Breaking the Void

Chapter 19 - The Party

2 Weeks Later

(Your POV):
When you're living a double life it's rare when the two lives intersect. And it is also terrifying. One slip up could lead to a collision which would cost many their lives. It had happened once before with Harry, but now it was happening again and I had little control over the outcome of this occurrence.

"Let me guess, you don't approve of my wardrobe choice," I rolled my eyes as I noted my mother's disapproving look. "I'm not sent in to seduce anyone and the last thing I need is to stand out."

"You still look like a child," she remarked with distaste lacing her voice.

"Good. When the file is reported stolen, no one is going to suspect a child of being the culprit."

Instead of the powerful red dress that my mother probably would have wanted me to wear, I chose the innocent sky blue color that would throw the Avengers off my trail. It was the tea length gown I had originally planned to wear when meeting Jayden Erksine, but it did fit this venue much more. The chiffon skirts reached my knees and nothing was revealed by the modest neckline. To complete the look, my hair was thrown up into a messy bun, revealing a pair of chandelier earrings that hung from my ears. While I was not the glamour-rich celebrity that would normally attend Stark's parties, I had a feeling that I would fit in well enough.

Before leaving, I grabbed a matching blue hand bag that would be large enough to conceal the stolen files in without suspicion. I met Peter at the train station, where we would walk together to Stark Tower.

"You look beautiful, as always," he smiled at me as he placed his lips on my forehead.

The familiar flutter in my stomach rose up at his compliment and I wrapped my fingers around his, "and you look quite handsome yourself. Although at this point I'll be relieved to see you in anything as long as there is no sign of blood."

"I didn't go out tonight, didn't want to risk anything happening before the party. And I'm not always bleeding when I get back from patrol."

I huffed, "still, you get injured more often than I would like. You really need to be more careful. Or better yet, stay away from the things that are dangerous. Can't you just call in the Avengers rather than fight them all yourself?"

"I'm not technically an Avenger, (Y/N). I can't just assemble the team because of an arms deal or whatever and I'm not going to sit around and let a criminal go waiting for the Avengers to show up. That's kind of the point of Spider-Man, to be there when the Avengers cannot. To help the little guy, not just fend off alien invaders."

I sighed, pulling Peter a little closer to me, "I know, it's just stressful, you know? Everyday you put yourself at risk and I don't know if you're even going to make it back alive."

"This is why I kept it from you, in addition to the whole thing being secret. I didn't want you to have to worry about me, although it does mean a lot knowing that you care."

"Of course I care, Pete. You don't need to go out in spandex every night just to be assured that you mean something to me. If I didn't give a shit about you, I wouldn't risk dating you behind my parents back, that much I can promise you," I assured Peter, placing a kiss on his cheek. He stopped walking so that he could capture my lips in his, pulling me up against his body. I intertwined my fingers in his soft curls as I enjoyed how his lips moved slowly in sync with mine.

Peter smiled widely as he pulled away from the kiss, his eyes darting over my face as though he was trying to memorize every detail of it. I caressed his cheek and placed a soft peck against his swollen lips. Before he could envelope me in another kiss, I took his hand again, "Peter, we don't want to be late, now do we?"

He shrugged, "I suppose, I don't want to disappoint Mr. Stark."

It didn't take us long to get to Stark Tower and I immediately noticed the increased security. However I imagined that that was only on the outside and once inside my plan would run smoothly. Peter handed our invitation to the security guard tasked with the door, who ushered us in, and I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the role I was about to play.

I had fought each one of the Avengers and I was afraid that they were going to recognize me. Of course I had been dating Peter for months now and he had no idea so I shouldn't expect that they would. Then again, Peter could be quite oblivious and I definitely couldn't say the same for Natasha Romanov.

"So do you know anyone here?" I asked Peter as he began to escort me through the lobby that had been transformed into a gathering space.

His eyes skimmed the room, "I don't know, I think I only know the Avengers and even then I don't know all of them all that well. I mostly work with Mr. Stark, but the rest are familiar with me. I mean, I've gotten to train with some of them before, but we don't interact often. One time I came in and Captain America helped me into the infirmary with Mr. Stark and he seemed kinda worried. I mean not as worried as Mr. Stark, but he seemed to care a little."

"How could he not? I mean look at you, Pete, you're adorable. Not even Captain America can be resistant to your dorky charm. But why did he need to help you to the infirmary? Do I even want to know?"

"It was the night the Void captured me, I think I told you about that. I was fine, the wounds weren't that bad and I was only swinging by to tell them about her and Mr. Stark, well, he sort of panicked."

I rolled my eyes, "like you're not just saying that because I will scold you if I found out how serious your injuries actually were." Sarcasm was always my best defense when it came to Peter, it could mask my pain when remembering how I had beaten him up and almost subjugated him to a torturous interrogation.

"Well, she did stab me but I wasn't going to die or anything. But how about you, have you ever met any of the Avengers before? I mean, I know you're not huge fans of them."

"It's not that I dislike them, Pete, I just think that they need competition. We need more people like you, independents who have powers. Seriously think about it, if Tony Stark decided that he wanted to take over the world then the world would be his. It wouldn't even take him a full day between his wealth, connections, and the fact that he's Iron Man."

"And there'd be nothing anyone could do except accept my dictatorship," a voice from behind me spoke, causing Peter's eyes to widen.

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(A/N): And the party has begun! I just had to end this chapter with a typical dramatic entrance by Tony. Hope you're all excited to see how you two will get along!