The sound of a loud alarm jostled Peter awake, his eyes shooting open. He glanced over to see that, despite its incessant blaring, his wife remained still. Reaching over her so he could at least shut off the obnoxious noise himself, he took her phone and quickly silenced the unwelcome blaring.
"Alright, looks like it's time for one of us to get up," he said, but still, she didn't move. "Hey, sleepy head, wake up," he insisted, but still nothing. He had to say this was very unusual for her; normally, she was the one getting him up as he threatened to oversleep after a long patrol the night prior. Today, their roles were reversed, and he wasn't sure how to handle it.
He tried bumping her gently in the arm and rubbing his hand up and down her back, but she hardly stirred. Peter then tried an even closer approach, leaning in and giving her gentle kisses on her cheek. She moved slightly, even smiling a little, but still didn't open her eyes or even say anything. He then leaned back as he stared at her, contemplating his next move. Peter would be lying if he wasn't considering doing something she'd done to him fairly often to get him up in the morning: a good whacking in the head with a pillow. Peter couldn't find the heart to do it today though, as Mary Jane just looked so blissfully peaceful.
Feeling there was only one real option left, Peter threw the covers off himself, shifting over and exiting the bed. He walked past the living room and into the kitchen, where he grabbed the necessary ingredients to put on a nice, hot pot of coffee. As he did so, he began a countdown in his head and, sure enough, just as he'd reached around three minutes, his wife could be seen slowly making her way to the kitchen table, her robe thrown over her nightly outfit.
"Morning," he greeted.
"Mmorning," she muttered, seemingly still not all there yet. The coffee was soon ready, and he poured a hot cup of the stuff, mixing in just a little peppermint oil and bringing it over to her.
"Glad to see that you're your usual cheerful self this morning," Peter said as he set the cup on the table in front of her.
"Mhm," she muttered again, her eyes only barely open as she grabbed the cup and took just the faintest sip. Slowly, she began to perk up at least to where her eyes were open most of the way.
"You must have gotten in really late last night," Peter said as he went to get some of the drink for himself. "Usually, it's the other way around. Did you and Liz get everything prepped for today?"
"I think so," she said. "I don't know; I'll probably remember on the way there."
Peter could only chuckle at the unusual state he was finding his wife in. The normally more energetic woman had been hard at work recently in preparation for a major sale her and Liz's store was putting on today, where part of the proceeds would go towards feeding families in need. The idea had been Mary Jane's brainchild and was something she'd been hard at work on for a while, but last night had clearly made all the rest of her efforts pale by comparison if she was THIS exhausted.
Once he filled up his own cup, Peter went and sat down next to his wife, who seemed to be a little more alive with each sip of her drink.
"So, what are you going to do with your off day today?" his wife inquired.
"Half day off," he corrected her. "Don't forget that I'm still coming over this afternoon to take some photos for the Bugle of your charitable efforts."
"Oh yeah," M.J. said, rubbing her temples with her fingers. "Wow, I'm really not off to a good start today."
"Cut yourself some slack," Peter assured her as he took a sip of his own coffee. "But to answer your question, I don't know, I guess keep working on some ideas for the startup I want to do."
"There you go," Mary Jane replied.
"Yeah, hopefully," Peter said. "Who knows, maybe I'll figure out what exactly it is that I even want to start up in the first place."
"You'll figure it out," M.J. encouraged him. "You're the smartest person in the world."
"Aww, that's sweet," Peter teased, "and here I was thinking I was just a pretty face."
"I mean, I wouldn't argue with that point either," she replied, a mischievous look in her eye as she glanced at him while taking another sip of her coffee.
"Lucky for me," he said. "Anyway, how busy do you think it'll be today?"
"We're hoping for our biggest day yet," Mary Jane answered. "We've been doing a lot of press and online networking for this campaign, and we've already been trending upwards very well in our sales, so there's no reason to think that won't happen."
"Wow," Peter said, "did I mention how proud of you I am? I mean, you and Liz came to the city and, with some hard work, have made essentially the beginnings of your own fashion empire. Next thing you know, you two will be bigger than the Olsen twins."
"Aww, and here I was thinking I was just a pretty face," M.J. teased back, her echoing of his own words clearly deliberate.
"I mean, if we're talking about your best qualities..."
Mary Jane chuckled, smiling as she took another drink. After a little more early morning talk, they finally decided both go ahead and get ready for the day. As he often did, Peter let his wife pick out his outfit for the day; it was something he'd picked up early on that she liked to do, and he had zero problems with letting her do so most of the time, especially when he had somewhere he had to be for a Bugle assignment. He knew that she enjoyed doing so, and there was very little he wasn't willing to do to make her happy.
Once that was finished, they went back to the front of the apartment. Since it was a nice day out, M.J. planned to ride her bike to work today rather than take the bus, so as she neared the front door, they turned to say their goodbyes for the time being. She threw her arms over his shoulders as he wrapped his own around her waist, the two giving each other a kiss.
"I can't believe it's already almost been a year," Mary Jane said.
"I know," Peter replied. "Does it feel like time just moves faster as we get older, or is that just me? Maybe it's just our perception of time seems to change as we age? There's got to be a way to figure that out. Maybe if I start keeping some kind of log, and I can figure out a way to..."
His wife shut him up with another kiss.
"Or maybe it's just that time flies when we're together," she suggested.
Peter could only let out a huff through his nostrils.
"Sorry," he said. "I guess when I get on a roll, it's hard to stop. Old habits really do die hard."
"It's okay," Mary Jane assured him. "You're really cute when your brain's on fire."
