Prague, Czech Republic
Y/n's POV:
We walk into a giant fancy building. I scan the hallway, admiring how nice it is in here. We approach another entrance where there are two doormen. They reach for the handles simultaneously, both opening the doors so we can enter. I hear my classmates in front of me make comments in awe of this place. "Wow, this place is so classy," Betty pipes up.
"Yeah, so why are we here?" Zach jokes.
My eyes flicker to Flash in front of Peter and I when he speaks up, "Speak for yourself." He chuckles and cockily looks up. "I'm home," he claims with a smug expression. I scoff at this. I glance to my left, seeing MJ and Ezra walking shoulder-to-shoulder.
I scurry closer to her and bump her arm with mine. "Get it," I teasingly whisper. I've heard the girls at school say this to their friends to tease them about their crushes, I had to try it. She turns to me and bumps me back, turning to Ezra with frightened eyes before looking at me.
"Shut up!" she quietly hisses, making me giggle.
"What? He didn't hear-" I whisper, getting cut off by MJ.
"I think Peter's waiting for you. Why don't you go with him," she interjects, nodding her head to the side. I know she's sending me away so I don't reveal her crush on Ezra to him. I look in the direction she's nodding, spotting Peter across from us. His eyes are fixed on me and he slightly grins when we make eye contact, causing me to smile. "You guys have a lot of things to do anyway, don't you?" she adds in a suspecting tone.
My head snaps to her and I gaze at her confused. "What do you mean?"
MJ casually shrugs. "Oh, like couple's things," she answers. She gives me this look that's hard for me to read but I see a bit of suspicion on her face. It's like she knows something that I don't.
"I guess..." I reply, shrugging. I turn to look at Peter again and notice him standing apart from the group as he talks on the phone. He must be talking to Fury. "Okay, fine. I'll go with Peter," I tell MJ in a defeated tone before speedily striding toward the boy. He hangs up the phone right when I reach him. "Hey. Who was that?"
"Hill. She said there are two earpieces in my suit, one of them's for you. We have to put them on and await further instructions," Peter informs me.
I nod in understanding. "That's simple enough. Got it."
Just then, Ned jogs up to us. "Hey, guys," he greets.
"Hey," we both acknowledge him before he proceeds to speak.
"Look, I am so sorry if I seem like I'm preoccupied with my relationship. You know, I'm still your guy in the chair," he apologizes, looking between us.
"No, it's fine! You're good, dude. You're having fun."
"No, no, no, it's all good. Don't worry about it."
Peter and I speak simultaneously, giving Ned a small reassuring grin. "Okay," he sighs in relief. "Great, great," he breathes out, glancing over at our classmates.
"It's fine," Peter mumbles again in reassurance.
"It's a good thing you have each other because I'm preoccupied with my relationship and MJ is busy with Ezra," Ned mentions, switching his eyes from Peter to me. I freeze, giving him a stunned smile. Is he suggesting we'd be lonely if the other wasn't here? The realization slaps me across the face and a slightly horrified expression takes over my features.
"Oh, my God, you're right. I'd be a third wheel!" I claim, gesturing toward Ezra and MJ in the distance.
Ned grasps my tricep, making my eyes dart to him. He slowly nods, giving me a sympathetic look. "It's okay. Luckily, that won't come to fruition," he softly assures me. Does he think I'm hurt by the idea? "Anyway," he dismisses, removing his hand from my arm. "What's the status on the Elemental thing? Where's it gonna happen?" he asks.
I grimace and turn to Peter, who also turns to me before we look at Ned. "Uh... here in the city," Peter answers.
Panic washes over Ned's face. "Guys, we're here!" he reacts.
"I know, I know. It's not good," Peter replies, eyeing our class.
"We're figuring it out. Everything's gonna be fine," I try to console Ned. At least I hope we can figure it out.
His fearful eyes flicker between us. "You have to do something, y/n, Peter, please. We're all counting on you guys."
"Ned?" Betty calls him.
"Yeah. Yeah, babe," Ned responds, walking off toward her. Peter and I watch him leave with our mouths agape. Wow, no pressure or anything.
Peter turns to me with a worried expression while Mr. Harrington speaks to the rest of the group. I return the worried glance. Not only do we have a world-threatening creature to worry about, but we also have to worry about keeping our peers away from the danger. "This is causing me stress..." I slowly speak. "I need to call Dr. Raynor."
