Chapter Text
“Michelle nice of you to finally join us” Flash called across the room from where he was sat.
From the same table that was filled with the whole decathlon team Ned said “Shut up Flash”
Michelle rolled her eyes as she seemed to carefully sit down in the spare seat beside Abe. “As I was saying…” Mr Harrington continued to tell them about the next competition and new meeting schedule as per Michelle’s request, from afternoons to mornings.
Michelle was sat in the seat across from Peter, and he noticed the way she winced whenever she moved her right arm to write things down, right up until she just stopped writing because the pain was obviously too much. It was becoming an unusual occurrence, that only Peter had picked up on. He’d mentioned it to Ned one time, but apparently he didn’t think any different of the usual Michelle. Maybe it was his senses that brought it more to his focus, noticing little changes to people was something he was still getting used to. Like the way Ned parted his hair slightly more to the left every three days after he washes his hair, and the way Flash chews his gum in class swallowing after every fourth chew, the way May would smell after she had a secret cry in the dark of her room every now and then. The way MJ’s eye slightly twitched when she thought something was funny in a book she was reading.
This was a whole new feeling of change though, nothing like the day his senses became overloaded after the bite, but still something was definitely wrong. Something in the way her recent absences have become more frequent or the way she dresses, it was the beginning of summer and sure not every day was warm, but it was beginning to heat up and just about everyone has put aside the winter wardrobe by now. One day she even wore makeup.
She’d just taken a seat in her usual place at the other end of the table to lean up against the wall and read as her tea bag diffused in the hot water of her mug.
“You’re wearing makeup?” Peter said as he moved closer to observe it. He could see that it was applied much heavier in around one eye than the rest of her face, but he never said anything about that.
“mhmm” she hummed as she turned a page
“Why?” He wearily asked, she looked up from the book “I thought you said makeup was-”
“Drop it Parker, I know what I said” She looked back to her book.
He tried to push her for an explanation. “yeah, but-”
She dropped the book to the table in frustration “Can’t you just say ‘it looks great’ like everyone else and go back to talking nerd over there with Ned” She was becoming angry.
“No” he says stopping her from picking her book up again
She glares at him “What?”
“I don’t like it” he says with a complete serious expression.
She gives him a curious look not knowing where he is going with this.
“You shouldn’t have to think you need to wear makeup MJ, you already look great without it.” Then Peter gets up and walks back over to his seat.
Oh
About a week and a half after the makeup disappeared Michelle had come into the gymnasium from the girls locker rooms still wearing her long sleeve black shirt under the mandatory gym shirt, which hadn’t gone unnoticed by the teacher. Being the middle of summer with a broken air conditioner the teacher had to basically threaten her with a suspension if she didn’t take it off. Apparently he’d had enough students pass out on him throughout this week.
The rest of the class got started on their given tasks as she went to change, a few minutes later she came back out. The long sleeve was gone and instantly Peter noticed the multiple bruises running up and down both of her arms, one in the perfect pattern of what seemed to be a hand, five long fingers and a wide palm. Peter swallowed, unsure of what to make of his new discovery.
He tried to talk to her about it, he wanted badly to know everything that was going on, wanted to help. Every time he managed to go over to her he’d look into her eye’s and saw the instant betrayal she would throw at him if he spoke the truth. He didn’t want her to run away and never speak to him again because he pointed out her worst fears like it’s a simple conversation. He’d written essays in texts and deleted them right after, he was Spider-man and could fight off a grown man wielding a knife but couldn’t confront his friend just to offer by the least a shoulder to cry on.
Then she disappeared from school for three days. The first day she didn’t turn up, he sent her a text in the afternoon to let her know about how they had a substitute teacher for Chemistry and she called out Flash by his first name and the whole class laughed. He thought about her laughing in that moment he’d sent the text. He missed her laugh, it had been too long since he had heard it.
