Title: Joint Souls and Broken Bones

Summary: In which soulmates share each other's pain; Peter Parker gets into just as many fights as you'd expect a superhero to and Michelle Jones is convinced that her soulmate is dying. Initially follows the events of Homecoming. Soulmate AU.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Marvel and make no profit from any of what I am posting.


NOTE: I've added an extra scene to the ending of Chapter 10 as of 11th April 2020. If you read the chapter before that, please catch up on it!


Joint Souls and Broken Bones

Chapter 11

"I have a surprise," her Mom says the moment Michelle walks through the door.

"Mom," she says, rolling her eyes. "Not now—"

Michelle stops.

A familiar face appears behind her Mom, smiling at Michelle like nothing went wrong— like the whole world didn't come crashing down.

"Hey," Liz says.

And, just like that, everything changes.


"So," Liz says. "How's school?"

She's lying down on Michelle's bed, knees bent and looking more comfortable in her room than Michelle is. This is Liz though. Good at adapting to new situations. Smart. Pretty. Cooler than Michelle will ever be.

"Different," she says.

"I heard you guys qualified for AcaDec."

"Just the qualifiers. And even then, barely."

Liz huffs. "Still. Ned skipped, right? It's not easy to get through if your whole team isn't around."

"Yeah," Michelle says. "How's Oregon?"

"Different," Liz says.

"A good different or a bad different?"

Liz shrugs, chewing her lower lip. "Not a bad different," she says slowly. "I'm trying to put together a Decathlon Team. Then you wait. I'll bury your lot."

"I'd rather be buried by you than Texas," Michelle says with a shrug.

Liz smiles at that. "I wanted to come to school, you know. Though Mom said no. There's a second trial next week, and she doesn't want everyone gossiping."

She twists her hair around her finger, absentmindedly, like there's something else on her mind. Something else she wants to say.

"Betty said you've been spending a lot of time with Peter."

Oh. That. "We talk," Michelle says slowly. "A lot."

Liz sits up in a flurry, taking Michelle's hand in hers and holding it down— away from Michelle's face.

"Michelle Jones," she mock whispers, "are you blushing?"

"I am not."

(She is.)

"MJ." She looks at Liz. "Spill."

"He's my soulmate."

There. She said it.

It's been at the tip of her tongue all day, and Michelle should have told Peter instead, but this is easier. Talking to Liz is easier.

"Oh," she says, and she lets go of Michelle's hand. "Does he know?"

Michelle shakes her head. "I figured out a couple of days ago."

"When do you plan on telling him?"

"I don't know." She pauses. Hesitates. "I told Peter I've met my Soulmate and that he's from Washington."

"MJ." Soft and serious. Again. Like they're at AcaDec practice, and Liz is telling Michelle not to hold back; to be confident with her answers. "Don't be the unreliable one in this relationship. You owe him the truth."

"It's not that easy."

Liz shakes her head. "That doesn't matter."

"Why?"

"Because the longer you wait to tell him, the more it'll hurt Peter."

Michelle nods. Squeezes her eyes shut. "I know," she whispers. "It's just— complicated."

"You're complicating it more than you need to. MJ, if there's one thing hanging with Peter taught me, is that it sucks to have your heart broken by someone you trust. Don't treat him the way he treated me. Be honest."

"I'll try."

Liz rolls her eyes, falling back into Michelle's bed. "You better," she says.

They're quiet for a spell. Michelle opens her phone, pretends not to see the dozen texts Peter's sent her in the last half an hour. She replies to Betty about AcaDec practice. Swipes off a notification from Spider-Man twitter.

It's all so much.

It's all too much.

"Liz?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"About what?"

"I never said goodbye. When you left."

"Honestly, I don't know if I realised."

"Ouch."

"MJ?"

"Yeah?"

"If you don't tell Parker, I will."

"I'll tell him."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


Liz and her Mom leave late at night. They're spending the night at a hotel near the prison where Mr Toomes is being kept and, if all goes well, tomorrow Liz will meet her Dad for the first time since Homecoming.

