cv (ephemeras) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2013-09-16 16:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | door: marvel comics, gwen stacy, mary jane watson |
Who: Gwen and Mary Jane
What: Cafe meetings
Where: Marvel door
When: Recently
Warnings/Rating: None
The cafe around the corner from Oscorp was one of Gwen's favorite lunch spots, whether she was working or not. It was small and quiet, and it was generally crowded with labrats who spent their entire lunches with their noses pressed to their laptop screens. No one tried to start up a meaningless conversation there, and she didn't have a lot of time for meaningless conversations these days. She was trying to lose herself entirely in binding agents and cellular bypass, because science had gotten her through nearly every difficult period in her life before, and there was no reason why it shouldn't work just as well now.
Absently chewing at her turkey on wheat, Gwen looked up, the jingle of the bell catching her attention. She was dressed in a cream cardigan and a tan skirt, the rapidly cooling New York air adding thigh-highs to the ensemble. Her reading glasses were down, and she pushed them up on her head when she saw that familiar shock of red hair at the door.
Gwen hadn't seen Mary Jane since before college ended. She wasn't sure she wanted to see her now. She still felt betrayed by the redhead, and she didn't want to actually broach that subject with her. But here she was - because there was no mistaking her - and Gwen's heart ached just a little. She was beautiful, because Mary Jane Watson had always been the beautiful to her plain Jane, and since the redhead had walked into her life and stolen Peter's attention, well, Gwen hadn't been able to look at her without feeling inferior. And now that she knew Harry was in love with Mary Jane, it just made it worse. She'd come to accept that Peter would, eventually, realize that he was meant to be with the redhead. But Harry wasn't predestined, was he? And he fell in love with her anyway.
Pulling her reading glasses back down, Gwen turned her attention back to the laptop in the hopes that Mary Jane wouldn't even notice her there.
And, Mary Jane didn’t notice Gwen. At first that is. Frankly, the redhead was barely noticing anything these days. When MK did give her time through the door, which wasn’t very often lately, she had to deal with pushing through the fog of alcohol the other woman left her in. MJ thought they were all past this goddamn nonsense, but then again, she had never lost a baby before, never been through the horrendous things MK had gone through. She would probably turn to alcohol and drugs to get through all of it, too. That didn’t even take into consideration how awful MJ felt about everything going on in her own life. Aside from the residual wrecked depression MK gave her, her heart was still aching awfully after everything with Harry. Flash might have assured her he didn’t hate her, but she had a sneaking suspicion there was still a world of hurt buried underneath all of that. She and Peter had barely spoken since everyone had returned to New York.
She felt awful, and she felt lonely. In a city as big as New York, you could never be alone, but you could certainly feel lonely.
But, the big, bad city was never as big as it seemed, was it? Tony Stark liked this particular cafe, and MJ had strolled in to get lunch for him and herself, completely in her own zone with music blasting and sunglasses on. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt with a white button-up shirt tucked inside and stilettos that click, click, clicked as she walked towards the counter. When she reached the pimpled cashier, she pulled out her earphones and rattled off the necessary orders. As he moved around to grab the components she requested, MJ sighed and turned to lean her hip against the counter. And, that was when she spotted a familiar blonde sitting nearby. Her stomach lurched uncomfortably, and she mentally cursed at herself for deciding to come to this cafe at this time. It didn’t matter, however, because they were both there, and while MJ could have ignored Gwen and walked away, a part of her wanted to talk to the blonde. It’d been some time since they’d seen each other, and Gwen was always beautiful to MJ. Whatever problems Gwen had with the redhead, it almost seemed like MJ had with her.
Still, she could be okay and talk, right? Fuck it, she thought as she took the few steps to Gwen’s table. “Hi, Gwen,” MJ said, that omnipresent warmth in her voice a little strained by the stress of everything. But, she would claim the change of the season if asked. She pushed the sunglasses up into her shock of red hair so that green eyes could take in the blonde better. “I didn’t know you came here.”
Gwen knew it was a lost cause when she heard the approach of Mary Jane's heels. She didn't look up until she'd determined the proximity was within three feet, and her blue eyes met the redhead's green gaze just as Mary Jane began to say hello. And there was no ignoring the other girl by that point. All the science in the world wouldn't help her pretend she didn't see someone who was standing right in front of her, so Gwen gave her a polite smile. "I usually eat in the lab," she admitted, "but I like it here. It's quiet, unless someone miscalculates something and gets annoyed at themselves." Which was probably the sign of a true nerd's paradise.
That said, Gwen finally took the time to really look at Mary Jane.
