Peter's plan

Chapter 19

"I definitely intend to."

By 6:30 they start heading back to the hotel, and MJ is grateful for it because she's exhausted. Today's been a long day, and with the time difference she could probably have fallen asleep when she'd lie down on the grass next to Peter earlier – if it weren't for her pounding heart and the way the idiot had been looking at her. She'd almost thought he would do it this time. Kiss her. For her part, she hadn't been able to move one single muscle, not even to blink. He'd been so close, with his slightly pink cheeks and his brown puppy eyes, and MJ thinks if he had moved closer she would probably have met him halfway.

She honestly cannot believe how much has changed since they left New York. Back then she was pretty much in denial of how much she liked him, and now… Well, now. Now she's starting to wonder how when where things are gonna… evolve. It's exciting. And scary. She's getting a little restless she thinks. She's never really been one to like anticipation. But it's also okay she thinks, because what comes after, well that's a little more scary. She doesn't know what comes after, she's never done any of this before.

MJ follows Betty to their room, and they rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets to shower first. MJ loses, so she collapses on her bed for a minute while Betty sorts through her stuff and heads to the tiny bathroom. It's nice to have their own, MJ thinks, remembering the shared bathroom the day before when they were in Venice. It's insane how fast things are going – not even talking about Peter Parker. This morning they were in Venice, and the morning before that they were in New York, and now they're in Paris for another two days, then a quick stop in London and then back home. This is definitely not some kind of relaxing trip, that's for sure.

When she hears the shower turning on, MJ sits up and blinks her tired eyes away. If she starts dozing off, she's not gonna be able to go down for dinner in an hour, she's pretty sure of it. She needs to do something. She stands up from the very comfortable bed and sits down at the little desk near the window instead. Here, much less comfortable now. Without really thinking, she grabs her backpack and looks through it, her eyes falling on her copy of A Room of One's Own. She considers it for a second, then sets it down on the side table. Nope. Too tired.

Next up is her sketchpad, and she ruffles through it for a minute, finally landing on her Spider-Parker sketch. She got inspired when they were on the rooftop of the Philharmonie, and added a background to it. She thinks she's got some progress to do in that particular department, but she's overall happy with the thing. Now though, just imagining giving it to him makes her heart speed up in her chest, which is ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous, she realizes after a couple of seconds, is that surge of worry that he isn't going to like it. She has to forcefully remind herself that him liking the drawing is definitely not the purpose of the whole thing. The goal is to make him admit that he is Spider-Man. That's it. That's the point.

When she hears Betty turn the shower off, MJ shakes her head and hides her sketchpad back in her bag. She fishes out her things from her messy backpack and waits for her friend to be done. Once Betty is out of the bathroom, MJ showers, and then it's dinner time. There is a restaurant inside the hotel they're staying at, so that's where they eat. MJ expertly dodges Brad once again – she's getting pretty good at it she thinks – and sits beside Ned, while Betty sits across from her next to Peter.

When the rest of their group gets there, they order their food. MJ is a little bit disappointed to see mostly pizza and pasta on the menu, and when she settles on a Pizza Primavera, Peter snickers a little, hiding like an idiot behind his menu when she narrows her eyes at him. "What?"

"Not very French of you to order pizza," Peter jokes. The top of his ears is a little red, but he still meets her gaze head on from over the top of his menu, and MJ has a hard time trying not to smile. She likes that they're getting better at talking.

"You're kidding right?" she scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an inquisitive eyebrow at him. "You picked a burger and fries."

"Well they're called French fries now, aren't they?"

"You're an idiot."

"Back me up Ned!" Peter retorts playfully, and MJ chuckles. It's apparently as surprising to her as it is to everyone because she suddenly becomes the target of the other three's full attention, and it's her turn to hide behind her menu like nothing. Betty bumps her shoe with an amused smirk and MJ glares at her, but luckily Ned then changes the subject, leaving MJ to deal with the tempest of thoughts in her head. She really is way too soft for this idiot for her own good. Damn it.

