Who: Liz, MJ, Peter What: ax throwing/date night Where: at the ax throwing lounge When: June 10th Warnings: should be low,but will update if needed Status: closed/g-doc
MJ looked in the mirror as she finished getting ready. Her body had changed a bit over the last few months. Thanks to lacrosse, conditioning, and running, MJ’s body had grown stronger and leaner. She picked out a cute skirt a t-shirt and her usual green jacket. She grabbed a pair of black lace ups and headed out to meet Peter and Liz.
They hadn’t spent a lot of time with the three of them, usually they hung out in pairs. This would hopefully tell them whether or not they worked as a throuple.
When MJ arrived, she ordered a soda and looked around to see if she arrived first. Hopefully they didn’t all suck at ax throwing.
Peter Parker was not dressed atypically for Peter Parker; he wore a nerdy t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a comfortable pair of sneakers.
Peter spotted MJ from across the room and stood, greeting her with a wave. "Hey!" he said. "You look good." She really did. "Have you seen Liz?"
Since they were going to an axe throwing place, Liz opted for a simple Shirt and jeans and hoped it would be okay. She didn’t too much on it since she was pretty sure this kind of date was casual, though this was definitely the first time she had ever done this sort of thing at all.
Arriving last, she looked a little sheepish as she approached Peter and MJ. “Sorry I’m late.” She wasn’t really late unless you counted a minute over the agreed upon time, but still. “This is my first time here.”
MJ greeted Peter with a hug and smirk. “Thanks, Spider Lord. This is very you,” as MJ gestured at his shirt, before she leaned in to hug him. She started to shake her head, but then Liz walked in and MJ wolf whistled. “Nah, not late. I only got here a couple minutes ago. I haven’t been here either.” MJ hugged her too.
She figured they should go pay and headed in the direction. MJ hoped her time with lacrosse would help her aim an ax. “By the way, thanks for supporting me at the championship game.” MJ played her ass off.
"Sorry about my cake-making skills." The taste was passable, but the decoration looked nothing like the beautiful design on the YouTube tutorial he was trying to follow. "I think I'll take an actual cake decorating course before your next championship game."
As they walked towards the counter to pay, Peter wondered if it'd be okay to take their hands. Would it be weird? The last time he could remember holding two hands at once was back when his aunt and uncle were still alive. And before that, his mom and dad. Peter really couldn't think of any other time where he was holding two people's hands at once.
The wolf whistle made Liz blush. She had been a little worried about what to wear, but she figured axe throwing meant that she should be able to move in it. Plus she didn’t want to be awkward and come off looking like she was trying too hard.
“It was fun to watch.” Liz smiled at MJ. It had reminded her a little bit like when she used to watch Kyle play his sports. “.. I thought the cake was nice.” Maybe not pretty, but it was nice. And Liz was definitely one of those people who believed in the thought that was what counted.
“Thanks. I’m glad you two and Ned weren’t completely bored.” MJ understood sports wasn’t their thing. And, honestly, it hadn’t been at the top of her list before she came here. But lacrosse seemed more fun than sports and she could be competitive.
“The cake tasted great! I appreciated the effort. And that’s my one and only championship game. I can’t keep playing if I’m no longer a high school student.” Which actually annoyed MJ, now that she found an activity she enjoyed. “I’m gonna go back and help out Coach though. Annoy the freshman players.” She’d like to see a few guys lose their shit when a Black female did better than them in a practice.
They paid and the coach brought them to the board to demonstrate how to throw and walk them through a few practice throws. MJ managed to hit right outside the target first try. She waited for the other two to go.
“So there’s no lacrosse at the college?” The question was as much directed to Liz as it was to MJ; Liz probably knew better than anyone what was and wasn’t at the college – she actually attended. Sports really wasn’t Peter’s thing, so he didn’t do much digging through the school pamphlets looking for the list of college sports teams.
Peter didn’t manage to hit the target his first practice through, but he did come close. His aim had improved over his tenure as Spider-Man, in part due to how often he had to webspray a faraway target. But he wasn’t used to the weight of the axe in his hand, or how it moved when it was thrown. Maybe he’d improve with a few more tries. Hopefully.
"Umm… I don't think so. I think they just have the, um, the more regular ones? I think lacrosse is at the high school because of the coach there. He's really passionate about it." Liz had to agree with MJ that it seemed like a more interesting sport even if she thought she'd be bad at it. It seemed like an intense sport too. And yet… she looked at MJ. "Maybe if you miss it you can teach Peter and me and we can play catch or something." Was that lame to suggest?
She watched the others throw the axe. Liz was definitely a little nervous. She had to admit she was a little surprised Peter didn't get it on the first go though.