Michelle texts Liz in the morning: It's a simple 'Good luck' because, fuck, Liz is her friend and she doesn't need to be scared about not saying enough.

Liz texts back with a: 'You too ;)' that has Michelle blushing the entire way to school.

She's got it all planned in her head. The exact words she's going to say, how she's going to tell Peter. She's even prepared an apology for why she lied in the first place. She just needs to spit it out, and then the rest is up to Peter.

If he's mad at her, Michelle will live through it.

If he's happy, she'll let him decide what to do next.

She just has to tell him. That's all.

(Michelle's prepared for everything, except the smile Peter gives her.)

He's leaning against her locker like he's waiting for her. He looks up from his phone the moment Michelle walks in and gives her the largest of smiles. She turns scarlet again, a goofy grin spreading across her own lips.

"Hey," Peter says and, all at once, it's like her brain and vocal cords have been disconnected.

"Got home okay last night?"

Something about the way he says it makes Michelle melt; the look in his eye, the hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Yeah," she croaks, elbowing Peter in the stomach to get him to move away from her locker.

This is what she should have talked to Liz about. The way she loses her brains around him; the feeling in her stomach when he smiles at her or talks to her. The fact that he's so selfless that Michelle's not sure she's good enough for him.

He's Spider-Man. Saviour of Queens, the coolest superhero in town. The same Spider-Man who fucked up Liz's life and sent her all the way to Oregon. It's all so complicated.

"So Ned comes back today," Peter says, hiking his bag up his shoulders. "And May will be home early for a couple of days too."

She crinkles her eyebrows. "Oh," Michelle says, not sure what he's leading to.

"I was thinking, I should go after the Scorpion dude tonight, you know? Hunt him down on my terms, so that I've got the advantage."

"Oh," she says again. The uncomfortable feeling is back in Michelle's stomach, but this time, it's definitely not butterflies.

She can't tell him.

Not right now.

Not today.

She can't do that to Peter.

Michelle can't let him go into a fight knowing that she's his Soulmate. She can't have him worrying about her when he should be focusing on Scorpion or whoever the hell he's fighting.

She owes him the truth. Liz was right about that.

But Liz was wrong about Michelle complicating the situation.

Peter has to do this. He has to fight Scorpion without worrying about her.

So she can't tell him. Not today. Not yet.

"Promise you'll stay safe."

He chuckles. "You know I can't promise you that," Peter says.


She doesn't sleep at night.

At first, she's scared. Scared for Peter. Scared that his fight with Scorpion will go down like last time.

He's barely healed from his fight two days ago. Michelle shouldn't have let him head out today. She should have told Ned or May or somebody.

And then it starts, the way it always does. A few blows at first— nothing serious, then he twists his injured leg, bruises his stomach.

She feels him fall.

She feels him fall again and again and again.

Her phone lights up, and Michelle rolls over, blinking back tears from her eyes.

It's Liz.

'Did you tell him?'

'Not yet,' Michelle replies. 'How was your Dad?'

'He asked about Peter, funnily enough. Also, don't change topics on me MJ. I can see what you're doing.'

MJ rolls her eyes, sitting up straight and, suddenly, it occurs to her that she's not drowning in Peter's pain.

It's there. It's always there. But, right now, it's not overwhelming. It's just there. Like when Peter had come over two nights ago.

She rolls over again, ignoring a fresh set of texts from Liz.

Pepper Potts is usually out there, on camera, when Stark is fighting. She's not hiding in a washroom like Michelle.

The Winter Soldier and Captain America fight side, dealing with their own pain and each other's. And sure, there are moments when Cap will stumble because of punch thrown at the Winter Soldier, or vice versa, but it doesn't happen as often as it should.

Then there's the fact that Iron Man saved Pepper Potts when she was kidnapped. That kind of torture should have had him aching all over.

People don't stop living for their soulmates. People still get into fights and get into accidents. Their soulmates don't disappear every time. They don't drown in pain and give up on everything and wait for their soulmates to recover.

Michelle pulls up her laptop, searches for Soulmates. There are hundreds of Research Papers out there, and a quick search pulls up dozens of Reddit threads. There are vlogs on YouTube, blogs on Tumblr. Some talk about shared pain. Even fewer talk about blocking out each other's pain. But it's there.

