"GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN." Despite the terrible tribute handcrafted with stock images and heavily edited photos, Nina couldn't help but feel that terrible pang in her chest as she watched the tribute dedicated to Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, and Vision.
It was still weird - no matter how long it's been since everything happened. To think that Steve - who had brought her home after the battle in the compound and engaged in short conversation with her was now gone, just like that. Vision, who had been her confidant for a year, who helped her grow past the trauma of Illiana was gone. Tony, who had literally flipped her life upside down was gone, dead, and had lost his life right in front of her. She hadn't even gotten the chance to meet Natasha before she too, had died.
The sandwich she was eating — courtesy of Peter, who had started bringing her one every single morning after she had offhandedly mentioned wanting to get it every single day for the rest of her life — suddenly didn't taste very good. There was a sick feeling her stomach as she recalled the pictures of the three heroes - her chest beginning to tighten and her throat going dry.
"What time should we be at the charity dinner?" Nina quickly changes the subject, shoving down her guilt at the bottom of her stomach. It was the last day of school, anyway. This was the last tribute she'd see for a bit.
Peter, who had noticed her discomfort, tried to comfort her with that charming smile of his. "Are you sure you wanna go? I can just tell Aunt May that—"
"I do," Nina interrupts him, taking another bite of her #4, trying to fight through the bile that was threatening to get out.
"We can head over right when patrol ends," the boy tells her, feeling multiple eyes on him - it's something he's gotten used to over the past few days, when the girl willingly removed the distance between the two of them and got closer to him: which was great especially since he took Druig's assigned job very seriously.
"All right. I'll see you after class."
Nina looks at her left, then at her right, making sure that no one saw the two of them interacting, before she squeezes his warm hand goodbye, running over to AP History.
Cheeks tinted a bright red, Peter runs over towards his AP Chemistry classroom - overly excited to talk to Ned; it was the last day of school, so they weren't really doing anything since the exams were done - and he needed to get the plan out of his system.
"I have a plan!" Peter announced excitedly as he sat in front of his best friend, left finger wrapped around his right hand - the hand that Nina had touched. "Okay, first, I'm gonna sit next to Nina on the flight."
Ned makes a non-committal sound, not yet understanding why exactly Peter was so infatuated with the girl; cause she was a bitch to him. "Mmm."
"Second, I'm gonna buy a dual-headphone adapter and watch movies with her the whole time. She told me that her favorite movie is Gone Girl, so hopefully, they have that."
"I don't really think that movie is romantic, Peter."
"Three," Peter ignores him, too lovesick to care. "When we go to Venice... Venice is famous for making stuff out of glass, right?"
Ned nods. "True."
"So, I'm going to buy her a necklace with a wreath on it because—"
"Her middle name is Pheme," Ned recounts the story Peter had told him at a sleepover, also recounting the lovesick look on his face. "And the Goddess Pheme's symbol is a wreath. And because she has some sort of weird obsession with wreath's cause she hanged up a bunch of them in her room?"
"Four, when we go to Paris, I'm gonna take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower, give her the necklace."
"Isn't Nina mega-rich?" The boy questions genuinely, "Because she strikes me as the type who doesn't appreciate the beauty of the Eiffel Tower cause she probably went there a bunch of times and got tired of it."
Peter wants to ask him what exactly is his problem with Nina, but the plan came first. "Then, five, since I know that she already feels the same way about me—"
"— highly doubt that."
"— I'm going to officially ask her to be my girlfriend!"
Ned finds Peter's giddiness amusing, but still. "Oh, don't forget step seven."
Peter cocks his head to the side, resembling a puppy with those big brown eyes of his. "Step seven?"
"Don't do any of that."
"Why?" Peter whines, feeling a bit disheartened - he craved his best friend's approval the most - so that reaction wasn't what he expected. "Look, I know you have this personal vendetta against Nina, but you don't know her like I do, okay?"
"It's not that!" It's definitely that. "Because we're gonna be bachelors in Europe, Peter. Look, I may not know much, but I do know this: Europeans love Americans."
Peter raises a brow. "Really?"
"And more than half of them are women!" Ned concludes with a smile.
