[Third Person Pov]

MJ was sitting beside her mother, Madeline, gently rubbing her back while trying to comfort her. Madeline looked emotionally drained after everything that had happened tonight, especially after finding out that she was going to become a grandmother under such tense circumstances. She kept wiping at her eyes with a tissue, but every few moments more tears would gather again despite her attempts to calm down.

"Well, that definitely could have gone better..." Peter muttered awkwardly as he stood nearby with one hand resting on his waist while the other scratched at his brow.

"You’re not helping, Peter," MJ said without looking at him, continuing to rub slow circles against her mother’s back while Madeline cried softly into her hand once more.

Peter frowned slightly before walking over and sitting down beside Madeline on the other side of the couch. "Don’t worry, mother-in-law," he said reassuringly, "I promise I’ll give you so many grandchildren that you won’t even know what to do with all of them—"

"Peter!" MJ exclaimed loudly, her face immediately turning red as she leaned over and smacked him across the shoulder several times.

"What? I’m trying to help here," Peter defended himself while laughing.

Madeline suddenly let out a laugh between her tears, unable to stop herself despite how upset she had been moments ago. "Thank you, Peter," she said with a sniffle as she wiped beneath her eyes again. "Your words actually do mean a lot."

"There we go, that’s the spirit," Peter said with a grin.

"You really shouldn’t be this upset over her, Mom," MJ said softly while trying to comfort her again. "Gayle isn’t worth all of this stress or all these tears. We tried our best to be welcoming and hospitable tonight, but you saw how she was acting."

Madeline lowered her gaze toward her lap. "She was probably acting that way because she’s pregnant," she muttered quietly, still sounding disheartened. "She came here looking for support."

Peter immediately scoffed. "Her being pregnant isn’t an excuse. Aunt May is pregnant too and she isn’t acting like a bitch—"

"Peter," Madeline chastised with a disapproving frown.

"I mean... like a very unpleasant woman," Peter corrected himself quickly while clearing his throat.

MJ had to press her lips together to stop herself from laughing and accidentally getting dragged into trouble alongside him.

"I’m sorry, Mom, but Pete does have a point," MJ admitted after a moment, although she still shot Peter a look over his wording. "Even if he could’ve said it a little better. Being pregnant doesn’t give someone the right to insult people while we’re all supposed to sit there quietly and take it. And honestly, if she really was coming here for help, she definitely could’ve approached things in a nicer way."

Madeline sighed heavily. "It’s not always easy for people to admit they need help. You know how Gayle is. She’s always been prideful and determined to handle everything on her own. Maybe this was just her way of trying—"

"Mom, please, no," MJ interrupted while shaking her head firmly. "Stop trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Gayle isn’t some confused child that doesn’t know how to express herself. She knew exactly what she was saying tonight."

Madeline fell quiet again, staring down at her hands with a saddened expression while the room briefly settled into silence.

Peter glanced over Madeline’s shoulder toward MJ, raising a brow slightly as the two silently communicated with one another telepathically.

’Do you think now would be a good time to tell her about the... you know, your powers?’ Peter asked casually in her mind.

MJ hesitated for a moment before responding mentally. ’I don’t know, Tiger. After everything that happened tonight, this really doesn’t feel like the right moment anymore.’

’Maybe it could help distract her from everything that happened,’ Peter suggested.

’Or we could just end up overwhelming her with even more information all at once,’ MJ replied tiredly.

She let out a quiet sigh out loud without realizing it, which immediately caught Madeline’s attention. Madeline looked back and forth between the two of them suspiciously after noticing the strange exchange of glances.

"What?" Madeline asked slowly, clearly confused. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing, Mom," MJ answered quickly while shaking her head.

"Oh come on, just tell me already," Madeline said with a tired roll of her eyes. "It’s obviously something."

MJ leaned back against the couch cushions with an uncertain expression. "Peter and I do have something we want to tell you," she admitted carefully, "but honestly it can wait. I don’t really want to overwhelm you right now. Trust me, after everything that happened tonight, this could definitely wait until later—" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Mary Jane, just tell me already—" Madeline suddenly stopped mid-sentence as a realization crossed her face. Her eyes slowly moved between Peter and MJ before widening slightly. "Wait... you’re not pregnant too, are you?"

