Michelle "MJ" Jones

I didn't get much sleep after talking to Dr. Drumm. Even though the session ended at a reasonable time, it still took me a while to go to sleep. I had a lot on my mind. I knew I needed to speak with Peter and I was dead set on having that conversation with him before we even touch the Black Dahlia. The only question was how I was going to have this talk with him. The last time we talked, I handled things poorly, from the timing all the way down to how I responded. I really, really didn't want a repeat of last time.

Despite how little sleep I got, I woke up rather early. It was a little before six o'clock. I sat on the bed, phone on my lap. I stared ahead, wondering how I was going to even start this conversation. It then occurred to me that this was probably a conversation I shouldn't be having over the phone. Part of it was because I had all the reason in the world to believe that my conversations were being listened in on. But it was mostly because I felt a conversation like this was something that needed to be had face to face.

I needed to set up a meeting place.

I picked up my phone, went through my contacts until I highlighted Pepper Potts' name. I had an idea of sorts. I dialed her number. I put the phone to my ear. When I did, I realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea to call her this early in the morning. Before I could hang up, Pepper picked.

"MJ, what a pleasant surprise," Pepper said.

"Hi Pepper," I greeted. "…I didn't wake you, did I?"

"I was already up. I'm just making breakfast for Morgan. Is everything okay?"

"…No, not really," I admitted.

"X-Men stuff?"

My eyebrows shot up. "Ummmmm…"

"Trust me, MJ, this line is secure. Feel free to speak openly. Besides, I figured something was up when Betty asked me about gathering the names of employees who were not so… amicable… in their exit from Stark Industries." I sighed. I forgot all about that. "Add in the fact that Scott said Peter would be unavailable to work at Stark for a while and what I saw on the news, I gathered that there is a major issue on the X-Men's hands."

"…There is, but I'm not calling about that… not really." I paused for a moment. "…Is there a place at Stark Industries where two people could talk… alone?"

"I would think so. We got so many offices that employees are allowed to let their kids use them as study spaces. Is there something you want to talk to me about?"

"Not you, Peter," I clarified. "…Peter and I broke up a while back and things have gone cold between us, then straight up hostile lately. And a good chunk of it is my fault."

"I see." I was afraid Pepper would ask questions about the issue. "Okay, I'm assuming there's good reason he can't meet you at your place or vice versa. I'll have a room available for you. Around what time do you want to meet him?"

I thought about it for a second. "Would 10 o'clock be okay?"

"That can be arranged. Is there anything else?"

I frowned. "…I know I'm asking a lot already but… can you call Peter and ask him to meet me?"

"That can be arranged. I need to check up on him, anyway. Well, I have to go. Motherhood calls. Be safe until then, okay?"

"Okay."

I left for Stark HQ about an hour and a half. On my way there, I stopped at a bodega. I really needed a pick me up and I had feeling a cup of coffee wasn't going to be enough. I went for looking for an energy drink. On this day, of all days, the only energy drink they had that was cold was Cocaine.

Whatever higher power is up there had a sick sense of humor.

When I arrived at Stark HQ, I told the security guard who I was and that I was supposed to meet at a room reserved by Pepper Potts. After a quick chat over the walkie-talkie, someone came out and escorted me inside and through the building until I was led to a room. The room looked like it could've been an office at one point. There was a small desk there, along with two rolling office chairs. There was also a dry erase board on the wall with a metal tray that held a few markers. Beyond that, there was nothing else – no computer or phone or anything else you'd find in an office. I wonder if that was by design. Anyway, I just took a seat and waited for Peter to come.

Some minutes went by before the door opened. I turned in my seat to see Peter. He was dressed in blue jeans and a grey hoodie. He also had on the Edith glasses. I saw him as he put away a facemask – the kind some people would wear when they are sick. I figured he was trying to keep his face obscured while he made his way here.

"Hey," I greeted quietly.

