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Chapter Thirty-Six

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The pizza fell right out of Harry's hand and onto the floor as the three boys gaped at her. Ned stopped playing on his controller and the character that he had been so previously invested in immediately died on the screen. Peter's character also died but he didn't seem to care all that much as his expression displayed complete shock at seeing her standing there.

Mary Jane remembered him telling her once as Spider-Man that he had these senses that detected things such as this… and yet, he hadn't managed to sense her before she chose to make herself known. Interesting…

Nonplussed at all by their reactions, Mary Jane smiled at them through the window and gave a little wave.

That seemed to shake Harry out of his reverie, as in the very next moment, he bent forward and hit Peter on the shoulder. Peter blinked, shot a quick look back at Harry, before he leapt to his feet - seemingly making his way to the window in no time at all. He unlocked the window and pushed it upward fully so that it was entirely open to her. She couldn't help but notice that he didn't have a screen… such clues like this were obvious to her now that she knew the truth that he was Spider-Man.

After opening the window, Peter just stared at her for a second, standing in the way to the open room in front of the window. Then, he blinked and shook his head.

"H-Hey, MJ!" His voice cracked and he quickly cleared his throat as his hand went up to run through the back of his hair. It was so cute. "How's it- uh, how's it going?"

Mary Jane had to stifle a laugh. He worked himself up so easily sometimes. She gave a nonchalant shrug. "Oh, you know. Just hanging out on the fire escape. A typical Saturday night for me."

Behind him, Harry gave a small laugh and she flashed him an amused look over Peter's head.

"Oh. Uh, that's cool…" Peter drifted off, a flush was drifting up his neck as his eyes roamed her face. She suddenly felt the urge to blush herself underneath his captivating stare… but she shook away the feeling and flashed him a grin.

"Step aside, Tiger. I'm crashing your guys night. I would say sorry, but… well, I'm frankly not," Peter didn't move for a moment until he snapped to attention and jumped out of the way. Mary Jane tried to scramble through the window as gracefully as she could manage, and grasped out for support on Peter's strong shoulder for leverage. His hand reached out automatically to her upper arm to help steady her until she was firmly on the ground. She glanced up at Peter with a grateful grin and patted the very shoulder that she was still touching. "Thanks for the assistance, Peter."

Peter opened his mouth to say something in return but was cut off by Harry's laugh behind them. They both turned just as Harry said, "Well, party crashing is certainly in character for you, MJ."

Mary Jane flushed at the reminder of her ill-advised attempt at trying to find Spider-Man, so desperate to see him again, she crashed an elite ball - meeting Harry in the process who found her out to be a party-crasher immediately. If only she knew then that it was as simple to see Spider-Man again as it was to just walk right next door…

"What do you mean?" Ned asked, his curiosity melting his own surprise at her arrival as he looked between Mary Jane and Harry.

Harry gave another laugh and opened his mouth to tell the tale, but Mary Jane cut him off. "Oh, you know… just pulled a Cinderella, crashed a ball, met Harry here, survived a bomb, got a modeling contract, went home in a pumpkin."

Immediate laughter broke out from Peter as he clutched his arms around his stomach, seemingly in an attempt to hold himself together. Mary Jane looked over at him with a grin and joined in with a giggle. Peter was only able to calm down enough between belts of laughter to say, "Business as usual-" Laughter "-for you, Red."

She gave him an eager nod. "Which is why I am trying to maintain my reputation and am crashing this little hang-out of yours, Tiger. Hope you don't mind - since you really have no choice in the matter."

He calmed down to just heavy breathing, but his smile was wide as he shook his head at her. "Not at all, Red. The more, the merrier."

He got an approving nod from her in response before she stepped further into his bedroom. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Peter had tried to discreetly kick a pair of stray boxers underneath his bed. She bit her lip to hold in her laughter and pretended that she didn't notice. Peter quickly turned to shut the window to keep out the chilly night air.

"Dude!" Ned suddenly exclaimed at Peter as Mary Jane took a seat on the floor next to Harry and the spot that she knew Peter was going to occupy once again. "We're finally cool enough to throw a party that someone wants to crash!"

Peter flushed a bit at this as he took his seat on the floor next to her while Harry gave an amused chuckle. "And a girl at that, man. We've finally made it!"

Harry then grabbed the pizza box and held it out to Mary Jane in offering. It pulled her out of the distracting fact that she could feel Peter's heat radiating off of his body even between the short distance that separated them. She took the half-empty box from him. "Thanks, Harry!"

