Title: Trick or Treat

Author: Jenn

Summary: Movieverse. Mary Jane helps Aunt May give out candy to the kids on Halloween. While she's doing that, she remembers the Halloween two years before when the Parkers' home got trashed. Set six months before SM2. Oneshot.

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Minor ones for SM1, and maybe minor ones for some of my oneshot fics.

Timeline: Six months before SM2.

Category: General. Oneshot. Mostly in M.J.'s POV.

Feedback: Always happy to hear what readers have to say.

Dedication: I'm dedicating this fic to htbthomas. She did a fantastic job with It Has Always Been You & Enquiring Minds. I loved and enjoyed both of her fics. I hope to see more fics from her soon!

Thanks to: Thank you so much for betaing this for me, GK!

Archive: Anywhere, but please ask me first. I would like to know where it's going and to make sure it will have my name on it.

Disclaimers: They're not mine. Stan Lee and Marvel own them. Not making one penny for this story. This fic is just for enjoyment.

Thoughts are in italics.

"Trick or treat!"

Mary Jane Watson smiled at the six youngsters who held up their goodie bags for their treat. Giving them each some candy, Mary Jane was inundated with 'thank you's' from each child. She watch them hurry off to the next house, two older women at their heels.

Shutting the door, M.J. set the candy bowl down on the table. Glancing around, she looked at small nick knacks and different Halloween decorations around the room. There was everything from witches, a jack o' lantern on the table, and even some cobwebs in the corners of the room. May Parker had certainly outdone herself this year.

Aunt May come out of the kitchen. "They keep coming don't they, dear?"

"Yes they do. It seems that it's slow for a little awhile then they come in groups one after another and you can't keep track of them."

"It always seems to be like that."

Smiling, Mary Jane said, "I didn't mention earlier, but the house looks great. Did Peter come and help you?" She had noticed some of the decorations outside when she had come in earlier. M.J. had not gotten a chance to talk to May with the kids coming as they did.

"No, I haven't seen much of Peter lately. But I call from time to time. Sometimes I can catch him, but other times the Lord only knows where he is."

Aunt May did all of this by herself? M.J. was not pleased with that, but she could relate to Peter's no show or disappearing acts. She had not seen Peter in months. The last time she had seen him was sometime around her birthday, which had been in July.

"I haven't heard from Peter in awhile either. I guess everything he does keeps him busy."

"Oh, I understand that, Mary Jane. Peter has school and his job at the Bugle. But I wish he wasn't always trying to find that Spider-Man, I would feel better knowing that he's safe."

"I'm sure Peter knows when to keep out of trouble, Aunt May." Though, M.J. had to wonder if Spider-Man had to save Peter for getting caught in the middle of a crime. Mary Jane bit her lower lip at that thought.

"Yes, but I don't know what is in his head to try to get that-that…" May stopped herself. She did not wish to say menace just because the Daily Bugle called Spider-Man that. She finished with, "That person's picture all the time."

Mary Jane shrugged. "I think Jameson only takes the pictures of Spider-Man that Peter gets. That's why Peter is always after him."

Sighing, May said, "I know Peter needs to pay his bills. I haven't been to his new apartment. He doesn't say, but I've got the a feeling that Peter's home isn't very…well-kept." May did not know what word to describe a place she had never been to.

Mary Jane nodded. She too had not seen Peter's apartment. One he had been there for six months already, yet no one had been in it. Why was it that Harry had not offered a place for Peter to stay at his house? It was a mansion, it certainly was big enough. Maybe it was the fact that Peter took pictures of Spider-Man and Harry hated him.

The doorbell rang.

"I'll get this one, M.J. Why don't you get something to drink in the kitchen?"

"I'll do that." She had not realized until then that she was thirsty.

Getting a glass of apple cinder, Mary Jane walked slowly around the kitchen. It had not changed much over the years since she had been in the house, which had not been much time.

