Well hello there!

Alright, this chapter covers five minutes in the movie, and it took me approximately 8 hours and 5,356 words in total to get it done like I wanted to! I'm having so much fun this is actually insane.
This is it guys, THE chapter covering the one and only scene that inspired me to write this fiction.
Hope you like it :D

67% sure

The next three hours are excruciating. MJ makes it back to the Opera house right as Mr Harrington, Mr Dell and the rest of her classmates get out of it to try and figure out what the hell happened. It's all over the news already, and everyone is getting calls and texts from their families to make sure they're alright.

Well, almost everyone. MJ's phone is as quiet as can be in her jacket's pocket.

Mr Harrington is hysterical when he realizes he's missing three students. Peter, Ned and Betty are nowhere to be seen. Mr Dell offers no help since he's rambling like a mad man about witches. They wait for a little while as the adults panic out of their mind, then MJ points out that they should probably head back to the hotel and wait there instead of in the middle of the street.

She's used to these types of situations. Being the adult when the real ones are completely failing at it. It takes a little practice, but she's got it now. It's almost easy. She's not sure if it's very healthy for her, but whatever.

So that's what they do. They go back to their hotel, and text Peter, Ned and Betty that that's where they are. It's already past midnight, and everyone is pretty much exhausted. MJ is about to close the door of her room when Ned and Betty reappear, and Mr Harrington hugs them and cries about how he couldn't bear to lose another student on a field trip. MJ admits it, he is pretty unlucky as far as freaking monsters showing up everywhere they go, but he's also not a very competent supervisor. She keeps it to herself though. Mr Harrington is a bit dull, but he's still nice.

He's completely freaked out still because Peter is missing. He's been making calls to book flights so that they can go home in the morning. Parents are calling left and right still, to make sure their offsprings are okay. MJ still hasn't heard from either her mom or her dad, but it doesn't surprise her at all.

It's sad, but not surprising.

She slowly closes the door to her room and sits down on her bed, head buzzing with everything that happened. Four hours ago she was here, debating whether she should take the leap and ask Parker out – or you know, ask him if he would like to sit next to her and spend time with her and whatever. And now…

Now she's back here, exhausted, debating whether or not she should confront him with her newfound knowledge.

Because he is Spider-Man.

He has to be.

She has proof now. It's sitting in her backpack. She's barely even dared to touch it, in fear of the web disappearing or something. She can't afford that, because then what would she do if she confronts him and he denies it? He's probably going to deny it anyway. He doesn't seem very keen on sharing his big secret. She kind of understands that, even though she wishes she didn't because it would be so easy then to be mad at him.

She could probably be. He's lied to her for years, well, lying by omission, but still. On the other hand, she hasn't been his friend for that long. And even now they're not very close. Ned probably knows, it would make sense. She's pretty sure he's the only one from school. Does May know? It would make sense too, since Spidey came a couple of time to those Blip charity reunions in Brooklyn. They must have orchestrated the whole thing together. Tony Stark knew as well, she's sure of that much. She wonders how he figured it out.

No, she's not mad at Peter Parker. In any case, even if she was mad at him, she would definitely not be able to hold it against him as soon as she'd see his stupid cute face and meet his brown puppy eyes. She closes her own eyes and falls down on the bed with yawn. This is such a mess.

"Oh! Peter, you're not dead!"

MJ sits straight back up, letting out a shaky sigh she didn't know she'd been holding back all this time. Mr Harrington's voice trails off, but she's sure of what she heard. He's back. Peter's back. She knew he would come back eventually, she trusted him to, but still, hearing Harrington's voice claiming it is such a relief she feels weirdly lightheaded all of a sudden.

This is it.

She has to do this, she knows she has to, but somehow now that he's back, she's terrified. Her hands are shaking and she can barely breathe, and goddammit she's been waiting for this moment for so long. Thinking back, she knew it coming here. She knew this trip would shed light on the whole Spider-Man thing. She didn't expect it to happen like that, but some part of her knew it from the beginning.

She hears the voice of Mr Dell out there, but doesn't quite make out his words. She takes a deep breath and stands up from her bed, slowly walking towards the door. She takes another shaky breath, and hears Flash's voice in the room next to hers saying something about keeping it down because he's live-streaming.

