Michelle had a headache. She'd been staring at and rehearsing answers for interview questions since Peter had left for SI that morning, but now it was late in the afternoon and she could feel her pulse in her forehead.
With a groan, she closed her laptop and wandered into the kitchen area in search of tea and aspirin. She dropped her phone on the countertop, squatting beneath it to look through their makeshift medicine cabinet after starting the kettle. While they mainly kept medicine from SI down there, Michelle had picked up a bottle or two of regular aspirin for when she needed it. She trusted Stark's ability to manufacture safe medicine, but when it was built specially for Peter's enhanced metabolism, she was not going to risk trying it.
Her phone buzzed and Michelle startled, knocking her head against the counter and groaning.
She reached up, blindly feeling around for her phone before her hand finally landed on it. Resting her forehead against the cool countertop, she frowned down at the message from Kate Bishop.
webs isn't at home, is he?
It took Michelle a minute to write out a response as the screen made her head throb more.
no? he left for SI this morning. haven't seen him since
The text bubble appeared on the screen as soon as her message sent and although Michelle still had a headache and hadn't yet found her aspirin, she pushed aside that problem to focus on whatever Kate was talking about.
are you at home?
Michelle said yes, she was, and immediately followed it up with a short, why?
i'm coming over
It wasn't exactly what Michelle wanted to hear, especially since Kate's first message had been about Peter, but there was a knock on her door two minutes later and Michelle still hadn't figured out how to make her thumbs type out more than just why?
"Come in!" Michelle called, still in the kitchen and leaning against the counter.
The door opened and Kate stepped inside, flipping the lock behind her and raising an eyebrow at Michelle.
"It wasn't locked?" she asked, glancing between the door and Michelle. "What if I'd been, like, a creepy old dude?"
"Then I wouldn't have said come in," Michelle retorted. She turned away, going back to her search for aspirin. Just as she found it, the kettle began to boil and Michelle hastily poured the boiling water into a mug.
"You feeling okay?"
When she turned to glance at Kate, she'd moved from the door to the kitchen, leaning on the counter as she watched Michelle drop a tea bag into her mug and swallow at least three pills.
"Holy shit, dude." Kate frowned. "Should I call Peter?"
"Just a headache," Michelle told her. Her tea was still boiling hot, but she hated swallowing pills dry so she ignored the way it burned her tongue. "I've been practicing questions for my interview in three days."
"Maybe you should―I don't know―take a break." Her voice was too innocent and Michelle knew this wasn't so much a spur-of-the-moment suggestion as a concern.
"Did Peter put you up to this?" Michelle asked, choosing to ignore Kate's suggestion entirely. "Why were you even in Midtown? Don't think I didn't notice how quickly you arrived," she added pointedly.
Kate merely shrugged. "Pepper texted. Said Spider-Man needed to take a few sick days and lie low, so I'm covering for him. If he can't be bothered to stay home, though, I don't know how sick he is."
Michelle pursed her lips and glanced at her phone, searching for a text from Peter despite knowing she hadn't received anything from him all day.
"You're only here on Pepper's word, then?" Michelle asked. Kate shrugged again, but Michelle had already had her doubts. "What did Peter say?"
Even if Pepper had texted Kate on Peter's behalf, Kate was just nosy enough to blow up her fiance's phone until she got a real answer. She wouldn't have bothered to stop by their apartment if she'd been satisfied with the answer, either. She also wouldn't take on the job of patrolling Queens if she didn't feel like she was needed. No matter how friendly Spider-Man and Hawkeye were, Kate wouldn't waste a whole evening just because Spider-Man "felt sick".
"Oh, nothing much," Kate said, running her fingers idly across the countertop. "Just that he had a good trip, Europe was a disaster, and that you're engaged!"
The last part was all but screamed. While Michelle flinched at the sudden and loud sound, she did smile and held up her hand for Kate to look at without having to be asked.
"You came all the way here to see my ring?" Michelle teased.
