Spiderdad

57

"Hey, MJ," Peter muttered over the phone as he paced back and forth in his bedroom, "are you alone?"

"Just me and Nat, why?" MJ asked anxiously on the other end of the line.

"We... I don't want to call it early, but there's a small chance we'll have to postpone moving day," Peter answered; they had started calling their elopement plans 'moving day' earlier that week.

"Wh-why?" She stammered, "is something wrong?"

"No, I mean-"

"Did you tell Tony about your chest pains?" She interrogated.

"I did," he sighed.

"And?"

"And as far as we know, it's nothing," he had been mentally rehearsing this lie ever since his diagnosis.

"As far as you know?" She echoed.

"Yes, but we want to keep an eye on it a little longer to make sure it's nothing. Okay?"

"O-okay," she mumbled uncertainly, "Peter, I swear if it's something-"

"It won't be something," he assured calmly.

She heaved a sigh and was quiet for a moment before replying, "...Nat is being a pain. Can you come over?"

"I want to," he replied, "trust me, I really do. But I have things to take care of right now."

"Like what?" MJ demanded.

"We're looking into getting me on some anxiety meds, but we need to figure out what's going to work best," he explained, "but it also has to be non addictive."

"Oh... I'm glad that's finally getting taken care of," her voice held a tiny amount of relief.

"Me too," he suspired quietly then went silent.

MJ waited a moment for a reply then sensed the tension on his end of the line, "Peter, is there something you're not telling me?"

"No-"

"What aren't you telling me?" She corrected herself demandingly.

In a brief moment that took no more than a second but felt as if it were an hour, Peter's mind raced in panic. What if there was no way to save him? Would he really tell MJ, or let her believe he was okay until he died a few years later? How long until she figured it out herself? Honestly, she could just ask FRIDAY for a bit of information and the AI would reply with an hour-long lecture. 

But what if he was okay? What if he, Bruce, and Tony did find a way to stop the damage and save him? Then he'd have nothing to worry about, meaning Michelle wouldn't either and she'd just be left with the memory of hearing that her fiancé could die. He couldn't imagine what hearing those words would be like for her— heartbreaking would be a damned understatement.

"Michelle, I swear I'm not hiding anything," he lied, his voice calm and full of promise.

MJ was far from convinced, she knew better than to believe him— ever, "swear on your uncle's grave?"

That sucked the air out of Peter's lungs. He couldn't lie like that, his uncle would turn in his grave and cry in the afterlife. Even in death, Peter loved Ben and was always wanting to make him proud. Lying (especially to this extent) was one thing Ben wouldn't condone in a thousand years.

"... I swear," Peter quietly forced himself to say after several beats of silence.

"Shut the fuck up!" MJ cried, "you hesitated, I know you're hiding something. Tell me what's wrong."