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Series:
Part 4 of The Sokovia Amendment
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Published:
2024-07-18
Completed:
2024-07-19
Words:
2,471
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2/2
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Plausible Deniability

Summary:

“Parker! My office! Now!”

Peter felt everyone’s eyes on him as he followed the coach to the other side of the gym, his mind racing with anxiety. He remembered what Mr. Harrington had told him the day before.

“Unfortunately, this new amendment makes me a mandated reporter of any possibly enhanced students.”

OR

Dodgeball games are won, identities are revealed, and the Academic Decathlon team continues to be the best.

Chapter 1: Peppermint Pasts

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

No one in gym class stood a chance against Spider-Man in dodgeball. Of course, in their defense, they didn’t actually know Peter Parker was Spider-Man. He planned on keeping it that way, but one good game of dodgeball surely wouldn’t compromise his identity.

He was walking away from the game and back towards his team, victorious, when he felt it: that tingle of alarm that made his hairs stand on end and told him how to move. He wasn’t sure why he listened. His best guess was that, after allowing himself to not ignore the signal for so long, it was just instinct. He didn’t even turn around when he caught the bright red ball. One moment his hand was empty, the next it was behind his head, gripping the foam that was just hurtling towards him from a bitter student on the other team.

Suddenly, the game made a lot more sense to a lot more people. When the bell rang, snapping the class out of their stupor, Coach Wilson demanded, “Parker! My office! Now!”

Peter felt everyone’s eyes on him as he followed the coach to the other side of the gym, his mind racing with anxiety. He remembered what Mr. Harrington had told him the day before.

“Unfortunately, this new amendment makes me a mandated reporter of any possibly enhanced students.”

When Peter looked back at where the Academic Decathlon team (minus Flash) was huddling and whispering to each other, he made eye contact with MJ for a moment.

“Let’s go, Parker!” Coach Wilson called again, already standing in the doorway of his office.

Peter nodded and quickly rushed into the office. It was small, with only enough room for a few filing cabinets, a desk, two chairs, and the awards that hung on the walls all around the room. Coach Wilson sat down in one of the chairs, but Peter chose to keep standing. This way, he was able to flee quickly.

Coach Wilson stared at Peter for a moment, something unrecognizable in his eyes. “Why don’t you have a mint, Parker?”

Peter turned his attention to the bowl of mints on the desk that he certainly didn’t remember being there last time, his face scrunched up in confusion. “Um- no thanks. I’m good.”

“I insist,” the coach said firmly, and the look on his face started to make sense to Peter.

A few months back, before Secretary Ross even wrote the amendment, Peter remembered scrolling through some of the harsh tags that were trending on social media. Aunt May had warned him not to, but he couldn’t resist the urge to find out what people were saying about him. One Tumblr thread in particular caught his eye. The original poster hadn’t meant any harm by it; it had actually started before the discourse had begun. They were just theorizing about some of the enhancements Spider-Man had. Of course, under that were reposters who slowly, as time went on and opinions changed, brought up more and more theories in much more hurtful ways. Everything from how many eyes he had under the mask to his webs being pulled out and used for the web shooters from certain parts of his own body. One comment in general stood out to him now.

ConspiracyBlogger_99
Okay, I see your bug spray and raise you: ✨peppermint✨

It’s pretty much common knowledge that peppermint keeps spiders away, right? Something to do with the smell, I don’t know. So, what do you do if you want to keep away the mutant pest bugging New York?

Rub some peppermint on your porch.

I know, I know, I’m basically telling you to hang garlic in the doorway to ward off vampires, but just HEAR ME OUT

I used to leave this one peppermint scented candle on my front steps back when Spidey first showed up. I never once saw him anywhere near my place. Eventually, the candle ran out and I threw it away, and who showed up across the street the very next day? None other than the masked mutant menace himself

So, I did what any sane person would do and bought an entire bottle of peppermint essential oils the next day and basically coated my front door in it, and I haven’t seen him since. Seriously, I HIGHLY recommend this lifehack, it’s saved me so much anxiety

279,055 notes

The next few weeks, Peter noticed the smell of peppermint popping up in random places all over the city. He really didn’t blame anyone for believing the theory, it was something Peter considered himself when he was first doing research on spiders to try and understand his powers. Still, the act of using the scent to try and keep him away like some pest bothered him. As he began smelling it on the streets nearly everywhere he went, he slowly started to associate it with the idea that he wasn’t wanted there. Now, he wouldn’t say he actively AVOIDS peppermint, but it definitely isn’t his favorite scent in the world.