Spying a picture of Peter's uncle Ben on the window sill, M.J. studied the photo. She had always loved Ben and May, they had always treated her kindly when she was growing up. Mary Jane had not gotten to see them much, except in passing or small talk over the years.

But Uncle Ben had been dead for about a year and half. Last Halloween, Peter's aunt had not even done anything when that time of year come upon them. Or so Mary Jane's mother had told her.

So much had changed during the past year. M.J. had been dating Harry Osborn at this time. But not anymore. Their relationship had ended around Thanksgiving last year. Also at that time she had realized that she was in love with Peter, but he had not share her feelings. Now she had a wonderful boyfriend of nearly three months. John Jameson was a good man, and she cared for him greatly.

But you don't love him, her inner voice told her. In her mind's eye saw Peter's face. Frowning, Mary Jane ignored her heart and mind. It will come in time. It's still too soon for that.

M.J. surely hoped that was case. John had not said anything, but from what she was seeing his eyes, he was starting to fall for her, and hard. John was everything she could want in a boyfriend, so that did not mean she could not love him…just not yet.

"That was a vigorous bunch, and they weren't even kids!" May said as she came in the kitchen startling Mary Jane from her thoughts.

"Oh?" Mary Jane asked more out of not fully understanding what the older woman had said then inquiring to what she had to say.

"Some teenagers wanting some candy."

"So you just gave them some?"

"Yes I want ahead and did that. But as they were leaving I saw some eggs and other things with them."

So they were going to egg someone's house if they didn't get candy? Mary Jane thought angrily. Very mature. Or are they planning to egg a certain house, maybe someone they don't like? Mary Jane could not answers these questions going through her mind. She just hoped that the teens would not do anything stupid.

That took her thoughts back to Halloween night, two years ago. Some teens had egged a house, this one.

"Do you want some popcorn, dear? I was going to make some before we get some more kids."

"Sure, Aunt May." Mary Jane said, nodded in agreement.

While the popcorn popped, the two women settled themselves at the kitchen table.

"You seem miles way, Mary Jane. Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yes. I was just thinking about different things," Mary Jane said absentmindedly.

She did not want to talk about John to Aunt May. She was afraid that May might tell Peter if she knew. Though Peter's aunt was hardly a gossip, Mary Jane did not want him to know about John, at least not yet.

"Anything you want to talk about? I'm a good listener, dear." The popcorn was done, May got up to get it.

Thinking for a minute, M.J. said, "Well, I was thinking about the Halloween two years ago, when Peter and I were seniors at Midtown High."

"That? When the house got egged? Goodness, I never did get the whole story out of Peter."

That did not really surprise Mary Jane. She knew Peter was humiliated that night, for many things. But it was long ago, she was sure Peter had completely forgotten the incident.

"If you want to hear about, I'll tell you." Mary Jane said as May set a large bowl of the buttery snack for them to share.

"Certainly, M.J. I'd like to hear the whole story."

Two years ago…

Watching her breath come out in small puffs of vapor was the most exciting thing going on with Mary Jane at the moment. She was bored out of her mind. It was only October and M.J. could not wait until the school year ended so she could leave this place far behind.

Tucking her hands in her green coat, Mary Jane shivered. She should get home. But she did not want to go home. Maybe Dad isn't there, she thought.

Or maybe she could still go to that party her friends were having, but M.J. did not feel like going to there either. Maybe she just was really not in the partying mood. But she knew it was not just the party that she did not wish to attend but also she did not wish to see her friends.

She knew that Flash Thompson was there. It was not that M.J. did not like Flash. He was alright. But from what she could tell, he was starting to pay attention to her. It was nice that Flash noticed her, but if she went to the party, and from her own experiences with these parties, he would try to make a move on her. That was something Mary Jane did not want to put up with tonight. For once she just wanted to be by herself.

Hearing a car zoom by brought Mary Jane out of her thoughts. Even though she hadn't seen who it was, M.J. could hear their hoots and laughter down the road. If she didn't know better, she'd think they were kids her own age or maybe they were drunk.

