#Alistair Cheng x Filipina!reader in the future perhaps?

[self-proclaimed-chaotic-good]

Illusion | Brad Davis x Filipina!Reader (Oneshot)

Words: 3582

Warnings: Reader do be insecure, so slight angst, and one swear word. Slight canon divergent.

Kuya = Older Brother, Ading = Younger Sibling, Tsismis = Gossip/chitchat

A/N: I'm supposed to be sleeping or at least finishing up [Science & Faith], but I'm finishing this instead.

Summary: Continuation of [Crush]. Things aren't official with you and Brad and as the trip goes on, questions are made and secrets are revealed.

-

You knew that Mysterio was a shady bastard, but no one would listen. They were too distracted by his cape and green lasers to care. He was too nice, too understanding. You weren’t sure how to tell Peter about it, but you knew he trusted this Mysterio person easily because of what he’d been through. Ned wasn’t much help, either, seeing that he was busy with Betty to understand the gravity of the situation. Adding to that, you had to help Peter sneak away from the group every time Spiderman was needed and hide it from everyone including Michelle and Brad.

“I need to go,” Peter said hurriedly, eyes darting around as he pulled you aside just before you could enter the theater.

“Are you serious right now?” you hissed. “You promised MJ-”

“I know, I know. I don’t want to be doing this, either, but the world’s got no one else to help but me.”

You didn’t have any spider powers, but you could feel the waves of anxiety rolling off of him. You sighed. “I wish I could help you.”

“You’re helping me right now. Keep an eye on everyone, okay? You’re one of if not the most observant person I know. Call me when something comes up. Tell MJ that I’m sick or something.”

“Alright,” you resigned, “But be careful. You know how I feel about that red caped guy. And please try to steer the monster away from the Opera House.”

“I know. Thank you, (Y/n/n).” He turns to run out, shouting over his shoulder, “I’ll be back as soon as I can!”

You watched him leave before making your way back to the theater room where Brad was waiting for you. He reached out a hand and you took it, following him in to join the rest of the group. You spotted Michelle and told her that Peter got food poisoning and needed to go back to the hotel. Her face remained neutral as she nodded, but you knew that she was disappointed and worried. There was a short silent exchange with your brother before you found a seat near him and Michelle.

You let out a long tired breath as you sat back in the comfy velvety theater chairs. When you turned your head, you saw Brad staring right at you. “What is it?” you asked.

He narrowed his eyes. “You and Peter’s been whispering a lot to each other lately,” he commented.

It was your turn to narrow your eyes. “Yeah, we’ve been friends since he and my brother met. Jealous, Mr. Davis?”

He scoffed. “No,” he muttered, shifting in his seat as the lights dimmed.

Music began to flood the room as the performance started, but you could see that there was more that Brad wanted to talk about. You looked around and saw that everyone’s attention was on the stage. From the corner of your eye, you could see Brad moving his arm onto the arm rest, palm facing up with his fingers wiggling teasingly. You bit back a smile, slowly reaching over to place your hand on his. Without tearing his eyes away from the stage, he weaved his fingers with yours and smiled. You were still not fully convinced that he actually liked you, but it didn’t hurt to indulge just a little bit in the moment.

As the opera continued, you could see Michelle looking back at the entrance several times before finally leaving. Betty leaned towards Ned and started to whisper excitedly. Ned began to protest as Betty got up to follow her.

“What’s going on?” you asked your brother.

“Betty thinks MJ’s going to the carnival, so she wants to go, too,” he said, not even noticing your fingers intertwined with Brad’s. “Stay here, I’m going to go get them.”

“But-”

“No,” he whispered firmly, “It’s too dangerous. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“That’s what you said last time.”

He grimaced, knowing what you were referring to. During the pep rally at Midtown, he had rushed out of the auditorium, sensing something bad was about to happen when Peter didn’t answer his phone. His next thought was to call you, saying that he was going to look into it. Knowing that he was supposed to pick you up after school, he said that he’d be back in time to get you. And he never did. Half the world was turned to dust, with your brother included.

“I mean it this time. Please, stay here.”

Yet another person telling you to stay put. But what can you do? You weren’t Spiderman or Ironman or even Black Widow. You were the younger sister of Spiderman’s best friend. For as long as you can remember, you were always the one that stood by and watched powerlessly when something happened. Always the bystander. The observer.

