A/N: y'all it's showdown time

this chapter is where it's alll been leading up to and we'll finally get to see who wins this weird game

also i'm posting from my phone and can't post a gif, but here's my Spotify wrapped instead (it's wrong, i don't just listen to mindless pop, spotify is just tripping. i promise my music has ✨flavor✨). btw this is your friendly reminder to listen to the into light playlist if you haven't already, link in my bio!

anyway, enjoy this chapter!

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"This is so embarrassing to admit but...

I've actually been dying to kiss you all day."
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"Oh, you smell great," Adelaide grinned, "Betty's gonna be lost as a sheep strayed from the herd."

After agreeing to go on the date with Betty yesterday, today had been all about how to win. Betty kept sending him flirtatious looks all day long and Peter, although not the best at fake flirting, managed to a couple of flirty smiles. At least, he hoped they looked like smiles and not grimaces. He never had to do the whole flirting thing before. With Ada, he didn't have to think about what to say or do around her. Everything came naturally.

But this was unmarked territory.

"So I'm date ready?" he asked, fixing the collar of his shirt. Ada smoothed out the wrinkles with her hands.

"Adelaide approved," she grinned.

At the moment, they had finished the decathlon meeting for today and Ada had pulled him out of the auditorium and into the secluded hallway to prepare him before he went back for his big date with Betty.

"Ada, what if...it goes too far?" he asked. She held his shoulders and gave a light squeeze before looking into his eyes.

"I trust you," she said honestly, making him smile. She quickly pecked his lips. "Remember what we talked about, okay? Now go back in there and win this for me— us, I mean us."

Peter took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the doors to the auditorium. When he walked inside, he found that Betty was already standing there in the empty auditorium, waiting for him. He swallowed nervously. Betty grinned at him.

"Hey, tiger. Ready for our date?" she asked as he walked towards her.

Unbeknownst to her, Adelaide was carefully peeking at them from the back doors of the auditorium. At the same time, Vivian, MJ, and Flash were watching them from behind the curtains on the stage. They were all holding their breaths in anticipation of who would give in first. While both candidates looked strong on the outside, on the inside, they were just a few forced romantic moments away from bolting in the opposite direction.

"You bet," Peter said nervously, "But I was thinking...what if we had the date backwards?"

Betty paused, stopping in front of him. She frowned, "What?"

"I mean, what if we kissed first and then went on the date?" he said, carefully watching her expression. He could see a slight panic in her eyes.

Betty swallowed. This wasn't part of the plan. No one ever said she would have to kiss Peter Parker. Going on a date was one thing, but kissing Adelaide's boyfriend? Betty couldn't even imagine the wrath she'd have to face if that happened. Maybe Adelaide would take pity on her and only bury her alive. That wouldn't be so bad. Right?

She almost thought about giving up but then she realized that this was just another one of his games he was playing. He was trying to make her cave first. She knew he would never actually go through with the kiss. So she collected herself again and held her chin up high with a dazzling smile.

"I think...that's an amazing idea," she smiled. Peter faltered. He thought for sure that would make her crack. He never thought he would actually have to kiss Betty Brant.

"Y-You do?" he stuttered. Her smiled widened.

"Of course," she said quietly, "This is so embarrassing to admit but...I've actually been dying to kiss you all day." Betty couldn't help but internally cringe as she said it. If Adelaide could hear her right now, she would definitely break her arm or something.

"Y-You have?" poor Peter stuttered, "I-I mean...so have I. T-To kiss you, I mean, not-not me."

"So?" she whispered.

"Well," Peter said awkwardly.

There was an awkward pause.

"I think the restroom— I need to use the restroom," Betty said and at the same time Peter said, "My phone! I-I left my phone. I-I should get it."

They stared at each other for a beat before nodding. Betty said, "Alright then. I will be right back."

"And I will also be right back. Here. To kiss you," he said awkwardly. Betty blinked for a moment before almost sprinting back to the stage where everyone else was hiding. Peter also nearly created a Peter-shaped hole in the wall as he tried to run toward the back exit.

He stumbled through the door and into the hallway where Adelaide was still standing. She had been watching the whole thing.

"You did so good!" she grinned as Peter tried to catch his breath. He look at her like she was delirious. Considering everything, she wasn't far from it. Probably the only girlfriend on the planet who would advocate for her boyfriend to kiss another girl, all for the sake of a bet.

"Betty wants to kiss me!" he whisper-yelled, "I can't do this, Ada. Let's just call quits."

