Spideychelle one-shots

Wishes Pt. 4

"You're not even in a relationship."

"That's not the point, and you know it. I'm worried about you, MJ."

She sighed. "Just let me talk to him. Please."

"Fine," her friend sighed. "But you have to promise me that you'll stop moping around and at least try to get over him. And maybe, at some point, you could tell me what happened."

Her friends voice softened. "It can't be that bad."

Jenny didn't know about Peter. About Spiderman. About the craziness that was MJ's life.

"Alright. I'll try - but I make no promises about telling you. It's none of your business."

"Yeah, yeah - now answer your phone! The buzzing is annoying me."

"Yes, your highness," she said, picking up her phone and heading into her room.

Deep breaths. You can do this.

"Hello?"

"MJ - hi. I - I didn't - I mean, I wasn't... I'm glad you answered," Peter said, taking a breath.

"Peter. I thought I told you not to call me." She forced to voice to stop trembling, to stay cold. She was protecting him. This was for his own good, and ultimately, the good of the city.

But she had to admit that hearing his voice again made her want to be with him with a fierceness that astonished her. She loved him.

She loved him.

"I needed to talk to you."

"Well, I needed you to let me go." Her voice was trembling now. She was close to tears, and she knew he could tell.

"Just - tell me one thing, okay? Just one thing, MJ."

He was crying to, she could tell. That only made it worse. She knew she had to drive him away. She knew she should hurt him, make him hate her. But she couldn't get the words out between her sobs.

"Why did you do it?" He's trying not to break completely. She can hear it in his voice, and she wished that she couldn't hear how close to the edge he was.

"Don't do this, Peter."

"I have to. God, MJ, if you ever - " his voice breaks. "If you ever loved me, just tell me why you did it. Tell me why you left."

"I had to, Peter. I - I couldn't..." She's fully sobbing now, loud, ugly, crying and she knows that Jenny can probably hear her but she doesn't care.

"You couldn't what? What, MJ? What was so terrible that you had to break me for it?"

"I couldn't keep putting you in danger! I couldn't be - I couldn't be the reason you ended up hurt!"

Silence. MJ sucked in a breath, steadying herself, leaning her forehead against the wall.

"What are you talking about," Peter asked, his voice eerily calm.

"Nothing - I mean, I just, I'm tired of seeing you put yourself in danger!"

She was backtracking now, trying to cover up, and she hated herself for saying that because she knew - she knew - that one of Peter's greatest fears was the people he loved leaving him because they couldn't handle him being Spiderman. But she also knew that his worst fear was the people he loved dying because of him.

"That's not what you said. You said you were putting me in danger. What - what do you mean?"

"I don't - "

"I'm the one putting you in danger, aren't I?"

MJ paused. She knew she had lost, but she also knew that there was one way she could salvage the situation.

"If I tell you," she began, "will you leave me alone?"

She could hear him breathing. There was a long pause. "...Fine. But you have to tell me everything."

She took a deep breath. "You remember the day I came home with a black eye?"

"You told me a box had fallen on you at work. I remember."

"I was lying." God, this was hard. Harder than she'd thought it would be.

"I was attacked, walking home from work. They took me, they - " her voice broke.

"Why - why didn't you tell me? I don't understand, I - " he paused. "Who took you?"

"It doesn't matter, Peter. No - don't argue. Just... let me tell you, okay? Let me tell my story."

"Okay," he said, voice small.

"He called himself Carnival. He knew I was connected to Spiderman. To you. He wanted to use me as bait."

"MJ, I'm - "

"Don't apologise," she interrupted. "Just... let me finish, okay? He wanted to use me to get you to reveal your identity. I couldn't let that happen. So I escaped."

"Is that when you got injured?"

"Not exactly... He wanted to see wether he could get your identity from me first."

"He tortured you?"

"I guess, yeah. That's not really the point, though, Peter."

"The fact that you got tortured is not the point?" He asked incredulously, his voice rising.

"No! The point is that I put you in danger! I'm a weakness!"

"So you're telling me," Peter said, his voice quiet. "That you broke up with me, broke my heart, and left me miserable because you thought you were a weakness?"

"Yes. That is - yeah."

"Don't you think that's my choice to make?" He asked, voice heartbroken.

"I don't know, Peter! I've never dated a superhero before."

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry it's so hard for you."

She sighed. "That's not what I meant. Listen, could we just - do you think we could meet in person? It's just hard, talking over the phone. I - I want to explain better."

His voice softened. "Sure, MJ. The Grind? 15 minutes?"

"Sounds like a date - I mean a plan. I didn't - I didn't mean it like that I just - " God, now she was rambling. Deep breaths.

"I know what you meant." He was laughing. God, could she embarass herself more?

"See you then."

Okay, okay - I know you were probably expecting this to be the end and so was I! Promise! But it got so long (at least long for me) and I wanted to give you guys an update - and I also wanted to do it well. I want it to give you guys all of the feels.

Also, okay, um, this chapter is sad! Like, I cried, writing this! So yeah. But we're definitely on the way to resolving it. Maybe I should just publish this as its own separate short story. What do you guys think? Please comment!

Also, 3k reads? You guys are incredible! Love you all