First Impressions

"Welcome to Midtown High! I'm Liz, I'll be your student liaison."

"Mary Jane Watson. Pleasure to meet you!"

It wasn't just the beginning of a new semester. It was the first day of senior year. For Mary Jane, it was a new school, new borough of New York City, and brand new fresh slate. Her parents' divorce was finalized, and she had just changed school to get away from all the drama. New surroundings meant new MJ.

"Fantastic. May I see your schedule? I'll show you around," Liz politely extended her hand.

Nothing really stood out to the redhead as she looked around the school. Everything seemed fairly similar to her last school. Lockers adorned the hallways. Bulletin boards were plastered with a bunch of hand-drawn posters advertising fundraisers, club meetings, and upcoming football games. Though one ad about auditions for "A Comedy of Errors" piqued her interest. Something to follow-up on later.

*BANG*

A loud crash pulled MJ out of her reverie. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a large blonde guy in what looked like a varsity letterman jacket. He was standing over a smaller boy with books and papers all strewn about on the floor.

"Well well if it isn't Hobo Henry! It's the first day of school, Henry! You pay the toll-fee yet?" the blonde threatened.

"Please Flash! It's the first day of school! Cut me some slack! I only have enough for my own lunch."

"Sorry, bud. I don't make the rules. Fork it over!"

The nerve! MJ couldn't believe it. This felt so surreal. So out of place. A big jock bullying a young defenseless student over lunch money. What year was it? Had society not outgrown this brutish behavior? And everyone just stood around. No one was going to intervene? No one was going to stand up for little Henry? Well, Mary Jane was never one to follow the herd. Angrily, she rolled up her sleeves and let out a huff. But just before she took a single step, someone beat her to the punch.

"Seriously, Flash? This is so not a good look on you," a voice called out from the corner.

Mary Jane whipped her head around to find the source of the interruption. He walked forward step-by-step in his worn-down Air Jordan Ones. They were grey and scuffed and looked second hand. The boy had an air of confidence around him. He looked just about her height, maybe a little taller. Brown hair. Brown eyes. He looked slender but Mary Jane noted how he was filling out his sweater quite nicely. There was a look of determination in his eyes that kept Mary Jane so glued to them for some reason.

"C'mon man," the boy continued, "It's the first day of school. Besides, didn't you outgrow this whole bullying act?"

"What's it to you, Parker? For once you're not the one I'm pulling lunch money from. And we're seniors! We made it. Got nothing to lose now! Let me have my fun!"

"It's because we're seniors that we shouldn't do this anymore, Eugene!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Whatever. Point is, we're supposed to be the role models for younger students like Henry here. They look up to us. What do you think's gonna happen if the freshmen or sophomores see star senior quarterback Flash Thompson act like a jerk? They'll think it's cool and hurt other little guys. You want that on your conscience?"

"I-uh," Flash stammered.

"We're older now, Flash. We've got a responsibility now. Ok?"

Finally, the big jock was left speechless. Mary Jane could see the gears turning in his dumb meat head. Scoffing, Flash turned around and just left.

"Mary Jane. Mary Jane!"

"Huh?" MJ turned around to see Liz again.

"Come on. Your first class is over this way."

"Oh uh right. Thanks. Say uh who's that boy over there?"

"Him? Oh, that's just Peter. He's the school's biggest nerd."

"Really?"

"Yea he's like captain of the academic decathlon, robotics team, and uh I forget what else."

"Hmm."

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Her math class was a drag. The chemistry teacher might as well have been speaking in a foreign language. English was a nice reprieve as she was looking forward to reading "The Great Gatsby." It was now midday and time to get lunch. She clutched her little baggie which held a small salad and a chicken sandwich. The cafeteria was bustling as she walked through the double doors. Like any other school, tables were divided into typical cliques. Quickly, Mary Jane identified the football team, the band, the orchestra, the rich snobby brats, and the…..anime and manga club? Alright. She felt a shiver down her spine as she saw Flash glance her way. He had a confident smirk on his face and actually winked. Ugh. He gestured her to come over and smiled when she actually walked in his direction. He leaned back against his chair trying to look all cool and suave when she got closer.

"Well hello pretty lady. New girl, right? I'm Flash- HEY! Where are you going?"

With a scoff and a flip of her hair, Mary Jane ignored Flash completely and walked right past him. Instead, someone else had caught her eye. All eyes at Flashes table followed her until she reached her destination. She smirked and was slightly offended that the boy in front of her didn't notice her presence, especially because he was sitting alone at the moment. It was almost like he was in his own little world. His eyes were glued to his phone as his fingers scrolled through what looked like Twitter. She didn't mean to pry but she noticed that he was going through what looked like a thread about Spider-Man. Firmly but not so much as slamming, Mary Jane placed her lunch bag in front of the boy in question. He looked up from his phone slightly shocked at her appearance.

"Hello there," she greeted.

"Uhhh hi."

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Um sure. Go ahead."

She settled in and set her salad and sandwich on the table. Despite not yet making eye contact, she knew he was staring. She didn't mind. She knew she was pretty.

"Like what you see, Tiger?"

"Huh what? Um sorry! I didn't mean to stare."

"Hehe it's alright. I have that effect on people. Mary Jane Watson."

"Peter Parker. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Y'know. You're quite the looker yourself."

"What? Nah c'mon. I'm just a regular guy. Nothing fancy here."

Aw he was shy. But something intrigued her about him. It wasn't just his look, but his demeanor earlier. He looked so determined and confident when he went to save Henry. He was focused and unashamed. He was compassionate and kind. He was…hot. Hoping to tease a bit of the tension, she boldly reached over a grabbed a French fry from his lunch tray.

"May I?" she sweetly asked.

"Uh sure! All yours."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short, y'know. I think you're pretty cool."

"You barely even know me."

"Call it intuition. Honestly, from first impression alone, I think you're a really good guy."

Peter looked away and scratched the back of his head a bit to hide his blush.

"And what of me? What do you think, first impression-wise?"

"Uhh well you're really pretty."

"Pretty? That all you can say?" she giggled, "Face it, Tiger. With me, you've hit the jackpot."

AN: Hey everyone! So this again is a deviation from my usual Nightwing/Zatanna content. Don't worry, 'How to Be Chalant' is still my main focus. But, I've been hanging around brooklynvtc a lot (maybe a little too much haha) and she's really inspired me to delve into the world of Spider-Man. I've loved Spider-Man ever since I was a kid and I've always wished he'd get together (and stay together) with Mary Jane Watson. I'm a huge stan of that ship and just wanted to try my hand at writing romance between them. I'm still unsure if I want to do a full timeline so I'm going to start out with one-shots. (Then again, HTBC started out as a series of one-shots so who knows haha). Hope all is well with you all and Happy 2023!

P.S. You MUST check out brooklynvtc 's story Spider-Who? . It's a beautiful love letter to all that is Spider-Man as it follows MCU Spidey and how he fell in love with on Mary Jane Watson.