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"SPIDER-MENACE. BLUE-HAZARD!"
"Governments around the world launch investigations into the murderers known as Spider-Man and Blue Dame, aka Peter Parker and (Y/N) Schmidt, aka the web-headed and destruction-freak war criminals." J. Jonah Jameson explained when his figure appeared on the screen of the TV. "Who, for years, have been terrorizing the decent citizens of New York. Well, now this city and the world see them for what they truly are."
A female reporter appeared on the screen with the header of breaking news, arms resting on the table in front of her as she addressed the audience. "New details from last week's devastating attack in London have emerged. For more, we go now to Joint Intelligence headquarters."
May, Peter and (Y/N) all watched with expressions of terror and shock at all the fake accusations and lack of proof at their innocence, sitting on the couch of the Parker's apartment while everyone's attention was fixed in the TV.
"Authorities, just a short while ago, confirmed that the deadly drones used in the London attack were designed by Stark Industries."
There was a loud knock in the door that made the three jump up and May leaned forward to hear what the man was yelling behind the door. "Federal agents! Open up!"
"Federal agents? You stay here!" May stood from the couch and walked towards the door of her apartment, her voice laced with panic but didn't try to worry them any further.
The man standing on the door revealed his badge. "Department of Damage Control. We have a warrant for the arrest of Peter Parker and (Y/N) Schmidt."
"You know the Fourth Amendment?" May questioned.
"Sure."
"Unreasonable search and seizure?"
"Get in here, guys. Let's go."
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(Y/N) HISSED UNDER her breath and squirmed uncomfortably in her chair at the headquarters and office from the Department of Damage Control, where she was restrained with a straight jacket and an electric collar around her neck to prevent her from using her powers.
Peter had protested and tried his best to convince the men to let go of her restrains but they didn't budge, placing a handcuff around his wrist to stop him from getting up of the table. "We didn't kill Quentin Beck. The drones did, okay?"
"The drones that are yours," Agent Cleary crossed his arms and slid a picture of the drones into the table and gestures towards it.
"No," Peter shook his head. "Nick Fury was there the entire time. Just ask him and he can explain everything."
"Nick Fury has been off-planet for the last year," Agent Cleary pointed out and (Y/N)'s face paled.
"Wait, what?" (Y/N) frowned and she tried to remember all the interactions she had with him
over the course of the last weeks, the gears in her head clicking at the moment she heard him say 'yours' and not 'ours' to one of Quentin's statements. She didn't get the chance to speak up once again, since someone pulled her attention.
"(Y/N)! Peter! Hey," MJ waved to make herself known at her friends as she walked with May and Ned by her sides, more agents surrounding them.
"MJ! Ned! What are you doing?"
"They have nothing to do with this, sir," Peter panicked at pointed at the three of them.
"Don't say anything without a lawyer!" May and MJ yelled out, their words slightly muffled by the glass that separated them from the duo.
(Y/N) was then separated from Peter and the rest of her friends into another private room with Agent Cleary, who was leaning back to his chair and (Y/N) continued moving her gaze from the corners of the room to not meet the man's eyes, who seemed to be growing impatient because of this.
(Y/N) was still stuck in the straight jacket and the electric collar, the annoyance evident on her face and Agent Cleary seemed to snap at her lack of words, so he gestured over to his coworker to do something.
An electric shock snapped (Y/N) from her daze and she jolted from the abrupt shock and her entire body shook from the nerves. She blew the hair that had covered half of her face because of the jump she did, and her eyes were glaring at him.
"And then your people wonder why nobody likes you," she muttered.
Agent Cleary laughed drily at her insult and leaned forward to press his hands against the table that separated him from (Y/N). "Listen, (Y/N). I'm not the bad guy here, I want to be your friend. We are friends, right?"
(Y/N) shook her head in disbelief. "You should've said that before you put me in a straight jacket and put an electric collar around my neck, but yes, friends."
Agent Cleary huffed under his breath. "My patience is thin, young lady, and I want you to confess before it runs out. This way, I don't have to move onto the next step."
(Y/N) froze. "What does that mean?"
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"WITH ALL DUE RESPECT," May was now in the private room with Agent Cleary, her voice laced with anger towards the man sitting across from her. "And I mean that very insincerely, unless you have some real specific charges to throw at us, legally, you can't hold us here."
"You should definitely lawyer up," Agent Cleary said calmly.
"Excuse me?"
"Child endangerment's a nasty rap. A boy was entrusted to you, and as his legal guardian, essentially his mother, you not only allowed him to endanger himself, you encouraged it. Who does that?" Agent Clearly explained.
"And that's not the worse part. You took a girl that was not your own and kept her under your home with no legal papers and documents that can confirm that you were allowed to have her in your custody."