The second day he became anxious and worried, he hadn’t received a text back the night before and there was no usual daily motivating quote plastered to the confines of her instagram story like every other morning. It had become a part of his daily routine, before he brushed his teeth and after he had eaten his cereal he would open his Instagram and always the first bubble by the top of the screen to be seen was hers, the purple and orange glow plastered around her profile picture drew him in to find his new meaning for the day. And when it wasn’t there his heart skipped a beat and his brows met each other in the middle. He’d refreshed his page every few hours just to check, but it never came.
Day three and even Flash came to noticed his sour, depressing mood. He couldn’t focus in class, barely spoke a word the whole day, ignored teachers when they called him out to answer questions, didn’t retaliate once to Flash, or swap over any of his food with Ned’s during lunch. Eventually whilst stopping a purse thief he got the answer he was waiting for all day
“I don’t know what’s going on with you dude, but call her” the guy said as he was attempting to free himself from the webbing.
Peter shot out another lot of webbing and thanked the guy before swinging away back to his apartment. He showered and had dinner with May, then he climbed out onto the fire escape by his window and pulled out his phone. Peter’s finger hovered over the call button for three whole minutes before it began to ring. On the third she answered.
“Peter?” her voice sounded small and quiet
He was so shocked that she actually answered he forgot to speak
“Peter, are you there? Is this a but dial?”
“no, no it’s me. I-I’m here, don’t hang up” he said quickly
“hang on, I’ll go out side” she practically whispered and Peter didn’t talk. He could hear the latch to her window open and as her feet hit the metal on the surface of her own fire escape. “Okay whats up?” her voice was louder than before.
“You haven’t been at school for three day’s… Are you okay?” He could hear the breath catch in her throat, and the lie that followed.
“y-yeah I’m fine, Peter” he squeezed his eyes shut and lent his head on his hand as he heard her voice come out too well practiced.
“Are you sure?” his voice was filled with concern “Cause if you’re not, MJ, you can talk to me. I’m not going to tell anyone anything. You don’t need to lie to me. I don’t want you to feel like you have no one to talk to, just know that when you feel you’re ready, or if you are ever ready… I’ll be there for you and I’ll listen.”
It took a while for a response but the one he received was worth it “okay” she let out a breath “not tonight though, I’m okay. Thank you though” her words were slow and he didn’t push it feeling the tension of the touchy subject arise
“Don’t thank me, MJ.” the silence didn’t last as he asked another question, changing the topic just so he could hear her voice for a while longer. To know she is… not okay, but there. “What have you been doing?”
“Today I went to visit that Homeless shelter, the kids are so nice Peter. This one little girl, Jessie, made a drawing of spider-man holding her hand in the park. I told her I’d get it signed for her.” MJ giggled, actually giggled.
“Oh really, and how are you going to get that?” Peter teased, a smile wide on his face that was hidden in the dark of the street.
“I know a guy” He pictured her shrugging a shoulder and making that face she always made when she said that.
“you sure do” he laughed. “Hey maybe I should come down there with you one day, you know, in the suit”
“I’d like that” his heart swelled hearing those words, he was expecting a quip about being a show off or a tease about loving the attention, but this was much more tender and if Ned ever saw the look he had on his face right now, he would never live it down.
“Okay well, it’s a date” he said as he heard her faint giggle.
“Cool” she said quietly
“Cool” he matched her tone.
The next day she was back at school, and Peter actually hugged her. The second he saw her in the hall standing by his locker with Ned, just like every morning. He didn’t even think before he had called out her name, ran over and wrapped his arms around her form with the biggest cheesiest smile anyone could show.
After a few months, Peter and MJ had started to hang around each other a lot more often than before. She sat opposite him at lunch and they played footsies under the table, after school she’d sometimes come over to his apartment to study. It still took a long time for Michelle to trust him, even if she knew his biggest secret she just couldn’t find the will to tell hers.
That was until one night there was no escaping it. It was 3 o’clock in the morning when Peter’s phone rang. He had a moment where he didn’t want to move, didn’t want to open his eyes. But it was Michelle’s ring tone she had put to her contact as a joke, the Nancy Drew theme song. In that moment until the end of forever would he be thankful she had.
