I don't own anything except any original character and/or any original plot.

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Chapter Eleven: The Bride

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A/n: I love my OC's so much I gave them an entire chapter for their wedding, lol. I'm going to be travelling tomorrow, so, early update!

~*~

School was... boring. Uneventful, and anti-climatic. Even though the Snap happened halfway through the year, they made us to start the year all over again. Which was fine with me and Peter. We'd forgotten nearly everything we had learned in the five years after the Blip so the refresher was nice.

It was nine months of much-needed healing and adjustment to teenage life again. While crime was up slightly at first, it quickly went back down to a normal percentage since things had settled down and the world had begun working again. That meant that Spider-Man and Riptide weren't needed very often, and our patrols died down to once or twice a week.

May had started an organization that assisted other people in relocating if the Blip displaced them, and for obvious reasons, Spider-Man and Riptide became the mascots for said organizations.

Therapy was nice. I felt better than I had in a while, and we were working our way up to the worst trauma I had. But no amount of therapy would ever wipe away the smallest cracks left in my mental health. Seeing Morgan and Pepper for our bi-weekly dinners hurt, even when I covered it with a smile. Seeing so many memorials to Tony hurt even more. It was hard, but I was making it work. I knew things were hard for Peter too, but they were less hard together. Healing took time, and it was the baby steps that counted.

"And the guilt is still present?"

Taking a sip of my water, I nodded. Shawn nodded with a neutral expression and marked something down on his notepad.

"It's uh, hard to explain. I'm conscious of the fact that it wasn't me. That I was under the control of the real killer, and that FRIDAY has confirmed that what I did was a drop in the bucket of the injuries he sustained, but it's like... none of that matters because I still hate myself for it."

"The conscious and subconscious, while connected, are separate things. What you're trying to attempt to do is form a bridge between the two and come to an understanding. You have the foundation, it's the finer details that matter now."

Nodding, I looked to the side. Focusing on the finer details, huh?

"You've done well confronting the problem. But I believe there's something holding you back from the chance to move on like we've discussed. What is that?"

"Closure," I answered immediately, and Shawn's eyebrows rose in surprise, "I never got to talk to Thanos about what happened, not really. He did what he did, and then he was beheaded by Thor. Then I saw him again, but he took control without the knowledge of what he did, and he died too... I never got to talk to him about what he did."

Humming in contemplation, Shawn tapped his pencil against his pad of paper. Before he could give an answer, the doorbell rang. And he seemed a bit relieved about it.

"Looks like our time is up for today. I'll see you in two weeks from now?"

"Yeah. And then I have that school trip so I won't have any for a bit," I confirmed, pulling on my shoes and opening the door to greet my parents.

"Ready to go? If traffic is good we won't be late," my mom checked her watch for the time.

"Yeah, I'm good." Saying goodbye to Shawn, I hurried out to the car and buckled my seatbelt as we were pulling out of the home.

The trip from Queens to our destination in Jersey was around two hours, which was why I had insisted on making an appointment so early in the morning - 9 AM - so I wouldn't break my streak, but so we'd still make it on time.

"Eight hours and Jess will be a married woman!" My dad cheered. He loved weddings, "We'll need to pay attention to the venue to see if it would work for you and Peter-"

"Dad," I warned.

"Sorry!"

~*~

Two hours later we arrived at the Legacy Castle. It was gigantic and glorious. It was a castle in every sense of the word. I marveled at the grand decorations. Chandeliers, gold detailing, ornate railings on the central stairway. It was straight out of a fairytale.

"(Y/n)!" Jess barrel rushed me in a hug, knocking the breath out of my lungs, "You're here, good! I'll bring you to the room, then I have a hair stylist and a makeup artist coming in, and your dress is already upstairs since we picked it up from the tailor last week. Clara, Lucas, there's a free bar down that hallway, and a sitting room across from that with food. Feel free to relax and rent a movie."

My parents nodded, wished us luck, and left. Jess grabbed my hand and dragged me up the staircase, taking a right when it branched off. I assumed Via was to the left with her group.

I met Via for the first time nearly six months before the wedding. It was strange, meeting her so late in the game, but according to Jess she worked with charities overseas and had to travel to meet with a few of them during the planning process. I couldn't get upset about that.

Via was beautiful, down to Earth, and one of the nicest people I'd ever met. She gave off an aura that automatically drew people to her. It was a mix of regalness and natural charisma that was intoxicating in a sense. Through our dinner together, I learned she was born and raised in Singapore and went to a British school until college when she decided to go to New York.

Needless to say, I gave my stamp of approval as soon as Jess and I went back to the apartment building.

"Jess, don't take this the wrong way, but how are you affording all this?" I asked as we passed different pieces of art that all seemed more expensive than my apartment and everything inside combined.

"That's the thing," Jess turned to me after stopping in front of a door, "Via's family is loaded. She owns the charities she works for, and the British schools she went to were posh private ones. It's not why I'm marrying her, obviously, but everyone in her family wanted to help out and got us this venue. They're like the royals of Asia."

