✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
(Y/N) PEACEFULLY DRANK her lemonade in silence as Peter sat on the bar stool on her right and Quentin in the other, the latter holding a bottle of beer in his hand as he frowned at the silence of the two. The bar was quiet as people chat amongst themselves, ignoring the trio.
"Hey," Quentin called. "You got to celebrate. We did something good tonight.
"Fury was right," Peter answered with a lowered head, playing with his fingers and his own lemonade being forgotten on the side. " Tony did a lot for the both of us. . .so I owe it to him, to everybody."
"Do you?" Quentin asked.
"Yeah," (Y/N) shifted on her stool. "Mr. Stark gave me the chance to prove myself. He wanted us to be better than him. And I guess Fury just wants us to remember that."
"What do you want, kids?" Quentin cut her off and tilted his head to get a better look at the two.
"What do you mean?" Peter frowned.
"What do you want?"
A dry laugh escaped from (Y/N)'s throat. "You gotta be more specific."
"What do you want? You, Peter Parker, and you, (Y/N) Schmidt. Now. I know you're thinking about it."
"I wanna go on my trip," Peter snapped. "I want to go back on my trip with my friends. And go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. . ."
Quentin saw how Peter's eyes trailed to (Y/N)'s form and glanced between the two several times, going unnoticed by the two teens. (Y/N) was staring down at her hands, wanting to say a thousand things at the same time, but she couldn't.
"I want to learn more about. . .this," she stared down at her hands. "I want to enjoy my teen years before they come to an end."
"You're not gonna do that, are you?" Quentin questioned, taking a sip from his beer.
"No, I can't," (Y/N) replied.
"Why not?"
"Because we have too much responsibility," Peter cut in with a frustrated tone.
A Czech woman approached the trio and knelt to the ground to pick something up, handing the pair of blue glasses that had been gifted to Peter a few days ago. When Peter recognized what it was, his eyes widened in surprise and offered a kind smile at the woman, who was speaking Czech to him.
"Oh, my God. Thank you so much."
"What are those?" Quentin's interest instantly picked up at the sight of the glasses. "Are those the. . . ?"
"EDITH glasses, yeah," Peter completed.
"They were just on the floor? Try them on. Let's see how they look on you," Quentin encouraged.
Peter put the pair of glasses on and faced (Y/N) and Quentin, who both have completely different reactions to seeing him with the glasses. The girl seemed to like the look, offering a small thumbs up that he was able to catch.
"I actually really like them," Peter said, feeling confident over the fact that (Y/N) liked the look too.
"Can I be completely honest with you?" Quentin inquired.
Peter nodded his head. "Please."
"They look really stupid."
Peter's shoulders dropped at his words but (Y/N) still managed to offer a smile of her own as he let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh."
"But maybe they have a contact-lens version of them," Quentin reassured.
Peter removed the glasses and handed them to him. "You try them on."
"No, come on," Quentin laughed with a shake of his head as he drank from his beer.
"Try them on."
"I don't wanna try them on."
"Just put them on."
Quentin scoffed but took the pair of glasses in his hand, putting them on and fitting the image pretty well. He grinned with a hint of hesitance as he faced (Y/N) and Peter, who looked pretty disturbed and shocked when he turned to them.
"What do you think, kids?"
Peter looked down at the ground and muttered out the sentence he'd read on the card inside the glasses' case. "'The next Tony Stark, I trust you.' 'For the next Tony Stark, I trust you.'"
"Peter?" (Y/N) questioned.
"Stark left me a message with those glasses: 'For the next Tony Stark, I trust you'," Peter explained.
"I'm still not following. How many lemonades have you had?" Quentin stared at the drinks and looked back at the brunet.
"He knew every mistake I ever did, okay? So he must've known I wasn't ready for something like this," Peter continued.
"He gave it to you for a reason, why would he give it to you if he didn't prefer you to have it?" (Y/N) tried to reason, knowing this was something unexpected but he didn't budge.
"Because maybe he didn't trust me to have EDITH, he just trusted me to pick who should," he told the two, who frowned at his words. "It makes much more sense. He always knew I'd do what's right. And he's not gonna give them to Fury because Fury would give himself EDITH."
"You're probably right about that," Quentin nodded his head.
"Right, so the world needs the next Iron Man. And it's not gotta be me or (Y/N). We're just 16-year-old kids from Queens. It needs to be an adult with some experience and that's good like Tony Stark, like you."
Quentin seemed to consider this for a second before he removed the glasses off. "No. Peter, come on. No."
Peter put them on and the lenses glowed a shade of electric blue as he called the AI's name. "EDITH?"
"Hi. Yeah, um. . .I'd like to transfer your control over to Quentin Beck," Peter said without hesitance.