"Okay? Sure." Peter still looks unconvinced, but he really wanted Ned's approval on this. "But I really like— no, I'm in love with Nina, okay? Don't give me that look cause you don't know her! She's awesome and she's kind and she's a very attractive person inside an out plus she's into me so— oh my god. MJ is coming. Shut up and don't say anything."
Ned glances at the curly haired girl in confusion, "Wait, if you can tell me, why can't you tell MJ?"
"Cause MJ tells her girlfriend everything and her girlfriend tells her best friend - Nina - everything and I really don't want her to know anything about my plan to—"
"Peter Parker, you do realize that you whisper very loud, right?" The brunette deadpans, taking the seat up in front of her friends. "I won't tell Alaska. Don't worry. I've known you were in love with her since she was still dating Matthew Hayes - so - to be fair, I don't tell my girlfriend everything."
"By the the way, Matthew's coming to the trip." Ned informs, not missing the way Peter's face fell.
"He is?" His mind goes into panic mode - he knows that there's nothing going on between him and Nina, but he could feel the way his heartbeat plummeted whenever she'd pass by the robotics lab and that was enough to send him into a fit of jealousy. "He's a Senior! Is that even allowed?"
"Half of the guys on our trips are Seniors, Peter. The Freshmen and Sophomore's aren't allowed." MJ reminds him, basking in the joy of watching Peter melt further into sorrow. "Besides, Matty is a good guy. I doubt he even likes her now. He probably moved on."
He hasn't! I can hear his heartbeat, MJ! Peter wants to scream at MJ, but the girl doesn't know he's Spider-Man so he can't.
"By the way, travel tip: You should download a VPN on your phone, so the government can't track you while we're abroad." MJ stands up, "I have somewhere to go, so you guys can continue being weird or whatever it is you're doing."
Once the girl is out of their sight - probably on her way to fix a bunch of stuff she had to fix in the school paper before she left, Peter turned to his best friend, a more panicked look on his face. "Matty likes her! I can hear his heartbeat if I focus hard enough—"
"You listen to his heartbeat?" Ned questions, "That's kind of weird, Peter."
"It doesn't matter. He likes her and something bad is probably gonna happen at the trip now that I know that he's there—"
"Woah, not cool Peter." Ned scolds in true Ned fashion, noticing the disgust on his friend's features. "Matty is a good guy."
"Yeah, a good guy who likes the girl I'm in love with." Peter whines, almost like a child, "Cmon man, you're supposed to be on my side."
"It's hard to be supportive of you being 'in love' with Nina when the chemistry between you and Mendax is unbelievable - you told me you had a crush on her! How can I just ignore that when I'm actively rooting for the two of you?"
The irony almost makes Peter smile. Despite being a shit secret keeper - he's managed to keep Nina's secret from Ned for almost two years - two long years, but of course; he still needed to get that infatuation out of his system. Thus slipping out to Ned that he had a crush on the masked hero.
"Besides," Ned goes on, "The two of you still have that thing tonight, right?"
...
"When— when I blipped back to my apartment, the family that was living there was very confused." May Parker continued her speech - now onto the closing remarks. "The wife thought that I was a mistress. The grandma thought that I was a ghost. It was- it was really a mess."
Nina smiled at the crowd despite being positive that the couldn't see her face, standing proudly next to May Parker. She and Peter ran in a bit late after they encountered a problem with a cat drowning in a lake - but Peter had swung the thing over to the vet while Nina dried it with her suit - so they had at least came to the event before it ended.
"Thank you for coming out to support those who have been displaced by the Blip. And, of course, thanks to our very own Mendax and Spider-Man!"
The crowd bursts into cheers and whoops - clapping violently at the two heroes who stood at the podium. May motioned towards the microphone - and the two of them, not knowing if she was calling for Peter or calling her, had a silent conversation before Nina eventually pushed him to the mic to get it over with, growing embarrassed at the fact that multiple people were watching them bicker on stage.
"Thank you, Miss Parker, for having us." Peter turned towards Nina, the whites of his suit widening as he continued his speech, "And thank you, you guys, for having us."
The crowd goes silent. It almost makes Nina die out of sheer embarrassment.
Seeing that she's the only person who can redeem this whole thing, Nina steps forward into the mic - wanting to at least salvage this. "Again, we would like to thank everyone for taking time from your busy schedules to be a vital part of this charity dinner. Your presence and help helped magnify our cause in the best possible way." Nina turns towards May, who she still hasn't introduced herself to behind her mask, "And I would like to request for everyone to give Miss Parker, the brains of the operation, a giant round of applause."
