Grounded
It had been a long while since Peter slept this well. He was still in his spider-suit but that was nothing new. Late nights patrolling, stopping muggings, defeating supervillains, and whatnot left him exhausted. Collapsing right into bed without changing was almost routine at times. But this time felt different. Peter felt warm and cozy. A whiff of lavender brushed past his nose. Hang on. Since when did his pillow smell like lavender? Slowly the rest of his body began waking up. His arms hugged his supposed pillow tighter only for him to realize he wasn't hugging a pillow, but a person. His eyes opened to see a tuft of red hair. Memories of last night started hitting him in waves. He smiled at the genuine and honest talk he and MJ had last night. Looking at her calm, sleeping form now, Peter could not believe he tried to break up with her last night. Luckily, Mary Jane was a fighter, and she would not be broken up with without swinging. Her eyes bat open to meet his. He blushed upon the revelation that he'd been caught staring, but she didn't mind. Instead, she hugged him tighter and nuzzled her face into his neck.
"Mmmm snuggles," she cooed.
Happily, he obliged hugging her back with equal fervor. Gently he ran his fingers through her hair eliciting a light hum from her. Meanwhile her fingers began tracing the web lines along his suit. Both were just comfortable to sit and enjoy the light morning glow. Eventually she looked up at him with a smile.
"Kisses?" she pouted.
Again, happy to oblige, Peter leaned down and pecked her on the lips.
"Hnnn," she whined.
Pulling him back, Mary Jane pressed her lips to his getting the deeper kiss she really wanted. Peter couldn't help but chuckle and smile. Lost in their happy world, they rolled over putting MJ on top. Her hands cupped his face as his hands hugged her sides all while neither broke lip contact.
"Hehehe," she giggled, "I love waking up to this. To you."
"Good morning to you too, MJ. What time is it?"
Mary Jane briefly glanced at the window to see the sun just barely peeking over the horizon.
"Looks like just after 6-ish? Maybe 6:30?"
"Ah. Sounds like I need to get back to Aunt May."
"Orr you could stay a little longer?"
"I could. But I think she's worried long enough. I was gone pretty much all day and night yesterday."
"Sigh. You're right," she pouted resting on his chest.
"Oh no. Please don't throw me out like this MJ!" he chuckled.
"Hehe consider this me staving off your execution."
"Heh. Thank you. But it is time to face the music."
"Okayyy. I love you."
"I love you too."
"Text me in the afterlife?"
"Plant pretty flowers by my grave."
A few quick kisses later, Mary Jane finally rolled off Peter to let him stretch. He walked up to her window and gave a wink and a little finger salute before jumping out and quickly swinging over to his house. As he opened his bedroom window and climbed in, Peter paused for a second wondering how he should play this out. Should he just stroll downstairs as if he came home at some point last night? Or should he do the usual: change into something and 'sneak' in through the front door? Opting for the latter, Peter put on a hoodie and some jeans. Just as he was about to leap out his window and swing to the front door, he spotted Mary Jane leaning against her windowsill beaming ear to ear. In fact, she was stifling a giggle.
"What?" Peter mouthed.
"Hehe this is too funny," she winked.
Rolling his eyes, Peter swung around the house and landed right at the front door. With a deep breath, he gently creaked the old door open and tiptoed in. The TV was off and no one was in the living room. Maybe the coast was clear.
"Took you long enough…"
Dammit. The kitchen.
"Uhhh hi Aunt May."
"Hmmm. Hello to you too. Do you know what time it is?"
"Uhhhh seven?"
"And when was curfew last night?"
"Uhhhhhhhh eleven?"
"Hmmm."
"Aunt May I'm really sorry! I just kinda lost track of time and-"
"Did you use protection?"
"…WHAT?!"
"You heard me."
"But I uh….Aunt May we didn't do any of that!"
"So you're telling me that you, an adolescent boy, spent all night last night with your girlfriend doing what exactly?"
"We just hung out! Honest! Just TV."
"….."
"And some making out…."
