Michelle awoke with the cold morning breeze and bustle of downtown New York. The flap to the tent had been left open quite haphazardly and the mornings in her neighborhood leaned towards the colder side of the spectrum. Staten Island was the only borough that ever got any sun, while the rest of the sleeping city was left to squander the heat it could retain. Of course by daytime they would begin to collectively reject that same heat, but for now it nourished them.

The tipsy teen searched for her other half in a daze. She'd last seen Peter snoring away at the edge of the tent. That morning, he was nowhere to be found in or out of the tent.

The morning air nipped at Michelle's neck while she stood on the edge of the building. It was a considerable drop to the bottom, How many feet? Michelle didn't want to count. She could, but she didn't want to. Instead she looked up and down the street, looking for any sign of red and blue.

"Where are you, fucker?" she mumbled tiredly under her breath. There wasn't a hint of him anywhere, not a single trace. Michelle doubted that even Sherlock Holmes himself could solve this missing persons case.

On the other hand, he might've just gone back to his apartment. It's early enough in the morning that May might believe he ditched Ned and went back home late at night. However, Michelle was only guessing at the time. At that time of the year it's often hard to tell what time it is, weather conditions considered.

Further analysis of the situation was giving Michelle a headache. Her head was still throbbing like a beating heart from last night, and the glare of the rising sun definitely didn't help. It was breaching the Eastern horizon, where the buildings were low enough to allow a swath of bright sunlight to pour in. The decathlon captain shielded her eyes and carefully landed back onto the flat surface of the roof. The second she landed, she heard a familiar thwip thwip thwip heading in her direction.

"I'm sorry," she heard him say. Her hands remained at her face to guard her eyes from the besieging sun. "I heard a car alarm go off down the street and it woke me up and I wanted to go see if everyone was okay but they had a flat tire so I had to lift the car but one of the lug nuts got stuck so he had to go ask his buddy if he could—"

One of Michelle's hand clamped over Peter's mouth like his very own webbing. "I get the idea. You had Spider-Man stuff to do." Michelle peeked through her fingers and sure enough he was wearing the tattered suit with a jacket over it. Disgusting, ugly, a disgrace to fashion, but when he took his mask off Michelle almost had him right then and there. The sun swept hair, the tired-but-in-a-cute-way look of his eyes, the nervous grin, the frog—god it was like someone personally sculpted him to her exact spefifications.

"We got him going though, in the end," he finished. "He said he had to be at work for 6."

"Wait what time is it?"

"About 6:10 now. I hope he made it."

"We slept for less than five hours."

"Oh," Peter said. "Yeah I guess we did."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we still have time to go to school?"

Michelle dropped the hand shielding her face to glare directly at Peter. She wasn't sure what to say, but she knew she had to communicate how she felt somehow. That communication took the form of an intense stare that bore into Peter and crushed his lungs with an iron gauntlet. He coughed a bit and failed to make eye contact with his captain.

"I," Michelle began thoughtfully, "had a different idea in mind." She gestured to the opening of the cozy looking tent. "Like more sleep?"

While it looked like Peter was thinking about it, as soon as Michelle had even implied going back into that tent with her, Peter was fucking game. But! He was still tired, kinda high, and very injured from the previous night's escapades. He stood there silently like a malfunctioning machine that you don't quite know what's wrong with it but maybe it's something in the CPU? I don't know, they're the geniuses, I barely passed math, shut up.

Regardless, Michelle took all of this silence and inaction as indecisiveness. Peter wasn't exactly the greatest decision maker, so when presented with make or break opportunities like this one, everyone expected him to stutter a bit.

"Apparently you need some more convincing," Michelle scoffed. "How's this." And then finally when Peter had found the exact words to express his utmost desire to join MJ back in her tent, her lips were on his and he was falling back against the stone railing and she was pushing into him and her mouth was wet against his and she was pulling his hair and soon he was grabbing her hair and her waist and her cheeks as he pulled her against his body and she reciprocated as they explored each other eagerly, earnestly, and without regard for what the other could possibly be thinking in this very moment until finally Michelle needed to breathe.

She almost fell backwards from the dizziness when she resurfaced. She was only at an arm's length from Peter but already she could feel the warmth dissipating between them. He look flustered and messy and he blushed carmine when he caught her stare—it matched his suit.

"What was—"

"Are you sure you're completely over Liz? It's only been a few weeks since you last saw her and now..."

Peter waited to see if she would continue, but when it was clear that she was giving him the floor he said, "Yeah and now I'm seeing someone else."

Michelle squinted at that one. "What is that supposed to mean, Parker?"

The blush returned. "Well I didn't mean anything you know I just thought because you and me, you know we, you know I just thought because of that maybe you and I were.."

"You thought that you and I were a thing? An item?"

"Well when you put it like that—"

"Good," Michelle said confidently, "I wouldn't have it any other way." And then she was back on him and this time she no longer cared for air.

§

When they finally had their fill, they settled back into the cozy confines of the tent. Whatever Peter was to her, Michelle didn't care and only concerned herself with holding as close as she could. For his part Peter wrapped his good arm around her shoulders while she nestled her head under his chin (which, given the height difference, some might argue should be the other way around). In his other hand was his phone which he used to text Ned.

Michelle could read the message from her vantage point. "You're actually going to school?"

Peter continued texting while he spoke. "Ned and I have a project to present. I can't leave him hanging, he'd never forgive me!"

His compatriot rolled her eyes. Sometimes she wondered if his loyalty had a line. Sometimes she was glad it didn't.

"Well," Michelle began, tightening her grip around the Spider-Boy to emphasize her next point: "I still have you for the next two hours, and I intend to use them effectively. Very effectively."