"Peter, what are you doing?" (Y/N) stared at him in disbelief.
"Doing the right thing," he answered.
"Stark gave you the glasses," Quentin protested, pointing a finger at him.
"Stark gave me a choice. It's my choice to make, okay? And I'm gonna make it," Peter responded. "You're a soldier, a leader. You stopped the Elementals. You saved my life. You saved the world, okay? He'd want you to have them."
"Confirm," he ordered and he took the glasses off for one last time and extended the hand towards Quentin. "Welcome to the Avengers."
Quentin tried them on and Peter gave him a nod. "They look good on you."
Quentin shook his hand in a grateful manner. "Thank you. It's an honor."
(Y/N) was hesitant about the whole thing but she knew it was already too late to change Peter's mind. She just hoped this wouldn't end up being a mistake.
"Mr. Stark would've really liked you," Peter said as he grabbed his backpack from the floor.
(Y/N) stood up from her stool and joined Peter's side as Quentin eyed them from his seat in the bar table. "Where you headed?"
"To see our friends," (Y/N) answered.
Peter nodded in agreement to her words and began walking towards the door behind (Y/N), biding a goodbye to Quentin. "See you later, man."
"See you."
(Y/N) and Peter walked through the alley of the bar and passed by a urban painting of a tribute to Iron Man, candles lit all around it. She noticed that the street was empty and looked back at him, who seemed pleased by his decision.
"I hope you know what you're doing," (Y/N) said, worried.
"In sure of it. There's no doubt," he answered, the backpack sling being wrapped on one of his shoulders.
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
WHEN THE TWO returned back to the luxurious hotel where the class was staying, (Y/N) was received by Ned's embrace, who seemed worried about his friends and wore a bathrobe with nothing underneath.
"(Y/N), Peter, oh, my God," he laughed. "We almost died."
"It's fine. It's fine," Peter reassured as Ned pulled away from the hug. "Hey, guess what? We're done with the mission."
"Guys, the trip's over," Ned gave them a pitiful look.
"What?" they both gasped.
"There's monsters coming out of the ground everywhere we go," Ned explained. "Of course our parents want us home."
Mr. Harrington walked through the hallways with the phone glued to his ear. "Please, don't put me on hold." He noticed the two extra students he'd been missing and his eyes widened. "Oh, Peter, (Y/N), you're not dead. Oh, my God. Yes, good. Stay here. Don't die."
He pointed towards Ned in the robe. "Put some clothes on. We're booking flights."
Mr. Dell approached the trio. "We came for science, we're living because of witches. Welcome to the new Dark Ages."
He rushed toward his room and (Y/N) only watched him with a strange look, not wanting the trip to be over after she was finally able to enjoy it without worrying about anything else.
"What is happening?" she asked.
"We're going home in the morning," Ned said.
"No, no. All the Elementals are gone," Peter told him.
Betty peaked from her room and called out for her boyfriend with a hand wave. "Ned."
"Coming, sweetie," Ned walked away from the two and headed over to Betty's room without another word, the bathrobe being too big for his arms that it swayed with every step.
Flash opened the door of his room. "Hey, can you guys keep it down? I'm live-streaming."
He shut the door behind him again and (Y/N) was left alone with Peter in the hotel's highway, both equally disappointed over the trip's end.
She sighed. "So much for Paris, right?"
"Yeah, it would've been fun," Peter said, shifting on his feet awkwardly.
(Y/N) was ready to head back to her room when Peter gained a wave of confidence and grabbed her hand, clearing his throat to prepare himself for what he had to say, readjusting the backpack on his shoulder.
"Uh. . .Look, um. . .I'm not ready for this trip to be over yet, and I kind of want to do something fun that's not on the itinerary or planned or with Mr. Harrington. Just the two of us, like old times. . . ?"
"Yes, sure," (Y/N) gave him a genuine smile.
"'Yes', like you wanna go?"
"Of course."
"Awesome! I'll see you outside in 10 minutes," Peter questioned.
"I'll meet you outside in less than 10 minutes," (Y/N) winked at him and grabbed her key to open the door of her hotel room.
The dreamy look that was written all over her face was completely washed away when a sudden voice greeted her abruptly just as she shut the door close. The lights were already on, which was strange to her but she didn't have time to say anything.
"What are you hiding, (Y/N)?"
"AAH!" (Y/N) jumped out of her skin at the sound of MJ's voice behind her. She placed a hand on her chest to ease her heartbeat and faced her friend with a questioning look. "Geez, MJ. What was that for?"
"You heard me. What are you hiding?" MJ crossed her arms and raised an accusing eyebrow. "You disappeared during the opera. I couldn't find you when the water monster attacked. So, I ask you, are you hiding something from me?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," (Y/N) played dumb to pretend she wasn't afraid of what would happen if she found out about her secret.
