Of The Twilight Hours
Sequel to 'Midnight is Meant to Be'
Disclaimer: I own none of Marvel/Stan Lee's creations, only the scenario and original characters in this story.
I'm very very bored: Funny that somebody should ask for action just before things start to kick off, I guess its just good timing eh? Glad you like it so far, please keep that feedback rolling in with any suggestions or queries.
Touching down lightly on top of the skyscraper Peter stood rigidly looking down at his passenger, she was now standing on her own two feet, her legs unwrapped from his waist. There were countless wise cracks about him being between her legs but he was a superhero, not a pervert, but even if he was his voice would have to convey said wise crack and it wasn't seeming to work. Still clinging to him despite being stood on solid ground Mary Jane suddenly slipped from him, blushing slightly from having held on so longer after landing. Stepping back his head turned to look her in the eyes, and she was already missing his body heat.
It was the roof of John's penthouse, the disintegrating afternoon sun casting the scene as autumn, complementing the red of her hair perfectly, as Peter looked on she appeared to belong there, everything down to the colours fitted without question, and the rose blush on her cheeks made him aware of his mute attention.
"What's wrong?" She asked, his stare wasn't unwelcome but it was slightly disconcerting. She was aware that she probably looked a state after being thrown around by those bastards in the alleyway, maybe he was laughing at her.
"Oh nothing, I, just admiring the view" He coughed out, short of telling her she took his breath away it was true, depending on what she thought he was looking at. Hell she must have noticed he was staring at her, she is only a step away, so much for your wise remark Pete!
"Like anything you see?" She smiled shyly and flicked a stray collection of hairs from her face as the wind scattered everything stray from the ground. If she wasn't seeing things he had just tensed up, it wasn't hard to tell in that skintight suit of his. Had she really got the amazing Spiderman over a barrel? So much for John not paying her any attention, she now had her superhero stalker back and they seemed to be flirting! Her shy smile suddenly took her a confidant shine, over the past few days Mary Jane Watson had finally picked herself back up after her fall, after being on the floor for 8 months there was no time for walking, it was time to run.
"Heh, erm so what did you want to show me?" He hoped she didn't notice he just kind of laughed that question off, but he was curious as to what exactly MJ wanted to show Spiderman, what could she possibly think was so important? Or maybe it wasn't, maybe she just wanted the company whilst her boyfriend was out with his other woman. 'Oh hell, should I tell her?' He thought nervously, 'But she wouldn't believe me! Would she?'
He obviously just ended their little game and so it was time to take him home. "Follow me"
She turned on the ball of her foot and walked around a large dome of glass to a hatch, which she opened and then beckoned the following superhero to follow, "Down here"
The redhead disappeared down into the hatch and out the corner of his eye he saw Mary Jane stood on the hardwood floor of her apartment, the hatch leading down into the same apartment he had fled from when he was meant to interview John Jameson… What if he wasn't out? If he was here then one of three things would happen.
A: He and MJ start acting like a couple and I flee in terror
B: I cave his head in for cheating on MJ, she deserves so much more and he still deceives her.
C: If I manage to control my temper and he and MJ don't start with the lover's stuff then I will no doubt get hassled because his father likens me to the anti Christ.
It wasn't a good thing to be here in the first place, being anywhere near MJ had been a big no-no ever since he had found out about John and her, and despite the relative mental safety of being behind the mask, it still brought too many memories to the fore. Despite this he found himself dropping down into the hatch, bypassing the ladder for a straight drop. Landing softly on the polished wood of the floor he found Mary Jane leaning against the back of a white sofa, the exact position he had been in when she had walked in after John, the same day he quit his job at the Bugle.
There was a small kitchen area, separated from the main living area by a large expensive looking Asian rug, then a four seating white leather sofa, all this surrounded by pale coloured decorations and paintings, everything was so white, the whole room like a blank canvas.
"Welcome to the most expensive penthouse in Manhattan" Smiled Mary Jane, "Haven for the rich and famous, it's a little piece of heaven right here in NYC" She looked down at her own feet, and Peter wasn't sure how to take the tone in her voice with which those words were conveyed. The words told him she was beyond happy, but her tone said otherwise, her body language told him she wasn't at all happy. Did she know already?
"You don't sound like your in heaven" His tone now a questioning one, he begged for an answer, an explanation.
"The first time I'd seen you in ages, and I asked you to take me home. Without asking or being told you brought me straight back here. Why? How did you know this is where I live?"
Oh crap! How can I tell her its because I am really Peter Parker and that you boyfriends father told me where you live? Why didn't you ask last time you brought her here? How stupid can you be?
"You've been stalking me again haven't you?" She smiled, seemingly perking up since her talk of her boyfriend's property. "I think you've been keeping tabs on me"
Peter shrugged; maybe she would explain it away for him. "Well I can't have my favourite actress in any danger can I? Who would light up Broadway then?"
"Ah Ha! I knew it!" She giggled, but inside her mind something told her somebody else had told her she would light up Broadway before. Oh well, it was probably her aunt Anna, as for now she had to just hope John wasn't in, but he never was at this time.