"What? No! Of course not!" MJ exclaimed immediately, her entire face turning bright red from embarrassment.

"Not right now anyway," Peter added with a smirk while giving her a playful look.

"Please stop talking," MJ muttered while still blushing furiously.

Meanwhile, Madeline continued staring at the two of them expectantly, now even more curious than before as she waited for an actual explanation.

MJ groaned dramatically and threw her head back against the couch cushions. "Fine, just don’t freak out..." she warned while pushing herself up from the couch and walking toward the middle of the living room.

"Ughh, this is such a bad idea," MJ muttered under her breath as she flicked her wrists nervously, mentally trying to prepare herself for what was about to happen.

Madeline looked at her daughter with growing confusion. "Mary Jane, what exactly are you talking about?"

"Do a flip!" Peter suddenly shouted from the couch with his hands cupped around his mouth.

MJ immediately rolled her eyes at him, taking a slow breath before crouching slightly. Then she suddenly jumped upward with far more force than any normal person should’ve been capable of. She flipped cleanly through the air before firing a web at the ceiling. A second later she swung down and stopped herself upside down above the middle of the room while dangling casually from the strand of webbing.

"Ta-daaaa..." MJ said awkwardly while giving a small wave.

"Woooah!" Peter cheered loudly while clapping enthusiastically from the couch like he was watching a performance.

Madeline abruptly pushed herself to her feet, completely frozen in place. Her eyes widened so much they looked ready to pop out of her head while her mouth hung open speechlessly. She blinked several times rapidly before shaking her head hard like she was trying to wake herself up from a dream.

Then she covered her eyes with both hands.

"Mary Jane Watson," Madeline said slowly while looking blindly in her daughter’s direction, "when I open my eyes, I better not see you hanging upside down from my ceiling shooting webs."

MJ winced slightly. "Now like I said, don’t freak out—"

Madeline cautiously pulled her hands away from her face and immediately saw MJ still dangling upside down from the ceiling while smiling awkwardly at her.

Madeline stared for one long second.

Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted instantly, collapsing backward onto the couch unconscious.

Silence filled the room.

Peter and MJ both stared at her in complete disbelief. They genuinely couldn’t believe she had actually fainted.

Peter slowly looked over toward MJ, who was lowering herself back onto the floor after letting go of the web.

"Hey," Peter said after a pause, "at least she didn’t overreact."

MJ immediately burst out laughing despite herself. "Bahahaha!" she snorted before quickly covering her mouth with both hands. Her shoulders shook violently as she tried and failed to contain herself. "Pete, now is not the time for that!"

Peter started laughing too. "I mean technically she handled it pretty calmly before passing out."

"Oh my God," MJ groaned while rubbing her face. "This is exactly why I didn’t want to say anything. I knew this was going to happen."

"You knew she was going to faint?" Peter asked with confusion.

"No, dummy," MJ replied while ruffling her scarlet hair tiredly. "I knew she’d get overwhelmed" She pointed toward her unconscious mother. "Now please help me take her upstairs. I don’t want to leave her sprawled across the couch like this."

Peter stood up immediately. "Yeah, fair enough."

...

A little while later, Peter quietly shut off the bedroom light after they had tucked Madeline comfortably into bed beneath a blanket. MJ slowly closed the bedroom door behind them as carefully as possible so they wouldn’t accidentally wake her.

Once the door clicked shut, MJ let out a long, exhausted sigh.

Peter looked over at her with concern immediately visible on his face. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?" MJ asked, although the tiredness in her voice made the answer obvious.

Peter simply gave her a look.

MJ stared at him for a second before sighing again. Then she stepped closer and rested her forehead against his chest.

"Everything is just way too much right now," she admitted quietly.

Peter wrapped his arms around her without hesitation and gently pulled her closer against him. Almost immediately MJ relaxed into his embrace, practically melting against him as the tension slowly left her shoulders.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head softly.

MJ hummed contently at the affection while wrapping both arms around him tightly. "Mm... thank you," she murmured. "I really needed that."

Peter rested his chin lightly against the top of her head while rubbing her back comfortingly.

"If you weren’t here," MJ continued softly, "all of this would’ve been way harder than it needed to be."

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