up to the ceiling to finish the job. After ten minutes of hushed swearing and strategic webbing, the lighting in the venue looked like it had jumped out of Pinterest.

Smiling smugly, Peter backflipped off the ceiling to land in front of MJ, who just shook her head in exasperation, finishing her checklist as Peter straightened his jacket. MJ leaned over distractedly to smooth his hair down, and he pretended like his breath hadn't hitched at the sudden contact.

"Auntie May!" came a shrill sound from behind him. Tamping down the irrational jealousy at hearing someone calling his aunt 'auntie', he turned around, only for his jaw to drop open. Tony, Pepper and Morgan Stark had just walked in, two hours before the event was due to start, and the tiny girl that Peter had only heard about, never seen, sprinted toward his aunt and threw herself at her, May catching and giving her a giant hug.

Peter turned back towards MJ, both of them exchanging dumbfounded looks, then turned to watch the scene unfold with disbelieving eyes.

"How are you, baby?" May asked, tweaking Morgan's nose and making her laugh. Pepper's face lit up when she saw May, and walked over to greet her with a hug, and Ned could see the moment that stopped working, and MJ went deep into shock. Grabbing a glass of the fruity cocktail he'd specifically requested, he settled down to watch the show.

"How have you been?" May asked, returning the hug and then stepping back. Eyes widening, she said, "Oh my god, I adore the shoes!"

"Right? I just got them last week! I would have asked for your opinion, but we just couldn't make brunch happen!" Pepper exclaimed, twisting her foot to show the heels off.

Only Ned could make out a twinkle in her eye that screamed of mischief, and he came to a sudden realisation that, just maybe, Pepper Potts-Stark, the CEO of Stark Industries, (apparently) best friends with May Parker, fierce nurse who scared Iron Man himself, knew that the wedding was a hoax. He smothered his face in his drink to hide his snort.

Tony, well used to the antics of his wife and her best friend, just rolled his eyes and turned his attention away from them and to his daughter, who had skipped over to him. When he looked up, the bride and groom looked shell shocked at the display in front of them, with the best man doing a bad job at hiding his laugh in his glass.

A deeply suspicious mystery was playing out, since Peter (or his fianceé, for that matter) clearly didn't know Pepper and May were friends, and therefore weren't responsible for his invite. And, well, he wouldn't be Tony Stark if he didn't take it upon himself to get to the bottom of any narrowly suspicious happening.

Then again, maybe he was thinking too much and it was the best man who sent him the invite. He'd investigate when the wedding was over.

Morgan, in the time Pepper and May greeted each other and her father's face flashed through a bunch of expressions she neither understood nor cared about, had turned around to face a girl who wore the absolute coolest dress Morgan had ever seen. She couldn't resist jumping over to her, pulling on her hand.

The girl jumped a little, then looked down at Morgan like she'd never seen a little girl before, which Morgan thought was silly.

"Hi, miss, I really like your dress," she said, plucking at the white skirt of the bigger girl's outfit. There were little flowers all over it, and Morgan pressed her face closer to it, trying to identify all the types. There were tulips, orchids, sunflowers, chrys-chrysan-chrysanthe-

"Okay, little miss, what do you think you're doing?" her daddy's voice came from behind her as she tried to remember the really difficult flower name. Suddenly, she was lifted into the air and away from the object of her curiosity, and she turned her pouting face to her father, who had settled her at his hip.

"I was trying to remember the name of the pretty flower!" Morgan protested, secure in the knowledge that she had done no wrong. She wiggled in her father's hold until she was facing the girl, who was smiling at her nervously.

"Morgan H Stark, what do we do when we meet someone for the first time?" her dad prompted gently, to which she heaved a huge sigh for a girl of her size, sticking her hand out.

"Hi, I'm Morgan Stark!" she said brightly. "I really like your dress, it's very pretty!"

The girl's smile transformed into a big grin, which Morgan counted as a win.

"I'm MJ," the girl introduced herself, shaking Morgan's hand. "And thank you, I like yours too!"

Morgan beamed, pulling up a bit of the bright red skirt she was wearing to better show it off. "Thank you! You know, I can tell you the names of the flowers on your dress. Mommy has a garden with lots of flowers."

A flash of surprise crossed MJ's face before the smile reappeared as she leaned down a little, eye to eye with her. "Really? Think you can name them all?"

