peter x mj oneshots

assumptions about michelle jones: drawing

One assumption that people made about Michelle wasn't an assumption at all; it was based on words that had literally come out of her own mouth - that she drew people in crisis. It turns out that a high school is a hot spot for people in crisis. There were the kids who were going through puberty, love, exams, just life in general, but the best were the teachers. Michelle saw it all, from the young twenty-something newbie who suddenly had to deal with the reality of 20 bored and intelligent teenagers to the resigned Head of English who was riding out her mid-life crisis with apathy and suspicious smelling coffee. People were so animated when they were in distress, it was a great opportunity for Michelle to practice drawing facial expressions. Perhaps it was wrong of her to take advantage of people when they were distressed or upset but, as most people never noticed her watching, Michelle rationalised that it was okay.

Michelle liked to sketch people in crisis, she did, but it wasn't the only thing that she liked to draw, it just so happened that Midtown was the best place to find that facet of human behaviour. To find tedium and isolation she rode the subway; for passion she sought out protests and demonstrations; and for freedom and laughter, she went to the park.

There was one park near her home where Michelle liked to go to observe people. She saw those heading to and from work, families coming for a day out, couples strolling along and other people like her just sitting on the grass reading. Her inspiration for drawing was endless.

Once when she was feeling particularly whimsical (it did happen on occasion) Michelle spotted an elderly couple on a bench. They weren't doing anything special, literally just sitting together but Michelle felt compelled to sketch them. It was peaceful, a companionable silence nurtured through decades together. It was a scene entirely different to what she usually drew.

It didn't take long for the elderly man to notice that she was watching them, and he called to her. "Excuse me, Miss."

Michelle froze. She wasn't used to being seen and even less accustomed to being called out. She glanced away, frantic. Could she make a run for it?

The man chuckled. "Yes, young lady, come here please."

Cringing Michelle walked over. The man stared at her for a few moments and Michelle felt her posture become challenging and her face fall into a deliberate mask of indifference.

"What?" She asked. Michelle knew that she was being disrespectful and rude, but the man had clearly caught her drawing them and, dammit, she was embarrassed. Michelle hadn't ever been caught before and she was anticipating being told off for invading their privacy. Her mum constantly told her that people didn't like being accosted by her pencil - that was literally the phrase she had used - and Michelle was not looking forward to being told the same things by this stranger.
"Can I see your drawing?"

Michelle blinked. The elderly man smiled at her. When she didn't respond he pointed at the sketch book clutched to her chest. "You were drawing us, weren't you?" He looked at his wife, the expression tender and, she thought, a little amused. "We would very much like to see it, if you don't mind."

Michelle's heart beat faster. It wasn't like she hid her drawings from people, she would show them to people around school whenever they noticed her nearby but most of those were silly little doodles, satirical sketches of the high school drama happening around her. Michelle's drawing of this older couple was deeper, she had wanted to capture that heart-warming image of two people sharing their lives. The idea of showing that to them made Michelle nervous.

"It's uh...it's not finished," Michelle mumbled.

"Well, perhaps you might show it to us when it is," the man said. He took his wife's hand and they both smiled gently at Michelle.

"Yeah, okay," Michelle responded then left.

It was only after Michelle was home that she realised it was a ridiculous suggestion. How was she going to show them the drawing? She didn't know who they were or when they would next be in the park. Even so, she continued working on the picture long into the evening.

After that day, Michelle started to build a portfolio of drawings inspired by people in the park. She still had her sketches of 'people in crisis' including that one of Peter looking utterly miserable in detention but her interaction with the elderly couple had sparked a creative flame inside Michelle and she was eager to run with it.

Over the next couple of weeks Michelle filled her sketchbook with scenes of families playing, busker's and break dancers, friends laughing over coffee and of course, the old couple on the bench. Michelle had resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't see the old man and his wife again, but she was okay with that, as it would mean she wouldn't have to give up her drawing of them. Michelle was attached to that picture; it was the heart of her park portfolio.

One day at Decathlon practice Michelle was doodling in the corner - Liz was doing practice questions with the alternates - when she heard Peter's laugh echo across the room. She glanced up to see him shooting an apologetic look at Liz before continuing to giggle with Ned. Michelle didn't waste a moment, she immediately began to sketch Peter; his crinkled eyes, wide smile, arms folded over his stomach. Michelle could feel a smile tugging at her own lips as she drew the image. It didn't take her long to finish and it occurred to Michelle that this was the first drawing she had done at school that wasn't of someone in crisis. Michelle snorted quietly; it figures that the person to reveal joy at Midtown to her was Peter goddamn Parker.

Practice ended and Michelle started to pack her things away. Grabbing her sketchbook, she hesitated in closing it. She knew that her classmates thought her penchant for sketching people in distress was weird and the assumption had grown that this was the only thing she liked to draw. All Michelle would have to do is leave her sketchbook open and reveal the laughing sketch of Peter. In doing that however, she would be revealing to everyone that she had specifically drawn him - lovely, endearing, handsome Peter Parker.

Michelle slammed her sketchbook shut in irritation, all too aware of the irony of her situation. If she liked drawing people in crisis so much, Michelle knew she should just look in a damn mirror.