The Amazing Spider-Man 4

Chapter 12

Peter's eyes just kept going back and forth as he glanced through different wardrobe options for the evening. It had only recently dawned on him that he had failed to indicate to M.J, or even himself for that matter, what kind of outing this would be. It was a little later than he'd planned to start yesterday, so the sightseeing would be much more limited if that's what he chose to go with. Also, getting into the new exhibit he'd initially planned on taking Mary Jane to was out of the question, again due to the time. Dinner would probably look a little different too.

Finally grabbing something, Peter opted for a button-up shirt that was newer but still had a more casual feel to it, adding his nicest pair of jeans to his outfit as well. After checking over his look in the mirror, he decided it was as good as he was going to get. He grabbed his keys and had already in fact opened the door when he realized that he'd almost forgotten the most important thing: the ring!

Sprinting back to his room, he opened the small box he'd been keeping it in, holding it up and looking at it.

"Alright Peter," he thought to himself. "There's no going back now. This is it; tonight's the night. You've got this. Go get em' Tiger." He then shook his head, immediately deciding to never again utter M.J.'s catchphrase for him even in his mind. Coming from her, it sounded like nothing else in the world, but as a self-motivational thing, it was just weird.

Tucking the ring in his pocket, he went back out to his door, shut the lights off, and performed a little spin as he shut the door behind him, promptly locking it. Taking the few steps to arrive at the door next door, he gave a few knocks.

"Coming!" Peter heard M.J. yell from inside. Some scrambling noises followed, then the sound of footsteps heading towards the door before it was promptly opened.

"Hey!" M.J. said excitedly, giving a big smile. Peter was relieved to see that she too had gone for a somewhat nice but still casual look, as she was wearing what appeared to be a newer T-shirt with some nice jeans and her hair down.

In short, she looked amazing.

"Hey," Peter said, realizing that he'd gone too long without returning to her greeting. "Uhm, ready to go?"

"Yeah, absolutely," M.J. replied, reaching over to the coat rack just on the inside of the apartment and grabbing her blue denim jacket.

"You sure you're okay by the way?" Peter asked. "I mean, I just don't want you to feel the need to..."

"Yep," M.J. interrupted as she threw on her jacket, "never better!"

"Okay then," Peter said as she closed and locked the door behind her. She then turned to him, raising her arms and shrugging before slapping them back down against her pants.

"Well, what are we going to do?" M.J. asked.

"Well," Peter said, looking up towards the top of the wall behind her, "uhm..."

"Let me guess, you don't know," M.J. said, her tone half-teasing.

"It's just that I had very particular things I wanted to do yesterday that, well, cost money," Peter explained. "Then my suit got torn and, well, I ran into some unexpected expense."

"Tiger, you know I don't care about that kind of thing," M.J. reassured him. "Besides, especially after last night, I'm just glad we still get to do something together."

"You do make a good point," Peter replied.

"I usually do," Mary Jane added.

"Well..."

"Watch it!" M.J. teased, pointing a finger at him as she smiled.

"Of course you do," Peter clarified. "You always do."