bright lights & city scapes

.... “Well then, consider that one yours.” Mary Jane was glad her dietary preferences were just that and not restrictions, or else she’d definitely be paying for the fact that she hadn’t been paying attention. She took another sip of her accidentally-pilfered drink, just glad for the caffeine despite the fact that she’d managed to snag the wrong drink. Coffee was coffee, and it was better than the crap they had upstairs near her office with the coffee maker. Mary Jane paused, choosing her next words carefully. She had never been one to admit to faults or shortcomings easily, and wasn’t about to let on just how overwhelmed and anxious this was making her feel. She was sticking to her guns, intended on seeing this through and she didn’t want the other members of this ragtag team of sorts thinking she was weak or hesitant. “I’m doing alright,” she answered, tone neutral and expression easy, as she took another sip of that coffee. “Feeling a little more secure with a plan in place rather than just this big, open idea. I’m sure I’ll be feeling better once things are in motion.” Vague enough that MJ could be talking about work, any other day at the office. “Drowning in paperwork,” she added, just for that reason, “but that’s just like any other day.”

.... “For now,” Mary Jane repeated with a quick roll of the eyes. She knew Peter better than to think he’d drop it forever, but maybe she’d be lucky enough to get away with the rest of the evening. She would to her part to keep the conversation steered far away from her current place at the UN; she had a hard enough time leaving work at work as it was and didn’t want to waste her time with Peter talking about it.  “Lucky me,” Mary Jane with a slow-starting grin. She didn’t even bother trying to deny the fact that she was burnt out. She was burnt out, even if she’d argue that she was still managing just fine. “A whole evening with Peter Parker.” Something she hadn’t had in a while. “I’d actually love that, I don’t mind packing up and heading over.” The sirens didn’t catch her attention at first, but they did after a moment. She couldn’t hold back a sigh: she’d been around Peter and Spider-man long enough. “You can get that, you know. If you need to, or if you want to.” She was used to it at this point, even if she would be disappointed. 

“It is hard,” Mary Jane agreed with a slow inhale through her nose. “It’s exhausting. Demoralizing, sometimes.” A lot of the time, actually. “I mean, I’m also a little different than the other UN Interns because I’m the Goodwill Ambassador. Sometimes I wonder if that makes things better or worse, you know?” A lot of the time she felt like she got the job for all of the wrong reasons. The name Mary Jane Watson had sticker value, would bring the attention they needed, which was an important part of being the Goodwill Ambassador (from her understanding, in any case). She’d brought lots of attention to the situation in Sokovia through her social media presence and had definitely brought in hefty donations. She’d done her job and done it well, but she couldn’t help but wonder if her voice wasn’t taken seriously because of her position, that she was just here for her name and nothing else.  “Either way, I don’t know how you do it. All of you on the...other side of things.” The hero side, now head-hunted by the ISA and practically dragged through the mud. She hated it, didn’t like living in a world where it felt like heroes were being punished for literally trying to save the day. “Give yourself some credit, Storm. You’ve stuck to it and it couldn’t have been easy. It’s been hard enough just...watching.” It was nauseating, for certain, considering this was a world MJ was half-in and had been since Peter had told her about Spider-man. “That’s the plan. Annoy and berrate until someone gives a damn about what I say.” A smile curved onto red painted lips, and she cast him a wink. “I’m gonna do my damn best, that’s for sure, but thank you for the ego boost.”

“Ha ha.” The laugh was meant to fall flat, paired with a roll of the eyes, but Mary Jane was still smiling. She was finally settling in, easing back into her chair. It was a welcome feeling to be off work (even if she did have some things she had to wrap up later at home, those were nothing in comparison to the mountain of paperwork she’d avalanched under earlier) and let her mind start to unwind, and Peter certainly helped with that. He always had, but even moreso lately: it was nice to have a familiar face around, that sense of home and familiarity. His sarcasm wasn’t lost on her, though MJ managed to keep her expression neutral, replying with a simple “It’s a work in progress.” One she was really trying to help push along, but one voice was easy to get lost in the sea of others. Not to mention she wasn’t exactly in agreement with...so much of what the UN was doing, and some of the things she’d said certainly hadn’t sat well with her supervisors. “Fine, fine, we’ll keep you off my Instagram, no new followers for you.” She wished the conversation would stay light, especially considering she wasn’t feeling particularly light. The first meeting with Pythia had her feeling a little uneasy, even if she was certain she was going to dedicate herself to the group. There was absolutely things happening at the UN that needed to be unearthed and dug into, and even if she could play just a little piece in that, she’d do it. It was important, and after all, her entire purpose in relocating to Sokovia in the first place had been to do good. This...would be good, even if there was potential for so much mess along the way. Mess that Peter didn’t need to know about until it was essential, or maybe not at all, not when it would seem that he was already worried about her. “I appreciate the vote of confidence.” That was genuine, as was the slightly softer smile she offered. A hand reached across the table to give one of his a quick, reassuring squeeze. “That means a lot.” More than he ever knew. She’d always struggled with that piece hersel, and had been more than usual lately with how out of her element she was. “I’m okay though, I promise.” It wasn’t a lie. She was okay, and she planned on staying as such. “I know you’re here, and I’ll let you know if I need anything, alright? Same goes for you, you know.”

