26. Churros

Their first stop before starting patrol was Delmar's. They always got sandwiches from their favorite sub shop, saying hi to Mr Delmar was always a highlight of Becca's day. The two would engage in conversations that Peter could only pick up words here and there due to him not knowing Italian like his girlfriend did. She was gifted in speaking eight different languages aside from English and Russian. She was talented in more than just linguistics though, her seven decades in the red room had scarred her but also gave her advantages in her life. What she was forced to do and how to do it became second nature to her, blending in with the shadows if they were patrolling at night. It had helped her when she and Peter had taken down Sinclair.
Sinclair was something she didn't often like thinking about. But it was hard not to, all the relatively good memories she had of her decades in the Red Room were with Sinclair, or Demmy as she used to call him. But those were tainted now, just like everything else in her childhood. The only good memories she had were of her life before the Red Room. Five years. That was it, and she couldn't really remember those anymore, the scars of the Red Room inflicted so much pain and damage that the good memories she would cling to slowly vanished from her thoughts.
"What's up, Mr. Delmar?" Peter greeted, snapping Becca from her dark thoughts as she looked around at Mr Delmar's shop. She waved at the shopkeeper with a faint smile.
"Hey, my two favorite customers." Mr Delmar teases as Peter sets down two bags of gummy worms on the counter to pay for them. "Number five and eight, right?" He asks the couple.
"Yeah, and with pickles, and can you smush it down real flat? Thanks." Peter said to the sandwich maker behind the counter with a smile. "Fia?" He questions, noticing her shift in emotions, his hearing had picked up her change in heartbeat earlier but he had hoped it would leave her and she would be back to the Fia he knew the best. He still hadn't asked about her past, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever ask because it was something so private to her.
Becca's blue eyes snap up, her cheeks heat up slightly in embarrassment as she looks at the two people watching her, "I like mine smushed too, please." She relays to the sandwich maker and he nods, proceeding to make their sandwiches. Her order never changed from when she first stepped foot into Delmar's and Uncle Ben had ordered for her, simple white bread with turkey and cheese.
"You got it, boss." Mr Delmar says, then looks Becca over carefully, "You alight, il mio bambino?" My child. Mr Delmar asks Becca cautiously as Peter wraps his arm around Becca's small frame loosely.
Becca nods slowly, leaning into Peter's embrace, "Sì, solo brutti ricordi." Yes, just bad memories. She responded with a small but weak smile. Peter knew enough Italian from Becca teaching him the languages she spoke to know what she had said. And Mr Delmar knew enough from what he's seen in the news to know that her bad memories would put others in mental hospitals.
Mr Delmar nods slowly, accepting the answer he was given, then looks at Peter to ease the tension of their worry, "How's your aunt?" He asks with a smirk.
"She's, uh.. good." Peter says.
Mr Delmar chuckles and turns back to workers, "Sua zia è una donna molto bella." His aunt is a very beautiful woman. He teases his workers and Becca only giggles.
Peter cocks an eyebrow, "Come sta tua figlia?" How's your daughter? He asks Mr Delmar, the older man drops his smile instantly.
"Ten dollars." He says as he rings up Peter's sandwich, then looks at Becca, "Yours is on the house today to help you feel better, il mio bambino." He adds and the teenage girl smiles softly in thanks.
Peter gapes at the older man, "It's five dollars!" He states, his hand that wasn't around Becca motioning to the sign.
"For that comment, ten dollars." Mr Delmar states.
Peter chuckles, "Hey, come on. I'm joking. I'm joking." He teases as he pulls out his five dollar bill, "I have Fia, what more do i need?" He points out, smirking as he extends his cash, "Here's five dollars."
Becca blushes then looks over, seeing Mr Delmar's cat and walks over to him, leaving Peter's embrace. She scratches his fuzzy head as she smiles, "Hi, Murphy. How're you doing today?" She asks the cat as he meows in response, causing her to giggle.
"Murph likes her." Mr Delmar says to Peter softly.
