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(Y/N) AVOIDED PETER like the plague. After being called out for the principal's office at the same time, neither of them exchanged any words throughout the entire time, which seemed pretty strange to Ned, who was waiting outside.
Ned was the only one to receive a short goodbye from (Y/N) before she walked away without sparing a glance at Peter, who seemed to not have the slightest of energy for the day; especially since she wasn't going to wait for him as always.
MJ and (Y/N) hung out more than before ever since the fight, and MJ was more than happy to spend time with her friend, but it all seemed pretty odd, she just didn't like to ask (Y/N) about it if it was something she was not ready to tell.
As (Y/N) was busying herself in emptying her books into her backpack and grabbing everything she needed to finally leave the school, she saw the shadow of a person approaching from behind, leaning on the other lockers to get into her view.
"So," Cecilia began, looking at her nails instead of (Y/N). "You and that Parker boy are not talking, what happened?"
"It's nothing," (Y/N) replied, not understanding what was the meaning of the conversation and she didn't feel comfortable in talking about it.
"You broke up?"
"We weren't even — " (Y/N) paused, taking a deep breath. "We got in a fight. That's all."
"It's his loss, anyway. You got that, hon?" Cecilia asked, her gaze now focused on (Y/N). "Who are you going to Homecoming with, anyway?"
"I was just planning to stay home. Nobody has asked me yet," (Y/N) confessed, closing her locker and slinging her backpack into one arm.
"That's unacceptable," Cecilia gasped. "I'll help you get ready. No need for a date."
"Cecilia, I really don't know — "
"It's no bother for me, dear," Cecilia continued, wrapping an arm around (Y/N)'s shoulders as they both walked in the busy hallway of the school. "Many hands make light work, and many mouths make good gossip."
"You're so naughty," (Y/N) laughed, catching the smirk that Cecilia had on her face.
"Now, do you accept my help for Homecoming?"
"I guess."
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MEANWHILE, Peter had rushed back from
school and barged through his apartment door, already panicking internally from what happened in the day. He had been successful in asking Liz for Homecoming, and he would lie if he said he wasn't excited, but something about all of it seemed off. He was dying to tell (Y/N) about it until he reminded himself of the fight, which lowered his spirit more than before.
"May, I need your help," he said.
May perked up at the request and helped him instantly. She got him a suit that was already growing dusty from being kept away for a long time, and forced him to style his hair. Since neither of them knew how to knot a tie, Peter and May watched a tutorial for it online, cheering when they were finally able to do it.
May also helped him with dance advice, telling him to loose himself up instead of being nervous of everything. Though he seemed extremely happy, May could sense that there was something bothering Peter.
May decided to speak about it as she placed the corsage in the table, sitting next to him as he still fidgeted with the tie. "You look off. What's up?"
Peter dropped his hands to his sides. "I don't know. I thought it would go away when I asked Liz, but it seems to be weighting me down."
"Maybe it's because you like someone else?" May suggested, trying hard to hide the smile to come out, having a clue of who it was.
"What? No! That's not — That's not possible!" Peter protested. "I can't — she can't — No!"
May chuckled. "It's okay, Peter. Rip the bandage off, I'm sure you liked her before you even realized."
"I don't like (Y/N)!" Peter exclaimed.
"I never said who," May smirked.
Peter groaned loudly, his head burying in his arms that were resting in the table. He hadn't thought about it, focusing more on Liz throughout the months instead of paying attention to a scenario that was most likely to not happen, ever.
"She's my best friend, nothing else," Peter muttered. "If she still can forgive me."
May hummed. "It's alright. A lot of people like their best friends, it's normal. And they may not always be in the same page, but they can make it work."
Peter didn't lift his head from his arms and pretended not to listen to May's talk as she continued on. "I had a fight with one of my best friends once."
"Oh, yeah?" this caught Peter's attention, locking eyes with his aunt's. "And then what happened?"
"I became Mrs. Parker."
May got up from the table and left the kitchen, not having to turn back to hear Peter's loud groan of frustration as he slammed his head against the dining table, not being able to solve his school-boy problems.
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AFTER PETER was finally ready, May drove him over to the Toomes' household, parking the car on the side of the house before she turned back to Peter, who was gripping the boxed corsage like a lifeline.
"It's game day. So, what's the plan?" May quizzed.
"Open the door for her."
"Mmm-hmm."
"Tell her she looks nice, but not too much because that's creepy," Peter drifted off.
May shook her head in agreement. "Don't be creepy."
"No," Peter cleared his throat before continuing. "When I dance with her, I'm putting my hands on her hips. I got this."
He encouraged himself as he got out the car and walked up to the front door, taking a deep breath as he held the corsage on his hands, ringing the doorbell with a small smile on his face, still not being able to believe what he was about to do.