The five-year old lit up, and proceeded to point out all the flower names that she knew, with MJ helping her pronounce the more complicated ones and telling her the ones that she didn't know. Peter's attention was drawn away from May and Pepper at the chatter next to him, and he was captivated by the display MJ and Morgan were putting up, a soft smile on his face as he observed their conversation.

Tony's eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the loving expression on his face, eyes flitting between the engaged couple in suspicion, the conversation he'd had with Peter running through his mind. After all, Peter had confessed to him that he was in love with a girl he couldn't be with, so why…?

An insistent tapping on his face distracted him from his deliberations, and he looked at his daughter, whose entire face was glowing as though she'd been told the secrets of the universe.

"MJ made the flowers on her dress, Daddy," Morgan said excitedly. "I told her I'd give her a juice pop if she would make one for me, and she said yes!"

"You know what that is, little miss? That's extortion, that's the word," Tony said amusedly, looking apologetically at MJ, who waved him off.

"I'd be happy to do it for the little cutie," MJ said, tweaking Morgan's nose just like May had earlier. Morgan wrinkled her nose and let out a giggle. Tony took the opportunity to put her back on the ground, allowing her to run off and do as she pleased, secure in the knowledge that FRIDAY was keeping an eye on her.

"Nice to finally meet you, Peter," Tony said to Peter, both of them suddenly aware of the fact that they met just the previous night, though Peter's face adopted an awestruck look when he was addressed by Iron Man. "I've heard a lot about you from May."

"I'd like to return the sentiment, but May never mentioned you to me," he said, peering confusedly at May, who's conversation with Pepper was still going strong. Tony laughed, shaking his head.

"I'm not surprised, the circumstances under which we met weren't exactly, ah, normal," he hedged, having come to the swift realisation that the younger man had no knowledge about May's social life. Peter nodded, clearly still confused, but accepting the explanation without further questioning. Tony took the opportunity to address the bride.

"Hi, you must be MJ. I'm, well. You know who I am," Tony gave a half-smirk and held his hand out. MJ's smile slid off, and she levelled an unamused look at him. The quick turnabout in her attitude left him scrambling.

"Yes, that is my name. Lucky me, keeping company with the 1%," she said, rolling her eyes, but accepting his handshake. "If you hadn't saved the world on a couple occasions, and if you weren't married to Pepper Potts herself, you would definitely not be invited to this wedding."

Tony took half a step back despite himself, impressed at her audacity. He then straightened up, saying, "Well, at least we have our respect for my wife in common. I would like you just based on that."

MJ's slightly surly expression broke at that, and she sent a surprised look in his direction, which he elected to ignore in favour of the best man, who'd made friends with his daughter by giving her a glass of juice with an umbrella sticking out of it. He strode forward to shake his hand, which the younger man met without hesitation, despite the starry expression that had taken over his features.

"Hello, Mr Stark, I'm Ned Leeds," he introduced himself, standing a little straighter. "It's nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you from May."

Peter's jaw dropped in betrayal at that. Tony stifled a laugh, noticing the mischievous twinkle in Ned's eyes. Clearly, May Parker and Ned Leeds were cooking something up, which neither the groom nor the bride (if her dumbstruck expression was anything to go by) had any knowledge of. Having been a victim of May's harmless little jokes, Tony did not envy them.

Morgan, unbeknownst to her father, was growing quite bored with everyone around her. MJ had just stepped aside to take a call, and Ned was talking to her dad. Her mom and Auntie May were talking in another corner of the room, and from long experience she knew she wouldn't have any fun when both of them were together. That just left one person.

"Hi, I'm Morgan," she said after patting his waist to get his attention. He looked down and offered her a hesitant smile, before holding his hand out to her. Morgan was delighted at this formality, and she shook his hand vigorously.

"Hey, Morgan. I'm Peter," he said, kneeling down so that she was slightly taller than him. Slurping away at her orange juice, she observed him with big eyes.

"I know, Auntie May talks a lot about you," she said, smiling happily. "I started calling her Auntie because that's what you call her."

Peter's face lightened somewhat at that, and he gave her a bigger beam. Morgan returned an equally large one, and curiously asked, "Are we at your wedding?"

Peter nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm getting married to MJ."

Morgan hummed, thinking for a moment, and then casually asked, "You're Spider-Man, aren't you?"