"You're marrying a princess?"

"No, but yes. God I love her," with that, Jess pushed open the door.

There were two guys and two girls inside. The guys were Connor and Mark, one she'd known since she was a kid and the other her cousin she considered a brother. The girls were Shelby and Eliza, a classmate and a co-worker at our apartment building. Varying from 20 to 28, all of them were amazing and welcoming as we got ready. Jess kept good company.

The hairstylist did exactly as I requested and more by clipping in a strand of blue and chartreuse flowers - the wedding colors. The makeup artist did the same. The pair finished all of us in a little less than two hours by tag teaming. Everything was perfect and going to plan in a way I didn't think I could have in life.

"Alright, final reveal with hair and makeup. Everybody ready?" Jess called from the walk-in closet provided in our room for outfit storage.

"Ready!" We called together.

Jess stepped out, and we cheered simultaneously. Despite her style leaning towards the feminine side, three months before when we were shopping for her outfit, she stated that she wanted something than was more her. So, she stepped out in a white jumpsuit with an upside-down cut out V made from lace on her torso. Jess knew she was gorgeous and was proud to show it off.

"I'm getting married!" She screamed, and all of us cheered again.

Thirty minutes later - full of further excitement, final touches, and Jess taking two shots of liquid courage - we were paired up with our counterparts to walk down the aisle. Via was in a dress. A-line, flowing, and accentuating what was already there. Two beautiful people joining together in a beautiful marriage.

My eyes wandered around the seating in front of us. Both families were intermixed with each other, but I could pick out a face here or there that bore a resemblance to Jess or Via. Especially when their parents were in the front rows. My parents were towards the back and sitting next to them was Peter and May.

Meeting Peter's eyes, I smiled, and mouthed 'I love you'. He mouthed it back, and I sniffled emotionally.

"The brides may kiss."

The room erupted into applause and cheers. Jess and Via walked down the catwalk - that's right, a freaking catwalk - hand in hand, grinning like no tomorrow. Picking a mic up from the end, Via announced, "The reception is across the hall. Enjoy the food and music."

I was at the head table with the other bridesmaids and bridesmen, but I visited my parents, Peter, and May at their table to the right. The dance floor was in the center of the room, the DJ in front of that and tables on either side of it with the dinner buffet in the corner.

"Hi!" I greeted everyone with a hug, "What do you think?"

"This is the most expensive everything I have ever seen," May mumbled, looking around with wide eyes.

"Yeah, apparently Via's family is super rich and they're the ones who bought the venue. It's insane isn't it?"

"They're so cute," my mom gushed, watching them greet their guests across the room, "I'm so happy Jess found someone that makes her so happy. And who's so okay with having Via's family pay for the venue, I'm calling seconds."

At that, my mom picked up her plate and rushed back to the buffet. Chuckling with a shake of my head, I gave Peter a kiss on the cheek and hurried back to the head table when the lights dimmed. That meant that the father-daughter dance was coming up for Via and the mother-daughter dance for Jess. Things worked out well, considering Via was marginally closer with her dad, and Jess' parents were divorced and her mom got sole custody when she was young.

Taking my seat again, I watched with a bright smile and teary eyes as the pair each danced with their own emotional parent to a song significant to them. It seemed cliche to get so emotional at a wedding, but when Jess had been so influential and such a good friend to me before the Blip, I was bound to cry a little.

After the sentimental dances came the classics. Cupid Shuffle, Electric Slide, Cotton Eyed Joe, so on. Past the upbeat music, at the end of the night when everyone was ready to crash from how much they had eaten and worked off in a short amount of time, was the slow dancing.

I roped Peter into it and was impressed by his natural ability to dance with me, crediting Aunt May for the talent. Holding him closer than Shuri "leave room for Jesus" Udaku would have liked, I basked in everything that was Peter.

The little hints of cologne I would get when I shifted my nose near his neck, the hairs he didn't gel brushing my cheek, his soft breathing in my ear and his hands on my hips on a spot below my modifications and above anything that would be inappropriate in public.

"You're perfect," I whispered, not fully processing the words before they came out. I'd thought it for years, uttering it from time to time and being dismissed due to another conversation popping up or from disbelief of my words.

Peter momentarily tensed up around me, "Uh, um. I don't- I don't really see myself as perfect."

"You are to me," I closed my eyes, "I love you Peter, for everything you've ever done for me and for dealing with my crap for so long."

"It's not crap, (Y/n). I'll never see it that way. All of it is real, and tangible, and something I don't have to 'deal with' because it doesn't bother me. Not when we've been together for so long, and not when I love you so much."

"You're gonna make me cry," I sniffled with a laugh.

"Sorry," Peter chuckled, holding me tighter.

Closing my eyes again, I imagined myself as the one in a wedding dress, and Peter across from me in a more formal suit. MJ, Ned, and Harry were dancing near. The X-Men were around, my parents were crying in the corner  - more specifically my dad - and I was Mrs. (Y/n) Parker.

It was a nice fantasy. Or rather, a nice prediction for a future we could have.