The past four years had been kind to the redhead, Gwen thought, with no little envy. She had foolishly thought that time would even them out, but it hadn't done that at all. Mary Jane was still unbelievably beautiful, and the more grown-up attire suited the redhead well. It was easy to see why Harry had fallen in love with her during the intervening years and, while it hurt, Gwen really did want the best for Harry. That was the sole reason that she sighed and motioned to the seat across from her. "If you want to sit down while you wait, go ahead," she offered, closing her laptop in an invitation that she was making solely to fix all the broken friendships around her. She knew Flash was still hurt, and she knew Peter was still confused, and maybe she could bridge those gaps (without giving away her own anger).
"How have you been?" Gwen asked, taking a sip of her drink immediately after.
And while Gwen took Mary Jane in, Mary Jane did the same with the blonde. They’d seen each other now and then over the preceding four years whenever MJ found herself on the west coast for work, but it was a stark difference to see Gwen back in their old homestead of New York so grown and sophisticated and beautiful. Because Gwen Stacy was beautiful, and MJ could understand why Peter would fall for her, why Harry thought Gwen was the light of the world, why Flash would gravitate towards her. Why all the most important guys in her life would drift away from her and towards the saintly blonde. It made sense, didn’t it? Guys grew out of girls like Mary Jane and latched onto girls like Gwen Stacy. That was the way it was supposed to happen. It was all a part of maturing. MJ got left in the dust. (And, she suspected that in all those other scenarios where Gwen died, if she had lived, it would be just like this.)
The redhead took the proffered seat with a shaky smile. “It’ll only be a few minutes. Tony Stark told me to specifically come here, so either he’s in on your little secret or you’re all in on his.” It felt strange joking with the woman sitting across from her after everything that had happened over the past month. With Harry, of course, but with MK as well. MJ didn’t even know how Sam was doing, but she was sure that Gwen’s girl wasn’t doing well either. They never had luck like that, either. Crossing her legs, she placed her bag on the floor next to her and adjusted the sunglasses atop her head. “I’ve been pretty good. Dealing with problems going on with MK, but that’s never anything new.” MJ shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal at all, even if it was. “How about you, Gwen? Do you miss California yet?”
Gwen was entirely unaware of Mary Jane's musings, and she would have disagreed, had she known about them. While in California, she'd done a lot of charting out possible events and situations, mainly to try to determine what happened now that she hadn't died. She knew - despite everything Flash said to the contrary - that they'd altered things significantly by not sucuumbing to their comic book fates, and she wondered just how off-course things had gone. In the end, she didn't see much of a difference, with the exception of Mary Jane's potential future, and remembering that made her expression soften slightly as the other girl sat across from her. She hadn't actually spent too much time thinking about that, because she'd been so hung up on Harry in California that the possibility of dating Peter had seemed completely unlikely. But, then, maybe Mary Jane's destiny was Harry, and that shouldn't have physically hurt as much as it did, but Gwen had given up trying to find a correlation between physical and emotional pain years ago.
"I talked to Mr. Stark on the journals the other day. I'm glad he's back. I was hoping Dr. Banner would be back, too," Gwen said, her disappointment at the continued absence of her old mentor showing on her features for a moment. "And Ms. Potts is back, too? Sam knows her Las Vegas counterpart well." She made an understanding sound about MK, because she knew a little of what was going on there, thanks to Flash. "Flash says things are pretty bad with her and Robodoc," she said, a slight uptick at the end of the sentence, indicating a question if Mary Jane wanted to pursue it. Better to talk about their Las Vegas people and ignore the elephant in the room, wasn't it? "Sam kept me away for a month," she said, as if being gone from her life for that long wasn't anything important. At least it had kept her from wondering how things had panned out with Harry and Mary Jane, and that was something to be thankful for. She took a bite of her sandwich, and she thought about California. Ultimately, she shook her head. "That was never really home. I missed New York the entire time I was there."
Mary Jane would argue that while things weren’t different on the surface, situations had become worlds different here in this New York with a different Peter and adults on other side of the door in Las Vegas. How could things turn out the same when nothing since this door bullshit had all started had turned out anything like what was supposed to happen? Not that MJ minded much, in theory. All that pre-destined nonsense wasn’t for her, even if, well, maybe she did get those stupid feelings for Peter that they had all been talking about. Whatever. Flash quashed that with the poorly veiled mention of Gwen and Peter becoming a thing. And, MJ didn’t really care, right? She didn’t need no man. Independent woman, etc. But that was such a lie to herself, and it made her heart ache to think about the fact that she would never be the right girl for any of them. And, maybe Flash was right about how she had too much love. She did, but that would only bite her in the ass later on. Too much love would still never be enough.