“hello?” Peter rasped out in his sleepy morning voice
There were no words, just cries, sobs and haggard breathes.
“Hey, hey, hey calm down, just breathe okay.” Peter had never even heard himself talk like that before. So soft, but still controlling.
He jumped out of bed and threw a hoodie over his sleep shirt, then added a jacket on top of that. “I’m on my way MJ, are you at home?” she replied threw a loud sob, louder than the others had been.
“It’s going to be alright” he found a piece of paper and scribbled down a note for May “I just need to know where you are”
Through a struggle of tears he heard “at home” and that’s just where he headed.
He put on his mask and web shooters, as that was the quickest way he would reach her house. He stayed on the phone with her the whole time as he swung through the streets of Queens, not leaving her to be alone for a second.
He continued to encourage her to calm down, working on her breathing. Soon her cries had buffered down and her breathes had evened out to a steady pace, words were the next thing to work on.
He landed on the building beside hers and told her he was there “Can I come inside?”
“No!” her answer was fast and sharp
“okay, okay. That’s fine, what about if I come to your window? Is that alright?” he asked careful not force her to say anything she didn’t want to happen.
“Yeah” her voice was so quiet and shallow, like she was broken.
A few seconds later and he was knocking on the glass, they hung up the phones and MJ opened the window as he shoved his mask into his pocket. The moment he planted his feet on her carpet she crashed into him with a hug, he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Using one hand on the back of her head he pulled her closer as he felt the wet patch forming on his shoulder from her tears.
“Hey, I’m here. You’re okay now. Nothing is going to happen. I’ve got you” he rested his head on hers and just waited for her tears to stop, they stood there for six minutes before she eventually eased up the grip on the back of his jacket.
She pulled back slightly and looked at him with her sad eyes “Can we go somewhere, anywhere else”
He nodded his head, and that’s what lead them to running out the window and down the fire escape before the footsteps they heard reached Michelle’s door. They walked for twenty minutes in silence, skimming their hands past one another every now and then. They made it to the park, and found a seat out by the lake.
Peter sat down, Michelle next to him. He pulled his jacket off and wrapped it around her bare bruised arms, she pulled it around her further then laid down resting her head in Peter’s lap. She often done this on their movie nights, after Ned’s fallen asleep and May’s left for her night shift. Peter will play with her hair running his fingers through it softly just above her ear and she’ll close her eyes and drift off.
Without even thinking his fingers made for the action they were so used to. He looked down to notice how this time was so different, how she was broken and completely shattered. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t know what to say.
“He doesn’t mean to do it…at least that’s what mom says.” She says out of the blue
“Who?” Peter asks quietly after a pregnant pause
“My step dad Justin, he get’s angry sometimes.” Her words sound like scratching nails on a chalkboard
“Is that where all those bruises come from?” Peter said stopping his movements in her hair. She moved her arms on instinct to cover them, even if they were already hidden under Peter’s jacket.
She nodded her head, then turned and laid on her back to look up at him. Her eyes began to glisten with new tears, not so much of the pain of the memories but the pain of telling her best friend. She took her time to explain all he had ever done to her, to her mother, the reasons she has those absences and the reason she hasn’t left. Her mother told her to stay, told her she loved her every day as a task to prove herself worthy of keeping Michelle there. Michelle is the daughter who she had dragged into the mess and never gave a chance to leave, be safe and free from the monster who unleashes his fury to who ever is in reach.
Her stories went on for hours and they didn’t stop as the stars disappeared, as the sun came up over the trees, as the dew on the grass evaporated in the morning light and the early joggers ran past with dirty looks to the two teens on the park bench in their pyjamas. They continued through the multiple texts from Ned asking why they weren’t at school, and the one from May telling Peter she found his note and would see him for dinner. Michelle received none from her mother, curious to where she fled to and never made it home from and that most of all what pushed Peter to the edge.
