Disclaimers:

All Spider-Man and all its related characters belongs to Marvel Entertainment, which is owned by Walt Disney Company, and the Sam Raimi Original Trilogy belongs to Sony Pictures Entertainment. No infringement of these copyrights are intended, and not authorized by copyright holders.

Ever since he ditched that costume of his in the garbage bin, Peter never felt more content with his life.

No longer does he wake up still feeling exhausted in the morning every time after a nightly patrol, no longer had to worry about paying the rent, no longer had to be late for class due to a inconvenient crime just so happened to occur around the corner, no longer had to worry about handing in his homework on time.

Pretty much, for the first time ever, life's been perfect for Peter Parker.

So perfect in fact, he even got to enjoy the little things in life that he couldn't before when he was busy with web-swinging, such as strolling casually along the relaxed streets of Manhattan in a carefree manner and enjoying a delicious hot dog he ordered from a random corner stand.

He almost forgotten how relaxing it was to live such a normal, casual, everyday life.

On one bright sunny day, Peter coolly woken up out of bed, stretching his arms out with a yawn. Later, after having a good decent breakfast meal and full of energy, he got started on picking which of his ordinary clothes he would be wearing for the day, packed his college books he gathered for his studies into his bag and headed his way downstairs, right by the streets where his moped was chain-locked to a nearby pole.

After giving it a good revved up his moped, Peter made sure his bag was already stacked with his study books and written papers. He then rode his way to Empire State University.

Finally arriving on campus, with plenty of time to spare, he thought to himself, Peter managed to make his way into a lecture hall for the science class without missing a single second of his teacher's lesson.

"... And when the borderline is tau equals zero, the eigenvalues are... ?" Dr. Connors paused intentionally to allow his students to give their answers. "Someone, please?"

Hearing that as his cue, Peter raised his hand up, waving his pen in the air without hesitation. To Dr. Connors' delightful smile, he quickly pointed at his once-more brilliant student.

"2.5 electron volts," Peter gave his solution to the equations both confidently and flawlessly.

After class concluded for the day, Peter, along with his surrounding college mates, walked out of the lecture hall and all went to their separate paths. Along the way out, Dr. Connors just walked past by, giving him an acknowledging elbow tap with his left arm.

"Excellent work today, Parker," Dr. Connors complimented his top student's recently amazing performance. "Keep it up."

Peter smiled brightly in response to his teacher's words, feeling enlightened that he's finally gotten the respect that was long overdue for him. Now, there's still one thing he needed, or rather, finally wanted to attend to.

Later that night, Mary Jane was doing another theater day of Importance of Being Earnest. Currently, she's at a point in the play where she was in a dialogue with her fellow male co-star.

"I'm not really wicked at all. You mustn't think that I'm wicked. I'm not really wicked at all. You mustn't think that I'm wicked," MJ's male co-star said in his posh accent.

"If you are not, then you have certainly been deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner," MJ shot back in the same accent. "I hope you have not been leading a double life... pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy."

"Of course, I have been rather reckless."

As MJ gave a small glance towards the audience, the one person she wasn't expecting to be there among them was actually Peter. Been caught her off-guard by his presence, the redhead couldn't help but blush by his annoyingly irresistible, yet lovely smile.

Little did she realized, MJ was so focused on her boyfriend's sudden appearance, it actually distracted her from her acting performance, forcing someone off-stage to try grab her attention.

"I am glad."

When she heard that muddled voice for the second time, MJ looked away from Peter and back on stage, seeing her director standing behind her male co-star from the backdrop set, reminding her of her next lines.

"I am glad. I am glad," Her director whispered in an annoyed tone, trying to get her back into focus on the play.

Already, MJ dazed off as she completely lost her train of thought, forgetting what was supposed her next line.

"Are you glad to hear it?" The male co-star reiterated the director's words while remained in-character.

Now getting the message, MJ managed to get her mindset back into her role. "I am glad... to hear it."

"In fact, now you mention the subject... I have been very bad in my own small way."

Despite that little hiccup for less than a minute, the play managed to proceed very well all the way to the end.

Some time after the play was concluded and the audience left the theater for the night, Peter and Mary Jane were strolling along in Chinatown, planning to have their lunch together.

"You were so wonderful. That was such a great play," Peter complimented his girlfriend's performance, as he had finally happy to see her on stage for the first time.

"You could've told me you were coming," MJ said.

"Well... I just want to keep it a surprise, y'know," Peter said, though with an unconvincing tone in his voice.

MJ got a weird hunch there's something more to her boyfriend than he's letting on.

First thing she noticed was Peter was wearing his old pair glasses, and the last time he ever wore those was that day of the field day they went together, and she never recalled him wearing them since.

Additionally, the way his posture goes; Peter seemed a bit more relaxed as usual, as if the heavy toll of responsibility had been lifted off of his shoulders. And strangely, the beautiful tinkling feeling she used to feel radiating off of him, for some reason, she couldn't feel any of it.

Feeling worried that something might've happened to him in these past couple of days, Mary Jane had to ask him. "You look different."

Peter was taken back by MJ's words. "I shined my shoes, pressed my pants, did my homework," MJ did a double take at his last words. He just shrugged. "I do my homework now. You wanna get some Chow Mein?"

MJ grabbed him by the arm, stopping him in his tracks, knowing he would try to avoid her concerning question about his own wellbeing for the sake of trying to have a good time with her. "Please... tell me what's been going on with you lately," She begged to him.

Peter raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Pete, I know there's something changed about you," MJ pointed out. " For these past few months, you've been looking a bit down, and then you all of the sudden, you just turned up to my play with this weird uplifting spirit just out of nowhere."

"So, you're saying I shouldn't have some fun in my life?" Peter said somewhat accusingly, not fully understanding what she was implying about.

"I'm not saying I wasn't glad to see you happy. Far from it. I just want to know what's been happening with you since we last spoken, that's all."

"Mary Jane, I... " Peter let out a long exhale, knowing he'll get to this conversation eventually. "Actually, I had a thought about some things for these past couple of days."

"And... ?"

"After you decided to try live your own life without Spinneret, I thought I could try balancing my two lives together on my own, as Spider-Man and Peter Parker, but it's been so hard trying to do both, and until now, I never realized it took me away from any time I wanted to spend with you."

"Peter... I know you never intended to neglect me," MJ tried to reassure her boyfriend. "You've been so focused on saving the people, and I fully understand that you can't be there for me all the time."

"And that's when I realized that's not what I wanted to do, what I wanted to do is focus on the life in front of me... with you. Besides, this city doesn't need me."

MJ's eyes then widened when she realized the meaning behind those words. "So, you're saying... " Her words trailed off with a hint of fear in her voice as she couldn't finish her sentence.

"Yeah," Peter nodded, confirming her fears without any hesitation. "I'm Spider-Man... No More... "

Words: 1446

A/N: With Peter's happiness going, so happens to be the turning point for Mary Jane in this story.

The next chapter will be more or less focused on how Peter's new status quo will have an effect on MJ, regarding how she views her own actions from her initial retirement and the guilt that comes from that, also a bit of rearrangement of a few scenes and additional ones that I feel would be beneficial to the next chapter's structure.

Anyway, any constructive criticisms and comments would be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

Reviews:

DCDGojira: Appreciated, man.

And yes, MJ will indeed have some words when she'll find out about another reason why Peter retired in the first place.

FandomLover2006: Cheers for your kind words.

And yep, obviously off-screen, considering it doesn't have any relevance to either protagonists. And for the last bit, she will for a short brief in the next chapter.

TW: Thanks.