After all of the gunmen were taken down, all of the AcaDeca students crowded around me, heaping praise and thanks on me. It was a weird feeling, knowing all of their names and faces and knowing that, even if I had my mask off, they wouldn't know me from a can of paint because of The Spell. Still, as I looked around at them, my anger dissipated. I bowed my head and rubbed the back of my neck bashfully.

"Just doing my job," I said. I lifted my head. "I'm getting you guys out of here. Everyone get behind me as we exit, okay?" They all complied. Nodding my head, I walked towards the front door of the library. I then slowly opened the door and looked outside.

In front of me was Shadowcat, who had her back turned towards me. Around her were eight men who were knocked out. She turned around and smiled at me. "Everyone make it out okay?"

"Yeah," I said. "I see you had yourself quite the party."

"Oh yeah, we had tea and crumpets. And they all got tuckered out."

I chuckled as I shook my head. "Where's Cyclops?"

At that moment, a red light briefly illuminated the hallway behind her. After that, Cyclops walked up to us. "I had to deal to with some unruly guests," he said as he adjusted his vest. "I take it everything went well on your end?"

"Everyone is accounted for," I replied.

"Okay, let's escort them out."

And that's exactly what we did. Shadowcat and Cyclops led the way, taking directions from Betty as they did so. I took up the rear in case of any surprises. Coincidentally, MJ was in the back of the group. As I watched her from behind, I had to fight the urge to go up and speak to her. I couldn't, though – not at this moment. Or, so I thought, at first. As we walked, we ended up passing by the doors to the gym. I eyed the doors for a moment. Then an idea popped into my head.

I walked up to MJ and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at me and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Come with me," I said. I then called ahead to Cyclops and Shadowcat. "Hey, I'm going to get this student some medical attention. Would you kindly let the authorities know that she's with Spider-Man and will be out in just a bit?"

"I can do that," Cyclops replied.

I nodded. I then gently took MJ by the hand and led her into the gym. I walked across the court with her. As I did so, I realized we were still holding hands. My face warmed up a bit, wondering if she was uncomfortable. But, she didn't pull her hand away. As a matter of fact, I felt her hand squeeze mines lightly. I looked back at her, and she looked back at me with that ambiguous look on her face that would often leave me flustered. Not trusting my voice, I brought my head forward and led her to the gym teacher's office. The door was wide open – no doubt Mr. Wilson was in a haste to get himself out of dodge. I led MJ inside before I closed the door and locked it.

"Sit," I said. MJ decided to use the desk as a seat. I walked up to the wall behind the desk and grabbed the first aid kit that hung from two sturdy nails by its handle.

"Are you hurt?" I asked. "Other than a busted lip, I mean."

"I have a bit of a headache, but I don't think I need anything for it," MJ replied. "This lip does hurt like a bitch, though." I nodded before I placed the first aid kit on the table. I opened it up looked inside of it. I pulled out an instant cold compress and a bottle of Tylenol. I opened up the bottle of Tylenol and pour two pills into the cap. I then handed it over to MJ.

"Take them," I urged. "…Do you need water?"

"No, I can take it dry." She opened her mouth and poured the two pills in. She closed her mouth and swallowed. She handed me back the cap. I closed up the Tylenol and placed it back into the first aid kit. After closing the first aid kit, I grabbed the instant cold compress, squeezed it, and shook it until it got real cold real fast. Slowly and gently, I placed it against MJ's lip. She flinched slightly, but didn't pull away. As I held the cold compress to her lip, MJ looked me in the eye. "…So, do you usually go all Equalizer on folks?"

I grimaced underneath the mask. "…Only when the people I care about the most get hurt." I sighed. "I tend to get out of character when people I care about get hurt. And when I saw that busted of lip of yours and you told me how you got it… well… I lost it a bit."

"That explains why you weren't joking around."

I nodded. After that, we just remained there quiet, with me still holding the compress to her lips. A part of me wanted to be happy that I was alone with MJ. But I couldn't be – not underneath these circumstances.