•~•~•~•
Peter and I are in Fury's base of operations. I can't stop thinking about the potential danger my peers are in. What if something happens to MJ or Ned? To Ezra? Or even Flash? I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if someone else got hurt because of me. "Sinclair! Parker!" I'm ripped out of my thoughts by a strong voice, making me spin around in shock. I notice Peter do the same beside me. He must've been lost in thought too.
"Yes, sir," Peter responds.
Fury just looks at us with his usual stone-cold face. "That thing is going to be here in a few hours. Are we boring you two?" he accusingly questions. We just stand there like children being scolded by their mothers.
"They're not bored," someone else pipes up. My head snaps to Beck. "They're just thinking about how you kidnapped them." I raise my eyebrows, shocked and flattered that he's standing up for us.
"They had obstacles. I removed them," Fury argues. I refrain from rolling my eyes. Our friends are in danger of ending up in the crossfire, so he didn't do a good job of removing obstacles.
"They still won't evacuate the city," Maria informs him. Oh, great, that's so much worse. Is Dr. Raynor available right now?
Fury frustratedly sighs. "Idiots," he mumbles, shaking his head. "So what's the plan, Sinclair and Parker?" he addresses us.
We share a look, coming to a nonverbal agreement on who should speak first. "We will be in the Cathedral tower keeping watch for the fire monster," I voice.
"When that shows up, we will radio you guys... and then we and Mr. Beck-" Peter continues, gesturing to Beck.
Beck interrupts him with, "my name is Mysterio." He gives us a goofy look, making Peter chuckle. I just grin, finding it amusing that he likes the name our classmates made up for him.
"That's when Mysterio, y/n, and I will move in," Peter finishes.
"Peter, y/n, listen to me. The best hope you have, the only hope, is to stop it here now, no matter what the costs," Beck states. Peter slowly walks toward him as he listens. "Maneuver it away from civilians if you can, but most important, keep it away from metal. If it gets too big, it'll be able to draw power from the Earth's core. After that, there's no way to stop it," he seriously conveys.
Welp... my stress level is in space now. "Well, I fought a giant fleshy spider and its army so this should be easy," I sarcastically remark with a false smile. I don't know if this thing's worse than the Mind Flayer or not. At least this one doesn't have a hive intelligence... Oh, yeah, this should be easier. I walk over to Peter. Even though I can only see his back, I can tell he's extremely worried. I can't blame him, so am I.
He crosses his arms and glances at Fury before his eyes shift to me. He turns back to Beck and pipes up, "Hey, man, our friends are here... and I can't help but think that we're putting them in danger."
"I agree," I jump in.
Fury decides to stand up and accusingly asks, "you're worried about us hurting your friends?" We turn to see him coming toward us, staring straight at Peter. "You, who called a drone strike on your own school tour bus?" Peter looks down shamefully.
"He didn't mean to," I defend him.
Fury is quick to shut me down. "Oh, he didn't mean to? Is that supposed to make it better?" I remain speechless and avert my gaze, feeling small under his intimidating stare. He focuses on Peter again and continues, "Stark gave you a multibillion-dollar A.R. tactical intelligence system, and the first thing you do with it is try and blow up your friends. It's clear to me that you were not ready for this." He points a stern finger at the boy as he says the last part and Peter only nods his head. My heart aches when I see his upset face, I don't like seeing him like this. When Fury turns and storms away, Peter saunters off.
I immediately follow him. I follow him up a flight of stairs and end up on the roof. He goes to sit on the stone railing at the edge of the roof and I copy, sitting next to him. I look at him, observing his solemn face. I don't utter a word as I just slip my hand into his and rest my head on his shoulder. I know he needs to think right now, so it's better to just be here for him than try to verbally comfort him.
After a moment of silence, the time finally feels right for me to speak. "What's on that beautiful mind of yours?" I ask, propping my chin onto his shoulder and wrapping my arm around his.
He presses his lips into a thin line. "It's just... I just wanted a normal vacation... with you," he confesses. "I wanted this trip to be perfect. I didn't imagine us fighting monsters this summer."
I completely understand that. I didn't plan on saving the world either. "Yeah, I know. I wanted a normal, fun vacation too. I just wanted to visit cool places and take thousands of pictures together," I breathily chuckle. My face falls as a certain thought pops into my mind. "But maybe that's not for people like us... this..." I utter, circling my wrist as I showcase the purple swirls covering my hand. "...Is our normal."
