Air I Breathe

Chapter 7

Chapter 7
Wednesday, December 25, Christmas Day (Part 3)

"Oh, shit," she says, putting a hand to her mouth when she realizes what she's just said.

"Wait, what?" he's asking, turning off the nebulizer. He feels his heart rate rising beyond what the medication usually does and hopes Tony doesn't get a high heart rate alert from FRIDAY.

"That was not supposed to come out like that. I...I know you're Spiderman, Peter, and I was planning this whole elaborate way of telling you and then I just went and...shit."

"I'm not Spiderman," he says, and he feels a little too confident as he says it. More confident, in fact, than he's ever been saying it.

"Cut the bullshit, Peter. I'm not stupid. I mean, you live with Iron Man."

MJ is the smartest person Peter's ever met, bar Tony, and even though he wants to argue with her to prove his point, he holds back because heknows he's lying, and she knows he's lying, which means there's no point in wasting breath arguing about this.

"I'd never say you were stupid, MJ," he says slowly. "I just...how did you know I lived here, exactly?"

Peter is kicking himself for not questioning how she knew he'd be here.

And why Happy let her up to the residence on Christmas in the first place.

Tony?

His heart sinks at the thought that Tony doesn't think he can even handle a crush without his help.

MJ shifts on the bed. "After you passed out, Mrs. Benninger called the nurse, who showed up with a wheelchair. You were having a really hard time breathing and I was afraid that you'd be all alone, so I grabbed your backpack and followed you guys down to the nurse's office. They couldn't get through to your aunt, so I offered to look through your bag for your phone, and at the bottom-"

"Was my suit," Peter says, deflating. He's always been so protective of his suit, especially at school, and it pains him to know that his asthma has once again interfered with his ability to keep all of this under wraps.

"And then Tony came. He was really gentle with you and seemed like he knew you personally, much more personally than he would just from the Stark internship. He said something about getting you home, and I knew he meant here. Don't ask me how, I just knew, and things just kind of...clicked for me, I guess," she says, looking regretful. "I'm...sorry, Peter, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I got nervous and it just slipped. I wasn't going to tell you right away. Or ever. I hadn't...decided, exactly."

Peter swallows, tries to breathe. His heart is pounding against his ribcage, which he knows is impossible, but it feels so real. She knows she knows she knows is repeating over and over in his head, which isn't helping him calm down at all.

"So," Peter tries to say, but it comes out slow and somewhat garbled. "Y-you're just here because I'm Spiderman, then?" He takes a breath, waits for her to respond.

The seconds tick by, painful and slow, and Peter spends that time holding back the sob building in his chest because he really likes MJ, was afraid that he'd completely missed his chance and then she'd shown up at his door on Christmas, of all days, and-

"No," she finally says, licking her lips and nervously brushing her hair behind her ears. "But can I at least explain before I walk myself out? So that I don't look like a complete asshole?" She places her can on Peter's windowsill beside the bed.