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Peter threw on his shirt, pulling it down over his costume.
“Not bad, Tiger.”
Peter turned around to see Mary Jane in the doorway to their room, her attire overall casual with a t-shirt but with a newer pair of jeans and a jacket.
“Wow,” Peter said. “I’m pretty sure everyone’s just going to say that you haven’t aged a day since we graduated.”
“Yeah, and what do you say?” M.J. questioned, giving him a playful but inquisitive look.
“That you’re even more beautiful now than you were back then,” Peter answered confidently.
“Ooh, you guessed right,” she replied as she came up to him, throwing her arms over his shoulders, “and here’s your prize.”
M.J. then planted a deep kiss on Peter’s lips, to the two of them holding the pose for several seconds, soaking up the moment. When they finally separated, she had a pleasant and beautiful smile adorning her face. She seemed so happy, and he just wished that he could feel the same right now.
“What is it?” his wife asked, clearly picking up on his downcast demeanor.
“I’m just having a hard time thinking anything positive will come out of today,” he said.
“You know that we don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Mary Jane pointed out.
“Really?” Peter questioned, giving her an inquisitive look, “this coming from the same woman who was practically begging me to go, because it would be good for me?”
“I know, and I still think it could be,” M.J. reasoned. “I just don’t want you to go if you’re just going to be uncomfortable the whole time.”
“This is pretty much my one chance to get out of this, isn’t it?” he questioned.
“Pretty much,” she replied, “so like my uncle said on our wedding day, ‘Speak now, or forever hold your peace.’”
Peter glanced up, contemplatively staring at the ceiling for a moment. He’d had extremely mixed feelings about this day for a long time, knowing there was always a chance that it could go better than he expected but preparing for it to end up going south. He knew that M.J. really, really wanted to go though, and he’d feel bad if she came back and talked about the amazing time she had had while he missed out.
“Oh, why not?” she said. “Can’t let you have all the fun, right?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have gone without you, Tiger.”
Peter tilted his head, surprised.
“Really? That doesn’t sound like you to pass up a good party.”
“Well, I’m all grown up and married now,” she said. “Besides, you’re more fun than you give yourself credit for, Pete.”
“Is that so?” Peter inquired, a hint of mischief in his tone. He leaned towards her, his wife nearly meeting him in the middle for another kiss when the sound of sirens could suddenly be heard out in the distance. Peter glanced in that direction before glancing back to his wife.
“Meet you there?”
“There is such a thing as fashionably late, you know,” she replied.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Once he was finished rescuing civilians from a dangerous accident as Spider-Man, Peter hurried to meet up with Mary Jane at the bus stop. A quick ride and a short walk later, and they had arrived at their destination for the day: Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School. It was their five-year reunion, which blew Peter away when he thought that much time had already passed. So much had changed in his life since then.
“Well, at least we’re not the only ones who are a little late,” Mary Jane pointed out as they strolled up to the entrance. “That should make you feel a little better.”
“Honestly, it’s just making me have flashbacks to all the times I was late when I actually went to school here,” Peter replied. It was hard to forget that, once Spider-Man had entered the picture, he’d been lucky to make it by the first bell most days.
“Hey, it didn’t stop the teachers from loving you,” M.J. said.
“That’s true,” Peter concurred. He glanced around, finding that he didn’t recognize anyone around him, which both put him at ease while still making him more nervous. He didn’t know how that was possible, but somehow it was true.
Going in through the open doors, Peter and M.J. quickly came to the front desk, where they saw their name tags on the table.
“Wow, I can’t believe we’re actually using these,” Peter said.
“Oh, don’t sweat it, Tiger,” M.J. replied, sticking his on after applying her own. “We’ll just have to make them look as good as we can for the next few hours.”
“You really do know how to look on the bright side of things, don’t you?” he asked.
“At least when it comes to fashion and socializing,” M.J. replied.
Suddenly, Peter heard a familiar voice behind him.
“Peter Parker!”
He spun around to find that, sure enough, one Flash Thompson was behind him, his arms outstretched in celebration.