Peter nods with a small smile on his face as he watches his girlfriend interact with the cat resting atop of the counter, "Everyone likes Fia when they get to know her." He says casually.
Mr Delmar nods in agreement, "You keep her safe, people are always looking for a way to hurt those in power." He states to the teenage boy. The older man knew Becca was and could be bait for people looking to harm the Avengers, or what was left of them. She was easily all of their weaknesses, their love for her and wanting to protect her.
Peter nods, "Don't worry, I'm always trying to keep her safe." He says as Becca walks back over to them, back into Peter's arm with a brighter smile on her face than before.
"So how's school, you two?" Mr Delmar asks them as if his conversation with Peter never happened and Becca pretending she didn't hear them.
"Good." Becca replies but Peter answers for himself.
"You know, it's good, but boring. I got better things to do." Peter responds and Becca looks at her boyfriend, she knew he was trying to please her brother to become an Avenger. Prove himself.
Mr Delmar eyes Peter, "Stay in school, kid. Stay in school. Otherwise you're gonna end up like me." He teases the last part of his sentence.
Peter chuckles, looking around at the shop, "This is great." He compliments Mr Delmar.
"Best sandwiches in Queens." The older man states as he hands the teens their sandwiches and they exit the shop.
It doesn't take long for Peter and Becca to run off quicker than a normal teenager their age could. But no one seems to pay them any mind as they jog quickly towards an alleyway. Peter quickly begins to undress himself, kicking his shoes off as he unzips his backpack and pulls out his Spider Man suit that Tony had made for him.
Becca walks quickly into another part of the small and enclosed alleyway to change, not wanting Peter to see her and for her to see him undress. She pulled out her own suit from her backpack, a new one Mary had requested Tony to make for her. The one Becca was used to wearing was noticeable now and since people knew who she was, they could trace her back to Peter. Neither of them wanted that happening so Tony had created a new suit for her, one with a mask that would hide her identity for those who could use her and those she cared about.
Her suit was a catsuit much like her Aunt Tasha's only it was white with lightning blue accents, a hood to cover her head and instead of boots, she had lightning blue sneakers, and a loose scarf attached to her suit around her neck to use as a mask. Since she was trained as a Black Widow, she had much of what Natasha used in battle but with her own flair. Her mask was lightning blue, it covered the top half of her face unlike Peter's which covered his whole face. Her brother had wanted Becca to be the best she could be while patrolling with Peter.
And she loved him for that.
Becca laces up her high tech sneakers, Shuri had even offered to make her a pair, but she wanted to wear her brother's creations. She begins to plait her hair, something she loved doing to herself and doing to others ever since her Uncle Thor taught her how and why it was so special for him and his people. She pulls her hood over her head.
She walks out from where she had changed to see Peter in his suit, it was still baggy on him indicating he had just finished changing as well. She tosses her closed backpack next to his and he webs them both to the dumpster beside them. She pulls up her scarf around her nose, "Ready, Spider-Man?"
She could see Peter smile despite the mask over his face as he pressed the spider symbol on his suit. She watched as it tightened around his body and his eyes adjusted as he pulled her over to him with a web. She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck, "Always, Crystal." He says as he shoots a web up into the air and swings them into the air. He swings them to another building as he looks around, breathing heavily for a brief moment, "Finally." He murmurs, excited to get out and patrol Queens.
"Spidey." Becca says after they had been walking on rooftops for a half hour. She points to where a man is stealing a bike and speeding off with it.
"Let's go." He agrees, they catch up to where the thief is and Spider-Man jumps down first with a web in his hand, Crystal just behind him as she crosses her arms, "Could you hold this for a second? Thanks." Peter says as he webs the thief into the air and grabs the bike. While the thief is dangling in the air, Peter lifts the bike into the air, "Hey, is this anybody's bike? No?"
A man walks out of the store Spider-Man and Crystal are standing in front of and Becca looks over at the man, "Is this your bike?" She asks the man. The stranger waves them off, muttering something incoherent.
