Peter and Mary-Jane had left the restaurant several minutes earlier, both of them having enjoyed their food and were more than ready to head to their homes and sleep.

Mary-Jane yawned loudly, covering her mouth with her hand before turning to look at Peter.

"Ugh, I don't think I'm gonna make it to bed, I might just find a nice trash bag and sleep on that" Mary-Jane said.

"I think I might join you" Peter nodded, rubbing his eyes "How long were we in there for?"

"About... two, two and a half hours I think" Mary-Jane said, checking her watch "Yeah, just a little over two and a half, it's twenty to ten now"

"Wow, it's a good job I told Aunt May that..." Peter said, his words dying in his throat as he realized how wrong that statement was "Oh... fuck. My. Life"

"You forgot to tell her you were taking me out tonight didn't you?" Mary-Jane asked with a smirk.

"Maybe" Peter said, putting a hand to his face and groaning loudly "How d'you feel about black dresses M-J?"

"I love them, why?" she asked.

"Would you mind wearing a nice one for my funeral?" he squeaked.

"I'd love to Tiger" she chuckled, patting him on the back "Here, gimme your phone and I'll call her for you and explain everything"

"Sure" Peter nodded, unlocking his phone and handing it to M-J.

The redhead called May's number and placed the phone to her ear, staying silent for several moments before she spoke in a pleasant tone.

"Hi Mrs Parker, this is Mary-Jane Watson, I just wanted to apologize for Peter not calling you to tell me he was taking me out on a date tonight" she said.

Peter watched M-J's expression to see how much trouble he was in while the redhead simply nodded every few seconds.

"Okay then, fifty lashings and salt in the wound right?" Mary-Jane said, casting a sideways smile at Peter "Oh, and waterboarding? Of course I'll tell him to prepare himself... alright then Mrs Parker, talk to you later, bye bye"

Mary-Jane handed the phone back to Peter who locked it and stuffed it back into his pocket.

"Don't worry, she's not gonna kill you, just torture you to an inch of your life" she said.

"That sounds about right" Peter nodded "Thanks M-J"

"No problem" she smiled, turning her head forwards and looking down the street, a thought obviously distracting her.

"What's on your mind?" Peter asked her.

"Hm?" she asked, turning to look at him before shaking her head "Oh don't worry, just thinking about work tomorrow"

"What about it?" Peter asked.

"Nothing really, it's not that important" Mary-Jane shrugged.

"Well if it wasn't that important you wouldn't be thinking about it would you?"

"I guess not"

"So spill, what's eating you about work?"

"It's... it's just that... okay, I wasn't really thinking of work" Mary-Jane sighed.

"Then why did you say you were?"

"To try and bore you out of talking about it"

"Nah, hang around me and you'll find out I like to talk... a lot, like, never shuts up a lot" Peter shrugged.

"I've noticed" Mary-Jane nodded.

"Yeah, just wait until there's a moment you want me to take seriously and I don't stop joking, that annoys the fuck out of people" Peter grinned before growing serious "Especially Natasha"

"Who?" Mary-Jane asked.

"Just a girl I know" Peter said with a wave of his hand "Not really important right now"

"Right... anyway, can we hurry it up a little bit, it's starting to get really cold out here?" Mary-Jane asked.

"Sure, I'll try not to walk too far ahead of you"

The two of them walked faster, making it past crossing sections, through alleys and over several fences to get to Mary-Jane's apartment faster.

When they finally got there it was getting close to eleven o'clock, both of them being tired and exhausted from their monumental trek, Peter watching Mary-Jane unlock her front door before turning around and looking at her friend.

"Thanks Peter, I really enjoyed tonight" she said happily "You actually know how to treat a girl, that surprised me quite a bit"

"Well... I'm happy you're happy, I had fun while you had fun and I think we both enjoyed spending Harry's money together" Peter grinned.

"You borrowed money from Harry?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, if I'd paid for it myself we would've gotten a hot dog to share and I'd have brought a bottle of coke for you to drink instead of a fancy restaurant meal" Peter chuckled "The Parker's aren't rolling in the money right now"

"Is... is it that bad?" Mary-Jane asked with a worried expression.

"It's not... who the fuck am I kidding?" he said with a heavy sigh "It's bad M-J... my Aunt and I were struggling after my Uncle died, now that she's broken her arm she can't work and the sick pay she's getting isn't enough to cover the bills so that's why I'm trying to scrounge up as many photos of Spider-Man I can for the Bugle while in my free time I'm hanging around with my rich friends who only have to worry about not missing the bus to school in the morning"

Mary-Jane stood completely still while Peter's confident persona dropped off him like a rock off a ledge, revealing the anxious, fidgety and worrying Peter Parker he thought he'd left behind before puberty started.

"Fuck, Peter, why didn't you talk to any body about this?" Mary-Jane asked.

"And ask them to do what?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow "Ask them to pay for my family for me, say that we can't live on our own so we run to our closest rich friend and start to leech of them, no way M-J, I have to do this by myself"

"I... I don't know what to say Peter" she said, scratching the back of her head with a forlorn expression "I'm sorry"

"Don't feel bad M-J, it's not like is your fault" Peter said, trying to comfort them both with a smile that wasn't genuine "Look on the bright side, at least doing this now is teaching me to be resourceful and look after myself on a low budget, right?"

"You shouldn't have to worry about money at our age Peter" she said in a quiet tone.

"Yeah, well... we're not all supermodels are we?" Peter asked before regretting his choice of words upon seeing Mary-Jane's face fall "Shit, sorry, I didn't mean that to sound mean, I just meant that you're lucky to not have to worry about money... I just... fuck..."

There was silence between the two of them for a long moment before Peter stood up straight and smiled at her.

"Alright then... bye M-J, see you round" he said, giving her a two finger salute before turning and walking away, leaving Mary-Jane standing on the doorstep with a horrified look on her face.

"Tiger... I'm sorry" she said, putting a hand to her mouth "And... and I was gonna make him spend his money on me? Jesus Christ..." Next Chapter: New Duds Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 39 Minutes