In the gymnasium office, Peter looked at the bowl of peppermint on Coach Wilson’s desk. It wasn’t a peace offering, but a test. He took one of the red and white candies and unwrapped it, popping it in his mouth. He smiled as the coach’s expression seemed to soften slightly.

“You have some impressive reflexes, Parker,” the coach told him as he crossed Peter’s name off of a list sitting in front of him. “I expect you to use them more often in the future.”

Peter nodded. “Right. Yeah, I will.”

“Good. Now get outta my office.”

Peter nodded again and quickly ran to the locker room to get changed before his next class.

 

MJ called an emergency Academic Decathlon meeting that afternoon. When Peter entered the room this time, it was a much less muted atmosphere than the day before. It almost felt like the air around him was buzzing with nervous energy and determination. Everyone was sitting on the floor already, glancing up to look at Peter as he walked in. He set his backpack down on a table and sat down in the circle between Ned and MJ.

“Okay, MJ,” Mr. Harrington said. “Take it away.”

“We all saw what went down in the gym earlier,” MJ started. “Things are getting more intense. We need a game plan.”

“For the next time we play dodgeball?” Ned asked.

“No,” MJ said with an eye roll. “Well, maybe that too. That whole thing was just reckless.” That last part was definitely directed at Peter, who ducked his head. “We can’t just stand on the sidelines and say we don’t want to get involved anymore, this is going to affect us whether we like it or not, so let’s actually do something about it.”

“Like what?” Charles asked. “We’re a high school decathlon club.”

“We also can’t afford to be down another member because of Spider-Man related issues!” Betty retorted. Everyone paused and looked at her. “Come on, we’ve all been thinking it! Things haven’t been the same since Liz left, and if P- if SOMEONE on our team happened to be hiding something and got caught, our numbers might not even be high enough to compete anymore!”

“Hiding what?” Flash asked. “This isn’t just about our team, it’s about Spider-Man! He’s out there somewhere doing the police department’s job while they’re busy hunting him down!”

“What about all the other enhanced heroes?” Peter asked. “Spider-Man isn’t the only one.”

“Stop worrying about other heroes for once, Peter!” MJ insisted.

“I’m just saying, he shouldn’t be our only reason for doing this, there-”

Cindy interrupted. “We don’t get to worry about other heroes when Spider-Man was almost caught during gy- the riots last night!”

“Are you kidding?” Flash asked. “They weren’t even CLOSE to catching him, Spider-Man is too strong for that!”

“If Spider-Man gets caught, it won’t be because he isn’t strong,” MJ argued. “It’ll be because he’s an idiot who doesn’t know how to put himself first.”

“Maybe Spider-Man knows there are more important things than him!” Peter claimed.

“Like DODGEBALL!?”

Everyone froze to look at Abe, the normally quiet club member, when he broke the shield of plausible deniability surrounding the conversation. Flash seemed confused, MJ livid, Betty betrayed.

Mr. Harrington suddenly stood up and said, “Alright, I’ve gotta use the bathroom. Will you kids be alright on your own?”

Notes:

Oh my gosh, a two part fic!? The commitment is terrifying, but I think I can handle it. Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Literally, the two comments I get on each part of this are single-handedly fueling this series, lol. I'm so excited for the next part, I really feel in my element now that I'm bringing back the cliffhangers. Thanks again, I hope you enjoyed it!

Chapter 2: Bathroom Briefing

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As soon as the door shut behind Mr. Harrington, MJ said, “The amendment includes liability for anyone actively withholding information on enhanced individuals from officials. Anyone who doesn’t think they can handle that should leave now.”

Peter’s heart was racing as the other team members seemed to internally debate the pros and cons of having this conversation. He didn’t know what was going to happen. If he did, he wasn’t sure he was ready for it. So, at MJ’s words, Peter slowly stood up, only to be tugged back down by Ned.

“I don’t think you were included in that, Peter.” Ned’s tone sounded joking, but the look on his face was serious.

“So no takers?” MJ confirmed.

“What exactly is going on?” Flash asked.

“Seriously,” MJ said, “Last chance.”

“No one’s leaving,” Flash groaned. “Just get to the point.”

“I’m Spider-Man.”

Everyone turned their heads at Peter’s admission. Aside from Flash, no one seemed surprised. Peter felt like his entire world had been pulled from under him, yet the silence that engulfed the room was not one of shock like when he caught the dodgeball earlier, or even one of shattered denial like when Abe spoke. Peter wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t what broke the fragile circle of quietness.

“Yeah,” Cindy agreed. “No shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Flash interrupted, not sounding sorry at all. “You all knew this? Hold on, that doesn’t- he’s not-”

“We don’t have time for you to have a sexuality crisis or whatever this is,” Ned told him.

