As it turned out, MJ couldn't wait another half hour before trying to do something about Peter's predicament.
As she, Betty, and Ned mingled with their classmates and their parents—fielding an occasional question regarding Peter's whereabouts or answering the same well-meant questions about their future plans over and over—MJ couldn't shake the feeling that Peter's mission tonight might be more than he could handle.
For the first five minutes, she tried to pacify her anxiety by telling herself that she was only super worried because this was graduation night, and she really really didn't want him to miss it.
But she knew it was more than that.
She might not have Peter's freaky "Peter tingle," as May liked to call it, but she had her intuition. It had rarely led her astray, so she wasn't going to keep ignoring it now. Not when Peter's actual life could be on the line.
MJ swallowed and discreetly disengaged herself from Ned and Betty, the latter of whom was engaged in a lively conversation with one of her friends from the school newspaper committee. She scanned the room and spotted May by the front doors of the lobby, looking down at her phone.
The teen made her way over to her.
"Hey, May? Can I…talk to you?"
May looked up at the sound of MJ's voice and smiled that warm smile MJ had often wished she could see on her own mother's face more frequently. The older woman searched MJ's eyes for a moment before apparently realizing what she was hinting at. She nodded understandingly.
"Absolutely," she said. "Let's step outside and get some fresh air, huh?"
Once they were outside and had moved about ten feet away from the main thoroughfare of people moving inside, May faced MJ.
"How are you feeling?" she asked warmly, and the girl knew she wasn't just asking about graduation.
"I'm ready to graduate," MJ admitted, playing it safe with a small smile. She glanced down at the ground if only to avoid the intensity of May's focused attention on her reaction. "High school has mostly been a fluke."
May chuckled and then lapsed into a fragile silence that almost had MJ holding her breath.
"Peter's going to be fine," May said suddenly.
MJ's treacherous heartbeat—which always seemed to be annoyingly hyperactive whenever Peter was involved—sped up at the words, and she realized she hadn't known just how tense she had been since hearing Peter's message until then. She didn't trust herself to speak and instead averted her gaze again, looking out across the parking lot.
It was a beautiful evening—if a little humid for her tastes—and the myriad cars parked neatly in the lot gleamed a hundred different shades under a cooling sun. The artificially landscaped trees placed amongst them nodded in the gentle breeze, as if beckoning the people who walked under them closer and closer, into their shade and out from under the revealing openness of the bare sky.
Everything smelled like warm asphalt, pollution, and greasy food.
"What specifically are you worried about, sweetheart?"
MJ shook her head and looked back at May.
"Aren't youworried he'll…get hurt or something?"
The words came out sounding much more accusatory than she had intended, and she immediately wished she could take them back. But May's expression didn't shift in the least from its tranquil set.
"Of course I'm worried," she said soothingly. "But it's Peter. Trying to stop him from doing this would be…it wouldn't help him, MJ. It would hurt him. It would be like trying to stop a bird from flying or, or like keeping a doctor from helping his patients when they're right there calling for him…"
May paused, her own eyes turning glassy. MJ found the last analogy in particular somewhat odd, but May said it with such purpose that it had to have been well thought out. Beyond that, she could only guess at how many memories and concerns were swimming beneath the other woman's unfocused gaze—she knew what that look meant.
"This is who he is and these are the choices he's made," May continued quietly as a blue Tesla cruised past them, sending a rush of warm, choking air their way. "The most and the best thing we can do for him is to support him, advise him, and either call him out when he's being stubborn or keep him going when he's struggling to find his footing."
MJ fought to maintain a neutral face and struggled to swallow as May's words rolled over her. Part of her knew that what May was saying was true—she had admittedly spent much of the past school year trying to analyze Peter and all his idiosyncrasies—but another part of her just wanted her relationship with him to be…simpler.
None of the relationships in her life were truly simple.
Once, she had actually believed that her relationship with Peter might end up being relatively simple, but that was before she had learned he was also a crime-fighting vigilante who swung around the city in a high-tech red and black Spider suit.
MJ cleared her throat, redirected her thoughts, and tried to assuage May's obvious concern for her with the only words she trusted herself to say.
"I know."