Mary Jane was nearly to her house when she saw something she had not expected to see. There was toilet paper all over the ground, the flowerbeds, as well the front of the Parkers' house. She did not notice anymore when she quickly walked up the sidewalk.

Peter Parker stood in the middle of his front yard looking at the house, his back to her.

"Peter?" Who would have done this?

Turning sharply around, he faced her. M.J. must have startled him. Anything she was going say next died at her lips.

In the semi dimness of streetlight, she saw that the right side of his face and glasses had egg yoke on them. He had gotten hit on the head with it. The front of his shirt had a mark of another egg on it as well.

Once again Mary Jane wondered, Who would have done this?

"Someone from school, maybe," came the quiet reply.

Startled, M.J. did not know she had asked the question until Peter had just answered. "Do you know who it was?"

"No." The answer came out so quickly, that she had wonder if he did know who had done this to him and his house. Looking at his house, Peter asked, "Man, how am I going to clean all of this up before Uncle Ben and Aunt May get home?" He did not direct the question at Mary Jane, it was more to himself.

"I'll help you. Maybe between the two of us, we can get it done."

"I would think that you'd have a party or something to go tonight," he whispered, but she heard it.

"I wasn't going anywhere, I'll help you with this. But first we'll have to get you cleaned off."

Peter did not reply, he headed to his front door. Mary Jane followed a few steps behind. The living room was decorated for Halloween with a few decorations. A bowl of candy sat on the table untouched.

"Don't think we'll be getting trick or treaters. Handing out candy was something Aunt May was hoping I'd do." Peter's dry tone told Mary Jane how he felt about that.

"Where are your aunt and uncle?"

"They're at a friend's house playing cards. They shouldn't be home till eleven, maybe later."

"That gives us at least two hours. If you tell me were the bucket and cleaning stuff is, you can get changed and I can get started outside."

"Everything is under the sink in the kitchen."

"Okay." Mary Jane turned and headed toward the kitchen.

Finding the cleaning supplies right where Peter told her they were, Mary Jane got busy filling the bucket with water. She got some trash bags and sponges. She did not know if the windows were a mess, so she got some Windex for them.

Going back outside, M.J.'s arms holding most of the cleaning supplies. She got a good look at the house. Soap covered the large window next to the front door. She could see some egg yoke on the window also.

Since the house itself was not large it would not take too long to wash off. Luckily the jerks that did this, kept the toilet paper, soap, and eggs in the front part of yard and house. With the soap and toilet paper, Peter's house almost looked like it was covered in snow.

Hearing the front door bang shut, she saw Peter coming out with the bucket of water. He had a light coat on over a clean shirt. His hair was now egg free, and his black glasses were cleaned off.

"They did a great job, don't you think?" Peter's voice was laced with sarcasm.

Mary Jane had never seen Peter angry, though, some people were a lot worse, like her father. But she looked up at the house. "You should be relieved they didn't get to the second story and the highest roof."

"Their aim sure was good," Peter mumbled. He was referring to the lower part of roof which had toilet paper all over it. "If I hadn't fallen asleep, this could have been prevented."

"You can't do anything about it now, so we might as well get busy."

"Yeah." Peter said quietly. "We should get the eggs and soap off first before it settles even more."

They got busy cleaning. It took some time, but they were able to get most of the egg yoke and soap off the window, and wherever it had landed on the house. Luckily the paint wasn't too damaged.

"The worst of it is done. The toilet paper shouldn't been too hard."

M.J. could tell Peter was better than he had been before. "What happened earlier?" They had started to pick up the toilet paper, but it was strewn around everywhere.

"Well, uh," Peter seemed a little embarrassed. "I was reading over some homework and must have fallen asleep." As he bent to pick up the bathroom tissue, his glasses had slid down his nose a little. He pushed back up, but did npt tell her any more about what had happened.

