Peter turned and reached for his phone off the dresser next to his bed, tapping the screen to see that the time was 2:21 A.M. He set it back down as he rolled his eyes, letting out a barely audible moan. He had been trying to go to sleep for the last couple of hours, but his mind was still too restless. He kept coming back to the events of the day, specifically his altercation with the thief. In his mind, there was no reason why that man's glove should've reminded him of Titan. Seriously, Thanos was at least three times that guy's size! But it had happened, and if Peter hadn't gotten lucky, the woman he was trying to protect might've been hurt, or worse.

Giving up on sleep for the short term, Peter threw the covers off himself, sliding his feet to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair, taking in and letting out a deep breath. He decided to check the kitchen and see if he couldn't whip up himself a quick snack. He was a little hungry, and while he was doing better with eating than he had been when he first returned, he still wasn't quite meeting his metabolism's requirements. Plus, he was bored, and he couldn't sleep, so what else would be better to do?

Peter ventured his way to the kitchen, where he found he wasn't alone in his thinking or his sleeping problems. Happy was there too, getting something out of the refrigerator. The man stood up, and his eyes widened a bit in surprise when he first caught sight of Peter.

"Hey," Happy said, "I, uh, I wasn't expecting company."

"No worries," Peter replied casually. "I was actually just coming to grab a snack too." To him, this felt like progress, seeing as a few weeks ago he would've just immediately turned back to his room at the sight of Happy, fearing having to force conversation. Now, however, he wasn't remotely bothered by the man's unexpected presence.

"Well...you've probably figured this out by now, but I don't have too much," Happy replied. "Seeing as I'm on the go a lot, I just tend to stop and get something while I'm out. I was just grabbing some milk to go with some cereal though, if that sounds good?"

"Sounds perfect," Peter answered. He wasn't picky, but he also was used to not growing up on a lot of variety, given the financial issues of the Parker household as well as May's limited cooking abilities. He moved over to get his own bowl, but Happy insisted on getting it, and Peter had learned a while back that there wasn't much arguing with Happy Hogan once the man's mind was set. He went over and took a seat at the table.

As he watched Happy grab the box of Cheerios from a cabinet, it dawned on Peter that he had yet to properly thank the man for everything he had done for him. He could clearly tell that the man was struggling with at least the loss of Mr. Stark, as well as who knew who else, and he was still kind enough to open his home and take in a teenager who had lost basically everything. Guilt started to get to him, but he put it aside.

At least in this case, he could begin to make it right.

Happy finally came over, handing Peter the bowl.

"There ya go," Happy said.

"Thanks, Happy," Peter said.

"Oh, it's not a problem," Happy replied, waving a dismissive hand in Peter's direction as he sat down.

"Not just for this," Peter continued, drawing the man's full attention. "For everything."

Happy looked away for a moment, a small smile coming to his face, and it was clear he understood the full intent of those words, small as they seemed to be.

"You're a good kid, Peter," Happy said, a genuine warmth emanating from his words. "I'm, well, I'm 'Happy' to do it for you."

Peter couldn't help but let out a breath and a laugh at Happy's ridiculously obvious pun.

"How many times in your life have you used that?" Peter asked, a genuine smile on his face.

"Ah, I've lost count by now," Happy replied as he took his first bite of his cereal.

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Peter said teasingly, stuffing a spoonful of his own cereal in his mouth. For a little while, the two of them just sat there, eating their cereal a spoonful at a time, only occasionally getting into light conversation. It didn't take long for them to finish, and this time Peter made sure to be the one to take care of the bowls.

"It's fine, Peter, I got it," Happy tried to insist to no avail as Peter scooped up his bowl.

"Not this time," Peter said in a half earnest, half teasing way. "I'm happy to do it after all."

"You know I'm the only one who can use that, right?" Happy said, his voice lightly defensive but pitiful.

"That's funny, I don't remember you saying that?" Peter joked as he rinsed the bowls out.

"Well I'm saying it now," Happy responded.

"Okay, got it," Peter said, smiling to himself. He was totally going to use it again at some point.

"Good," Happy said. "Well, I guess I'll try and head to bed now. Work is still a mess. You going to get out of this place for a while tomorrow?"

