Chapter 3: CHAPTER 3.Being a hero isn't a choiceiii
I nodded and looked down at the hair dryer, "not working?"
"Ahm, yeah, it just kind of stopped," she nodded slowly.
I held out my hand and she passed it over, I took a look at it and using Peter's remarkable knowledge of mechanics realised the problem, "the motor's fried, I can probably fix it for you Ms. Watson, shouldn't be too hard."
"That would be lovely, thank you Peter," Anna nodded before turning to MJ, "Mary Jane, maybe it's time for you to put on something more decent."
"Ah, right," the redhead nodded quickly before turning around and walking upstairs. She looked back at me one last time, and I met her gaze. She was looking for something, I knew it, I just smiled back.
When she finally closed her room door I turned to Anna and May, "I'll go to the hardware store and get the parts to fix it Ms. Watson, I'll be back soon."
"Why don't you wait for Mary Jane to get ready Peter? Maybe you two could go together," May oh so subtly suggested.
I shrugged, "sure. No problem."
"Oh look at you, acting so innocent," Anna giggled, "didn't I tell you they would hit it off May?" I tuned the two old women out as they proceed to gossip about I and MJ.
It took a while but soon the redhead returned, this time she wore a pair of jeans, a hoodie and sneakers. I looked her over and smiled, "I liked the other outfit better."
"Peter!" May gasped scandalously, "that is no way to treat a lady! I taught you better than that!"
I looked into his memories, she was right, she did. I turned to MJ and bowed, "I am so sorry my lady, my actions have been so uncouth! I beg thee for a thousand pardons for my rash behaviour!"
Mary Jane chuckled, "you're Shakespear needs a little work there Tiger."
"Shakespeare? I was doing my best fancy pants impression."
"That's Shakespeare."
"Ah, so the voice has a name." She laughed, yay, she likes me!
Anna gave us some cash and quickly sent us out, she told us to buy lunch outside after getting the dryer fixed and just like that MJ and I were talking side by side.
"So what do I call you?" I asked her as soon as we stepped out.
"Hmm?"%0D%0A"Mary Jane, seems like a mouthful," I shrugged, "do you have a nickname?" Which I knew she did, but I needed to make small talk.
Mary Jane shrugged, "most people call me MJ."
"Hmm, cool, but not creative. How about Red?"
"Red? Really? And you complied MJ wasn't creative enough."
I shrugged, "I'm sure we'll figure something out. I'm Peter by the way, Peter Parker."
"Oh I know, my aunt won't stop going on and on about you. I figured she must have some sort of crush on you" she teased.
"Hm...tempting, she is a MILF, totally my type," I teased back.
MJ's eyes went wide, "what?"
"Kidding," I chuckled, "I actually like redheads." Mary Jane blushed. "So, where are you from MJ?" We talked all the way to the hardware store a few streets away. She told me how she was joining my school on Monday, I gave her a few tips but generally avoided topics like friends, since Peter didn't really have any.
We had to talk a little further away to reach a restaurant to get lunch, though I didn't mind, and neither did MJ. We sat and ate, I threw about a few jokes, she laughed, she teased me, I blushed, it was a great first date. Well...maybe not a date….
We came back to her home and found our aunts still chattering in the sofa. I sat down in the dining room table with the broken hair dryer and began to open it up with a screwdriver Anna had lying around.
As I fixed the machine MJ watched, whistling as my hands glided over it, "you're pretty good at this huh?"
I smiled, "very good. I'm sort of a nerd, in case you don't know."
"Believe me, I know," I looked confused, she clarified, "no one can talk about Star Wars that much and not be a nerd." I blushed, she was right, I did talk about that movie quite a bit.
"So is this what you want to be when you grow up?" MJ asked as I replaced the motor.
"A handy man? No, my ambitions are a little higher," I smiled.
"Like what"
"Like...well….I honestly don't know. I know I'm smart, and I can probably do a lot of good...but I don't know what."
MJ smiled, "maybe you should build yourself a suit of armour and fly around saving the world."
"Neah, the suits are more Tony Stark's thing," I chuckled, "besides, being a hero is dangerous, and the job has a horrible pay off."
"Well heroes don't be a hero to get thanks you know, they do it because they're heroes."
I sighed as I leaned back, "is it a bad thing that I'm not that selfless."
MJ looked concerned, "what? No, I just meant-"
"-I know what you meant, I get it. It's just...why do they have to be heroes? Can't they just be normal?"
MJ looked at me, hoping I wasn't angry at her, and seeing as I wasn't actually and just curious, she thought "well...maybe because if they don't...who will?"
"The po-" I stopped, I knew how ridiculous that sounded, the police? Yeah right, they could barely handle street crimes let alone fucking aliens from outer space and metas! Heroes needed to be born...but maybe not Spider-man.
I sighed, "yeah...you're right."
I did manage to fix the damn blow dryer, much to Anna's gratitude. MJ and I spoke a lot, mostly about school and her life before moving here. We also talked about superheroes, though she quickly learnt it was a touchy subject for me, though she didn't know why.
We exchanged numbers to keep in touch and I left her with a promise to see her again the next day. And judging by her smile she seemed to like that.
That night though I found myself in the basement in the small lab Peter had set up for himself. It was filled with chemicals and other gadgets he had toyed around with. I sat down and opened the junk drawer, pulling out two broken watches with metallic straps.
I looked them over and sighed, I got to work.
The formula for what I wanted to make was difficult to make. It took all my brainpower to even think off creating the chemical chain needed to produce webs. The chemical would react when exposed to air and solidify into a sticky elastic and nearly unbreakable structure. The problem was creating them as I would be working from scratch.
It wasn't finished in one night, though I did make progress. The next day I spent with MJ, I helped her catch up on some homework and taught her some basic chemistry. We did get distracted a lot, talking about books and t.v. shows, but that gave me a reason to come again tomorrow to complete our lessons.
The nights I spent in my basement lab, working on the web formula. It was a pain in the ass to be honest, I nearly caused a small explosion when I accidentally mixed the wrong chemicals. Luckily I managed to catch it before there was a chain reaction, or else bye bye Peter .
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