Everyone around froze and turned to look at her., She was thrilled, loving being the centre of attention. MJ hung up the phone, and Mommy and Auntie May had even stopped talking, which wasn't something that she could make happen very often. Peter's smile had frozen, and he looked rather shocked.

"Spider-Man? I'm not Spider-Man," he said, his voice a lot higher than it had been earlier. Morgan wrinkled her nose; she liked his voice the way it had been before.

"No, I'm pretty sure you are," Morgan insisted. "Daddy told Mommy that we were going to go to Spider-Man's wedding, and we're at your wedding. So, you must be Spider-Man."

Half-formed protests died on Peter's tongue as Tony swooped in to pick his daughter up, softly whispering into the deadly quiet room, "What have we told you about listening in on your parents, huh, squirt?"

Peter vaguely remembered to be grateful that the remaining guests (including MJ's parents) hadn't reached the venue yet, but the ringing in his ears mostly succeeded in drowning that out. His eyes searched the room, seeing Tony and Pepper kneeling next to their daughter, speaking to her in hushed whispers, MJ and Ned's shocked expressions, and May, standing exactly where she had been left, not quite shocked but more than a little guilty.

The moment their eyes met, Peter was jolted back to reality, and he marched across the room towards her, disregarding MJ and Ned's attempts at pulling him back.

"Did you tell him?" Peter's voice, dangerously quiet, reduced the room to silence once more. May met her nephew's eyes, holding her head high, and replied, "No, I did not. He knew about your identity and contacted me after I found out from you."

Some of Peter's anger disappeared at that, but he was too far gone in his worry to care, his thoughts revolving around how he'd protect the little family he had left.

"How could you not tell me, May?" he asked in a low voice, eyes boring into hers. To her credit, May refused to flinch, just gazed at her nephew, a sad look on her face. "You know how I feel about my identity; why would you jeopardize that?"

"I was scared for you, Peter!" she said loudly, and it was as if a dam had burst. "There was nothing I could do to protect you when you started swinging around the city, fighting dangerous people every night! I couldn't stand to see anything happen to you! Especially after Ben-"

May's voice broke as she folded into herself, and Peter faltered, unable to watch his aunt in pain, or hurt her in any way. But he had to hear it from her.

"Does anyone else know?" he asked urgently, gripping her elbow. She shook her head and whispered, voice still sounding choked, "Not that I know of."

Peter sighed in relief, shoulders relaxing from their tightly wound state. He pulled her into his arms, and she curled up, head on his shoulder. Feeling badly about shaking his aunt, and in order to inject some levity into the situation, he pulled away and asked, "Clearly you're excellent at keeping secrets, since I never found out about you knowing Tony Stark, so I have to ask. Did you know about the wedding being fake too?"

The words seemed to echo around the room. "Um, what," came an eloquent reply from behind him, and Peter was seized with horror, whirling around while mentally berating himself for forgetting that he and May weren't the only people in the room. He was confronted with two amused faces, two dumbstruck, and one happy-go-lucky, the last one belonging to the tiny girl who had settled down into a chair and was playing on her StarkPad.

"What the hell, Parker?" MJ said after a full ten seconds of silence. That broke the tenseness, as Ned, Pepper and May all started giggling. Peter turned around to see that she'd broken out of her funk, and had clearly decided to declare herself a full traitor. She just shrugged helplessly at his expression, further giving into her mirth, almost doubling over.

But the person he was most concerned about was Tony Stark, who was standing next to Ned, eyes wide and gaping slightly. It was very apparent that he was the only one completely out of the loop. Peter tripped over himself to explain what was going on, but Pepper interrupted smoothly, holding a hand up to stem his rambling.

"Do you remember that tweet you'd seen some time ago?" she asked softly, smoothing down the lapels of Tony's jacket and clearly trying not to laugh. "The one about sending wedding invites to billionaires? Well, MJ and Peter saw it too, and decided that they would try doing that, except they weren't actually getting married."

Peter took a moment to be thankful for the existence of Pepper Potts, because she had articulated the, in hindsight, completely stupid scheme in the most graceful way possible. But his attention was soon drawn back to his childhood hero, whose face cleared slowly as comprehension dawned.

Tony looked toward his wife, who just stared back with glee dancing in her eyes, and soon devolved into chuckles of his own. Peter breathed a huge sigh of relief, glancing towards MJ to notice that she, too, shared his sentiment.