She opened the box and took a slice. Peter's hand reached in beside hers to grab one of his own.

Their pinkies touched.

It was such an odd thing for her to get excited over but… Their. Pinkies. Touched.

It may have caused her heart to beat just a bit faster.

To distract herself from the creeping blush that she felt brewing beneath the surface on her cheeks, Mary Jane took a bite out of the pizza, swallowed, then cleared her throat. "So, what are you guys playing?"

"PUBG," Ned said excitedly as he reached for his Dr. Pepper can, "Last man standing wins."

Mary Jane nodded like she knew exactly what it was that he was talking about… Peter must have seen through her charade because he spoke up and said, "We don't have to play this. We can do something else? Maybe-"

"What? No!" Mary Jane said quickly, shaking her head to emphasise her point. She didn't want to change any plans just from her being here. She wanted to avoid any resentment for interrupting their fun, thank you very much. "I can play. Let's do it."

"Atta girl!" Harry exclaimed as he held out his hand to her for a high five. Mary Jane slapped his hand with hers before she sent a victorious smirk Peter's way.

"Sorry, Tiger. Majority rules. We're playing."

Peter looked at her for a moment before he shrugged with an exaggerated eye roll. Then, he reached forward for another controller and handed it to her. Mary Jane took it and held it awkwardly in her hands. The buttons looked daunting… "Sounds good, MJ."

Ned chuckled wickedly. "Now this I've gotta see…"

Harry shoved his shoulder. "Lay off, man. I have a feeling MJ will surprise us with some secret mad skills."

Now, Mary Jane was a confident person… but she wasn't stupid enough to brag about some obscure skill that she knew that she didn't have yet. That would just make her look dumb. Especially in front of Peter… then it suddenly hit her, the advice that she had given herself last week - Men liked to feel helpful. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage…

They briefly explained the point of the game to her as they finished their pizza slices before starting a new round. Her character would start out on a plane that they would have to jump out of before parachuting to the ground. From there, it was basically every man for themselves in a middle of a war zone - where a total of a hundred people played in each round online. You had to stay within the confines of a circle barrier, otherwise you would die. And the goal was to try and kill anyone that she came across while gathering supplies and hiding out in buildings. It seemed simple enough, so she said that she wanted to try it.

Peter set it up so that they were joining a new round. Mary Jane watched her character on the plane and waited for Peter's say for her to jump - apparently it was really important that you land in a good spot on the map. He gave her the green light and she jumped. Peter then told her what button to hit to release the parachute. "Hit circle… now!"

She did it and her parachute burst out of the backpack. "I did it!" She exclaimed, like it was some huge victory. Hell, for her, it was. The only video game that she's ever played before was DDR…

Her character soon landed and she used the joy-stick thingy to steer where she wanted to run. She was out in the open, and she remembered what they all told her about finding an abandoned building. She saw one out in the distance and started for it, when…

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Her character fell over - dead. The number on the screen went from 100 to 99.

She was the first one killed…

The controller fell out of her hands and she whipped her head to look around at the boys. Harry and Ned had tight lips, looking to be smothering their laughter at her expense. While Peter shot her a sheepish look out of the corner of his eyes.

"I don't get it… what did I do wrong?" She asked the room as she stared at the screen, watching as all of their characters were dominating the game - to her eyes at least, since none of them were dead yet.

"You didn't check your surroundings first," Ned supplied, his fingers moving over the controller's mechanisms.

"And you didn't duck and cover," Peter added softly, before he leaned over and nudged her shoulder with his own. Heat and goosebumps burst contradictingly down her arm. "It's alright. You should have seen me when I first played. I was terrible."

She highly doubted it. He was only saying so to make her feel better, but it made her heart warm that he was even attempting to do so. She watched the rest of the round take place, none of them actually won but Peter came close, only dying once he got in third to last to be alive.

"Wow, you lasted a long time, Peter," She said, making her voice sound super impressed at his skill.

Harry nearly snorted out the soda he had been drinking before he cried out, "That's what she said!"

"Dude!" Peter cried, indignant. Ned and Harry burst out laughing while Peter grabbed a small rubber band ball off of his desk and threw it forcefully at Harry's head. It bounced off of Harry's skull but it didn't deter his amusement in the least. Mary Jane forced herself to laugh as well, giving Peter's apologetic look a shrug - though her cheeks were still burning. She was woman enough to be able to laugh at her own expense. She did walk right into that one while in a room of rowdy teenage boys.