“You okay?” Brad asked quietly. “Did you want to go to the carnival, too?”

You shook your head. “I’m like my brother, I don’t do well with big crowds. I’m just worried about them being out like that with all those weird elemental monsters out and about.”

“Well that Mysterio guy and Night Monkey are taking care of that,” he reasoned.

You said nothing, forcing yourself to pay attention to the performance. Even after the opera had finished, the others still hadn’t returned. The group made their way back to the hotel, the two teachers bickering about whether it was better to start heading back to New York now or finish the trip and risk the safety of the students. They didn’t even bother to do a headcount. Their decision was made clear when they found out about the latest incident with a fire elemental at the carnival grounds.

Ned, Betty, and Michelle were already at the hotel lobby when the group arrived. Mr. Harrington questioned their whereabouts and they sheepishly admitted that they might have strayed away and checked out the carnival. It almost gave him a heart attack, but at least they were safe. All the students were told to go to their rooms and start packing. The trip was over.

“Meet me at the lobby in half an hour?” Brad asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

The two of you split, heading towards your respective rooms to pack. You were bummed that the trip had been cut short, being that it was your first time in Europe and it was also your first time taking a trip with your brother, but there were strange things happening that Peter has unwittingly been involved in. You had a feeling that it was something that Brad wanted to talk about. Even after the opera show, he kept talking about how weird Peter had been acting all trip. There were negative thoughts threatening to ruin your already stressful day and you tried as much as you could to push it away.

There was a soft knock on your door. “Ading, it’s me.”

You swung the door open and pulled him into a hug, nevermind that he was only in a bathrobe. “You’re a fucking idiot,” you said.

“I know, I’m sorry. Don’t tell mom! If you tell her, I’ll tell her about you and Brad Davis.”

You rolled your eyes. “Mom already texted me saying that she saw you on the news when you were stuck on the ferris wheel. Besides...” You checked the time on your phone, pushing your brother out with you. “It’s my turn to leave you and do my own thing.”

As you rushed down the stairs, you heard your brother shout, “Remember, if he does anything you don’t like, just kick him in the nuts.”

Brad was sitting down on one of the plush chairs in the lobby that was facing the entrance, his laptop open on the coffee table in front of him. He had been staring at the entrance when you arrived, his attention snapping away when you entered his line of sight. He smiled, urging you to sit down next to him.

“Was there something that you wanted to talk about?” you asked.

“Well, I just wanted to hang out without everyone else hovering, but now that you mentioned it…” Brad leaned over, gesturing for you to meet him halfway, then whispered, “I saw MJ and Peter sneak out together. Want to spy on them?”

There was that negative thought again. He’s only showing interest in you because you’re close to Peter and Michelle. They were all he talked about. Whether he actually liked Michelle and hated Peter for also liking her, or actually suspected something from Peter and wanted to get to the bottom of it and think you knew something, you weren’t entirely sure at this point. For now, you couldn’t seem to find any other reason on why he would suddenly show interest in you now when you knew him for years.

“Spying?” you said hesitantly.

“Come on, where’s your sense of adventure? It's our last night in Europe,” he said, standing up, “If we end up losing their trail, we could always find something else to do within the city. We’ve got the whole night.”

He extended a hand out and smiled expectantly. Damn him. “Let me grab my camera first,” you said.

“Great idea, I should, too!”

-

Never did you think you’d be hiding behind an archway, spying on your two friends with your longtime crush in Europe. You knew that your film camera won’t be as good in this type of lighting, but you were hoping that Brad would change his mind and find somewhere else to hang out with better lighting.

Peter and Michelle stopped in the middle of the bridge talking. Michelle had turned around to face Peter as they started to speak more animatedly. She swung her backpack around and pulled out a metal device.

“What is that?” Brad whispered, slowly raising his camera to record them.

“I don’t know. I can’t see from this distance.”

The device began to glow, startling them both. It was dropped to the floor where it grew brighter, projecting a giant mass of clouds looming over the two. Brad grabbed your hand tightly, readying himself to run, until it blinked away. Peter and Michelle spun around, looking for the source of the cloud elemental’s sudden appearance, then looked down at the device again. Peter cautiously picked it up to examine it, Michelle inching closer.

“I think we should go,” you said, pulling Brad away from the archway.

