CHAPTER 12: More Than I Realized Before

PETER P.O.V.

The best night of my entire life. Getting to lay down and go to sleep with MJ next to me. I didn't think our relationship would be this intimate back when I was swinging her around New York for the first time, but those eyes make me want to take it there.

After we were done "making out" because that's basically what we were doing, I hear a noise in the Tower. Heavy footsteps is what I notice the most, but then screeching starts to happen and MJ is soundlessly asleep.

I try not to move too much because her head is resting on my shoulder. I slowly try to put my head on the bed rest but I move MJ's head closer to my stomach. Can she really not hear this right now?

The noise only starts to get even louder, and before I can think, Venom is in Avengers Tower! Why the hell does this have to happen now?! He burst through the door and it causes MJ to jump up from my stomach. She's sitting up and she is looking at what I'm about to fight.

"AHHHHH!" She screams at the top of her lungs. I take my web shooter and connect it to my wrist so I can really get Venom out of here.

"MJ, don't move!" I go for Venom's face and I punch him, but he throws me to the wall and my back is aching like crazy. My heart is racing and it gets even worse because Venom snatches MJ and I can feel my anger rising and tears are coming into my eyes.

"PETER!" She shouts as Venom is squeezing the life out of her. I shoot my web at the center of his forehead and I slam it on the ground over and over until he lets her go, but he's too strong.

"PUT HER THE HELL DOWN!' I shout as I can see my veins popping out of my arms. I'm shaking and I feel helpless. Venom takes the web I shot at his forehead and rips it off.

"You don't get a goodbye Spider." He sticks his long tongue out and puts MJ closer to his mouth.

"PETER! PETER! PETER!" Tears are coming into my eyes and I'm sweating so much I feel like I just got out of the ocean.

"PETER! PETER! PETER!" I hear MJ is still screaming. I'm startled by her voice. All of a sudden, MJ is right above me, sitting up and I see that she's been shaking me because her hand is still on the center of my stomach. I look around and everything is completely normal.

Nobody came into Avengers Tower and MJ is still here. Venom didn't eat her or kill her. My heart rate is through this roof and I feel lost, but all of it was a dream. A nightmare.

"MJ." I lean in and I take her into my arms. She hugs me and I'm still breathing hard on her shoulder."Peter, you were having a nightmare. You just started shaking really fast and I was trying to wake you up but it wasn't working." She let's go and puts both her hands on my face.

"Venom was about to eat you." She looks at me confused."The black glob thing I was talking about. He was about to eat you and I was trying to save you but he was too strong. I was banging his head on the floor and it wasn't working."

"I'm right here Peter. I'm right here with you." I pull her closer and she's laying on my stomach, embracing each other as I'm finally starting to catch my breath."I'm sorry Peter. This is the last thing I wanted to start happening."

"I know." I have nothing else to say. I'm so in shock with everything that just happened I'm speechless. Once it becomes a nightmare, it's something you are truly afraid of in real life.

I couldn't even hear myself screaming to my full capacity in my dream, that's how much I remember it. I just want it to get out of my head."I'm sorry I woke you up and scared you."

"No Peter, you don't have to apologize for anything." I bury my face into her hair that isn't as damp as it was before. I'm extremely relieved that it was just a nightmare.

"What time is it?" MJ reaches for her phone but is still resting her head on my chest.

"Oh my gosh, it's only 3:25am." MJ sits up and looks at me."At least we still have some more time to sleep." Even though I already know I'm going to feel dead at school today.

"Are you okay to go back to sleep or do you need water or something like that?' MJ asks.

"No, I don't need anything. I'll probably keep my eyes open. Get some sleep MJ."

"If you have anymore nightmares, I'll wake you up." MJ kisses my forehead, both of my cheeks, and she gets up to go on the other side of the bed, her body facing towards me. I face my body towards her and I kiss her on the lips a couple of times before she goes back to sleep.

I don't even think I can go to sleep after all of that. Of course I promise that I wouldn't build anything else until after school, but now it's the only thing I can focus on.

I want Venom to never show up in this universe again. In fact, I want to get rid of him in every single universe period. Also, if he could stop getting into my dreams that would be nice too.

I look at my phone and I see that Ned just texted me.

NED: Bro, is everything okay?

PETER: Not a chance. I have so much to tell you at school. Also, what are you doing up?

NED: Watching Star Wars reviews. What is it?

Of course

PETER- Dont watch all of them without me. So much stuff happened I have to tell you in person. How was hanging out with your parents?

NED- Fine I guess. New York does offer some pretty good food.

"Peter, you know it's going to be impossible to go back to sleep if you look at your phone for too long." I look over and see that MJ has been staring at me text. She still freaks me out when she starts watching me like a hawk.

"I know, but I have to text Ned." I've never gone this long without talking to him. He's my best friend, I need him to suck all of the crazy crap out of my life.

"I'm getting you so many donuts tomorrow it's going to be insane." I laugh. I'm really looking forward to 7am if that's the case. I put the phone down and I close my eyes, thinking that I can force myself to go back to sleep.