They came out sounding more defeated than she thought they would.
She just hated feeling like this and seeing other people feel like this, hated all of this anxiety in herself, hated that she was so helpless to do anything for the most selfless and deserving person she had ever known. And she hated that after everything—after her parents divorcing and after her dad took that job so far away and after they literally all died and then came back to life—neither she nor Peter could just be happy and enjoy hanging out together tonight without worry or fear.
It just didn't seem fair, and while she knew by now that life was anything but fair, she had been hoping against hope that maybe the universe could cut them all a break just for tonight.
"I know," she repeated in a significantly more watery voice.
She knew her face was flushed at this point, probably for a variety of reasons, but she pushed on before May could see any of the words that were obviously on her mind.
"I just want to make sure he's okay because…because I just have this weird feeling that he needs more help than usual tonight."
MJ half expected May to dismiss her concerns—that's what people did, right?—so she was surprised and relieved when May did the exact opposite. The woman took one of MJ's hands in a movement that looked a lot like reflex and patted it as she glanced out across the parking lot, much like MJ had done not long before.
"I've been thinking the same thing ever since I left the apartment," May said.
"Did anything seem off or different when he left?" MJ asked hopefully, mind racing to redirect itself towards figuring out what Peter had gotten himself involved with rather than trying to figure out why even now it was so easy to be open with May. That was a topic for another day.
May shook her head.
"Not particularly," she said. "Only that he did leave very quickly. He'd put the pieces of whatever this puzzle is together, I think, and it had him flustered. I'm sure you know by now how he gets when he's excited or upset about something…"
MJ furrowed her eyebrows. She did know just how much like an adorable puppy Peter got when he really got into something—and how incoherent he could be unless someone was there to temper his irrepressible energy.
Furthermore, she also knew by now that Peter didn't usually go out of his way to talk about what went on during his patrols. He had graced her, Ned, and Betty with a few stories over the past few weeks about some of the more amusing situations he'd found himself in, but besides that, he hadn't told her anything about his recent activity as Spiderman. He had seemed more tired than usual the past few days, but she had chalked it up to graduation preparation and final exams—goodness knows she'd been busy enough herself with those sorts of things lately.
Now, she definitely regretted not asking him about it more.
She hadn't tried pushing him for more information about Spiderman since the first few weeks after they'd returned from Europe. She'd had no desire to see his face fall again like it had when she brought it up then; whatever had happened recently had shaken him up pretty badly.
He had been struggling, and only now did MJ realize that maybe he'd been struggling more than she'd guessed—and in more ways than one.
She did not deserve Peter Parker.
MJ clenched her jaw and pushed on despite the guilt that began to rise behind her train of thought. Maybe she'd barely been holding her own head above the water on most days, but was that any excuse for not being there for Peter like she should be?
"Do you…know what it was she was working on?" she asked uncertainly.
May gave her a perplexed look.
"Has he not talked to you about it?"
MJ looked down, face flushing again.
"He hasn't really seemed to want to talk about it, so I didn't ask."
May was quiet for a moment and then sighed softly, finally letting go of MJ's hand to rub at her temples.
"He never gave me many details either, even when I pushed. He said he was trying to figure out how to stop a string of several connected crimes, but he was having a hard time gathering the information to do so. He said the police were involved, but—"
May trailed off.
"Have you two talked about Spiderman much at all?"
Her voice was open, curious, devoid of judgment or that kind of sterile, artificial concern MJ was so accustomed to.
She shifted her weight to the other foot. Normally, probing questions like this would make her bristle, withdraw, put her guard up because she didn't know what the catch was yet. But coming from May, the questions seemed natural, innocent. She didn't feel like she had to defend herself, only that she had to be honest. Even if she wasn't entirely sure how this pertained directly to the matter at hand.
"No."
"Have you wanted to?"
MJ didn't reply immediately, opting instead to return an awkward close-lipped smile of acknowledgement to a couple who were making their way past them into the school. She checked her watch to see that it had only been about fifteen minutes since she had received Peter's message.
She knew she was just trying to avoid answering the question for as long as possible, but she wanted to make sure she said what she meant to say.
