I don't own anything except any original character and/or any original plot

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Chapter Five: Parties

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You woke up the next morning not to your alarm, but to the non-stop buzzing of your phone signifying a slew of new text messages. Reaching over drowsily, you grabbed your phone and brought it to your face.

(Y/n) we have a problem

This is Peter by the way

Parker

Peter Parker

Chuckling, you input your password to get into your phone so you could reply. It was only ten minutes until your alarm went off so there was no point in trying to go back to sleep.

What happened?

I'll tell you at school. Meet you at your locker

You set your phone back on your nightstand, rubbing your tired eyes and rolling out of bed to get ready for the day.

Shuffling to the bathroom, you went through your morning routine and with half-lidded eyes. It wasn't until you washed your face and the cold water had a chance to shock you that you really began to wake up. You waved your hand over your face to remove any remaining water and dropped it into the sink.

Now that you were more awake you were moving around faster. You chose an outfit and were quick to pull it on. Loading the homework you did last night back into your back, you carried it out of your room to the kitchen with you.

Both of your parents were sitting at the kitchen table, chatting happily and eating their breakfast.

"What are you two-" you cut yourself off when your socks slipped on the hardwood floor, nearly sending you to the ground.

Your parents laughed. Your dad even spit out some of his coffee. You regained your balance and glared at your parents.

"Nearly two years of training with the X-Men and you're still as clumsy as you were when you were a kid," your mom handed your dad a towel so he could wipe up the coffee he spewed over the counter.

"Leave me alone," you couldn't help but smile as you continued with what you were saying earlier, "What are you working today?"

"Till six," your dad said as he wiped off the coffee.

"I have the night shift so I'll be here when you get home."

"Great, I'm probably going to go on patrol again so..."

"Text us when you leave."

"Will do!"

You quickly ate your food, answering a few texts from the X-Men asking about how your first day went. All of them were ecstatic to find out that you managed to find and nail down a "partner in crime".

"I'm off to school," you pulled your bag over your shoulders and waved goodbye to your parents as you left.

You took the elevator down to the lobby and waved to the normal secretary as you left the building. Swiftly walking to the subway, you scanned your subway card and passed through the turnstile. It didn't take long for your morning train to pull in. You stepped on and grabbed one of the poles, trying not to think about who - or what - touched it before you.

One of the perks of your mutation was that the increased amount of water constantly running through your body reduced the chances of illness because it cleared your skin and cells from the inside out. It had always been a perk to your mutation, but having to ride the subway to school every day made it much more useful.

The train stopped and you followed the flow of people to get off. You took the steps two at a time until you reached the ground level and continued your walk to Midtown - which was incredibly close to the station.

Upon entering Midtown you walked through the halls until you located your locker, stopping to drop off your books and wait for Peter. There were more eyes on you today than there was yesterday now that potential rumors had been given a chance to spread.

"I heard they went to a high-class private school."

"Apparently they're like a master at all these different subjects. I don't know why they'd move here if that was the case."

Frowning, you focused on unlocking your lockers instead of the whispers.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," you didn't know how they nailed down what school you went to. Michelle certainly wouldn't have told anyone, "I heard the headmaster got shot in a gunfight."

"I heard that's where all the mutants go."

"The new girl isn't crazy though. She hasn't tried to hurt us or anything. There's no way she could be a mutant."

"Just ignore them."

Jumping, one of your textbooks slipped from your hands. Sending Liz a grateful smile, you bent down and picked it up again.

"They always do this," Liz continued, "Give it a week and it'll die down."

"That's reassuring."

"I'm having a party tonight," Liz changed the subject, "At around seven. I'll give you my number during Decathlon and text you my address. On Saturday we can go shopping for homecoming if you want."

"Oh, I wasn't sure whether to go to homecoming or not," you waved your hand dismissively, "Being the new kid and everything."

"Well, I bought you a ticket during lunch yesterday so now you have to go," Liz smiled mischievously and handed you the small slip of paper, "It'll be great, I promise. Talk to you later!"

As soon as Liz left Peter and Ned approached you, as if they were waiting for her to leave.

"Hey," you noticed that Peter's gaze trailed after Liz, "What did you need to tell me?"

"Ned knows," Peter answered absently, his eyes still on Liz.

"The new kid got to know before you told me?" Ned asked, offended.

"Ned," you lowered your voice, "I'm a hero too, I go by Riptide." Ned squealed. "Quiet down! I'm a mutant, I can control water- hydrokinesis."