"I have priorities, Jones," Kate said vehemently. Her eyes never left Michelle's ring. "This is, like, the biggest thing to ever happen to me!"
Michelle raised a dubious eyebrow and Kate rolled her eyes.
"It is," she insisted. Tugging Michelle's hand closer, she leaned down until her cheek was almost pressed against the ring and said, "It's adorable how well he knows you."
Michelle smiled, thinking the exact same thing, only for her thoughts to be interrupted by Kate incessantly demanding that Michelle tell me everything or so help me, Jones, I'll leave spider boy to defend Queens when he really does get sick.
Fortunately for Peter and his future days off, Michelle did exactly that. The aspirin had started to kick in and her head wasn't pounding as painfully as it was before, but thinking back to Peter's choppy (and cheesy) proposal in Prague took her focus off her pain.
Kate was nosy and a romantic, so Michelle didn't skimp on all the cheesy things Peter had said or how he'd tried a couple of times before, only to chicken out or for Beck to interfere. Even if Kate was visibly annoyed that he'd run off with a drone in one hand and in his suit mere minutes after proposing, she was clearly too in love with the romance that Peter had managed before then.
"God," Kate moaned, slumping in the chair she'd claimed shortly after Michelle started the story. "You two are literally the cutest even if Peter is basically a walking disaster."
Michelle just hummed, bringing her now lukewarm tea up to her lips.
"That doesn't explain why he's taking time off, though," Kate said suddenly. She (finally) let go of Michelle's hand as she said, "You're engaged. Shouldn't he be here and not god knows where?"
"He's probably still at the Tower," Michelle said with a shrug. "He should be back soon."
"Yeah, but why go to the Tower at all?" Kate asked. Michelle frowned. "No one has told me anything, you know?" Kate said before Michelle could ask. "I asked Peter and he just said something had come up, but you were engaged now and I know it was meant to distract me―"
"And it worked," Michelle cut in teasingly.
"―but I do want to know," Kate said, scowling at Michelle, "what's going on."
With a sigh, Michelle set down her mug and said, "Beck caused a lot of trouble in Europe. He ruined London Bridge, took out a lot of historic monuments in Berlin, Prague, and Vienna, and now he's dead."
Kate's eyes widened, but Michelle continued on with a sharp look that warned her against interrupting.
"He was killed by Stark drones," she explained, already anticipating Kate's question. "We're worried there could be problems. Peter went to talk to Pepper this morning. If she's telling him to lay low..." Michelle trailed off and gave a half-hearted shrug. "It's probably for the best."
"That is..." Kate stared at her. "That is the craziest engagement story I've ever heard."
Michelle laughed and Kate grinned as the somber mood shifted back to something a bit less heavy.
The conversation drifted away from Europe as Kate brought up Michelle's upcoming Times interview and Michelle humored her when she suggested practicing the questions with a real person. That was how Peter found them: laughing in the kitchen as Kate asked, "What's your opinion on garden gnomes?"
Michelle couldn't even think of an answer before Peter stepped through the door to say, "They've got a mean bite. And I say that from experience."
"I didn't know you were fighting evil garden gnomes these days," Kate said, spinning around to face Peter as he walked towards them.
"When I'm lucky," Peter teased, "I don't."
He slid in beside Michelle, wrapping his arm around her waist and pressing a short kiss to her lips in one motion.
"What are you two doing?" he asked, glancing at Kate. Michelle leaned into him, taking a long sip from her reheated tea as Kate ripped into Peter for not telling her about their engagement. "To be fair," Peter argued, "we've been in Europe and some multiverse wannabe cut into our plans."
"That's an excuse and you know it, Parker."
Peter rolled his eyes and Michelle hid a smile behind her mug.
"What are you doing here anyway, Bishop?" Peter asked. "I thought Hawkeye was taking over so I could follow Pepper's orders."