"You have some guts, Mr Parker," Tony said after a few seconds, shaking his head. "Then again, you were raised by May Parker; I shouldn't be surprised."

Peter laughed nervously in reply, rubbing the back of his neck. May hugged him from the back, running her hand up and down his arm in apology, while still giggling sporadically. Ned, too, seemed to be winding down, though any time his eyes swung towards either Peter or MJ, he would snort and have to tamp his laughter.

After a few minutes of helpless chaos, in which May took up the mantle of bringing everyone up to speed and the group broke off into different conversations, Tony awkwardly approached Peter.

"I'm sorry I never told you that I knew your identity," he said apologetically, clapping Peter's shoulder. "I found out after the whole Vulture fiasco, and contacted your aunt. She damn near yelled my ears off," at this, he grimaced slightly, tugging on his ear, "But she forgave me after a while. Of course, befriending my wife probably helped my case."

"Yeah, I'd imagine," Peter said, running a hand through his hair. "I owe you an apology as well. You did the right thing, and at least you talked to her after she found out."

"That is very true," Tony agreed, putting the unpleasant image of how May would have reacted if he had been the one to tell her about her nephew's extracurricular activities out of his mind. "Well, what's done is done."

"Yeah," Peter replied, suddenly looking sheepish. "Also, I'm sorry about today. I'm sure you guys are busy, and –"

At that, Tony chuckled, patting his back in acceptance. "Don't worry about it, kid. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I would have known before coming here that the whole thing was fake if Pepper wasn't looking for an opportunity to get back at me for this situation with Morgan from a couple months ago."

Pepper had clearly been listening in, despite being deep into a conversation with an extremely animated MJ, because she turned slightly, loudly declaring, "Got it in one! Love you!"

"Love you too, honey," Tony replied back, rolling his eyes. Pepper blew him a kiss as he turned his attention back to Peter, a defeated smile playing on his lips. Peter chuckled, slightly uncomfortable, before Tony asked teasingly, "So, I assume you and Ms MJ over there will eventually be inviting us to your actual wedding? I would think I quite deserve an invite after today."

Peter coughed in surprise, then cleared his throat, saying, "Oh, no, MJ and I aren't together; we're best friends."

No matter how much I wish we were, he added silently, as Tony's eyes widened in what was clearly sudden realisation, loudly declaring, "So she was the girl you were talking about last night? The one you couldn't confess to!"

All chatter around the room once again came to a halt, and Peter was pretty sure that this was way more of nightmare material than his own loud words from earlier. Tony looked slightly abashed, and Pepper just facepalmed, her conversation with MJ clearly over, since the younger woman was looking over in their direction, jaw hanging open.

May and Ned looked on in glee, exchanging looks of anticipation. Ned in particular felt as though he could cry from joy. These two idiots had put him through enough, it was about damn time they got their shit together.

MJ walked over to Peter as though in a trance. Tony had enough foresight to move away, circling back to his wife, who smacked him on the arm. His soft "Ow!" was ignored as everyone's eyes focused on the young couple.

"What did he mean, Peter?" MJ asked softly, her eyes shining with hope as Peter did everything to avoid meeting them with his own.

"Well, um, the thing is," he stuttered, wildly looking around in search of an escape. MJ, however, wasn't going to let him get away so easily.

"What is the thing, Peter?" she asked, voice clipped. She immediately regretted sounding so curt, which had not been her intention, as Peter shrunk into himself a little bit. Softening her voice a little, she reached out to lace her fingers through his. "Whatever it is, you can tell me."

The contact seemed to have rendered Peter speechless, as he gaped at her for a few seconds. He searched her eyes for something, and whatever he found there seemed to have made a decision for him; he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He suddenly seemed to remember their audience, who were all staring at the two of them avidly (with the exception of Morgan, who was engrossed in the game she was playing).

Turning back to her, he asked lowly, "Do you mind if we talk about this somewhere else?"

MJ readily agreed, and led the way to the dressing room, closing the door softly behind her. In the foyer, the group of assembled people exchanged excited looks, eager to see what would pan out.

"Well, if they don't get together now, I'll eat all my hats," Ned said gleefully, before his expression dropped slightly, remembering who he was dealing with. Mind made up, he scrambled to his feet and opened the door to the dressing room a crack. He'd earned the right to hear what went down, and if the way May came to stand next to him was any indication, she agreed.