... The face was familiar, and recognition was clear in bright green eyes as Mary Jane placed just where. “Karen,” she said with a nod, gesturing towards the scrawl on the cup. “Sorry, seriously. It seems like we have the same coffee order.” MJ offered Karen a tired smile, and sighed a little at herself.  “For real, let me buy you a new one. Or you can just take mine, if you don’t have something against oat milk. It’s exactly the same otherwise,” MJ said as she scanned the sticker on the side of the cup to confirm. “Most nights are late nights.” Especially lately. She was trying to stay ahead of the current, make sure she had videos and posts on just about every platform queued up so that she wouldn’t fall behind. Social media had gone from joyful to exhausting when Mary Jane had taken the job at the UN, but she that was a small price to pay considering that empire was a considerable amount of her reach and the padding in her bank account.

... “I suppose there are worse things that you could sell about me. I’ll take the world knowing about my ladybug thing. It’ll tie into why I have the tattoo and everything.” The little ladybug on her wrist, a dedication to her mother (who had called Mary Jane her little lady bug, bug for short) had been the talk of tabloids for a while now as it was. “I can believe that, though. It doesn’t feel like much of anything is really booming here, unfortunately.” Wasn’t that part of why she’d come? To help bring attention to a country that needed it? That was the whole point of a Goodwill Ambassador, or so she’d thought. There was obviously more to it than that, but that was...a big part of it. “But hey, we can get your face on my instagram, maybe give a little more boom to that photography business. ” He’d definitely made appearances over the years but certainly not in the past few, which was when she’d really taken off.  A low, slow sigh left her and Mary Jane shrugged. “I mean, maybe not busier. Just a diferent kind of busy I guess.” No, she was absolutely busier than she’d ever been before, but she didn’t want to worry him. “Culture shock, you know? The UN sure as hell isn’t Hollywood or even Broadway. There was a whole learning curve, but I think I’ve got it down now.” She was effective, good at her job, but it hadn’t been without effort. “I’m fine, Pete. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m a big girl, I can handle all of the busy and mess that sometimes comes with the career change I’ve chosen. So you can take that squint to someone else, I promise I don’t need it.” But maybe she did, as of late. She was getting involved with something bigger, something deeper, but he didn’t know about that. No, it would be easier if he didn’t.

... Mary Jane couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she got situated, shifting around in her chair as she got comfortable. She reached out to gently and playfully nudge his shin with her shoe before crossing her legs under the table. “Yeah, yeah, same rate for you. Same e-mail, too. ...Maybe not the one from high school, I don’t have the password to that one anymore and I don’t exactly want it advertised that Mary Jane Watson had an e-mail adress with ‘ladybug’ in it.” She scrunched up her nose slightly, shaking her head. “Bad for the image, you know?” It was clear she was kidding, by her tone and her smile. “Kidding aside, I really am sorry. I would’ve texted but I was almost here by the time I realized I was running behind.” Speaking of texting, she quickly glanced at her phone before setting the ringer off and placing it face-down on the table. She was the first one to admit she had technology disconnection problems and knew she was always nose-in-her-phone, but she was trying to do better. Making an effort, at least. “You might make a headline. Or an instagram post or two, if you’re lucky.” Social media was always on the brain, and the reminder had her phones already itching for her phone. Nope, effort was being made and she was self-aware of the fact that she was the worst when it came to her phone. “It’s good to see you too.” Always was, but she hoped he knew that. “I’ve been doing good! Work is...” Mary Jane trailed off for a moment, sighing with a shrug. “Work is work. I’m not sure I’ve ever been this busy before in my life, but you know, that’s the name of the game.” Especially considering she wasn’t just working, and it was as though he knew that considering the next question he asked. Her smile didn’t falter, stayed firmly in place, though it was certainly less genuine that it had been before. “Me? Trouble? What would give you that idea?” She cast him a wink there, recovering quickly, and nodded. “I’m too busy to get myself into any kind of trouble.”