Peter's face fell a little. Happy's question made him realize he hadn't even mentioned that he'd already tried that today, and what happened when he did. He still didn't quite feel like talking about it too much, but he figured it would make Happy feel good to know he did try, so he told him about going to the library and running into M.J.

"Her and I are actually going to see each other again tomorrow," Peter said.

"Good, that's great," Happy said. In the past, there was no way that Peter would've been able to just get away with telling the man that he was going to meet one on one with a girl and not either get some over the top celebration or not asked for advice. Obviously, the circumstances were different though, and he figured Happy was just... glad to see him getting out of his depressed stay at home state.

"Well, like you said, I guess I better turn in," Peter said, walking back towards Happy. "Thanks again."

"Not a problem, Peter," Happy said, giving Peter a pat on the shoulder before turning and heading towards his bedroom. Peter didn't go right away though, his mind stuck on a thought. He felt a little guilty for not telling Happy the full extent of what happened, and he knew the man wanted to help. Plus, there was a part of him that did want to share what he was feeling, to release the guilt and pain that was inside of him. On the other hand, Peter understood he wasn't the only one in this apartment who was suffering, and he didn't want to burden the man with even more of his issues.

Deciding he was not going to worry about this issue tonight, Peter headed back to his bedroom for the night, and laid in his bed patiently until sleep finally came.

Peter turned the corner of the block and continued his trek down the street. After he got up that morning, he had texted M.J. to see about where to meet, and they settled at a local coffee shop that was one of the few places in its vicinity still open, or at least that had people that showed up to work. M.J. had said she still went there when she got the chance, saying it wasn't very busy, which wasn't a huge surprise.

At last, Peter found the shop, seeing M.J. already sitting there with her drink. One thing he did know about her was that she LOVED espresso; frequent trips with the acadec team had taught him that. He stepped inside, waving to M.J. as he walked up to the line to grab himself a drink of his own. Happy had been kind enough to leave just enough money for one of New York's way too expensive cups of coffee. Being that he was the only one in line, it didn't take him long to get his drink and he walked over and sat down.

"Glad to know you can make it on time to things," M.J. said, taking a sip of her drink as Peter came over to the table.

"Hey, I make it to things on time all the time," Peter protested defensively as he sat down.

"Really?" M.J. questioned, giving him a skeptical look. "Aside from today, tell me five times specifically that you weren't late just to acadec practice."

Peter thought about it for a moment, but the more he did, the more her statement seemed to hold water.

"Well, I..." he said, flustered and desperate to come up with an answer for her that at least would restore some semblance of his integrity when it came to punctuality.

"I'm messing with you, by the way," M.J. said, a momentary smile spreading across her face. "Just, you know, trying to break the ice I guess..."

There it was again. It was a similar look to yesterday, a look that was so uncharacteristic of her. Peter picked up a nervous vibe from it, which was so unlike M.J. Even when he had first come over, she had been her usual dry and straight to the point self, but now he was seeing a shift in her again that he hadn't been used to seeing before.

"No, it was good, really," Peter said, trying to put her at ease. "You're right, I'm not usually on time to stuff. I've... I've just never really been good when it comes to keeping up with stuff, you know?"

"Yeah, plus your Stark Internship kept you really busy, I'm sure," M.J. added, taking another sip of her drink.

"Oh, yeah, the Stark Internship," Peter said, struggling to fight off the feelings that even hearing that name produced in him. "Yeah, totally swamped, lots of late nights."

"I get that," M.J. replied, her dry self seemingly returning. "I would stay up really late reading books and stuff. You just get used to it after a while."

"I guess so," Peter responded, and for a little while after that they just sat there in silence, neither one certain of what to say. Perhaps it was the giant elephant in the room, the fact that the lives of every single person on earth were changed forever, that neither one of them wanted to address but could still feel weighing very heavily on them.

Of course, it was M.J. who would bring it up first.

"So, how has the whole snap thing been for you?" she asked. "Is your aunt still here?"

Perhaps it was unavoidable, but Peter still didn't feel ready for the question. He forced an answer out anyway.

"No," he said. "She's gone. Ned too."

