Michelle Jones (MJ) Imagines (gxg)

choose me part two

"The opera?" Flash squeaks, probably worried how he's gonna make that more interesting than the festival to his viewers. "Spiderman wouldn't go to the opera..." he whispers and you hear MJ snort next to you. You look to the side and she pulls on your sleeve to bring you in closer.

"If only he knew he's been right here this whole time," she grins and you start to laugh but it catches in your throat. You raise an eyebrow and stare at her more intently, and she bites her lip and pulls away as if she never said anything.

"Wait--what do you me--"

"The opera is great! And... we may have gotten free tickets," Mr. Harrington cuts you off, and Michelle uses the opportunity to distance herself from you, putting herself right in the middle of Brad and Peter. They both give each other dirty looks and immediately try to get her attention.

You start to grow worried, not only about what she meant by that, but also why she's avoiding you. It must be pretty bad if she'd rather be in the middle of those two.

Everyone starts heading back to their rooms to get changed and while Peter whispers something to Ned, Betty glares at them and Brad tries to take a step closer to Michelle. God, could this be any more complicated? You walk up to her from behind, breathing out to gather your thoughts, when she steps backward and knocks into you. Once again, she quickly reaches out to grab your hand to keep you from falling over.

"Clumsy much?" she softly smiles, her hand loosely wrapped around yours. You don't respond, squeeze her hand tighter and drag her away to the elevator. Peter turns around and notices you leaving, and obviously tries to catch the elevator in time, but you lunge to press the close door button. With perfect timing, they shut right in his face, and for the first time in this whole trip so far, you're alone with MJ.

As the elevator starts climbing, you hit the emergency stop button and stand with your back to the buttons, shielding them from her. She looks fake surprised, but like she knows what you want to ask her about.

"That thing you said back there..." you begin and she sighs, realizing you aren't gonna start it again until she starts talking.

"Fine, okay, it's just a suspicion..." she trails off and you lean in, no idea why, since you're the only two people in the elevator.

"I'm pretty sure that Peter is Spiderman."

Your head hits the back of the elevator, and you zone out at the ceiling panels. You want to say no, not possible, until you start backtracking to everything that's happened, and it's actually pretty obvious. Maybe if you weren't so caught up in her, you would've noticed by now. But if she noticed, she must have been caught up in Peter?

"So?" she nudges your arm, waiting for some type of reaction out of you. You try and speak but nothing comes out, so you turn around and press the button for the elevator to move again. Michelle keeps talking, but you can't hear her, and it feels like all the air got sucked out of the small space. When the doors finally open at your floor, you grab your suitcase handle and practically run down the hall to your room.

"Y/N wait up!" Michelle calls from behind you, but you dive through the door and slam it shut, deadbolting it. Kicking the suitcase a few feet away, you lean against the door and sink to the floor.

You thought it was hard enough competing with Peter and Brad, but now Peter's Spiderman? It feels like you lost all the chances you thought you had. Wiping away tears with your sleeve, you decide to just let it be. You're taking yourself out of the game, and maybe that way losing won't hurt as bad.

***

Waiting at the very back of the line at the doors to the opera, you keep your head down, but still feel MJ looking back at you from up at the front. It makes it so much harder to not think about her. Eventually, everyone filters in to their seats, but Peter keeps Michelle there, and you linger back, waiting for them to go in so you don't have to walk past them. You overhear the last bit of their conversation, and she agrees to sit next to him. She takes one last glance at you before walking in, and your eyes go to Peter, a grin spreading over his face that kills you.

You finally start to walk in, when Peter holds up a hand for you to stop before passing him. Scoffing, you try and move around him, but he's faster, and blocks your path.

"Hey, is everything okay with you?" his eyes find yours, concern laced into his words. It makes it that much harder to hate him when he's so damn soft. You flash him a fake smile and push past, shoulders knocking against his without saying a word. He calls to you again but you ignore him, and take a seat off to the side, away from everyone else. You sense movement and look up to see Michelle sliding into the seat beside you.

"Thought you were sitting next to Peter?" you state with a little too much jealousy in your tone. Trying to pull it back and act normal, you smile weakly at her.

"Well, he's leaving again, so..."

"Sorry, that must suck," you fake empathy and her face twists up in confusion. The lights start dimming and you turn to face forward again, figuring the conversation is probably over.

"You look really pretty," she says under her breath, eyes forward. A blush takes over your cheeks and it physically hurts to hold back a smile. Your murmur a casual 'you too' and immediately regret it, wishing you would've said something a bit more. But you remind yourself she's probably head-over-heels into Peter, and decide it was better to play it off like that.

"I like someone," MJ blurts out and your breathing stops.

"Oh?" is all you can say, getting prepared for more heartbreak.

"Yeah, they think they're really good at hiding it, but I can tell. I just wish they'd say something, but I don't think they realize I like them too," she goes deeper and your heart hammers so loud you're sure she can hear it by now. You have to repeat over and over in your head 'she's straight' to calm yourself down, but the hopeful side of you refuses to accept it.

"Well if you know they like you back, why don't you make the first move?" you casually suggest, not sure when you went from fighting for her to playing match-maker for her and Peter.

But then, Michelle faces you again and you can't help but do the same. It's then that you realize she's not looking into your eyes, but on your lips.

"Okay..." she breathes out, the space between you growing thin.

Then the ground literally shakes, and high-pitched screams pop your ears, pulling you out of the dreamy haze you were falling into with her.

"Everybody stay calm, the exit is that way," Mr. Harrington yells to be heard over the top of the booming noises erupting from all around. Fear has become a signature on this trip so far, but you're still not used to it, hoping that wherever Peter went, he's doing it to protect.

You remain in your seat, still stunned by what almost happened, but Michelle snaps you out of it, pulling you out of the chair. She laces her fingers between yours and holds on tight, not like before when it was because of an accident. It seems more purposeful, like it really means something to her too. MJ leads the way this time out to the street, and amidst all the chaos, all you can do is think about the possibility of what could be happening with her.