Misadventures in Paradise ↠ Peter Parker [2]

03 | The View From The Top

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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
iii. THE VIEW FROM THE TOP

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   WEEKS PASSED. NOTHING CHANGED.

   Maybe it was a good sign. It meant nothing had been decided yet. The evidence that Peter brutally murdered Beck was admittedly very compelling, and the public refused to ease up on him despite the Avengers' involvement with the case, but the truth still hung in the air. Riley was grateful for the time she bought Peter.

   When she wasn't with him, she was working: parrying the government, persuading the court of public opinion, scheduling appeal dates, calling the other Avengers to ensure they were continuing to distract the press. Funnily enough, she recently discovered that reporters weren't harassing the Avengers as much anymore since they only ever gave irrelevant, non-answers to their (mostly Peter-related) questions.

   Who would've thought the key to being left alone was being annoying and unhelpful?

   Exhaustion wasn't even the beginning of how she felt, and it was why she and Peter spent their days together doing nothing. Nothing was bliss when the whole world was betting against Peter Parker.

   Happy's apartment quickly became her second home. It was where she helped Peter with his college applications, where she and Roman snuck MJ, Ned, and sometimes Morgan over. It was where Peter and Riley celebrated their first anniversary as a couple in July, which consisted of cooking together, burning said food, ordering take-out, and staying up all night talking because they couldn't exactly go out. It was where Roman and Ned became Mario Kart rivals, where Happy became a victim to an endless stream of pranks, and where May baked so much that the entire building smelt vaguely of vanilla extract.

   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and Peter and Riley were stuck in the middle yet again. But the middle wasn't always hellish. Sometimes, it was quiet. If Peter was the world's favorite villain, and Riley was the world's favorite hero, they were happy finding their peace in the middle with each other.

   August 10th was Peter's birthday. After spending the day with his loved ones, he asked Riley if they could spend the rest of the night on a rooftop, just like the glory days before his life fell apart. Again.

   They chose Midtown High's rooftop, where they tended to visit whenever Peter needed to get out of the house. (Riley could usually tell when he was getting cabin fever because he'd call her asking things like whether she'd still love him if he was a worm, if he should bleach his eyebrows, and what her thoughts on very specific animal facts he heard on TV were).

   The roof was typically abandoned in the summertime. But school was starting soon. The quiet was slipping through their fingers again as it always did, maybe as it always would. Was all suffering cyclical, or was this the price people like them paid for the view from the top?