"Is Jameson here?" Asked Spiderman just as she was asking herself in her head.
"I hope not" She sighed before walking over to the kitchen, looking over at the machine it still had a few beans left in it. Reaching over to open the cupboard she turned to look at the bewildering sight of a superhero perched on the edge of her island counter. The stark contrast between his brightly coloured suit and the boring white background went someway to explaining her life with and without him, bright and flashy with, boring and plain without.
"Coffee?" She asked off hand, "I'm making one anyway" The follow on was because she knew he probably had somewhere to be, offing him something out of sheer generosity would probably be turned down.
"Err yeah okay" He was pretty thirsty and she still hadn't let him in on whatever it was she wanted him to see. Plus he was still debating as to mention John cheating on her or not.
"Why do you hope your boyfriend isn't here? Think he'll get jealous your hanging out with a guy who makes spandex look good? Everybody knows its damn hard to look as fine as I do in this stuff" Pinching his side he let his costume twang back into place,
Mary Jane laughed, and then she seemed to sink. "He's not my boyfriend, or at least not for much longer anyway, the guys dead weight"
Did Peter just hear that right? Mary Jane was finishing with the magical wonder man John Jameson. How did this happen, when? Did she know he was cheating on her? She must do if she was going to dump him, he was the perfect guy, or at least that's how Peter saw him in his head. This had suddenly made him feel almost sick, but in a confused manor, kind of like shock, it was taking time to process the ramifications.
"But I always thought you two were the perfect couple?" He was almost choking on his words now, but trying his best to compensate so she didn't hear it.
"Hell no, I mean he is a nice guy and he's not one anything specifically wrong but he's just not the guy for me, plus this penthouse is driving me crazy" The machine was filled with beans from the bag she had pulled out of the cupboard., "All this, its just not me. You know what I mean?"
"And there was me thinking rich and famous was every woman's dream" Peter sounded almost bitter. The image he had made up in his head to dull the knife in his heart was seemingly false and he wasn't sure how to take it.
"Really? Sounds to me like you've been consorting with the wrong females. I just want a normal life, I hate all this, I just want to do what I want when I want, and not have to worry about what a guys snob of a mother says about me" Getting this off her chest was rewarding, she instantly felt so much better.
"So Jameson's old woman is a piece of work too, I always wondered what kept JJ 'perma-pissed', now I know" So Mary Jane wasn't the money hungry social climber he had tried to convince himself she was, but all along he knew she wasn't, it just helped with the fact he had lost her, to what he had thought was a better man.
"I'm moving out in a few days, Just in case you have to take me home again." She chuckled slightly, "But I'm sure being a stalker you'll know where I am before I do"
"You better believe it". He was passed a scolding hot mug; he had been so wrapped up in what MJ was telling him that he hadn't even noticed the machine go off. Mary Jane was moving out? As in she was really breaking it off with John? He couldn't believe it, all this time, every waking moment he had unwanted thoughts creep into his mind about how happy MJ was with John, stray metal images of the in the park, in bed… All this had shattered everything he had built in his head to protect him, the shelter the wound she left him with. It was happening less now he was with Felicia, but for 8 months he had had to shake out images, sounds of her pleasure, anything he didn't want to hear his head concocted to torture him with, now he knew she was single what would his head throw at him now?
"I'll be glad when I'm out of here, I have a few things up my sleeve, lets just say you'll be seeing more of me" She smiled at this, and underneath the mask Peter's face contorted in worry, 'What the hell does she mean by that?'
"Anyway, I kinda just wanted to show you this." Mary Jane pulled a booklet to her from the other side of the kitchen island counter, flicking to a page with a post-it note in she turned it to Spiderman and pointed at the top right hand image. Sipping coffee after having rolled up his mask to his nose. Looking down it was a picture of a balcony, one in the middle row, second from the top by the looks of it.
"That's going to be my new pad, thought I'd show you so you can, ya know, swing by" She smirked at her own little funny, "Since you saved me again I thought I could do something for you, ya know, like cook or something?"
Is she asking me out? Is she trying to shack up with Spiderman? "I erm, err"
"Just as friends, I mean I think I owe you something now, for the rides home at least" The uncertainty in his stuttering was obvious.
"I might take you up on that, nothing fancy mind you" Am I really saying this? I mean I'm meant to be out saving people and I'm in a girl's apartment having coffee and arranging a dinner date?
"Oh yeah, well I can't really cook anyway, but I can open a variety of packets if you can believe that" Her self deprecating wit always made him smile, she had certainly not lost any of her charm.
"Chips are good" He relied as he flicked himself soundlessly off her counter corner and back to the floor, placing his empty mug where he was previously crouched.
"Chips it is then, whenever you feel hungry just drop in k?" He was going, but she was amazed he had stayed this long.
"Will do. Gotta go!" With that he had jumped straight up through the hatch and out onto the roof, landing in a crouch he dived straight over the edge, plummeting head first at least 200 feet until he finally shot out a web line and screeched away from the tall apartment building. Mary Jane was at the window watching him fade into a dot in the distance.
"All kinds of amazing"
Please let me know what you think!