A small drop of sweat rolled down Peter's forehead. The tent entrance was still open and the tent was still somewhat cold. Regardless, Peter's palms were clammier than he'd like to admit.

"W-What did you have in mind?"

Michelle pulled back to grin at him coyly. Peter swallowed a lump in his throat.

"To sleep!" She lodged herself into the same position she was in before, clean and Christian. "Bitch!" She added.

The Bitch™ in question breathed a sigh of relief. He kissed his handler's head and returned to texting. Michelle found herself lulled to sleep by the quiet tapping of skin on glass. Every so often Peter would mutter something under his breath, whether it be repeating something he was about to send or repeating something Ned had just sent; the latter often followed with a shallow chuckle. Neither of the teens thought to question why their friend was awake at such an ungodly hour.

Peter used the next two hours to text Ned. In between their short conversations, Peter flexed his arm and found it to be in increasingly good health. His inhuman healing abilities supplemented with MJ's expert medical skills made for a faint scar where a gunshot wound had been mere hours before. The Amazing Spider-Man was sure to make Ned aware of this, and The Guy in The Chair was quick to the Q&A.

ned: do you think youd survive a gunshot to the head? [7:46]

peter: I dont want to find out [7:47]

ned: what if we cut off one of your legs? would it grow back [7:47]

ned: like a lizard [7:48]

peter: see my previous answer [7:49]

ned: think of the potential! [7:49]

peter: isnt human experimentation a war crime? [7:50]

ned: I was actually more worried about what mj would say [7:51]

Peter glanced down at the girl sleeping on him.

peter: see my previous answer [7:51]

ned: we should probably start getting ready for school. you especially [7:52]

peter: good call. see you on the bus [7:52]

ned: go get em spider man! [7:53]

Peter shut off his phone with one last smile. His best friend never failed to put him in the best mood possible.

But Peter's fraternal fuzziness was cut short when he realized his next dilemma. You know when a cat falls asleep on your lap and you can't bring yourself to move because it's such a rare occurrence that you want to last as long as possible no matter what important thing you have to do in that moment? Well that's the dilemma that Peter faced in that moment. The cutest girl he'd ever seen in his life sleeping against him was something he wanted to last forever. But his education was so important! Not to mention May would kill him if she found out he missed another day of school. And Ned!

Peter's indecision was matched only by the anxiety created from it. As everyone in his class would highlight over and over, he wasn't the best decision maker under great stress (like a time limit). That's why he always wanted to join the Avengers, so he could follow under the guidance of great heroes and still be a great hero in his own right.

The 16-year-old wondered if that's what brought him into conflict with Captain America. Steve Rogers wasn't someone who followed, no more than Mr Stark was. Could the world handle more than one hero leading the charge? Would there ever be a threat big enough to merit such a situation?

Michelle stirred and Peter was quickly drawn from his daze. The older girl had only moved a little and still she snored softly.

The number 8:00 flashed on Peter's phone. The bus would be at his stop in forty minutes.

"MJ," Peter whispered. "MJ," he whispered again a little louder. He shook her a bit with his arm around her shoulders. "MJ," he said, no longer whispering. "Come on MJ, please wake up." He shook her some more.

While he was shaking her he heard her whisper something very softly.

"What?"

She spoke up. "You have to kiss her to break the curse."

"What?"

"You have to kiss her to break the curse," she repeated, coming off a bit more agitated than your regular princess. "Like Sleeping Beauty."

"Oh I never saw that movie."

Michelle shot up so fast that she almost struck Peter's chin with her head. "You've seen all the Indiana Jones movies, all the Star Wars movies, and all the Star Trek movies but you haven't seen the timeless animated Disney classic Sleeping Beauty?!"

Peter responded meekly, "It's not really my thing."

Michelle could only hold her forehead with her open palm to stop herself from smacking this fool.

"You're staying home and we're watching all the animated Disney movies," she said very matter-of-factually.

"No wait," Peter protested, "I really have to go to school. I already told Ned I'd be there and if he has to present our project alone—"

"Yeah yeah he'd never forgive you, I got it," Michelle said. "Fine, go to school. But just remember who offered you a fun day of sleeping, Disney movies, and all this..." she gestured to her whole-ass self. Peter allowed himself a few seconds to absorb what that entailed.

"Come on," she said, already on her feet. "I'll walk you to my stop. You can say you were picking up a book before school."

"Thanks, you're the best." He stood up and hugged her tightly.

"I know. But that outfit is still a problem."

"Oh, actually Ned's got me covered. He's bringing me the spare clothes I leave at his place."

Michelle beamed at her incredibly (and surprisingly) prepared boyf—thing.

"Come on. We're short on time and you still need a shower."

§

Michelle was the only student at her bus stop. The corner of 51st and 3rd was the farthest the bus had to go into Queens which meant Michelle had plenty of time before it reached her stop.

The two star-crossed lovers stood silently on their corner. It was still cold under the dark glare of the tall buildings, but Michelle managed to find warm in Peter's hand which clasped hers for dear life. The sleeves of his jacket were rolled up and she could see the hairs on his arms standing at attention. She thought of asking him about it but decided she didn't want to bother him right before school. There was plenty of time after school for them to "talk" about it.

At least, she hoped.

The bright yellow bus came to a screeching halt before Peter and MJ's eyes. The doors swung open and Peter kissed his girlf—thing, goodbye. With a final wave out the window, the bus was gone and down the street. Michelle watched it go with a blissfully ignorant smile.

Turning to walk back to her apartment, MJ popped earphones in. She scrolled through her Spotify library until she found a song she liked.

Dust In The Wind played quietly in her ear while she walked away. The sunlight was finally breaching the Queens skyline, but it never reached her cold figure. Something was hovering above New York, just over New York Harbor. Michelle, music still censoring the world around her, continued on her way.

She sang a little to herself.