"Thanks, I think," Peter replied to his wife's interesting word choice of a compliment. The two of them locked eyes, and something in his M.J.'s look seemed to shift a little. It was a strange thing that happened a lot between them, where it seemed like a switch was flipped and their eyes became magnetized to each other. They both leaned in, and soon their lips met. Peter tightened his grip on his wife as they sank deeper into each other, with her doing the same.
Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long, as M.J.'s phone rang, causing them to have to separate.
"I have to take this," she said. The two of them leaned in for one more quick peck before M.J. walked out the door to answer her phone. Peter let out a sigh; he knew that it was for the better that she had left, since she had a busy day ahead of her at work that she needed to get to, but still, it was always hard not to be disappointed in this kind of situation.
Figuring he might as well get started for the day as well, Peter went into the room that he had set up as his home lab/think tank. He walked over towards his drawing board, examining some ideas he had brainstormed up the night before. One was an idea for a new kind of prosthetic, the other was a new compound that could seal things together without the mess of traditional glue. He stood there pondering on the ideas for a while, but eventually decided to just erase it all. He'd looked into the prosthetic thing the night before in particular, and the research was already highly competitive as it was, with many different individuals or facilities making several advances already. The compound thing was a cool idea in concept, but it just... it didn't feel important enough. If he was going to invent something or improve on an already existing concept, it had to be something significant, something that would change lives and improve the world around him for the better.
Sitting down at his desk, Peter opened up his computer and began scouring the internet for any kind of inspiration. He looked especially at issues common in the city, hoping one of them might jumpstart an idea in his brain. After over an hour of research, he ditched that in favor of looking through the latest scientific research on various diseases or other physical ailments, wondering if maybe he would notice something that others had missed that might come to mind for him. He found no luck in there either; in frustration, Peter closed the book he'd been looking at, running his hands through his face.
For years now, he'd been looking off and on for some kind of job that would really kickstart his career in the field of science. He'd struggled to really find something that would be a good fit, and the few times that he had found something, Spider-Man had managed to find a way to interfere with a potential interview, as always. He'd often thought about just trying to do his own thing, but had always squashed the idea, knowing that he didn't have anywhere close to the means to even get started.
That is, until Robbie's wedding gift to him of a $10,000 check. It was that check that he found himself glancing at on the right corner of his desk, where he'd laid it out to remind him of his motivation. It was not only the money itself, but the fact that someone other than May or M.J. had expressed belief in him when he had mentioned the idea of opening his own lab. His current boss and friend had enough faith in him to commit a healthy sum of his own money to his potential efforts, which wasn't something Peter considered lightly. M.J. had also committed herself to supporting him through her business once he felt he was ready, since it was now thriving more than ever before.
All of this only served to make Peter even more frustrated at his lack of ability to come up with anything. Here these people were that had so much faith in what he could do more for the world that was not just webbing up bad guys and saving people as Spider-Man, but as himself, and yet, he couldn't even so much as decide on an idea to start on. Still, that check was a reminder of that faith, as was the picture next to it, one of him and Mary Jane on their wedding day nearly a year ago, which was a reminder of who he was doing this for. He wanted to change lives, even save them, but he also wanted to make a world that was even better for the woman he loved more than life itself.
Filled with a renewed determination, Peter refocused, reaching over and grabbing another book, hoping that something would finally bring an idea to his brain. Before he could get very deep into it though, his phone rang. He glanced over to see that it was someone he hadn't heard from in a while: Maria Thompson, Flash's mom. He tapped the answer button, putting the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Peter," the woman spoke up. "Hi, it's Maria, Flash's mom."
"Yeah, I remember," Peter assured her. "I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time. How are you?"
"I'm alright," she replied. Peter couldn't tell by her tone if that was true or not. "I'm sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
"Not at all!" Peter assured her. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, I called to tell you that Flash is coming home from the service, finally."
"What? That's amazing!" Peter exclaimed. "Congratulations, you must be so happy!"
"I am," the woman replied. "Listen, I know that this is short notice, but I was planning on throwing him a welcome home party tomorrow evening, and I was hoping that you and your wife might be able to come?"
"Yeah!" Peter assured her. "I mean, I'll have to check with M.J. just to make sure, but I'm pretty confident that we should be good to make it."
"Great," Maria replied. "It'll be at 7:00 at the community center in Midtown. Also, there's something I need to give you a heads up about..."
Before the woman could continue, Peter's spider sense went off. Barely even a couple of seconds later, an explosion could be heard somewhere in the distance. Racing to the window of his room, Peter could see nothing, but it wasn't long before ambulances could be heard.
"What was that?" Maria spoke up. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah!" Peter said, his mind suddenly returning to the conversation. "Yeah, I'm fine, but listen, I really need to go. It was great to hear from you; I'll see you tomorrow!"
Hanging up before he could even hear the lady's response, Peter hurriedly stripped down to his Spider-Man costume, sliding on his mask and checking his web shooters before leaping out the door, curious to see what, or who, had decided to cause a scene this time... and hopefully make sure no civilians had been lost in the process.
Well, we're off again on another adventure! I have a lot, A LOT in mind for this one, particularly in how I intend to incorporate a lot of characters into this story, some of which aren't listed in the tags yet. In any case, hopefully those of you who've followed this series so far will continue to enjoy, and those of you who just stumbled upon this...you might be a little confused at points, but that's okay!
Anyway, I know I say this a lot, but thank you once again to those who've followed my stories and this series especially. You all are a large part of why I do this, and I hope that this story doesn't completely destroy your faith in me!
Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy! Oh, and happy Easter in advance!
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