"Like Aquaman! Or maybe like a waterbender from Avatar. Do you call it waterbending? You should call it waterbending!"

"Oh," Peter snapped out of his trance, "There was a robbery a few minutes after you left. These guys had these crazy weapons that destroyed Mr. Delmar's shop."

"That's insane!" The warning bell rang. Ned had a different first hour so he said bye while you and Peter walked together, "Now spill. You like Liz, don't you?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Just a bit," you smirked, "It's cute though! You should ask her to go to homecoming with you."

"I think I liked it better when you were too shy to talk to me."

"Oh come on! Riptide and (Y/n) are one and the same now that you know my identity, Bug-Boy. We'll talk about this more later."

You took your seat next to Michelle and pulled your notebook and folder out of your bag.

"Since when were you friends with Peter?" Michelle eyes you suspiciously.

"Um, since Sunday? We live across the street from each other."

Michelle nodded, sending you one last searching glance before she opened her book and began to read.

~*~

"The Sokovia Accords were put into place to..."

You completely zoned out. You had already heard enough about the Accords, you didn't need to listen to the teacher telling the class that locking up any slightly radical-thinking enhanced being was completely fine.

"How far can you shoot your webs?" You heard Ned ask Peter.

"I don't know," Peter answered shortly.

"If I was you, I would stand on the edge of a building and just shoot it as far as I-"

"Hey," you leaned forward so you were closer to them, "Both of you shut up. I'm trying to ignore this lesson in peace."

The two of them sent you confused looks. You shrugged in response.

~*~

"Hi, I'm Captain America. Whether in the classroom or on the battlefield..."

"Do you know him too?" Ned asked Peter.

"Yeah," Peter answered casually, "I took his shield."

"Sweet."

"I actually fought on his side, unlike some people," you shot Peter a glare.

"Today my good friends, your gym teacher," Steve pointed to the right. Coach Wilson was on the left, "Will be conducting the Captain America Fitness Challenge."

"Thank you, Captain. I'm pretty sure this guy's a war criminal now, but whatever. I have to show these videos. It's required by the state. Let's do it."

As soon as the class broke up to do the activities, Liz called you over. She and a group of her friends were lounging on the bleachers rather than exercising.

"Aren't we supposed to be doing the challenge?" You asked as you walked over.

"Homecoming committee," Betty winked, "We have to 'work' on final details so we're excused. Coach Wilson doesn't care that much either."

"We're really playing F, marry, kill," Liz explained.

"See, for me, it would be F Thor, marry Iron Man, and kill Hulk."

"Well, what about Spider-Man?" Charles questioned.

You glanced over at Peter, sending him a wink when you noticed he was already looking over.

"Did you guys see the bank security cam on YouTube? He fought off four guys!"

"Oh my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man," Betty teased, "I heard Spider-Man has a partner now too, Wave I think their name was?"

"Riptide," you corrected instinctively.

"Peter knows Spider-Man!" Ned suddenly yelled, "And (Y/n) knows Riptide."

Your mouth fell open in shock. You glared at Ned, moving a finger over your neck in a threatening manner. That was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Now you had to do damage control.

"No, not exactly," you laughed nervously.

"Sure," Flash dropped from the climbing rope, "Like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends."

"I-I met him a couple of times yeah, through the Stark internship," Peter lied, stuttering his way through the excuse.

"Yeah, and Riptide saved me from getting mugged when I first came to New York," you added.

"That's awesome. Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite them to Liz's party."

Peter looked at Liz in confusion, "Yeah, I'm having people over tonight."

"You two should totally invite your personal friends, Spider-Man and Riptide," Flash continued sarcastically.

"It's okay, I know Peter's too busy for parties anyway," Liz said kindly.

"He'll be there. Right, Parker?" Flash knocked shoulders with Peter.

The bell rang and everyone walked to the locker rooms. You jumped off the bleachers and ran over to Ned, giving him a firm - but ultimately harmless - punch to the arm.

"What are you doing?" Peter hissed.

"Helping you out. Did you hear her? She has a crush on Spider-Man!"

"And what about me, huh?" You crossed your arms over your chest.

Ned smiled sheepishly, "That one just slipped out."

You shook your head, walking away from the boys and entering the locker room so you could change for your free period.

~*~

"What's the modern name for Stibnum?"

You rang the bell placed in front of you as soon as you heard the question, "Arbinum!"

"Yes, that's right!" Liz sent you a proud, approving smile, "Alright, Michelle, Charles, you can take Peter and (Y/n)'s places."