"…"
"And then we slept in the same bed….BUT BUT WITH CLOTHES ON!"
"Sigh. Look, Peter, I get it. Mary Jane is your first real serious girlfriend. You want to spend as much time with her as possible. I understand. But you cannot be so irresponsible like last night. Thank God MJ had the right sense to call me and let me know you two were still out on the town. But then nothing after that? What was I supposed to think? You're lucky I didn't call Anna and really bust you two!"
"I'm sorry, Aunt May. You're right. I definitely should have called last night."
"You should have come home last night!"
"Right. I'm-I'm sorry about that."
"Peter, you and MJ are feeling certain ways and I get that. But as long as you live under this roof you have a responsibility to come home on time and assure me that you're ok. As-As your parent, it's MY responsibility to make sure you're ok. I can't lose you, too."
"And you won't! I promise! I'll be better about coming home on time and checking in! I'm really sorry Aunt May."
Worried and almost moved to tears, Peter rushed forward and gave his aunt a big bear hug. May held her nephew tightly and patted his back.
"It's ok Peter. It's ok. I just want you to be safe."
"Of course, Aunt May. I understand."
"Good. You're grounded."
"….what!?"
"What? You thought we'd hug it out and you'd go Scot-free? No way, mister. You still gotta do the time."
"But Aunt May!"
"Ah. My house, my rules. No leaving the house unless absolutely necessary. No TV. No laptop unless it's for college stuff. I'll let you have one hour with your phone per day. Then, you hand it in to me."
"But-"
"One more protest and I'll increase your jail time."
"Sigh. Ok. For how long?"
"We'll start with a week. Maybe I'll let you out early."
"Ok. I understand."
Finally accepting his fate, Peter sulked up to his room. So many conflicted and torn feelings whirled around inside of him. He never wanted his aunt to worry, especially after what happened to Ben. However, he couldn't just ignore what was going on in the city. New York needed Spider-man. Sure it was his responsibility to let his aunt know that he was ok, but he also had a responsibility to protect the people of New York. His feet had him pacing back and forth in his room lost in thought. Unconsciously he took off his shirt intending to change into more comfortable loungewear. Right as he took off his pants, Peter realized his window was still open. And across the way, Mary Jane was still leaning against her windowsill staring directly at him. It was subtle, but Peter could have sworn he saw her lick her lips. With a cheeky wink she waved at him before picking up her phone.
*RING RING*
Still kind of stunned, Peter wearing just his boxer briefs picked up.
"Don't stop on my account," she purred, "I'm really enjoying the show."
"MJ!"
"Damn Tiger. You got a license to carry that concealed weapon in your pants? It's HUGE!"
"Haha ok ok."
"Soooo you gonna take off those briefs? I'll pay extra!"
"Alright MJ, c'mon now."
"Okayy I'll stop. Hehehe. How bad was it?"
"Uhhh it was ok," Peter sighed as he found a pair of shorts to put on, "I'm grounded for a week. No TV. No computer. Only one hour on my phone."
"Oof. Part of me thinks it could have been worse."
"Eh probably."
"How uhh how are you gonna um…let the Spider out?"
"I don't know just yet. I kinda feel dirty and icky sneaking out behind May's back."
"But you've been doing that for quite some time."
"Yea but right now I mean sneaking out when she specifically grounded me and will most likely check up on me. I dunno it just feels like I added to her worry meter."
"Well, maybe taking a week off won't be sooo bad. It'll give you a chance to relax and recompose yourself. Plus, you could probably bond with Aunt May a bit more. New York won't like sink into the water while you're gone."
"I guess."
"Tell you what, I'll monitor the news and if there's something really really really big going down, I'll let you know."
"Thanks, Red. I appreciate it."
"Of course. And while you're grounded, we'll make the most of your allotted phone time. I'm gonna spam you with sooooo many memes. We're gonna squeeze every minute we can from that one hour!"
"Hahaha I can't wait. Love you."
"Love you too, Tiger. I'm gonna go freshen up. Have a great day!"
"Thanks. You too!"