May passed a hand through her long brown hair out of anxiousness. "She was going to be taken away if she didn't have any other family left, you can ask the company if you want."
"Oh, trust me. I already did."
"And?" May thought this whole thing was ridiculous, shaking her head at the agent's accusations.
"Kiara Schmidt never signed any papers that confirm that you would be allowed to take custody of her daughter after her passing. So, like I said before, you should lawyer up."
May leaned her elbows on the table. "I wanna see Peter and (Y/N) right now."
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"Stark Industries was caught in the web of the Spider-Man and Blue Dame/Mysterio controversy today, when federal agents opened an investigation into missing Stark technology," the reporter talked from the TV screen back at the Parker home. "Agents wanna know exactly what was taken. . ."
Happy winced when he saw a picture of himself on the TV to reveal what he had said about the entire situation since he was the head of security of the Stark Industries. "At least they used a good picture."
"What is happening?" Peter fixed his gaze on the TV screen as he leaned his cheek on his palm, sitting with (Y/N) on the table.
The sound of a white cane hitting the ground distracted the both of them as they watched their new lawyer, Matt Murdock, sit in one of the chairs while he talked on the phone. "That's great. Thank you."
"I have some good news, kids," Matt placed the phone in the table. "I don't believe any of the charges against you are gonna stick."
"Wait, seriously?" (Y/N) gasped, placing the cup of coffee in the table, a drink that she grew used in drinking because of the several missed hours of sleep.
"I knew it," May let out a sigh of relief in her own chair.
"Nice," Happy smiled.
"Oh, my God. Mr. Murdock, thank you," Peter breathed out, reaching out for (Y/N)'s hand to give it a slight squeeze because of the news. "That's amazing."
"You're welcome," Matt nodded at their words and turned towards the other man in the table. "However, Mr. Hogan. . ."
"Yes?"
". . .the feds are investigating that missing technology. I understand your loyalty to Mr. Stark and his legacy, but if you were involved — "
"If I was involved?"
"I advise securing a lawyer."
"I need a lawyer because I'm — ? I thought he was — " Happy rambled out his words and tried to come up with a formal sentence, but the nerves got the best of him. "You said there's no charge. I could say under advisement of counsel, I refuse to answer the question respectfully because the answer can incriminate me — It's in Goodfellas. What's the thing they say in Goodfellas?"
May raised a hand to calm him down. I know that's what you think. Calm down. Lets here what he has to say. Matt?"
"You're gonna need a really good lawyer," Matt told him. "You may have dodged your legal troubles, but things will get much worse. There is still the court of public opinion."
He didn't get the chance to say anything more since a brick broke through one of the apartment's windows and flew its way towards the group, where Peter and (Y/N) tried to reach for it first but Matt had caught it with ease, without moving from his seat.
"Murderers! Mysterio forever!" people yelled from the outside and their voices died out by the noises of the city as May and Happy stood back up from ducking under the table.
"How did you just do that?" Peter took the brick out of Matt's hands and read the paper that was glued to it, reading out the phrase 'We believe Mysterio.'
"I'm a really good lawyer," Matt shrugged it off.
"We'll need a safer place to live," May spoke up, realizing that this might because something common if they didn't move out.
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THE ALARM OF Happy's apartment blared loudly across the space, and May jolted up because of the sound and tried to click on one of the buttons to shut it down, the task being difficult for her since she had her hands busy with backpacks.
"How do we — ? How do we — ?" she kept on pressing any button until the sound stopped, which caused her to drop her hands in relief.
"Alarm system deactivated."
Peter and (Y/N) were following behind her with their respective suitcases and bags, standing close to May as she looked around the apartment with a smile. "It looks nice. And this is safe."
DUM-E waved from across the kitchen at the three new guests and (Y/N) confusedly waved back. Happy panted and leaned against the doorframe of the apartment with the last part of their belongings, a tired smile on his face.
"Welcome to the spiritual oasis. You like Donkey Kong Jr.?"
Throughout the rest of the day, (Y/N) went around exploring the apartment and tried to memorize it completely to make it easier for her to live here. Peter busied himself during the day by washing the green slime out of his suit while May and Happy hung out together.
(Y/N) was alone in the kitchen with her phone propped up with a banana to get a better look at her screen as she spoke with MJ through a FaceTime call, every now and then moving her gaze from her phone to her cup, preparing another cup of coffee even though May had stated that it wasn't healthy for her to do so.
"Did you hear that they are putting the Captain America shield on the Statue of Liberty?" MJ spoke up once again, her phone close to her face.
"Really?" (Y/N) looked up from stirring the sugar of her coffee and frowned at her friend's words.