“Well well, look what the cat dragged in,” Peter said as he came up to his once friend-turned bully-turned friend again, giving him a hug. The big guy embraced him in the same brotherly manner.
“Nah man, I definitely remember us establishing that, if anything, it would be a dog that dragged me in,” Flash teased as they separated.
“Oh, that’s right,” Peter teased sarcastically, “because a cat wouldn’t waste its time on you.”
“Yep,” Flash said, rolling with their old joke, “but I see you’re still rolling with some good company. What’s up, Mary Jane?”
“Hey Flash,” M.J. said, greeting the man with a light side hug. “Good to see you too. The uniform looks great, too.”
“Thanks,” Flash proudly replied, clutching at his Marine uniform. “You know, they do say the ladies love a man in uniform.”
“Ooh, sorry, big guy,” M.J. replied, grabbing onto Peter’s arm and leaning into him, “but I’m afraid this redhead is already taken.”
“Man, I still can’t believe it,” Flash replied, shaking his head even as he smiled. “You know Parker, while I eventually came around to see that you were cooler than I gave you credit for, I still don’t know how you landed the girl voted ‘Most Likely to be a Model’ in our class.”
“You got me on that one; I ask myself that question every day,” Peter said, glancing over at his wife before returning towards his friend.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t make the wedding of the century,” Flash said. “Would’ve loved getting to do the toast.”
“It’s fine; we ended up doing something much smaller than we originally planned anyway,” Peter explained. “Seriously though, the uniform really suits you. Military life working out alright so far?”
“So far,” Flash answered. “I’m actually one of the head security people at our base, so I like to think I’m doing alright for myself.”
“There was a time when I would have NEVER pegged you for a military man,” Peter asserted.
“Yeah, me neither,” Flash agreed. “But after my football career when in the toilet, I had to figure something else out, and, I don’t know...I just really like doing something that hopefully makes a difference, you know?”
“Looks like all that Spider-Man worship really did get to you,” M.J. said.
“What can I say?” Flash said. “Spidey’s still my number one guy.”
Peter could only smile at that; it still cracked him up inside that Flash was such a huge fan of his alter ego, not having any clue that behind the mask was the guy he used to stuff in a locker, pelt with water balloons and otherwise just make life miserable for the longest time.
“Seriously though, no prospects yet?” M.J. questioned. “It’s like you said, a uniform never hurts a guy’s chances.”
“Nah,” Flash replied dismissively. “It’s like you used to say, Red, I’m a free agent right now, but who knows, I’m sure the right one is out there for me. I guess I just haven’t found her yet.”
“Whoever you do end up with is going to be lucky,” Peter said. “I hope you know that.”
“Of course I do,” Flash replied with a knowing wink. “Still, I appreciate it.”
Peter was about to say more when, suddenly, Kenny Kong came from behind Flash, wrapping his arms around him in a tight hug.
“Easy man!” Flash shouted, “the uniform!”
“Oh, sorry,” Kenny apologized, only for Flash to immediately bearhug him in return.
Some things really never changed.
“Sorry guys, you mind if I catch up with King Kong over here?” Flash asked.
“Not at all,” Peter replied with a wave. “Have at it.”
The two former football stars then walked off down the hallway.
“See, that wasn’t so painful, was it?” M.J. asked.
“Flash was always going to be the easiest part about today,” Peter countered, “which still blows my mind that I can even say that, but here we are.”
“Come on, Tiger,” his wife said, gesturing toward the gymnasium.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
After an initial greeting, the alumni were all turned loose on the refreshments. For the most part, Peter just kind of followed Mary Jane around, sticking by her side as she socialized away. Granted, he occasionally got some words in here and there, especially when people asked about what married life had been like for the two of them. He was happy to talk about that subject, as well as the startup he was hoping to, well, actually start up sometime in the next few months. Granted, since most of the people they were encountering were M.J.’s ex-theater people, that last part tended to lose them, even if they were clearly trying to be polite and listen.
Surprisingly, Peter hadn’t seen the few people he had been particularly bracing himself for, at least not yet. Then again, their graduating class had been record-setting, with over twelve hundred receiving their diplomas that day. While not nearly all that many had shown up to the reunion, it was still impossible to see everyone in what looked like a sea of people. Even so, he braced himself as he and M.J. continued to make their way around the room.
