Eastside | PeterMJ

four: backstories

hi! i hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday, enjoy the new chapter! <3

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When MJ wakes up, it's bright outside. She's cold, from not having the air on in the car all night, and her head hurts from drinking, but other than that she feels alright. She glances at the clock, 9:42 A.M., and then over to Peter, who still had a tight grip on her hand. He seemed to be mumbling something in his sleep, but she couldn't make out what it was. MJ made the decision that Peter shouldn't go home right now, because of the immense hangover that he was probably going to be suffering from, and all of the lies that he told his aunt would probably get him grounded for life if she found out the truth. Starting her car, she slips her hand out from Peter's unusually tight grip, flips on her sunglasses, and starts the drive back to her house.

Her house.

MJ has never brought anyone over to her house before. MJ has never had anyone to bring over to her house before. But as she glances at Peter curled up in a ball on the seat next to her, she realizes that Peter was right last night, when he said their friendship was different. For starters, MJ has never had anyone to call a friend. And she doesn't think Peter has ever gotten so out of his comfort zone and broken down in front of any of his friends the way he did last night with her. Why? She doesn't know.

MJ knows Ned, and she knows that he's a great friend to Peter, but the way that Peter randomly burst into tears last night led her to believe he had kept everything bottled up for a really long time. If Ned knew about anything super stressful going on in Peter's life, he hadn't acted on it. But the more likely scenario is that Peter didn't tell Ned. Such a Parker thing to do.

As MJ pulls into her garage, she takes note of the empty driveway. The fact that her parents weren't home, even though she figured they would be out anyways, struck her with relief. She's not sure they would be too happy about MJ staying out all night with a random boy, but she doesn't really care what her parents think of her anyways. Parking her car, MJ honks the horn, causing Peter to literally jump awake. His head bangs against the ceiling, and he falls forward.

"What the heck!" Peter's voice sounded raspy and dry.

"Sorry. I didn't feel like dragging you out of my car."

"Where am I?"

"My house. How do you feel?"

"I don't feel so good..."

MJ laughs. Peter doesn't.

"Can you lower your voice?" Peter asks her, rubbing his temples.

"Probably not. Come on, let's go inside." She helps him out of her car and into her house, letting him flop face-first onto the couch.

"Your house smells nice." Peter mumbles from inside the couch cushion.

"Thanks...?" MJ walks into the kitchen to get herself and Peter a glass of water. He sits up and accepts it graciously, and the two of them don't say anything for a minute.

Peter strikes up the conversation. "About last night..."

MJ looks at him quizzically.

"I uh... How do I put this... I have literally no idea how I ended up here."

"What's the last thing you remember?" MJ has already figured Peter was blackout drunk last night, based on the way he was acting. She knows now that she should have cut him off from the alcohol sooner, but she didn't think about it at the time.

"I don't... Uh... I remember dancing. Lots of dancing, and drinking. The nice bartender lady kept giving me this drink, it was bitter, but I liked it. Um... I remember crying. That part might have been a dream. Actually, the whole thing might have been a dream. I'm so confused."