He looked down at his shoes as he waited for someone to open the door, someone like her mom or Liz herself to receive him instead of who he got to see the moment the door opened. It was the man from the ferry, the man selling the weapons. The man underneath the Vulture.
"You must be Peter," the man with a smile on his face, catching how Peter's face paled.
"Yeah," Peter said in a quiet voice.
"I'm Liz's dad. Put her there," Mr. Toomes extended a hand towards him and he took it, trying hard in not being suspicious. "Hell of a grip. Come on in here. Come on."
Mr. Toomes widened the door open and signaled him to follow after him, and Peter did, taking slow steps into the house as he was still processing what just happened inside his head. Mr. Toomes busied himself in the kitchen as Peter looked around carefully, stepping deeper into the house.
"Hello, Peter," Mrs. Toomes greeted from behind him. "You look very handsome."
"Thank you," Peter breathed out.
"You got his name right," Mrs. Toomes leaned over to her husband with a smile.
"Freddie?"
"Peter."
"Peter. Peter," Mr. Toomes nodded and continued on washing the dishes as his wife laughed and left his side.
"I'm gonna go get Liz," Mrs Toomes excused herself with a smile and walked past Peter to lean towards the stairs, disappearing out of sight, leaving Peter with the enemy he was trying too hard to take down.
"You all right, Pete?" Mr. Toomes questioned, noticing how pale Peter was and how he stared back at him like he had stolen the moon.
"Yeah," Peter nodded.
"Because you look pale," Mr. Toomes said with a knife in hand, receiving no verbal response from the boy. "You want something to drink? A bourbon or a Scotch, or something like that?"
"I'm not old enough to drink," Peter replied.
"That's the right answer," Mr. Toomes smirked.
The sound of footsteps approaching distracted Mr. Toomes from the talk and stared behind Peter, his eyes widening in surprise they turned to see Liz walking down the steps, wearing a hot pink dresses with high heels. Her hair was down and nicely done, covered in bracelets and rings.
"Wow, wow, wow. Do you look beautiful."
"Please don't embarrass me, Dad," Liz laughed, joining Peter's side as he still didn't say anything.
"Doesn't she, Pete?"
"Yeah, you look really good," Peter finally spoke, staring up at Liz with a dumbfounded expression.
"Once again, that's the right answer."
"Is that a corsage?" Liz asked, staring at the plastic box that was held tightly in Peter's hands.
Peter passed it to her without looking at her, brusquely placing it in her hands as his gaze didn't lift from her dad's, not wanting to let his guard down.
"Thanks," Liz frowned at his demeanor.
"Well, hey, I'm your chauffeur, so, uh, lets get
this show on the road," Mr. Toomes said.
"No, no, no, we have to take some pictures, babe. All right," Mrs. Toomes interrupted, moving from behind the kitchen isle to grab the camera. "Oh, right here. Perfect."
"Okay, come on, you guys," Mrs. Toomes grabbed the camera and moved her hand to signal them to follow her instruction.
"Peter, closer," Mrs. Toomes said and the camera went off, taking a picture of the couple.
Liz smiled at the camera, not noticing how Peter was trying to smile too but came up more like a grimace, his eyes not leaving Mr. Toomes's for a second, looking down at his hands as Mrs. Toomes finished taking the pictures.
"Sir, you don't have to drive us," Peter said.
"No, no, it's not a big deal," Mr. Toomes shrugged it off, grabbing his jacket from the side. "I'm going out of town. It's right on my way."
"He's always coming and going," Mrs. Toomes explained before turning to her daughter. "Have fun."
Liz headed for the front door while Peter didn't dare to move, shifting on his feet as he watched how Mr. Toomes said his farewells to his wife, kissing her in the cheek. "See you in a couple of days. All right."
He turned to Peter and grabbed his keys. "Come on, Pedro."
"Bye, Peter. Have fun," Mrs. Toomes said.
"Yeah, I will," Peter finally received the strength to move and followed after Liz towards the front door, looking at his feet to avoid the smiles that Mr. Toomes was giving him.
The ride to the school was painfully quiet, Peter and Liz were seated in the back, the girl being distracted on her phone taking pictures of herself as he stared out the window the whole time, trying to find a way to tell (Y/N) about what he had discovered.
"What are you gonna do, Pete?" Mr. Toomes broke the silence.
"What?" Peter asked.
"When you graduate, what do you think you'll do?" Mr. Toomes's eyes were still fixed on the road as he repeated the question.
"Oh, um, I don't know," Peter answered.
"Don't grill him, Dad," Liz didn't lift her eyes from her phone as she said so, chewing on a piece of gum with an annoyed tone.
