Observations

Michelle

As far as people go, Michelle Jones was one of the most observant people he knew. But as of late, Peter Parker was finding himself being observant. 

It started during a particularly peaceful time. He would patrol the area nightly, but besides a couple thieves and drunks, Spiderman wasn't facing any really dangerous guys. So Peter finally had a little more time to send with his friends.

So for the first time in weeks, he actually had time to sit with Ned at lunch, instead of bailing for a mission or being in the library catching up on his homework. He sat at his usual table, waiting for Ned to arrive. And he did, with Michelle.

Normally Michelle sat at the edge of the table and hardly acknowledged them, her nose in a book, but today Michelle held a lunch bag, laughing alongside Ned, book nowhere to be found.

"Hey guys?" Peter greeted, slightly weirded out at the sight of Michelle actually having a conversation with someone. 

"Hey!" Ned greeted him. Peter stood up and they did their secret handshake. Michelle rolled her eyes at them and pulled out a pb&J from her bag.

"You guys are such dorks." she deadpanned. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bag of carrots and a pack of beef jerky. Before Peter could ask why - Michelle was a vegetarian - she quickly handed the jerky to Ned. 

"Thanks," he said. He pulled out a tupperware from his bag. "And here are my mom's cookies."

"No way," Peter gasped. "Your mom made cookies and you didn't bring me any."

"Sorry dude," Ned apologized. "But MJ has never had fresh bakes cookies so I offered to bring her some of my mom's. I didn't think you'd be at lunch today."

Michelle held out the container. "We can split them you know. I don't mind. I don't have much of a sweet tooth. But Ned here wouldn't stop blabbing about how good his mom's cookies were until I tried them."

Ned looked at her expectantly. "And the verdict?"

"They're good. But I'll stick to carrot sticks and popcorn."

"Fine. I bring carrots tonight," Ned agreed. 

Michelle smiled and peter realized he'd never actually genuinely  smile in front of him. She grabbed her belongings and got up from the table. "See you later."

Peter waited until Michelle had left the cafeteria before turning to Ned. "Am I missing something? Since when do you and Michelle sit at lunch together?"

"MJ and I have only been hanging out for a couple weeks."

"MJ?"

"Yeah its what I call her."

"Didn't she say only her friends call her that."

Ned stole a cookie from the container and shrugged. "Yeah. We're friends. We've been hanging out a lot more since you're out being Spider-Man"

Peter couldn't believe that he had failed to notice that his best friend and Mic-MJ- had gotten closer in the past few weeks. Peter felt  like a terrible friend, realizing that he had been ditching Ned. He couldn't remember the last time he hung out with Ned was. He needed to fix that.

"What did you mean by tonight? Like as in a date?" Peter asked , panic inhis tone. he lowered his voice.. "Do you like her?" 

"What? No," Ned scoffed. "We're just friends. Tonight is movie night. I finally convinced her to watch Star Wars."

"And you didn't think to invite me?"

"Last time I did, you didn't show up."

Peter winced. He had offered to bring pizza to Ned's last movie night. He was on his way there when he had to stop a robbery at a bodega. Then he had to stop two muggings and rescue a cat from a tree. By the time he had reached Ned's house, Ned was fast asleep.

"I know, and I'm sorry about that."

"Dude, you don't have to apologize," Ned said. "You're out there risking you life everyday. I get it."

"But that's still not fair to you. So Friday I'm totally there for movie night."

"But what about patrolling?"

"I can take the day off."

"Take the day off for what?"

Peter and Ned both jumped to sound of MJ's voice.

"Michelle!" Peter croaked, his pitch higher than normal. "We thought you left."

"I left my phone on my seat." She stared at the two boys squirming in their seats, looking like they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "So are you losers going to answer my question or just continue to looks stupid?"

"Peter is taking the day off from his internship to come to movie night with us," Ned finally spoke up. 

MJ looked unimpressed. "Ok. See you losers tonight."