Pen or Quill

Now, he was trapped with a cast and without a cool story. Thankfully, he there was not anything major he was missing. Peter was just chronically bored. Mr. Stark and Aunt May had teamed up to ensure that he could not escape. Trust him, he had tried.

Before he could mope about for longer, the door opened. Peter looked up confused, he wasn't expecting anyone.

A smile broke on his face as he stared into the eyes of his girlfriend: Michelle Jones. She was dressed casually, but Peter still thought she could be a model. In her arms was a wheelchair.

"Hello loser, I have come to save you." MJ announced, opening the chair.

Peter gestured to hug her, "My hero."

MJ paused as she walked up to him. Without another word, she pulled out several colourful pens. Peter recognized them as the ones that they had picked out together while procrastinating on their homework.

"Your cast is currently plain." Uncapping the pens, she started her work, "I'm gonna fix that for you."

"Thanks, I think."

Peter had been banking on having the flowers on him when he went to pick MJ up for their trip to the amusement park. MJ had been adamant that it was not a valentines day date; she did not want to participate in the consumer culture connected to the holiday.

Shaking his shoulders, he tried to shake the disappointment out of his body. He did not want to be sad while being with MJ. 

Spotting him, Michelle walked to the small car in front. Peter fought the urge to get out and open the door for her. She did not want to get special treatment on a day like this. She’d rather forget.

It did not take long for Michelle to realise that somethings wrong.

Concerned, she asked, “What’s wrong loser?”

He sighed. He did not want to keep any secrets from her. Plus, she would somehow find out. “I wanted to give you some black dahlias, but the order got screwed up.”

“That doesn’t matter to me. As long as we are together, that's gift enough for me.” MJ reassured, cradling Peter’s ar.

Leaning in, they shared a deep kiss. As Peter pulled back, he was struck by the beauty of the girl in front of him. While the flowers were a bummer, he was happier to just be with her.

“I love you.” he whispered.

“Loser. Love you too.” Michelle said in a soothing tone. “Anyways, lets get started. I don't want to spend all our time waiting in line.”

While her face remained kind, MJ could tell that she was not happy. Neither of her parents were happy about a boy sneaking into their teenage daughter’s room. 

Michelle could only look in horror as Peter attempted to stutter out an excuse. “Well, I- I had an urgent question abo- about decathlon.”

Her father still did not look pleased. “Why the window then? If it was that innocent, why not come though the door?” he probed.

“I figured you guys were busy and I did not want to distract your work.” Peter stammered.

Peter had struck a good spot. Both of her parents were hard at work at this time of day. Usually, they would be in their office, but a late alarm forced them to work from home. Knowing that someone was considerate of this situation softened them slightly. 

“I just have question, how did you get up so easily? It looked practiced.” her dad piped up, still confused.

MJ saw Peter’s eyes widen slightly. She understood the question firing in his mind: how do you tell your girlfriend’s dad that you’ve been going into his daughter’s room every other night? At first the visits were about Spiderman -  debriefs, first aid, etc. - but it became a way for them to just hang out or more.

Michele jumped in before Peter could make things worse. Thinking of the first thing, she blurted, “He did gymnastics before, he must still hold the skills.”

Her parents seemed to buy this. After some silent chats, they agreed that this was not a serious situation. Throwing a warning against repeating this, they walked back to their respective jobs.

The couple collectively breathe a sigh of relief. They had avoided that one. Michelle turned towards her boyfriends who had adopted a sheepish look. Tilting her head, he hung his head.

“Next time, ask if they’re home.” MJ said.

Waving her hands in front of her face, the woman of the hour came striding into the kitchen. Opening the window, she surveyed the mess in  front of her. There were ingredients lying around. In the sink was still unwashed dishes. The recipe was still open on the starkpad in front of the table. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through the space.

“How did you manage to burn it that bad?” Michelle Jones asked. Helping the man tidy up.

Peter shrugged. He was just as confused as she was. Trying to explain, he said “No clue. I turned my back to finish cooking the mashed potatoes and then I smelt smoke,”

Said potatoes were out of the pot and waiting to be served. He had placed them in a container, ready to be transported to the potluck planned for later in the evening. 

“At least they look good.” MJ tried to assuage. “We’ll have something to present at the potluck. It’s not like they were expecting anything fancy.”

Peter shrugged. The reputation of Parker cooking was not that good. Just bringing edible food was probably all that they hoped for.

MJ went to kiss his check in comfort, but stopped when she saw the flour still on it. Settling for the much cleaner forehead, she was once again glad that they were the same height.