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

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Chapter Twenty-One: First Dates (Ft. Real Feelings)

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"Do I need to give him the talk?"

"Oh my gosh, Dad, please don't."

I looked myself over one last time in the mirror before I left the bathroom and met my parents in the kitchen. Peter was supposed to pick me up for our first date within the next two minutes. My parents were more excited than I was.

"This is gonna be great, Lucas, our ship is canon," my mom squealed, grabbing my dad's arm and shaking it, "Oh my gosh our ship is canon!"

"Mom," I put my head in my hands, shaking it in disappointment, "Stop, please."

"It's either I'm excited or protective," Mom defended her actions.

There was a quiet knock from the apartment door. Both of my parents grinned, pushing my out of the kitchen to the door. I quickly said goodbye to my parents and met Peter in the hallway so he wouldn't have to deal with them inside.

"Both of them are more excited than I am," I chuckled, rubbing my arm nervously, "They're children in adult bodies honestly."

"Have fun you two," Jess called from the desk, "But not too much fun... Maybe a little too much. You get it."

"Yeah, yeah."

We took the short walk to Peter's apartment together. As Peter had reported, Aunt May was working, so it was just the two of us. Peter had already set out food, so we simply sat down and tried to pick.

"Star Wars is strictly friend nights. We can't break tradition so they're out," I moved the Star Wars movies out of the way, "What about Disney?"

"Beauty and the Beast!" Peter snatched the case, putting the DVD in the player before I had the chance to argue, "The best Disney movie."

I giggled. Both of us sitting on the couch we got comfortable. The familiar music played through the TV speakers, Peter and me humming along. We were squirming in excitement. Say what you want about Disney but Beauty and the Beast was amazing.

Around an hour into the movie the ballroom scene popped up. Peter cleared his throat and stood up, pushing aside the coffee table. Giving a mock bow, he held out his hand.

"Would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to my good sir."

Pulling me close to his chest, we twirled around the furniture in the small living room. Even after "Tale As Old As Time" ended, we continued laughing and dancing. Enjoying our chance to be a classic Disney couple. Sure, we stumbled over the rug and didn't know how to dance very well, but it made things even better.

Eventually, our twirling stopped, and we swayed in place. I laid my head on Peter's shoulder, breathing in deeply. I wasn't sure if he was wearing cologne or if his natural scent was amplified because of our closeness. Either way it was nice, intoxicating.

"Half a year and we're finally together," I chuckled, leaning my head back to look into his eyes, "Took you long enough to ask me out."

Peter nodded in agreement. Both of us knew I would have to go home soon, and face an interrogation from my parents, but the time stretched and let us spend what felt like a lifetime in our happiness.

The Next Day- 7:29 AM

At school the next day Harry ran up to me with a knowing grin on his face. I gave him a suspicious look, moving past my locker. It was a half day, meaning I didn't have to drop anything off.

"You are going to love me forever," he sang.

"Oh really? Why's that pretty-boy?"

"I talked to the other board members at Oscorp, and they said that they had some floors open up in the new tower, so I suggested making a Marine Research center, and well... I got you an interview for your college internship."

"Oh my God, Harry!" I jumped Harry, giving him a tight hug, "You didn't have to do that, that's just... Wow."

"Look out Peter, Harry's coming for your girl," MJ joked, as her, Peter, and Ned joined us in our directionless walk around the hallways.

"Haha, hilarious. Harry actually got me an internship at Oscorp," I grinned, "Have you guys thought about your junior and senior internships?"

"There's an opening at the Daily Bugle. I'm gonna see if I can get it," Peter said.

"Computer programming at a local tech lab."

Everyone looked to MJ, who shrugged, "I got a job as an assistant to a director on Broadway."

"Broadway? MJ you never told us you wanted to be an actress."

"Producer actually. Apparently I'm really good at scaring people and ordering them around."

The group laughed, knowing the truth in her words. MJ may have looked unassuming, but she could kill with a single glare.

"So Harry, when's the interview?"

"Tonight, at seven. I'll pick you up and bring you there. It'll make you look even better."

I slapped Harry's arm.

~*~

"Okay, they'll ask you questions like why you want the job, past experience, why you should get it, so on. You have a resume right? You'll need one."

"Yeah, I made it during third hour since we weren't doing anything," I held up the small folder I was clutching tightly, "Not a lot of experience. I can't exactly say I'm a mutant who controls water."

"Just add a note that says you went on educational trips at your old school. It's not technically a lie."

I nodded in understanding, grabbing a pen from the cupholder in front of me. In the space in the experience section, I added the note. It did make my resume look better.

"Welcome Mr. Osborn, Ms. (L/n). The board is waiting in the meeting room," a secretary greeted us from the front desk when we walked in, "You can go on ahead. Seventh floor, the elevator opens straight into the room."

Harry and I walked to the elevator. Harry was the one to press the seventh floor button. As we stood in silence, my anxiety grew each time a new floor light lit up.

"I'm not too fancy right? Or am I underdressed? I don't know this seemed like a formal thing-"

"(Y/n), you look great. Next to me, even better. You'll get the internship."

Rolling my eyes at the dumb smirk on Harry's face, I couldn't help but smile, "I hope so."

