Peter Parker

I was at home, eating a bowl of mac and cheese, when I got the message from MJ. Something told me she had a heavy topic to discuss when I read her text. I looked at the screen for some seconds. I then frowned. I texted back, telling her I'd meet her around eight before I set my phone down. I continued to eat, trying to keep myself from being nervous. But, me being me, that was an impossible task.

The meetup was at the back of my mind throughout the rest of my day, even during the training session under Carmilla and Craig. When nighttime rolled around, I was somehow both relieved and even more nervous while I was on my way to Midtown.

With Edith in the sunglasses, which was over my face, I moved through Midtown and made my way to the roof, with Edith making sure that I wasn't picked up by the school's security system. I followed the route that I knew MJ used, knowing she'd keep the proper doors unlocked for me. Once I reached the door to the roof, I took in a breath. I was trying to prepare myself for the worst. I tapped the door two times with the side of my fist before I pushed it open. As expected, MJ was there, looking out towards the city. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder. After seeing me, she looked forward again. Slowly, I walked up to her, stopping at her side. I kept quiet, staring at the city and waiting for her to talk.

"…So, how was the rest of your day?" MJ asked.

"Oh, it went okay," I replied. "I was about to tell the others about what was going on with you, but Kitty figured it'd be best to hear it from you directly."

MJ made a noncommittal sound. "That's fair."

"…I hung out with Kaine for a while. I we bonded a bit, I think. After that, I swung by Brooklyn Bridge Park. I ended up sitting at the bench we sat on during our not-date. I got attacked by a would-be mugger."

MJ turned towards me. "Are you okay?"

I turned towards her and saw the look of worry on her face. I smiled. "Yeah, I am," I assured her. "I got my Spider-Sense back, along with my enhanced senses, so sensed him coming. Plus the fighting skills I've been learning came in real handy. I took him down with no problems before I walked away." MJ smiled slightly. I could see the relief in her eyes. "Other than that, I trained some more with Carmilla and Craig. And now, I'm here." I nodded towards her. "How was your day?"

She frowned. "Well, I finally talked with Mirror MJ face to face."

I raised my eyebrows. "How'd that go?"

"…It went." She reached for my hand and grabbed it. She then sat down cross-legged. She gave my hand a tug. Getting the message, I sat down in front of her, also cross-legged. She held onto my hand and looked me straight in the eye. "So, Clea managed to find a way for me to travel into the universe inside of me. She had to pluck the soul out of my body to do so." I grimaced a bit, remembering my battle with Doctor Strange. "After that was done, we travelled to the universe. The universe is… rather small."

"How small?" I asked.

"It's basically a just copy of New York City. Anyway, I ended up meeting her on the roof of that place's version of Midtown. She… She's not exactly happy about her predicament… and she's not exactly happy with you."

"…Is it because of me not keeping my promise?" The question was almost rhetorical. Somehow, I knew the answer.

"Yeah, it is," MJ confirmed. I nodded as I frowned. I wasn't even surprised.

"She hates me, doesn't she?"

"It's not so much hate as it is resentment. She still loves you, but she's not sure she can trust you or even forgive you after what you've done, and especially since she's been stuck alone in that universe all alone for sixth months. And that's… That's going to be an issue."

I tilted my head. "Why?"

"Clea offered the both us – me and Mirror MJ – a solution. Basically, we'd have our personalities merged into one. I'd get my memories back, she'd be free, and we'd basically be a new yet same MJ. The problem is that all of our emotions would carry over. That would also include her feelings of resentment. So, if I go through with it… our relationship will likely be impacted and…" She trailed off.

I didn't say anything in response. I dropped my gaze as I thought over what she told me. I didn't blame Mirror MJ for disliking me. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I handled the whole Mysterio situation horribly from the start and people suffered because of it. It was at that moment I realized that, in trying to distance myself from MJ (as well as the others), I ended up hurting her anyway. If there was any bit of doubt left in my mind over if I made the wrong decision the first time around or not, this cemented the fact that I certainly did.

"I really screwed the pooch," I whispered out.

"Peter," MJ whispered back.

I shook my head before I looked at her. "No, MJ. It's true. I'm not stressing over it… not really, anyway. But…" I sighed. "…Look, if you're thinking about taking Clea up on her offer, don't decline her offer for my sake." I frowned. "I made a lot of mistakes and hurt a lot of people. As much as it's going to suck, I have to face the consequences of my actions. So, whatever happens after you decide, I'll accept what happens next."

