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Peter hated senior year.

He'd been told his whole life that senior was the year, the year that everything would fall into place and high school would transform from the education dungeon of years past into the world's most perfect John Hughes movie. He was anticipating high jinks, epic love and the kind of dance that looked like a movie set. Instead, he was shackled with endless college applications, the anxiety of hearing back from said colleges and the never-ending responsibilities of Spider-man, the Avenger. Ever since the War of Infinity Stones, that was what the news had called the 278 days of battle for earth against Thanos, Peter had been ungraded from friendly neighborhood Spider-man to full-fledged Avenger.

Avenging the world and senior year did not go hand-in-hand.

But the worst part of senior year, undisputed, was MJ. Well, she was actually the best part of his senior year which was the worst thing...for him. Being around Michelle the past few years had been a swirl of chaos for his burgeoning manhood. Boyhood, Mr. Stark liked to remind him whenever he proudly announced he was Spider-man, not Spider-boy.

MJ had gone from tentative acquaintance to invaluable friend to something more. Or at least for him. He was still unsure, even now after three years of knowing each other, if Michelle even considered him to be a friend.

He liked to think she at least cared about him.

Peter glanced across the auditorium where scholastic decathlon was practicing. MJ was grilling Ned about the Sokovia Accords. Her hair was a bird's nest and her blue t-shirt was rumpled like she'd dried it in a thunderstorm and she was beautiful.

He remembered the moment he noticed how beautiful she was really.

Thanos had raged through New York, making the city of his childhood nothing more than a pile of debris. Peter had been thrown with the force of an infinity stone to the ground. His mask had been torn, his eye was blackened and he felt his strength fading. He remembered thinking, "this is how I die".

And then, he heard her voice. It was a panicked and an angry sound. Her hands were on his bare face, demanding him to open his eyes. Peter's eyes flickered at the command and as all the blood rushed to his head from a concussion his only thought had been, "what is MJ doing here?"

Later, he found out from Ned, when Thanos had touched down in Queens looking for the infinity stone Starlord had stowed away in Peter's sock drawer, Michelle had gone to the site of the blast to help the wounded. Thousands of people had been affected by Thanos' fury. And Michelle, fucking incredible MJ, risked her life to help the people she could reach.

Including Peter.

When his eyes had settled on her, confusing seeping into his aching bones, MJ had sighed a breath of relief. "I thought you were dead, Parker," she had practically growled.

"Where's Thanos?" Peter asked, trying to sit up.

She pressed her hands against his shoulders, keeping him to the ground, "You need to get out of here, Peter. He'll kill you."

He remembered his eyes meeting hers, unflinching and fierce, "This is my neighborhood. These are my friends and my neighbors and my town. I'm not going to let Thanos ruin it."

Michelle's eyes had flickered with some unknown emotion, then, and Peter had wanted to ask. But she instead pulled him into a crushing hug and whispered in his ear, "Go get him, Tiger."

She smelled earthy, he recalled, and then she was gone. He felt the weight of her in his arms for days after the Avengers had defeated Thanos.

When the dust settled, it hit Peter that Michelle knew he was Spider-man. When he returned to school later that month he had expected her to say something, anything about that day. Instead, she acknowledged his broken arm and never spoke about Spider-man again.

Which was why, he liked to tell himself, he'd never really spoken to MJ about his stupid feelings for her. Because if she did care about him she would have said something, anything about Thanos and that day. And liking a girl that basically ignored the fact that you were a superhero was a sure-fire way to know they weren't interested.

She cared, he hoped, but not in the way he wanted her to.

Hence, his stupid, silly pining away in academic decathlon practice. As she raged at Ned, Peter tried not to notice everything about her today. How she was dressed and how she carried herself and her mirthless smile whenever someone said something dumb. He failed, but he did try to stop.

When he was admiring her scuffed up stary-night sneakers, Flash slinked up to Peter with a shit eating grin, "Parker."

"Flash," Peter said curtly, his eyes sliding away from MJ.

