Begin Again - A Post No Way Home Story

=LoveSong

It was first instinct for Peter to shield MJ from the blast, even though it was far enough for them. You never know how much debris could fall and how much of it could hit you. To top it off, New York City loves its skyscrapers and their glass windows, sometimes even making an entire room full of glass for the aesthetic of natural light.

Cars stopped as Peter saw a figure run across the street, chasing something.

MJ had her arms wrapped around Peter, and it was soon apparent that another blast wouldn't come. But still, chaos erupted as people ran out of the building and the sirens were suddenly a lot louder than Peter had remembered.

"It's not aliens, right?" her voice was muffled as she peeked out from where she was in Peter's arms.

"No, no," Peter rubbed her back. "It's just New York when the world knows about aliens."

A part of Peter wanted to go and check out the scene. It was his duty, wasn't it? As the protector of the city. He needed to make sure everything was okay.

No, Peter. You are the protector of Queens and the lil' guys, a voice sounded in his head. This isn't your fight.

But it hurt to look away. He need to see that the people there were okay, who had been hit by the blast, what it had been.

But he also held the girl he loved in his arms and he needed to take care of her first. Peter carefully let go of her, even though it hurt to do so. He could feel her shaking a bit. No one ever liked hearing a bomb go off, especially if it was a building. The world they lived in, no matter how interesting, was dangerous. The other Peters' worlds weren't as dreadful as theirs.Their world hadn't been dusted in half.

He took her to a small Italian restaurant where they got their own little booth, the two of them eating something small to shake the shock out of them. This dinner would be paid by another round of Spider-Man pictures, he told himself. MJ fiddled with the Black Dahlia necklace as the news reported on the problem at hand.

" - This may be the first sighting of the Ronin we've hard in years ," the news reporter said. " Police reports that a black market auction had gone south during a corporate Christmas party. "

The black market auction, Peter took note. That was most definitely not his territory. He had been warned that the criminal underground of New York could get ruthless. And the Ronin? That was not a person he would want to run into, but he knew that the Ronin would get the bad guys in time.

It was a good idea not to leave, Peter reassured himself. Maybe his new way of measuring could be whether his spider senses tingled or not. It certainly didn't seem to think itself in danger.

Peter took MJ home, and she had stopped shaking. She hadn't said much during the walk home but had kept herself close to Peter as though she was worried that she was going to get snatched away.

As he stood outside the Jones-Watson household, before MJ would walk into the apartment complex, she turned around.

"You were going to say something. Before the building blast."

Peter shook his head. Not today, not now.

"It doesn't matter right now. I'll tell you tomorrow, I promise."

"Alright, but if you don't show up by noon I am coming to your apartment and make you tell me."

Peter let out a strangled laugh and put his hands into his pockets. His left leg was shaking. He needed to leave. MJ was going to be safe, he could look at the problem at hand. "I believe you on that end."

"I had fun, explosion and all. Just... wanted you to know that," she smiled. "Just, take care when you get back, okay?"

"I will."

He made sure the door closed behind her before he walked off. Then, when MJ's place was well out of sight, he hid in an alley to change and charged off into the night.

Daredevil, as they called him, filled him in on the situation.

"There was a fire at an apartment two hours later - also the tracksuit mafia. Threw some Molotov cocktails and the house burnt. If you ask me, this isn't your rodeo, kid." Daredevil could hear from Peter's voice that he was young. It came as a surprise to Peter, and it came as a surprise to Daredevil. It had seemed the vigilante wouldn't connect the crimes of Spider-Man in London to him.

"I was framed," Spider-Man had exasperated. "But it's cool. It's cool."

"Good thing no one knows who you are," Daredevil had said. "If they had figured it out, I know a lawyer who could help you. I know a couple of superpowered beings who don't have an alter ego. Anything they do, everyone knows."

Peter thought back to his lawyer, Matt Murdock. They had hired him because of his work with Jessica Jones. No one was a good as him and he had done a lot for him, Aunt May, and... well, he didn't know how Happy's case went. He was too busy breaking the multiverse afterward.

"Do you know who the Ronin is?" the both of them sat on a random rooftop. Daredevil shook his head.

"I remember how people thought that I was the Ronin and got a new costume. Jokes on them, I blipped in that time.."

"You and I, buddy."

"I left for five years, and I feel a presence back on these streets I do not like," Daredevil's hand itched. "Like my archnemesis has come back, but I can't...see it. Not yet."

"You have an archnemesis?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm not new to these streets."

Peter wanted to know more. He wanted to know as much as possible to keep his streets safe.

"Trust me, even weird shit happens in Hell's Kitchen, kid. If there is one thing I learned, no one is dead until you see the body without a pulse and burnt."

The monologue he had written weeks ago was crumbled up in his pants, and he had unfolded it to remember how he had wanted to tell MJ. The next morning he was hesitant to walk into the diner. MJ was just setting up shop and hadn't seen him just yet.

You can do this, Peter thought. MJ was observant, she would know, wouldn't she? She must somehow know.

He walked in.

MJ smiled and Peter felt his heart beating, hot flashes going throughout his body. You can do this, Peter. You can do this.

"Hey, you're in early. You didn't take that threat too literally, right?"

"Is your boss here yet?" Peter asked. MJ shook her head.

"Okay, then I need to tell you the thing that I was going to tell you last night, but couldn't."

"Okay," she leaned against the counter. "Shoot."

Peter opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Just like the last few times he had tried to tell her, it just never came out.

"I'm..." he tried again. His mouth was going dry. "I'm - "