Author's Note: Yes another idea that came to me in the middle of the theaters. Which I tried writing, and then abandoned, and then suddenly was re-inspired for and proceeded to finish in under 24 hours. Writing, man XD
Peter was in study hall when his phone began aggressively buzzing with an incoming call. He scrambled to see who it was and then rolled his eyes and hit decline.
Michelle Jones peeped over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "Who was it?" she asked, and Peter jumped, not having realized she was there.
"Uhhh..." he scrunched up half his face and shrugged a little. "Nick Fury?" Then he kissed her cheek. "Also, hi."
She turned bright red, like she always did when he kissed her, and quickly sat down next to him. "Uh, hi. So, Nick Fury calls you a lot?"
Peter shrugged again. "Yeah, occasionally," he replied casually. "Usually when he needs help with a, uh... Spider-Man thing. I usually decline him."
Michelle raised her eyebrow and leaned back, crossing her arms. "You're ghosting Nick Fury?"
"I'm not-!" Peter huffed in frustration. "I'm not ghosting him- everyone always calls it that. I'm just... okay, if you must know, midterms are coming up in a few weeks and I have to study, and I don't really feel like going off and saving the world for the millionth time!"
His voiced had raised a little too high and the teacher watching over study hall glanced over. "Voices down, Mr. Parker."
"Sorry!" Peter peeped, putting his head closer to MJ and lowering his voice. "So anyway. I don't really want to go out and be Spider-Man right now. Especially after our school trip."
Michelle's eyes narrowed. "Wait. So Nick Fury was the one that made you run out on me at the opera? And who called you to work with Beck in the first place?"
"Uhh, yeah," Peter said, wincing. He knew that face and whenever Michelle wore it it should be a reason for concern for whoever it was directed at.
"He knows you're 16, right?" Michelle asked stiffly.
"Yeah..." Peter repeated slowly. "I mean, he must. And like, he knew that you guys were with me but he thought I didn't actually care about putting you guys in danger because I accidentally tried to blow you up when we were on the bus that one time."
"Right," Michelle agreed, still squinting. "How do I... get in touch with this Nick Fury guy?"
"Get in touch- Michelle, you don't get in touch with Nick Fury," Peter squeaked. "He gets in touch with you."
"And then you ghost him," Michelle shot back. She crossed her arms. "I'm gonna find a way to have some words with him. But first... could you please help me with Chemistry because my brain is dying."
Peter laughed and reached for his Chemistry textbook, immediately setting aside the homework he already had out. "You got it."
linebreaker
"Would you just answer your phone?" Michelle asked, setting her chin down on her hand with a groan of frustration.
This was the fourth time Peter's phone had begun ringing since they'd sat down for a snack at Michelle's favorite coffee shop. Peter flipped over the device and stared down at the usual "Private Caller" message on his phone screen. "Do I have to?" he asked with a pout, though he didn't hit decline immediately like he had the first four times.
"At least turn it off."
"But then what if someone calls?" Peter replied plaintively. Michelle gave him a look. "Someone other than Nick Fury. Come on, MJ, I just don't feel like talking to him right now. I'm with you."
He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze, and Michelle gave in a little, her lips quirking up at the corners.
Then Peter's phone rang again.
"Peter," Michelle groaned. "What if there is some crazy life-threatening attack and Black Panther needs your help or something? And then not only do you not help to save the world, but I have to miss out on Black Panther."
Peter gave her an unamused look, well aware of her infatuation with T'Challa's good looks.. and prolificness in current issues. "If Black Panter needed my help then Black Panther would call me, not Fury," he countered. "Besides, if we were fighting someone you wouldn't even get to meet him anyway."
"Lame," Michelle grumbled. "What's the point of having a genius, hot superhero boyfriend if you can't meet any of his similarly genius, hot superhero friends?"
"So funny," Peter replied sarcastically. His phone rang again and he glared down on it with a look of death. "Fine. Fine. I will pick up the darn call."
Peter grabbed his phone and jabbed at the answer button. "Hello?"
Michelle switched her chin to her other hand and watched as his face turned from irritated to surprised to concerned to determined. "I'll be there," he said finally, and ended the call. "I am so so sorry but I'm going to have to cut our date short."