You jumped off the stage, taking a seat next to Peter on the ground. The two of you listened to the new round of questions boredly. You felt an all too familiar tingle in your hands. Jumping up, you made Peter jump from how abruptly you moved.

"Mr-"

"Go ahead, (Y/n). As long as you aren't on stage you're free to use the bathroom if you need to."

You left the room without another word. The static was turning into needles, and a pained noise got caught in your throat.

"(Y/n)!" Peter called out from behind you.

You ran into the bathroom, freezing when you saw feet under one of the stalls. Resisting the urge to scream in frustration, you stepped out again and quite literally ran into Peter.

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Peter, I need water and no witnesses."

"Here," Peter led you to the nearest water fountain, "Everyone is in class so it'll be fine. If anyone is coming I'll let you know."

You bit your bottom lip until you broke the skin in the few precious seconds it took Peter to press the button on the side of the fountain to release the water. As soon as the first drop came out it was diverted from its original path toward the drain. Peter took his hand off the button as you moved the water in small circles around the fountain. After around ten circles, you dropped the water back into the fountain with a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Peter asked as you turned to walk back to class.

"I have this thing. I don't know why it happens, but I can't go a day without using my mutation, much less a few hours. If I don't use it then my hands start tingling and pain forms. I've been thinking about it more lately, why that happens. I might need to talk to Hank about it."

"Hank?"

"He was sort of like our expert on mutations, the scientist of the team."

"Well, wouldn't he already know about it? I mean, if he's the mutation expert then he would have helped you out when you were with the X-Men, right?"

"He uh, he doesn't know," you rubbed the back of your neck sheepishly, "No one does. The Professor might because he can read minds. Please don't tell anyone. Not my parents, not Ned, and if you ever see the X-Men don't tell them, or Stark. There are so many sides to my mutation, so many things I've done by accident..."

You trailed off, fiddling with your sleeves, "Everyone has been so accepting and the X-Men helped me learn how to control my mutation, and my parents love me no matter what I just- I don't want to worry them. It's not hurting anyone."

"It's hurting you," Peter pointed out.

You sighed and entered the room without saying anything else. Peter stayed outside for a couple more seconds before he came in as well, seemingly deep in thought.

~*~

You glanced out the window of your dad's car, eye wide and breathing fast. Several cars were already lined up along the street near the house. You could faintly hear music coming from inside.

"You sure you want to do this? You don't have to go in there. We can go home and rent the new Kingsman movie."

"No, no. I can do this," you took a deep breath, calming yourself, "I'll probably come home by myself- water transport."

"Alright, have fun, but don't do anything illegal. I trust you."

You rolled your eyes and stepped out of the car onto the street. Jogging up to the house, you frowned at the strange feelings of wearing layers on top of your suit. Slowly, you opened the door to the house, wanting to step back out immediately and go home. The music was loud and there were more people than you thought there would be. Peter had texted you when you were in the car saying he was already there but you couldn't see him anywhere.

"Fancy seeing you here," Michelle approached with a piece of toast in her hand, "I can't believe you actually came, you don't seem like the party type. Is it because you have a crush on Peter?"

You couldn't help but laugh, "I met him three days ago. Come on Michelle, love takes a bit longer than that."

"I never said anything about love," Michelle raised a suspicious brow and took a slow bite of her toast.

"Nice try, Michelle. Speaking of Peter, though, do you know where he is? I don't see him anywhere."

"So, where's your pal Spider-Man? Let me guess. In Canada with your imaginary girlfriend?" If Flash was making fun of Peter then he must have been near.

"Nevermind I can go find him," you waved goodbye to Michelle and followed the crowd to where Flash was DJ-ing.

You spotted Ned in a hat walking down a hallway away from the crowd, and Peter popped up just behind him. You quickly walked past the doorway holding most of the crowd. You didn't want Flash to spot you and insult you too.

"Peter!" You called out.

Peter spun around, letting out a visible sigh of relief when he saw you.

"Good, both of you are here," Ned beamed, "Here's the plan. You come in and give me a high five or something, be cool, then leave."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, Bug-Boy," you grabbed Peter's wrist and pulled him out of a side door.

Peter wrapped his arm around your waist when you were outside and jumped onto the roof across from Liz's house. Once we were balanced and settled, you pulled off your shirt. Glancing over at Peter as you dropped items of clothing on the roof, you giggled at the obvious flush on his face.

"It's not like I'm naked," you laughed when he blushed even more at being called out, "I have my suit on."

