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Previously...

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Boom!

That was Peter, it had to be. Following the noise of the explosion led you to a bridge, and on it was Peter just as you thought. Around him were the remains of a platoon of drones.

"Bug-Boy," you ran to him, "I want this to be a really cute reunion but Beck will probably kill us if we do that."

"You're right," Peter nodded, looking at the overpass above, "He's up there."

"I got this."

Using water from the river beneath the bridge, you wrapped the two of you in it and propelled into the air so quickly that both of you slammed through the glass flooring in front of Beck. While he was still in shock due to the sudden entrance, you and Peter delivered swift punches. It felt good to finally get a good hit in.

"Your lies are over Beck," Peter picked him up by the front of his suit and held him in the air.

"Well, this certainly isn't ideal, but I have contingencies. EDITH?"

A sonic blast hit both of you and blew you across the overpass. Groaning in pain, the two of you were quick to recover. Any hesitation would quickly result in your death.

"Just give us the glasses," Peter sighed, hand over his ribs.

"You want this?" Beck held up the glasses, "Come and get 'em."

At least ten drones flooded the hallway. Peter looked to you, "I have my Peter Tingle, but you-"

"Thanos tricked my mind, and Beck did the same thing. I don't have your senses, but I know an illusion. Especially now that I've seen Beck's. I'll be okay."

That was enough for him. The entire hallway went dark, and you were left to your own instincts to survive. Closing your eyes, you reached out to the water particles present in the air. Moisture was present in every situation everywhere. Being aware of it at all times would be overwhelming, so you normally tuned it out. Now, being aware of it was exactly what you needed. 

A swoosh of air behind you, shifting of particles, and you swung out - using your precision blades to stab two of the drones straight through the middle. The next one came from the side, and the charge of its blaster was your cue. You shot it with an ice dart. The third and fourth were in front and behind. Throwing out your hands, you flooded their systems with water and destroyed them from the inside out.

The last one hit you with a sonic boom, and you hit the metal siding of the overpass. Swinging your hands up you formed a little ice bubble that blocked the first shot. When it went in for the second, it was on the ground, imploding from ice in its gun.

The darkness disappeared, and Peter was right next to you, alive and unharmed just like you were. In front of you, was Beck. On his back, shot, and dying. You and Peter rushed to him.

"You lied to us. We trusted you."

"I know, and that's the most... disappointing part. Such a weakness. Stark was right, you do deserve them-"

Peter's hand shot out and redirected Beck's before he could shoot him in the head. It was Beck's final illusion because from what you could tell, the drones really did do some damage to him in the chaos.

"You can't trick me anymore," Peter grunted, twisting his wrist until the gun fell from his grasp.

"Still naive!"

"No!"

Beck's body tensed, and the second gun he'd been concealing behind his back fell to the floor. Peter dropped Beck's hand and looked at you with wide eyes. You yourself were shocked at your actions, but you weren't the sniveling mess you thought you'd be.

"Monster," Beck grit out as you lowered his body to the floor.

"I'm only a monster if I want to be," you hissed back, releasing your hold on his body, "And that is a choice I'll never make."

Snatching the glasses off of Beck's face, Peter shoved them onto his, "EDITH cancel the drones! Yes, execute them all!"

The army of drones outside retreated back into the sky. Sighing in relief, you turned to Beck. Dying just like his illusion was. You could save him, but some dark part of you refused to. He was too intelligent, too well connected to be able to live. Perhaps it wasn't the most heroic line of thought, but you allowed yourself this.

"How could you do this?" You questioned.

"People need to believe. Nowadays they'll believe anything..." Beck trailed off, his eyes glassy and empty.

"Is he- is this for real?" Peter asked EDITH. You assumed she said yes because he took his glasses off and sighed, "We need to meet Fury."

Nodding mutely, you lifted both of you down with some water. Both of you winced when you landed on the bridge, your fresh injuries flaring up. Although Peter's leg injury seemed to be a bit older than that.

"I can't believe it," You mumbled, turning to Peter.

You met in the middle and hugged like you hadn't seen each other in a lifetime. Your mask pulled away from your face and Peter tugged his off. Hugging again, Peter fished a small tin out of a hidden suit pocket. Both of you had gotten upgrades, you noticed now that you had something to focus on other than defeating Beck.

"I uh, I wanted to give this to you in Paris, but we never ended up going... and then I got hit by a train-"

"Wait, you got hit by the train you were on?"

"Oh, yeah. I ended up in the Netherlands and Happy picked me up. You ended up in Wakanda?"

"Yeah, I fell out of a building and almost drowned in a lake. What were you saying?"

"Right! I need to get this out before the universe stops me again," Peter pulled the top off the tin and got down on one knee.

"Peter-"

"I'm not proposing. But I am making a promise. If we didn't age back, I would have proposed as soon as possible. I know I want to spend my life with you. So, I promise to love you, to be your partner on and off the battlefield, and to marry you... what do you say?"

"Well saying yes wouldn't make sense," you laughed, running a hand under your eyes to wipe away the tears, "I love you, and I promise to hold you to your promises."