Michelle waved him off. "If you see Black Panther please tell him to stop by."
"Will not do," Peter assured her with a grin, knowing she was (mostly) teasing. He back-peddled out of the café, waving as he went. "I'll make this up to you, okay? Lo- um, I mean, really like you!"
Michelle watched him go. "Love you too, dork," she said softly, once she was sure he was out of earshot.
"Ned, where is Peter?" Michelle asked as she slid into her usual seat across from him at their lunch table. "He ran out during chemistry with the excuse that he was sick and I haven't seen him since. He's not actually sick, right?"
"Girl." Ned gave her a disgruntled look. "I really don't understand why you think I know where Peter is all the time. What, does it look like a have a PPT on me at all times?"
"A what?"
"A Personal Peter Tracker," Ned elaborated. "I've been designing one in my free time but it hasn't made it past the testing stages yet." He shook his head. "See, if I was just homeschooled like I've begged my mom to let me be, I would have so much more time to work on Best-Friend-Saving Projects."
Michelle sighed her agreement. "Homeschooling truly is the highest point of freedom in education," she agreed. "But it is, unfortunately, a schooling method that's just unattainable for kids with two working parents."
Ned blinked at her. "We were having a conversation and then you just took it to debate-club land. You applied to Hampshire College yet?"
Michelle grinned. "Early admission after we take SATs," she reported. "But anyway. Where's Peter?"
"Stillll don't know," Ned replied with a deep sigh. "Nick Fury probably called. Again."
Michelle glared at him, as if it was his fault. "Seriously? Has that man never heard of school hours?"
"I don't think crime exactly runs on a schedule," Ned said, snorting. "Besides, Peter doesn't mind."
Michelle raised her eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms.
"Okay, so maybe he minds a little," Ned amended. "But he loves being a superhero! Fury is just used to working with people who have no lives, I guess."
"Peter barely even has a life," Michelle scoffed. "He has me. And you, I suppose."
Ned looked incredibly affronted, so Michelle winked at him to show that there were no hard feelings.
A moment later, Peter raced into the cafeteria and slid into a seat beside MJ. "Have I been suspended yet?" he asked, eyes wild with concern.
"Of course not, idiot, I would never let that happen," Michelle scoffed. She grabbed the napkin from Ned's lunch trey tipped her water bottle onto it, before quickly rubbing at a smudge of blood on Peter's cheek. "Is this yours?"
"Uhhh..." Peter made a face and looked himself over for injuries. "I don't... think so?"
"What did Nick Fury want?" Ned asked, leaning forward and speaking in a considerably lower voice.
"There were a few guys hanging near here that Fury thinks are like weapons' dealers or something," Peter replied, leaning forward, too. "He needed me to go check it out. He said it would only take a few minutes, but then one of the guys spotted me and I had to outrun him so he wouldn't follow me back to school."
"He couldn't have sent an agent to go check it out?" Michelle asked dubiously. "You literally had to run out of Chemistry."
"Yeah man," Ned agreed. "Someday, the hospital is gonna get called so you can be treated for a reoccurring, fast-recovering cold."
"Or someone's going to realize you're not going to the nurse and think you're skipping school," Michelle added, a tad more practically. "Both of which are not good options."
"Mine's worse," Ned muttered, giving her a sidelong glance.
Peter shrugged helplessly. "Guys, what can I do about it? When Nick Fury calls, you pick up. Well, I mean... sometimes I pick up. Eventually."
Michelle sighed and crossed her arms, not liking his resignation to the life Fury was forcing him to lead. But Peter was right. What could he do about it?
linebreaker
"Okay, so just remember," Peter said bracingly as he walked backward along the long hallway towards the hang-out room at the Avengers' base. "Without their powers, all of these guys are just perfectly normal people."
"Um, Thor is a god," Michelle replied, raising her eyebrow with clear skepticism. "Besides, I'm not freaking out or anything."
Internally, she was kind of freaking out, but more about the fact that Peter was about to introduce her as his girlfriend, and she knew how protective superheroes could get from personal experience. She didn't want to be squashed if they didn't think she was good enough... not that she had any insecurities about being good enough for an actual superhero or anything.