Peter nodded absently, tugging his over-shirt off as well. Soon, the two of you were left in your suits, masks off as you looked down at the party. You put your clothes in a neat pile and set your shoes on top of the pile so they were less likely to blow off.

"What do I say?" Peter asked.

Instead of answering him, you chuckled, pulling your phone out of one of the pockets on your belt so you could take a picture. Peter's brows furrowed in confusion when he heard the click of your camera.

"What?"

"You still have your t-shirt on," you pointed out.

While Peter took his second shirt off you stuck your mask on your face, using your phone camera to make sure it was straight.

"God this is so stupid," Peter sighed, looking down at the party, "What are we doing?"

"Well you clearly want to support- Peter," your attention was caught by a bright blue mushroom cloud of energy coming from the park, "I think the party can wait."

Peter stood and followed your gaze, "Shit. Do you want a lift?"

Peter didn't give you a chance to answer before he grabbed you by the waist, shooting off. You passed another few houses and streets before Peter landed on the ground in front of the park. He shot off a web, the substance going as far as possible before it ran out without catching anything. You couldn't help but giggle as Peter's eye slits narrowed.

"We have to run," Peter groaned.

The two of you ran through the large field. Halfway across the sprinklers turned on. You lifted your arms and an invisible umbrella formed above the two of you, keeping you dry.

"This sucks!"

"Imagine how useless you would be if you didn't live in New York," you added.

The two of you finally reached the end of the park's property. Peter grabbed you again and brought you to the top of the bridge in front of your suspects.

"Can you-"

"I got it," you nodded, activating your dispensers.

Peter stuck to the side of the bridge and you wrapped the water around yourself to act as an anchor. Settled and suspicious the two of you watched the weapons exchange go down.

"You letting off shots in public now?"

"Look man, we're the only ones selling this stuff on the streets, alright?"

"This must be where the bank robbers got their stuff," Peter whispered to you.

"I need something to stick up somebody. I'm not trying to shoot them back in time."

"I got anti-grav climbers."

"Climbers?"

Peter's and your phones rang simultaneously. Peter's played a yodeling tune and yours played IDGAF- Michelle's theme for obvious reasons. Both of you panicked and reached for your phones, trying to silence the noise before you were revealed.

"Did you set us up?" One of the two weapons dealers pulled out a gun.

Peter jumped down, "H-hey! Come on. If you're gonna shoot at somebody, then shoot at me!"

"Alright," the man turned to Peter.

"I don't think so," you jumped down from the bridge as well, using a small bit of water to cushion yourself and protect your knees from having to absorb the landing.

Peter shot out a web to grab the gun one of the criminals was holding. The man backed up as Peter ran toward him. You gasped in shock when Peter flew back, leaving a dent in the concrete bridge and sparking as he came down. These men were packing major firepower.

Trusting Peter to handle himself, you ran after the van, using the water from the stores to propel yourself forward. A web shot past you and caught the door of the van, where Peter was hanging on for dear life and sliding on the road.

"Ow, my butt!" Peter cried as he tried to shift positions.

The van took a sharp turn and a blaster shot went through the roof. You watched the gun fly out the back of the van and land in someone's yard. The van took another turn and Peter ran into several trash cans in a row before destroying a mailbox post.

"Spider-Man?" You called out when Peter lost his hold on the van. A shot from what must have been another gun skimmed your arm, causing you to cry out in pain and lose your focus. The water around you fell to the ground in puddles and your body followed soon after, "Ow."

"Shortcut," Peter helped you to your feet before pulling you through several yards. While running through you encountered a family, two terrified girls in a tent, a man barbequing, and a golden lab.

"Up!" Peter warned, grabbing your waist and swinging you to the top of a roof with him, "Thought you could get away from us?"

The two of you jumped off the roof toward the van. Just before your feet hit the ground, something snagged the back of the uniform and pulled you into the air. At first, you thought Peter had grabbed you for some reason, but when you looked over Peter was just as panicked and in the same situation.

You looked up with wide eyes. A strange villain in a frightening get-up resembling a vulture was flying the two of you higher and higher into the sky. You heard Peter's suit beep, and a parachute popped out, pulling him from the man's grasp.

"Spider-Man!" You yelled, panicking when you realized you were now alone. Struggling in the villain's grip, you swung your legs up and kicked at the claw holding you until he let you go, allowing you to free-fall.

You broke the glassy surface of the lake in mere moments, the ice-cold water stunning you for a few seconds. You lifted your hands up and pushed yourself to the surface, treading water and you searched for Peter.