When they calmed down, they started another round. Peter tried talking her through it with clear instructions, with Harry and Ned interjecting with their own advice, but her fingers fumbled over the buttons and she died again. Her only consolation was that she wasn't the first one this time as the number of people left alive on the screen went from 97 to 96…

"You're getting better!" Peter tried to praise her but it was most definitely unearned.

Her mind whirred as she watched the rest of the round. This was making her look so stupid. And it certainly wasn't winning her any points in wooing one Peter Parker… he kept shooting her these pitiful glances out of the corner of his eye as she just sat there and watched the rest of them play the game. He was most definitely not thinking right now, 'Wow. Mary Jane is so beautiful and fun. Huh. I think I want to date her.'

She started to scheme in her mind, trying to think of ways to rectify this misstep on her part. When an idea suddenly struck her and she bit her lip in contemplation… it was a bold move. Almost too bold. But she was starting to get tired of playing things safe. Especially when she desperately missed the feeling of his strong arms around her. With that in mind, she resolved herself to the plan, trying to internally bolster herself with enough nerve to actually go through with it.

The game ended, and again, none of them were the winner. Peter turned to look at her, a small apologetic smile on his lips. "You wanna try again? Or we could do something else?"

Mary Jane pretended to contemplate this before she shook her head at him. "No, I want to try again. But I think I'll need your help this time, Tiger. Can you teach me?"

Peter blinked. "Of course."

"Great!" She beamed at him before she got on her hands and knees, abandoning her own controller on the floor. She then crawled over the couple of feet that separated them and plopped herself down right in front of his crossed legs, the curve of her ass pressed right against the rough fabric of his jeans. Then, she reached behind her to grab the controller straight from his unassuming hands, discreetly noting the wide-eyed look he was giving her, before she turned to face forward once again.

The room was silent once again but Mary Jane pretended not to notice. Instead, she twisted her lips as she studied his controller. "Now which button do you press to start the new round?"

Her voice was innocent but she was so far from it. She knew exactly what she was doing and was really putting her acting skills to the test.

"Er…" Peter said, the noise coming out as a mumble.

"Uh…" Harry said from across the room. "I-I'll start it."

She flashed a grateful smile Harry's way and noticed the perplexed and calculating look he was giving her and his eyes went between her and Peter. Good. Maybe if Harry suspected how she felt about Peter, he would talk to him about it - make Peter see the light.

Harry pressed the buttons to start the new round, and again, their character was up on the plane, ready to launch out in the air.

Mary Jane paused and pretended to look back at Peter in confusion. "Well? Aren't you going to help me?"

He blinked rapidly at her and swallowed. Hard. Her heart nearly seized. Could she dare to hope that she was affecting him as much as he affected her? She was hesitant to come to that conclusion because she had been wrong about it before…

Then, Peter nodded shakily before his upper body leaned forward and his arms awkwardly wrapped around her form, doing his damn hardest to not touch her as much as possible it seemed, she begrudgingly noticed. Then, his hands were over hers on the controller and she nearly stopped breathing. She had held his hand when he was Spider-Man, but that was different. This was his bare skin. And it was a delicious sensation - one she knew that she could easily become addicted to.

"You steer and I'll control the buttons," He said close to her ear and she couldn't hold back the shiver no matter how hard she tried. Mary Jane merely gave a nod, unable to find her voice.

Peter launched them out of the plane and then their character was falling. Then, he successfully deployed the parachute and had them land somewhere in the middle of the map. "Turn left! There's someone that ran behind that tree!"

Mary Jane did as she was told and Peter hit the buttons to start the shoot-out against the other player. It took a few tries for her to get the line-up correctly for him to get the correct aim but they somehow managed to come out on top.

"We did it!" Mary Jane cried, jubilant. She now understood why they enjoyed this so much. The rush of success could easily become addicting. "I've never been so happy to be a killer!"

They all laughed, the tense atmosphere in the room dissipating with her excitement.

Peter nodded close to her. "Now run forward. We can loot their supplies."

And so it continued. Peter gave her step by step instructions and Mary Jane did her best to follow them. Yes, Mary Jane knew that she was weighing him down and that he would do so much better if he was playing on his own - But overall, they worked really well as a team.