MJ flashed Gwen a reassuring smile. “Banner might be back, you never know. The way this place has become so ass-backwards, he could show up any day now.” Because, god, wasn’t this place just a jumble of confusion at the moment. “I mean, Flash told me about Lo--about you know who being a teenager, so it’s not like there are any more written rules about this place.” With a sigh, she looked down and tried her best to sound amused. “Of course Flash told you. Did he say what’s going on?” MJ didn’t sound mad, even if she was just a little. She thought that this was something she and Flash could just deal with together. Not bring in the whole brigade. But, that was the end of that, and Gwen probably understood better than most about how fucked up Vegas was. “What’s going on with Sam?” she asked with concern. They might be taking precautions on this side of the door, but Vegas probably didn’t give a flying fuck anymore. “New York missed you, too.” The redhead smiled then because it was true. Clearly, their hometown and its inhabitants missed Gwen Stacy more than MJ realized.
Gwen knew, even though he hadn't said as much, that Flash had ulterior motives when he'd told Mary Jane that she and Peter were dating. She wasn't sure that Flash even logically understood that he had ulterior motives, but he did. A few meals together didn't make a relationship, but Flash wanted Mary Jane to think Peter was unavailable, which Gwen could understand, even if it wasn't true. And, really, it would all have been so much easier if she'd just fallen for Peter like she had in high school, but it hadn't worked that way. She liked him, and he was funny, and she wanted to date him and fall head over heels, but they didn't know each other well enough for that and, just like always, Gwen had a scientific theory that he would eventually turn around and notice the redhead in the room, just like everyone else did. It was only a matter of time.
"Loki," Gwen said easily, with a smile, when Mary Jane refused to pronounce the boy's name. "He's living with me. He's not so bad, if you don't mind a perpetually sarcastic teenager leaving his things all over the place." Surprisingly, she'd grown fond of Loki during his stay. She was perfectly aware of all the terrible things he'd done as an adult, but it was hard to imagine the boy with the big blue eyes doing any of those things now, especially when he seemed so determined not to grow into that man again. As for MK, Gwen nodded. "Flash told me," she said of MK losing the baby and the subsequent fallout in Las Vegas. "He said it's hit an all new low," she said, and the empathy in her voice was completely genuine. "Sam's bounced from an insane asylum, to a rapist, to a studio full of booze and weed, and Neil remains Neil. He and Robodoc should form a club for men who don't know what to do with their women." She shook her head. "The four of them, they're worse than teenagers." She paused, and she took a sip of her drink. "Is it as bad as Flash says it is?"
Mary Jane smiled back when Gwen did. “I didn’t know if his name was taboo or whatever,” she said with a roll of her eyes at her silliness. It had been a few years, in their lives at least, since Loki had wrecked havoc on their fair city, and if he was a teenager now, maybe there was a way to prevent it in the future. Just like they were preventing their futures right then and there. “Who knew a crazy psycho god could become an adorable little teenager? Maybe having Flash around him will be a terrible influence though.” And her lips curled in the way that said they both knew Flash could be a good influence if he wanted. She groaned as Gwen spoke of Sam, not knowing what was going on with the blonde on the other side of the door but suspecting it wasn’t going to be good. And, it wasn’t good. “For fuck’s sake.” MJ looked up at Gwen with green eyes that understood completely. “Maybe they should all just get into group therapy. That should be something they offer with this whole mess. A coupon or something.” She flashed the other girl a wry sort of smile before slipping her sunglasses off and chewing on the tip of the arm. “I--yeah, it is. I don’t know how Robodoc is feeling, but MK is a mess. Even if she won’t admit it to herself. I’m sure Sam won’t admit it either?”
"Adorable is taking it a little far," Gwen said with a fond smile that was reserved for both Flash and the little god that couldn't ever seem to wash the dishes correctly. She left the subject behind quickly, though, in favor of the safety of Las Vegas, which was a safe subject for the two of them. If there was something they could agree on, it was their unluckiness in being paired with Sam and MK and, by extension, their questionable boyfriends. "If I thought we could force them into therapy somehow, I'd do it. I talked to Mr. Donovan recently, and he seemed receptive to my logic about his actions, but the entire conversation occurred because he was being pathologically passive and apathetic," she said, sounding annoyed at the older man. She looked up from her sandwich as MK began chewing on the leg of her sunglasses, and she had the momentary thought that it should be scientifically impossible to look attractive chewing on glasses, but Mary Jane did, as evidenced by the amount of labrats looking in her direction. "Sam's too raw to hide anything from herself. It's terrible. It took me days to figure out how to get her quiet enough in my head not to go crazy," she said honestly, and she wasn't certain why she was sharing that with Mary Jane. But Mary Jane understood this particular situation in a way the others didn't, and maybe that was enough.
Just at that moment, the worker behind the counter called MK's name, and he shook Mr. Stark's lunch at her. Gwen smiled, and she sat back in her chair. "Go ahead. We'll catch up later," she said, knowing perfectly well that they probably wouldn't, not if some situation that mirrored this one didn't come up unexpectedly. She watched the redhead leave, and the jealousy and betrayal she always felt around Mary Jane faded more slowly than it had when they were younger. Still, within minutes, Gwen was back at work, her nose down and fingers on her laptop keys.