"It's hardly past sunset," Kate muttered. She stood up nonetheless, reaching for something beneath the counter that Michelle hadn't seen her bring in with her. "Mind if I use your bathroom?"
She didn't wait for a response before carrying a duffel bag into Peter and Michelle's bathroom and closing the door behind her.
In the short time they had before she returned, Michelle turned to Peter and asked, "What's this about Pepper telling you to lie low?"
"It's just a precaution," Peter murmured. He pressed a kiss to her temple. "Beck was killed with Stark technology and Spider-Man was operating overseas. Until Fury gives the all-clear, I'm stuck inside."
"That's not so bad."
Even as she said it, Michelle knew she was wrong. Peter was too fidgety. He couldn't sit still, couldn't be inside all day. Not being able to go out as Spider-Man would lead to him having pent-up energy that could, if left ignored, result in something disastrous taking place in their apartment.
"We'll make it fun," Michelle promised. Peter's eyes lit up and he pulled her closer as she rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."
Peter hummed, burying his nose in the crook of her neck and pressing his lips to her skin a little too sweetly. Before he could leave a mark, though, Kate came barreling out of the bathroom with her bow in hand and her duffel bag slung across her shoulder.
"I'm going to babysit your precious neighborhood now," she announced, hitting Peter's back with the tip of her bow. "You better make good use of your quote-unquote sick day, Parker, you hear me?"
"You're the only thing keeping me from doing so, Bishop," Peter said, looking up just long enough to make the comment before returning his attention to Michelle's neck.
Behind him, their apartment door closed and Peter hoisted Michelle into his arms. He didn't keep kissing her, though, and instead contented himself with just staring at her.
"You good, loser?" Michelle asked, her hands instinctively coming up behind his neck.
"Are you?" he echoed. He nodded behind her where the cabinet was still open and the aspirin bottle was sitting on the counter.
"Just a headache," Michelle assured him. "It's better now."
Apparently unconvinced, Peter didn't return to kissing her neck. Instead, he set her up on the counter and turned the kettle on to reheat the remaining water.
"Have you really been reading interview questions all day?" Peter asked, eyeing her worriedly. Michelle didn't quite meet his eyes. "Em, did you at least take a break?"
"I ate lunch," she told him, "if that counts."
"Well." Peter sighed. "It's something."
The kettle began to boil and Peter reached around Michelle to turn it off. Grabbing her mug, he filled it with the fresh water and left Michelle's side just long enough to search for a new teabag. When he returned to her, tea in hand, Michelle wrapped her ankles around his thighs and murmured a very soft, "Thanks," before taking a cautious sip.
"You really don't need to worry so much," Peter told her. Michelle glanced at him, confused about what he meant until he added, "About the interview. You're gonna nail it, MJ."
"I know, but this is big, Peter." He didn't need the reminder, but she still said, "This could make my entire career as a journalist, you know? And to get offered an interview at twenty-three?"
"I know." Peter grinned and pressed a short kiss to her lips, warmed from her tea. "I just don't think you should stress so much about it. They wouldn't have offered you an interview if they weren't genuinely interested in having you join their team."
"It's still a lot of pressure," Michelle murmured.
"Yeah, well." Peter shrugged. "You're Michelle Jones. You're gonna nail it."
Michelle was pretty sure the warm feeling in her chest was not from her tea and the shy smile that crossed her lips only confirmed it.
"We'll see in three days," she replied, and before Peter could argue with something cheesy or dorky, she asked, "What were you up to all day? You left to see Pepper and never came back."
"Lab," Peter told her. Michelle narrowed her eyes and he raised his hands between them. "I didn't want to distract you!"
"So you thought staying in the lab―and not texting to let me know―" She gave him a look― "was the best option?"
"Yeah," Peter said, having the decency to look at least a little apologetic. "I'll be here all day tomorrow, though," he promised with a smile, his hands sliding down to rest on her hips, "to make up for being gone all day. That is," he added teasingly, "if you can spare some time."
"I'm sure I can find an opening."