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Chapter Twelve

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They talked and laughed for the remainder of their commute to Mary Jane's parent's house - or rather, MJ, as she told him to call her. Weird that he now knew two girls that went by that nickname. While walking the street and riding the subway, Peter found out that they had a lot more in common than he originally thought. They both shared a common love of blockbusters such as 'Back to the Future', 'Jurassic Park', and he got Mary Jane to admit that she was a total Potter-Head. He gleefully asked her what house she was in and she replied, "When I took the quiz, it sorted me into Gryffindor."

"Really?!" Peter had replied, "That's what I got!"

To which MJ replied with raised eyebrows as she surveyed him. "Huh. I would've taken you as a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw, Tiger."

If only she knew how brave and headstrong he actually was… she probably wouldn't have said the same thing about Spider-Man…

She also said that she enjoyed hiking whenever she got the chance. And dancing. Peter also now enjoyed dancing ever since he got his powers, because they made him more graceful than he was before - where he had awkward limbs and two left feet. He asked if he could see her moves sometime to which she readily agreed with a confident smile.

When they got to her house, Peter frowned before they even stepped through the door. "I just thought of something… won't we need a moving truck or something for your things?"

Mary Jane froze and then bit her bottom lip, seemingly unable to meet his eye. "No… I don't have that much stuff. I'll probably only fill a duffle bag and a couple of boxes."

That was all that she had? Mary Jane Watson deserved the world and she could fit her entire life in only a duffle bag and a couple of boxes? The word 'neglect' flitted across his mind as a mix of anger and sadness overcame him on her behalf. But he chose not to say anything. She was clearly uncomfortable having to admit as much to him and 'Peter' didn't know her as intimately yet as Spider-Man did. Peter had only discussed surface-level topics, while Spider-Man got so much deeper with her. It was strange… being jealous of himself. But Mary Jane seemed grateful by his lack of comment - to which Peter was glad for, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable - and then she sighed heavily. "Let's get this over with."

She approached the door and opened it. It was already unlocked, which Peter thought to be unsafe for someone living in Brooklyn. When Mary Jane stepped over the threshold, she didn't call out to anyone or announce that she was home. Instead, she made a beeline to the narrow stairs, obviously expecting Peter to follow. He did, his spider-sense tingled just a bit but not enough to cause Peter any alarm.

They made their way up the stairs and to a tiny bedroom that was obviously Mary Jane's. There were posters of Broadway musicals hung up on her walls with scotch tape. Such as Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Les Miserables, and Hamilton.

While he took the time to survey the pink walls of her room, Mary Jane immediately got to work packing. She haphazardly tied her hair back with a ponytail and went to her closet to grab all of the clothes hanging there, still on their hangers. With everything that she grabbed, she piled on her small twin bed. But she was right… there wasn't much.

Peter immediately jumped forward to help her by taking them off of the hangers and folding them for her. But he got distracted by Mary Jane as she was jumping to try and reach the duffle bag from the top shelf in her closet.

"Oh, here, let me…" Peter said as he made his way over to her and jumped to get the duffle bag himself. He grabbed ahold of the strap and when he landed, he handed it over to her with a small smile.

"Thanks…" She said quietly as she took the bag from him and hugged it tightly to her chest for a moment. He could see that her bottom lip was trembling, as though it was the only thing that was preventing her from crying.

Despite his earlier thoughts of not wanting to over-step and make her uncomfortable, Peter found himself resting his hand on her arm. "Hey, are you okay?"

Her eyes became red-rimmed and she looked down to stare at the floor, fixated.

"I'm fine… I'm just really embarrassed." She whispered as a stray strand of hair fell from her ponytail in front of her face. Peter reached up and tucked the strand behind her ear then he crouched down so that he was able to meet her eye.

"There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Not with me," Peter tried to reassure, softly. He found that his thumb was caressing light circles on her arm. "Everything about this makes you just about the strongest person that I know. And me? I'm just dorky Peter Parker… did you know that I once had a whole party call out 'Penis Parker' in a chant?"

At this, Mary Jane let out a watery laugh, and Peter was just glad that he was able to make her smile, even if it was at his own expense.

"Don't worry, you can laugh," Peter reassured, "It's a funny memory now that I've stopped caring what other people think - at least the people who don't matter to me. And the people that do matter? They wouldn't judge you for things that are out of your control. Not if they actually care about you."

Mary Jane shook her head, a soft smile still gracing her lips. "I shouldn't laugh. I just wasn't expecting you to say that." Then she leaned up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. The heat that she left behind was blazing. She pulled back, gratitude in her eyes. "Thanks, Tiger. I needed that. And for what it's worth, you are much cooler than the people at that party. Immature much?"

