Trapped in the Shadows

Chapter 6 - (Y/N) Stark, The Detective

Peter and I chose to take the night off from patrolling on Thursday so that we could all hang out together, which was something we really needed to do more often. Everything that was going on in my life, all of the sudden attention I was getting, melted away as we spent the evening together watching movies and playing games.

"Pete, it's your turn to choose the movie," I announced, not looking up from my cards as I strategically tried to plan my next guess.

"And please don't choose Star Wars," MJ added, her gaze instead focused intently on me as I made my decision.

"See, now I want to watch Star Wars, you shouldn't have said anything," Peter replied, a smile dancing on his lips.

"Hey, stop distracting me, I'm trying to make a very important decision here so just get some movie on so I can continue with my turn," I encouraged him to pick up the pace as I solidified what I was going to say.

After sorting through the movies on one of our various streaming sites, I had lost track of which one we had turned to by this point, Peter began to play the movie Alien before returning to his seat next to me. Once he was settled, I turned looked up from my card, "I suspect that it was Mr. Green in the kitchen with the lead pipe."

I looked around at my three friends, waiting for one of them to show me either the pipe or the kitchen, as I had already ruled that the culprit was Mrs. Peacock. However nobody had anything to show me, so I concealed my poker face as I nodded and placed my cards facedown next to me and patiently waited for my next turn. As far as I could tell, I was the only one who had figured out, but I was not sure that that would last during the time that it took to get to the middle.

Peter went off on his own random guess, seeming to be familiar with my tactic and knowing better than to trust what I had just guessed as the final answer. Ned, on the other hand, simply repeated the exact guess that I made, forcing me to show him my card that read Mr. Green.

"That's not fair, you can't guess something that you have in your hand," he argued, making note of the card I had shown him.

"And why not? There's nothing against it in the rules," I argued innocently, a small smile on my face. "Please tell me that you must have played this game with someone who uses that tactic."

"Until you, I have never seen it done," Peter supported his friend, making me look at them as though they were crazy.

"You're kidding me, right? MJ's been doing it to!"

At the sound of her name, she looked up and replied, "and how do you know that?"

"Trust me, I was raised by the Avengers, I notice many things."

We resumed the game and, by some miracle, I managed to get to the middle before anyone else and made my final guess, which naturally turned out to be correct. Peter sighed as he gently tossed his cards down, "ok, that's it, this is the last game of Clue that I am ever playing with you, you're too good."

"Sure, baby, you say that now but I guarantee that the next time we pull this game out, you'll be all too eager to join in," I replied with a smirk as I began to clean up the board. "So, what's next?"

"We could play pictionary," Ned suggested, finding the game in the midst of all of the others I had lugged into the room.

"I call dibs on MJ," I immediately cried out, knowing that she was undoubtably the best drawer in the room.

"Hey, that's not fair, I was going to call her!" Peter looked at me with a small pout.

I cocked my head, "oh is poor little Peter upset because I just got the most talented artist in the room on my team? You snooze, you lose, Parker."

"Actually, I was thinking that you and Peter should be on a team together as you guys are dating and all," Ned spoke up, causing both Peter and I to whip our heads towards him. "Yeah, so MJ and I will be a team and then the two of you will be a team."

I groaned as MJ agreed, then reluctantly took my place next to Peter, neither one of us looking overly excited by the choice of teams. As Ned and MJ, who had basically already won, got everything out of the box, I decided to check my phone and see if I had any interesting notifications. Most of the stuff was normal, my social media had blown up as a result of me sharing my true identity so that's where most of my notifications arose from. Although I did have a few texts, mostly from kids at the school who had somehow ascertained my number.

One of the texts was from a kid named Connor, inviting me to a party the following night. I was about to delete the text when I stopped, thinking about the last time I had actually let myself loose. Especially with all that was happening, I needed something that would distract me from my life and let me live a little and a party was just the thing.

I quickly typed a response, I might take you up on that offer, can I bring a few friends?

It only took a few seconds for him to respond: that depends, are those friends Black Widow and Scarlet Witch?

Absolutely not, they wouldn't be caught dead attending a child's party. But I'm in if Ned, Peter, and MJ can go too.

It's a deal, see you there.

"Hey guys, do you know what might be fun?" I asked as I put my phone aside. Without waiting for a response, I continued. "I got invited to Connor's party tomorrow night, do you all want to go?"

Peter looked rather unsure, "(Y/N), do you think that's a good idea? I mean, your father would probably not like you going and besides, you may be extremely popular right now, but the rest of us are still losers."

"Cheer up, Parker, you don't have to be such a spoil sport. This could be fun and I think we all need a bit more of that before high school is over," MJ offered her opinion, choosing to take my side.

"Since when have you been into lame high school parties?" Peter asked in response, causing MJ to shrug in response.

"C'mon Peter, we could go to a party and arrive with the most popular girl in school, does that not sound awesome?" Ned encouraged, making me realize that it was now three against one.

Peter sighed, knowing that he was going to lose the argument, "ok, we'll go, but if Mr. Stark finds out about this then I want you all to attend my funeral."

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(A/N): I think we all know where this is going... I hope you enjoyed a bit of hanging out with your friends before the school year ends!