They made it to the 67 remaining survivors when they came across Harry's character in an abandoned house. He immediately started shooting at them and Peter and Mary Jane cried out, incensed. "Dude!" Peter yelled at him, "Not cool! That's us you're shooting at!"

Harry was chuckling gleefully as he continued trying to get a lock on their character. "It's last man standing, dude! No hard feelings."

"But MJ-"

"Don't be such a simp, Parker!" Harry jibed with a smirk. Oh. He was totally going down for that remark.

Instead of dodging the attacks, Mary Jane's fingers pushed Peter's thumbs away from the buttons and took them over with her own, then she honed in on Harry's character - who was peeking around the corner - and took her shot.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The number on the screen went from 67 to 66.

"Way to go, MJ!" Peter cried, his hands flying up in the air in celebration as the screen showed Harry's character as dead. Harry turned to gape at them and Peter was outright laughing in his face.

"I can't believe that I actually did it!" Mary Jane celebrated. She turned around to hug Peter, her arms going around his neck.

"Mary Jane, wait- the game!" He cried. Oh yeah…

She quickly released him and turned back to pay attention to the screen but she was too late. Another player found them and was already shooting at them. By the time she scrambled to put her hands in the correct placement on the controller, they were already dead.

She stared, stunned at the screen as both Ned and Harry laughed at them. "Now that's what I call instant karma!" Harry cried as he leaned over to pat Ned on the shoulder.

They all watched the screen after that, watching Ned play and cheering him on. She couldn't help but notice that Peter didn't move away from her… yes, his arms were no longer wrapped around her, but he was still sitting behind her, so close yet so far… Needless to say, her attention was diverted for the remainder of the game. Ned ended up bringing it home and winning the whole thing, and they all congratulated him on his success.

They all set down their controllers, seeming to all agree unspokenly to take a break. Harry fished out another slice of pizza before handing out the box to Peter in offering. Regretfully, that meant that Peter had to leave his position behind her to crawl and grab the box from him, and when he returned, he chose to sit a ways away beside her, his back leaning against the bed. He took another slice before offering the open box to her. She wasn't hungry for another one but she crawled forward and reached in to take one anyway, if only so that she had an excuse to settle in next to Peter - her own back now also against his bed too.

"Dude," Ned spoke out from across the room, "I still can't get over the fact that you have a girl in your room."

Peter had been taking a large bite of his pizza at that very moment and nearly choked as he coughed in response to the comment. There was a suspicious flush that was stemming at the base of his neck… Mary Jane reached over and patted Peter on the back to help him along as she turned her attention to Ned.

"That's right, Ned. I'm a girl, in a boy's bedroom" She began, amusement tickling at her tone as Peter seemed to be able to compose himself and grabbed for his soda to take a swig, "This is your chance to ask me anything."

Ned blinked at her, his eyes went wide with all of the possibilities. He only thought for a second before he blurted out the first question that came to mind. "Do girls really have pillow fights at sleepovers?"

"Dude." Peter shot Ned a pointed look, that flush extending further up his neck. Everything about this was so highly entertaining for Mary Jane. One look at Harry told her that it was the same for him.

"What?" Ned asked, shooting a look back at Peter that told him to shut up. "Why else would they always put them in movies?"

"Oh, yes," Mary Jane said, nodding seriously as she answered Ned's question. "The pillow factories actually stay in business due to teenage girls' sleepovers. It's actually an epidemic of the highest proportions. We just can't get enough."

They all laughed as Ned flushed a bit, detecting the sarcasm in Mark Jane's voice. She was glad to see that her comment helped Peter to loosen up a bit.

"Well, I for one think it looks fun," Harry supplied after he shoved the last bit of pizza crust into his mouth. "Maybe we should try it."

They all looked on at him incredulously, eyeing his broken leg. "Uh… your leg would make that a bit difficult there, Harr…" Peter said with a nod of his head toward the cast as if to bring the point home.

Harry waved him off. "I've got hands, don't I? What's the worst that could happen? That I get feathered to death?"

Peter and Ned still looked hesitant but Mary Jane was sold. With a shrug, she reached behind her for one of Peter's pillows off of his bed and chucked it right at Harry's face. It bounced off his nose before landing on his lap. Everyone turned to blink at her - she couldn't help but notice that this was a theme of the night. She was shocking everyone left and right. In response, she gave them a devious smirk before turning her sights on the other pillow on Peter's bed. She eyed it before she glanced at Peter for a second, then back at the pillow. Her hand went to reach for it-

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Peter cried, as he snatched the pillow away from her, right underneath her hand. Oh no… he was armed!