“He’s right,” MJ said. “Staff can only leave students alone for five minutes at a time during an emergency situation.” When everyone looked at her confused, she added, “What? I read the handbook. Just because I don’t support the rules doesn’t mean I don’t know them.”

“Prove it,” Flash said, looking Peter directly in the eyes. “Prove that you’re Spider-Man.”

“I’m not going to-”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “Just do it, Peter. It’ll get him to shut up quicker.”

Peter wasn’t sure whether Cindy actually thought it would save them time or just wanted a chance to see for herself. Nevertheless, he stood up and looked around nervously before jumping towards the ceiling and sticking onto the tiles with one hand. When everyone continued to stare at him silently, he just asked, “Good?” as he jumped down.

“Okay…” Flash said hesitantly. “So Peter’s Spider-Man. Holy shit, Peter’s-”

“Yeah, he’s Spider-Man, get over it,” Ned said, and Peter couldn’t help but find the contrast between the phrase and Ned’s own reaction to hearing the truth to be entertaining.

“How long have you all known?” Peter asked.

“We’ve had our suspicions for a while,” Betty explained.

“We’ve been TRYING to hint at it to you,” Cindy said.

“They were pretty obvious,” MJ told him. “I don’t understand how you didn’t get it.”

“I mean- I thought something might have been going on after yesterday…” Peter admitted.

“Okay, we’re all on the same page, let’s move on from this already,” Charles said. “My question still stands. What are we supposed to do about the Accords? I mean- no offense or anything, but how is a high school trivia team supposed to do what IRON MAN can’t?”

“That’s just it,” Betty said. “Iron Man is- well- Iron Man. He might not be enhanced, but he definitely has a reputation and a connection to this. And he’s a billionaire. Right?” Everyone nodded. “We’re just kids. Kids that care about something like this despite not seeming like we’re connected to the issue. I mean- if you look at history, there’s a trend that tends to be followed when everyday citizens and the next generation get involved in politics and show they’re invested.”

“We can’t speak to the higher-ups that Tony Stark can,” MJ added. “We can’t donate billions of dollars to the cause. We can’t even get the word out to nearly as many people. But, when we ARE seen, we can change a lot more minds.”

“Exactly,” Betty agreed.

“So how do we get seen?” Abe asked. Everyone looked to MJ for that.

MJ shrugged. “Organizing protests, handing out flyers on time square, social media campaigns. As long as we come off as respectful, at least SOMEONE will listen.”

“This is stuff we can talk about with Mr. Harrington in the room,” Flash said. “I want- we need to talk about- well-”

“Me,” Peter finished for him. “Right?”

“Wow,” Ned joked, “Someone wants attention.”

“Did you honestly have no idea?” Betty asked Flash.

“No! Why would I!? He’s- he’s Penis Parker! Spider-Man is amazing, Peter is- well-”

“Peter is our friend,” MJ said firmly.

There was a knock at the door. “Can I come back in?” Mr. Harrington asked.

“Just one second!” MJ called, before demanding, “Everyone give me your phone.”

“Why?” Flash asked, sounding like MJ had just asked him to eat an entire jar of mayonnaise.

“So we can all talk about this later!” she explained frantically. “Do you want answers or not?”

“Fine,” Flash agreed as he handed his phone over to MJ, everyone besides Ned and Peter following suit.

MJ sent herself a friend request on each device quickly and efficiently. While the phones were being passed back around the circle to everyone, they all vibrated in unison. Peter turned on his phone to check the notification.

Michelle-dahlia-murders added you, Darth_Nedward_01, XxFlash_Spider_FanxX, BettytheJournalist, AbrahamB00, Charlie-Brown-00, and Crescentmoonily to a chat.

Michelle-dahlia-murders: Sup, losers

With the rest of the team checking their phones, MJ opened the door for Mr. Harrington, who entered and sat back down with the rest of the group. “Did you all get it sorted out?”

While everyone else responded with varied yeses and yeahs, Flash said, “No,” and Mr. Harrington just looked at them with confusion.

“For the most part,” Peter said. He understood the suspicion that lurked behind his teacher’s expression. He had seen it earlier that day during his talk with Coach Wilson. There was more to it than that, however: a genuine kindness and understanding.

Peter may not have had everyone on his side. For all he knew, this room could be the only safe one in his entire school. That didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the people that he did have rooting for him, and the support they showed whether through picking him for their dodgeball team or taking a bathroom break. “Thanks.”

Notes:

Yay! Thanks again for reading, I'm so glad I actually finished this one. I honestly have very few ideas on where to go from here, so let me know if there's anything you're excited to see in this series! Or if you want to see more of this series at all, really. I hope you enjoyed!

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