You got this.

She opens the door wide, and there he is. With his back to her, his white shirt, his backpack on one shoulder, looking at Ned who's apparently heading towards Betty's room. Should she ask him to come to her room? Peter, not Ned of course. Uh. No, absolutely not. Not a good idea, unless she wants to lose half her brain capacity because of the situation and have him realize she's actually pretty dumb. Nope. Not an option. She leans on the door frame to keep herself from stumbling or doing stupid things. "Hey."

He turns to face her, his brown eyes meeting hers, and she feels a jolt in her chest. "Hey." He smiles, a small, shy thing that still reaches his eyes and warms her heart.

Ew, she's so mad at herself right now.

"Where were you?"

"Um, I got lost." he says, without really looking at her. Such a bad liar. To think this guy is probably Spider-Man. How he managed to keep it a secret for so long, she has no idea.

"We were worried about you," she admits, which isn't a lie at all. He seems to appreciate it, and it sends weird shivers up and down her spine. "Good thing you're back," she adds with a closed lips smile that she immediately deems stupid, but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Yeah."

"So much for Paris, right?" she says with a shrug involving way too much arms than initially intended, and really she has no idea what the hell she's doing.

"Would have been fun," he agrees, and he seems tensed too, his hands are clutched on the strap of his backpack, his face is very still, he hasn't blinked in forever, and oh what she would give to know what's going on inside his head at that very moment.

"Yeah," she says, moving backwards inside her room without really thinking about it. "Night," she shrugs again, and scolds herself internally. This is a disaster.

"Night."

She turns her back to him and walks into her room, then turns and meets his eyes one last time before closing the door. She's pretty sure he's started to say something else but the door is now closed and she thinks she's going completely nuts.

What the hell was that? She was supposed to confront him, or at least talk to him like a freaking normal human being and figure out a way to get him to tell her the truth. To be fair though, she hadn't really thought about how she was going to proceed, which she really should have because now she's standing there like an idiot with her back to the door, and she is not any closer to the freaking truth. She really needs to get those nerves under control.

"Get your shit together, Jones." she scolds herself under her breath.

She takes a deep inspiration then turns and opens the door again, hoping she can catch up to him before he disappears again like he always does.

She doesn't have to though. She opens the door, and there he is, with his fist in the air like he was about to knock, and she almost jumps because clearly she did not expect that. "Oh! Hey…" Why does she feel like when she's talking to that idiot her vocabulary becomes so much more limited than usual? Maybe his dorkishness is contagious.

Or maybe, just maybe, she's a lost cause and her soft spot for Peter Parker is actually the size of the freaking moon. She's doomed, isn't she?

"Uh, look um," he hesitates, his hand back to clenching the strap of his backpack, "I'm not ready for this trip to be over yet, and I kind of want to do something fun that's not on the itinerary or planned or with Mr Harrington…"

"Yes." She doesn't even think about it. She's on autopilot. It's nice.

His brown eyes are so wide, she's pretty sure they're accountable for at least 50% of her stupid crush for this idiot. "Yes like you want to go?" he asks with slightly raised eyebrows, like he's not really sure he's getting this right.

"Yes," MJ repeats with a nod and a small smile, and his face lights up like he can't quite believe she's actually saying yes, and god, he's such a cute dork she has no idea how it's humanly possible.

"Awesome, I'll see you outside in 10 minutes?"

"Meet me outside in 5 minutes," she retorts, just for the heck of it. Take back some control, yes. Kind of an illusion of control but whatever. She can do this.

He nods and lets out a very quiet nervous chuckle. "Five is good."

They say bye to each other and MJ closes her door again, heart pounding in her chest. She's going out alone with Peter Parker at 2:30 in the morning in a European city they don't know, and all she can think is how the hell she's made it to this very moment in her life. And what's going to happen next. What she wants to happen next. What Peter wants to happen next.

She has to stay focused though. Because making out is not an option, not until after she's made him admit that he is Spider-Man. That's the objective. The number one mission. Wow. She can't believe she's actually considering the more or less real possibility to actually make out with Peter freaking Parker. How can she be so nervous about something? Is it just in her head or is this actually happening for real?