"…Do you hate me?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Define hate," MJ deadpanned. She reached for my hand and pulled it away, taking the ice compress off of her lip. The swelling went down quite a bit, but it still looked quite gnarly. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. It's… It's been a couple of days since I saw you. And, you didn't answer back when I sent you a text thanking for you for the donut and coffee and apologizing for… you know." I took in a breath. "I'm a fucking mess, Michelle. If it wasn't for you, Cyclops, and the rest of The American Idiots, I'd be even more of a mess than I am now and I – "

"Peter, stop talking." I quickly closed my mouth. MJ stood up from the desk, causing me to back up to give her a bit of room. She reached out and grabbed the bottom of my mask before she lifted it and pulled it off my head. She looked me straight in the eye as she tossed the mask behind her onto to the desk. "Peter, I have a lot to say to you. It's not going to be now, though. You placed a lot on our laps on Sunday, and while Ned and Betty may be cool with it now, I'm still trying to really process everything. And during that process, there are a lot of conflicting emotions running through my head. Even right now, I don't whether to hug you or kick you in the dick." She smiled slightly, which allowed me to chuckle a bit. "So, as I process all of this, I'm trying to protect you from all these emotions until I'm ready to talk about it. Don't get me wrong, when we talk, I'm still going to yell at you and probably say some foul shit. But I also want to give you a fair shake. Do you understand?"

"I do." I smiled and nodded. "I do." I then averted my gaze. "I know this may be a weird question to ask now but… are we still on for the dance?"

"Oh, I would have killed you if we weren't," MJ replied. I looked at her to see the smirk on her face. Unable to help myself, I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She returned the embrace and we held each other for a long while.

"…I missed you," I whispered. "I know we're still not okay, I wish it was under better circumstances, and I know you still want your space. But, I'm happy to see you."

"You better be, dork." She pulled away a bit and looked me in the eye. "…I don't hate you. We will talk when I'm ready. But for now, let's get out of here. Knowing Flash, he's probably talking about how we're probably making out in some closet."

"You're not wrong." I smiled cheekily. "Though, full disclosure, being awesome at making out is one of my superpowers."

MJ raised her eyebrows. "Well, if you be a good spider then I might let you demonstrate it."

A few minutes later, MJ and I were walking out of the school. I had my mask on, of course. As we walked towards the police that were parked up front, MJ looked over at me. "Hey, Spidey?"

"Yes, Michelle?" I replied.

"Thank you."

"It's what I do." I looked out in the distance to see Cyclops and Shadowcat near the SUV. "Looks like my ride is waiting. I'll see you when you're ready, okay?"

"Okay. Bye Loser."

"Bye, Em."

I walked past the police officers that approached MJ. I walked through the crowds ignoring the reporters trying to get a word from me and passed by the students, though I did acknowledge their thanks with nods and pushed away Flash when he tried to get me into one of his live videos – though, it was only slightly out of annoyance and mostly because I didn't want to have Cyclops and Shadowcat wait longer than they already have. Once I reached them, we all piled into the SUV and drove off.

"Do I still have class today?" I asked Cyclops.

"Honestly, I'm tempted to cancel class today," he replied. "But most likely, yes. It sucks, considering what we went through, but there is a test." He looked up at the rearview mirror to look at me. "You did study for it, right?"

"I've probably studied more for this test than any other test preceding it." I looked out the window. "Where are we headed now?"

"To Harlem," Shadowcat replied. "We're going to visit Craig. You don't mind coming along, do you?"

I shook my head. "Not at all."

We made a couple of stops along the way. The first was an underground garage with a hidden entrance. It was pretty large and held several cars that were heavily modified, including a red Shelby Cobra with white stripes that was a lot larger than a normal one and looked like it could seat five people. I didn't ask any questions as we piled out of the SUV. After Scott and Kitty got changed into street clothes, we piled into Scott's Camry and droved off. After that, we stopped a few blocks away from my apartment so I could swing over there and get changed. Once I was done, I met them outside the building with my backpack before we went to Harlem.

It was interesting, finding Claire's clinic. The building it was in looked like a rather rundown apartment. I was a bit surprised that it wasn't considered condemned. Even as we entered and ascended via the elevator, I was more than a bit concerned about the kind of treatment Craig was getting. But as soon as we stepped on to the floor he was on, my worries were rather unfounded. The floor was rather clean – I could smell the cleaning chemicals in the air. There was a front desk and seats, which told me that it was a waiting room of sorts.