M.J.'s face morphed into one of sympathy with a hint of regret perhaps for bringing it up.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What about you?" Peter asked. M.J. didn't talk about her family much, so he had no idea who was even around to begin with.

"Yeah, both my parents vanished too," she said, quickly adding, "but I was never really close with them, you know." She then took a long sip of her coffee, but Peter could see in her eyes that there was more to the story between her and her folks. He opted not to press the matter though, so he changed gears.

"So... I don't know much about you," Peter said, a little embarrassed at how honest that statement was. "Why don't you, you know, tell me a little about yourself?

"Oh...okay." M.J. seemed almost fazed or caught off guard for a moment, but it took her only a moment to collect herself.

"Well, I'm vegetarian, for starters."

"That's cool," Peter said earnestly. "Is it hard to maintain?"

"Mm, not really," M.J. replied. "I've been that way for most of my life now, so it's really all I know. Besides, they put a lot in meat that they don't tell you about."

"Gotcha," Peter said. Frankly, he had eaten a lot of burgers in his life, and he was fine. Then again, he had powers now, and he did have a lot of health issues before that...

"What about you?" M.J. said, and Peter was grateful for the interruption of his thoughts. "What is something the world doesn't know about the mysterious Peter Parker?"

Peter laughed awkwardly. If only he could tell her the full scale of it...

"Well," he began, trying to think of something that might actually be interesting about himself. "I... I love puzzles, for starters."

"Really?" M.J. said, her eyes widening a little, and Peter was surprised at how her interest suddenly seemed to be perked.

"Yeah," Peter continued. "I couldn't ever convince Ned to get into them much with me though. It was always ironic to me: he could sit for hours while we put together a Lego Death Star, but he said he didn't have the patience for puzzles."

"I've always enjoyed puzzles too," M.J. said, and now she was smiling wider than he might've ever seen her smile. It was nice.

"Awesome," he said, smiling back at her. "I can't really explain why, it's just... there's something peaceful to me about it. Does that make sense?"

"Absolutely," M.J. said.

Two and a half hours later, Peter and M.J. were still talking. They had covered many subjects, such as M.J.'s fascination with true crime, how a trip with Uncle Ben to the museum when he was four first got him into science, and their mutual acknowledgement of how the school cafeteria menu didn't have many options AND wasn't that healthy. Then something hit Peter that he hadn't thought to ask since she had mentioned her parents disappearing.

"So, where are you staying right now?" he asked.

"The new shelter that was just opened a few weeks ago," she answered.

"Oh yeah, F.E.A.S.T. right?" Peter asked.

"Yep," M.J. replied. "It's crowded right now, but it's something. What about you?"

"Oh, I'm staying with a family friend right now," Peter answered. The name Happy Hogan probably wouldn't have meant anything to her anyway, but he figured it was better safe than sorry.

"That's nice," M.J. said, finishing off her drink for the fourth time. "Well, I guess I better get going if I'm going to catch the bus back to the shelter."

"Oh, okay," Peter said as they both stood up. "I can walk you there, if you want."

"Okay, sure," M.J. said.

They threw their cups away and exited the building.

"I had a really nice time," Peter spoke up.

"Yeah, me too," M.J. said.

"If you like, we could..." Man, why was he so nervous all of a sudden? "We could do it again sometime?"

"Sure," M.J. replied quickly. "Sounds like fun."

"Okay, cool," Peter replied. "I'll text you?"

"Sounds good," M.J. confirmed. They then arrived at the bus stop, coincidentally right as the bus did.

"Well, see ya," M.J. said, waving quickly to Peter before stepping up onto the bus.

"Yeah, see ya," Peter said, and next thing he knew, the bus was pulling away.

Peter slowly turned away, beginning the walk back to Happy's apartment. A smile started to creep up on his face. He had had no idea what to expect out of this, as M.J. was always known as the mysterious girl in school who nobody really talked to much. Yet, today, he learned that she wasn't so intimidating after all... mostly.

More than that though, for the first time perhaps since the snap, he could say one thing definitively.

He actually had something to look forward to.

Hope you're still enjoying it!

Continuing to pray for you guys! Stay safe and healthy!

"When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy." Psalm 94:19