"Just saying, you know," Mr. Toomes excused himself. "All you guys who go to that school, you pretty much have your life planned out, right?
"Yeah, no, I'm just a sophomore," Peter stuttered.
"Peter and his friend (Y/N) have an internship with Tony Stark. I think they're the ones that don't have to worry," Liz explained.
"Really? Stark?"
"Mmm-hmm," Liz nodded. "So cool."
"What do you do?" Mr. Toomes seemed more interested now, sitting up straight in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel.
"Yeah, actually, I don't intern for him anymore," Peter spoke up.
"Seriously?" Liz raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it got, um. . .boring."
"It was boring?" Liz asked incredulously. "You got to hang out with Spider-Man and probably the Blue Dame."
"Really? Spider-Man? Blue Dame?" Mr. Toomes continued with the questions. "Wow. What's Spider-Man like?"
"Yeah, he's nice. Nice man," Peter nodded. "Solid dude."
"Hmm."
Liz leaned on Peter's side of the car and showed him a picture with a smile on her face. "Look, so cute."
Peter awed at the picture and returned his emotionless face back when Liz moved back to her seat, feeling Mr. Toomes gaze on him growing heavier, he could already feel the sweat dripping from his forehead and hands.
"I've seen you around, right? I mean, somewhere. We've, uh — Have we ever — ? Because even the voice — "
"Um, he does Academic Decathlon with me," Liz said.
"Oh."
"And he was at my party."
"It was a great party, really great, yeah," Peter stumbled over his words. "Beautiful house, a lot of windows. Heh."
"You were there for, like, two seconds," Liz frowned.
"That was — I was there longer than two seconds," Peter wanted to yell out and tell her to stop talking, not being able to see Mr. Toomes's face but he was sure that he was thinking everything in his head.
"You and (Y/N) disappeared," Liz continued.
"No. No, we did not disappear," Peter shook his head.
"Yes, you did," Liz followed on. "You two disappeared like you always do, like you did in D.C, too."
The car stopped on the red light of the street, where Mr. Toomes was able to lift his gaze from staring ahead of the road and spoke up. "Whew. That's terrible what happened down there in D.C, though. Were you scared?"
Peter nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat, not meeting the man's eyes, feeling tiny under his intense glare.
"I'll beat you were glad when your old pals Spider-Man and Blue Dame showed up in the elevator, though, huh?"
"Yeah. well, I actually didn't go up," Peter spared one glance at Liz and then met her father's eyes. "I saw it all from the ground. So did (Y/N).Very lucky that they were there that day."
"Good old Spider-Man and Blue Dame," Mr. Toomes smirked as the light turned green on the stoplight, some cars honking behind him since he didn't move and kept his eyes fixed on Peter.
"Dad, the light," Liz reminded.
The car drove forward and continued the rest of the ride, driving inside the school campus, where balloons with the school's colors were decorated everywhere and students were already piling up, laughing with their friends as they entered.
"Here we are. End of the line," Mr. Toomes parked the car on the entrance of the school.
Peter unbuckled his seatbelt with speed and Liz grabbed her purse, muttering, "Thanks, Dad."
"You head in there, gumdrop," Mr. Toomes stopped her. "I'm gonna give Peter the, uh, 'dad' talk."
Peter felt his breath bitch in his throat and froze in his spot, not daring to move from his seat as Mr. Toomes smiled teasingly and Liz gave him a knowing look.
"Don't let him intimidate you," Liz advised and leaned forward to kiss her father's cheek. "Love you. Have a safe flight."
"Love you, gumdrop."
Liz stepped out of the car and greeted her friends on the entrance, walking into the school where the music was blasting loudly, shutting both Mr. Toomes and Peter inside the car, the older man taking a spare gun from the glove box and looking back at the kid with a smile.
"Does she know?" he asked.
"Know what?" Peter decided to play it off.
"So she doesn't. Good. Close to the vest, I admire that," Mr. Toomes said. "I've got a few secrets of my own. Of all the reasons I didn't want my daughter to date. . ."
Peter stayed quiet as he kept on talking. "Peter. . . nothing is more important than family. You and your friend (Y/N) saved my daughter's life. I could never forget something like that. So I'm gonna give you one chance. Are you ready?"
"You walk through those doors, you forget any of this happened, and don't you ever, ever, interfere with my business again," Mr. Toomes began. "Because if you do. . .I'll kill you."
Peter didn't seem that much fazed by the threat, but he wasn't prepared for the next part of it, which made his heart drop.
"I'll kill your friend (Y/N) and everybody you love," he said. "I'll kill you dead. That's what I'll do to protect my family. Do you understand?"
Peter looked down at his hands and didn't want to think of that scenario, where his best friend got hurt because of him. He nodded in response to Mr. Toomes question, not meeting his eyes.