“Hey guys!”
For the second time today, Peter spun around to find none other than Liz Allan, a man wearing maybe the fanciest suit he’d ever seen by her side.
“Oh, hey Liz!” Mary Jane greeted.
“This is my husband!” she suddenly said, gesturing towards the man in the suit, who extended his hand to Peter first.
“I’m Victor,” the man said.
“Nice to meet you,” Peter affirmed as he accepted the man’s gesture. “I’m Peter.”
“Peter Parker?” the man questioned. “Liz’s ex from here?”
“Yep, that’s me,” Peter replied, blushing a little. The man didn’t seem malicious or upset in his questioning, but it was still enough to make him uncomfortable.
“Liz still talks about you pretty often,” Victor explained.
“Anyway,” Liz interrupted, her tone perhaps a little too dramatic. “Victor actually owns his own technology company! Can you believe it?”
“Wow, that’s impressive,” M.J. interjected.
“What do you work with?” Peter asked, trying to ignore the growing discomfort he was feeling.
“We mostly deal with computers,” Victor explained, “specifically making them as fast as possible while also being able to hold more data than ever before.”
“That’s really cool,” Peter said. At least he was finding common ground with the guy.
“Maybe you could offer him a job, sweetie!”
Okay, now Peter was SUPER uncomfortable.
“I’m actually about to get going on my own little startup,” he explained, hoping that would stave off Liz’s insistence, as well as the fact that M.J. seemed to be gripping him a little more, like an animal reinforcing her claim to a meal.
“Oh come on, Petey, it could be a great opportunity for you!” she insisted. Her voice sounded innocent enough, but there was something about the way she was looking at him that was making his stomach feel queasy. He started to open his mouth to speak again, when M.J. suddenly stepped in between them.
“Hey Liz, what do you think of my ring?” she asked, practically jamming her hand out in front of the other woman.
“Oh wow, that’s ni...” Liz paused, suddenly glancing back and forth between M.J. and Peter. “Wait, you two...”
“I know right, who would have thought?” M.J. said, coming back alongside Peter, cozying up against his arm and shoulder. “I guess I just never realized how handsome a guy in a lab coat could be, at least until I saw it on him.”
Mary Jane then planted a strong, deep kiss on Peter that caught him a bit off guard. Almost instinctively, he put his hands to her waist as her lips sank deeper into his, until eventually they separated, turning to find Liz and her husband were now nowhere to be seen.
“Wow,” Peter said, just staring at his wife for a moment before reality started to settle back in again.
“I can’t believe how forward she was being.”
“I know, and did you see her poor husband?” Peter asked. “I mean, maybe we were all reading her wrong, but...”
“Trust me, Pete, we weren’t,” Mary Jane assured him.
“I just feel bad for Victor,” Peter lamented. “He seemed like a really nice guy. I just can’t believe that she’s still not over me; I mean, I know I basically did nothing right by her, but still, I thought she would have moved on by now.”
They were then greeted by more of M.J.’s old theater friends, who at least seemed to distract his wife well enough for the time being, but Peter couldn’t get his interaction with Liz out of his mind. It hadn’t gone as he’d expected; if anything, he’d expected her to hate his guts still, but instead, it had seemed to be the opposite. He just couldn’t get past how forward she was being right in front of her husband, the man she was supposed to be solely devoted to.
Whatever had happened in Liz’s life, she clearly wasn’t happy.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A little over an hour and a half later, Peter and M.J. were now outside trying their luck at some of the different activities offered. Many of them were games popular when they attended there, and he had to admit, he was finding himself having more fun than he expected. Granted, he felt a little more confident in using his “gifts” in a more clandestine manner than he had as an awkward teenager, so it helped that this allowed him to take home some prizes. Honestly, his wife was even more impressive, winning a bunch of stuff without any spider powers.
As they walked along, Peter glanced ahead to see another familiar face that he’d honestly expected to see least of all today: Harry Osborn. He stopped mid-stride as he did, drawing his wife’s curiosity, the woman soon zeroing in on who was in Peter’s line of sight.
