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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
xi. THREE WORDS

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   SUNLIGHT PARTED THE STORM, obliterating drones inconspicuously. Valor pretended she was oblivious to Mysterio's lies as they fought together, but she knew he was onto her. Luckily, she was ready for anything.

   "The Elementals, they've somehow merged into something else! Something more powerful! It's drawing energy from the Earth's core!" Beck shouted. "You should get out of here while you can, Valor! You already survived once. I'm not letting it hurt you again!"

   She soared past him, her response catching onto the wind. "You mean like how you hurt me?"

   Mysterio whipped toward her. "Wait, what?"

   "Huh?"

   "What did you just say?"

   Feigning frustration, Riley snapped, "I didn't say anything! What is the matter with you? Either help me kill this thing, or get the hell out of my way!"

   "Operation Gaslight is going swimmingly, I see," Roman mused. "Any updates, Sticky-Boy?"

   Peter grunted, "The taser webs are destroying the drones, but it'll be a while before I can make a dent in these things!"

   "All we need is for the illusion to fall apart enough for people to notice," Riley said. "Beck's already off his game."

   From her view, the Elemental clearly wasn't real. Patches of it flickered away with a blinking blue light. The drones couldn't uphold the image forever. If Beck was already distracted by the drones and trying to determine whether Riley was real, Peter would be able to easily attack him and take EDITH back.

   Beneath her, Riley watched Spider-Man leap through one of the holes in the Elemental toward the bridge. He must've found an opening to get to Beck. But Beck must've seen him first because JOCASTA reported, "Valor, I'm detecting orders for the EDITH drones to kill you and Spider-Man. Would you like me to disable them?"

   "No, we're playing the long game, JO. The public has to know with absolute certainty that Beck's a fraud. I don't wanna see a single news outlet twisting the truth."

   It would be easier to just attack Beck together, but she trusted Peter. While he was busy, Riley was on damage control — both, in terms of protecting the people from the drones and in terms of publicity. Because everyone knew the Starks had fed society with enough scandals to end world hunger.

   Suddenly, the illusion of Mysterio and the Elemental disappeared. All that remained in the sky were thousands of drones and Valor. Half of them flew toward Peter, and the other half, in perfect unison, turned toward Riley, their built-in guns locking onto her.

   "This'll be fun," Riley muttered. "Commencing Phase 3!"

   Her original plan was to act reasonably worried about the drones attacking her, to act like she didn't see this coming, but when the bullets started firing, Riley could admit her blood ran a little cold. She took off, keeping a decent amount of distance between her and the people watching, making sure they could see she was being attacked.

   "We've got the kids!" Happy declared, followed by a loud BOOM! "GET IN THE TOWER! GO, GO!"

   "Are you guys okay?" Peter called as he dealt with his side of the drones.

   "We're fine!" Roman assured. "Just hurry up already— Oh, Riley, you little show off—!"

   "WOAH, WOAH, WOAH!" Riley shrieked, blasting the drones. "JERRY, I DON'T WANNA DO THIS— HEY! WE TALKED ABOUT THIS MATEO!"

   "Tell me you didn't name the drones," Happy groaned.

   "Hey, those things used to be my children! Or... I guess... my siblings? This robot family tree is so confusing— ASPEN, THAT WAS RUDE!"

   The drones combusted mid-air, like makeshift fireworks. She switched between blasting them and exploding them by expanding forcefields inside them. She dove to protect civilians when the drones shot at them instead of her, which would've been easier if the people didn't try to take selfies with Valor instead of running for their lives. One even bothered asking for her number.

   "HAPPY? HAPPY, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING, SO I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE!" Peter begged. "ROME? HAPPY?"

   "I'm here! I'm here!" Happy said, earning a loud sigh of relief. "I bought us some time, but not much."

   Riley hadn't been closely listening to what was happening on their end since it all sounded like gibberish. All she heard was something about MJ beating a drone with a medieval weapon.

   "We're good! We're fine! I just got shot, but we're good—" Roman assured.

   "YOU WHAT!?" Riley shouted. In her brief moment of distraction, a drone collided with her, knocking her off her forcefield and sending her plummeting through the roof of a museum. She groaned when she landed, once again debating whether she should file for early retirement.

   "Oh, bollocks. Bollocks, this is it. I'm going to die. Valor's going to die. Or maybe she's already dead." Someone gently shook her shoulder. "Riley? Valor? Miss, wake up! Please, wake up!"

   "Ugh..." Riley slowly opened her eyes, finding a man with curly black hair and extreme dark circles beneath her eyes crouching beside her. He must've been a museum worker.

   "Oh! Oh, you're alive! Great!" he beamed as she stood up. "Hi. Big fan. By the way, are we going to die? Like, what are our chances, 1-10? Because I have a fish I need to feed—"

   "Shh, shh. What's your name?" She didn't actually care about his name. She just wanted him to calm down.