"…Hey," he replied. His tone wasn't cold, but it wasn't friendly either. I wasn't sure he wanted to be here. I guess I couldn't blame him if that was the case. But here he was.

"How are you?"

"I'm tired." Peter paused for a moment. "How are you?"

"Same. I… I had a lot to think about last night."

"…Same."

We went quiet for some seconds. I was a bit nervous about how I wanted to proceed and I figured Peter was in the same position. It was like the two of us was standing on different sides of a minefield with the only safe spot being in the middle of it. Did Peter even want to meet in the middle? Well, he was here, so maybe. But still, I wasn't sure.

Well, time to try and clean up this mess I made.

I beckoned towards the office chair. "Please sit," I whispered. Slowly, he walked over to the chair. He pulled it back, putting a few feet between the two of us. I fought off the urge to frown as he sat down. He took a moment to take his sunglasses off before he set them on the desk beside us. He then sat back and stared at me. I decided to take that as a sign to start talking. "There's… a lot I want to talk to you about. So, just bear with me, please." Peter said nothing, but he nodded. "…I want to apologize for picking a fight with you that night. It was childish of me and you didn't deserve that, especially after what you were going through that day. I'm also sorry about how dismissive I was of your feelings." I frowned. "I was still wound up from what happened at Hammer Industries and I couldn't quite handle being called out on my own shit and I was lashing out." I shook my head. "I was wrong for that."

Peter stared at me for some seconds. I could see the gears turning in his head. He tilted his head.

"Why Brad?" he asked. "Why were you willing to be around him while I had to keep my distance? Why were you able to forgive him but not me?"

"I didn't forgive him!" I said that a bit too quickly and loudly. Peter's eyes went a bit wide in surprise. I took in a breath before continued. "I didn't forgive him. Even when he apologized to me a week or so ago, I told him straight up that I wasn't anywhere near ready to forgive him."

Peter shook his head. "Then why eat with him? I just don't get it."

"It's…" I trailed off for a moment. "…Look, eating with Brad wasn't something I planned. I was with Liz when Brad showed up. And then she urged me to go eat with him. I went with him because she wouldn't shut up about it." I pouted a bit. "…Considering what I know now, maybe she wasn't just being annoying."

Peter's eyes narrowed. "Is that the only reason?"

"…No." I paused for a moment. "Peter… Brad has never been more than a friend to me. And he wasn't that close of a friend to begin with. There was never that much trust there. But with you, it was different. I didn't just trust you. I loved you… and I still do. But I still have you not keeping your promise in the back of my mind, along with everything that happened because of it. And I know… I know you apologized and I know you've been working on that, but there was a part of me that was stuck all alone with no one else around in a universe that was only the size of New York City, and…" I trailed off again. "You're the second person I ever fell for and, even though you did what you did with good intentions, both of you ended up wronging me. You get that, don't you?"

"…Sort of." Peter raised his eyebrows in confusion. "…Wait, I wasn't the first person you dated?"

Now I was the one confused. "No, you're not. I never told you about Cass?"

"…No, you did not."

I started to realize that maybe Peter and I didn't know each other as well I thought we did. Then again, maybe that shouldn't have been a surprise. He didn't know about the specific details about the issues between my mom and dad until we talked about it in Palm Springs.

"…During my second year in middle school, I used to run with a crew," I began. "It was this crew that my sister was a part of."

"What kind of crew?" Peter asked. "You mean, like a gang?"

"No, at least not really. We were just a bunch of graffiti artists. I begged my sister Gayle to let me join for about a year and a half. She didn't want me to join because she didn't want me to be wrapped up in any consequences the crew dealt with if things went south. As you can imagine, they often trespassed to get to the places they tagged. Still, I begged until my sister relented. She mentored me in graffiti. I knew how to draw, but spray painting was something different. But I took to it like water. Once I was good enough, she took me to tag this wall out in Yonkers. Eventually, I started going on crew runs. The crew mostly did things out of protest of things that was happening in the city or in the world." I smiled slightly. "It was up my alley."

