Peter knew this was quickly becoming a bad idea. He had taken to visiting MJ against his better judgment, swinging by her apartment from time to time. Despite the careful attempt to distance himself from his past, he could not ignore the draw he feels toward her. It was one of the most difficult things to try & live without. He had not yet entirely processed everything that had transpired, but a handful of things were very clear. The first thing was that no one knew who he was. The second thing was that no one needed to. He had stumbled back into his world & had to bury his Aunt May nearl immediately. With her, he buried any connections from his old life, no matter how much it may hurt. The risk was too great. If Norman Osborn could figure out who Spider-Man was, it was only a matter of time before someone else followed in his path. Until then, he would have to steal moments like this, hoping they wouldn’t come to haunt MJ.
The butterflies that beat in his chest when he sees her are… excessive. Spider-Man crawls towards her from above, hanging upside down for a moment while he takes in the scene. He knows it’s not the same as it was, nor will it ever be. Still, she’s wrapped up in what had once been one of his favorite hoodies. It made him think of shared kisses on cold winter nights, how tight they had held on to keep one another warm. It makes him want to tear off his mask & drag her into the sort of embrace they used to share… But that was no longer an option. The only mark he had on her life was his jacket. It was oddly satisfying that there was something left of him for her to carry. He had left it endlessly at her apartment, always claiming that he would bring it home next time… There was always supposed to be a next time. He swallows the thought with her greeting, soaking in the familiarity despite his better judgment.
“ Smooth. I like flattery, flattery works for me. “ Though there is a bright sort of sarcasm to the words, there is reality to them as well. Still, he can’t help but notice how tired she looks. He wonders if she knows something is wrong, if she knows her life is missing a Peter Parker sized chunk. He can’t afford to think of it or he’s sure he’ll falter. Still, his eyes light up at the mention of coffee. It was the sort of stupid, silly thing he missed. MJ had a way of making coffee that felt like home. He didn’t often partake in decaf but it was worth it for a cup with her. When Peter tried to make it on his own coffee it was always too strong or too weak, often tasting like he had fished it out of the garbage behind his apartment building. It’s funny how such a sweet memory had shifted into an odd sort of nightmare, self-imposed loneliness. He kept the truth so close to his chest that he thought his lungs might burst. MJ was a soulmate who was never meant to be. Peter was a stranger. He ignores how his thoughts threaten to drift in a thousand directions, dropping to his feet & standing upright. When he finds his voice, he speaks truthfully, “ I don’t think I could say no if I wanted to. “
Now, he could not help but feel he had wasted the safety he had found in her embrace. His perspective had changed, filling him with a bittersweet nostalgia surrounding his memories of what they had been. Of what she had felt like in his arms. There had been a time when he had thought they would be forever, despite the risks. Now he had to steal moments like this, even if looking at her made it all the harder. His mouth starts to feel dry while he dares to walk an invisible line he’s drawn for himself, “ Your hoodie — It’s cool. I like it.
Everything about him feels right. His voice should be echoing in her bathroom and his feed should be padding across the hardwood and in her mind’s eye she’s reaching over to touch his shoulder so he can turn around and face her and she swears, she swears she knows the face that she’ll see —
— “well, then, come on in.” Nothing. It’s nothing like in the movies, where she’d try to remember and just then, at the perfect moment, it would all come flooding back, and she’d understand why she keeps thinking that there should be somebody else here. Instead, it leaves her feeling a little, well, insane. There’s something missing, she insists, even though nothing has changed. There’s something wrong with me, she swears, even though she’s the same as she was yesterday. Mary Jane hoists herself up with a little huff of effort as she tries to keep her coffee balanced; the window into her living room is still open, and there is something not unlike instinct that prompts her to take his hand, covered in the fabric of his suit though it is, to tug him after her.
Is this the first time he’s been in her apartment? No, she doesn’t think so, but she can’t be sure. Still, she can, for some reason, picture him sprawled out on her couch, mask up just enough for him to practically inhale a sandwich. She shakes her head a little, as if to try and dislodge the image, before she climbs in, and she pulls him after her. He doesn’t need the support, or the help balancing, but that’s not enough for her to release his hand until they’re inside, and it would be actively weird to keep holding it.
As for the hoodie — “Thanks.” It’s been nearly a minute since he said it, but she answers anyway, tripping over herself to catch up to him. It’s a cold. Or she’s just not sleeping enough. That would explain all of it. “I, uh. Don’t know where I got it. But I like it, too.” There’s still some coffee, freshly made twenty minutes before, in the pot, and she takes a moment to try and select a cup she thinks he’d like before she pours him one. “Spoons in this drawer,” she says, nudging a half-open one with her hip, “and sugar on the counter. Milk and creamer in the fridge. I feel like after all this time, I should know how you take your coffee.”
She feels like she should know a lot of things. It’s got to be that she’s not sleeping enough. Nothing else really makes sense.
Her eyes follow him as he moves around her kitchen; it’s a modest apartment, overpriced like everything in New York always is, but it’s homey. She can cook exactly six dishes, and three of them are breakfast foods, so the kitchen is always dubiously stocked around those handful of recipes. There are three near-identical blankets, different only in color, draped across the couch in what Mary Jane would call artful disarray but that her friends would call messiness. There is a cheap and trashy romance novel, spine cracked from multiple reads and open across the arm of the couch. Two and a half pairs of shoes are sitting by the door — the remaining lone shoe is under the coffee table. There’s an unfinished yogurt in the refrigerator. This place is wholly, entirely ordinary, just like the woman who lives here, but god, something about it feels right, now that she’s got company.
Maybe she’s just lonely. Maybe she’s having trouble sleeping because she’s alone in her bed. Which, then, begs the question of why she’s so lonely now, but... one thing at a time, she supposes. Mary Jane watches him for a moment, then speaks before she can stop herself.
“Totally okay if you say no,” she prefaces, “and I won’t push or anything. But — would it be okay for me to see your face? We’ve known each other for, like, a million years at this stage, and there are eight million people in the city. Chances are I don’t know you. And I swear, even if I did, I’d never tell anybody. I’m just — curious. I keep trying to imagine what you look like.” And she can tell him this much, she supposes, and her lips quirk up in a smile that’s all warmth, “All I’ve got is that I bet you have nice eyes. If you don’t want to, like I said, that’s totally okay, but you should confirm or deny the nice eyes bit.”