Tony went to offer his tech services, interest and curiosity sufficiently piqued, but Pepper put a hand on his arm, shaking her head with a gentle smile. It was a moment for the couple alone (and for the people they'd tortured with their dance, but that went without saying).

---

When the door shut behind MJ and a gentle tug on his hand made him turn around, he didn't know if he would be able to hear his own voice over his heart, thundering at overtime. He vaguely knew that Ned and May were listening in (he could hear their heartbeats, and knew them as well as he did his own), but he was too nervous to care.

All of his attention was taken up by the beautiful woman in front of him, whose head was tilted down to stare at him, eyes glittering. It was time to summon that Spider-Man courage and put it to good use.

"What did you want to say, Peter?" MJ asked softly, fingers still intertwined with his. Looking down at their hands, he realised that all the words he'd been missing were right at the tip of his tongue, and before he knew it, they'd all come spilling out.

"Um, what I wanted to tell you, MJ, was that I like you," Peter said, letting those giant feelings out to her and feeling all the more relieved for it. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open slightly. He grimaced slightly, clarifying, "As in, more than friends."

She continued to stare at him and didn't look like she was going to respond anytime soon.

"Of course, if you don't feel the same way, I totally understand!" he said, beginning to ramble in MJ's silence. "I value our friendship way too much to let something stupid like my feelings get in the way of that, and –"

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off as MJ grabbed his face, putting her lips on his. After a surprised beat, he put his arms on her waist, drawing her closer, eyes shutting involuntarily. They both released a long breath as they broke apart, foreheads resting on each other.

"I like you too," she said, eyes opening after a few seconds, releasing his face to wind her arms around his neck instead and pulling back slightly to look at his face properly. He gave her a beaming smile, and pulled her in for another kiss in lieu of a reply.

"You don't know how happy I am that I finally get to do that," Peter said breathlessly as they pulled back, MJ bending down at an awkward angle to rest her head on his shoulder. He could feel more than hear her laughter, and a jolt of his heart reminded him that this was really happening. He tightened his hug in response to that thought.

"You're happy? I've been waiting for that since high school," she mumbled against his jacket, her own hold mirroring his. He pulled back suddenly, and MJ let out a small whine at the loss of contact. His gobsmacked face made her forget her petulance as she started giggling.

"High school? What do you mean?" he asked, gaping at her. Her laughter cutting off abruptly, she tucked an errant curl behind her ear, blushing, as she replied softly, "I've liked you since sophomore year, Peter."

"Wow," he replied, trying to wrap his mind around the bomb she dropped on him. "I mean, I've liked you since, like, senior year, but I never wanted to tell you because I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"Why do you think I never told you?" she asked indignantly, the smile not straying from her face. Peter's own beam returned in full force, and the two met in the middle in yet another kiss, enjoying finally being able to be as close to each other as they'd been dreaming of for all those years.

"You guys!" Ned squealed, apparently having grown tired of waiting outside. They broke apart and turned around as he burst into the room with May right at his heels, and crushed them both into a hug.

"Ned, come on," Peter laughed from around a mouthful of Ned's shirt. MJ, face completely muffled, just hummed her agreement, unable to do much else. May swooped in to grab them both barely a second after he let them go, squishing them again. MJ laughed into her dress as Peter grumbled.

"May. May! We get it," Peter squirmed just as May released them. MJ stepped towards him, and with a shy smile, he pulled her closer, an arm around her shoulders. Ned and May aww'd in happiness at the display, and were only too happy to lead them out of the door, where Tony and Pepper were standing.

"Congratulations, Mr Parker," Tony said, looking entirely too pleased with himself. Pepper smacked him gently on the arm, then turned towards them to pull them into hugs.

"I'm so happy for you both!" she said, before giving May a hug as well. Morgan, having grown bored of her game, took the opportunity to jump up, Peter catching her in his arms with ease.

"When is the wedding going to happen?" she asked innocently, setting off gales of laughter and two sets of blushes. Peter and MJ exchanged looks before turning to the mischievous girl, and MJ said, "Not today, sweetie. That's going to take a while."

Peter smirked at MJ after a beat of surprise, asking in a low voice, "Is that so?" as Morgan complained, "But we were going to stay for the party after, will that also not happen?"

"Oh, that's happening," Tony said flippantly, typing on his phone. When he looked up, everyone was staring at him. His smirk widened. "What else are we going to do, send away all the lovely people you invited and waste their day?"