He wanted so badly to fix it, to fix everything, to take her away from the mess and press reset. But he couldn’t because she didn’t want him too, she asked and he shook his head, then she said please in such away that somehow he broke too, so he bit his tongue and he agreed. He walked her back to her apartment, they hugged before he left.
“Thank you” She said ever so sincerely as she closed her eyes laying her head to his chest. Then he kissed her hair.
He lent his chin on top of her head “Anytime, MJ. I mean it”
She squeezed him tighter “I know” then she let go and walked away.
After the weekend she returned to school, she was smiling when he found her by his locker. She had summer clothes on and had made flash cards for the decathlon team. When Cindy walked past she complimented her skirt, then Betty on her new head band. And Peter knew something had changed.
As the two girls walked away she encouraged Ned to go ask Betty to sit with them at lunch and that was enough for his confidence to sky rocket. Peter looked over to her with a devious look as he made a gesture with his thumb in the direction his friend made off too. She gave off a closed lip grin and shrugged her shoulders, and that was enough for Peter to grab her hand and drag her to the nearest empty class room.
He tilted his head with a small unbelieving smile “What just happened?” he said as he crossed his arms, tucking his hands under his armpits.
Michelle bit her bottom lip and looked around to make sure no one was around “Mom kicked Justin out” she looked giddy as she held her bag straps in either hand and bounced as she spoke.
“What, no way! That’s amazing. What did it though” he asked in pure curiosity.
“She thought I finally ran away, and she blamed him” she shrugged on shoulder and looked at her shoes.
“That’s really great MJ, I’m happy for you” He stepped forward and opened his arms to give her a hug, but she had already sealed the gab between them leaving a quick chaste kiss to Peter’s lips. He pulled away in shock and she instantly looked as though she had regretted her decision, until Peter lifted her chin half way through her stuttered out apology and kissed her, this time long and lingering. A feeling of not just want but need rushing over him, he moved one hand to her hip and the other too her hair.
“Oh, finally” An unexpected and relieved comment came from behind them. Mr Harrington had just walked in the door to prepare for his morning class, and apparently Peter had been too busy to be thinking of his senses at that moment and he got a punch in the arm for that.
“ow” he said as he rubbed his arm
“shut up, loser” she squinted at him, knowing well enough that would’ve felt like a brush of a feather.
Three weeks.
Over the course of three weeks, the school, May, MJ’s mom, Tony and even Mr Delmar at the sandwich shop had come to know of the budding relationship that was becoming more admirable than any romance novel by the day. They went on dates, cuddled on the couch watching movies, kissed each other with hunger and lust any chance they got, Peter played with Michelle’s hair, Michelle patched Peter up after unfortunate fights, they went on walks through the park on the full moon, Spider-man snatched her from the street one day and took her to see the views of the city from the top of Bronx-Whitestone Bridge at Dusk.
They were inseparable and anyone could see how deeply they have both fallen for each other, in the way they finish each others sentences or how the concept of personal space had defied them. They had their inside jokes and they knew each other’s weaknesses.
Looking in through to the depiction of their affinity was completely different from being there. Because being on the inside of their newly found conform and seeing it blossom from their perspective was something unreal and fantasizing. They were indulged in the daydream and it was something they desired. Every touch was starved and every laugh was a weakness, until endearment overruled them and there was nothing less than fondness, tenderness, warmth and intimacy. He was all puppy love and she was pure infatuation.
That was until one afternoon when the two had walked back to MJ’s place after school for a short study session before Peter would retreat through her window in his skin tight suit and return after dark to slide in to bed behind her and place a kiss on her cheek before falling asleep. That was until they rounded the corner of the fence to find a car parked in a car space of the apartments parking lot. Of all the cars that were there this one stood out most of all, not to Peter though, only to her, only to MJ.
She froze in her tracks and her breath hitched just the same, her palms were clammy and her heart pounded through her chest.
She turned to look to Peter her eyes wide in fear. “Peter, you have to go” She said quietly like someone would hear.
