Spideychelle: a field trip

'Nat, is she your girlfriend?!'

The girls eat and sit in silence, and five minutes later the bell of the elevator rings again. 'Well, duty calls. Are you coming, Shuri?'

They walk to the living room, where Peter, Tony, Wanda, Natasha, Strange, Flash and Ned already sit on the couches. 'Ah, MJ, the girl we need to talk to,' Tony says.

'Actually, can I please just talk to Nat first? I really need to talk to someone. I can't talk to anyone right now. Not even Shuri. Trust me, we tried. Or, she tried. I just ate chocolate. A lot of it. Nat, just... come with me for a second?' MJ looks through the crowded room, she never saw so many people here. She feels her breathing gets harder, it's not going well. 'Nat. Please. Now?'

Nat gets up, holds MJ by her shoulders, and takes her to Peter's bedroom. 'Have a seat,' she says, pointing to Peter's bed. When MJ sits, she starts to talk. 'MJ, it's not your fault. It's probably Tony's, if you really think of it,' she says to make her young friend smile. When that smile doesn't appear, she hugs MJ tight. MJ doesn't react to that either, or at least not at first. After a couple of seconds, she feels MJ's shoulders shock. 'Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, shhh, it's okay, it's not your fault. Just throw it all out. It's okay.'

When MJ is able to make a sound again, Natasha lets her go for a bit. 'I'm, I'm sorry. It's just so stupid. I never cry. I barely show emotions,' MJ laughs, trying to tell Nat lightly. Surprisingly, Nat chuckles.

'You're so much like me,' she says. 'I don't show emotions either, but that doesn't mean I don't feel them. I've been trained, learned that love is for children, and emotions make people weak. I learned later that none of that is true. The Avengers are my family, Yelena is my family, Peter is my family, you are my family. Nothing will change that. So you're going to tell me exactly what happened.'

MJ got herself together again during Nat's speech, but she heard something new. 'Who's Yelena? Do I know her?' It would be weird if she didn't, everyone knows everything about Nat's past, because Natasha herself threw it all on the internet. Unless the two people met each other after that. 'Nat, is she your girlfriend?!'

Unfortunately for MJ, Nat begins to laugh. It's not a big laugh with a lot of sound, she never does that. It's a big grin on her face, while she chuckles softly. 'No. Yelena is not my girlfriend. She's someone I know from the past. I might tell you our story one day, but not now. Right now, you're going to tell me exactly what happened, starting at the end of the Nerf-gun fight.'

~~~

Peter gets more nervous while time passes. MJ became more anxious during his and Flash's explanation, then she left them, then she got back. It's clear no one noticed, maybe not even MJ noticed, but he did. She was getting worse and still has a lot of energy. When The Avengers got in, she was on the edge of a panic attack, which also happened when Nat was alone with her. Sometimes Peter curses his enhanced hearing. He feels like it's his fault. If he took Flash's bite, nothing would've happened to MJ. If he didn't allow her to go upstairs with him, she wouldn't have been bitten. If he didn't know Tony, they wouldn't have gotten the longer field trip but just a regular one. If MJ wasn't his girlfriend, she wouldn't have gotten in danger. Yep, it's all on Peter.

His bedroom door that opens, brings him back to reality. Wanda starts humming Back To Life by Soul II Soul, which means she was in his head. Her eyes are still a bit red, so she just got out. Peter stops caring about that when he sees his girlfriend. He walks to her, and whispers in her ear: 'Can I hug you?' When he sees her nod, he holds her just as tight as Nat just hugged her. 'I'm sorry,' he whispers. 'I'm so sorry. It's all on me, if I wasn't...'

She doesn't let him finish. 'It's not all on you, Peter. It's no one's fault, besides maybe Tony's,' she jokes. Peter doesn't tell her he knows Nat just told MJ that same joke. He knows she's having a bad time, so he won't take this piece of fun from her.