   "What? Er, I'm Steven. Steven with a V. People tend to get it confused—"

   "Steven! Great name! Nice to meet you. I'm Riley. Now, I'm gonna get back to work, but I have. special mission for you, okay? I need you to..." She spun, grabbing a random artifact that had fallen. "I need you to guard this."

   Steven took it in his shaky hands, hesitant. "This?"

   "Yes! It's my favorite artifact, so this is an important job. All you have to do is take it and hide until this is over. Can you do that for me?" Riley watched him nod, much calmer than before. "Perfect! Thank you! You're a hero, Steven! I'm naming my future kids after you!"

   Steven smiled, watching in awe as she flew through the roof.

   The drones locked onto her again as she returned to the battlefield, but all she could focus on were the explosions flurrying the bridge.

   "Is everyone okay? Peter?"

   "I'm trying to get to Beck, but I can't shake these drones— AGH!"

   Another explosion, followed by more gunfire.

   Riley was there in seconds.

   She hadn't seen much as she flew to him. The drones were blurs as they chased Peter, but he was cleverly slinging his webs through the madness, using them in ways that even Riley would never have thought of. He was amazing, but he'd never get to Beck at this rate.

   Riley landed on the street beneath the bridge, standing between Peter and the drones, destroying them before they blasted him into the river. She tried not to panic at how damaged his suit was, between burn marks and rips. If his suit was that badly banged up, she couldn't imagine how shitty Peter was feeling.

   She didn't know he was looking up at her in adoration as she pulled him up.

   Peter squeezed her hand as he caught his breath. "T-Thanks."

   "I got you. Always," Riley promised, holding a forcefield around them. "What's our move?"

   "I'm out of webs, but I can take Beck if you take the drones."

   Before Riley could reply, they heard Happy shout, "I'M IN LOVE WITH SPIDER-MAN'S AUNT!"

   The teenagers paused, somehow finding it in them to quietly laugh.

   "Remember when I said Happy and May would make a cute couple, and you didn't believe me?" Riley asked.

   "I'm killing Happy when this is over," Peter joked. She followed him as he started gathering miscellaneous pieces of debris. He used a fallen sign as a shield and a car seat belt tied to a drone fragment as a weapon. "Ready?"

   She didn't bother asking questions. On the count of three, Valor and Spider-Man were back in the fight. She flew skyward first, capturing the drones' attention while Peter shielded himself against the stragglers. He flung his makeshift weapon at them, causing the drones to spontaneously combust. In the explosion, Peter used the shield to boost himself as the blasts of another drone catapulted him into the bridge.

   Even as Riley flew for her life, she couldn't suppress her admiration.

   "Can we—" Riley shot solar flares at the drones, "—go back to Roman getting shot? Is he okay?"

   "Enhanced healing, kid," Roman reminded. "That hurt like a bitch though. Are we winning?"

   "Define winning? I'm just asking because I don't know what it's like losing."

   "Oh, great. She's got jokes today. We're all screwed."

   "Who's the one who got shot, swiss cheese?"

    "Just wait until I get my hands on a plane—"

   "WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?" Happy clamored.

   She bit back a laugh as she focused on the drones again. She'd been fighting for so long that it was turning into a game: how to destroy them, which move was most effective. Her favorite one was flipping herself mid-air, letting the drones crash into each other in a massive domino effect. It wasn't much longer until the drones suddenly froze.

   Riley watched them warily, listening to their mindless hum as the drones turned and flew away, returning to the satellite they lived in.

   "It seems that Spider-Man has executed all cancellation protocols," JOCASTA announced. "It's over."

   Riley didn't stop to catch her breath. She didn't let herself relax either. As civilians cheered and shouted her name, she raced to find Peter.

   She found him limping away from the Tower Bridge, a mere freckle of red amongst abandoned cars, dismantled drones, and raging flames. She stumbled as she landed, allowing Peter to catch her before she could fall.

   "Holy shit." Riley breathlessly threw her arms around him. His embrace was tighter than usual as he lifted her into the air. "Holy shit, Pete, you did it! You were amazing! Where's Beck? Is it over?"

   "Yeah, I-I think so. Beck... Beck, he's... he's dead," Peter panted as she pulled back, grabbing his maskless face to inspect him closely. He was worse than before. Fresh blood mixed with the dry blood on his cheek. His lip was swollen and split, his nose was bruised, and who knew what other injuries hid beneath his suit. She tried rubbing some of it away with her thumb to no avail. "It's okay, I'm okay. It's not that bad."

   Riley softly smiled. "Pete, you look like shit."

   Peter brushed her raven hair out of her face, revealing the soot contouring her features. "So do you."

   "You really know the way to a girl's heart," she teased. "At least the jeans survived. I gotta find out where Yelena shops."

   Peter's eyes suddenly widened. He stepped back, frantically patting his pockets. "No, no, no..." He pulled out a small necklace. The pendant was a glass sunflower, though some of the petals had broken off. "No, I'm such an idiot..."