She checked over her shoulder then his, looking for her known destined fate. Then there was a voice, a voice Peter didn’t know though he did instantly and to add to Michelle’s panic his face contorted to anger.
“Michelle I’m so glad you’re home, I’ve been so worried” His voice was malicious and threatening.
“MJ” Peter reached out to touch her, but she flinched away. Her eyes were glued to the ground like she was in a trance filled with pain and fear.
Peter immediately pulled his hand away with a look of confusion.
“Michelle come up here” Justin’s charred voice sounded through her, becoming frustrated in a second.
She didn’t answer, she didn’t move.
“We can go back to mine” Peter looked from the balcony of the call to her shaky form. He wanted to do something, he wanted to pick her up and take her away from there.
She shook her head, with an obvious hesitation.
Justin called out again, this time with more force “Now, Michelle”
“I can’t let you go up there, MJ. I wont” He stepped forward.
She stepped back. She looked from the floor to Peter and his heart almost broke at the sight of her. “You will… you have to” her voice was small and unsure, but her look was determined and strong.
“MJ” Peter Practically whined
“Peter, just go okay. I’ll call you in a bit.” She turns and heads for the front doors of the building. “I’ll call you” she says before the doors close behind her.
Peter stood there looking up to the man on the balcony of Michelle’s apartment. He didn’t falter to leave until the man and his devilish smile deviated back inside.
He wanted to stay, god he wanted to stay. But if he had done that, the trust that MJ had for him would be well and truly forgotten. So he left, he went straight home because there was no way he would be able to focus out on his patrol. There was no way he could go out and save a life of some stranger and not go and save the one he would give everything for. So he waited, there was nothing more he could do except wait for her to call. Because she said she would, and all he had was her word and his own trust and for him that was enough.
Until it wasn’t, until she never called.
He sends her texts and voice messages until her phone wouldn’t take anymore. The first day was the most tiresome, his head was so out of sorts he went to school with his shirt on inside out, he never changed it. The second day he went out on patrol, stuck around her streets waiting to see the light in her bedroom to turn on, to brighten his hope. It never did. The third he had Ned hack the school database and get him her moms phone number, he took it home with him that afternoon.
He calls the second he walks into his apartment, no answer. He tried two more times before dinner, still nothing. As he took the first bite of his dinner that night with May staring anxiously at him from across the table his phone finally rang and he nearly choked on his pasta. He sprung up from his seat, May doing the same.
“h-hello Mrs Jones?” Peter sounded weak and tired
“Yes, who’s this?” She asks through the phone
“uh Peter, Peter Parker. I was just calling because-”
“Peter?” She cut him off with a quiet realisation
“that’s what I said ma’am.” he assured, hearing a remorseful exhale of breath he quickly asked “Where is Michelle?” he sounded so young, and scared.
“Michelle’s… Michelle is” Michelle’s mom let out a shaky breath before a muffled sob sounded through the phone. Peter couldn’t breathe he didn’t know if he wanted to hear the woman’s next words, but when he did a lonely tear made it to his cheek.
“She’s in the hospital” the other end of the line is filled with strangled cries.
Peter talks over them though “What? Which one?” his shallow voice turned panicked in an instant.
“The one here in Queens” Mrs Jones voice was strangled, quiet and hard to understand.
Peter took in a few breathes to calm him self down, though his words were still shaken as he spoke “Was it him?”
Peter heard through the line as the air was snatched from the woman’s latest cry.
“Mrs Jones please I- I need to know” A sudden dark tone took over Peter’s gentle demeanour, it was desperate and raw and no one could deny the boy his answer.
“yes” She said with no emotion before hanging up.
May called out his name as she watched pieces of his phone fall to the floor as he squeezed it so tightly in his hand it shattered.
The chicken and pasta sat cold on the table at home, they arrived at the hospital as quickly as they could. Peter didn’t even wait for the car to come to a stop as he opened his door and ran to the hospital entrance. He came to a sliding halt at the reception desk looking flustered.