"And your parents didn't know?"

I shook my head. "No. At least, they didn't at first. Gayle was the one who had friction with my parents. Since I was doing great in the classroom and got accepted into Midtown, they thought I was keeping my nose clean. But then Cass joined the crew. When she joined, I was in the middle of my eighth grade year while she was a freshman in high school. She and I became fast friends. She was interested in art, politics, engineering… practically everything I was interested in. Gayle didn't like her much, though. She couldn't quite word it, but she felt Cass was untrustworthy. I thought Gayle was being paranoid, especially when Cass and I started dating on the low." I paused. "…I guess this would be a good time to mention that I'm bi."

Peter's mouth went ajar. After blinking a couple of times, he shook his head. "What else I don't know about you?" he said. I don't know if he asking me or talking to myself. Or maybe he was just thinking out loud.

"A lot, apparently," I replied. "Anyway, Cass and I were dating and things were going great. But then that night happened. Some new trains were bought by the MTA and the crew wanted to tag them. So we went to Lenox Yard late at night. Things were going good at first. But then the cops showed. We tried to run, but most of us got arrested. That included me, Gayle, and Cass. We were all down in the station, and I was scared as hell. We were taken one by one to interrogation. When Cass was taken in, she wasn't taken back to the cell we were all in. I didn't realize why until I was taken into interrogation. Along the way, I saw Cass through the window of this door, eating a burger and fries with a drink."

Peter eyebrows furrowed up. "…She flipped."

"She did. When I was in interrogation, all I could do was cry. I thought I was done for. That was, until a cop who happened to be from another precinct intervened. It was Yuri Watanabe. Even to this day, she's like one of two police officers I really trust."

Peter smiled slightly. "You know Yuri?"

"I do." I nodded towards Peter. "How do you know her?"

"We've met during that big fire. You know, the one where the X-Men made their name known again?"

"Oh." I smiled slightly. "Small world, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if it wasn't for her, I would have been fucked. Or, at least, things would've been worse. Gayle and I were let go, but our parents were pissed. There was a huge argument between my parents and Gayle. By the end of it all, Gayle was sent to go live with my relatives while I was grounded for a month. I straight up told my parents I hated them because of that." I frowned. "Maybe to an extent I did and still do." I sighed. "As for Cass, I haven't talked to her since. She tried to call me, but I blocked and deleted her number. It was at this point I started trusting people a lot less and observing a lot more."

"…Shit," Peter commented.

"…Peter, I know you did what you did with the best of intentions," I said. "But…"

"I betrayed your trust." He said this evenly.

I raised my eyebrows. "Do you understand now?"

Peter shook his head. "I always understood, Michelle – just, not to this extent." He sighed. "…I'm sorry you went through that."

"It's not your fault. I guess I still carry a lot of that resentment with me and that's been influencing how I've been handling things. I just wish it didn't take me speaking with Dr. Drumm to realize it."

Peter chuckled humorlessly. "Funny you mention that…"

I was given pause. "You talked to Dr. Drumm last night too?"

Peter nodded. "I did," he confirmed. "Kitty and I talked after she dropped off some things to David's place. I vented to her about what was going on between the two us."

I scoffed. "Let me guess. She wasn't thrilled about me having lunch with Brad."

Peter shook his head. "Not even a little bit. But, despite that, she called me out on my own hypocrisy. I decided to talk to Dr. Drumm about it." He bowed his head. "And then… that led to talk about other stuff."

I narrowed my eyes. "What about?"

"…It's a long story." He then looked up at me. "Plus, you told me a lot. Are you sure you don't want to save this for later?"

I shook my head. "Peter, you listened to me. The least I could do is listen to you."

He stared at me for a moment. He then stood up as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his facemask.

"Let's go," he said.

I stood up slowly as I looked at him in confusion. "Where are we going?" I asked.

After he put on his mask, he reached over and grabbed his sunglasses before he put them on.

"We're going to go see my uncle and aunt."