   "What is that?"

   "It was... I just..." He sighed, frustrated. "I can't believe I'm so stupid—"

   Riley took his hands in hers. "Pete, tell me what's wrong—"

   "I had this stupid plan, okay?" Peter revealed. "I had this plan to go on this trip and have the best vacation of my life, and I wanted to buy you a gift to try and win you back — or at least save our friendship if that's what you want — because you have no idea how crazy I've been going, missing you every second of every day, debating whether or not I should text you, thinking about that fight we had... That stupid fight that never should've happened, and I just— I bought you a sunflower necklace because, I don't know if you even remember, I said you reminded me of a sunflower once—"

   "How could I forget that?" Riley gently asked, unable to control her smile. "You called me a reptile first."

   Peter nervously laughed. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. I didn't want to bring this to the fight. I tried giving it to Happy. I told him to give it to you in case something happened to me, but he was all, Give it to her yourself. So, I kept it on me, and, I dunno, I'm kinda glad I did because it was like a good luck charm, you know? You're a good luck charm. You always know what to do, and you always get everything right— I didn't mean to break you— I mean, break it. I'm so stupid, I can try to get you a new one—"

   "Are you kidding? The broken-ness gives it personality," Riley insisted. "It's perfect. You're perfect. I love it. I love you."

   They both froze.

   "Did you just...?" Peter asked.

   Now, Riley was nervously laughing. "I, um... love you? Yeah. I love you. I'm in love with you. I know my timing sucks, but our fight has been killing me every day since it happened. But I'm glad it did because your feelings matter so much to me, Peter. I still can't believe I hurt you like that because you mean everything to me. I would tear this world apart if you asked me to. I'd blow up the sun if you wanted me to!"

   "Why would I ask you to do that?" he asked through a grin.

   "I don't know! For fun? My point is, I love you. I love everything about you," Riley declared. "I was so scared to say it because saying it makes this real, and when things are real, it's scary. I don't want to screw this up. I don't want to ruin you or your life because you're... stuck with me. But I can't keep it to myself anymore. I love you. I love spending time with you. I love listening to you talk about any and everything, even when you talk about your love for Legos or when you rant about astrology being fake because it pisses Roman off. I love the way your brain works! And your smile and your face and your heart and May! I love you so much that I'm monologuing about it, and you know how I feel about dramatic monologues, and I can't figure out how to wrap this up, so please say something before I spend the next hour talking about how much I love you—"

   "Eu também te amo, brilho do sol," Peter carefully said in Portuguese. I love you, too, sunshine.

   Riley's face fell. "Oh my God."

   "Did I say it right? I've been practicing for so long—"

   "I'm actually going to die. You knew!? This whole time!?"

   "I mean, Portuguese is pretty close to Spanish, so it was kinda hard for me not to know—"

   "I'm taking it back!"

   Despite it hurting his ribs, Peter burst into laughter. "You can't take it back!"

   "I take it back! I'm so embarrassed!" Riley cried. "You let me think I was being so clever!"

   "It was cute! I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to pressure you into saying it, okay?" he assured. "Come here."

   Peter pulled her close, bringing their lips together, and just like that, the world around them disappeared. They weren't beat up, covered in bruises and blood. They weren't superheroes that just saved the world again. They weren't standing in the middle of a warzone. When they were together, nothing else mattered. They were just Peter and Riley, Riley and Peter.

   Standing on her toes, Riley pressed her forehead against his. "I'm sorry for being the worst girlfriend-not-girlfriend ever."

   "It's okay," Peter chuckled. "Say it again."

   "I love you, you idiot."

   "I love you, too, Riles. So much. You have no idea how much I love you. I was ready to wait for you for the rest of my life if I had to."

   She gently kissed him one more time before snaking an arm around his waist. "Come on, let's get you patched up."

   "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie," Peter said. "I'm in extreme pain."

   "I can tell," Riley giggled. "Let's go."

   The day was saved. The sun was shining. The bad guy was gone. The boy got the girl.

   All was well.

○ ○ ○

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I'M GOING TO BE SICK. I LOVE PETER AND RILEY SO FUCKING MUCH.

AHHHHHHHAKWDKAKODDKMAOXIEOEIWXOIEAIOQU

GOD.

So sad to announce that this is the last chapter! That's because nothing happens after this in the movie. No one knows why, but Far From Home actually doesn't have an ending. So weird, right? I wonder what happened!

(Kidding... In case that wasn't clear...)

ALSO, Steven from the museum MIGHT be a reference to Steven Grant from Moon Knight. I don't know where the show falls in the MCU timeline — I have a feeling it happens WAY after FFH — but since the gang was in London, WHY NOT GENTLY REFERENCE HIM? I LOVE STEVEN! If the show falls way after the movie in the MCU timeline, then that was just some guy. It's fine. We accept all Stevens here.