"Yes," she finally replied. "But I always wanted to give him space, you know? He's been so good about…about being patient with me when I'm having a bad day. I've tried to let him know that he can talk about anything that's bothering him when he needs to, but I didn't push because…I just don't want to upset him. And he's been so busy with school and Spiderman that I thought he didn't want or need to talk about that when he finally got a well-deserved break. Like when we hung out."
May gave MJ a knowing smile, and MJ was struck with the realization that this conversation was going so much differently than she had planned. Somehow it had turned into a therapy session of sorts, and she really wasn't sure how—and she still wasn't sure how this was really helping Peter.
"I think you and Peter have something special, you know," May said softly, and MJ felt her entire body freeze. The way May had said it made it seems so true, so wise.
But Peter was so much better—so much more—than her. She still didn't know what he saw in her, and even if they did have something special, how was that going to help her know how to be there for him when he needed her?
She felt tears prickling in her peripheral vision, and she crossed her arms defiantly as May continued. Now was not the time. Where were these tears even coming from anyway?
"But both you have to realize that relationships like yours are going to take time and work. Neither of you are perfect, and it's going to take being with each other when it hurts and when it's hard before you truly know one another. The hard conversations have to be had, maybe more than the easy ones. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"Sort of?"
"MJ, I think you and Peter have been adults long before tonight, before graduation. You've both been so strong, and I am so proud of both of you for how much you've grown. But I also think that both of you have yet to learn that it is okay to be vulnerable and to need help."
MJ fidgeted with her graduation gown, beginning to see what May was getting at.
"Peter needs my help," she said uncertainly, more question than statement.
May nodded.
"He needs both of us. And not just tonight—though I'm beginning to think that's true in more ways than one right now—but every day and every night. And you need him and your parents and your friends and everyone else who supports you. We aren't mean to struggle through our difficulties alone, MJ. You have each other for a reason."
MJ tugged the sleeve of her gown down with some finality, feeling another blush creep across her face as the eyes of a family walking into the school seemed to linger on her reddening eyes for just a bit too long.
"I know," she finally whispered.
May reached up and gently lifted MJ's chin so that they were looking into each other's eyes. MJ felt something loosen inside her chest as she met May's sincere gaze.
"So, what are we going to do about it?" she whispered.
MJ swiped at her eyes for good measure and then straightened her back, torn between wanting to hug May for saying things she hadn't known needed to be said and wanting to run back into the school to put her plan into motion.
"We're going to make sure Peter makes it to graduation."
May smiled, and MJ found herself returning the favor instinctively. The tears retreated, and just like that, the composure she'd relied on for so long to get her through her toughest day slid back into place. It didn't entirely seem like it fit her anymore, but it served its purpose at the moment. She had time to figure it all out later—maybe even with May and Peter at her side.
Maybe.
May smiled at her.
"Something tells me you already know exactly how you're going to do that, right?"
MJ's grin turned into a short and unexpected laugh.
"Yes. Ned, Betty, and I are going to delay the ceremony."
May winked and pulled her car keys out of her purse, jangling them as she answered.
"Perfect. I'm going to head down to the police station to make sure Peter has backup. I'll keep you updated, okay?"
MJ nodded.
The girl was about to turn to go back inside and retrieve her friends when May stopped her and pulled her into a hug so warm and so genuine that MJ's eyes widened. She didn't even have time to fully return it before it ended.
"And I'm here for you two, you know. You've got this," May said, winking. "All of it."
And then she was headed back to her car, heels clicking on the asphalt, purpose in her every stride.
MJ shook off her surprise—though she chose to cling to the lingering glow of support and encouragement May had somehow radiated throughout their entire conversation—and then walked confidently back inside herself.
She had time to figure out everything she and May just unpacked later.
For now, she had an entirely different mission to focus her energy on.
They were going to sabotage a graduation ceremony.
A/N: Sorry, this got a bit more angsty than I intended, but both this and the angst in the next chapter is all there for a purpose - I promise. It helps set up some hopefully "aww" character moments toward the end of this fic, so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and I hope it brought you some measure of joy regardless! :)
"Do not worry about anything, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable - if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy - dwell on these things."
~Philippians 4:6-8