"Okay, okay," Peter said. "Thing is, I'm kinda freaking out so maybe I'm just transferring my freaking out onto you so that I can reassure you and therefore reassure myself."
"Gotcha," Michelle replied with a slow nod. "Then... keep on going, I guess?"
"Okay," Peter said again, before coming to a stop out front of the door they'd been walking towards the whole time. "Well... here we are."
A few seconds passed, and then Michelle raised her eyebrow. "Are you going to open it...?"
"Okay," Peter repeated once again, though his voice squeaked with nerves this time. Michelle sighed and gently pushed past him, opening the door. She was met with the stares of eight superheroes.
"Uh, hey guys!" Peter peeped, moving past MJ and into the room. "This is my girlfriend, Michelle Jones. MJ, this is Scott Lang AKA Ant Man, Steven Strange AKA Doctor Strange, Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye, Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel, Sam Wilson AKA Falcon, Bucky Barns AKA the Winter Solder, and Thor AKA... Thor."
"And Nick Fury," another voice added, before a tall, broad-shouldered black man stepped forward. "AKA Nick Fury."
"Uh, yeah, Nick Fury AKA Nick Fury," Peter added quickly. "Soooo, obviously not everyone could show up... we tried to get Black Panther or Shuri down here but they're kinda busy."
Michelle nodded quickly, suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of new faces. At least, new from an IRL perspective; she had seen them on television and Peter's phone more times than she could count.
" 'Sup," she greeted finally, then she turned to Carol. "You're super cool. And you're definitely more powerful than Thor, no matter what half of the idiot males in my class thing."
"Thanks." Carol grinned, looking pleased.
"It is great to meet the holder of Peter Parker's heart!" Thor boomed, standing up to clap Michelle aggressively on the shoulder. She stumbled and Peter caught her arm to make sure she didn't fall over. It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened, and he didn't think she needed to go through any more embarrassment.
"Pete, you've picked well," Bucky agreed with a wink in Michelle's direction. "She's lovely."
Michelle turned absolutely scarlet. "Thanks," she squeaked, eyes wide.
"So, when did you tell her you're Spider Man?" Sam asked to fill the silence.
"Well..." Peter began.
"I figured it out," Michelle interrupted with an offhanded shrug. "It was pretty obvious."
Scott snorted. "The women always know," he said with a slow shake of his head.
"Michelle is basically a genius," Peter added, looking over at her with eyes practically glowing with fondness and pride. "If she's not Valedictorian when we're seniors there's something seriously wrong with our school."
Michelle blushed again, back to looking flustered. "Shut up," she muttered, nudging him in the ribs.
Clint's mouth widened into a grin. "Man, it's good to have some young blood in here," he said with a shake of his head. "We're all getting old."
"Speak for yourself," Sam barked. "I'm a spring chicken."
The rest of the group seemed to find that remarkably funny, and Peter and Michelle chuckled along awkwardly with the rest of them.
Carol leaned back against the couch and crossed her arms. "So, Michelle," she said. "Tell us a little about yourself. How did you and Peter meet? When did you start dating?"
"And here everyone thought I'd be doing the interrogation," Fury said with a snort.
Michelle's gaze went to him, and her mouth hardened into a frown. "Actually, I am a little surprised," she said, before she could stop herself. Peter looked over at her sharply, wary about what was going to come out of her mouth. "I would have assumed that you would be the one asking the questions. You must care about Peter so much, considering how much you call him."
"Oooooh," Sam muttered from the couch, his face openly showing his glee at this particular confrontation.
"Are you making a comment on how I do my job, Miss Jones?" Fury asked, his raised eyebrow the only expression on his face.
"I don't know," Michelle shot back, taking a step forward. "Am I?"
There was a long, tense pause, before Steven broke the silence with a low chuckle. "I like this girl," he said, smiling widely.
"Me too," Peter said, taking Michelle's arm and gently dragging her back to his side. "Which is why I'd rather her not get taken out by a Shield-initiated drone-strike."
"Wow, nice job spelling out everything that's wrong with the government in one sentence," Michelle muttered, though she allowed Peter's hand to slide down her arm and hold hers.
"Anyway," Scott spoke up, an awkward smile on his face. "I have to go pick my daughter up from school so I'm going to head... nice to meet you, Michelle, try not to kill Fury while I'm not around to see it." He caught the fist-bump from Bucky and then hurried out of the lounge area.