No, no. No no no.

That's not the point.

The point is, Spider-Man.

That's when it hits her.

Maybe the point is actually Spider-Man.

Maybe that's what he wants to do. Maybe he wants to tell her the truth.

She shivers at the idea and looks down at her phone. T minus two minutes before explosion. Or you know, two minutes before she has to go meet Parker downstairs. "Focus," she enjoins herself out loud. All she needs to do is think rationally. Breathe and concentrate and not get sidetracked. She can do this. What does she need? Jacket, backpack with the evidence, key to her room. Phone? Not important. She doesn't have time to change. It's alright. He did tell her earlier that he thought she looked pretty. Wait, no, not important.

She puts her jacket and backpack on, heads out of her room towards the elevator. She presses the button, the elevator dings and then here it is, and it's so fast and she's so nervous she starts playing with the straps of her bag, and really how do people do this?

He's already waiting for her in the hallway. He's changed into his usual hoodie and some NASA t-shirt, and when he spots her he leans off the wall he was leaning on and walks to her with a shy grin that has her heart do multiple back flips in her chest. He asks her where she wants to go, and she says she doesn't care because it's true, and they head out of the building side by side. They walk in silence for a little while, and every now and then their hands brush against one another, and it feels like it's sending electric impulses through her entire body every time it happens.

And she's freaking out so much about it, she thinks she's lost the ability to speak altogether.

"I'm glad we're doing this."

They've somehow made it to Charles Bridge, which means they've been walking for at least 20 minutes in absolute silence, her practical brain informs her. She's been playing with her hands for the last five minutes, because those little sparks of electricity whenever their hands brushed against each other were not doing any good to her mental health whatsoever. "Yeah, me-me too." she lets out, and she thinks her voice doesn't sound at all like hers but whatever.

"To see the city a little bit…"

Say something. Anything. "You know they used to execute people on this bridge?" Oops, maybe not that. Peter gives her his stunned 'oh' as he always does whenever she rambles about something he probably finds extremely creepy. "They would like, put them in baskets and they would drown…" Her voice trails off, and she mentally slaps herself. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Peter says with a chuckle. And then their hands are brushing against each other again, and she feels like she's losing her mind. How she's supposed to get anything done, she has no idea. What was the plan anyway? What was she even trying to figure out? She tries to think, but then Peter is talking, and her mind goes completely blank. "Uh, there's this thing that I've been wanting to talk to you about for a while."

He's slowed down and stopped, so MJ takes another couple of steps then turns to face him. Maybe keeping some distance between them might help her stupid brain to focus on important things, like the meaning of the words that just came out of his mouth. Is this it? Is he about to tell her the truth? "Yeah?"

"It's our last night in Europe and I had this plan that I wanted to tell you –" His voice trails off and he closes his eyes for a second, to compose himself it seems. He then shakes his head and keeps going: "I'm just, I'm just gonna tell you."

MJ watches as he takes something out of his pocket, and in the half second he takes to talk again, she makes a thousand assumptions on what that could actually be. Is it the spider that bit him? Ew she hopes not. Or his web shooters? Or is his suit made of like, insane technology that shrinks it to the size of a box of mints? That would be cool. And convenient. Is that even possible though? Maybe he wants to show her proof. Make sure she believes him. Oh, how she loves/hates how much her heart is pounding in her chest right now.

"MJ, I –" he starts quietly.

"Am Spider-Man," she finishes for him, and he looks up in surprise.

"What?"

"That's what you were gonna say," she tells him with confidence, "that you're Spider-Man."

"No…" he shakes his head in disbelief. "I'm not Spider-Man."

Her heart droops in her chest with disappointment. There it is. Denial. She'd kind of hoped he would cut straight to the chase, but apparently not. Doesn't matter, she's not going to let him off easy. She has proof, she's pretty sure she's right, she's not letting him lie to her anymore. That's it, Parker. Your little secret is no longer one. That's it. "I mean I've been watching you for like a while now, it's kind of obvious." She takes the easy approach, her voice light and casual, because she wants it so much, for him to tell her the truth. She deserves it, right?

