The Tragedy of Mary Jane Stark

Anxiety

For the next several days, Peter did everything in his power to make recovering easier for Mj. He practically waited on her hand and foot- despite her protesting.

"Really Pete I'm feeling a lot better. No fever or anything!" It had been 5 days since his return. She hadn't left the house in a week. "I haven't coughed in like two days. Let's just go out."

"I don't know. Let's not push yourself. We can spend the day watching movies!" Peter suggested, changing the subject rather quickly.

"But I was to start working on our costumes. Michelle's Halloween party is literally in 2 days. We gotta start." Mj whined.

"W-we can go tomorrow." Peter pulled her gently to sit on the couch. "You mentioned you wanted to rewatch the twilight series?"

"Hmm that hits a little to close to home now. Why not starwars?" Mj suggested. Maybe he was right. She didn't want to push herself. She was just getting better, she wasn't trying to get worse. 

"Sounds good. I'll get the dvd set out." Peter smiled cheerfully.

Things had been so easy now. It was like her mental episode didn't happen. And she was content in pretending it didn't happen at all. But there were cracks in her in her ignorance.

Harry was one thing. He had texted her twice asking to meet with her. She would reply back asking if Peter could come- she'd get left on read.

She had fallen asleep during her Star wars marathon. When she woke up she was alone. Mj sat up quickly, looking around her living room.

"Peter?" She called out. She felt stupid for panicking. He was probably in the bathroom.

He didn't answer.

"Peter??" There was a sense of urgency to her voice. She ran to the bathroom, he wasn't there. He wasn't in the bedroom either.

Was the last few days a dream? Had she dreamed peters return? There was no evidence of his being home. Or perhaps he left again. It was her fault for getting her hopes up. She should have known he'd leave again.

She grabbed her phone of the side table to text Michelle.

peter <3: I'm grabbing groceries! Be back soon. Hoping you just stay asleep. Don't panic I'm coming back

She sighed a breath of relief. Why wouldn't he take her with him? Was he trying to keep her home?

She turned on her tv but didn't watch it. She was hyper fixated on the idea that Peter would be coming home soon.

The moment she heard the door unlock she jumped out of her chair. Peters spider sense had to have gone off because he had dropped all their grocery bags and held out his arms for her. She immediately jumped into them. Holding on as tight as she could, except it didn't feel tight enough.

"I've got separation anxiety now." Mj giggled slightly with her head on his shoulder.

"I've always had that. Welcome to my world." Peter chuckled into her hair.

"I want to go do something. I want to go out please. I feel like I haven't left my house in months." Mj whined. "Let's go out for dinner. We could order take out and eat it on some roof.

"I don't know. Your just starting to feel better..." Peter said anxiously setting her down.

"I don't care I'm bored and sick of this house. If I feel like shit tomorrow that's on me." Mj begged.

Peter sighed and picked up the bags. He carried them to the kitchen and they started putting away the items. He was deep in thought.

"Okay fine. Yeah it will be fun." Peter seemed to convince himself. "Oh and I bought the stuff you wanted for our costumes!"