The Amazing Spider-Man - Love, MJ

V

I stand beside Peter like a grumpy child, arms crossed, and a sour look on my face. He is going to get me fired. Showing up randomly at my employer's house on a weekend feels so stalker-ish. I'm gonna be without a job after today, what have I gotten myself into with this boy?

Peter knocks on the wooden door and not long after does it open to reveal Dr. Connors. He looked a little confused to see us, "Dr. Connors? Uh... you don't remember me. I— uh..." Now he decides to be nervous, the timing was perfect.

"You're the intern from the other day, and of course I remember Miss Mary Jane, one of my best interns." He smiles down at me with a fondness I'm used to seeing, I mean he's known me since I was 15, he's practically helped raise me and Gwen.

"Yeah, yeah. That's right, yeah." His voice trails off,

"I'm sure you're a very nice young man, but this is a home. I'll ask you to make an appointment with my office." He says, before turning his back to us and going to shut his door. I look up with a frown, I felt a little bad for Peter.

 I reach to grab his hand and pull him away from the door when he speaks up, "I'm Richard Parker's son."

Connor turns around with a look of familiarity and remembrance, "Peter?" He questions quietly, I look between them; so that was the connection. Peter grabs my hand without glancing down at me and Connors moves to the side to allow us into his home.

#

I stand next to Peter as he leans against the kitchen counter, Connors pouring us some tea. Peter did in fact keep his promise, he spent the last half hour or so explaining everything to both Connor and me. It was kind of a sad story; I'm not going to lie.

"I'm afraid I can't help you much, Peter. I don't know why they left or where they were going." He explains, turning to place the metal kettle on a separate counter and accidently knocking one of the mugs down.

Within a split-second Peter shot out a hand and caught the mug before it hit the floor or even spilled any of the warm water inside. I look from the mug to Peter with slightly wide eyes, how'd he do that so fast?

"Good reflexes," Connor complimented, setting the kettle in the sink.

"Thank you," He replies quietly, reaching beside him and grabbing the second mug, holding it out to Connors who takes it in silence. Peter looks down at me with those soft puppy eyes as he politely holds the mug he caught down to me. My eyes remain on him as I grab it from him. 

He looks away and grabs his own mug, "I read your book."

"Oh," Connors hums.

"Yeah. It's something, you know. So, you really think it's possible, cross-species genetics?" Peter asks, I looked away from him and towards Connors.

"Yes, of course. But for years, your father and I were mocked for our theories. Not just in the community at large, but at Oscorp, as well. They called us mad scientists. And then your father bred the spiders, and everything changed. The results were beyond encouraging. They were spectacular." He explains, pausing for a moment as he looks away,

"We were gonna change the lives of millions. Including my own. Then it was over. He... he was gone. Took his research with him. And I knew without him, I..." He trails off, a strange look coming over his face as he clenches his jaw a few times, looking down at his mug. "I... I was angry. So, I stayed away from you and your family. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

Peter took a moment to form his response, I reach across him and set my undrinked cup of tea and grab his hand, squeezing it comfortingly between us.

"Say... Say it worked. Say you— you got it to work. Like, how much would the foreign species take over? What— what could the side effects be?" Peter stammered out his question with a creased brow, I furrow my brows, what was he getting at?

"It's hard to say, considering no subject survived." Connors says thoughtfully.

I felt his grip on my hand tighten at that, then it all clicked. This is all because of the spider that bit him, all the things happening. Was he going to die? no subject survived the cross-species genetics. He won't, will he? There's no way, it's been too long. He'd be sick... he'd be gone by now.

"The problem was always—" Peter cut him off, "The decay rate algorithm?"

"Right." Connor quietly mutters,

"Right." Peter repeats and releases my hand stepping away towards the table. "Can I uh...?" 

Connor nods, "Of course."

I watch curiously from where he departed from me as he scribbles down something on a piece of paper. Connors walks past me and towards Peter, setting his mug down on the table once Peter finishes and spins the notebook paper around to face Connors. I slowly walk towards them with my own curiosity.

"Extraordinary. How did you come up with this?" He looks up at Peter from the paper and he smiles nervously for a moment before tapping his temple with the eraser of his pencil.

"Peter, how would you feel about coming to see me at the Tower, one day after school?" He offers, I look between them with a small smile.

"Yeah." He nods nervously, fidgeting a bit with his movements, I step over to him and set my hand on his shoulder to soothe his obvious nerves.

"Thank you." Connors grabs the notepad with what Peter had written down on and turns away.

#

"Holy shit Pete! You just got a job offer from the literal best scientist in Queens!" I squeal out excited for him as he looks at me from his bed, a small smile of his own.

"This is great news, why aren't you celebrating?" I ask and plop down in his spinney office chair. 

He tilts his head at me slightly and shrugs, "I don't know, just... something was off, right?"

 I shrug and loosely sway side to side with the chair, "I don't think so, I mean I guess maybe a little, we barged into his house without warning." He nods and sighs falling back on his bed, arms spread out.

"I'm sure it's fine Pete," I reassure him and stand from the chair walking over to him, I stand between his spread open legs and pull him up into a sit by his wrists. He peers up at me with a little twinkle in his eyes that I've seen plenty of times before.

"You got a job offer, for the best science corporation known, this is good, it's great even, you're allowed to be excited." I state a bit firmly, it was truly a mystery why he wouldn't allow himself to feel his success.

He nods with my words and slides his wrists down from my hands, so his hands were holding mine instead, "You're right, I know."

I smile cockily, "I'm always right." He breathes a laugh and rolls his eyes.