The food is a little disappointing, but they still have a great time. Once they're done eating, Ned takes out a deck of cards and for a moment they argue about what game they're gonna play – "I'm not playing Cheat with MJ, her poker face is too good she's gonna wreck everyone!" – before deciding on a game of President. MJ wins the first round, then Yasmin, Zoha and Flash join in and it quickly gets messier – and definitely funnier too, especially when Peter and Flash becomes beggar 1 and 2 two games in a row. Mr Harrington even plays a game with them when Flash leaves to sulk like a toddler, and they spend fifteen minutes teaching him the rules for him to become Vice-President on his first try. He's so happy he refuses to play another one, telling them he doesn't want to ruin the nice feeling of not messing something up for once. It's a little embarrassing and kinda gut wrenching too when MJ thinks too much about it, but they still laugh about it.

Around 9:30 the restaurant kicks them out, so they go settle on a bench just outside the hotel, in the warm evening air. The sun hasn't set down yet, and they watch the colors change in the sky above their heads, moving to the waterfront after a while. It's almost like they're back in Venice, MJ thinks as she dangles her legs from the edge of the canal, her hands spread behind her to look up the sky. Peter is sitting next to her, and she likes to feel his eyes on her every now and then while he pretends to talk with Betty sitting on her other side.

Mr Dell comes to tell them curfew is at 11, and they decide to play a few of rounds of Cheat. MJ wins the first one, and Peter does the second, and it then becomes a fun little competition between the two of them. Betty goes to bed and Flash replaces her, then it's Ned's turn and Josh and Tyler takes his place too. It's 10:45 when they stop playing because it's getting too dark, and everyone scrambles around, leaving Peter and MJ the two last ones sitting on the waterfront. MJ's heart pounds almost painfully in her chest as she watches Zoha and Yasmin wave them goodnight. She wonders how many time she's gonna ask herself the question 'is this it?' during this stupid trip.

They're quiet for a little while, still sitting side by side, but MJ is stressing out a little too much to say anything or even just look at him. It's only when she stifles a third yawn in less than 5 minutes that Peter chuckles and turns to her. She watches as he pinches his lips for a second before offering shyly to walk her back to her room since it's almost 11 anyway. She frowns, ignoring the fact that her heart is jolting in her chest again. "I don't need you to walk me back to my room," she scoffs, and relishes in Peter's instant reaction at that.

"Oh," he says in a choked voice, "no, no of course not I'm sorry I–" But then he sees the smirk she cannot hold back any longer, and he pouts like the cute idiot he is. "Oh my god–"

"Come on Parker," she retorts, full-on grinning by now, "move your ass, I'm tired."

"Every time," he whines, shaking his head, and MJ bumps his shoulder playfully before sitting up and starting to make her way back to the hotel.

She hears him stand up as well and she waits for him to catch up to her before talking again. "You'll get used to it."

"I definitely intend to."

MJ catches her breath and doesn't reply anything, thinking to herself she's very lucky that Smooth Parker is not his default setting. They walk inside the hotel and head to the stairs in silence. Their hands brush once as they make their way up the stairs, and MJ wonders if she's lost her mind yet or not. Her heart is pounding faster and faster as they get closer to her and Betty's room and she wonders restlessly what's about to happen. Is this it?

They stop next to her door and she turns to look at him, smoothing the sides of her jeans with her slightly sweaty hands. She's not sure she's ever been this nervous before. Peter is looking very sheepish too, rubbing the back of his neck and clearly avoiding her eyes. He bites his lower lip, probably looking for something to say, and MJ's eyes linger a little on his mouth. Her heart is beating so hard it's pretty much all she can hear. She hesitates half a second.

Then she lunges forward and kisses him on the cheek.

She doesn't even wait for him to react. She turns around, opens the door and slides inside her room without looking at him. "G'night Parker," she mumbles as she closes the door. She's pretty sure her heart is about to beat out of her chest, and her cheeks are absolutely burning. She rests her forehead against the cold door for a second, letting out a shaky breath.

"You okay?" comes Betty's sleepy voice behind her, and she whispers that she is. The lights are off so she feels her way to the foot of her bed to grab her pajamas, then locks herself in the tiny bathroom. She drops the clothes on the floor and looks at her flushed reflection in the mirror. She's a mess, she thinks, and her heart is still pounding painfully in her chest. Her parted lips feel especially sensitive too, and it's no mystery why really. His skin had been soft and warm against her lips, and just thinking back makes her shiver from head to toe.

And she's supposed to kiss him on his mouth? When just kissing him on his stupid cheek messes up with her brain that much?

This is definitely not good for her sanity.

Hey guys, sorry I got sick and forgot to update yesterday oops

Hope you're having a great weekend!