After watching Peter look longingly at MJ the entire nine-hour flight, you’re about ready to lose it. Your original seating plan had suited you fine; you, Ned, and Peter in a row. The dream team. Then the whole ‘perfume allergy’ fiasco had resulted in a seating plan where MJ was sat next to Brad, Peter was next to Mr. Harrington, and Ned and Betty were together leaving you next to a passed-out Mr. Dell. Wonderful.
You kept glancing back to Peter, wondering if there was some way to orchestrate another change that resulted in the two of you together, but in the end you decided against it. You can’t compete with the puppy-dog heart-eyes he kept throwing at MJ, anyway. You and Ned can be single and happy together.
By the time you’re in Venice airport, however, in some Twilight Zone turn of events, Ned and Betty are dating. Which leaves you and Peter, as friends.
In Venice, Peter pulled you aside to help himbuy a necklace for MJ. A touching and incredibly romantic move that made your heart ache slightly at the recipient not being you.
Then the whole water monster thing had happened, Peter (or rather, Spider-Man - you and Ned had found out around the same time) had been visited by Nick Fury, and suddenly your summer travels were derailed by a crazy man in a cape with a hero-complex and very powerful life-threatening technology.
Exactly what you’d imagined when you’d tried to make a plan to finally confess your feelings to your best friend… while he constantly tries to go after another girl. (You hadn’t planned that last bit - subsequently, that was what had made you give up on your plan in the first place. Peter and MJ could be really happy together, and who are you to stop the boy you love from being happy?)
But now, as you stand below a double-decker bus on Tower Bridge and the skies grow dark and ominous as one of Mysterio’s illusions begins to encompass London, you can’t help but wonder whether keeping quiet was the right thing to do - if you die now, he’ll never know.
Your classmates scream as you all sprint along the bridge, dodging cars and pieces of debris that fall from the bridge. There’s a clash in your brain of the knowledge that this is an illusion and the feeling of wind whipping past your face and things hurtling towards you.
You jump wildly to the side to avoid getting crushed by a falling piece of the bridge, eyes wide as the ground shakes where it landed. Hesitantly, you lower yourself into a crouch, shaking fingers outstretched, and touch the very solid piece of stone. That just fell right where you were standing. Okay, so the illusions are deadly and you’re all gonna die. Great.
“We have to move!” MJ shouts, and you couldn’t agree more as you rise and begin to run along with the rest of the group.
After a few minutes of panicked running and making sure everyone is okay, your class finally reaches the end of the bridge and turns to look back.
“It’s real.” You state in a hushed tone as your class pauses to look at the falling bridge, and both MJ and Ned turn to you with furrowed brows.
“No it’s not. It’s an illusion.” Ned says, and MJ nods along.
“Yeah, I saw the tech.”
You sigh. “Well, the threat is real. The tower is actually breaking, and…” You look over at the dark rolling clouds with violent flashes of lightning spiking out of them. “And I’m pretty sure that’s gonna hurt us too.”
Your eyes dart down from the sky, where you spot a flash of red appear briefly above the creature - the illusion, you remind yourself - and your heart soars. “Peter.” His name falls off your lips in a hopeful whisper, and you glance over at Ned, who looks like he knows what you’re about to do.
“No, Y/N, no, this is a bad idea-” He tries.
“I have to. I have to help him.” You argue as he continues to shake his head.
“You don’t have any powers, Y/N! Come on, this is gonna get you…” MJ’s argument dies off as she watches you take off towards the bridge. “Killed.”
“Come back!” Ned shouts, but you keep sprinting into the destruction.
There’s even more debris than before, and you have to keep darting your eyes around you to avoid the pieces falling and the ones already on the ground. You stop and look back up at the illusion, eyes widening in fear at how real it looks.
Suddenly, there’s a flicker, and then the illusion begins to fade away, revealing the drones beneath, and the sight of Peter crouched on top of one in his Spider-suited-glory makes your heart soar.
And then your heart drops as Peter gets smacked out of the sky and plummets towards the ground, slamming into the hard concrete just in front of you.
“Pete- Spider-Man!” You correct yourself, glancing around to ensure no one could hear his name. His head darts up to look at you, eyes on his mask wide, and you fill with concern as you notice him clutching his side.