People like Michelle, who used to feel helpless every time their Soulmates got hit or beaten up. People who learnt to block it out.

Distract yourself, one article says. Meditate, another says. Push it out of your head, a third article says. The list goes on.

Michelle falls back on her bed. The fighting's still going on. He's hurt himself again; she can feel the sharp pain on his leg— right where his old wound was. His chest aches. His arm feels broken.

Michelle breathes in. Breathes out. Pushes the immobilising pain to the back of her head. It still hurts her every time Peter gets hit. It just doesn't have to destroy her.

She pulls up her chat with Peter, types a quick: 'Text when you're safe' and then, putting her phone aside, curls up in bed and waits.


Peter appears on the news the next morning.

Or, well, Spider-Man does.

Spider-Man Twitter is blowing up with blurred videos from fans and conspiracy theories on who he was fighting, and what Peter was defending.

There are no texts from Peter though. No reply to her message from last night and no updates on the group Ned made with the three of them. He's absent at school too.

Ned slides into the seat opposite Michelle during lunch and says: "He's at the Stark Tower. They're taking care of him."

Michelle texts him again, a brief: 'Hope you're okay' and, after some hesitation a: 'Wanted to talk to you.'

Neither message is received though and, when school ends, Ned tells her that he hasn't gotten any updates either.


Peter's still absent the next day, much to Liz's dismay. He's okay, Michelle tells herself. He's not aching all over, he's not being injured any further. And, anyway, if he's at Stark Tower, then they must be taking care of it.

Except, Peter heals quickly.

It doesn't make sense for him to take off for more than a day. It definitely doesn't make sense for him to stop answering his messages and answering his calls.

And then, on Thursday morning without any warning, Peter comes back.

He's standing in front of her locker, arms crossed over his chest, looking as good as new and, before Michelle can talk herself out of it, she's thrown her arms around him, holding him like she never intends to let go.

(In her defence, Michelle doesn't want to let go.)

"Hey," Peter says and she steps back, taking his hands in hers.

"Hey," Michelle whispers, and this is it. She's going to tell him. "I have to—"

"Peter!"

His hands slip out of hers, and Peter turns. It's Ned.

"You had me scared, man."

Peter grins, pulling Ned into a hug. "It's been a while, huh?"

They say something she can't hear, then Peter turns back to her and tilts his head so that she knows that she's welcome to come with them.

Except, the moment's lost and, though she knows she'll have a hundred chances to tell him now, Michelle wishes she'd gotten to tell Peter right now.


She doesn't notice that her laces are undone.

It's as stupid as that.

They make it to Chemistry together and Peter's immediately interrogated by Abe and Cindy. Someone cracks a joke about Ned and Peter avoiding each other. Someone else asks if he's okay.

Michelle heads to the front to gather test tubes for her table. Peter's laughing at something Abe said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Mr Coleman is calling out for the class to settle down.

Flash is walking backwards, loudly adding his unnecessary two cents to the conversation, right into her. In a flurry of movement, he steps on her shoelace just as Michelle tries to side-step him.

She trips. Knocks the test tubes against a table, breaking them in her hands.

Everything slows down.

She opens her palms, revealing tiny fragments of glass prickling her skin and droplets of blood trickling out. Mr Coleman appears at her side, shouts something at Michelle that she doesn't quite register.

Betty appears at her side, pulling Michelle away.

Abe rushes to get the broom.

Michelle looks up, eyes landing on Peter.

He's staring at her, his forehead creased, with this look in his eyes. This goddamned look. Like he's just realised something. Like—

Oh.

Oh.

Shit.

And then she's whisked off to the school nurse.


I'm back!

Thank you guys so much for being so kind and supportive after my last Chapter. My mental health is back on track, I've started working on a new fic and JSaBB is nearly done! In the meantime, if you want to request any short fics, or just generally ramble about my current fics, please hunt me down on Tumblr: WizardingAesthetics.

As always, thanks for reading and for being the best readers ever!