Mary Jane tried with care to pull toilet paper from roof without it ripping. "So you didn't hear anything out here?"

"I might have heard something. When I saw how late it was, I knew Aunt May wouldn't be happy that I didn't pass out candy to the kids, so I came downstairs. I was putting candy in the bowl when I thought I heard something."

Once again, Peter stopped. Mary Jane wanted to know what happened, but this time, she remained quiet. Peter would talk again when he was ready.

They'd spent the next few minutes cleaning the mess off the ground.

"I guess you want to know the rest of it, huh?"

Looking at Peter, M.J. said, "Only if you want to tell me."

"I was heading for the door when I heard the eggs hit the house, or at least that's what it must have been. When I got to the door, I ended up getting hit instead."

"Whoever did this was an idiot." Mary Jane said, giving voice to her anger.

Peter stared her for at least a minute before speaking. "I'm not sure who did this, but there were four kids. I couldn't see who they were, they were wearing ski masks. Could've been kids from school. They just laughed and got in their car and drove off."

"I'm sorry that this happened, Peter."

Trying to smile but failing, he said, "It wasn't your fault. You had no part of it."

"Looks like we got everything," M.J. said as she looked around.

"Yeah. My aunt and uncle should be home anytime now. I'll get the garbage."

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you in school." She started to go toward her house when Peter's voice stopped her.

"M.J.?"

"What?" she turned back to him.

He gave her a small smile and softly said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She watched him go to the back of his house. M.J. wondered what they would talk about if they could just talk and get to know each other.

Mary Jane shook her head as she opened her front door. What would they talk about? That was ridiculous. They were two completely different people with different interests.

Finishing her story, Mary Jane waited for Aunt May to say something.

They had long since moved to the living room to answer the door when it would ring.

But what May said took M.J. entirely off guard. "You and Peter aren't as different as you think you are. But I think you already know that, dear."

"Why do you say that?" Trying to figure out what May meant by that, M.J. knew there were many possibilities to her meaning.

Both of you aren't the same people you were two years ago. You have changed, and so has Peter."

"Yeah, I know. Sometimes we change for the good and sometimes we don't."

"Life is full of changes, Mary Jane. But it's what we chose to do about them that matters." Aunt May stood up. "I'm going to fill this bowl with some more candy."

Mary Jane was left with her thoughts. She got up and walked over to the jack o' lantern, to look at the design May cut out of it. It was a simple face with a crooked smile.

What Peter's aunt said made sense. Yet even though she made her own choices, sometimes life would throw a curve ball at her. Too many times it seemed.

Hearing the front door opening, Mary Jane turned around.

"Hi, Au-," Peter stopped short from closing the door. Seeing the person he was greeting was not his aunt, he asked, "M.J.?"

She could not help but smile at his odd tone and said, "Hi, Peter."

"What are you doing here?" Then he asked, "Is Aunt May alright?"

Mary Jane laughed lightly. "Your aunt's fine. I'm here to give her a hand with the trick or treaters."

All he said was, "Oh." Closing the door to prevent anymore cold air from coming in the warm house, he did not move to come farther in.

"Peter?" Aunt May said as she saw her nephew. She set the candy bowl on the table. Going over to him, she gave him a warm hug. After she stepped back again, May said, "I wasn't expecting to see you."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if I'd be busy tonight with, ah, any papers, so I didn't want to promise anything. But I thought I'd come by anyway."

"That's thoughtful of you, Peter."

In the distance they heard a low wail of a police siren.

"I wonder what's going on." May said she headed to the window to look outside.

"On my way over here, I saw some guys webbed up, hanging from a tree. They were in front of a house that got egged. Maybe that's what the police are going for. I guess that meant that Spider-Man was around. Though I didn't see him."

Mary Jane was not sure if Peter was disappointed about not getting any pictures of Spider-Man. But then, she wondered was it that Peter was lucky about getting pictures of Spidey, or that he trusted Peter? That had been on her mind for sometime now, but she respected Spider-Man's privacy not to ask too many questions.

