Peter Parker (maskedmenace) wrote in the100, @ 2016-04-22 08:47:00 |
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There were eggs and bacon, but Peter was far, far away from touching either on his plate. His gaze was straight ahead, transfixed on the redheaded woman sitting on the other side of the table. Which, really, wasn’t the first time this had happened. And neither was the smile on his face, for that matter. MJ Watson had a habit of pulling those out of Peter, and he rarely argued with giving them up. It had almost been three weeks without her. Three whole weeks after finally getting their paths to align. He’d been left to deal with the thought that she might come back without remembering anything they’d been through here; or maybe she went home, and he would follow, only for them both to forget everything. It just all seemed to point at one conclusion: here and now, they had each other. Maybe that would change tomorrow, but right now… “Hey, MJ?” There was so much to sort through over those two and a half weeks. The obvious thing to her was that she'd never left her sister for New York and her Aunt. She'd been stuck in Storybrooke year after year, missing Ben (who was clearly the Peter stand-in) and trying to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life as a waitress at Granny's. Some of the earlier memories were beginning to fade, but Ben's — Peter's — face never would. She was daydreaming into her half cup of rationed coffee, lost in some oil slick of memories there, thinking about alternative lives and how everything always conspired against them. Still half asleep, she dragged her face upward which would have to do for her full attention. It wasn't quite like home, where she'd sleep at the table, head help up by a balled up fist while Peter talked up a storm about some new thing he was working on. She'd nod, her head nearly falling off her hands, or she'd mumble the wrong thing in return. MJ blinked, feeling relieved not to be called Mary. "Yeah, tiger?" He blinked for a second. He didn’t really have anything to say, and there was definitely nothing on the tip of his tongue. It was more just wanting to convey a feeling, in the same way that a kiss often felt right. Except, it wasn’t that exactly. Peter let his eyes drop for a moment to his eggs and bacon. “I…” He shoved a hand into his pocket, turning to look at the small boy sitting to his immediate left. Benjy reached, entirely immune to his alternate reality parents’ fumbling through the morning, and took it upon himself to web the edge of Peter’s plate and tug it closer to his makeshift booster seat. Peter absently pushed the plate back from a dangerous slip towards the end of the table, and gave the toddler a loaded forkful from his own breakfast. Funny how that kind of thing was starting to feel natural, but that didn’t stick in Peter’s mind as he kept digging for what it was that needed MJ to know. Just then, his pocketed hand hit something small, metallic. The ring. Of course. He’d been wearing it when he thought MJ had vanished for good, but took it off when she’d come back. He could have put it back in the nightstand next to their bed, but he didn’t. It didn’t belong there. And so he’d been carrying it. Peter’s brow knitted. Spontaneity had been a common guest in the Parker-Watson relationship, and she had told him to give her time before asking, but… Maybe waiting wasn’t what either of them really needed. Uh oh. There was something strange in his tone which sped up MJ's waking process just enough that she no longer looked on the verge of crashing out in the middle of the Mess Hall. Benjy's gurgling noises caught her attention for the moment. She reached across the table to hold out her hand, which Benjy thought meant she wanted a piece of bacon. Soggy bacon that he'd just taken out of his mouth. A few moments of pretending she was going to eat it, then hand it back to the kiddo should do. Except he kept putting it back in her hand and then pointing to her face and then his own mouth. She stretched across the table so she could make an airplane with it for him, but he shook his head and kept pointing to her mouth. Ordinarily, MJ would have nothing to do with the stuff: bacon or sloppy seconds, but Benjy usually got what he wanted so when MJ shrugged and popped the bacon into her mouth, the kid broke into a wide grin. "Little booger. Got me eating out of your hands, just like your daddy, huh?" What came next probably didn’t follow any real line of logic from bacon, but that didn’t stop the words from slipping right out of Peter’s mouth all the same. Because in that moment -- inexplicable as it was that anything about the current scene would prompt it -- the only response Peter had was this: “Marry me?” He pulled out his pocketed hand, and between his fingers was the gold band. “It’s mine -- but yours is back in the room. I can get it,” came the next flurry of words, as a Parker was wont to just keep talking once he started. “I can go get it, but this universe and the whole slew of universes out there keep trying to pull us apart, and… and it doesn’t work. It doesn’t work, and you came back to me, and --” Stretched halfway across the table with the grossest piece of soggy bacon in her mouth. That's when Peter decided to propose again. Not in the park, not in their quarters, not even in the gym. First thing in the morning with soggy bacon. It was just as well. MJ wasn't thrilled with the idea of being apart from him ever again. Not after his Storybrooke counterpart died. She nodded down at that ring. No one knew Peter Parker like MJ Watson. She knew that he would have taken it hard, and probably went overboard missing her. At least they'd had Benjy to occupy themselves a little. "You wore that while I was gone, didn't you? That's why it's in your pocket, because you felt naked without it." It wasn’t a no, which gave Peter at least a bit of hope that this wasn’t going to cascade downward and collapse. He looked from MJ to the ring, then back to MJ. Really, the bacon was a non-issue. He wasn’t even registering it. “...it was comforting. I know, I know -- it was all magicked away, but when I thought you were gone, I told myself that I’d wait. There’s no one else, MJ. No one else, no matter what happens. I just needed something to keep in sight. If you weren’t here, I had this,” Peter explained, still holding the small golden circle between his fingers. “And this,” Peter added, giving a sideways smile to Benjy, who recognized that something was going on and beamed a million-watt grin back. “It couldn’t ever be anyone else,” Peter repeated. “There’s no way.” MJ reached across the table and ruffled Benjy's barely there tuft of hair. That kid was always smiling like he knew something the rest of them didn't. Hell, maybe he did. He had Spider-powers, maybe his Spider-sense told him what was going to happen. "What do you think, Benj?" Smiling bubbles were his reply. "That makes sense. Thanks, kiddo." Still halfway across the table, she crab-walked sideways on her elbows until she was facing Peter properly. Then she plucked the ring from his finger. She looked at it closely, noting the inscription and then held out her hand. "Gimme your hand. Let's do this a little differently thing time, shall we?" She paused, grinning. "Peter Parker, will you marry me?" That was MJ for you. They had years together -- and some apart -- but in the end, she always had something new and unexpected to offer. She could always see things from a different angle, and in those moments when she shared that… man, Peter could feel himself fall in love all over again. He looked at the ring, then leaned to the side to give MJ a smile of pure amusement. “Yes. Yes for every second of every day, and then some. Yes to the point that I am about a second away from jumping on my chair and calling out for someone to officiate, if that’s even a thing that happens here. Because I would absolutely marry you over bacon and eggs before I’ve had my coffee, MJ.” "What are we waiting for?" A day, a week, a month, a year — Her green eyes darted around the room, looking for anyone who might be capable of such a thing. Not seeing anyone in her general area who might be up for it, she stood up to get a better look. A quick glance down the sea of faces wasn't good enough either. "Got your webshooters under there? Make a ring with webbing, and buckle up, tiger." MJ Watson, not known for her shy or calm demeanour, hopped onto the chair she'd been sitting on. She gave a quick wink to both of the two most important men in her life before cupping her hands around her mouth. "IS THERE ANYONE IN THIS ROOM WHO CAN PERFORM A MARRIAGE RIGHT NOW?" A pause. "We'll take care of the paperwork later!" |