Longing, Rusted, (Chapter) Seventeen
Peter's POV
"So, you're thinking of running for class office."
My ears perked up at the familiar character on the screen. It was Captain "you can call me Steve" Rogers, though he was much more dolled up on camera than when I had met him. I had no idea why it was his job to inform a homeroom class of bored freshmen about the importance of running for student government, but to each their own.
"So what, is he like your mentor or something?" MJ asked from beside me.
I quickly shushed them and laughed it off, embarrassed. I had sworn myself to such secrecy about my whole "double life", so talking about it was not something I was very used to yet.
"No," I muttered under my breath, still petrified that someone would overhear our conversation. "If anyone's my mentor it's Mr. Stark."
MJ snickered at that. "Okay, that's gotta be, like, the cheesiest thing you've ever said."
"No, it's true!" I said, my cheeks flushing. "He's like, actually a really cool guy." They gave me a very amused look, but didn't make any snide comment at that. "Anyway, we're always talking about me. What about you? Are you doing alright?"
MJ's face became much more solemn all of a sudden. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." MJ wasn't shy, especially around Ned and I. But they surely didn't like to have any attention on them. Even when they first told us they were nonbinary, they did so in the most casual way.
"Know that what I'm about to say is at the cost of you probably making fun of me for being 'too cheesy', whatever that means; You can always talk to me. I'm always here for you, and I promise that I'll start answering my phone more often," I said sincerely, adding, "Not that I don't love you and Ned showing up unannounced at my apartment at all hours of the night."
To my surprise, MJ pulled me in for a hug. They weren't usually the initiator of hugs, so I was impressed. "You are a mystery, Peter Parker."
I laughed at that as I pulled away. "Well, you do seem to be the only one to figure me out."
"How is all that secret keeping going, anyway?" they asked.
"Well, May doesn't seem to suspect anything yet. I'm going away once school gets out to train and stuff with the Avengers," I said under my breath, once again. "But I'll still be in the city the whole time, if you need anything. I bet I could even get Iron Man to fly me over."
"Hot shot, why would he want anything to do with a kid like me, anyway?" MJ laughed.
"I thought the same before he tracked me down. He did save me from getting my ass kicked from some cops, though..." I said, too loudly apparently as Ned was sucked into the conversation at that point.
"Peter, what was that about cops?" Ned sneered. "You're like... the goodest guy I know!"
"Goodest isn't a word," MJ and I said at the same time. Luckily, Ned then became too busy feigning being offended that he forgot why he had joined the conversation.
I turned back to MJ. "Hey! We were supposed to be talking about you, not me. I don't know if you've told your parents anything yet, but if you need a binder, May will happily order one for you. I don't want you to hurt yourself. Or we could not tell May, and I could just give you one of mine! I just-"
MJ cut me off. "Peter, you're rambling again. And honestly, I'm not sure if I want one. I'll just wait and see, I guess..."
"You could try one of mine, you know, if you want to?" I was then engulfed in yet another hug, and this time Ned joined in, though he had no idea why we were hugging.