“What the hell is going on?” He continued to watch as the projection appeared again with a familiar figure in a red cape and fishbowl helmet floating around it. He zoomed in with his camera onto the flying figure. “That’s Mysterio. If the elementals are projections-”

“They’re fake and so is Mysterio. I knew it!” you hissed, letting his hand go to scratch your head. “I knew that man was never to be trusted and Peter just - ugh!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Brad said, waving his hands out, “You say this as if you knew the guy and - oh, shit, they’re coming this way!”

You turned to see them running over. Brad quickly took your hand and pulled you behind the archway, his body pressed against yours as theirs footsteps neared. Your heart race, whether it was from the close proximity of Brad or the possibility of being caught, you weren’t sure. When their footsteps were just in front of the archway, Brad wrapped an arm around your waist and spun the two of you around so his back was blocking you both.

“Took you two long enough!” Michelle called out as she ran past.

You purse your lips, pushing away from Brad as you run after them. Brad stared after you in confusion. He thought you had been fine with the flirting and the physical touches, but maybe the waist thing was a bit too much. Being so caught up in the fact that you liked him back made him forget that you still weren’t going to be fine with everything that he did. For as long as he knew you, he tried his best to make you comfortable around him.

By the time Brad reached the hotel, the three of you were already running up the stairs towards the rooms. He huffed, summoning what was left of his energy to catch up, his feet stomping onto the final step just as Michelle’s room door began to close.

“So, what were you and Brad doing, cuddling in the shadows?” Michelle interrogated as soon as the door shut.

“We weren’t cuddling, we were hiding,” you defended, plopping down on her bed. "I didn't know you were into tsismis, MJ."

“That doesn’t help your case,” she said.

“Enough!” Peter said, going around and closing the curtains. “I can’t believe I gave Beck those glasses. How could I be so stupid? You were right, (Y/n), and now he’s probably spying on me or sending a drone to come and kill me.”

Michelle’s eyes were trained on Peter as he moved about. “You had access to killer drones?”

Peter bent down to type on his small laptop before turning to her. “Yeah, I didn’t really want them, especially after I almost killed Brad. Sorry, (Y/n).”

“You did what?” you and Brad shouted at the same as the latter burst through the door.

Peter sighed, looking at you exasperatedly. You opened and closed your mouth, trying to explain when Brad piped up, “I recorded everything!” He waved his camera. “So, you’re going to have to include me in whatever the three of you have been on, or else I release it.”

“Brad,” you warned him.

He turned to you. “What is going on, (Y/n)? I knew you had some secret thing going on, but I didn’t know what. But you-” He pointed at Peter” -You’re Night Monkey, aren’t you?”

Peter shook his head, pacing the room. “Look, i have to make a call and if more people are going to involved-”

You swallowed the lump in your throat as you forced yourself to say the words. “Is that why you started showing interest in me now? So you can get information out of me?”

Brad frowned. “No. No, no, no, (Y/n), it’s not like that. Hell, I’ve been showing interest in you for years and only now I’ve realized how straightforward I had to be to make you realize. I guess it wasn’t enough.”

There was so much going on in your head, but you needed to focus. “Brad, if you continue digging into our business like this, you’ll be in danger, too.”

“‘Our’? How long have you known about this?”

“Around the same time my brother found out, so about six years.” Before he could speak up again, you grabbed the hand that was holding his camera. “You can’t tell anyone. You could be putting our lives in danger if too many people know about this. Please.”

Brad stared at you for a moment as you squeezed his wrist. He looked down at his camera then back up at you again. His camera was then placed in your other hand and you immediately looked through the pictures and videos. He had taken a few photos of the projector, then a long recording of the elemental projection. You scrolled past and saw several of the photos that Brad had taken of you throughout the trip, stopping at the one where the two of you were eating ice cream together.

Blinking back to the present, you ejected the SD card and pocketed it. If your gut had been leading you down the right path for this long, that meant that you should listen to it and save the footage.

“Now that that’s settled,” Peter continued, “I have to call Mr. Fury and tell him that Beck’s a fraud, but I think he tapped my phone.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Michelle asked.

“Since my hunches have been correct so far and your Peter ting-” You stopped when Peter glared at you “- Your spidey senses have been off, I do want to say that there’s something off about Fury as well. Not that he’s conspiring with Fish Bowl man, but from what I know about the dude, Fury is an extremely paranoid guy. He would have known by now, unless he’s waiting for Beck to out himself.”