But he keeps lying. He asks her what makes her think that, and there's so many options really, but she chooses the safest one, which is what happened in Washington. He retorts that he was sick, but he's such a bad liar it's insane.

"You know Susan Yang thinks that you're a male escort?" she points out, starting to feel more and more annoyed at his poor attempts to deny everything. Why is he doing this? Does he think she's stupid or something?

"What?!" Peter exclaims, clearly offended, and here, that's what it looks like when he denies something that is actually not true. Idiot. "No of course I'm not a male escort!"

"Well then you're Spider-Man." MJ deadpans with a dismissive shrug, which seems to annoy him.

"No I'm not, Spider-Man, at all." he scoffs.

Alright, to hell with the easy approach then. "What about tonight?" she retorts, raising her eyebrows at him, "You snuck off and you fought that thing, I saw you."

"You can't have seen me because I'm not Spider-Man!" he repeats for the thousandth time it seems. "And also, on the news, it was the Night Monkey."

"The Night Monkey?"

"That's what it said on the news." he shakes his head like an idiot. "And the news… never lies."

That's it then. He must be really dumb to think she's ever going to accept that kind of nonsense. "Night Monkey, okay." she says again, taking off her backpack slowly. She can feel his nervous gaze on her. He asks her what she's doing but she ignores him. She opens the bag, takes out her piece of evidence and asks quietly, studying his face carefully: "Well do the Night Monkey and Spider-Man use the same webs?"

She watches as he obviously swallows, and she thinks for a second she's got him. But then he starts rambling, and somehow with every word it feels like he's stepping on her heart. "I mean, maybe, maybe he's the Spider Monkey, who knows." He looks down for a second, then looks back at her and he's frowning, and his voice sounds disappointed and hurt when he speaks again. "Were you only watching me because you thought I was Spider-Man?"

And he's lied to her, he's still lying to her. It's infuriating really, she hates it, but it's also so sad. Why can't he trust her, she wants to yell at his face. Above everything else though, the dismay she hears in his voice, and the pain she sees on his face as he stares at her waiting for her answer, well it scares her. She can't do this. She's not brave enough, she thinks. So she lies. "Yeah…" She can't meet his eyes, his huge, brown puppy eyes that seem to expect so much. She stupidly feels like she's failing him, but that's unfair really, because isn't he failing her too, by lying, again and again, like it's nothing? Like it doesn't matter. Like she doesn't matter. "Why else would I be watching you?"

He barely meets her eyes, and she watches helplessly as a sad, thin smile stretches his lips. "Doesn't matter. Just thought that maybe –"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence though, because the piece of metal she's still holding suddenly lights up and she drops it to the floor in surprise. Both MJ and Peter take a few steps back from the thing as a blue light flows out of it in some sort of cone, reminding MJ of those old projectors from some of their classes in Midtown. Then it appears above them: a giant cloud of dark smoke, that somehow looks like another one of those giant monsters that pop out everywhere they go since they set foot in Europe. The thing swipes an arm towards MJ, but it seems completely incorporeal and does nothing, passing right through her. It only lasts a second and then it's gone.

"The Hell was that?!"

"I don't know…" MJ turns on herself, looking up the sky, then back to the piece of tech on the ground. Her heart is beating hard and fast in her chest. Whatever it was, it came from that thing, she's sure of it. Peter seems to have reached the same conclusion because he very carefully picks it up, gesturing for MJ to stay back. "What is it, like some kind of projector or something?" she asks with a shaky voice, as Peter examines the thing with a deep frown.

"Yeah but it's… really advanced…"

"It… it looked so real." she stammers, and she hears Peter agree. Then it strikes her. It looked exactly like the two monsters they faced these last two days, except for the fact that it was just a projection, not a real thing. Which doesn't make any sense but… "Wait a minute, does that mean that…"

"The Elementals are fake?" Peter finishes for her, and she looks at him as he seems to ponder, eyes going wild, and she swears she can almost see the thought process he's going through right now on his face. They've reached the same conclusion, and it doesn't reassure MJ the slightest because what the hell does it mean? What's going on? How is any of this possible? Peter voices all the thoughts that are crashing through her mind: "That doesn't make any sense because we were there right? There was fire and destruction and…" He pauses for a second, and she sees the fear and incomprehension in his eyes. "Who would do something like that?"