"So Prom," Flash said vaguely.

Peter tried not to look alarmed, again, he failed. "Uh, yeah? Pr-rom. What about it?"

"Relax," Flash rolled his eyes, "I'm not asking you." Flash's attention went to MJ and Peter had to dampen the green monster roaring in his chest. "I'm thinking about asking Michelle. And I'm just checking in to make sure...you haven't."

"Oh," Peter's gaze fell to the ground, "What? Me? No. It's not...I mean, she's cool....but we're just," he rung his hands anxiously, "friends. I think. I can never tell with her."

Flash rolled his eyes, "You're not friends. At least I don't think that's how you look at her, but I'm not here to talk about your love life."

"Right," Peter rolled that word around in his mouth, "Hey Flash...."

"Sup, losers," Michelle burst into the boy's conversation.

"Nothing!" Peter squeaked.

Flash and Michelle stared at him, both with differing layers of disgust. Michelle's was less harsh and more curious than disgusted while Flash's face was, well, unrelenting distaste.

Peter cleared his throat, "I'm going to just....go...." He vaguely gestured to the door.

"Yeah, whatever, Parker," Flash waved him off. Peter moved toward the door. "Hey, Michelle. Me, you, prom? What do you say?"

MJ snorted and said easily, "I'm going with Peter."

That stopped him dead in his tracks, when he turned around Flash looked like he had been clopped over the head with a baseball bat. When Flash found words they were harsh, "But he said...he said he hadn't asked you."

"He didn't," Michelle shrugged, "But we're still going together."

"When," Peter's voice was surprisingly high, "When were you going to tell me that?"

"I dunno," she squinted at him, "When I felt like it?"

"But...but..." Flash stuttered.

Michelle grabbed Peter by the elbow and shouted over her shoulder, "Practice is dismissed. See you tomorrow."

It all happened so fast. Peter's head was pounding so loudly he could feel his heartbeat in his throat. He didn't realize when MJ weaved down the halls or walked them around the gym or when she took him to the now-empty men's dressing room. He didn't catch up to anything she was doing until she had crowded him up against a cold metal locker and was kissing him. He barely caught up then.

The only thing that brought him well and truly up to speed was when she pulled away and glared at him, "Peter, I don't want to do all the work here."

A laugh tore from his throat and he cupped her face gently. It was the kind of affection he imagined she wasn't used to because he normal eyes split open in slight terror. He didn't think she was fragile but this thing between them felt that way. And he didn't want it to shatter. "How come...how long...?" he managed to only ask the beginnings of the questions racing in his mind.

MJ flushed either in embarrassment or irritation, "A couple of weeks before Liz moved away."

"Sophomore year?" he whispered. He could not help the grin that was eating up half of his face. "Why didn't you say anything?"

She rolled her eyes but there was a levity to it, "You liked girls like Liz. I didn't think you were interested."

"I was interested," he countered. "I just didn't know you were. I hoped...after Thanos..."

"Oh," she teased, "Are we talking about the fact that you're Spider-man now?"

Peter couldn't help but press his mouth to hers. He remembered Mr. Stark had once told him that he kissed Pepper not because he wanted to but because he couldn't help himself. That her lips were there and they begged to be kissed nearly all the time. He'd always thought that was some ridiculous adult thing. But now as MJ kept him between her body and the lockers he understood that impulse.

She smiled against his lips and mumbled, "Kissing me isn't going to stop this conversation."

Peter stole one more kiss, "Sorry. It's gonna be hard to stop me now."

"Who says I'm going to let you kiss me whenever you like?"

"I-" Peter flushed, "I just thought."

She pressed herself up against him and between kisses managed, "We gotta talk about the Spider-man thing. I don't know how I feel about dating an Avenger."

His whole chest bloomed in unimaginable warmth. Peter managed to pull his mouth away from hers, for long enough to meet her eyes, "How about dating Peter Parker?"

"Now that," she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I think we can discuss."

And after that, well, Peter didn't hate senior year so much.