That salvages Peter's awkward thank you speech. The crowd, including Peter and Nina, clap for May - whose cheeks are tinted the brightest red as everyone cheers for her work. She deserves it, anyway - so Nina claps even harder.
"And thank you, Mendax and Spider-Man." May claps, leaning against the microphone as Peter and Nina stand on the side, "And they'll be right back out to take photos and videos. Thank you!"
Peter and Nina get inside the curtain first, followed by May, who stayed a bit for a few seconds to wave at everyone.
The mask instantly disappears from Nina's face - which wasn't what she had planned at all. The girl was supposed to keep it on for the rest of the minutes she spent inside to conceal her identity from May, but now the woman had seen her without the mask, so it was time to introduce herself.
"Hi! I'm Nina Valkin," the girl shakes her hand, feeling a sense of deja vu hit her when May responds with a smile. "I'm— uh... I'm Mendax. I'm not sure if you saw me at the funeral or not but... yeah. It was such a lovely dinner."
"Nina— oh!" May glances at her niece, a teasing smile stark on her lips, "You're Mendax. That makes a lot of sense."
"May," Peter warns lowly.
"Anyway, that was great!" May chirps, not missing a beat as she changed the topic, despite Nina being painfully aware of the warmness of Peter's cheeks.
"Oh, that was so cool. I was so nervous!"
"I was a little stiff. I felt like I wasn't in the pocket."
"No no no," Nina chimed in, plastering on the most picture perfect smile she could do as she reassured May, "You did great. You were perfect."
"Yeah, well, I actually did think you were a little stiff." The woman looked over towards Peter - which had only prompted the girl to chuckle. Stiff was a bit of an understatement. He had absolutely no social skills at all - it was almost sort of cute how clueless he could be.
"Yeah, I felt that too." Peter nodded. "I felt that too."
"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine." May reassured over and over again, before turning over to Nina. "Are you joining the trip, dear?"
"I will," Technically, she wasn't allowed to tell anyone since her parents were paranoid that Samara and Illiana would somehow find out, but it was just May Parker. She meant no harm. "The trip to Europe? Yeah."
Before the woman could respond, the sound of equipment crashing from the exit prompts for the helmet to appear on their faces, concealing both Nina and Peter's identity. But it's only Happy Hogan who emerges from the door, holding something huge in his hands, and the mask disappears. "Hey, sorry I'm late."
"Happy. Hey!"
Happy completely ignores Peter's greeting, making a beeline straight for May. "Oh, you look lovely."
"Thanks. You too."
Weird. Nina glances at the boy next to her, who has the same look of confusion on his face.
"Thank you. New dress?" It's like they're not even there, and here Happy is shamelessly flirting with Peter's aunt. Nina stifles a laugh.
"Uh, yeah, yes, it is. Is it a new beard?"
"It's my My Blip beard. Cause I grew it. In the Blip. It's a Blip beard."
"I see. Yeah."
The two of them stay silent for a while, contemplating who talks first and who doesn't. Nina raises her brows at Happy, a look of pure amusement on her face.
"Anyway,the reason I'm late is because this was misplaced at the office. Can you believe it?" Happy shows her the giant check, "Because it's enormous. Not the amount, the size. The amount's nice too. They're generous. Pepper Potts said, sorry she couldn't be here."
Understandable. Pepper was a very busy woman - that's why it had touched Nina's heart so much when the woman took time out of her day to celebrate her birthday.
"Yeah. Thank you." May laughs, taking the check from his fingers. "I think I'm gonna go change the Sterno under the vegan lasagna. Spider-Man, Mendax, you two go shake hands."
"Yes, Miss Parker." Nina chimes in with a smile.
"Will do." The boy does a mock salute, turning to Happy once his aunt is gone. "What just happened?"
"Heads up, Nick Fury's calling the two of you." Happy expertly dodges the question. If it wasn't the newfound information, she would've called him out on it.
"Nick Fury's gonna call us?"
"Yeah."
"Why?" Nina questions, eyebrows twisted in confusion. "That man hates me and I'm not even sure if he knows who Peter is."