“ – Sorry, sorry, I know I’m late.” She could be absolutely and accurately be described as a tornado with bright green eyes and red hair as she hurried to sit in the chair on the opposite side of the table, dropping a binder on the table’s surface and her bag onto the ground. “I got wrapped up in paperwork and I really wanted to finish before I left; I didn’t want to have to go back.” She’d much rather wrap things up for the day than have to try to pick up where she left off. Besides, she’d spent her entire day buried in paperwork because tomorrow was for outreach work so she wouldn’t have time to play catch up.  Scooting her chair in a little, Mary Jane moved the binder out of the way and onto the floor as well with her bag. “So while I’m late, that means I have nothing else on my schedule for today and I am all yours for however long your free.” There was a smile there, curved onto signature red-painted lips. “Also, hey. Good to see you.”

Early mornings were never her favorite, never had been. Mary Jane had always been a night owl and it wasn’t even necessarily by choice; she’d been a chronic insomniac since high school, and that had resulted in her being vastly more productive at night than at any other time. That meshed fine when she’d had more control over setting her own schedule but that was not the case lately. No, nowadays she was expected to report at the UN Tower at seven am, which did not mesh well with her late nights. She’d been up later than usual, editing videos and stockpiling a few vlogs and instagram posts so she wouldn’t be playing catch up later in the week. She’d always found it best to use her late nights for productivity, but now she was paying the price. Coffee would help, and she half-heard what sounded like her order and reached up to snag the coffee from the bar in the cafeteria at the base of the tower. One sip informed her that this was not in fact her order. No, no, that was definitely actual milk and not oat milk, and she would be regretting not listening more closely later. A quick glance at the cup and MJ was sighing, seeing Karen scrawled in the barista’s now familiar handwriting, another figure also at the bar that MJ would assumed would be the actual person that this drink belonged to. “...Sorry.” It came with a sigh as MJ. “I’m dead on my feet, just heard half of the call out. Let me buy you a new one.”

... Mary Jane considered the two, watching the toddler in his arms. She felt a smile growing and shrugged. “She might not be like, a carbon copy of you, but I can see similarities. She has your smile. And even then, people can be confused all they want; it’s not really their business, you know? Ignore it.” Something she’d gotten good at over the years, considering a whole lot of people wanted to know her business once her name had gotten big. Patting her pockets for a pen so that she could cross out the items that were already in the basket, MJ hummed a little under her breath. “I don’t know if you need a crib? She’d probably be okay with a bed, if she’s almost three? I think that’s about when my nieces transitioned out of their crib into a bed. Might be easier, less work to put together....But maybe more work down the line considering cribs requiring climbing out of and a bed she could just...get out of.”

... “I’m tired of a lot of things right now,” she said, gesturing towards the coffee in her hand, “this conversation included.” He’d rubbed her the wrong way, and that was clear. It was the wrong day for it as well. Mary Jane would never have described herself as a particularly patient person even on a good day, would be squinting at this man in front of her even if she’d been in the best of moods when he approached her (trite, he’d called her work trite, after he’d corrected from shallow). But as he continued to speak, Mary Jane had to admit: he had a point, and she was agreeing with him. “I know I shouldn’t need to defend myself, but someone here made it feel necessary.” Mary Jane was slightly less tense, resigned that this conversation was going to happen and...well, he’d said some things that had caught her attention (after the shallow thing, in any case). He was right; she was exhausted. It was exhausting trying so hard to make a difference, to come up with ideas and scenarios that needed a little round tabling but were good at their bones to not even have her voice be heard. She was always being pulled in nineteen different directions, and none of them were doing any good. He knew the numbers, and Mary Jane nodded once to confirm he was correct. “That’s, uh...yeah. Nail on the head right there.” She knew the numbers, had looked them over a million times just in the past few weeks, but apparently she wasn’t the only one paying attention. “Come on strong? That whole speech you just gave? That was coming on strong. That was good work, got my attention, which apparently was your plan all along. Calling my work shallow and then trite? Almost made you wear that salad.” She rolled her eyes, and nodded again. “Alright, Alex Summers. I’ll sit with you, I have...” a quick glance at her watch, “half an hour until my next meeting.”

“Two words sounds about right, yeah. Glad to hear they were life changing, at least enough to remember me.” Or he recognized her face, which wouldn’t be an outlandish assumption considering Mary Jane Watson was a face that was reasonably well known. “Act of God clauses. I’ll remember that for next time I have to plan something of that magnitude. ..And, you know, try to plan for those acts of God so that shit doesn’t hit the fan the way that it did.” Gaining control of chaos wasn’t easy, and neither was planning for it. “If it makes you feel better I am the only redhead in my family and used to get those adoption comments all the time.” It probably came from somewhere down the line on her dad’s side, but she didn’t know that side of the family at all. “Hey, your fancy baby deserves that ancy wooden carved crib. It’ll also probably be built better than some mail-away thing. Not to mention comes with the perk of not having to assemble it yourself like the ones from IKEA. Watching my brother-in-law put those cribs together was...an event, considering the instructions from IKEA practically require a degree in engineering.” Peeking at the list he’d handed her, she nodded “Usually, yeah. Well, depending on how old she is.”