Mind Full of Roses // Peter Parker

2.12: Love is a Funny Thing

My feet fall softly on the dirty pavement; hardly making a sound against the usual loud bustle of a Saturday morning in Queens. The café bell dings as I enter, alerting a curly haired girl sat in the corner booth of my presence. MJ waves me towards her, moving her dirty grey backpack from the seat to make room for me. I sit down in front of her, awkwardly placing my hands in my lap as I glance around the small building, the reason of why I'm here finally sinking in.

"So..." I trail of, not knowing what to say. I cant jumps straight to conclusions as I have no idea how much MJ knows, or if she was just being her usual paranoid self that day in the cafeteria.

"So." MJ echoes, her voice monotone. "You're Spector, aren't you?"

My eyes widen at her direct words. Even though I suspected she knew something, MJ saying it still startles me slightly and I feel my heartbeat grow rapid.

"Why would you think that?" I ask slowly, trying not to give too much away.

MJ opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted by a waitress coming up to ask for our orders. As soon as she leaves, MJ looks at me.

"I mean, it's kind of obvious." She says. I don't think it's meant to sound condescending but her tone makes you feel as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. "The new mysterious girl walks into school halfway through the year, saying she's from England, yet her accent has a slight Russian accent to it." MJ lays her hands on the table, leaning towards me slightly. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember you saying that you have been to Russia, right?"

MJ pauses, her eyes staring into mine as she waits for a reply. When she realises one isn't coming, she leans back in her chair and puts up a finger.

"You also turned up to school right after that fight with Black Widow. That usually wouldn't seem that suspicious but the fact that Spector was at that battle and turned up the same time that you did? Not gonna lie, it's a bit fishy." MJ sweeps her arms over the table and looks up at me, her expression relaxed and voice low. "Now you have the choice to either tell me who you really are or continue lying to yourself, because quite frankly, I don't even care if you're Spector, I just want to be right about something."

A million different ending to this conversation flash through my head: denying everything, laugh as though she's telling a funny joke, play the good old 'what's that over there?' card and run away to Australia. Yet I go with the most simple yet costly option.

I don't think a simple nod of a head has ever created such a reaction before. MJ's eyes widen so far that I'm afraid they're about to pop out into the table, she stands up abruptly and points at me before sitting down quickly as though she just noticed the amount of people watching her curiously.

"I knew it!" MJ hisses across the table, leaning so far over that her hair dangles onto my lap. "I mean, I was only like ninety-six percent sure but still."

MJ stands up and and slowly slides into the seat next to me and leans to the side. Her excited voice not matching the bored expression on her face. "Does that mean you've, like, spokes to Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow?"

I almost smile at the completely out of character question. "Yeah, I mean we're basically sisters."

The squeal that came out of MJ's mouth could've woken the dead. I stared at her slowly reddening face as she clears her throat and says flatly: "No way that's so cool."

"I would get you a meeting with her but you know, she's kinda a fugitive right now and I don't really know where she is."

"If you get me an autograph then your secret is safe with me." MJ finished her drink, and then says something else as an afterthought. "Does anyone else know?"