an~~this is in movieverse, a few days after the funeral
Addiction
by tíger
Addicting. Peter Parker couldn't think of a better word to describe Mary Jane Watson. Once you got a taste of her, you could never get enough. The first time Peter had looked in her eyes, it'd happened. Kind of like heroine can make you addicted the first time you try it; but with Mary Jane was there was no maybe, she was impossible to resist. Flash Thomson and Harry had been addicted, too. But they had gotten over their addictions. This was where Peter was different from the rest; it's that much harder when you love your addiction. Most addictions left you craving that first high; nothing could ever top the first. But Mary Jane Watson was the exception to every rule. Every time Peter looked into her eyes, he felt a more powerful force course through his veins than the last time. It left him craving for more, knowing that the next moment he had with Mary Jane would be better than the last. Another odd thing about Peter was that he tried to avoid the addiction he was all too aware he had. How many addicts know they are addicted, much less avoid their addiction? Peter Parker's addiction was serious, and at the moment he wasn't doing a very good job of avoiding it.
"Hey MJ."
Her eyes, the core of his addiction, were a sad bluish-green, but addicting non-the-less.
"Hey tiger."
Her soft, melodious voice, laced with fatigue and a touch of desperate sadness, flowed through him. When she spoke, every part of him ached. He longed to hold her.
"How've you been?"
He knew exactly how she'd been, always following her when he had no one else to protect. But he needed to hear it from her.
"I…I'm a little stressed." She faltered before breaking eye contact. Peter swallowed hard, wanting to feel the affect her eyes had on him again. "But I'm fine."
He might have believed Mary Jane had she offered him even a forced smile, but she didn't.
Her gaze was focused somewhere behind him. "What about you, Peter?"
Peter had never cared one way or the other about his name, until it fell from Mary Jane's lips. After that, he had no desire to be called anything else. She always said his name with such a warm compassion.
"I'm great." He punctuated his fallacy with a practiced smile. She bought it.
"It's been awhile," Peter continued. "Wanna come in for some coffee, catch up some?"
She hesitated for a full minute before replying, "N…no, I…I just wanted to say sorry about what I said. I needed someone, and I reached out to you the wrong way. And I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I'm trying to work things out with Harry; I just wanted you to know. Thanks for everything Peter. You're a great friend."
He ignored his heart; he was getting good at that.
"S'ok MJ, rea…"
"I've got to go." Mary Jane Watson made brief eye contact, then left.
Peter was shaking as he closed the door. This was what he wanted, right? Harry could give MJ everything she wanted. Harry was wealthy and outgoing, and everything Peter was not. If MJ was back with Harry, Peter tried briefly to convince himself that he could cure his addiction. But Peter knew that he would have to stop loving the attractive redhead first, and he was well aware of the chances of that happening. Because he loved her, he wanted to protect her. It was this desire that put Peter in this position in the first place.
Peter steadied himself against a wall. A sob escaped as he sunk to the ground.
If anyone had seen Peter's shaking form, or felt the pain that coursed through his body and pounded on his heart, they never would have guessed that he had gotten exactly what he wanted.
an~~thanks so much for reading!!! please r&r, but no flames please