At the front desk was a woman with black hair and skin that was just a little bit darker than MJ's. She was dressed in green scrubs. As we approached her, she looked up at us and smiled.

"Hey guys," she said as she stood up.

"Hello Claire," Scott greeted as Kitty waved and I nodded. "We're here to see Craig."

"Cool." She looked at me. "Who is your friend?"

"I'm Peter Parker," I said as I stepped up to her. I brought my hand out. "I'm also…"

"You don't have to tell me," Claire interrupted gently. She took my hand and gave it a shake. "But I'm pleased to meet you." She withdrew her hand. "Shall we go see Craig?"

She guided us to his room. Once there, she opened the door to his room. "Hey Craig, your friends are here," she called out. I looked inside to see Craig sitting up on his bed. He was in a hospital gown. His mouth was bandaged shut. Slowly, he looked at us. He then lifted up his right hand and waved at us. Claire stepped away. "Let me know if I can do anything for you guys."

"Thanks Claire," I called out before we walked in. "Nice lady." We walked up to Craig. I frowned as I looked at him. "…I'm sorry."

In response, Craig reached to his left and picked up a pencil and notepad. He flipped it open and wrote something down. He then showed the words to us. "Don't worry about it. Just gotta be ready for Scorpion."

I smiled at him. "We will be."

He wrote some more words down. "How's everything been? I've been out the loop since I got here."

At this, Kitty laughed. "Craig… it's been an eventful last couple of days."

We all sat down as we explained to him everything – me telling the rest of the American Idiots about everything pre-Spell, and us handling The Friends of Humanity. Craig couldn't help but shake his head as he wrote down a response.

"Okay, first off, screw FOH forever. Second of all, I'm happy you finally told them all, though I'm sorry things are weird between you and MJ."

"It is what it is," I replied. "But… MJ and I did talk a little bit after we took down those bigots."

"How'd it go?" Kitty asked eagerly. Craig gave her a glare. "Look, Peter's our younger brother. I'm just looking out for him."

"No comment," Scott interjected, prompting Kitty to stick her tongue out at him. "But please, Peter, do tell."

"Well… it was…" I took in a breath. "…We talked a little bit, and it was made clear she doesn't hate me, and that she just needed time to process everything. She wants her space because she wants to protect me from her emotions and wants to give me a fair shake when we finally do discuss it." I paused. "We're also still on for the dance."

"That's awesome!" Kitty exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Craig wrote down on his notepad again and showed me the words. "You and MJ are weirdos. Respectfully."

I couldn't help but shake my head. "I'm starting to think 'Let's be weird together' is the motto of our relationship."

We stayed a little bit longer, talking about random things and making sure that Craig was on the right path to mending. After that, we bid him farewell and left, saying bye to Claire on the way out.

Thursday came around. A bit to my surprise, The Daily Bugle ran a story about what happened at Midtown without slandering Spider-Man, Cyclops, or Shadowcat. Betty figured that, as opportunistic as he was, Jonah wouldn't dare do anything that would be perceived as supporting or downplaying the actions of a known hate group who has members who are also a part of other hate groups.

A bit to my chagrin, I gained a little bit of respect of Jameson.

Speaking of Midtown, Betty also told me that classes were cancelled for the rest of the week, though the school remained open for anyone who wanted to stop by for counseling. Also, Scott still had me grounded from Spider-Man duties. So, Thursday was rather uneventful.

Then Friday night rolled around.

I was at my desk doing homework. Since classes were cancelled, a part of me wondered if the others would be down to hang out. I was about to send a text to the group chat before I stopped myself. I remembered that texting the chat was, in way, texting MJ. And I didn't want to upset her. So, I put my phone down and returned to my homework.

That was when I heard a knock on the door. I paused in my work and looked at the door in confusion. I wasn't expecting company, my rent was on time, and my senses weren't going off. So, I stood up and walked over to the door. There was a knock again. I placed my eye against the peephole and saw…

"MJ?"