"Spider-Man?" You called out desperately. There was too much water, you couldn't feel his body disturbing the wake anywhere. You didn't know if he was okay or drowning.

A metal suit dove into the water about fifteen feet away from you. You sighed in relief when it flew out with Peter in its arms. The red and gold was all too familiar. The suit stopped, hovered, and the helmet turned to stare at you. Taking the hint, you began to swim to shore.

The suit stopped at a playground at the shore. You climbed onto the jungle gym Peter was placed on, gripping the bars tightly. You waved your hands around Peter and yourself, pulling the water from your soaked suits and dropping it to the ground. Looking up at Iron Man, you scowled.

"Don't make that face with me, I let you keep your freedom," Tony pointed an accusatory finger at you before turning to Peter, "What happened?"

"We were at this party and we saw these people using weapons. When we got there, our phones went off, and we chased after them. And then he just, like, swooped down like a monster and picked us up and flew us up like a thousand feet and dropped us! How'd you find us? Did you put a tracker in my suit or something?"

"I put everything in your suit. Including this heater."

The small droplets of water that remained on Peter evaporated as the heater in his suit turned on.

"Wow, that's better. Thanks."

"What were you thinking?" Tony questioned, "Both of you?"

"Look, tin-man," you scowled. You were tired, hungry, and you didn't need to deal with this right now, "That guy is the source of the dangerous weapons on the streets. We need to take care of him."

"Oh, you need to take care of him do you? There are people who handle this sort of thing."

"The Avengers?"

"No, no, no. This is a little below their paygrade."

"Mr. Stark, you didn't have to come all the way out here. We were fine."

"Oh, I'm not here," Tony's helmet opened to show it was empty, "Thank God this place has Wi-Fi or you would be toast right now. Look, forget the flying vulture guy please."

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Why? Because I said so! Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro."

"But I'm ready for more than that now!"

"I've been fighting bigger things since I was thirteen!"

The two of you stressed your points at the same time but Tony wasn't hearing any of it, "No you are not."

"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America. You can't just change your mind when it doesn't suit you anymore!" Peter fumed.

"Look, kid, if Cap wanted to actually hurt you he would have. If you come across these weapons again then call Happy."

"Are you driving?" You heard the sound of a car engine through his speakers.

"It's not too late to start thinking about college. I got pull at MIT. And (Y/n), I'll be visiting Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters soon to discuss legalizing the little team they have there. They might be receiving a new private sponsor too. End call."

The suit turned and flew away. You scoffed and crossed your arms over your chest. If the expectation for being legalized was that the X-Men sign the Accords then it would never happen and Stark would be banned from visiting.

"I'll grab our clothes from the house and give them to you tomorrow," you offered.

"I don't even know why we went to that stupid party," Peter grumbled moodily.

"I did this for Ned and you," you stated, adjusting yourself on the uncomfortable jungle gym bars, "I hope you did it for the same reasons. He's our friend, and he just wanted to prove that he's cooler than what he's made out to be, so did you."

"What about you? Flash could ruin your chance at having fun in high school," Peter pointed out, "He could turn everyone against you."

"They aren't the people that matter," you shrugged, looking into the distance with a sigh, "I'm a mutant, Peter. Mutants are never treated well- anywhere. There are accepting people like you, and Ned, and Michelle, but that's three out of billions of people in the world. I learned when I was young to not care about what people think. It's not worth my time."

"What do you mean?"

You peeled your mask off your face, freeing your watery eyes to face the cool air, though they only watered more. "When I was seven, I went with my parents to the mall. I made a wish in the fountain and when I threw the coin in the fountain, all the coins floated out of the water in bubbles. People told my parents their daughter was a freak. I didn't understand. I was raised with other mutants."

You laughed again to cover the quiver in your voice, "Sorry, I'm rambling. My point is that you can care about what other people think, and I'll support you if that's what you want, but I won't let myself care. If I did, I would hate my mutation, the biggest part of me. I would be ashamed, and you can never be ashamed of who you are. I'm not shy as (Y/n) because I care about what people say, I'm shy because if I told the wrong person my secret..."

You didn't want to think about it. Instead, you jumped off the jungle gym and stuck your mask back on, "I'll see you at school tomorrow Peter, alright?"

Before Peter could respond you dove into the river. That whole conversation brought up philosophies long shoved into your subconsciousness. You were an X-Men to protect mutants like yourself from hate. You didn't care about people's opinions because you were proud of who you were. And during the day, you were a normal teenager with normal problems because if you were anything else then you feared you'd become one of the mutants you had saved.