MJ looked at him for a long moment. Her eyes were doing several things at once. Worry. Frustration. Something underneath both of those that was harder to name. "And us. You're out there doing this and we're just. What. Training in a warehouse."
There it was. Peter had known it would come out this way. MJ was direct about most things but this one she'd come at sideways because it wasn't really about the mission. It was about being left behind.
"You're three weeks into your abilities," Peter said. "Your spider-sense threshold is still miscalibrated. Gwen breaks mugs when she's not concentrating. That's not a judgment. It's where you are right now. Sending you into a live situation at this stage would be the reckless thing."
"So we just wait," MJ said.
"You train. There's a difference." Peter leaned forward slightly. "And when you're ready, if you decide you want to do this, I'll have everything already mapped. Safe entry and exit points. Established communication protocols. Two years of patrol data on how threats move through the city. You won't be going in blind. You'll be going in with everything I've already learned so you don't have to learn it the hard way."
Silence.
Gwen looked at her hands. Then back up. "You'd advise against it though."
"Honestly? Yes. Not because you couldn't handle it. Because once you start you don't get to stop. The city doesn't pause because you need a break. It asks things of you that don't fit around a normal life." He looked at both of them. "It has to come from something real. Not obligation. Not because I'm doing it. It has to be yours."
Another silence. Longer this time.
MJ picked her phone up. Looked at the frozen frame of the dark suit one more time. Put it in her pocket. "You're being annoyingly reasonable about this."
"I know."
"I still think you should have told us."
"I know that too."
She looked at him. Something in her expression shifted. The tightness around her eyes eased slightly. Not gone. But managed. "You're okay."
"I'm fine."
"You better stay that way." She stole a piece of fruit from his tray. Stood up. "Tomorrow. Warehouse. Don't be late."
"I wasn't late last time."
"You were forty seconds late."
"That's not late."
"To me it is." She picked up her bag and walked away.
Gwen watched her go. Then looked back at Peter. "She's worried."
"I know."
"So am I." She said it the way she said most true things. Simply. Without drama. "Just so you know."
"I know that too."
Gwen nodded once. Opened her tablet again. "She's progressing faster than her data suggests she should."
"She's intuitive."
"That's not scientific."
"No," Peter agreed. "But it's true."
The bell rang. Lunch was over.
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