I love MJ and Peter sm 🧎♀️
It starts with Flash.
Most would say he's a popular guy. There's definitely people that look up to him (somehow) and follows the things he does. Trends usually start with him, whether it's a new clothing item, places he thinks are cool, or maybe video games.
Flash had been introduced to a new game. It was pretty cliche, there were thousands like it but seeing him so glued to his screen made people wonder how good it was. One by one people end up slack-jawed, staring at their phones all day every day. (and that's saying a lot for their generation)
Even teachers get hooked soon enough because they began to wonder what could possibly be causing such disobedience in their classrooms. For two days more and more students refused to even acknowledge their existence.
Peter thought it was odd too, honestly. Because really, how good could the game be? He'd seen it from afar and it just looked like any other where you jump over a few things, get rewarded for another thing.
Yes, he loved video games but he didn't exactly get involved with the trends going around school. They were usually pointless and short-lived. Besides, he was busy. He was spider-man, he was busy with the Stark internship, (it was real now) and homecoming was coming up again. He's helping set up for volunteer hours (and to hang out with MJ) and he's convinced this year will be different.
Oldie: kid what time does Hap need to get you?
Kiddie: prob around 4. I'm staying late cause I'm decorating for hoco
Oldie: oh yeah homecoming! You got a date or are you planning on fighting another supervillain that night?
Kiddie: Mr. Stark :((
Kiddie: neither atm
Oldie: what about your little crush? 🫶
Kiddie: please never use that emoji again
Kiddie: In the nicest way possible it feels cursed coming from you
Oldie: jeez, sorry
Oldie: how is she? Scary girl?
Kiddie: she's good. She drew me today it was rly cool
Kiddie: I was looking at my grades and I guess my disappointment was eye-catching
Oldie: why are your grades disappointing?? 🤨
Kiddie: I don't mean to say that
Oldie: Welp, show me later and we'll work on it.
Kiddie: wait no we need to work on the SM suit
Oldie: we work on the suit when your grades aren't "eye-catchingly disappointing" You know your aunt would kill me if I let you get away with that.
Oldie: have fun kid
Oldie: 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶
Peter groans internally and stuffs his phone in his pocket. He really needs to learn to keep his mouth shut. Whatever, either way they always manage to enjoy the day. And Tony never goes back on his word. As soon as they work on school stuff, they'll move onto the spidey suit.
He's just finishing tying up the balloons at a table before he's yanked away by the sleeve of his hoodie into a supply closet.
"Peter."
"Oh, uh, hey MJ. What are you... doing?"
She stares at him for a moment with ridicule as he leans against the shelf awkwardly before shaking her head. "Are you noticing how weird it is around here?"
"What?" "Peter, people are like freaking zombies."
Peter tries to squirm closer to the wall. The two of them are a little too close for comfort. Not that he doesn't want to be around her it's just- their faces are pretty close. She doesn't seem to notice anything except for the blush on his face. "It's high school MJ. Of course they're like zombies. We all are. Even though it's homecoming weekend, I've literally never had this much work. Our teachers are crazy."
(Based on true events I was throwing a fit at how much hw I had)
"Yes, yes I know but... more so than usual. And they're always on that game. Is it not creepy how they all just... stare at it?" "Maybe, but Flash is playing it and he made it look like the best thing to ever exist. People want to see what it's about."
MJ purses her lips. "I'm just getting a bad feeling about it."
"I know. But if it makes you feel any better, my sense isn't going off. It always lets me know if something dangerous is happening."
"Ok," she sighs and offers a small smile. It makes Peter's heart flutter.
They take a moment where they're just sitting there in silence. The eye contact remains for a second too long and Peter feels his face burn. He looks away, "We-we should, uh, we should probably-" "Yeah-"
They squeeze themselves out of the small room, trying to ignore the few pairs of eyes on them.
"Peter," Ned whispers. "Did you just-" "No."
"...When are you gonna ask her to go to homecoming with you?"
Peter feels sad as he looks over at his friend, who's sketching quietly at the bleachers.
"I don't know."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter rested his head against his textbook and groaned. "Tony I dunno what to do."
"Ask her out. Boom." Peter turned around and glared at him. "It's not that easy."
"Why isn't it?" "It's just- she's my friend. I can't just... ask her out." "Why not?"
"Because." "For such a smart kid you're not giving me any logical answers. Because is not an answer."
"I," he starts, trying to reel back his annoyance. He shouldn't be pointing the frustrations of his disastrous love life at Tony. "Because I don't want to ruin what we have. She's just so cool and pretty and smart and I'm lucky to even be friends with her."
The man's eyes soften. "She's lucky to be friends with you too, you know. I'm sure she likes you back, kid. But you won't know if you don't ask." "Yeah..."
"Besides, the way you two were acting last science fair, I'd say you're both pretty head over heels."
Peter hums, not fully believing him. Tony pats him on the shoulder. "C'mon," he says, "You wanted to work on the spidey-suit, yeah?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter takes a deep breath. He's gonna do it. He's asking MJ to homecoming. Tony gave him pointers. Well, he pointed him to Pepper. Pepper always knew what to say.