The doors opened straight into the meeting room. There, the board was waiting. All except for Norman. I faintly wondered where he could be, but then my nerves took over and it slipped from my mind.

"Welcome Miss. (L/n), take a seat."

I did as the leading woman said. The man closest to me held out a hand for my resume. He looked it over when I passed it to him, nodding once before passing it to his colleague.

"Harry, if you could please wait in the other room," Harry nodded and left to the room adjacent to the meeting one, "Alright. Well, everything here looks good. Harry has only good things to say about you, and heaven knows he has a better reputation than his father."

My brows furrowed at the comment, but before I could ask about it, the woman continued talking, reading over my resume further.

"We have received other internship requests, but considering how Harry suggested the department be made just for you, you have your internship. Once you send out college applications and decide what one to go to, we'll communicate with that college."

I grinned. Usually jobs had call backs and whatnot. Guess Harry pulled strings to make sure this was different. Slightly nepotistic, but I would work hard to prove my worth.

"Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, actually. Forgive me, if this is out of bounds, but you said that Norman Osborn has a bad reputation. What did you mean by that?"

"Mr. Osborn made a business decision that caused us a majority of income. The reason we had room to make a floor for a Marine Division was because he lost right to control floors."

"Oh," was all I choked out, "Well that is very unfortunate, but I'm glad that Harry still has access to-"

BOOM!

Thrown from my office chair I hit the floor hard as an explosion ran through a floor either above or below us. It was somewhere close enough to shatter the window to our right. Wheezing, I pushed myself up with shaking arms.

"So I heard you're giving away my floors."

"Oh my God," I whispered, putting all the pieces together. An 'aha' moment if you would.

The Green Goblin had money and access to tech, just like Norman Osborn. Norman had a chip on his shoulder towards the company, and towards Spider-Man and Riptide. Why he didn't like the two heroes I didn't know, and I didn't have the time to think about it.

Wincing, I glanced around me, ears ringing. Harry was panicking in the other room, running towards me. I must have hit my head harder than I thought because everything was happening in slow motion.

I turned to the executives. Some of them weren't moving, but their chests were. They were alive at the very least.

"Harry," I whimpered, gripping his forearms when he reached out for me. Helping me stand, I pushed him away from the window and into the room he was formerly in. I ducked down behind a couch, pulling out my phone, a fresh crack in the screen's corner, "I need to call Peter. I'm not Riptide, I'm (Y/n) right now."

"First, you take my company away from me, then you don't expect me to come back. Do you know what I do with people who doubt my abilities? I fire them."

"Peter," I hissed frantically into the phone, "You need to get here. Now. Green Goblin is here, and I figured out who he is. But I don't have my suit and I can't fight back!"

"I'll be right there, stay safe."

I shoved my phone back into my pocket. Our only option was to wait.

"We need to do something, or find a way out of here."

"Peter is on the way. We need to lie low until then. He can handle this on his own."

After a few minutes that felt like hours I heard Peter's voice, too frantic to be disguised. Never had I been so relieved to hear it.

"You picked the wrong day to attack Oscorp Green Goblin."

"Where's your little sidekick?"

"I am no sidekick!" I moved to jump out but Harry grabbed my arm and yanked me down before I could.

"You need to let him handle this on his own."

Sighing, I watched over the edge of the couch as Peter fought Green Goblin. Though, the villain didn't seem to be attacking to kill as much as he did experimentally. He was seeing what he had to improve in his equipment, testing his new tech.

"Are you okay?"

Screaming, I whipped around to face Peter. Apparently, while I was lost in my thoughts Green Goblin had flown away, his work of terrorizing being done.

"Yeah, we're fine," I wrapped my arms around Peter's neck in a hug, "Thank you for getting here so fast."

"Of course. I have to go but I'll talk to you later. Call me when you're done with the police and the ambulance."

"Right. We really need to talk."

~*~

As soon as I was brought home by Harry, my parents were all over me. With only a cut above my right eyebrow- which I easily healed- I was fine and allowed to go to bed. But I didn't. I texted Peter to swing over and put my mask on so I could talk to Misty.

"Misty I need you to look at something for me. The people at Oscorp said that Norman made a business decision that cost them a big chunk of their revenue. Do whatever you can to find out what that was."

Peter knocked lightly on my window. I motioned for him to come inside, waiting on Misty for an answer.

"Is there a reason you have your mask on?"

"Norman Osborn is Green Goblin," I whispered, as though he was listening in, "Think about it Bug-Boy, it all makes sense. Every time he's talked to us, hasn't he seemed off?"

"Well, what are we going to do? Does Harry know?"

"No, and I'm not sure if we should tell him about it."

"Miss (Y/n), it appears as though Oscorp made several payments to Adrian Toomes under the rouse of a business investment."

"Oh my God," I sat down on my bed, "Oscorp funded Vulture. When we took him out they lost their funding from Liz's dad selling weapons. That's why Norman was suspended. Do you know what this means?"

Peter shook his head, waiting for me to say what I was going to.

"It means that I can't take that internship, I just lost my best recommendation for colleges. Not only that, but we're the reason why Green Goblin was made. We're gonna have to take out Harry's dad just like we did Liz's."