---

When the guests started coming in, Peter and MJ soon realised that everyone knew that the wedding was fake, including, surprisingly enough, Betty Brant.

("What?" she said after greeting them both, Ned standing a few paces away with shock covering his face. "Your Aunt May told me!")

Since there was no wedding taking place, everyone had decided to kick off their shoes and turn the entire place into a dance floor, the DJ more than happy to comply after Iron Man signed his headphones. Tony, of course, insisted on paying for everything, despite vehement protests from Peter.

("Come on, you did this for my benefit, this is the least I can do!"

"Told you, Parker.")

The party continued in full swing, and Peter and MJ made the most of it by dancing, laughing with their college friends when the story was narrated to them, sneaking away for a few minutes at a time, and spying on Ned and Betty's reunion.

"I'll be right back," MJ said after a while of mingling as her cousin appeared on the door. She looked to be in a hurry, and had told MJ that she'd probably only make it for a little while anyway. With an uncharacteristic shriek, she launched herself at the older girl, and the two walked off, giggling together.

Having overheard MJ and Jess' phone calls, Peter knew that it would be a while before she was back. He shook his head fondly and turned around, only to come face-to-face with Samuel Jones.

"Hey Peter," the older man said genially as he froze in place like a deer in headlights. "Care to join me for a drink?"

"Sure, um, yeah, I'd love to," Peter stammered, and followed him to the bar. Samuel got both of them a beer, and an awkward silence descended upon them as they took swigs of their drink. Peter shifted uncomfortably, observing his girlfriend's dad out of the corner of his eye.

"So, your aunt had told us about the circumstances behind all this, which really put Angie and I at ease," he started, waving a hand around the room. Peter laughed nervously in acknowledgement, wondering where the conversation was leading.

"We weren't exactly happy when Shelle told us that she'd be getting married to a boy, friend or not, she said she'd only been dating for a while," he continued, taking another swing and staring down at his bottle.

"But, despite the whole thing being a charade, I have watched you treat her the way she deserves to be treated, and let her be who she was without trying to change her. So, what I'm trying to say is that I approve, Peter," he said, finally looking up at Peter.

Peter blinked, absolutely floored. "Um, thank you sir, I really appreciate you saying that."

Samuel nodded and smiled, clapping him on the shoulder before he stood up to leave. "I know she doesn't need it, but take care of her."

"I'll do my best," Peter promised, watching him approach his wife and pull her to the dance floor. He smiled down at his beer, a warm feeling in his chest that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

---

MJ slipped into the party after waving her cousin off, electing to stand off to the side before going to find Peter, still reeling over the events of the day. She grinned involuntarily as she looked down to mess with the ring Peter had bought, which she'd switched to her right hand.

One day, I'm gonna propose to you for real, he'd said, fiddling with the ring on her left hand before slipping it off.

Not if I do it first, she'd retorted, making him laugh and giving her the distraction she needed to steal it back. She put it on her right ring finger, wiggling the digit in his face.

I'm keeping this, though, she said, and he gave her a smile that warmed her down to her toes.

Do whatever you want.

The memory of the conversation made her blush slightly, and her train of thought was interrupted when someone sat down next to her.

"Penny for your thoughts?" May said, putting her flute of champagne down on the table before them.

"Nothing, I'm just really happy," MJ said, the smile on her face refusing to fade. May beamed back, before she looked off into the distance, melancholy colouring her features. MJ grabbed her hand, understanding instantly where May's mind had led her.

"Ben would have loved you," May whispered, patting her hand. Mj could feel herself welling up, which surprised her; it took a lot to make her cry, but it seemed like this would do the trick.

"I wish I'd gotten to meet him," MJ muttered after a few seconds, getting her emotions under control. May smiled at her, equally emotional. She let go of her hand, reaching up to her neck to unclasp the necklace that she always wore.

"This was the first gift Ben gave to me," May shared, showing the pendant to the younger woman. It was shaped like a heart, with tiny diamonds on the edges. "He blew half of that month's salary on this. I yelled at him so much, but he refused to take it back."

MJ looked at May, then, to find the older woman already looking at her and smiling.

"I want you to have it," May said, offering the delicate piece to her. MJ's face blanked, before she shook her head.

"No, May, I can't accept this," she said, pushing her away as she tried to hand it to her. MJ grabbed both of her hands to still her, and gave her a big smile, eyes glittering with unshed tears.