Still doesn't work. Then the machine pops back into my mind. I can't deal with this for another 4 hours. MJ hasn't moved a muscle so I assume that she's knocked out again. I grab the web shooter from the nightstand and I shoot it at the ceiling. Doesn't even make a sound.

I slowly start going up as the covers are falling on to the bed from my legs and I'm fully on the wall like a Spider. I look upside down at MJ to see that she's still sleeping. I start crawling out of the room and I head towards the room I left the machine in.

I finally make it to the room as I try not to wake MJ or Miles up from their rooms. I let my whole body come off the ceiling except for my one hand. My four fingers are still sticking to the wall.

I slowly let them release and I go to the ground quietly on my feet. That actually worked.

I look at the machine and I know I still have some time to go, but I can figure it out. I look at the flash drives sitting on the table, and it wouldn't make sense if I didn't check them out. Just to see if any of these could possibly be a tutorial on how to program MS technology into a portal machine.

I go over to the computer and I put one of them in. Please let it be a tutorial.

The flash drive is loading a video. I look to the side of the screen and I see Tony, Pepper, and Morgan videos. The video fully pops up on to the screen and it shows Tony and Pepper.

At the time Pepper was pregnant and I can tell Happy is the one recording it. So I guess this is what I missed during the Blip.

I kept watching the video up until Pepper was actually giving birth to Morgan. I didn't need to see all of that so I skipped it, but started playing it again when Pepper was holding her. Just coming out she looked just like Tony.

Morgan was a little 2 year old in a tent with Tony, and she had his helmet in there. She kept trying to pick it up but Tony would move it just to mess with her and she was laughing really hard. Morgan still laughs like that.

I kept messing with the volume to make sure it wasn't loud enough for anyone to hear. I spent a lot of time watching Tony's family videos I had to get back on track, wipe away the tears, and get back to doing what he told me to do.

I look into the tech and I'm reading it's description carefully to ensure I'll do everything right.

"Don't use for an excessive amount of time. Always power off a couple of hours in between to prevent shortage of use and explosive issues." I whisper to myself. That sounds crucial.

As I keep reading, hands and arms are creepy around my shoulders and I can feel a chin resting on the top of my head. Do I need to turn around to know who it is. Of course I don't.

"Looking at a bright computer screen makes sleeping even worse. Greatly affects the eyes." MJ whispers into my ear.

"MJ, I-"

"I knew you would come in here and try to work on it. I was just waiting."

"Well, did you at least see me climbing on the wall? I felt cool doing it." I smile, hoping that she lets me slide if she saw my crawling on the ceiling. She laughs and shakes her head.

"I'm not kidding. I don't want you to put too much pressure on yourself."

"I'm not. I'm going to be fine. If anything, I'm in my element now. This is really making me feel less stressed than I was a few minutes ago."

"Is it really?" MJ asks seriously."Yes MJ. Now, if one isn't going to get that much sleep, another one deserves it because she is awesome for staying here with me."

"I know this energy is not going to last this long. I'm not kidding, both of us need sleep Peter."

I'm not even going to try and argue. I don't really want to go to sleep, and I want to keep saying it until I know what the nightmare really means for me mentally in the future, but I will try to close my eyes at least."Okay, I'm right behind you."

We both go back to my bed, and not another word is said after that.

7:00AM

I ended up going back to sleep at 6, so imagine how I feel right now. Like a zombie from Zombie Apocalypse games I played with Ned some years ago. My eyes are open but my brain hasn't reached that point yet.

I see MJ is already getting all her stuff together. She puts her sketchbook in her backpack, and she looks up at me as I'm just zoned out, still laying in the bed.

She laughs."Good morning for the 3rd time today."

"Good morning MJ. Do you know if Miles is still sleeping?"

"Yeah, I went to go check on him. He's lucky, he doesn't have to go to school. I hope we do well on our quizzes today." Crap. Not like I don't know all the material, but I'm not in the mood to take a quiz.

After my brain and motivation fight with each other for 10 minutes, I finally get out of the bed and I start getting my stuff together as MJ is already out of the room.

"Do you want to go back and get some clothes to wear for school? I don't have my car, but I have my suit so I can swing you over there." It sounds like the weirdest thing to say you can swing somebody to their house, but I'll get use to it.

"Yeah. Except, I have an even better idea." MJ pulls out the web shooter I gave her for our date. I laugh."You want to swing to your house?"

"If black globs and a purple suited guy with sharp claws aren't around during this time, I'd be happy to." I really don't know how I feel about this.

I knew I shouldn't have introduced her to something that's now dangerous and extremely risky. I never know if an attack can come at any time of the day.

"MJ, I know it was fun when we first did it, but I don't think it's the best idea. I don't know what these bad guys have up their sleeves and I want to make sure everyone is safe."

"I understand." She doesn't even try to argue against it. I'm surprised by this so I just stare at her.

"Peter?" I get back to reality."You want to put your suit on so we can go?"

"Uh, yeah." I take my backpack and pull it out so I can put it on.

I don't think I've ever swung in my suit at 7 something in the morning.