With that, she patted his arm and then side-stepped him toward her dresser drawer, leaving him gaping after her as his hand drifted up to touch the skin that she had just kissed. Both of his cheeks now were positively flaming and he was sure that the color matched the tone of her hair. He was glad that her back was to him now as she tried to discreetly shove her delicates in the duffle bag. He would be mortified if she saw how much she affected him.

He was finally getting out of his stupor enough to jump up and help her once again when he was distracted once again.

"What the hell is this?" A booming voice came from the doorway. Peter could feel his hackles rise with another twinge of his spider-sense as he turned to come face-to-face with a man with greying dark hair and a dirty wife-beater. He held a half-drunk beer bottle in his hand as he leaned heavily against the doorway, his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the room. Out of the corner of Peter's eye, he saw Mary Jane stiffen. The man pointed the neck of his beer bottle towards Peter. "Who's this?"

Mary Jane turned and faced her father with a stiffness in her shoulders. "This is Peter Parker. He is my neighbor and he is just helping me out."

With that, she started to gather other things around her room, like her make-up bag, deodorant, phone charger, and other essentials. Mr. Watson followed her movements with a critical eye before he commented, "I haven't seen you in the neighborhood before. What house you live in?"

Peter swallowed. He felt another twinge of his spider-sense. "I actually live in Queens, sir."

At this, he saw Mary Jane stiffen as Mr. Watson frowned and turned narrowed eyes on Mary Jane. "You lyin' to me?"

He took a step into the room, advancing slightly toward Mary Jane. Peter regretted even opening his mouth. But despite his towering figure, Mary Jane stood tall. "No. I'm not. He is my neighbor… I'm moving out."

There was a long pause as Mr. Watson stared with wide eyes at his daughter, then Peter's spider-senses started to flare as Mr. Watson advanced even more on his daughter. "You ungrateful bitch! The hell you are!"

Mr. Watson grabbed tightly on the very arm that Peter touched consolingly just a moment before - his grip on her too constricting. Mary Jane let out a gasp of pain.

Then, Peter was next to them, so fast, he didn't even remember moving - all that he knew was that his vision was red, honing in on where Mr. Waston's hand was hurting his Mary Jane. And before he knew what was happening, he reared his fist back and punched Mr. Watson right in the face.

Mr. Watson immediately released his hold on his daughter and staggered back in a complete daze as Mary Jane let out a loud gasp of surprise. But Peter stood his ground, glaring at the man who would dare hurt someone as kind and full of life as Mary Jane. Peter pointed a finger at the man who was leaning heavily against the far wall. "If you try that again, I won't stop at just one punch."

There must have been something in Peter's voice or demeanor that portrayed that his threat wasn't empty or meaningless. As Mr. Watson gazed at him apprehensively as his hand came up to rub at his jaw.

"Keep packing, Mary Jane," Peter said to her over his shoulder which broke MJ out of her stupor as she hastened to comply. After she gathered all of her things, she grabbed two plastic totes underneath her bed and filled them with the items that were already stored in there. When she was finished, Mr. Watson spoke up once again.

"I can't just let you walk out of here, Mary Jane."

Mary Jane huffed and faced him head-on, her arms crossed protectively around her chest. "Don't act like you care now. And if you try and force me, I'll just have Aunt Anna fight for me in court. And we both know that isn't something that you can afford."

With that, she turned and grabbed the two heavy tote boxes and passed them off to Peter before he draped the duffle bag over her shoulder. "Come on, Peter. Let's go."

Peter let out a single nod and let her go on ahead of him so that he could be the buffer between her and her father if the need arose.

But it didn't, much to Peter's relief. They made it out the front door and were already making their way down the street to the subway.

Peter didn't know what to say. He felt like an invader in her life that saw something that wasn't supposed to be seen. That didn't change the fact that he was glad that he was there, to put a stop to whatever it was that Mr. Watson was going to do to MJ without Peter there to intercede. But he knew on some level that Mary Jane didn't want to reveal this part of her life to other people. That she kept it hidden for a reason. In fact, all that she told Spider-Man was that her parents fought. She never said anything about them being neglectful or abusive.

Peter bit his lip as he eyed Mary Jane out of the corner of his eye. To his surprise, her eyes were tearless and instead were wide as she stared blankly ahead down the street.

Peter cleared his throat which caused her to jump and look at him.

"I'm so sorry…" Was all that he was able to say. He wished that his hands were free so that he could stroke her arm again or take her hand.

Mary Jane was silent for a long moment as her gaze drifted to the ground, so long that Peter was sure that she wouldn't say anything at all. Until…

"I was wrong, Tiger. I guess you could be a Sherlock."

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