The projector answers that question itself. MJ feels her heart drop in her chest when the monster appears again above them, then… "Mysterio?" she breathes out, stupefied. She doesn't have time to process what it can mean. Peter turns back to her as the projector turns off again, his eyes round with shock and something else she cannot really decipher. And when he speaks his next few words, it effectively wipes out her entire train of thoughts.

"I am Spider-Man." He tells her, his posture very tensed. He hesitates a second, looking up then back at her before adding: "And I really messed up."

And she's been waiting for a long time to hear him say these words. The first ones, obviously, not that part about him messing up. That part doesn't surprise her half as much as she thinks it should. She hadn't really thought about what she would feel when he finally admits it, but she'd figured probably loads of glee and personal satisfaction and 'AH HA I KNEW IT' kind of thing. Definitely not the incomprehension and doubt and absolute confusion she's feeling right now.

"Wait, you're, you're being serious right now?" she stutters, and Peter nods, and he's not a liar right? But wait, yes he is, he's been lying to her this whole time… she can't for the life of her make any sense of his words because what the hell? Is he making fun of her or is he truly honest, finally? "You're not joking with me like you're a 100% serious right now 'cause it's not funny." she insists, and she kind of thinks she's about to burst in tears or something because of how little sense all of this makes right now, and yet how much it actually means at the same time.

"No, I'm not joking," Peter confirms, and there's something in his voice, something so real, something that prompts her to just give in to the shock and uncertainty she's feeling at that very moment. He's telling the truth. Peter Parker is Spider-Man.

Spider-Man is Peter Parker.

"'Cause I was only like, 67% sure!" She tells him, and she's pretty sure he's trying to tell her something but this is just insane. She can't fully put her mind around what this all means. She's still so scared it's all gonna go away for some reason. There's so much going on in her mind right now she just can't keep any of it to herself. Question what you don't understand. "So, so why are you here, why are you on this school trip why–"

"MJ look I know you have a lot of questions," Peter cuts her, almost shouting, and she snaps out of it instantly, "but look, we really have to get out of here, okay?"

Right. Mysterio's a fraud, he's using illusions to destroy stuff and pretend he's a super-hero. There's a bad guy to be dealt with there. She's teaming up with Spider-Man to do so. What.

"Okay, okay." she nods, and they both start running back towards the hotel. They're running, and she's feeling so freaking alive, and she should probably be scared out of her mind from what they just discovered, but that's not really how she feels right now. Because Peter Parker is Spider-Man. "Can't believe I figured it out!" she lets out with a large grin, and she can hear Peter's low chuckle at that.

She can't wipe the smile out of her face, although she figures she definitely should. But this is an accomplishment. She's been watching him for years, pondering whether or not he really was Spider-Man, and now he's confirmed it, despite himself really but still, and it feels so freaking good. A little moment of self satisfaction is in order, she figures. Then back to the 'oh my god there's a crazy dude with an evil plan to kill tons of people and destroy tons of stuff' kinda thing.

If she'd been exhausted before, it's all gone now. Energy courses through her blood as she thinks about how she was right all along and what it all implies. Peter is Spider-Man. He really is. They're one and the same, they have been for years now, and wait, so has he really been to space? Is he an Avenger? So. Many. Questions. They really need to sit down and talk when all this is over. She slightly shivers at the thought. More time with Peter. Who's actually Spider-Man. She's been suspecting it for years, literally, and yet actually knowing it feels so different.

It's insane. And scary, too.

Mysterio really has to be a particularly huge asshole to put so much people in danger like this. Nothing like the usual bike thief or bank robber the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man takes care of back home. To be fair though, he's been to space. He's probably fought Thanos. Was he actually a part of that battle of Earth thing nine months ago? No wonder the Blip's been so hard on him. And he's lost Tony Stark, too. She didn't have to know about Spider-Man to realize he cared a lot for that man. So many things make more sense now that she knows. He's been through so much, and he's just a kid.