When she enters the room, Peter tries to declare his love when-
"Hey, MJ, liste-"
She drops her book onto her desk frustratingly, cutting his sentence off.
"Parker, I swear to god if we end up, like, brainwashed or something I'm going to punch you. This whole thing is majorly creepy."
Oh, this still.
"I give you full permission. It's fine."
Peter glances over at his classmates and teacher.
"I mean, it's a little weird Mrs. Johnson's playing the game too. How old is she?"
"Eighty," she deadpans. "Why is an eighty year old woman playing video games? She can't even use technology. She still uses a chalk board. "Maybe she's secretly cool? Wait, How'd she even get hired at a tech school?"
"Peter." "Ok, ok! It's weird I admit it. I'm sure it'll be fine by homecoming though. People are always excited and dancing and stuff. I'm sure the trend will be gone by then. Right Ned?"
"Yeah," he says distractedly. "Do you think I should test it out for us? I'll take the L." "You're not funny, Leeds." Peter doesn't think he's ever seen her this worked up over something this... well, small. If she's worked up, it's going to be about politics or a book or maybe even a test coming up at times. He just hopes everyone drops this stupid app by tomorrow for MJ's peace of mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lights are turned down except for the Multi-colored flashes coming from the ceiling of the gym, and music blasts loudly through speakers, and yet, not one person is on the dance floor.
In fact, they're all seated. Every single one of them, lime green lights from their screens illuminating their faces. Peter finds it creepy, honestly. He has a bad feeling about the whole thing but it's got nothing to do with Spider-Man. This is Peter Parker anxiety. It can't be dangerous though. His sense would tell him. It hasn't let him down yet.
It's eerie though, hearing the music play but not have a single person speak a word.
He tilts his head to get a glance of someone's face.
"What the.." their face is pale and blank, eyes wide and lit green.
"Uh, hello?"
Where's-?
Peter pulls out his phone and dials Ned's number. The ringtone is evident and it pierces through the silence.
"Ned! Dude are you seeing- woah."
He stumbles back, his spine hitting the table behind him painfully.
"Ned, what- oh no... MJ," he turns around frantically and shouts, "MJ?!"
Every single one of the students heads snap towards his direction and they stand in unison. The phones are left on tables, creating a green lighting in the room.
How are his senses still not going off?
He runs.
What he doesn't expect is for them to run after him.
"Shitshitshit," he exclaims. "Why'd you guys have to move now?"
He ducks the classroom where they're keeping all the supplies, and it's littered with empty boxes. He shuts the door, slides down to the floor, and listens as footsteps come closer before fading away.
He lets out a sigh of relief. It's short lived though, because he hears a heartbeat in the room. He crouches down into a fighting position. He's not going to hit anyone but he might as well be ready to fall back. (Well, he might make an acception for Flash)
Suddenly, there's a battle cry and the familiarity of it makes him pause for a moment, just enough for a fist to collide with Peter's cheek. He falls into the tower of boxes and groans.
"Wha-Peter?" "Hey," he says, rolling over onto his side. He tries to catch his breath and when he locks eyes on her, he can't figure out if it's because he fell on his back or because she's so...
"You look really pretty."
"Now's not the time. Are you ok? I hit you pretty hard." "Yeah, yeah. You have a really good punch by the way," he says as she helps him up. "Also, I thought we agreed you get to punch me if any brainwashing happens." "Oh. Yeah. Asshole."
She punches his shoulder. "Ow. Dude, I thought it was only one." "You said you didn't sense any danger!" "I didn't! There's got to be something going on. Something I'm not seeing." "Well we need to do it quick because-"
"You are my daaad-" Peter lunges and grabs his phone before the ringtone can finish, and answers it. "H-hello?" He smiles sheepishly as his friend stares at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey kid, uh... how's it going?"
"Tony I'm kind of in the middle of something here."
"Yes! Nice going, kid!" "Wha- No, not- this isn't about- there's something going on here that we need to figure out."
"Oh. What's going on?" "There's something weird going on at the school." "Something weird is going on here too. That's what I was calling about." "What?" "Steve had been staring at his phone playing this game for over an hour and his eyes were all glowy. Then he went crazy and locked me in my own lab. The others are out running errands and stuff so yeah. Weird."
Peter and MJ made eye contact.
"Why would they go after Stark?" "I don't know."
Bang. Bang. Bang.
"They're breaking in. They're breaking in!"
"We can use the exit through the lab!" Peter grabs MJ's hand and they run in the other direction, listening to the door splinter as their crazed classmates broke through.
Peter's jerked back as MJ stops in her tracks, grabbing a metal pipe.
"Dude- you can't hurt them!" "Why?! They're about to hurt us!" "Not on purpose!"
"My god your voices are high pitched." "Can it, Stark we're getting attacked by a bunch of crazy midtown students!"
A student kicks their foot through the door and the two of them scream and sprint out into the hallways.
Peter groans, "Why can't I just have a normal homecoming?!"
They make their way back to the gym, where music is still playing quietly. "What do we do?!"
"Uh, why don't you guys just hack it? You're tech students don't you have to learn how to code?"