"Even if it means…?"

"Even if it comes to that." I didn't clarify what the "what" was. I didn't need to. I shook my head. "My decision making hasn't been the best. I know I've been working on it but… I put you… both of you… in this position. I have no right to be any kind of factor in whatever your decision will be, and I have no right to complain about the outcome. Besides, I care about you, and if you being away from me is what's best, then…" I trailed off. I didn't think I needed to say anything more – not that I wanted to.

MJ and I stared each other glumly. Without saying a word to each other, we both moved to our knees before we leaned forward and held each other in a tight hug for several seconds. While we held each other, I thought about every decision I made between the reveal and The Spell. For the first time in a while, feelings of self-loathing started to cloud my head. Maybe I should've gone to Pepper straight away rather than Doctor Strange. Maybe, before I went to Doctor Strange, I should've discussed it with Ned and MJ first. I started to see how a lot of things could've been easily avoided if I didn't panic.

Hindsight –not only is it 20/20, but it can be a cruel and vindictive bitch.

After a long while, we pulled away from each other. We looked each other in the eye. I then smirked.

"So, is this the most depressing date ever or what?" I quipped, forcing a joke out.

"I'd say," MJ deadpanned as she pouted. "You didn't even buy me dinner. I shouldn't have swiped right."

I laughed a bit as she smiled. I then sighed. "You want to grab ice cream or something?"

"Yeah, this is definitely an ice cream kind of night."

So that's what we did. After grabbing an ice cream cone from a street vendor, we found a bench and just sat on it. We ate the ice cream in silence as we held hands.

The next morning, I woke up to my phone vibrating. I checked it to see that there was a text from MJ to the American Idiots group chat. I read it. She explained to everyone that was she was going through with her memories. I set my phone off to the side and sat up. After last night, I really didn't want to go to work. I wanted to just stay in bed for the whole day. But, I can't, because responsibilities and stuff.

"It's beginning to look a lot like 'Fuck this'," I sung to myself bitterly before I threw the sheets off of me.

After getting ready, I went to The Daily Bugle. I was at a desk, uploading some of the pictures I took for the sake of stock onto the database via a computer. During this, I saw Betty from my peripheral as she walked up to me. I looked up at her to see she was holding two cups of coffee. She held one cup towards me.

"It's not from here," she said with a smile. I smiled back at her as I took the cup from her. I took a quick sip. She was right.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome." Her smile faded a bit. "You got time to talk?"

A minute or so later, we were in the archives room.

"Are you okay?" Betty asked.

I shrugged. "I… guess…" I shook my head. "I'm not."

"Is it about MJ's situation?"

I nodded slowly. "It's a huge part of it."

She tilted her head. "But Clea has a solution, doesn't she?"

"She does, and that's part of the reason I'm worried." Betty gave me a look of confusion. I sighed. "Mirror MJ… she still loves me, but she also resents me… a lot. And I don't blame her. Because of that, if Clea goes through with her solution, Mirror MJ's emotions would carry over, and my relationship with MJ could take a hit."

Betty nodded in understanding. "And you're not happy about it. So you're against it?"

I shook my head. "I'm not. I even told MJ not to consider my feelings when she makes her decision."

"How come?"

"I don't have the right." I pressed my lips together for a moment. "A lot of what led to The Spell was me making decisions without stopping to think what other people wanted. I… I wanted to keep the people close to me safe, and I did so without considering other people's feelings. Mirror MJ has all the right in the world to resent me over that, especially since it led to her being stuck and alone in a universe without anyone to even interact with. I'd hate me over that if I were in her shoes." I shook my head. "I guess, at this point, I'm just trying to prepare for what could be the end of me and MJ."

Betty grimaced. "You probably shouldn't put that out there in the universe."

"Maybe so, but I deserve whatever happens." I grimaced. "Fuck Past Peter. Fuck me."

"Oh for God sake, Peter, have a little faith," Betty interjected. "Maybe it won't come to that. And even if it does, sometimes the end is not the end. After all, Ned and I were broken up for a bit before relatively recently." She tilted her head briefly. "Granted, we've broken up under amicable terms, but still. The way I see it, this is just something you and MJ have to work through. And if a break is needed, well… that's not the end of the world either. I guess what I'm trying to say is… don't be so pessimistic."