How on Earth does he cope with all this?

Alright, smile effectively wiped off now.

"Peter, wait up!"

He slows down and glances back to throw her an apologetic look. "Sorry I'm –"

"It's alright," she stops him with a hand gesture, a little – a lot – out of breath. MJ figures he could have probably sprinted the whole distance from Charles Bridge to their hotel without even breaking a sweat, but he's got the whole bitten by a radioactive spider thing going on, so really that's not fair. "I just, I don't have as much stamina as you I guess." she breathes out, leaning on a wall for a second.

"I know, I'm sorry," he says with a gentle smile that doesn't help her catch her breathat all. Idiot. "So I guess you're not some kind of secret super hero or mutant or something then?" he jokes, and she narrows her eyes at him.

"I ain't telling you none of my secrets," she retorts, and he lets out a sharp laugh.

"But that's not fair, I told you mine," he falsely pouts and she hides her grin behind her hand, pretending to clear her throat.

"Yeah well, you were kinda forced too, actually." she reminds him, and she wonders if he can hear the tiny speck of disappointment in her voice.

"Kinda, yeah." he nods, looking at his feet. Maybe he did hear. "Anyway, we're almost there, I guess we can walk the rest of the way, if you want."

"Wow, so chivalrous of you."

"Yeah, don't get used to it."

She doesn't hide her smile this time, and they stare at each other for a couple of seconds before they resume walking. MJ's heart is still pounding in her chest, and of course she's not sure if it's because of their little race or something else entirely. Like how she's been crushing on freaking Spider-Man for years. This is so weird. They walk for a moment in silence, and then she asks quietly, without looking at him: "So, can you tell me exactly what's going on or…?"

He lets out a strained sigh, and she's pretty sure he would probably rather keep running instead of walking and talking right now, but he sticks with her nonetheless and shrugs. "Yeah I guess, I'm just…" he sounds frustrated and angry, and she's not entirely sure why. "I'm just so mad at myself right now. I messed up so bad, this is all my fault."

She waits a couple of seconds for him to keep going, but he doesn't seem really keen on it and she frowns. "Yeah, not to sound unpleasant or anything, but if you actually told me what the hell's going on instead of moping about how it's your fault, then maybe I could help you," she points out, a little more roughly than intended, and she feels him wince next to her.

"You're right, I'm sorry," he says with a nervous chuckle before she can feel guilty about it. He glances at her with a small, curious smile, and she stares back, betting on her poker face to hide how satisfied she feels right now.

"I know." she tells him sharply, and his smile widens just a smidge before he looks back to his feet and lets out another sigh. And then he tells her everything. How Tony Stark apparently left him a pair of glasses that controls an army of drones. How Peter didn't want anything to do with it because let's face it, he's a teenager, what is he supposed to do with those things? How Nick Fury pressured him to step up and be what Stark wanted him to be. How Peter made the assumption that Tony gave the glasses to him of all people so that he could chose someone to be the next Iron Man. How he gave them to Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, because he really thought he was a good guy. How it turns out he'd lied to him, to everyone, this entire time. The rest is history, as they say.

And it sucks. The betrayal stings from Peter's words, MJ can feel it deep inside her, and for once in her life she's at a loss of words. This is so much worse than she initially thought. How are they supposed to deal with this? How is Peter, a sixteen year-old kid from Queens, supposed to deal with this alone?

She wishes she could tell him he's not alone, because it's true, she's here, she wants to help him, but in the midst of illusion tech and super-heroes and armies of drones and whatnot, she really feels like she's just another tiny ant that has no place in that kind of fight. She feels powerless, and small, and what she can do, she has no idea.

She's going to try though. She will not let Peter face this all alone.

As you might have seen, I've added a little scene after the one on the Charles Bridge. I felt like it made sense? I don't know what you guys think. I'm gonna have to change a couple of lines from the movie in the next chapter because of that, but I think it will be fine still :D
I'm signing at my new job tomorrow and starting on Monday, so I don't know how much time I'm gonna take to write the next chapter. Please, be patient with me ;)

Thanks for all the reviews and follows and favorites, you guys are awesome!
Until next time!