"Because he probably has hero stuff for you two to do. You're superheroes. He- he calls superheroes."
"Well I mean, if it was that important, he'd probably call someone else, not us." Peter reasoned out.
"The most action we've done today is save a cat from drowning in a lake." Nina added.
"Apparently not."
The sound of two phones ringing simultaneously gathered their attention, one coming from Peter's worn out backpack and the other once coming from Nina's Birkin bag - which was right next to her.
She grabs her phone, showing the caller to Happy.
"That's it. No caller ID. That's him."
"I don't really wanna talk to Nick Fury." Peter whined with a raised brow.
"I don't want to either," Nina set her phone on mute, watching as the phone vibrated in her finger. "That man hates me! He keeps on trying to get me arrested!"
"Answer the phone."
"Why?" The two of them shoot at the same time.
"Because if you two don't talk to him now, I'll have to talk, and I don't want talk to him."
"Well why don't you wanna talk to him?"
"Because I'm sca-" Happy pauses, retracting his statement. "Just answer the phone."
Nina closed her phone, hanging up on the man. Seeing this gave Peter that push he needed, and a bit too confidently, he hung the call, shoving it in Happy's face with a proud smirk.
"You two sent Nick Fury to voicemail?" Happy whisper-shouted, obviously growing more panicked as each second passed by.
"Yeah."
"You don't send Nick Fury to voicemail!"
"Did you hear that? They're calling us." Peter grabbed Nina's wrist softly, dragging her over behind the curtains to go take pictures with everyone. "That's- Nina and I gotta go, right?"
Nina smirks at him, "Yup."
"You gotta talk to him!"
"I'm gonna call him. I promise you, I'm gonna call him. I will!"
"I won't!"
"You do not ghost Nick Fury!" Happy yelled at the two teenagers, watching in annoyance as the two of them walked over behind the curtains, blocking him out of their sights.
"I promise you, I'll call him." Once he was sure Happy couldn't hear him any more, he whispered to himself, "After my trip."
Once the two of them are finished taking pictures with both adults and kids alike, they stand in front of the panel, cameras clicking at them vigorously. Nina could see that Peter was getting a bit overwhelmed - probably his senses reacting to this, so she mind controls the photographers discreetly to stop the flashes.
"Okay, okay, one question at a time." Nina commands the crowd, pointing to a woman who has a microphone. "Yes?"
"Mendax, are you the head Avenger? Are you the head Avenger now?"
"No, I am not. That information is confidential." More like she didn't know. "Next!"
"If the aliens come back, what are you two gonna do?" Another journalist questions
Peter is obviously uncomfortable, taking deep breaths in as he processes the answer. "Does anyone have any neighborhood questions?"
"Sean Winford, Queens Tribune." Peter leans in closer towards the man, hoping that it's a normal question. He sees Nina start to loose her composure from his side, "What it is like to take for you two to take over from Tony Stark? Those are some big shoes to fill."
Tony.
At the mention of the man, Nina could feel the tears threatening to fall just at the thought of telling them about what happened and get into detail of that. "Next question, please." Nina shook her head, trying to ignore the way her heart constricted against her chest, shielding her from being able to breathe properly.
"Let's get out of here?" Peter questions her through their shared voice channel - him too on the verge of a panic attack.
Nina merely nods, not being able to form any words. Her chest hurt too much.
"We're — we're gonna go. Thanks so much, everyone, for coming." Peter rushes out, one hand wrapped around her waist while the other got them the hell out of there - swinging for the two of them to land up on the roof, away from all those reporters who were suffocating them.
Nina shuts her eyes as she collapses next to the boy. She can't deal with anything right now. The weight of the world is too heavy on her shoulders right now. Next Tony Stark. It's been a bit since someone referred to her as that once again, it took her a little off guard, that's all. Breathe, she thinks, breathe it out.
But she can't. Her breathing is so quick now, it feels like her lungs aren't letting in any air at all.
Next Tony Stark.
Peter wraps an arm around her, and Nina closes her eyes again, breathing starts to slow. Soon, Peter knows that the girl has calmed down, evident by the way her heartbeat slowed down, and holds her closer, staring at the memoriam of their dead mentor. "It's all right. We'll be all right."
Maybe he was right. Maybe he wasn't. But, if there was one thing for sure, it was that the universe hates them.