Day 1
"You can do this Parker. Just chill. Easy. No problem. No TV. No laptop. No phone I guess I'll just uh….count the specs of dust on my desk?"
Peter laid sprawled out on his bed staring straight up at the ceiling. The fan spun around trying to give some sort of breeze to ease the hot summer air. The morning was rather uneventful. MJ had greeted him with a wave from her window earlier before having to leave to do errands with her aunt. That just left Peter confined to the four walls of his bedroom.
"Maybe I'm just stressing out about this too much. I mean, seven days will go by in a breeze!"
Day 2
"Let's see if I adjust the radius of the nozzle here and increase the release pressure there. I think that should work."
Wanting to be productive with his time, Peter decided to tinker with his webshooters a bit. Often times different scenarios required different types of webbing. Sure firing weblines had a variety of uses. But what about a web net? Or a sticky webshot that stuck people to walls? Web parachute maybe? The possibilities seemed endless. Having a large arsenal of web gadgets would definitely give Peter an edge against the various criminals of New York!
"Ok! Time to test this out!"
He lined up the webshooter towards his makeshift target, a soda can. Carefully, he reached over to the trigger and lightly tapped it. However, instead of firing a single webshot at the can, the cartridge exploded, knocking Peter onto the floor. Sticky webs covered nearly half his face and were strewn all over his desk and most of his bedroom wall. Getting up, he roughly pulled the webbing off his face only to see scraps of the cartridge scattered about.
"Ok so maybe the release pressure that time was too high…"
Day 3
"Ok where did that piece go? I'm sure I had it! It was right here!"
Ever the ingenious engineering scientist, Peter opted to build something today. Legos were often a source of fun for him as a kid. To flex his brain and ingenuity, Peter decided to take his Lego X-wing, smash it, and try to rebuild it without using the instruction booklet. Peter regretted this decision.
"Ok hold on wait. Was the main body supposed to look like this? I-wait the cockpit wasn't that far out right? And then the gear's supposed to turn here and….oh man! I need to start over. This doesn't look right."
Many hours later
"Ok! Phew. Hah suck on that Lego! I did it! I finally did it! Luke's X-wing rebuilt from scratch and by memory! Now I just need to add this final stud to the thruster, and we're done!"
Peter patted the floor beside him only to feel nothing. Confused, he patted the floor all around him unable to find the last piece.
"I'm sure it's here somewhere."
Crawling around on all fours, Peter looked high and low for the final orange stud. Gradually, he grew frantic jerking his head back and forth desperately feeling around for that stupid final piece.
"It's here! It has to be here! It has to be! It's right here! Where else in the room could it be!? It's not like it fucking got up and walked right out! WHERE THE FUCK IS THIS STUPID STUD!?"
Day 4
Peter slept in.
"WAIT!" he got up abruptly, "To a dog, dog food is just food. And to a sock, a mansion is just a big shoe…"
He paused for a bit before falling back down onto his pillow. Just as he closed his eyes to try and get some more sleep.
"A butterfly…..but made of butter."
Day 5
Mary Jane was getting worried about Peter. Most of the week had gone by and every time she looked over Peter was in some manic episode. Being cooped up in his room definitely had made him stir-crazy, especially since their generation was so screen oriented. Although she was glad he was finding ways to keep himself busy, she wondered if his chosen activities were actually causing him more stress. After all, she could see his irritation when he and to clean up all that webbing from his exploding webshooter. And him going berserk over not finding the last Lego piece was not a recipe for relaxation. However, MJ really liked his latest attempt at keeping busy. This time Peter opted to exercise and work up a sweat….without wearing a shirt. He had opened the window to let the breeze in and prevent his room from becoming stuffy, a decision MJ was very pleased with. To be sneaky, she had closed her curtains to give off the sense she was busy. But she also left just a wide enough slit for her to peek through and watch her man do push-ups and sit-ups. She chuckled at his attempt at being creative by doing these exercises while stick to the ceiling and wall. Her eyes could not tear themselves away from the contours of his torso. Every defined muscle and ab glistened with sweat and shined in the sunlight. Her teeth nearly drew blood as she bit down on her lip hard. Peter was now doing a hand-stand with one hand, and MJ could barely contain herself seeing him flex like that.