“You going to say hello?” she asked. Surprisingly, it didn’t sound like a prompt, but a genuine curiosity.
“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Peter said. He and Harry hadn’t talked in quite a while, which bothered him deeply, since Harry was as old a friend as he’d had. If there was anyone he wanted to try and mend a bridge with, it was him.
As he walked up to the younger Osborn, Harry suddenly pulled out his cell phone. He glanced Peter’s way, holding his finger out indicating for them to wait. Soon after, he hung up, turning his attention to his childhood friend.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized, stuffing his phone back in his pocket. “But hey, Pete! How’s it going?”
“It’s been pretty good,” Peter said, the two young men embracing in a brotherly hug. “What about you?”
“You pretty much saw it right there,” Harry replied, gesturing to the pocket his phone was in. “I don’t know how dad ever put up with it; the thing just rings and rings non-stop!”
“So, corporate master of the world doesn’t agree with you?” Peter questioned.
“I mean, it’s not ALL bad,” Harry reasoned. “But enough about me; look at you! You’re taller than I remember, and you got married to Ms. Theater Superstar herself, Mary Jane!”
“Yeah, well, that last part was just me getting lucky,” Peter insisted.
“Don’t listen to him,” M.J. spoke up.
“I never did, except when he was helping me pass biology,” Harry asserted. “Oh, Mary Jane, I came to your ‘Little Women’ performance on Broadway; I have to say, you were magnificent!”
“Thank you,” Mary Jane replied. “That one was definitely one of the more challenging ones; fortunately, the other girls proved to be some great castmates, so we all got through it together.”
“Now who’s being modest?” Peter teased his wife, who nudged him gently before he turned back to Harry. “We should hang out and catchup for real sometime though man; it’s been too long!”
“Yeah, yeah it has,” Harry replied, seemingly agreeing. “I’ll have to look at my schedule; is it weird that I actually have a schedule now?”
“Maybe just a little bit,” Peter said, holding up two fingers close together for emphasis. This was going better than he’d expected.
“Then again, if it wasn’t for Spider-Man, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”
There it was.
“Harry, I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Yeah, I know Pete,” Harry said, his tone shifting drastically. “You’re sorry that the guy who basically paid your bills got my dad killed for real this time. Then again, it didn’t stop you from taking pictures of the wall crawling creep, did it?”
“That’s not fair, Harry,” M.J. objected.
“Yes it is!” Harry asserted. “He could have gotten any job he wanted, but instead he...”
The young man cut himself off, shutting his eyes as he took a moment to compose himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Look, I need to get back to the office. It was good to see you both.”
The man then turned and walked off, not saying another word. Peter started to go after Harry but stopped after just one step.
“I can’t believe he still blames, well, you know who for what happened to his dad,” M.J. said.
“Why wouldn’t he?” Peter questioned. “First, he found out his dad was a supervillain, then he watched him supposedly get blown up, only to see him return as said supervillain, only to see his body after he died for real this time, with Spider-Man being the one bringing it to him.”
“Okay, I get it,” M.J. said. “But he knows what his dad was, what he became.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Peter replied, “because he died before Harry could ever earn his love, and that’s what eats at him the most, even if he won’t admit it.”
“I’m sorry,” M.J. said. “I know how much you wanted to reconcile. Maybe things can still work out?”
“Maybe,” Peter said, “but I’m not holding my breath at this point.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________
A couple hours later, Peter and M.J. were just about to head out the door, when a voice came from behind them.
“Hey Pete.”
Peter turned around, surprised to find none other than Gwen Stacy standing behind them.
“Gwen?” he stammered, his brain suddenly fritzing due to her presence.
“Yeah,” she said. “Hey, Mary Jane.”
“Hi Gwen,” she said, coming up to give Gwen a hug. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” the woman said, lightly reciprocating her gesture. “Listen, do you mind if I borrow Peter for a couple minutes?”
“Yeah, sure,” M.J. replied, glancing back and forth between them. “I’ll be just outside.”