"I can't tell if I need to throw it harder or lighter than you did." She spoke to Peter, then brought her attention back to the target. Well, she might as well try, right?
She threw it a little too hard. Liz had been worried it wouldn't make it to the target. It would have hit it well within the target had the blade caught against it. Instead the axe bounced off the target and to the ground. She flushed a bit. "Oops."
MJ cheered both on as they threw. “Yeah, I don’t think I’m up for learning a new sport like basketball. Lacrosse just speaks to me. Also, he’s very passionate about lacrosse.”
When Liz’s handle hit, MJ spoke encouragingly. “At least you knew where to aim.” On her second throw, the ax hit the bulls eye and then slid down. “Well that…didn’t go well.”
“I can definitely try and teach you both, but please don’t feel you have to do this for me.” MJ walked over to the two of them and wrapped arms around both of their shoulders briefly, offering cheek kisses to both before she walked over to retrieve her ax. Apparently nobody else was going to do date like things at this rate. The coach came back over, with waters for all three of them.
Peter smiled at MJ's kiss, then took one of the waters.
"I think it'd be fun," Peter said. "It'd be a good way to stay active since I'm not really doing the whole Spider-Man thing much anymore." In a city full of superheroes, there wasn't much call for superheroes. It's the most normal life Peter has gotten to live since before he was bit by that spider.
He uncapped his water and took a long swig of it before setting it down. He took his axe by the handle, then threw it; this time, it hit its target.
Liz blushed at the kiss. She wasn’t repulsed or anything, but it was definitely a surprise and part of her suddenly wondered and worried that she was expected to do the same back. She tried not to dwell on it and thankfully it was easier to do that when there were axe throws to pay attention to.
“If I don’t like it, I can always cheer you guys on.” Liz offered as she took a water with a thank you. She held onto the bottle as she watched and cheered on MJ and then Peter. “Wow. That was really good…. I have a feeling my arms are going to be sore tomorrow.” Unlike MJ and Peter, Liz was not very athletic or active. The most active she ever was, was when she was running for her life or away from FBI agents. There was less of that here. Not that she was complaining about feeling it tomorrow. It was more of an observation.
She took her axe and wondered what a competition of this looked like. How far was the longest throw? Liz let out a small breath, then threw hers. This time it hit the target. It wasn’t a bullseye by any means, but it was still in the circle and she smiled, proud of herself.
MJ cheered for them both. “I knew you could do it, Spider Lord,” she said with a smirk. She high fived him. When Liz landed the ax, she whistled again. “Good job, Liiiiz!” And high fived Liz. At no point did she expect a kiss in return from either of them.
“I think all our arms will be sore tomorrow.” MJ could already feel it, so tomorrow would probably be just running. When the hell did she become athletic? She opened her water and took a big gulp.
She threw the ax and this time it went above the bulls eye and then fell down to the ground. “Well. That’s unfortunate,” and then laughed.
"I really thought this would be easier than it is," Peter said, giving it another shot. It landed in the circle, just a little south of the actual bullseye. "I'm kinda relieved that everything I throw is a lot more lightweight."
He went to retrieve his axe, then set it down beside him for the next throw. "I'm having fun, but do we want to discuss what we want to do next date? I’ve really been wanting to go to the zoo, but maybe we could wait to see where the portal leads next and then decide then.”
“We didn’t have anything like this back home in Roswell, so it’s nice to do something new.” She wondered briefly if the axe throwing thing wasn’t around due to her being rom what she came from rather than being from a small town.
“The zoo? You mean, like with the transportation services?” She had enjoyed seeing New York with Peter that one time even if it hadn’t been his New York. She ducked her head a little. “I don’t mind doing almost anything…”
MJ found the weight of the ax oddly comforting. Like, she could control this, which made her happy. Perhaps it spoke to her life that she felt she couldn’t control things. In fact, it’s partly why she took up lacrosse. Another aspect of her life she could control.
“I’m glad we could do this.” At Peter’s question, MJ looked at him. “We haven’t even gotten through our first date. Assuming much?” She definitely joked.
“Wait, our second date is through a portal?” Now she just felt confused. This took a turn she didn’t expect.
"Yeah," Peter said. "There's some things there aren't here in Madison and I haven't bene to the zoo in ages. It felt like there was always something with school or being Spider-Man or something else." There always seemed to be something new stopping them.
"If you're not interested, that's okay. I just thought maybe it'd be more like a starting point."
Liz was suddenly unsure of how to respond, another moment of wondering how this all worked. She wanted to say she'd like to go to the zoo - she had never been, actually - but she also suddenly didn't want to seem like she was saying so just to be contrary to MJ. Liz was used to enough 'mean girls' in high school that she didn't want to even accidentally come off as one. She had been here the longest and was used to portals. Not everyone would be. So instead, Liz settled on something more neutral. "I've never been to a zoo…"
MJ didn’t really know what to think. Obviously she didn’t mind the idea of another date. But a portal felt serious. Also, she knew herself and the likelihood of her staying silent about the whole zoo thing didn’t seem high.
