InsaneJournal

Who: MJ & Pepper
What: Catching up over coffee
Where: a coffee shop
When: backdated to before the monster attacks
Warnings: nope
Status: complete


Being in an alternate dimension hadn’t changed MJ’s life all that much. She still went to school, did her homework, and hung out with Peter. The biggest difference was that she got to interact with the Avengers and their associates on a regular basis, something that hadn’t happened back home, unless you counted Happy. Of course, he seemed to spend a decent amount of time with Aunt May, so she suspected that she would have been seeing him regardless of the universe.

She didn’t have much in common with any of them and felt awkward when she was around them. Since it was important to Peter, she pushed aside her discomfort though. Today, after school, she’d headed over to her favorite coffee shop, ordered a drink, and was doing some light reading about conspiracy theories when she looked up and saw Pepper Potts-Stark had entered the shop.

Before she really had a chance to think about it, she called out to the woman, waving awkwardly. Pepper was nice to her, had taken her shopping, and she suspected that the woman was the one who bought her the kickass jacket she was wearing for Secret Santa.

*

Pepper was usually rushing from one thing to another. These days it was more than usual, but somehow she lucked out today. She found herself with a couple of hours reprieve so off to her favorite coffee shop she ran before someone found something for her. When she first heard her name called out she actually flinched, but then recognized MJ immediately after. It was easy to smile and wave back indicating she’d join the younger woman.

A few minutes later she was flopping into the chair across from MJ with a very large cup of coffee. “Hey, nice jacket.” Of course it was her that bought it.

*

“Thanks, it was a gift from my Secret Santa,” MJ said, eyeing Pepper curiously, looking for any sign that she had been said gifter. “It suits me perfectly.”

It would be weird if she and Pepper had been assigned to each other. She hoped that the older woman liked the mirror she’d given her. Shopping for someone who had everything and was as put together as Pepper was not an easy feat. Especially when you had a limited budget.

She was also wearing the glass black dahlia necklace that Peter had given her. It went oddly well with the jacket, no matter what else she ended up wearing.

*

Pepper wasn’t one of the best CEOs ever if she couldn’t control her expression. She gave nothing away to implicate her complicity in MJ getting the jacket. “It looks great on you. Someone knows you very well, and that’s a gorgeous necklace.” She nodded toward it as she took a drink of coffee.

*

MJ smiled, her hand reaching up to touch the necklace as she did. “Peter got it for me. In Italy.” It was touching that he not only knew her that well, but that he’d gone out of his way to get the gift for her. “He’d actually gotten the same necklace for me in the other universe, but it kind of got broken when all that stuff happened with Beck.” She assumed that even if Pepper hadn’t gotten memories of that, either Peter or Happy had filled her in on what happened.

*

“Peter got it for you, hmm?” Pepper smiled. It seemed there was a romance there after all. She liked Peter and MJ independently, but she thought they’d make a good couple, too. She’d do anything she could to help. “I’m glad he got it for you again.” Speaking of Happy, she’d get him in on it. Whether he liked it or not.

“What did you get him for Christmas?” Pepper felt that Christmas and New Year were more romantic than Valentine’s Day.

*

There was definitely romance, though it was of the awkward, fumbling, teenage variety. Which was honestly at least half of Peter’s charm. “Oh, I got him some nerdy stuff that I thought he’d like,” MJ said with a shrug. Nothing close to the gift he’d gotten her and she was already trying to figure out what she could do for Valentine’s Day for him.

“How were your holidays?” she asked. “Did Morgan have a nice time?”

*

Pepper had no problem believing that Peter absolutely loved what MJ gave him for two reasons. One, MJ gave them to him. She could probably have given Peter a pet rock and he’d have loved it. But it was nerdy, too. No doubt he acted just like Tony did when he got such things.

“Morgan was spoiled within an inch of her life with gifts,” Pepper answered with a smirk. “Tony doesn’t know how to tell her no.”

*

“Let’s hope she doesn’t become a supervillain,” MJ joked. Stark funding would make her a lot more dangerous than some of the other bad guys she’d seen. Plus she was too cute for any of the heroes to take out. Especially Peter. He was already far more polite than he needed to be even when dealing with bad guys. It was kind of adorable though.

Ugh. She hated being the kind of girl who thought that everything her boyfriend did was adorable.

*

“I use that very threat with Tony when he starts going overboard about her.” Because yes. Morgan could probably be a very frightening evil villain. Pepper chuckled at the thought.

“Y’know,” Pepper started with a tone in her voice that would make Tony hesitate. “Valentine’s Day is coming up…”

*

MJ might not recognize the tone exactly, but she still looked up from her coffee with wariness obvious on her face. “Yes, I know,” she said cautiously, not even beginning to guess where Pepper might be going with this.

*

“You should ask Peter out,” Pepper said. Yes. She was scheming. “Treat him to a date. Turn the tables on him. Be non-conformist.” And if she didn’t miss her guess MJ was definitely non-conformist. “It would certainly take the pressure off of either of you insofar as expectations.”

Pepper had no doubt that Peter would fumble around for days, panicking over what to do for and get MJ for Valentine’s Day. Then he’d act all squirrely around MJ and it would turn into a circular piece of chaos no one would enjoy. This would be a nice solution.

*

It might help, MJ realized. Then again, this was Peter they were talking about and she suspected that he’d end up being all flaily no matter what. Still, it was worth considering. “I’ll have to think about what we can do,” she said. Something low key that suited them. Neither of them was the fancy dinner type.

*

“Let me know if I can help,” Pepper said with a wink. She knew they were more lowkey than she and Tony. She could easily ensure that the young couple would have their privacy. “I won’t even tell Tony.” Because that would immediately result in attention.

*

“I will,” MJ said, knowing she probably wouldn’t. She appreciated everything that the Starks did for Peter and, by extension her, but she couldn’t imagine actually asking for a favor. “I should probably head out. It was nice chatting with you.

*

“You, too,” Pepper said with a smile. “We should do this more often. Reach out to me any time.” She’d drop things to spend time with her “children” which included Peter and MJ. Tony might pout since she did not drop everything every time he wanted attention. Otherwise, she’d get nothing done. MJ wouldn’t abuse the privilege.

“Tell Peter I said hello.” Pepper stood with her coffee to walk out with MJ where Happy waited with the car to take her back to the office.