"No. Absolutely not. We are so close, Pete," she said, "I promise, Betty's about to crack. You won't have to actually kiss her. We will win this. Please?"

Peter sighed, nodding. "You're right. She won't go through with it."

"Exactly!" Adelaide said, fixing his hair and shirt again. She packed his lips. "Now go back in there and crack her like an egg."

Feeling confident again, Peter stood up straight and nodded firmly. He could do this. It was only a few minutes of his life. It wouldn't be that hard. Taking a deep breath, he turned around and walked back into the auditorium.

—————

"He wants to kiss me!" Betty exclaimed in a full-blown panic, "And he's not! Backing! Down!"

Flash mumbled something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like for once, I wish I was Parker. Vivian shook her head, ignoring him and focused on calming Betty down. She looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown.

"Hey, hey," she said, making her look at her, "Peter is not going to kiss you, okay? I know him. He's just physically incapable of doing that to Adelaide. You have nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, just go out there and win this for us," MJ said. Taking in a shaky breath, Betty nodded.

"Right. You're right. Okay. Yeah, okay. I got this," she said. Both girls nodded in agreement with her.

Just before she went back out again, Ned walked into their little corner of the backstage as if he was looking for something. When he saw all of them huddled around, he sighed in annoyance. He thought this whole ordeal would be over by now.

"This is still going on? Come on, you guys, I need to get my backpack from the seats in there," he mumbled tiredly. Vivian put her hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at her.

"Think about it this way. The faster Peter caves, the faster this is all over," she said. Ned liked that idea.

"Okay, fine. Betty, wink at him. It'll throw him off. He doesn't know how to react when girls wink at him. It freaks him out," Ned said. Betty nodded.

"Got it. Wink at him," she said, fixing her hair, "Okay, wish me luck."

—————

Betty joined him in the auditorium once again and as she was walking up to him, she grinned flirtatiously and winked.

Peter swallowed, suddenly not sure of where to look anymore.

"H-Hey," he said, his voice cracking like a thirteen-year-old boy's. His face heated up in embarrassment and any confidence or momentum he had before went out the window.

"Hey, tiger," she said, "Found your phone?"

"Y-Yeah, actually," he stuttered, "Turns out it was in my pocket the whole time, heh. Did you uh, use the restroom...well?" Peter cringed internally and kicked himself for being so awkward.

"I did," Betty replied, stopping to come stand in front of him. Peter nervously looked down at her.

"Well, here we are. Once again," he mumbled. Betty's confident smile faltered.

"On our reverse date," she said.

"So," Peter said.

"So," Betty said.

"So," Peter repeated.

Silence.

"I guess there's nothing left for us to do but...kiss," she said. Peter's heart was about to beat out of his chest like a cuckoo bird jumping out of a clock. His hands began sweating.

"R-Right," he said.

Betty, against every instinct in her body, began to lean forward. Peter, feeling a literally magnetic repellent force from her, ignored it and leaned forward too. Their lips were less than an inch away from each other's now. Peter didn't know where to put his hands so he put them on her shoulders. Her perfume scent wafted to his nose and he nearly bolted away at that instant.

This felt wrong. Dear god, it felt so incredibly wrong. He wished that lightning would strike just between them or the earth would open up under him and swallow him whole. But that didn't happen and now they were so close to each other that Peter could feel the bodily heat from her face against his.

And the second that Betty's lips just barely brushed against his, he squeezed his eyes shut and stumbled back.

"Okay! Okay! I can't do it! You win!" he shouted, furiously scrubbing his lips. Betty mouth fell open and relief coursed through her veins. She didn't have to kiss Peter Parker.

"I win?" she breathed in disbelief. Peter gritted his teeth, leaning over and resting his hands on his knees as if he had just run a marathon and was trying to catch his breath.

"Yes, you win," he grumbled in annoyance, "I can't kiss you."

Betty squealed and then laughed happily, "And why not?"

"Because I'm in love with Ada, okay!" he shouted, "I'm in love — with Ada! I am completely and madly and ridiculously in love with Ada, that's why!"

Betty's mouth fell open just as Adelaide herself walked into the auditorium from the backdoors. Her eyes were only watching Peter and she didn't even notice the rest of them joining from behind the stage. Peter spotted her and sighed.

"Ada, I'm sorry. I couldn't go through with it," he mumbled.

