By Sunlight (P.P + M.J)

17. Reaching Out

School was a drag like usual, but it had its moments. Like during first period, AKA History class, Jack sent both MJ and Peter the pictures he took of them last night with captions underneath. He was trying to make the web-slinger laugh and possibly land him in hot water with the teacher, but some of his captions proved really hard to not laugh at. One had Jack's thumbs up in the picture and it read "#thirdwheelerlife" and another said "can we go home? Can we please go home?" Peter's face was practically red and when he turned to look back at MJ, she was hiding her face with her textbook. Somehow, he knew she was masking her laughter as well.

He only caught a break when the teacher asked if anybody knew anything about Alexander Hamilton. About four hands shot up, all of them being avid theatre kids. Unsurprisingly, Jack's hand popped up with them, which distracted him from further tormenting Peter and MJ. Not even his ship could stop him from talking about one of his favorite musicals. The theater kids looked at him like a god, because even though Jack looked like somebody who could easily be one of the jock dudebros in the school, he was truly one of them at heart. MJ would suggest that he join the theater club later that day, and he would reply that he would think about it.

When Spanish rolled around, Harry sat in the seat next to him. Jack and Ned sat in the front while MJ stayed in the back. Jack always payed extra attention during Spanish because one of his life goals was to sing "Despacito" to MJ word-for-word, something she threatened to kill him for. Harry tapped his pencil, his foot fidgeting and Peter sensed that something was bothering him.

"You good?" Peter asked, and Harry glanced over at him.

"Yeah, I'm just no good at Spanish," the boy replied, "did you have fun yesterday?"

"I did, it was fun," Peter answered, his voice hushed so the teacher wouldn't yell at them, "we should definitely hang out more. It's good having you back."

"Yeah definitely," Harry assented with a nod, "it's a relief really, being with people my own age again."

"Not all suits and ties, right?" The web-slinger joked, and Harry nodded nervously.

"Senor Parker!" Mrs.Alvarez called, catching the two boys attention. The kids in front of them turned in their seats to look, "cuidado de compartir con la clase?"

"N-No," Peter stuttered with a nervous shake of his head, "lo siento."

The teacher nodded, sending a firm, cautionary look his way before continuing on with her lesson. Harry stared at him in awe, an impressed expression on his face. He kept his voice even lower as he spoke.

"Sorry," Harry apologized, "forgot what it's like to be in school again."

Peter nodded in understanding, but didn't dare speak again for fear he would draw Mrs.Alvarez's attention again. The next couple of classes were easy, and Harry sat next to him in all of them, and stayed near him during PE. Peter liked that the boy was trying so hard to be his friend again, since that meant he had been honest about wanting to reconnect. Harry easily fit in with him and Ned, since they all appreciated the same kind of things. MJ was pretty quiet toward him, but it was during lunch when their new relationship was really put to the test.

They all sat at the same table, MJ sitting across from Peter with Jack next to her. Like always, she pulled a book out of his backpack and opened one of his bag pockets for a tea bag she kept stowed inside. Just like her books, she had a secret tea stash in his backpack, to which he didn't mind at all. The werewolf was focused on eating his sandwich, but Peter noticed him glancing constantly at Gwen Stacy, who sat with a few people at another table. There something about her that had caught Jack's eye, and Peter remembered his enthusiasm about seeing her last night. Was Jack suffering from... puppy love?

Oh yeah, Peter was definitely going to grill him about that later.

Harry poked around on his phone, eyebrows knit together in concentration before turning to show MJ the screen. It was an online article from the Daily Bugle, and he tapped on the header photo, which was a picture of Spider-Man standing with Werewolf. Under it read "Photo courtesy of Michelle Jones".

"You're the one who takes pictures of them, right?" Harry asked, and MJ looked up from her book. She gave his phone a glance before nodding. "That's awesome! Are you like friends with them?"

She flicked a look toward Peter, and Jack in turn stopped mid-bite to see what she would say. MJ hesitated for a second before deciding to answer him. "Yeah, I guess. I don't know them know them. I'm just their photographer."

"You wouldn't happen to know their secret identities, would you?" Harry questioned, but from his tone it sounded like he was just teasing, "how do you even get to be a superhero's photographer?"

"You just have to bother them enough," MJ pointed out before returning to her book.

"You know, I've always kinda wanted to get into photography," Harry said, putting his phone away, "if you're ever not busy, mind giving me some pointers?"

He then leaned over the table to look at Jack, who was pouring the remnants of his bag of potato chips into his mouth. He stopped when he noticed Harry staring at him expectantly, and he lowered the bag to address him.

"Don't think I'm trying anything," Harry started, "I wouldn't dream of trying to take your girl."

"She's not my girl," Jack said quickly, and at the same time MJ said, "I'm not his girl."

"Oh, r-right," Harry blustered, and he gave them a thumbs up as he hastened to correct himself, "feminism and equality. Women don't belong to men and all that. I'm all for it, I really am. Good for you, seriously."

Peter almost laughed at Jack's baffled expression, and how unamused MJ looked at Harry as he rushed to defend himself. Ned could only stare in surprise, and Harry's face turned a light shade of pink. Peter didn't know how long they intended to carry on with the lie that MJ and Jack were dating. Even with a clear statement that they weren't like that, Harry would continue to to believe it was the case. Peter didn't know whether to tell him he was wrong or not.

"Well," MJ began with a sigh, saving him from having to further speak, "if you're into photography for real, maybe I could show you some of my secret superhero hotspots."

Harry let out a relieved laugh, and Peter and Jack glanced at each other. Harry asked when they could meet up after school, and while she said that she was busy tonight, they made a date for tomorrow to go scouting. Later, when Peter would ask about why she agreed to help out Harry, MJ's response was that she should make a small effort in being his friend, reaching out or something like that. Plus, if the new kid was going to be in their group, they all had to like each other to some extent.

Because it got dark so quickly during the winter, Jack left for the Avengers compound immediately after school. Happy had come to pick him up, to make sure he made it there on time. He wouldn't go feral until the full moon was at its highest point, but once the sun went down, he would be stuck in his wolf form until the morning. MJ looked forward to seeing him turn, since she was fascinated with just how much werewolf lore was true. Peter felt a little on edge though, because he always refused to watch. The only time he had ever seen Jack in his feral state was months ago, when they had fought on the Brooklyn Bridge. He knew there was no way an event like that could be repeated, but Peter always felt like the possibility was still... there.

And as he built his Star Wars ship with Ned, MJ hanging out with them in the Ned's apartment, his thoughts kept wandering back to his werewolf friend. He had gone through this twice before, being kept at the facility as he went wild, but Peter had never seen it for himself. No doubt Mr.Stark had some state-of-the-art cage to put him in, or something like that.

He would figure it out eventually.

Ta da! 17 is here! So sorry I'm taking so long with these updates. School's killing me, and I'm so ready for summer and more importantly, Infinity War! Leave a vote or a comment! Either one would be appreciated.

~Fargone5