#*runs away

Peter wakes with a start. His first thought is pain, terrible pain. It screams from his chest where he'd been shot, but also his arm is probably broken, too. Maybe after he'd been shot, he fell on it awkwardly and it snapped. 

But he's alive. 

He's in a vehicle. He can tell because of the jerky movements of the hard surface he lies on. An ambulance maybe? You'd think they would at least have a softer gurney. Or maybe...the van MJ had been driving? Did that mean... 

"Oh Peter," she says with a sobbing laugh when he opens her eyes. She's kneeling over him in the back of the van. Lining the walls is a full arsenal of weapons. She'd stolen one of Fisk's vans. What a badass. 

"MJ," he breathes out, managing a smile. "What..." 

"Peter!" Ned shouts from the front seat. MJ must have saved Peter's sorry ass, picked up Ned from his hiding spot, and gotten them all to safety. She probably took out the sniper, too. Badass. 

"I think we escaped them," MJ says. She looks up, and Peter is awed by her. She's so beautiful and brilliant, and now a badass on top of it all? 

Why had his dream been so mundane? What could his subconscious possibly have been trying to tell him? That he was missing out on a simpler Spider-life where MJ was just the normal but awesome girl he was afraid to confess his feelings to? No. After seeing his MJ in action, that couldn't possibly be the reason. 

Or maybe that there was no room for doubts in any world. 

"MJ," he says, with much more strength than he has any right to have. She looks back at him, worry in her eyes. He smiles at her. "You and me...we're..." 

"What?" she asks, and her eyes betray doubt. What could she be doubtful of?

Peter takes a deep breath. His chest blooms with pain starting from the bullet wound. But he doesn't care. There's no time for hesitation. "Will you be my girlfriend?"