When Peter returns to his apartment, he does expect that the next time he hears from MJ she's going to be upset, so he does keep an open mind that as soon as he pulls out his phone he's going to have to face the missed call or two and dial her back. He expects it.
Yet, still, there's a lingering sense of question when he plops down on his bed and flips it open, as if wondering why she would have called. He knows exactly why and instead of the unconstrained excitement he felt when MJ would contact him any way possible back when they were in high school, he feels a very faint drift of upcoming anxiousness and exhaustion wash out the whole room because in the end Peter knows exactly what she called him about.
The play. But more importantly her play. MJ's play.
He decides to listen to the voicemail with curiosity, sitting criss crossed on his bed and his Spidey suit in his backpack. "Peter," She starts and he hates how he has to admit he can already sense the start of disappointment in her voice. If only she would understand why he shows up late sometimes, why he misses meetups and whatnot. But that's a whole different story he continues to tuck in for later because he can still not entirely stomach the idea of Mary Jane knowing his secret identity and her possible reaction, to be honest he wonders if she could either, if she could digest it. He doesn't linger, and listens to MJ take a slow breath.
"I think you know why I'm calling." He does know. "I just wanted to say, for whatever reason you couldn't show, just let me know why, okay? And also, please don't promise you'll be there when Harry shows up without you. I was hoping you'd be there. You're a busy man lately, hopefully we can find some time that actually works. That is all, Peter, I'm just a bit sad you didn't come to my play, you said you would. Talk to you later, bye Peter."
He winces both mentally and physically at the voicemail. He knows he promised and he was going to. He was on his way there but then there was an explosion and Black Cat had found him afterwards. He has a responsibility and even if MJ doesn't know about it, unfortunate in cases where it messes with his schedule, he has to follow it.
He doesn't know what to say at first, just bites his lip and taps his knees with his fingers as he tries to come up with some sort of apology. He knows MJ wanted him to be there, he tried to be there, but stuff came up and he can't control whenever it does. If he did, he would simply choose never, Spider-Man would just become a way to get to places faster, or to continue feeling the rush of climbing to one of the tallest buildings and just jumping off, knowing exactly when to shoot a webline and zip off before he hits the ground. That just isn’t how life works, though.
But he sucks it up and calls her back. Of course, she doesn't pick up. She never would the first time if she's frustrated. In fact, Peter thinks he will have a better chance to catch her tomorrow, she's more likely to answer then. Later on, when it doesn't feel so raw anymore to her.
If only doing this double life stuff was easy. He doesn't let himself truly think about that, because then it aches a little in his chest because he hasn't accomplished perfect balance between his lives yet. He'll try, again and again. He will search for a system that works and just hopes he finds one.
For now, though, he takes up the chance he has to sleep before he does some patrolling in the morning, even the well-known webhead has to catch some Zs.
When it does come, he wakes up quickly getting ready to jump into his suit again, and then figure out if Peter has anything going on today.
YOU ARE READING
Trip A Spider
Fanfiction"You're the one following me," She says with a hand placed on her hip. He huffs, but then she steps forward and within a blink of his eyes, her hands are on his shoulder lightly, almost hovering, but still touching. Through his costume of course, bu...