"Why am I getting the impression that everyone here has some sort of beef with me?" Fury asked unemotionally.
Clint held up his hands. "You set up a safe house for my wife and kids. There's not much you could do to make me ungrateful for that," he said with a shrug.
"I knew you back when you weren't a jerk," Carol added with a teasing sparkle in her eyes. "So, no, no beef from me."
"Just the girl, then?" Fury said, raising his eyebrow. "Alright then, Miss Jones, tell me where I've gone so terribly wrong."
Michelle straightened her spine and Peter looked around for somewhere to hide. "Were you aware, Mr Fury," she said through a very tense jaw. "That I haven't been able to go on a single date with Peter that you haven't called him during? Were you aware that he is a Junior in high school who has classes all day that he has to skip at least one of every week to go hunt down some bad guy that's 'in the area'?"
"Miss Jones, Mr. Parker signed himself up to be a superhero," Fury replied calmly. "I'm sorry if your boyfriend's dating habits bother you, but I believe that's something you're going to have to deal with yourself."
"That's what I'm doing," Michelle hissed. Months of frustration with the way Nick Fury treated Peter were suddenly bubbling to the top, and there wasn't much she could do to stop it. "I don't care that Peter is a superhero. In fact, some might say that I love him for it."
"Wait, seriously?" Peter said, his cheeks darkening, but Michelle ignored him.
"But when a man starts using my boyfriend to go do his dirty work without giving any consideration to his private life, just because he's too much of a coward to do it himself?" Michelle glared at Fury. "That, I care about."
"Get out," Fury said softly. His face had yet to change expression, but his voice was scarily quiet. "Both of you- get out."
Michelle opened her mouth, furious, but then caught sight of Peter's destroyed expression. She shut her lips tightly together and took him more firmly by the hand, leading him out of the lounge room and the dead silence that had come after her and Fury's conversation.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled as she and Peter walked slowly towards the exit.
"Are you kidding me?" he looked at her incredulously. "One: that was totally hot. Two... I basically love you."
Michelle looked up at him, startled, but was just barely able to retain appearances. "Just basically?"
"I definitely love you," Peter amended, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.
"Good," Michelle muttered, unsure of how else to respond. "Because I love you too, dork."
linebreaker
Even with Peter's awe and declarations of love, both of them were a little disappointed that Michelle's first meeting with the Avengers had ended the way it had.
But then, one day at lunch, Michelle got a text from an unknown number. "Peter," she said slowly, showing him her phone screen.
'Everyone agrees that what you did was totally cool' the text read. It was quickly followed by a second one: 'Don't ask how we got your number or you'll hate the government even more lol'
A moment later, a third text: 'Also, you wanna join us for a cookout at the Avengers facility this weekend because we need more girls. -Carol'
Michelle looked up at her boyfriend, startled. "So... guess I didn't screw up too much, after all."
'Oh also,' a fifth text added, buzzing into her phone as Peter started to grin. 'Black Panther will be there. Heard you're into him.'
Michelle let out a very uncharacteristic squeal and Peter groaned. "Yeah, nope, I am not letting you go to that."
"Shut up, of course you are," Michelle scoffed, slapping him in the shoulder. She sent back the quick, monosyllable response of 'cool', and shut off her phone. "Now, what does one do at an Avengers cookout? Fight ex-hydra members? Plan elaborate extraction missions for detailed weapon plans?"
"Uhhh..." Peter sent her an odd look. "How about: roast hot dogs and try not to get roped into a marshmallow eating contest with Thor?"
Michelle grinned toothily. "Awesome."
linebreaker
Peter, unfortunately, did manage to get roped into a marshmallow eating contest... not only with Thor, actually, but with Bucky and Sam, too. The lawn outside of the Avengers facility was practically teaming with superheroes, and the thought crossed Michelle's mind that if a bad guy wanted to pick all of them off at once, right here would be a very good place to do it.
She spent some time talking with Clint's oldest daughter, Lila Barton, who was a few years younger than her but still pretty cool. Lila grilled her on her relationship with Peter and Michelle grilled her on what it was like to be related to an OG Avenger, and the conversation flowed nicely.