"I'm not as good at coding as Ned is." "Where is he?
"Zombie-fied!"
"My god. Peter you know how to code. You've hacked into my suit before." "What? No I-" "FRIDAY snitched." "Shit."
"You hacked ironman's suit?" MJ laughed. "Yeah it was-"
"Not the time for bonding, lovebirds."
Peter scowls down at his phone. "Yeah, yeah the computer lab is just over here. Grab Ned's phone."
They lock the door and Peter carries a bunch of desks to barricade it. The two teens gather around the computer, plugging in the phone and they begin to type in variations of coding. It doesn't take them long before they have it finished.
"We got it- Tony?"
His phone is glitching, colorful static dancing along the screen. The game flickers on, and out of reflex, he shouts and digs his heel into the screen.
"Shit," he mutters. "That's another phone gone." "Why'd the game show up?"
"So, You like my coding?" Their heads whip up to meet the eyes of Quentin Beck. "Fancy, right?"
"Hardly."
"Hm. Where's your dad?" "My dad?" Peter laughs. That has to be the lamest thing a bad guy has ever said to him.
"What kind of insult is that- wait you did that. You got Steve lock Tony up so he couldn't help us!"
"Yep! Notice how it's spreading. Fascinating right? I just had to get the younger generation hooked on something. What better than a video game? Then, the adults follow, and it keeps moving along until every person is under my control." "That's a really long and complicated plan. Peter, I think this is the stupidest super-villain you've ever fought. C'mon, one school of teenagers took an entire week."
"But it was so easy to make it past good 'ol spidey. All I had to do was release my, you know, fog, and his senses were poof- gonzo." He looks off into the distance. "It took a while but It'll all be worth it in the end."
"...Oh really? Tell us about it."
"MJ," Peter mutters. "What are you doing..?"
"Talking. Usually your specialty. I'm buying you time, now go."
"I can't leave you with him." "Peter-"
"What are you guys whispering about," he demands.
"Teenager stuff," they reply in unison.
"Gross. Anyway more about me-" "Peter run," she whispers. "Go."
When the villain turns his back, Peter runs out the back door and sprints back towards the gym once again. Beck notices last second and flies after him.
He's about to make it to his destination but a hand latches onto his ankle and drags him away.
"Hey!"
They wrestle for the phone. All Peter does is make him more angry though when he kicks him in the nose. While he's distracted with his blurred eyes and dripping nose, Peter webs the phone to the ceiling.
"You little brat! What do you think you're doing?" Peter squirms against his painful grip, gasping as he fists the collar of his shirt, tightening it around his neck.
"This," he shouts, "Karen now!"
"Airdropping coding to every phone near you."
"No. No!" He throws Peter to the ground and he shouts as his head collides with it.
Each phone shuts down. "What've you done... I'll kill you for that-!"
"Get off him!"
A rattling clank sounds and Beck falls to the floor.
MJ stands behind him, panting and holding her metal pipe.
"I told you it would come in handy." "Yeah" Peter wheezes, feeling his heart flutter, "You're always right. Always."
"Don't forget it. Are you ok?" She gets on her knees and gently touches the cut on Peter's eyebrow.
He hisses. "I'm ok." "You're not." "I've gotten so much worse than this it's fine." "That doesn't make it fine."
"...I'm sorry." "You're sorry? What've you got to be sorry for?" "I should've listened to you in the beginning." She grins, "We all make mistakes."
"No, seriously, maybe then we'd be able to have a normal homecoming, I mean, I just, I really wanted to ask you to-to go with me and maybe we could hang out and have a good time but instead, I ruined it-"
She leaned over him and pressed her lips against his. Peter thinks this is the best feeling he's ever had in his entire life. He feels like every cheesy movie that had the camera spinning around them dramatically and fireworks going off in the distance are all true. He loves her. He really loves her.
"Woah."
MJ laughs, "You're such a loser."
Quickly, students begin trickling in, rubbing their eyes like they'd woken up from a nap. This is probably one of the worst homecomings in history for Midtown tech, but it's the best Peter's had.
"Peter you saved-!" Ned stops in his tracks, gasping at him and MJ's intwined fingers. "Dude. No way! Only you would get your crush during times of chaos. That is the most superhero thing ever."
The cops are called and Beck is taken into custody by the end of the night. The two of them sit out in the front of the school, waiting for their parents.
MJ's mom and Tony show up at the same time. (May had a late shift tonight)
He pulls up with sunglasses on, his window down, and love songs blasting in the background.
"Tony," Peter exclaims (whines). Of course the man would never miss out on an opportunity to embarrass him.
Before he can stomp over and proceed to sulk in his car the rest of the way home, MJ grabs onto his shoulder and hugs him.
"We made a really good team tonight."
"Yeah. Yeah we did. Thanks for having my back back there."
"Anytime." She kisses his cheek and walks off in the other direction. "See you, Parker."
Watching her leave, Peter sets a hand on his cheek and feels himself begin to grin.
"Awww."
"Wha- Do you have any idea how embarrassing you are!?"
As they pull away, Tony's cackling against the steering wheel and Peter groans.
"Like, dude! You ruined the moment!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words- 3088