“Noted.” Peter spun around to grab his backpack. “I need my suit and I have to go to Berlin and talk to Mr. Fury in person.”

“Wait, Mr. Fury as in ‘SHIELD Nick Fury’?” Brad whispered. You nodded.

In his hurry, Peter lifted his black shirt to change, forgetting about the others in the room. Brad quickly covered your eyes, much to your amusement. Even without sight, you could feel the awkwardness in the room. You wished that you and Brad could just leave the two of them alone right now. You turned around to face the door just as it opened. The awkwardness grew as your brother stared at you, then Brad, then Michelle, as Peter took off his pants and finished up putting his suit on.

“Oh, Ned, perfect,” Peter said casually.

You could see the gears turning in Ned’s head as he tried to spin a story. That was one of the things he was good at, coming up with a story or excuse on the spot. Whether they were convincing or not depends on the situation and who he was lying to.

“Your costume looks great… for the costume party... at the prince’s castle,” he said lamely.

You made it a point to physically facepalm, making him glare at you.

“She knows, I told her,” Peter said quickly, “And (Y/n) told Brad.”

“He didn’t tell me, I figured it out,” Michelle said proudly.

Brad turned around, being the last one to see Peter in his suit. “Oh my god, you are Night Monkey, who is also Spider-man! I was right!”

“Yes, congrats, Bradley. Can you keep it down?” you said, gesturing to your brother to close the door. “Oh, by the way, Kuya, I was right about Mysterio. I told you so.”

“But he saved me and Betty’s lives,” Ned said.

Peter and Michelle took turns filling Ned in on the information they found out, a small smirk on his face. They looked good together like that. Once he was filled in, Peter smoothly came up with a plan that would allow him to leave the group without suspicion, to which Ned readily agreed to carry out.

“And you,” Peter said, pointing at you, “I know you know this, but if anyone finds out-”

“Will be in danger. I got it covered.”

“Wait,” Michelle said, tossing Peter the projector, “You’re going to need this.”

He caught it with ease, casting a look at all of your faces before jumping out the window, using his spider web to sling to the next building. Michelle stood there in almost a daze, being able to see Peter in action for the first time.

“So, you guys know, too,” Ned piped up, “I’ve known first, and I’ve known the longest, but it’s not a competition.”

You rolled your eyes before turning to Brad. ‘There’s only so much we can do now. Let’s get some sleep. I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning.”

Brad followed you out, walking you to your room. “You’re so used to this,” he said.

“I like to think that I am, but I do wish there was more I could do. I just feel bad for him, you know.”

“You feel bad for Spider-man?” he asked incredulously.

You looked around the hall before continuing, “It’s just that… There's so much responsibility on him right now. All those superheroes in the world and only a teenager is around to help. It just sucks. It felt scary enough for me becoming a teenager and entering Midtown without my brother around to help me. Tony Stark had been the one to help guide him…” you trailed off as you turned to open your door. “I don’t know. I’m probably being too sensitive about this-”

“Are you sure you don’t have a superpower?” Brad asked, tilting his head.

“Why would you say that?”

“You’re so intuitive, so observant, so empathetic.”

You shrugged. “Nothing super about that,” you muttered, backing into your room. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay,” he said softly, walking backwards.

You leaned against the doorframe, watching as he continued to walk back, not once tearing his eyes away from you. Flash came up from the stairs and had been making his way back to his room, phone in hand as he was wrapping up his stream. Brad bumped into him, making him drop his phone. You snorted as Brad muttered apologies as Flash complained about him ruining his livestream and threatening for him to pay if his phone was cracked. By the time Brad looked back up to your door, it had already been closed. He sighed with a smile, walking back to his room with a little pep in his step.

You let out the same goofy smile, leaning against the door as your mind was finally starting to accept the fact that Brad genuinely does like you and had for a while. As you approached your bed, there was a strange presence that belatedly registered in your peripheral vision.

There was a sharp sting on your neck, your body collapsing before you could get a sound out.

#brad davis x reader #brad davis #brad davis x filipina!reader #filipina!reader #filipina reader #spiderman far from mcu #marvel imagine #spiderman mcu #remy hii imagine #might rewatch CRA and write for Alistair cuz why not #Alistair Cheng x Filipina!reader in the future perhaps?