The Bodyguard (Spinoff To Spider-Man Wrongfully Accused)

A New "Normal" For Peter Parker

It had been a week since Peter Parker had defeated Quentin Beck/Mysterio with the help of Daredevil and She-Hulk, and the villain was defeated and arrested. After his acquittal, the public started to favor Spider-Man in a more positive light now, even if there was a minority of people that believed Spider-Man was not innocent. It was a small minority, but boy was it loud and obnoxious. There were some people on public social media who would say very toxic things regarding Peter and his lawyers, some saying that Jennifer Walters deserved to get shot or that Peter should have been shot instead of Walters, or most recently, the infamous hashtag, "#MysterioForever." It was about as famous as the hashtag known as "#ThanosWasRight." Matt did warn Peter when they were visiting Jen at the hospital that although he was acquitted and proven innocent, that didn't mean he wasn't innocent in the court of public opinion, be it majority or minority. But right now, Peter just wanted to spend a normal day with his girlfriend Michelle, MJ for short. Just as himself, Peter Parker, not Spider-Man. He went up to the apartment that MJ and her family lived at, with flowers in hand, and knocked on the door. He was wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and a baseball cap, hoping for some anonymity.

A minute later, MJ answered the door. "Hey MJ." Peter said casually as he smiled sweetly at his girlfriend, "I don't know if you're into flowers or anything, but I figured you might like these." He then gave MJ some flowers. "Quite the romantic, are we?" MJ teased. "I mean if you don't like them..." Peter awkwardly said. MJ took the flowers and said, "I'm just messing with you, they're perfect, Peter. Just give me a moment to put these inside." She then went inside to put the flowers in a vase. She would worry about getting them watered later. Once MJ went back outside, she asked, "aren't you forgetting something?" Peter smiled and said, "oh but of course." He then kissed her on the lips, much to MJ's joy, even if she wasn't one to express it. The young couple definitely wanted to make up for lost time since it had been a week after Peter was acquitted, and he had mostly spent that time in jail, with few visits from MJ. She was his rock, as was Aunt May.

"So where to?" MJ asked. "I figured we could get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins," suggested Peter. MJ shrugged and nonchalantly said, "I guess that sounds better than swinging around the city. Nice baseball cap by the way." Peter held MJ's hand and they walked on over to Baskin Robbins. MJ never judged Peter for wearing the hoodie, sunglasses, and cap, even if it wasn't logically inconspicuous. But when the whole world knows your boyfriend is a superhero vigilante, and a controversial one at that, what can you do? Peter and MJ knew there would be consequences when Mysterio exposed his identity, and Peter would have to live with them. Hopefully Peter wouldn't try to ask a sorcerer to make everyone forget who he was, that could be calamitous.

Peter and MJ went to the ice cream shop and got in line with all the other customers. Peter was just hoping nobody would bombard him with questions or other crazy stuff like that. He just wanted to have a normal date with his girlfriend. Peter ordered a cone of BR's ice cream flavor of the month, which was Cherry Vanilla, and MJ ordered a chocolate ice cream cone, because chocolate was her favorite ice cream flavor, and cherry vanilla was Peter's favorite ice cream flavor. After paying for the order, Peter and MJ sat down at a table together. MJ smiled with a hint of affection and said, "I gotta say, this date is off to a good start. How are you holding up?" Peter shrugged and nonchalantly replied, "surviving. May and I are thinking of moving to a different house to ensure some form of privacy. How are you feeling about school coming up? Hard to believe we're going to be seniors this year." MJ said with a deadpan voice, "oh I'm so ecstatic. Especially for college applications." They got their ice creams and sat back down.

One particular young man who looked to be around 21 noticed Peter. He was Caucasian looking like Peter too, brown eyes, but darker curly brown hair. He was 5'9, he wore a t-shirt that said "#IStandWithSpiderMan", a checkered red and black plaid shirt, blue jeans, and yellow and blue Wolverine sneakers. The guy looked nervous and he cautiously approached Peter when he recognized him. Once he was by the table where the young couple were eating their ice cream, he cleared his throat and meekly asked, "excuse me, a-are you, uh Peter Parker?" Peter took off his sunglasses sighing, and he asked, "I guess the sunglasses and the baseball cap aren't really inconspicuous, are they?" He eyed the T-shirt and said, "nice t-shirt. It really pairs with the flannel and the sneakers." The plaid wearing man said, "thanks. Where are my manners? My name's Jake Phillips Jr. Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak to you..." He looked to his left and to his right, rather nervous.

"This guy seem sus?" MJ asked, looking at Jake. Peter shook his head and replied, "nah, my spider senses aren't telling me this guy's a danger. Nice to meet you Jake." He kindly shook Jake's hand. It was a nice change of pace to meet someone who wasn't toxic for once this week. "Nice to meet you too, big fan," said Jake, "My mom was actually one of the jurors at your trial and she was the first to believe you were not guilty. She knew something was off, but that's irrelevant. Is there a way I could speak to you and your lawyers about something? It's regarding... You know who... Sorry if that's not subtle..." Peter was quite surprised to find out that Jake's mother was one of the jurors in his trial, but when he noticed the fright in Jake's eyes, he could tell that Jake needed help about something. Especially if it meant he needed to speak to Matt Murdock and Jennifer Walters regarding Mysterio. And his Aunt May would tell him to help Jake if she was at B&R with them right now. Peter sighed, "well MJ, I think we might have to take this ice cream to go." MJ nodded and said, "I get it. But it's nice knowing that you're helping people even without the suit. Mind if I tag along with you two?"

"Sure, why not?" Peter rhetorically asked as the young couple got up from their seats, and they left Baskin-Robbins, Jake following behind them. "So do they have that shirt in a woman's size?" MJ asked. "The flannel?" Jake asked, surprised. "No, not the flannel," corrected MJ, "The I stand with Spider-Man t-shirt." Jake chuckled, "oh silly me. Yeah I'm certain they have this shirt in a woman's size."