Peter handed you the ring instead of putting it on your finger. Both of you were bloody and you had fingerless gloves on so it wasn't the right time for that. Your suit formed a protected pocket that you could put the ring in until you were able to put it on.

"I love you," you pulled him in for a long kiss, basking in the moment despite your various aches and pains, "We did it."

"We did it."

~*~

By the time you arrived in New Jersey to get picked up from the airport by your parents, Peter had gotten a temporary brace for his leg, you'd dealt with all the major details with Fury, and you were just ready to be home and have some peace.

"This was a crazy trip," you chuckled along with Ned and Betty.

"Maybe we should go on a double date sometime," Peter suggested conversationally.

"Oh, we broke up," Betty and Ned announced in unison.

You weren't surprised, but still feigned it. Whether Peter was actually surprised or not you would have to ask later.

"What? Why?"

"Well Peter, sometimes in life, people grow apart. They may have learned from each other, but it wasn't meant to be," Ned stated like he knew the meaning of life.

"You are so wise," Betty put a hand on Ned's cheek and left it at that.

"My parents are here, so I guess I'll see you later this summer. Let me know if you're going to Wakanda again, that was cool," MJ nudged your shoulder.

"I will, and good luck at your new internship."

After the Blip, MJ found that she was better suited to investigative work than to directing, so she took up an internship at the NYPD instead. She said it was both because she figured out Peter and you were heroes before anyone else, and because it would be cool to be that one cop with all the secret information.

"I'm glad you're okay," Harry said quietly from behind you after MJ left. You turned to him with a smile.

"You know me, I'm a survivor. I'm looking forward to just relaxing for the rest of the summer."

With a furrowed brow, Harry asked "What did Beck do wrong?"

"What do you mean?" You asked in confusion. He was a criminal, it was kind of obvious what he did wrong.

"What went wrong with his plan?"

"Oh, um, a lot of things I guess. He couldn't beat my hero instincts and MJ's snooping and Peter's determination. Sometimes villains are just destined to fail," sensing the shift in Harry's mood, you hugged him to offer some comfort, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, see you later, (Y/n)."

You left him at that and worked your way through the crowd of parents to see if you could find your own. To your embarrassment, they found you.

"(Y/n)!"

"(Y/n)! Move bitch, I want to hug my child!"

Guess who said what. It wouldn't be very hard. You were tackled by two strong forces and had the life squeezed out of you. It wasn't until you complained that they were irritating your bruises that they stopped and allowed you to breathe as they led you out to the car.

"We'll take you shopping so you can buy new stuff," your mom motioned to your basically empty hands, minus the new watch you were sporting in honor of Tony that held your suit, "Since it was destroyed."

"Thanks."

"You kicked ass (Y/n)! That was so cool, and you're new uniform, love it! I'm so proud," your dad teared up, "When your mom and I had you we were so worried about how you would be treated, but you carved your own path."

"No crying while driving, honey," your mom advised, unconcerned with your dad's overly emotional state.

"Sorry Clara, I'll hold them back till we get home."

Laughing, you sighed happily. It was good to be back.

~*~

A week after London, you and Peter were due for a nice date. Instead of going to one of your normal spots, you thought it'd be fun to take a swing around New York and learn more about your new uniforms.

He picked you up on your fire escape and you set off. The city was just as you left it, if not more vibrant since the two of you were still so happy to be back. You cheered with joy as Peter performed stunts in midair, placing all your trust in him to keep hold of you and catch you if he let go.

After around ten minutes of air time, you stopped in front of one of the food stands that offered both of you free service as thanks for your hero work and were about to get something to drink when the video screens around you cut off.

"This is breaking news."

"We come to you now with revelations about last week's attack in London. An anonymous source provided this video. It shows Quentin Beck AKA Mysterio moments before his death. A warning: you may find this video disturbing."

Sure enough, Beck appeared on the screen. He was frantic and stated; "I managed to send the Elemental back through the dimensional rift but I don't think I'll get off this bridge alive. Spider-Man has attacked me for some reason. He has an army of weaponized drones, Stark technology. He's saying he's the only one who can be the new Iron Man. Riptide is still helping the civilians Spider-Man sent the droids after. I don't think they know what's happening, and I fear that Spider-Man would kill them too if they knew what was happening."

It cut to the end of the battle, where Peter ended the drone strike, only instead of asking if Peter wanted to stop the attack she EDITH asked if he wanted to commence a drone attack, and you weren't there just like Beck said. Peter ordered; "Do it, execute them all."

"This shocking video was released earlier today on the controversial news website TheDailyBudgle.net."

"It is irrefutable that Spider-Man was responsible for the brutal murder of Mysterio- an interdimensional warrior who gave his life to protect our planet and who will no doubt go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time. But that's not all, folks, brace yourselves, you might want to sit down."

"I can't say Riptides for fear that they'll be in danger by Spider-Man, but Spider-Man's real name is P- Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!"

Whispers, shouts, and jeers erupted from the streets around us as civilians took in their former hero-turned villain. You knew you should have been worried for Peter, hell, you should have been screaming along with the civilians. But as Peter picked you up to swing the two of you away to a safe place where you could talk about what was going on, there was only one thought going through your head.

Why only Peter?