"Save it for when I'm actually getting married to your nephew," she said softly, smiling widely as May laughed. The older woman searched for something in her eyes for a minute, before acquiescing, putting it back on. She then pulled MJ into a hug, mumbling into her shoulder, "I'm so glad you're dating my nephew, because I would have to adopt you if you weren't."

Both of them laughed shakily, surreptitiously wiping their eyes and giggling together.

"Do you mind me interrupting you ladies?" came a soft voice, and they turned around to find Peter standing behind them, a smile on his face and eyes trained on MJ. May looked between the two of them, and stood up, patting her nephew on the shoulder. "I'll leave you two alone."

Peter leaned over to May and kissed her cheek in appreciation. May ruffled his hair and walked off, yelling at Pepper to join her for a dance. Peter waited until she had moved a little further away before turning back to his girlfriend.

"Care to join me for a walk?" he asked, holding his hand out and pulling her to her feet. "I'm not ready for this night to be over."

MJ hit him on the shoulder with a sparkle in her eye. "You're such a dork. Let's go before anyone can figure out where we are."

Peter beamed and led the way out of the venue of their so-called wedding (what they would have done if the truth hadn't come out was anyone's guess), into Central Park. The full moon was shining in the mostly-clear sky, and if MJ focused, she could even see a few stars twinkling away.

She intertwined her fingers with Peter's when his hand brushed hers, wrapping her other arm around his. They started walking around slowly before they happened across a small pond with a bridge on top. Peter turned to her with a smirk, then tugged her on to it, where he came to a stop in the middle, turning around to face her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, laughing giddily, because this was her life, the loser she was maybe-mostly in love with reciprocated her feelings. He smiled at her, a little hesitantly, reaching into his pocket to pull out a little box. MJ's breath caught in her throat when he opened the box to show her a black dahlia necklace that had unfortunately gone through the ringer, and was missing a few petals.

"Remember that study abroad program I'd done? Back in the summer before junior year?" he asked softly. She nodded in reply, at a loss for words.

"I'd got this from Venice for you, but, well, I never really got the chance, or the courage, to give it to you," he continued, pulling the delicate piece out of the box. "I'm sorry it's broken, Spider-Man has some really shitty enemies, but –"

"No, no, I love it. Really," MJ said, catching sight of his disbelieving expression. Looking at his glowing face, she added, "It's better when it isn't perfect."

They stood like that for a few more moments, both trying to imprint the perfect moment into their memory. Then MJ pulled away and turned around, hair pulled to one side, a clear request to put the gorgeously flawed gift around her neck. Peter took the unspoken hint and clasped it, fingers fumbling.

Once fixed, she turned around, hand tangled in the necklace, and they both paused for a second, eyes flicking to their lips, before they moved at the same time, meeting in the middle for a chaste kiss. They pulled back to rest their foreheads together, their breath mingling and hands lacing together.

"I can't be sure, but I'm pretty sure I love you," he confessed in a whisper, the hand cupping her face slipping down to rest on her waist. She gave a breathless laugh in reply, and said, "That's good, because I think that I love you too."

Both of them stood there for a few while, seconds blurring together until they had no idea how long they'd been out.

"We should go back," MJ said finally, pulling them out of the haze. Peter blinked a few times, before nodding reluctantly, letting go of her hand to sling his arm around the waist as she did the same. Together, they began to walk back, finally on the same page after all the time they spent dancing around in circles.

When they reached the venue, they found Ned standing near the front door, shaking with silent laughter. He just shook his head and kept laughing as they stared bemusedly at him.

"I still can't believe that it took faking a whole wedding for you two to get together," Ned finally gasped out, wiping tears of mirth off his face. Both Peter and MJ immediately went red, and MJ leaned over to hit him on the shoulder.

"Actually, I can," he said, shrugging off the hit with ease, guffaws still escaping every now and then. "It's not like you guys have more than a couple braincells to spare."

"Yeah, whatever, Ned," Peter said, embarrassed at the reminder of the debacle that had gone down during the day. He glanced at MJ to find her already looking at him, lips quirked up in the half-smile he knew so well. Unable to contain his grin, he said, "But we've figured it out now."

And over the sound of Ned's gagging, the two kissed once more, more than happy with being dumb idiots if they got to be dumb idiots with each other.