I stared at her for some moments. I then tilted my head briefly. "I guess you're right."

"I tend to be every now and again." She winked at me, causing me to smile slightly.

We made our way back up. I was feeling better – not much better, but better nonetheless. I figured my week wouldn't suck so much.

I was wrong.

As soon as Betty and I stepped out of the elevator and into our floor, we were met by Robbie.

"Hey you two," he greeted. "Jonah wants you in his office ASAP."

"Is everything okay?" Betty asked.

"Define 'okay'." With that, he walked away. Betty and I shared a look. Something told me that we weren't going to like what Jonah had to say to us.

We made our way to Jonah's office. We slowly made our way in. As I closed the door behind me, Jonah was talking on the phone. As he talked, he beckoned us to sit. Betty and I did, taking a seat on the two chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes… yes… yes… No, the evening would be better," Jonah said into the phone. "More people will be at home, so that means better ratings… and more people seeing you, of course. Okay… Okay… Okay, sounds good. See you then. Bye." He hung up the phone and looked straight at us. "Brant, Parker, I need two extra pairs of hands on Wednesday at the studio!"

"How come?" Betty asked.

"It's simple! We landed an interview with Kraven!" I smiled slightly. It wasn't a happy smile. It was all I could do to hide the fact that I wanted to flip over Jonah's desk. "I'll need an extra pair of hands to help with camera operations and streaming. I spoke with the IT department, and they assured me there won't be another repeat of the Cyclops situation!"

"Noted," I said. "We'll be there."

"Good! Now back to work!"

Betty and I stood up and walked out of the office. I looked towards Betty. "I'm going to make a quick phone call. I'll be back."

I made my way out of the building. I walked away a few steps before I pulled out my phone and called up Kitty. After a few rings, she picked up.

"Hello," she greeted.

"Hey Kitty," I replied. I sighed. "I got something to tell you. And before you ask, no, I didn't get myself into trouble."

"Good. I really didn't want to brush up on my flaying skills this week." She sounded like she was joking. I wasn't sure she was. "Seriously, what's up?"

"Well, our biggest fan got an interview with a certain someone. Want to take a guess who I'm talking about?"

She didn't answer at first. After some seconds, she spoke up. "…So Jonah will be interviewing Kraven. When will that interview be?"

"It's happening on Wednesday night."

"…Good."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Good?"

"Yeah. So, the rest of our little group had a bit of a meeting this morning. I wanted to call you, but something told me you wasn't' exactly in the best of moods considering what was going on with MJ. You got time for details?"

"I think a quick summary would be best," I said.

"Okay," Kitty stated. "So, we got information from the laptop Betty lifted. While we didn't get any information on The Jackal, we did get one interesting tidbit. So, as we already know, Kraven is backed and sanctioned by the U.S. government. However, it goes a bit deeper than that. Kraven is being bankrolled by one specific person – a certain Stark-wannabe."

I didn't respond at first. What she just told me was sinking in. I took in a breath before I let it loose audibly.

"Hammer," I commented bitterly. "We're dealing with Hammer again, aren't we?"

"It seems like we are. We'll have to keep our heads on a swivel."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah. I need you and Betty to be at that interview and keep an eye on Kraven. We were looking for a proper day to invade Hammer Industries' headquarters. With Kraven being preoccupied on Wednesday, that'll give us plenty of time to plan and prepare. And then, during the interview, we can put our plan into motion while Kraven is none the wiser. If anything comes up during the interview, let me know. Until then, just sit tight, okay?"

"Will do."

"Good. Thanks for letting me know. You have a good rest of the day, little brother."

"You too, Kitty."

I ended the call. I then made my way into the building. Once I was in the elevator, I sent a text to Betty explaining to her what the X-Men were doing. Once I reached the floor, I stepped out of the elevator. I looked over at Betty. The two of us shared a look. Once again, Hammer became a thorn in our side, because of course he was.

"Maybe MJ was right," I muttered to myself as I sat back down at the computer I was uploading pictures on. "Maybe I should have become an accountant." I then scoffed. "Then again, knowing my luck, I'd be in the IRS, investigating Hammer for Tax Fraud or Tax Evasion."