Hi! Sorry for the delay, I was planning on putting this up the day before yesterday, but my evil art teacher gave me homework that took SIX hours in total! It's ridiculous! -grumble grumble-
Anyway, I like this chapter, which makes a change ;) Especially the end... lol! There's more fluff, as requested and some angst in the next chapter! Had a great time writing this and I hope you have a great time reading it! If you do, please review!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, sorry but if I skip school any more than I already do I'll get detention! Or investigated by the police for never being there, lol. ;)
On with the story!
Surprise, Surprise!
Part 7
"So, what ya been up to tiger?" MJ dumped her coat on a chair and sunk onto Peter's bed. He sat down beside her.
"Being late, running out on people, getting fired. Same old, same old". He grinned at her but his smile quickly faded.
"You got fired?" MJ asked, surprised, and leant back against the pillows. "I thought Jameson was denying that you're Spider-man? What happened to the 'deaf-ear'?"
"He transferred it to me. Shouted so loud in my eardrum I thought it would burst," he laughed lightly, and snuggled up next to her, bringing an arm around her slim waist. "I don't know what's up with him. One moment he's perfectly civil, the next he's yelling in my face." Peter looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
MJ glanced over at him. "I'm sorry, tiger," she said softly and he smiled and looked into her eyes. "Can't seem to get a break, can you?"
"Only when I'm here with you." He replied and leaned forward to kiss her.
MJ suddenly pulled away and checked her watch. "Oh no! Tiger, I'm sorry, I gotta go." She sat up and pulled on her coat reluctantly.
"So soon?" Peter frowned and sat up as well.
"Yeah, I thought you'd be back earlier. I have an audition across town in..." she checked her watch again. "...5 minutes! Aw crap!" she exclaimed and dashed for the door.
"Whoa! Wait a minute MJ! Do you want a lift, Spider-man express style? It'll be quicker." He added as an incentive.
"You'd do that?" At his nod she rushed to the balcony doors instead as he stripped down to his suit. "Oh thank you so much Peter! I don't know what I'd have done if it wasn't for you!"
"Sure." Peter smiled and pulled on his mask before hastily scooping MJ up in his arms and diving headfirst out the window.
MJ screamed as they plummeted to the pavement below, but Peter knew it wasn't one of fear or horror, it was one of excitement and delight. He whooped with her as they soared back up into the sky on a new web line, seemingly into the sun as it flashed from behind a skyscraper and blinded them. MJ giggled as he jumped from the web and for a moment they seemed to hang suspended with nothing but air beneath their feet, before once more they were rising back into the sky.
She could feel his muscular body twist and turn as he threw them through the air faster than she'd ever gone before, but she wasn't scared. She could feel the muscles beneath his skin contract and relax and knew with a certainty that he would never let her come to any harm. She was amazed by the speed they were achieving, down below they were easily overtaking the little multicoloured dots that were cars and pedestrians. Looking back up as she felt a slight bout of vertigo coming on, she smiled at Peter when he asked he if she was ok.
"I'm fine, tiger." She replied, hoping he could hear her above the roar of the wind in their ears, but he nodded. However, he still slowed down ever so slightly, and MJ had to smile at his perceptiveness and overprotective attitude when it came to her.
She looked round at the buildings flying past them, and occasionally saw a bored office worker stare at them with their mouth hanging open. Spider-man didn't usually hang around this part of NYC much, it was on the wealthier side and crime seemed to be less of a problem here.
Too soon their journey was over, although MJ felt also felt grateful to be able to put her feet back on solid ground. He dropped her off in an alleyway close to her building and stayed and watched to make sure she got in ok. He knew MJ wouldn't approve of his 'molly-coddling' of her, but he had so recently almost lost her that he felt it was duty to look after, at least until the nightmares stopped.
"Bye MJ," he whispered as she disappeared through the swinging doors. "You go get 'em girl".
---
Peter swung back home, changed and figured he had just enough time to make it to Bio-Chemistry without getting berated for being late. He dashed out the door and was about to leg it to his class, when he saw a car swerving out of control, heading for an elderly woman and three kids that were presumably her grandchildren.
He flew across the street and dived on top of the four unknowing pedestrians, narrowly avoiding the fishtailing car. Stumbling to his feet he dashed into the alleyway, heedless of the three kid's and their grandmother's cries of surprise. The eldest boy helped his grandmother to her feet and all four of them watched, astounded, as Spider-man shot out the alleyway and after the speeding car.
Landing on the bonnet of the car, Peter peered through the windscreen at a middle aged woman who was screaming at the top of her lungs. He gathered from her yells that she wasn't a thief in a getaway car, but the brakes had blown and now they were speeding downhill to a busy junction.
Damn.
It.
He turned back to face the road and took a deep breath. He slid down so he was stuck to the front bumper, and cautiously stuck his left leg out onto the road. His leg shook and strained with the pressure, but the car was a lot lighter than the train he'd tried to stop using that method, and going a lot slower, though it was still considerably fast as trees and pedestrians whizzed by in a blur.
He ignored the building pain in his knee and the road which was flying up in great clumps as he noticed they were slowing down, yes, come on... almost there.
They slid to a halt just before the bustling intersection, narrowly avoiding an extremely angry truck driver who was honking his horn. Peter got to his feet shakily, gingerly put weight on his leg then winced and quickly put all his weight on the other leg.
He hobbled round to the drivers side and looked through the open window. "Are you ok, ma'am?"
She was sitting, trembling violently with her hands clasped so tightly on the wheel her knuckles were turning white. She jumped and stared at him with wide eyes when he spoke, and it took a moment for the words to register in her mind.