Finally, Michelle braced herself and walked up to a muscular, dark skinned, noble looking man standing and talking with Steven Strange and holding a hot dog. "Umm... T'Challa?" Michelle asked hesitantly, straightening her spine to try and look a little taller. "I'm a huge fan."
"You must be Michelle Jones," T'Challa replied, putting his hot dog aside so he could reach forward and shake her hand in both of his. Michelle tried not to swoon. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I apologize that neither I nor my sister could have been present when Peter Parker introduced you to the Avengers recently."
"It's cool," Michelle said offhandedly, waving away his concerns. "Uhh... who's your sister?"
"Me, I'm his sister." A young woman with gorgeous hair and a quirky smile spoke up, coming around the side of one of the grills (there were three) and towards Michelle. "My name is Shuri, and it is wonderful to meet you."
"You too," Michelle replied, shaking her hand. "Are you... a superhero, too?"
Shuri scoffed, leaning in closer like she was about to share a giant secret. "You know who made the Black Panther costume? Me. Does that count as a superpower?"
"Definitely," Michelle agreed immediately, grinning.
Peter took that moment to come over and dejectedly put his chin on Michelle's shoulder. "I lost," he complained plaintively. "Also, Thor and Bucky finished all the marshmallows."
"You didn't even save me one?" Michelle asked him, shaking her head.
Peter shrugged, and she shook him off her shoulder because his chin really was sharp. "If I had saved you one I would have lost even worse."
"I'll see if I can find anymore in the kitchen," Shuri assured Michelle. "Pepper likes to hide a bag that she can bring out after the competitions are over, for those of us with slightly less high metabolism."
"Says the girl who ate six chicken wings last night," T'Challa called teasingly after her.
"I said slightly less!" Shuri shot back over her shoulder.
Michelle turned to Peter with a very big smile on her face, reaching forward and taking his hand. He looked down at her, pleased at the contact. "Hey."
"Can we come here every weekend?" Michelle asked, practically glowing.
Peter laughed, and kissed her nose. It broke the moment and Michelle gave him a disdainful stare, letting go of his hand. He sighed. "No, probably not. But maybe sometimes."
"I'm cool with maybe sometimes," Michelle agreed, and rewarded him by taking his hand again.
linebreaker
Michelle didn't even know Nick Fury was at the cookout until he approached her. "Miss Jones," he called, looking much less threatening with a hot dog and bottle of mustard in his hand. "A word."
Peter looked like he was about to come with her, but Michelle pressed her foot firmly on top of his. "Of course," she agreed to Nick Fury, standing up and striding composedly over to him. "What can I help you with?"
"I wanted to give you this," Fury replied, reaching over and handing her a slim black phone. "For your boyfriend."
Michelle raised her eyebrow. "What is it?"
"It's a phone," Fury said, smirking faintly. She raised her eyebrow higher, and he gave in. "A phone that, from now on, will be the only one I call. If he isn't available, all he's gotta do is turn it off." He took a step forward, his smile disappearing. "But you let Mr. Parker know that if I really need him, I will be calling, no matter if the phone is on or off. And if I do call, he's gotta pick up. Understood?"
"Understood," Michelle replied promptly. She didn't bother to say thank you or even show how grateful she was, because Peter deserved this and Nick Fury had made it so that he needed it in the first place.
She nodded, once, and Fury nodded back, and then Michelle went back to her boyfriend.
"What did he want?" Peter asked nervously when she sat down next to him in front of the fire pit again.
Michelle passed him the phone. "He wanted to give you a gift. From now on, he'll call this if he needs you, and you can turn it off when you don't want to be bothered." She gave Peter a look. "If that thing rings during a date I will stomp on it."
Peter grinned and put his arm around her. "Yes ma'am."
Author's Note: So... that story just kinda... spun, ya know? I had no plan, and it just started unraveling into a 'Michelle meets the Avengers' trope, and a 'Michelle vs. Nick Fury' story, and a 'First Confessions of Love' kinda thing...
NGL I don't hate it XD Let me know what you think in the reviews! I definitely want to do more with the Avengers and Spideychelle, maybe even in a universe where everyone is alive so I don't need to keep reminding myself of who's there and who's dead XD