Misadventures in Paradise ↠ Peter Parker [2]

01 | Valor vs. Spider-Man

   "We broke up," Happy sheepishly said, his swollen eyes blinking away his tears. His blotchy, red face held a grimace.

   Silence surged through the tiny apartment, only for chaos to resume a moment later.

   "Oh. Oh!" Peter spun around, slamming his window shut with a web as someone outside shouted his name. He yanked on a t-shirt, one with a bright yellow cab that read, I survived my trip to NYC! "I didn't know you guys broke up! I thought you were in love, May? Can we talk about this in the kitchen?"

   He ushered his aunt out of the room, leaving the others to follow.

   "Happy, are you okay?" Riley asked, her voice still trembling.

   "What'd you do to May?" Roman interrogated. "Because if we're picking sides—"

   "No, you know, I should probably leave, I think," Happy said.

   The doorbell buzzed. Peter swiftly guided May into the living room before she could answer it. Happy went to see who it was, but Roman beat him to it. He slammed the door shut in some guy's face as he asked something about Peter being a murderer.

   "At least bring over some cookies or something!" Roman griped.

   Riley was too busy sorting her thoughts and yanking down the blinds to pay much attention to May and Peter's chat about sex. Happy kept insisting that he should leave, but out of her peripheral, she saw him sit on the couch, instead claiming that maybe he should stay. Roman sat between them, trying to keep them distracted and off their wildly buzzing phones.

   "This is fine, this is fine," Riley muttered to herself. "You can fix this. You should call Tony— No, you can't call Tony. He's retired. Yeah, fair, but also, this sort of trumps retirement, so just call Tony. No, better idea, let's just take the blame for this. That's fine. You've done worse things. But, then that raises the question of why Peter had the drones. Honestly, who was expecting him to use the drones to kill people? Not that he did, but you know, speaking with regards to public opinion right now. You didn't know they'd get stolen! Yeah, maybe that was your and Tony's fault, but in hindsight..."

   "Is something wrong with Riley?" May wondered.

   "There's always something wrong with Riley!" Peter desperately yelled, jumping to cover the last few windows as his girlfriend began to pace. "I just think we should all have a nice, healthy talk about your relationship, okay!?"

   "Uh, guys?" Roman pointed at the TV behind Peter as the news played live footage of Peter and May's apartment building.

   May gasped. "Is that...?"

   "Is that here?" Happy asked.

   With a resigned sigh, Peter's head hung low as he trudged to a window and snapped back the blind. Everyone gathered around it, coming almost face-to-face with one of the many whirring helicopters outside. Cameras pointed up at the apartment. Reporters and rioting civilians bombarded the street below. Peter's name rippled over the shouts like tidal waves.

   Peter sharply inhaled. "I mean, maybe it's not such a big deal?"

   "Peter?" Riley finally beckoned. Her tone was heavy, barely restrained. "Come with me. Roman, please explain to May and Happy what's going on."

   Before anyone could protest, she grabbed Peter's hand and dragged him into his room. The door closed behind them.

   "I'm serious!" he went on. "This could be a good thing! Remember when your identity got exposed? Sure, the circumstances are different, but—"