"God he's so hot," she whimpered.
Suddenly he turned around. He stretched his arms a bit before walking right up to his window. His hands rested on his hips as his eyes looked directly towards Mary Jane's window. She didn't realize it at first, but when he raised his brow and smirked, absolute horror smacked her in the face. They had made eye contact, and Peter knew the entire time she was watching. She collapsed onto the floor with her face completely burning red. How could she ever face him again now that he knew she was peeping on him the whole time?!
"Wait…..he knew! He knew the whole time! That's why he put on a show! Oh that cheeky bastard!"
Filled with new found confidence, MJ got up and practically tore apart the curtains ready to flirt back and banter with her boyfriend….only to see his window closed and curtain pulled together.
"….Damn he's good."
Day 6
"Om….Ooooom….Oooooooom."
On the sixth day of grounding, the activity Peter chose was meditation. He sat cross-legged on the floor with his hands resting on his knees. With his closed eyes, he steadied his breathing and tried to clear his mind to reach inner peace. Anxiously, he opened his eyes in pure shock.
"…..why do we park in the driveway but drive in the parkway?"
Day 7
"WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT LAST LEGO STUD!"
Day 8 (End of Sentence)
"Well, I gotta hand it to you Peter. You've handled your punishment fairly well."
"Thank you, Aunt May. And again, I'm really sorry for making you worry. I promise it will never happen again."
"Glad to hear it. As of right now, your punishment is lifted. TV, computer, and phone privileges are all reinstated. You can go see MJ now."
"Actually, I think I'm just gonna chill here for now. Sometimes space is good. Keeps the relationship fresh."
"My my, someone's matured over the week."
With that final note, Aunt May left and closed the door to Peter's bedroom. One. Two. Three. Immediately Peter rushed to his door and listened to make sure Aunt May was fully downstairs and unaware. Once the coast was clear, he opened his window and practically dove out. A quick swing over and he was already knocking on MJ's window. She barely unlocked the latch before Peter tackled her to the ground and smothered her with kisses.
"Hehehe Peterrr it hasn't been that long!"
"Mwah Mwah Mwah God I've missed you MJ. Mwah mwah mwah,"
"Hahaha I missed you too, Tiger. C'mere and kiss me properly."
Doing as he was told, Peter lined up his lips with hers and passionately kissed her. She hugged his neck holding him in place to contain his frenetic energy. Complete and utter joy washed over the both of them as they reveled in their first contact since last week. Though they separated for air, Peter continued his smothering by kissing her cheek, then her other cheek, her nose, her jawline, and down to her neck.
"Haha Peter pleaseee you're acting like a caveman who just met a woman for the first time!"
"Not just any woman. The most beautiful woman in the world," he said in a husky tone as he nipped at her neck.
"Mmmm can we at least move to the bed and get more comfortable?"
"As the lady requests."
As he moved to get off her, Peter scooped MJ up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. Gently laying her down, he climbed in right next to her. Just like they were last week, she immediately curled into his arms and rested against his chest. Peter wrapped his arms around her like a protective cocoon and held her close stroking her hair.
"I love it when you hold me like this," she cooed, "It feels so warm. I feel so safe."
They laid in comfortable silence for a while just happy to be in each other's arms. MJ might've drifted off to sleep had Peter not shifted slightly.
"Hmm? Tiger? What's wrong?"
"One thing still kinda bugs me."
"What is it?"
"I still haven't found that last Lego stud. And it's driving me insane."
"Well, I know one thing."
She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek and half straddle him.
"I have MY stud right here."
AN: Hello there! I have returned! I'm so so sorry for leaving everyone hanging for over a month. I was on vacation for quite a while. I meant to post this yesterday on my birthday, but I just couldn't make the deadline. I hope everyone enjoys the read and has an absolute wonderful day :)