After his wife stepped out, Peter glanced back to his childhood friend/ex-girlfriend.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” he said. “I thought that you were still studying abroad?”
“Yeah, well, I finally got some time off, so I figured it would be nice to be back home for at least a little bit.”
Peter nodded, an awkward silence soon falling over them. Eventually, Gwen spoke up again.
“Listen, Peter, I just really wanted to apologize for how things ended between us.”
“What?” Peter questioned. “No, Gwen, you don’t have anything to apologize for; I was the one who messed things up.”
“And instead of trying to work things out, I flew away to England,” Gwen countered. “Look, I... I’m happy for you, you and M.J. both. I’ve seen you guys around a couple of times today, and I can tell she makes you really happy. I’m glad you guys could find that in each other. I just can’t stand the fact that we just gave up after all those years of friendship, that we threw it all away because our paths just ended up going in different directions.”
“I know,” Peter concurred. “I’ve missed you too. I’ve thought so much about what went wrong between us, and yeah, I’m with Mary Jane now, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t be a part of each other’s lives still. She actually talks about how much she misses you too, so it’s not just me.”
Gwen chuckled a little in response, and Peter hadn’t even realized how much he’d missed it until this moment.
“How about this,” Peter began, “we just agree to be friendly and, if either of us ever need anything, we’ll be there for each other when it matters.”
“I think I can agree to that,” Gwen replied, holding out her hand for Peter to shake, which he accepted.
“Oh, and as soon as you win a Nobel Prize, I better be the first one you invite to watch you accept it,” Peter asserted.
“Only if you promise to do the same if you win it first,” Gwen countered.
“It’ll definitely be you,” Peter insisted, “but yeah, on the extreme off chance it is me, I can agree to that.
“Good,” Gwen said. “Well, I better get going. M.J.’s waiting for you too.”
“Why don’t you walk with us for a little bit?” Peter offered. “Like I said, I know M.J. would be happy to see you.”
“Okay,” Gwen replied somewhat hesitantly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Fortunately, almost as soon as they all three started walking, it was just like they were five or six years ago. There was hardly a dull moment in the conversation, as Gwen talked about her work studying medicine at Oxford, Peter talked about the startup he was working on and M.J. talked about her performances, each one also taking the time to talk about more general happenings in their lives as well. As a result, it felt like hardly any time at all had passed when they finally got to the bus stop Gwen intended to take.
“Thanks for this,” she said. “I’ve really enjoyed catching up.”
“Just promise that you won’t be such a stranger from now on,” Mary Jane said as she gave her friend a goodbye hug.
“You got it,” Gwen replied, turning to Peter. He offered the same gesture, with his oldest friend reciprocating, albeit still not as tightly as she could. Perhaps that was for the best.
“Send me pictures once you’ve got that startup running,” she instructed.
“I will,” he replied. Gwen then stepped on the bus, all parties waving goodbye as it pulled away.
“It was good to see her,” M.J. spoke up first.
“Yeah, it was,” Peter said. “You know, if nothing else good came out of today, that made it all worth it. Hopefully you feel the same.”
“Of course,” M.J. assured him. “She’s my friend too, after all.”
“It’s crazy to think that you were our biggest shipper back in the day,” Peter remarked.
“Yeah, well, I can’t ALWAYS be right,” she teased.
“Oh wow, can I get that on the record?” Peter questioned.
“Nice try,” she said, “but not happening.”
“Of course not,” Peter lamented as they turned and started walking. “Typical Parker luck.”
“Nah, just too slow,” M.J. teased, prompting a little chuckle out of Peter. He then paused in his steps, with her doing the same.
“Thanks for encouraging me to come out here today,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect, but it was worth it. It reminded me of all the people and everything that’s made me into who I am today, and I mean, that person was fortunate enough to marry you, so I guess that meant at least something went right.”
M.J. laughed.
“A little more than just something went right,” she assured him. She started to lean in for a kiss when, of course, sirens could again be heard in the distance. Peter sighed, looking back to his wife.
“Meet you back home?”
M.J. leaned in, giving him a quick kiss.
“Go get em, Tiger.”