“MJ, um, Michelle Jones… I-I-is she here?” He stuttered out in dismay.
The woman sitting at the desk looked angered at the order before looking up and seeing they frazzled young boy before her, her eyes turned to him in sorrow as she quickly got typing to find her name in the system.
“Ward 2, Bed 5.” She said with a sorry smile.
As Peter made to leave he was quickly stopped by the woman who had skimmed over her file. “Wait!”
He almost tripped at the sudden change of direction, he looked at her with pleading eyes. He just needed to go and find her.
Just as the woman was about to speak May had caught up “Peter, honey is she here?” May looked lost as she remembered the last time she had stepped foot inside a hospital being when her late husband had a broken foot. Though she repressed that for now.
“Hi, are you Michelle’s family?” the woman asked as she stood and made her way around the front of the desk.
“n-no, not immediate family” May said honestly
“Her mother hasn’t come in?” Peter asked
The receptionist looked between the two questioning faces before her “no… not yet” she said sadly.
“How long has she been here?” May sounded curious, picking up on the not yet the woman was exposing.
“Three days” Peters ears rung hearing the words, the rest of the conversation between the two women was something he would never know. All he heard was the loud buzz from the florescent lights above them, the echoing of his steps as they were directed down the hall. His mind filling with thoughts he knows he shouldn’t be thinking because how would he have known.
He thinks it doesn’t matter how he would have known he just should have. He should’ve known, he should’ve pushed her to let him stay or ignored her and gone up anyway. Because this was his fault she was here because he did nothing except watch her walk away, up those steps and into her apartment. How many stories had she told him, how many times had he held her in his arms as she cried to him over the past. Over the torment, the abuse, the hatred.
He trusted her, more than he had trusted anyone in his whole life. He trusted she knew what she was doing because she had told him as much. What he regrets most is thinking the trust he had for MJ travelled through her the moment she stepped into that apartment. Because it didn’t, it might have glowed a bright orb around her, but it didn’t illuminate the room.
And that is what he is paying for as his heart constricts, and his lungs shrivel up, and the contents of his stomach tries to push to the surface. Because there she is, there she is in the room decorated with teal green walls and a mural of a stuffed bear with a patched heart. Three days he remembers as he sees the discoloration in her skin and the heaviness of her sleep. Large white tubes are situated in her mouth and there are too many machines for just regulating the rhythm of her heart. He finds the one that does just that, he follows the line on the monitor.
“That’s not how her heart beats” He says so innocently as his brows furrow together in confusion and his head tilts to the side.
The muffled voices around him become still at his words, and no one speaks. He turns to the direction he had heard them a moment ago, May is there and so is a nurse, a doctor and the young receptionist from before with her hand covering her mouth looking heavyhearted and in shock at his statement.
May takes in a deep breath and places her warm hand on his shoulder. “Peter, this is Doctor Parfitt.”
Before she could say anymore Peter said “What’s wrong with MJ?” His eyes were so lost. Everything is so confusing. And MJ is laying on her back with her arms by her sides, and that is strange because she always sleeps on her left side curled up as small as she can be.
“Hi Peter. Did you not hear what I said?” The doctor asked in a slow and understanding voice.
Peter shook his head.
“Okay, that’s okay. Well I just told May here everything we know. You can go inside if you want to, Peter.” Dr Parfiit said in a calm manor.
“Why is she laying like that? She likes to sleep on her side” Peter sounded so small, like a curious four year old asking why the sun was hot.
The doctor let out a sad and heavy breath “Come on, I’ll let you inside” he directed Peter to the door and let him inside.
When the man came back over to May by the window she asked “Why’s he acting like that?”
“He’s in shock, but he’ll understand soon. Maybe leave out some of what I told you when he’s ready to know what happened”
“That won’t matter” May looked up to Dr Parfiit “She’ll tell him everything anyway” she had a small smile on her face as she looked back through the glass.
Peter was holding Michelle’s hand, looking over her. They all watched as he lifted his other hand and pushed her hair behind her ear.