"I'm kinda curious how it would turn out though," MJ continued.
"Now that you say it, me too. I have mad respect for the new Captain America."
"Preach," MJ praised, nodding along with her words before she changed the subject, moving in her bed. "I'm glad that you and Peter didn't get charged."
"I know, me too," (Y/N) breathed out. "Having Mr. Murdock on our side was perfect. He really helped us a lot."
"That's good, but how have you been holding up?"
"I'm fine," (Y/N) answered and took a sip from
her coffee, earning a look from MJ across the screen of the phone. "It's not that bad. I've dealt with worse."
"(Y/N)."
"What? It's the truth," she raised her hands in defense. "Besides, washing the slime out of my suit in the morning really took my stress away."
"Someone threw slime at you?" MJ frowned. "What's wrong with people nowadays?"
"It wasn't that bad though," (Y/N) shrugged. "Someone had thrown rotten eggs at me the well before. Now that was something difficult to clean. It ruined my hair completely."
"I'm sorry that this is happening, (Y/N)," MJ took a serious tone. "If someone starts saying some bullshit tomorrow at school, I won't hesitate to give them a piece of my mind."
(Y/N) laughed. "I know you will. But it's okay," she was relieved that MJ stuck to her throughout this and didn't turn on her. "I gotta go now. See you in school."
"See ya," MJ hung up and (Y/N) grabbed her phone from the table, shutting it off after she read the thousands of messages that she was receiving from people at school.
When night hit the city, (Y/N) was cuddled up against Peter's chest as they both lay on the couch of Happy's living room, blankets wrapped around the two of them as they tried their best in lowering their voices to not wake up the adults.
Peter had his arm around (Y/N) and allowed her to adjust in the couch as she lifted her head to look back at him, and he found himself smiling at her actions.
"Did you send in your applications yet?" she asked, using her finger to draw patterns on Peter's covered chest.
"I finished my MIT one. You?" Peter replied, lowering his face to look at her with a better angle.
"Same, but I also sent one to Caltech," (Y/N) confessed, the topic about college still being something too complicated for her to deal with.
"That's great!" Peter smiled brightly at her words, knowing that it was one of her main options. "Can you imagine if we both got into MIT? Along MJ and Ned?"
"Yeah, but we'd also have to get scholarships so there's a higher probability for us to go," (Y/N) said, the anxiousness laced on her tone.
"You got the scores and the grades," Peter reassured, rubbing his hand up and down her arm to ease her nervousness.
"You think I'm being too realistic?"
"No, no, no. Well. . .kind of," Peter chuckled under his breath when (Y/N) lightly smacked him in the chest. "It's okay. It became one of my favorite things about you."
"Oh, really?" (Y/N) smirked but Peter wasn't able to see it clearly because of the darkness.
"Yeah," Peter nodded without regretting his words.
"Well, what are your other favorite things?" she questioned, curious about what he was going to say.
"I love your sense of humor," Peter listed off. "I also really like how you're not afraid to speak your mind about something, even if it gets you in trouble."
"Huh, that makes sense. I won't allow people to talk down to me," (Y/N) nodded along.
"You like sports," Peter continued.
"I'm absolutely sure that the Yankees are gonna go all the way this year," (Y/N) added but didn't get the chance to ask Peter anything more.
Happy's loud snores cut their conversation off and they both turned back to see him laying on one of the chairs of the living room with a device in his face. He had offered his room for May to stay, so the only place he could sleep was down with the two teens.
"I have a weird question," Peter moved back to face (Y/N) and pulled her closer to him. "Does any part of you feel relieved about this?."
(Y/N) took a moment to respond. "I. . .I felt that it would be my decision to tell the world, not to be thrown into the public without a warning. You?"
"Ever since I got bit by that spider, I've only had one week where my life has felt normal. And that was when I told you," Peter confessed. "Because you were the first person that I wanted to tell about it. But now everybody knows and. . .I am the most famous person in the entire world."
"Lower down your ego, bug boy," (Y/N) teased. "Give me some of the credit."
Peter laughed. "And I'm still broke though."
(Y/N) laughed along with him and fixed her eyes on him, smiling to herself when she saw the dimples in his face. "I am nervous about tomorrow, but we'll figure it out, okay?"
"Of course," Peter placed a kiss on the top of her head and (Y/N) cuddled up closer to his side.
"Wrap it up," Happy interrupted loudly, making the two of them jump up and remove their arms around the other. "You both like each other. We get it. There's no new ground being broken, okay? I need my eight hours."
"Have you been listening this whole time?"
"Not by choice."
i don't know if you will notice, but i'll be adding subtle comic reference throughout these chapters for some fun. things are about to go downhill from here.
-see you soon, bex