"Yeah," Peter whispers, glumly nodding. I soothingly rub his back in hopes of consoling him. Man, why does the responsibility of saving the world always have to fall onto me? I remove my hand from his back and pull up my sleeve, unveiling my 009 tattoo. I run my thumb over it as I think. In the 80s, it was up to Eleven and I to save everyone because of our abilities. At least she gets to relax now... I hope I get the same privilege one day. Now it's up to Peter and I to save everybody. Although, nowadays there are way more heroes fighting for the world too so that's a bit of a relief. I guess when you have such an extraordinary power, huge responsibilities fall on your shoulders.
Peter's POV:
I hear a swoosh, making y/n and I snap our heads up. Mysterio flies up in front of us and claims, "Fury asked me to come up here and see how you guys were doing. He just- he felt bad about snapping at you."
"Really?" I ask, surprised.
"You guys do have sarcasm on this Earth, right?" Mr. Beck questions, making me chuckle as I hang my head.
"Yeah but we usually use an actual sarcastic tone," y/n fires back, emphasizing the last three words.
"Fair point," Mr. Beck chuckles. "How you feeling?"
I glance at him before looking off to the side. "Uh... I didn't think I was gonna have to save the world this summer. I know that makes me sound like such a jerk. I just..." I had a plan to prove to y/n that I'm worthy of her love but I can't say that in front of her. "I just wanted to have a fun vacation with my girlfriend," I voice, glancing at y/n before facing Mr. Beck again. "And now it's all ruined."
Y/n gives me an empathetic look, clasping my hand tightly. "Yeah... same for me," she chimes in.
Mr. Beck whooshes over, sitting next to me. "You're not a jerk for wanting a normal life, kid, and neither are you," he states looking at me before glancing at y/n. "It's a hard path. You see things. You do things. You make choices. People look up to you... and even in battle, sometimes they die," he depicts. Y/n's hand squirms a bit in mine, making me peer over at her. She's visibly tense, even though she's trying to hide it. "I like you guys. You're good kids," Mr. Beck expresses.
We both turn our heads to him and grin at his words. "There's a part of me that wants me to tell you, just turn around, run away from all this. And then there's another part of me that knows what we're about to fight... What's at stake, and I'm glad you guys are here," he concludes. I smile again before turning to y/n. She gives me a small nod before we look at Mr. Beck.
"Me too," we both reply.
"But you're worried about your friends," Beck mentions.
"Yeah... Just always feel like I'm putting them in danger," I admit. I don't know what I would do if something happened to Ned or MJ. The thought of y/n getting hurt heavily concerns me too but I know she's less likely to get hurt than me. She's super powerful, she can take care of herself. Yet I still feel the need to protect her.
I suddenly hear her voice from beside me. "I can't watch anyone close to me die again. Or anyone in general for that matter," she admits. My heart aches for her when she says this, knowing she's thinking of Mr. Stark and Westview. I squeeze her hand in an attempt to comfort her.
"That's understandable. Look, just get them inside and keep them in a safe place for just a few hours. They'll be alright," Mr. Beck advises us. I turn back to my girlfriend and she nods. We nonverbally agree on that plan. That's a good idea, all we need to do is keep them away. They'll be alright, they have to be. This chat helped lift my spirits a little bit, hopefully, it helped y/n as well.
"It's really nice to have someone else to talk to about superhero stuff, you know? I mean, we can talk about that to each other," I express, pointing between y/n and myself. "But it's nice to have a second person." Y/n and I relate a lot on that front and we've had many conversations about it but it's nice to find another person who can also relate. Y/n can probably talk about this with Bucky Barnes but she's all I got. She's my only superhero friend.
Mr. Beck gives us a warm smile. "Any time. And hey, we survive this, you'll have all summer to kill Brad," he jokes. Y/n and I chuckle softly at this. Oh, I just might.
"Yeah, maybe we will... depends on how much he annoys us," y/n jokes back, nudging me. I turn to her, seeing the teasing smirk on her face. I lightheartedly roll my eyes before switching my attention back to the man on the other side of me.
I grab my backpack and tell him, "see you out there."
Y/n shifts in her spot when she sees me getting ready to jump. "See you later, Mystery Man," she addresses him.
Mr. Beck chuckles at what she called him. "Alright," he returns. With that, we leap off the building.