"I hope you not going to go on a merry chase to find him for more pictures, Peter," May said as she turned back around. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'm fine, Aunt May. I'm always very careful."

Mary Jane kept silent, she did not want to get in the middle of a family quarrel. Part of her wanted to disagree with May, to come to Spider-Man's defense. But she could understand Aunt May's concern. Because the other part of her felt the same way. One of these days Peter could get hurt…

"Good, I hope you watch what you do Peter, I'm just worried."

"You don't have to worry."

May walked over to her nephew and put her hand on his arm. "I don't think I can help myself, Peter."

"I know that, Aunt May, but I wish you wouldn't." Peter's expression mix of emotions, none that Mary Jane could identify.

Letting go of Peter's arm, May turned back to her. "Why don't you go over and visit your mother, dear? I'm sure between Peter and myself, we can handle things here."

"Are you sure, I could stay and help some more…"

"No, thank you for your help, but you go on, Mary Jane. We'll be fine."

Before Peter and M.J. could reply to that, the doorbell rang. "I'll get this." Aunt May smiled at them and got the bowl of candy.

They walked into the kitchen, Peter asked, "Have you seen your mom much since she and your dad split up?"

"A few times, she's doing okay, but right now I'm going to check on my her. Mom hasn't been feeling well."

"What's wrong?" Peter asked in concern.

Mary Jane shook her head. "I wish I knew, but Mom hadn't been looking all that good. Of course fighting with my dad all these years hasn't been any help. But she says she's going to see the doctor this week."

"I hope everything turns out alright."

"Me too," Mary Jane said as she put on her coat.

"Why don't I walk you out?" Peter asked her quietly.

"Sure," M.J. nodded in agreement.

They went through the back door. Walking to the fence, both of them stopped. Peter turned to her and said, "It was nice of you to help Aunt May out tonight." He tucked his hands in the pockets of his worn overcoat.

"It was no trouble, I had fun," Mary Jane told him sincerely.

"That's good."

They fell in awkward silence.

"I didn't want to bring this up with Aunt May, but how is it that you're able to get so many pictures of Spider-Man and yet, nobody else can?"

"Luck, maybe. I usually don't know where he'll at any particular time."

"From what I remember you're friends, right?"

Peter sort of laughed at that. "Yeah, Spider-Man's a friend. But I won't say we're chums. I guess he just trusts me." He shrugged.

"Well, he's my friend too." M.J. said. From the sounds of it Spider-Man kept people at arm's length, but that wasn't a surprise. It just made his life seem…lonely.

Yet, Peter seems to be doing the same thing with everyone. Mary Jane did not know where that stray thought came from. Now that she thought it, but it was also true.

"He sees you as a friend too. He's said as much."

M.J. smiled. She would not doubt that, but Mary Jane wondered, what did Spider-Man think of her? She doubted that he would have told that to Peter, remembering the last time she had asked him that, which was when she started to realize that she cared for Peter.

Mary Jane tried to suppress that memory, superimposing mental images of her new boyfriend. she said, "I'm going to go see how my mom's doing," she said quietly.

"Sure. I'll see you around, M.J."

"Yeah, see you later." Mary Jane started toward her house, but stopped and turned back around. "Peter?"

"What?"

"Next time you're talking to Spider-Man, tell him I said 'Hi'."

Peter just nodded. He did not speak until she went in her house and the door had already been shut. "You just did, Mary Jane," he whispered to himself.

The End

Notes: Happy Halloween, everyone. I hope all of you enjoyed this fic. I thought since You're Not Superman had been a hit, I'd do another Halloween fic. I seem to do a bit of in between the movies fics lately. Maybe it's my forte. Or I'm just a romantic angsty person.

And before I forget, I posted to Brother, so part 15 is up.

As always, thanks for reading and please review. Jenn