Mary Jane screamed and tried to scramble to her feet in order to run away but of course, she was too slow against Spider-Man… The pillow hit her right on the head. Peter was laughing as she successfully got to her feet and ran for the door. She knew that the only reason why she was able to do so was because he was letting her do it. Ned was right behind her, with Peter chasing after them. They both tore open the door and made a mad dash across the hall to May's bedroom - where four glorious pillows awaited them. Thank goodness May wasn't home… Peter tore into the bedroom as Mary Jane and Ned let out a cry at his appearance before they each grabbed two pillows.

It was pure chaos.

They hit at each other, not even really knowing who they were aiming at. And during the kerfuffle, Peter had stolen her spare pillow right out of her hand. But somehow, in the midst of it all, Mary Jane had managed to escape as she ran back to Peter's bedroom to join back up with Harry. As soon as she spotted him, he had his pillow extended high above his head, ready to strike. She held her arms out to him in peace. "Truce?!"

Harry hesitated then nodded. "Only because of my leg. Otherwise you would totally be going down."

She could hear two sets of footsteps behind her and she scrambled forward to get beside Harry in a defensive position. She was sure that this all-out war was not what Ned had in mind when he asked if this was how pillow-fights occurred at girls' sleepovers… He was probably thinking of girls in braless tank tops and panties, delicately hitting each other as they giggled profusely. While Mary Jane was sure that her hair was a mess right now - not a very sexy look but that wasn't the point right now. The point was survival.

Peter and Ned tore into the bedroom with army cries - apparently forming a truce of their own. They attacked. Ned went after Harry, who was holding his own. While Peter seemed to hold her as his own personal target. She really stood no chance but she fought hard anyways. Every swing that she threw toward him, he managed to dodge, not even close in making its mark. She could see the exact moment that he seemed to realize this, as the realization showed on his face, and that was when he let her hit him periodically. It must have been going against his every instinct to do so. They somehow managed to veer off toward his bed, hitting each other and giggling like children as they did so.

That was when Mary Jane tripped over a stray item on his floor and she fell backward onto his bed. Peter used his vantage point above her to pummel her over and over again. She was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.

Then, she held out her hands in front of her. "Wait! Wait! I give up! You win!"

Peter paused, pillow held high above his head as they breathed heavily for a moment. They locked eyes then- Mary Jane striked. Hit him right in the face with the pillow before she jumbled to her feet. She made sure to hit Harry and Ned as she passed them for the door.

"HEY!" Harry cried, voice indignant as she tore out of the open door. "YOU SAID WE HAD A TRUCE, MARY JANE!"

"SHE LIES, MAN!" Peter cried back, "LET'S GET HER!"

Mary Jane ran into the living room and knew that she was cornered as all three boys came out of the bedroom, Harry somehow managing on his crutches and carrying the pillow at the same time.

"Nowhere to run…" Ned gleamed at her as all three boys branched out in order to surround her. Mary Jane's back hit the wall. With her free hand, she put the back of it up to her forehead and pretended to swoon.

"Oh. Whatever should a damsel in distress do?" She sighed dramatically before she fanned herself. Then she eyed all three of them. "If only one of these strapping young men chose to be my knight in shining armor!"

The other two still advanced but she noticed that Peter hesitated, stopping his advancement altogether… which caused Mary Jane to pause in turn as she eyed him speculatively out of the corner of her eye. There was something in his gaze…

Did Peter want to be her knight in shining armor?

She didn't have much time to think on it as Harry and Ned attacked, hitting her with pillows. She tried to give back as much as she got and pretty soon, Peter joined in the fray and it was a free-for-all at that point. Whoever was in another person's line of sight, was most definitely a target.

They didn't notice the jiggle of the lock at the front door in the midst of their battle royal, nor did they notice the door open. But what they did notice was the clearing of a throat - which caused them all to freeze, pillows still held high in the air.

There, in the open doorway stood May Parker with an amusedly confused expression on her face. And next to her stood Tony Stark - who looked decidedly sardonic as he eyed each of them with a raised brow below the cut on his forehead. Then his gaze settled on Peter as he said sarcastically, "Glad to see you were so torn up in missing me, Kid."

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A/N: I had SO MUCH FUN writing this chapter. It was basically pure fluff but I don't even care. The Big Man can wait, right?

Please leave me a comment/review! Thanks for reading!

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