Ah, she was going into shock, Peter diagnosed. He'd seen it hundreds; maybe even thousands of times with the victims of various muggers, murderers and rapists he'd caught, so he was familiar with the symptoms. Other than that, however, she appeared to be fine. A little shaken up, but that was to be expected.
He nodded to himself when she didn't reply, then looked up as he realised they'd attracted quite a crowd. People were lining the pavements, staring in amazement, and the whole junction had come to a complete standstill as the drivers stopped and stared out their windows.
"Uh... I'll just be going..." Peter said to nobody in particular, then shot out a web and leapt into the sky, wincing as his leg stung with the effort.
He swung fast and high across the city, desperately trying to make it to his last class on time, knowing he'd already missed one that day. However, he was having trouble, his leg was still aching uncomfortably and he was getting rather distracted, missing his web lines several times and almost plunging to his death. On the third occasion, he decided to swing lower, it would be a lot safer even if there was less room to manoeuvre.
He landed and quickly changed before running into the building, limping slightly on his bad leg. He dashed into his classroom and everyone stared at him, Dr. Connors pausing in his speech about the neutrons in the nuclei of atoms and radioisotopes. Peter hastily made his way to his seat, blushing furiously and muttering an apology.
Dr. Connors frowned at his brightest but most apathetic student. Where did he get to all these times there was a 'disturbance' or he was 'busy'? He shook his head in disapproval. "Parker, see me at the end of class."
Peter nodded sadly and slumped into his seat. He felt eyes on the back of his head and sure enough, as soon as he'd sat down someone poked him in the shoulder.
He sighed quietly and turned around to face Debra Whitman.
"Why've you late again?" She hissed, sounding much like an angry goose crossed with a snake.
"I lost track of time." He whispered back, then turned back to the front. He heard Debra mutter in his ear but chose to ignore her, instead trying to discreetly see what notes the class had already made by looking at his neighbour's paper.
Peter fumbled his way through the pop quiz and handed in an obviously quickly done piece of homework that could have been written in another language, it was so untidy.
His legs felt like lead as he dragged himself up to the front of the class to Dr. Connors as everyone else squeezed out the doors. He waited patiently beside Connor's desk as he filed some papers.
Connors finally looked up and appraised Peter with a sad gaze.
"Peter, I don't know what to say", he said quietly, disappointment filling his voice. Peter cringed and looked away. Anger he could stand. Shouting, screaming, anything but this morose full disappointment he could take.
He stared at an ink blot on a corner of a sheet of paper and said nothing.
Connors sighed in frustration. "You're my brightest student, Peter. The cleverest of your age, and I haven't met someone with as much potential to be brilliant, to truly achieve something and change the world in years." He paused and sighed again, and Peter felt a 'but' coming on.
"However, what use is potential when you let it go to waste?" Ah. 'However.' A fancy 'but'.
"You could do so much, Peter, if you would only put your mind to it. Turn up on time, get a proper nights rest and doing your homework once in a while wouldn't hurt".
"I did do it this time." Peter protested feebly. Connors gave him a look then fished out Peter's attempt at an essay on isotopes.
"Do you really consider this an acceptable form of homework?" He asked, and Peter slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry sir, I really am, I want to be here, I want to do this, but I...I can't." He finished quietly.
"You can't? Why ever not?" Connors asked, surprised. This was the most he'd ever got out of Peter concerning his mysterious disappearances.
"I just can't. And I can't tell you why, either." He said it even quieter, if that was possible, looking anywhere but his teachers eyes.
"Peter," Connors forehead creased in concern. "You know, you can tell me anything. If you're having problems, in trouble-"
"No! It's nothing like that," Peter interrupted quickly. "It's nothing like that. Just trust me when I say I have a very good reason to not be here." He pleaded, and Connors stared at him for a minute, before nodding reluctantly.
"Ok Peter. And take care, alright?" He said, and Peter smiled a little.
"Yeah. Thanks Dr. Connors." He replied and left.
Dr. Connors stared at the door he'd left through for some time, thinking. He finally gathered his things together, frowning, and headed for home.
---
RINGRING! RINGRING! RINGRI-BEEP!
"Hi, you've reached Peter's apartment. He's out saving the world at the moment-"
There was pause then and a feminine voice saying "Peter! Don't tell the whole world you're Superman!" Then laughter.
"-due to the saving of the world, he's not here at the moment-" Peter valiantly continued, fighting back the giggles. "-so please leave a comment that may or may not be taken on board, depending on who it's from, what it's about, why th-"
There was another beep, and Betty gathered that Peter and presumably his girlfriend, (what was her name? JM?), had gone on too long in fits of laughter. At least the guy still had a sense of humour, she thought grimly to herself, as she was about to leave a message that would shatter his world.
"Hey Pete? Peter? It's me, Betty, and I really need to talk to you, and so does Robbie... can you meet us at the café at 3pm on Swansea street? If you're there pick up. It's really important, but I... guess you're not there, so please ring back as soon as you get this message... bye..."
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP
The beep of the machine blared through the empty apartment ominously...
End of Part 7
Dum, dum dum! Find out just what that ominous message was all about in the next chapter, to get there, please take a left down review street and leave a comment or two! lol ;)
By the way, updates will be less frequent from now on due to a suffocating amount of homework. -gags- Sorry, but unless you can go back in time and make sure homework was never invented, then you'll have to wait, lol.
Yes, I stole a few lines/scenes and twisted them from various TV shows and films such as Friends and Spider-man 2. Don't own, don't sue. I also made a couple of places up, e.g. 'Swansea Street'. Since I don't have a map of NYC and can't exactly fly all the way out there for the sake of a fanfic, people who live in NYC/ Are NYC boffs will have to use their imagination a little. There was another part of the fic I wanted to comment on... but I can't remember what...
Oh well. Please read and review! Reviews make me write faster... ;)