"Please, don't lie to me. It will only make us loose time."
"I'm not lying to you!" (Y/N) replied, raising her hands in the air. "I can give you an explanation another time, I'll be busy now."
"Well, then," MJ seemed to drop the subject until she reached for a pen. "Catch!"
(Y/N) barely had time to react when the pen was hurled directly at her, and she grabbed the pen with blue mist out of instinct, instantly dropping it when she realized what she had done.
"You're the Blue Dame," MJ gasped. "Oh, my God."
"It's not what it looks like — "
"I wasn't completely sure — "
"It's just an effect from the light nothing more — "
"I thought I was exaggerating — "
"Would you calm down?"
"My best friend is a superhero and you want me to calm down?!"
(Y/N) took a deep breath to ease her nerves down from having to explain this once again, recalling when she had to explain it to Kiara years ago.
"Fine. You caught me. I am Blue Dame. Surprise," she sighed and moved her hands to gesture 'jazz hands.'
"You're being serious? You're 100% serious with me?" MJ's eyes widened.
"Mm-hmm."
"It's not funny if you're lying to me. Because I was only like 67% sure," MJ rambled. "You've been hearing me talk about how badass the Blue Dame was when it was you the whole time. It probably boozed your ego."
"Well. . ."
"So, why are you here?" A thought seemed to hit inside MJ's head. "Wait. That means you've seen a lot of crazy shit out there, right? Like that purple ballsack Thanos?"
(Y/N) flinched involuntarily at the sound of his name and all the battles she had with him came to her mind, but she wanted to act cool and pretend like it didn't affect her anymore.
"I went to space, though!" (Y/N) exclaimed. "That was a cool trip."
"(Y/N), are you okay?"
"I'm fine," (Y/N) scoffed at her question and let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine."
By this, (Y/N) had sat cross-legged on the bed and continued to laugh as she continued saying the same phrase over again as MJ watched with wide eyes. She sat on the bed besides (Y/N) and took her time to say something since she wasn't that good in reassuring people.
"I wanted to tell you," MJ began. "You're probably gonna kill me with your weird powers when I tell you this, but it was just to test my theory."
"What did you do?"
MJ rummaged through her bag and took out a metal device from it, which seemed to be webbed out by the familiar webs of Spider-Man. It didn't have many significance at first, and (Y/N) twisted it with her hands to get a look at it.
"What's this?" she frowned.
"That's what I wanted you to tell me," MJ said. "Found it when I sneaked behind you after you left the opera."
"You what?"
"I already told you. It was to confirm my theory."
"Mm-hm," (Y/N) grabbed the device and hit it inside her own purse, planning to show it to Peter later on. When she remembered that she'd probably left him waiting downstairs, she jumped out the bed.
"I better get going. This conversation isn't over yet," she pointed an accusing finger at MJ, who rolled her eyes at her words.
"Sure, now go and meet up with your lover boy."
(Y/N) adjusted her jacket and grabbed her purse as she walked through the door of the room, feeling the nerves in her stomach for two different reasons. Spending time with Peter and the fact that MJ had discovered the secret she'd kept from her these years to keep her safe.
As she got in the elevator and waited for it to hit the lobby, (Y/N) smoothed the wrinkles in her dress to seem more presentable and tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ear. The elevator bell rang and the doors slid open, causing her to walk out of it and spot Peter waiting patiently for her.
"Hey," he called.
"Hey."
"So, where do you wanna go?"
"Doesn't matter. Lead the way, bug boy."
"Okay, cool," Peter nodded and extended his arm politely for her to take, which caused her to smile down to her feet. "Let's go."
(Y/N) and Peter walked out of the hotel and strolled through the empty streets of Prague, all quiet and no sounds to disturb the peace they were having with each other. The lights were bright, the moon was shining, and it all seemed peaceful for once.
(Y/N) allowed the soft breeze to blow through her body as she and Peter walked through a bridge that was above a river, and this was the time when he finally decided to say something to her as she seemed to be looking around at her surroundings.
"I'm glad we're doing this," he said.
"Yeah, it's been a while since we'd spent some time alone," (Y/N) agreed. "I'm just glad everything's back to normal now."
"Me too," he breathed out.
They continued to walk through the bridge side by side, their hands being inches from the other but they were too flustered to make a move, even if they've been friends for a long time.
"There's this thing I've been wanting to talk to you about for a while," Peter cleared his throat.
(Y/N) stopped and looked back to face him with a curious look, and it was enough to make all of Peter's rehearsed lines to erase from his memory. "Yeah?"