“What’re you doing here?” His voice is panicked, and when you finally reach him he stumbles back from you. “No, no, you can’t be here, you gotta go-”
His head darts up suddenly and he launches himself upwards away from you as drones fly towards him. “You’re not safe!” He shouts over the commotion as the drones begin to fire, causing you to duck behind a car as Peter steadily heads towards the opposite bridge, where you can now spot an outline of a man behind the glass. Mysterio.
You glance upwards, looking into the glass panels of the bridge Beck is hiding in. You can see him, and the drones surrounding him, as well as Peter’s figure entering the opposite end of the room. You see Peter stalking towards Beck, and then a whirlwind of action as his red outline darts from drone to drone, steadily moving towards Mysterio.
You see Beck double over and fall down, and you clench your jaw as you notice the drones all stop firing. Peter’s done it, you think.
What you don’t see is Beck smirk grimly as the E.D.I.T.H. glasses finally get a scan of your face, giving him your location, and you don’t hear him order the A.I. to kill you, nor do you see the absolute terror that seizes Peter when he hears the dying man’s command.
What you do see is all the remaining drones in your vicinity suddenly halt midair and whirl around to lock onto you. Your eyes widen as they all begin to fly towards you, and a curse escapes your lips as you turn to sprint the other direction.
Peter hears you curse and turns just in time to watch the car you’d been hiding behind get blown up in a fiery explosion.
“NO!” He screams in horror, panic seizing him as he shoots a web and swings through the broken glass panels, over to where he’d seen you last, which is now all smoking remains. Nothing could have survived that. “No, no, no…” He mutters as he pulls his mask off, vaguely registering Happy’s voice questioning him on the other end of the comms.
His spider-sense alerts him to movement near him, and he whips his head to the side just in time to see your arm shoot out from under a car and drag yourself out. You’re covered in dirt, your face is scraped and bleeding, but you’re so alive he could cry with relief.
Which he almost does.
Your name escapes his lips as you shakily push yourself up into a standing position, and you nod tearily. You surge forward to meet him as he rushes towards you, arms outstretched, and both of you let out sobs of relief as you wrap your arms around each other.
“You’re alive. You’re okay.” Peter says, more of a reassurance to himself than anything else, and you nod against the crook of his neck.
He stands back, suddenly, scanning your face, and the fear and panic of the previous moments overtakes you, and you open your mouth to finally confess what’s been on your mind this entire time.
“I think I’m in love with you.” Peter blurts.
You blink, eyebrows furrowing, and his face falls as he tries to backtrack. “I mean- Um, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-”
You silence him by leaning over and pressing your lips to his.
When you pull back, a goofy grin spreads over his face. “And… you kissed me.” He says, like he can’t believe it.
“Pete, I’ve had a crush on you since like two years ago. But I didn’t think you’d like me back.” You admit shyly, and he entwines his hand with yours.
“Are you kidding me? You’re so smart, and brave, and so beautiful, and-” He rambles, then shakes his head and cuts himself off as a pink tinge rises to his cheeks. “I thought I didn’t have a chance with you.”
You laugh at the absurdity of the mutual pining, placing your other hand on the back of Peter’s neck. “I’m in love with you too.” You say, touching your forehead to his, and you can almost feel the joy that radiates off of him.
“…Cool.” He says after a moment, and a laugh bursts from your lips at his reply before he gently seals his lips to yours once more.
When you finally pull away, you squeeze his hand. “I should get back to the class.” You say, breathless, and he nods dazedly.
“I should…” He gestures back towards the way he came, holding up his Spider-Man mask, and you nod, a smile stretching your cheeks.
You turn to go, nearly letting go of his hand, but he suddenly tugs you back towards him, drawing a startled yelp from you, and plants another kiss on your lips.
You smile against him, your hands coming up to rest on his chest. “Okay, I really have to go now. We have plenty of time for this later.” You giggle, and he nods.
“Okay. Yeah. Good.” Peter stammers, letting go of your hand as you walk a few steps away.
“I love you!” You call back to him, watching with pride as he ducks his head and his ears burn a bright pink.
“I love you too.” He replies, tugging on his mask and shooting a web at the tower, and you release an enamored sigh as you watch him swing off into the distant London skyline.