In no fashion would MJ think of Liz as mean. “I don’t mind going through a portal to visit a zoo. But…” she stopped. “You do realize you would be bringing me to a zoo right?” Liz hadn’t been on field trips with MJ before, but Peter definitely experienced it.
“Like, are you ready for Liz to experience me on a field trip?”
MJ definitely had a point.
“......maybe we should think of something else.”
Liz blinked and looked between the two of them. She obviously did not understand what that meant. She tried to connect the dots on her own and it was being pretty fruitless.
“Is it… that bad?” It was just a zoo, right? They were talking about animal zoos on Earth?
MJ looked at Peter and then at Liz. “If you have your heart set on a zoo, both of you, I’ll go. I’ll even try my absolute best to not be MJ about things…but I can’t make promises.” She saw the confusion on Liz’s face. “Ask Peter about me in Washington DC. I think I exasperated our teacher by pointing out that yes, slaves did build some of the monuments.”
“Sure, zoos are full of cute animals, and I wouldn’t say no to seeing an otter. But, animals who are usually prey in the wild, can smell predators. All of the time. That’s just cruel” Oh. Shit. She looked at them both. “Okay, how about this. We go, and we just make sure my mouth is full of food or drinks the whole time so I can’t speak? I don’t want to ruin this for the two of you.”
Oh. Liz figured it out now. MJ had opinions about Zoos. Liz could understand that. “... what about a sanctuary inside? I think there might be an Elephant one and a Sea Lion one? Sometimes when I’m bored I go look at transportation services.” She looked a little embarrassed by that, but whatever. Of course that’d be a little more ‘seriuos’ than a trip to the zoo.
“I think that would be fun.” Peter didn’t know how MJ would react to sanctuaries, but he imagined it’d be a lot better than a zoo proper.
MJ brightened considerably at the idea of a sanctuary. “I’d love to visit a sanctuary.” The sanctuary trip might be more serious, but there seemed way fewer issues for MJ to find.
“I didn’t even think to look up the options at the transportation services. What a great idea.” MJ stepped forward and threw an ax. It hit the target and stuck with one edge.
“When would you want to go?”
She looked a little sheepish, but proud at the same time. "Sometimes I get bored and like to think about places I could visit." Basically like daydreaming, but grounded in reality. Places she knew she could actually go. "I can look into both places a little more if you want and then we can pick." Maybe one place would be better than the other. "I think one is close to Antarctica and one's somewhere hot, if that matters." Liz had gotten used to the cold here, though she was sure Antarctica would be colder.
"How about this August? I'm only taking one course and I'll be done by then." She paused, realizing the 'issue' with that. "Maybe we shouldn't have that as our 'next' date if that's the case though." It was pretty far away.
“I think it’d be fun to take a longer trip.” August was a little far off, but Peter didn’t have a vacation planned yet for the summer. This might be as good a time as any to set one up. “Why don’t we take a look at what’s available at transportation services and message one another with what we think might be fun.”
“Sure. That sounds fun.” MJ felt a little hesitation, but she wouldn’t bring down the mood. She couldn’t even explain why she felt any hesitation, just that it resided in her at this time. “I think I’m with Liz. That feels a bit far away. Maybe mini-golf? Or a bake off, of which I will most definitely lose.” Okay, at least MJ could bake a little better than May.
“We can definitely look up what’s available.” She smiled and took a sip of water.
“I like both of those.” Though maybe it’d be a little unfair about the baking thing since she’d been practicing for a while. She still wasn’t great, but she’d gotten better at keeping things moist and not burnt. “I don’t think I’ve played mini-golf in a long time either… and we could probably have a movie night too?” Or was that weird? It’d be like a group of friends watching a movie, right? Besides, they didn’t have to make out or anything like they did in tv shows when movies started to play.
Peter hadn’t meant they wouldn’t have their next date until then, but he let it slide. Maybe it was too soon with all of this for them to really think about an overnight trip.
“The new Jurassic World movie is out,” Peter said. “I’ve been wanting to see it.” Even if it kinda hit a little closer to home now that he and Liz had actually been there.
MJ didn’t know how she felt about an overnight trip, but she had time to get used to the idea. In the meantime, she’d like to enjoy their date tonight. “Sure. We can go see it.” MJ didn’t care too much about what movie they chose.
“But, in the meantime, let’s just have fun tonight?” She smiled at the two of them and took another sip of water. “Because I think it’s Peter’s turn to throw.”