She shook her head, walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him as tightly as she could. Peter immediately sunk into it and just like that, nothing felt awkward and he knew exactly where to put his hands and how to hold her. With Ada, it always felt right. She was the girl for him in a way that no one else would ever be able to be. Adelaide pulled away first, smiling at him with her eyes slightly glazed.

"I love you too, Pete," she whispered.

"Aw, I didn't know you guys were in love," Betty said, her hand over her heart and a pout on her face. She was a sucker for love. She loved love. "I thought you were just messing around."

Adelaide and Peter both chuckled and she stepped back so she was facing everyone again. Peter let his arm hang around her shoulders, pulling her into him. He had never before felt more relieved in his life. It was finally over.

"Well, Betty, you played really well. Congratulations on winning," Peter said with a smile. He didn't care that he'd lost. Just one look at the girl in his arms and he knew that he would always be a winner.

"Thank you, you played great too," she smiled.

"I guess you earned this," MJ mumbled dejectedly, inconspicuously shoving Ned a hundred dollar bill. Ned took it and stuffed it into his pocket with great pride.

"I'm sorry for your loss," he whispered back, not at all very sorry. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

Adelaide narrowed her eyes at the two but then Betty ordered them to tell everyone about exactly how it all happened and it ended up being quite a long afternoon in the auditorium. Not that she minded in the least. She was there with the love of her life and surrounded by all of their friends.

She couldn't think of any better way to spend her afternoon.

—————

After mostly everyone had left to go home, it was just her, Peter, and Ned who were waiting outside by the curb for their rides to come pick them up.

"I really am happy for you guys," Ned said. Peter smiled.

"Thanks, man."

"Just don't ever ask me to lie again, okay?" he said sternly. Peter and Adelaide nervously glanced at each other.

"Well...Tony and Pepper and Happy and May don't really know yet and we'd like it if you didn't tell them just yet," Adelaide said.

Ned looked at her, anger all over his face. She winced apologetically.

But before he could argue, the billionaire himself drove up his bright red sports car in front of them and rolled down the window to greet them with his signature smile.

"Hey Pete, Neddie," he said, pulling his sunglasses down, "And who's this other kid with you? I don't recognize her."

Adelaide rolled her eyes, getting into the car, "Very funny."

"Hitchhiking is illegal in New York, you know," he continued as she buckled her seatbelt. She looked back out at Ned and Peter, the former who had started to look a little pale.

"See you guys," she said.

"Bye," they both said and the billionaire drove them away.

"So how was school? Tell me all the goss," he said.

"Really?" she asked, shifting in her seat so she was facing him, "You sure you can handle it?" The billionaire shrugged carelessly, his eyes still on the road. She wondered how he would react if she told him what really happened at school today. Probably not a good idea to tell him that my boyfriend and my friend had a fake date and then Peter proclaimed his love for me in front of everyone while he was driving.

"How much can it be? It's just a few teenagers," he said. Little did he know.

"Well, Bob Barnett was suspended for accidentally bringing crystal meth into the school but then everyone realized it was just aquarium rocks and his suspension was lifted," she said and Tony looked at her oddly.

"Bobby sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Tony mumbled.

"He tried hiding the rocks in his shirt and pants before he knew it wasn't meth and he swore his skin absorbed the drugs and he was acting high as a kite for most of lunch period," she added.

"Reasonable conclusion," Tony said. She kept going.

"And he got so worried sick that they had to call a chopper to take him to the ER," she said. The billionaire gave her a strange look.

"At what point in that did you start messing with me?" he asked. She shook her head, falling back into her seat.

"If only school was that interesting," she chuckled. The billionaire shook his head.

"Just wait till college," he said.

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A/N: if you know where adie's story is from, you're awesome :)

anyway, i hope you guys liked the showdown and mj finally coughed up the money to pay ned lol. pretty soon, tony will find out and lemme just say— there's hella angst, y'all. and by soon i mean way sooner than you think ;)

so tomorrow morning is my last final of the semester! i also have to finish an english paper afterward, but then i am DONE! my roommate and i have planned a lil' movie night tomorrow in our hall and we're gonna load up on really unhealthy junk food and hot chocolate and pizza until we feel sick but it's fine because we'll be watching a shit ton of Christmas movies 🥰

and then we're going home the next morning and then hopefully we're going ice skating this saturday for my bday! i'm turning 20 y'all 👵🏼😔 i did not give my consent to age like this 😤

question: how do you think tony will find out?

see y'all next week!