"It's our last night in Europe, and I had this olán that I wanted to tell you. I'm just — I'm just gonna tell you."
He grabbed the box with the glass necklace from his pocket and (Y/N) crossed her arms and shifted her weight. "I have something to tell you too."
"Really?" Peter's eyes brightened at her words, wishing it was the same thing that he was planning to confess.
"Yeah," (Y/N) fiddled with her fingers. "MJ already knows who I am."
The light seemed to disappear out of Peter's eyes. "What?"
"It all happened too fast and — "
"Wait, you were just meaning to tell me what MJ knows you're the Blue Dame?" Peter asked, feeling his heart drop to his feet.
"Yeah," (Y/N) replied but she instantly winced internally at how mean her words sounded. "I thought you'd like to know."
"Oh."
"Peter, you're actually scaring me, what's got you all worried?" (Y/N) questioned as she dropped her hands to the side and hit her purse in the process, too hard for her liking, that the device she had hid inside began to make a noise.
With confusion, (Y/N) reached out for it and held it in her hand, abruptly dropping it in the ground when she saw how the light flickered and Peter did the same, the two watching the device project an image of clouds before it disappeared.
"What the hell was that?" Peter looked around.
"I don't know. MJ gave it to me," (Y/N) explained. "She said she found it on the floor."
Peter carefully reached down to grab the device from the floor as the lights flickered again and he inspected it in his hand.
"It's a kind of projector, isn't it?" (Y/N) asked as she approached him.
"Yeah, but it's really advanced."
"It seemed so real. It — "
"Yeah, really real."
"Wait, that doesn't mean that. . .?"
"The Elementals are fake?" Peter finished her thought as he closed his eyes to process what he just said. "That doesn't make any sense because we were there, right? There was fire and destruction, and. . .who would do something like that?"
The projector flickered and the lights escaped once again, showing the image of a cloud monster as a familiar figure with the velvet red cape and the bowl helmet fought it in the projection. The lights died down again, and (Y/N)'s eyes widened in horror.
"Mysterio."
"I've really messed up," Peter gasped and buried his head in his hands. "You were trying to warn me and I didn't listen, (Y/N), I'm sorry."
"Hey, hey," (Y/N) cut him off. "Save the apologies for later. We really need to get out of here."
✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧
PETER SHUT THE blinds of his room's window as he rambled and walked through the room in paranoia. "I can't believe I gave Beck those glasses. How could I be that stupid? He's probably spying on us right now or sending a drone to come and kill me."
(Y/N) tried to calm him down. "Neither of us knew. Take a deep breath before you explode."
"Look, we have to call Mr. Fury and tell him that Beck's a fraud but I think he tapped our phones."
"So, we have to come up with another plan," (Y/N) mumbled before she recalled the last conversation she'd had with Fury. "We have to go to Berlin to talk directly to Fury instead."
Peter nodded along with her words and grabbed his suit from his suitcase, already taking off his jacket and shirt in the process, not noticing that he was still in front of (Y/N). He froze and she cleared her throat to ease the tension, turning around to give him privacy as she also planned on going through her bag for her suit.
The two of them heard separate gasps coming from the door and saw how Ned and MJ stood in the doorframe with wide eyes while the latter winked at (Y/N) discreetly.
"Oh, Ned, perfect," Peter said.
"The costume looks great. . ." Ned began. "For the costume party at the prince's castle."
"This night just gets weirder and weirder," MJ said under her breath. "I knew you were working side by side in this. It was too obvious."
"What?" Ned looked at her.
"Look, she knows about me. I told her," (Y/N) pointed at MJ as she rummaged through her bag and Peter zipped the last piece of his suit.
"She didn't tell me. I figured it out," MJ defended.
"Oh. That's cool."
"Like, a long time ago."
"Look, Mysterio is a fraud," Peter decided to speak up, his voice muffled from the mask.
"But he saved me and Betty's lives," Ned said.
"He's been faking the whole thing with tech that does illusions," (Y/N) explained.
"Yeah, he's using these, like, hologram projectors," Peter added.
MJ snapped her fingers. "The one I have to you a few minutes ago."
"Exactly."
"Whoa. That's crazy."
Peter turned to Ned and pointed a finger at him. "Look, Ned, I need you to call May, get her to call Mr. Harrington, say she wanted me to stay with family in Berlin with (Y/N), okay?"
"Got it. Easy."
"Wow, you guys lie with such ease," MJ looked between the three.
"We gotta go."
"Wait, wait, wait, The projector," MJ reached for the bed where the device was and threw at (Y/N), who caught it with ease. "You'll need this."
"Don't tell anyone about this, okay? Anyone who knows is in danger," Peter looked between his two friends and placed the goggles on.