"Hey," Mr. Toomes called. "I just saved your life. Now, what do you say?"
"Thank you," Peter found his voice again.
"You're welcome," the older man nodded. "Now, you go on in there and you show my daughter a good time, okay? Just not too good."
Peter got out of the car and walked into the school building, the music echoing throughout the walls and hallways, but it was nothing compared to the loud pumping of his blood in his ears. He got closer to the gym, where everyone was piled up, dancing and laughing amongst themselves.
He needed to find (Y/N). He needed to find her and tell her exactly what happened, but he knew he would perfectly screw it up like last time. Peter saw her from afar, laughing along with Ned and MJ, who flipped him off at the moment she saw him. She seemed much better without him, it made perfect sense for Peter to leave.
(Y/N) pretended she wasn't at all surprised when she saw Peter following behind Liz to join her in the dance floor, not caring about it anymore since she was with her other friends, wearing a dress that fit her body perfectly as her hair was styled way differently than what she usually did.
A jab in the ribs was what distracted (Y/N) from laughing at something MJ said, and she turned to look at the direction it came from to see Ned looking at her with worried eyes, signaling towards the opened gym doors. Peter had run off somewhere, leaving Liz behind.
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
PETER RAN THROUGH the empty hall of the school and grabbed the old costume hidden underneath the lockers, loosing his suit and tie as he continued running and changed into the suit he used before he got the upgrade.
He was placing his web shooters on his wrists when something knocked him down by the side, making him grunt and roll on the side.
"He gave you a choice," the man with the shocked said. "You chose wrong."
"What the hell?"
"What's with the crappy costume?" the man chuckled. He reloaded the shocker in his hand and prepared himself for another blow.
"My web shooters," Peter muttered and tried to reach for them, but was thrown to the side by the same artifact, which slammed him against a bus.
"I wasn't sure about this thing at first, but damn," the man smirked and used it to punch Peter across the face, throwing him back to a bus.
Because of the strong force in that weapon, Peter flew backwards and collapsed on the inside of a school bus, breaking the backdoor and window in the process, groaning in disgust when he saw all the used gum stuck on the bottom of the seats.
The man hit the bus with another shock, making it roll sideways as it left the ground and Peter prepared himself for the harsh impact, but it never came. He noticed the blue mist protecting every part of it and managed to come outside of it, seeing how the man was also surprised by it.
(Y/N) stood with her hands raised on her sides, the blue mist enveloping the man and throwing him against a school bus like a rag doll. She wore the original costume with the mask, not caring if it was a downgrade from the other.
"Now do you need your partner?" she asked.
"Oh, my god. Yes!" Peter ran to her. "I'm so sorry."
He wrapped her in a tight hug and she felt her breath leave her lungs, wincing slightly as Peter crushed her against his chest. He didn't care though, he had (Y/N) back and that's all that mattered.
"Woah, calm down, bug boy," (Y/N) patted him in the back. "I accept your apology. We weren't in the right state of mind that day."
"It's no excuse! You're the only one I can imagine being partners with," Peter said, holding her at arms length now. "It's you and me against the world, remember?"
(Y/N)'s eyes softened. "Of course."
Her attention then drifted off to the approaching figure from behind Peter and moved him to the side, forming a protective shield right in time, covering them both from the shock.
"How cute," the man sarcastically said.
"Why did he send you here?" Peter questioned.
"Guess you'll never know," the man raised his weapon again and directed it at the two, ready to blow them backwards when a web was fired right at his arm, distracting him.
Ned was standing with one of the web shooters in hand, his surprised look saying that he was not expecting that to work at all.
"Nice shot!" Peter grabbed the web that held the weapon and tugged on it, which pulled the web shooter back to him and managed to web the man down, gluing him to the bus.
(Y/N) and Peter rushed to Ned's side, as Peter was finally able to reveal what he had discovered during the course of the afternoon. "Guys, the guy with the wings is Liz's dad."
"What?" they both exclaimed at the same time.
"We gotta tell Mr. Stark," Peter listed off, looking at (Y/N) for any ideas.
"Call Happy Hogan, he's Mr. Stark's head of security," (Y/N) informed Ned, who nodded.
"Get a computer and track my phone for me," Peter continued, remembering the phone he left on Mr. Toomes's car on purpose.
"Will you be okay?" Ned asked.
"Hurry, we gotta catch him before he leaves town," Peter said frantically.
(Y/N) turned to him and extended a hand. "You'll go on the easy way or the hard way."
"This time, I prefer the easy way."
"Of course you do," (Y/N) grabbed him by the waist and thrusted her free hand downward, forming a sphere of energy that lifted them up in the air and left the back of the school area.