I Was Joking

Check Michelle, Choose Michelle, Vote for Michelle Jones

The only thing really used for the 'MJ for Homecoming Queen' campaign (if it could even be called that) was a single, small homemade poster with a well-done picture of her with the caption of, "Um, could you please vote MJ for Homecoming Queen? K, Thanks!". Peter and Ned pinned it on the bulletin board in the cafeteria, next to where the voting table would be. Then they sat back at their table and waited.

It had come to a bit of a surprise to everyone when they announced Michelle Jones on the list of nominees over the intercom. It didn't take long for most of the student body to see the absolute lack of effort and realize the whole thing was a joke. In fact, after a couple of weeks, the only people who didn't get it was her competition. Which, if you asked anyone in the friend group, made the whole ordeal even funnier.

Now, one may question, who might this competition be? Just, imagine a group of popular high-school girls, right? All of them may seem nice, all have done some sort of charity work (whether or not that's to help their image is debatable), but they are the definition of petty and passive-aggressive. Especially when they're being challenged. (For example, there was one particular incident in the time period between after school and club activities when Sara Berry approached her.

"Hey, Michelle, is it? I wanted to talk to you for a moment. You see, I overheard the best friend of the head of the election committee, and she said something about you not trying hard enough in your campaign to even be a possibility. So, I was thinking, it may be better for you to just drop out of the competition now. I know these kinds of things aren't really your thing anyway, so really, it'd just be saving you trouble and embarrassment." MJ looked the preppy princess up and down before pursing her lips. "...Nah."

Sara blinked for a moment. You'd see her eye starting to twitch if you looked hard enough. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. I must not have made my statement clear enough. Leave this kind of thing to the ones that deserve it, mmkay? Everyone knows you're going to lose, and they'll laugh when you do." Jones scoffed, getting her camera ready for another person-in-crisis drawing. "Oh yeah? Well, your judgment of others is just a manifestation of your crippling self-disappointment in how your life is turning out. Sweetie.", she quipped, snapping a photo of Berry's shocked face before heading to decathlon practice.)

And so, once election week began, the posters and banners seemed to cover Midtown High from ceiling to floor. Except for MJ, who still just had that one little poster on the bulletin board. Honestly, she was more worried about getting the team to finals and catching up on her drawings. College applications were somewhere in there too, but not the highest point on her list at the moment. She had narrowed down her list, but the whole process was...straining.

Protecting Peter also became a priority. For two weeks, random girls and a few guys flocked up to him, trying to get themselves to be his date when he said he didn't have one. The plan was going to be that they were going as a group of friends and hang out. But as time wore on, it was obvious that Parker-Stark was becoming less and less patient. His denials were shorter and more blunt. But who could blame him? If two or three different strangers walked up to you and asked to be your date every day, even though you know that they're just trying to gain favors by being nice to you, you may find yourself being a little frustrated, ready to do or say anything to get these people to leave you alone.

"Yes, I do, actually.", the brunette finally remarked one day. He sat back in his seat, wrapping an arm around MJ and pulling her in. She just glanced up from her book and gave a cheeky smile. "Is that a problem?", Jones remarked, gaze drifting back down to her book. The girl, well known for being a gold digger, slowly shook her head and walked away. Not a minute later, Peter's face turned bright red and he started apologizing profusely.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just panicked and I should've asked. I shouldn't have just blurted that, and now—" "Hey. Chill.", MJ interrupted, kissing his cheek. "We've been pseudo-dating for this long. It's about time you asked me out. I've been waiting for...oh god, two years now? Almost three?", she remarked with a smile. Peter nodded slowly, visibly relaxing with an echoed smile. "Oh God, about damn time!!", Ned's shout could be heard from the hallway.

*This time skip brought to you by everyone's reaction (including mine) to Endgame! And now, a word from our sponsor:

*

Ah, homecoming night. It was their last one, the team was doubling it as a celebration for their national win, and there weren't any super villain dad's who were trying to pull off a major heist this time!

Flash was on pickup duty, and the boys were hanging around, goofing off until MJ was picked up. The reason why it stopped was because her mere presence made Peter clam up and unable to think. Anytime he tried, the tie around his neck suddenly became too tight, constricting his throat too much to breathe. When they got to the cafeteria, it somehow became relieving and more stuffy simultaneously. For the most part, he just smiled, nodded along to the music and held MJ's hand.

He tried dancing later, but it was pretty much an awkward two-step shuffle. "Oh, cut the bull. I've seen you dance better than that.", Jones remarked, walking up to him. "Yeah, well, most of the time I've had a partner.", he remarked before processing what he was implying. MJ smirked, pursing her lips and taking his hand. Conveniently enough, in that moment, a slow song had started. (Read: Flash had taken over as the DJ, seen what was happening, and cut the song that was playing in the middle to put on a ballad because he's ya homie like that.)

The couple shyly smiled at each other, airily laughing at the timing of it all. "I swear, sometimes, my life's a movie.", Peter huffed before slowly pulling MJ in. The song went by too quickly, more or less because he was thinking the whole time 'I'm slow dancing. With MJ. What even is my life right now.'

Also conveniently, because why the heck not, that was the last song before the Homecoming Court was announced. The announced King wasn't even there, so let's just ignore him. And as for the queen...

Remember how most of the school was in on the joke? Well, most of them seemed to think, hey. You know what would be even funnier? If she won.

That was the only reason, MJ decided when she heard her name being called. They were only helping make fun of the whole ordeal., the teen had thought while walking to the stage. It was ironic. The whole thing was ironic. As fake as the aluminum crown being placed on her head.

The boys cheered especially loudly, whooping and hollering and trying to get on the tables so that way their chant of "MJ!! MJ!! MJ!!" could be heard over the rest. She just rolled her eyes and stepped back down towards the dance floor. Yeah, the look on the other nominees faces were kinda... hilarious. Michelle felt no shame.

The rest of the night was just simply dumb fun. When someone was talking about spiking the punch, Peter drank the entire damn bowl, looked at the planned culprits, and gave a mischievous, knowing, and downright intimidating smirk. Ned and Flash were challenged to a dance off and won, and MJ was eventually dragged into making a beautiful, heartfelt speech that could basically be boiled down to, 'F the world and everyone on it.' ("Now tell a joke!", Abe shouted once the applause died down. "You.")

Ned and Flash sat up front on the drive back, chattering excitedly while MJ and Peter sat next to each other. "So, I guess this is an official thing now? You and I?", MJ asked when Flash stopped at an intersection. "I guess... if you want it to be.", Parker-Stark mumbled, blush creeping up onto his cheeks. "Always the modest gentleman.", she remarked quietly.

When they stopped at her apartment building, Peter pulled the girl into a deep and passionate kiss with no warning before letting her go. When walking back to her apartment, her only complaint was that it didn't last longer.

(May was still up when Peter came back to the apartment. "Hey Aunt May. How was night school?" "How many more years do I have of this?", she remarked, shutting the book and setting it aside. "How about you? How was—", the woman stopped herself when she saw the remnants of lipstick on her nephew's lips. "Oh, my little ladies' man." "Please don't make a big deal out of this.", Peter pleaded despite knowing it was too late. "I won't, since you asked so nicely. But you know who will? Your father."

"Wait—no—May!")