Peter huffs then looks around, "Does anyone have a pen?" He asks around then looks at Becca, "Do you have a pen?" He asks her. She shakes her head but eventually they write a note saying:
Is this your bike?
If not, don't steal it.
Spider-Man and Crystal
Soon they're swinging through the air again, Becca is wrapped around Peter as he swings freely through the air, waving at people at a train stop. They soon swing onto a moving train, Becca sitting beside Peter on top of the train as they check their messages.
"Aunt May messaged me asking what we want for dinner." Becca mumbles as she pulls her scarf off her nose. She loved feeling the wind on her face but for appearances she could only take her mask and hood off when they were alone.
Peter shrugs, his head falling to rest on Becca's shoulder, "We have Delmars for a late lunch but whatever she wants is fine." Peter responds and Becca nods, quickly typing a reply.
She spotted a text from her brother and she smiled softly, but Peter still hadn't received word from Happy. She didn't want him to see that Tony had messaged her when he had been waiting on him and Happy for a long time so she quickly shut her phone off.
By mid afternoon they were standing on top of a building overlooking the city to see if there were any more crimes they could stop when a guy from the street shouted at them, "Hey! You're that spider guy on YouTube, right?" The guy shouted.
"Call me Spider-Man!" Peter yelled back as Becca giggled, standing off to the side slightly and sitting down on the cement wall.
"Okay, Spider-Man. Do a flip." The guy yelled back. Becca giggled again as Peter easily did a backflip, the guy on the street cheering
Becca offered her help to an elderly woman who needed directions after the fan encounter, Peter smiled as he watched his flower interact with those who needed help from her instead of him.
Later they took a break as no one needed them for a good hour or so. So Becca sat on a water tower as Peter shot a thick web out, connecting the water tower to the building on the other side of it. He balanced well enough that he decided to do a flip on the webbing. He landed it and looked over at Becca, "Tad-a." He teased and Becca clapped with a wide grin on his face, her scarf not over her mouth and nose at the moment since it was the two of them. She always had the biggest smile on her face when he would show off his skills for her.
Early evening brought them to a small neighborhood where Peter spotted a man trying to break into a car. While he jumped onto the roof of the car, she jumped off the roof of the building with ease and walked behind the man trying to break into the car.
"Stealing isn't nice, mister." Becca points out, startling the man more.
Peter nods in agreement with his girlfriend as he webs the man's forehead and pulls on the webbing quickly, causing the thief's face and head to collide with the car. The alarm of the car startles Becca as Peter webs the man's hand against the car. "You shouldn't steal cars, that's bad." Peter says as he flips off the car.
"It's my car, dumbass!" The man groans.
"Hey! Shut that off!" A woman yells from her window, causing Peter and Becca to turn around.
"Can you tell them it's my car?" The man at the car yells to the woman in the window.
"We were just-" Peter stammers as another neighbor pops his head out the window.
"Yo! I'm working nights. Come on." He states from his window.
Becca steps over to Peter as another person comes out to complain to Spider-Man and Crystal. "That's not your car!" A latino man says, "That's his car."
"How were we supposed to know?" Peter questions, "It looked like he was breaking into it."
More yelling ensues around Peter and Becca until another elderly man pops his head out his window, an elderly man Becca could've sworn she knew, "Don't make me come down there, you punks."
"Hey, Gary! How you doing?" The elderly woman who yelled first asks the older man.
"Marjorie, how are you? How's your mother?" The older man asks with a smile.
Becca leans over to Peter, "Let's get out of here." She mutters and he nods, wrapping his arm around her as he shoots a web towards the roof of one of the buildings, pulling them away from the neighborhood brawl.
As the sun sets, the young couple is sitting on a fire escape as Peter calls Happy to tell them about their day of patrolling. Becca smiles as she eats her churro beside her boyfriend, "Hey, Happy. Here's our report for tonight. Fia and I stopped a grand theft bicycle. We couldn't find the owner so we just left a note. Umm.. Fia helped this lost, old Dominican lady. She was really nice and bought both of us churros." He trails off as he eats his churro "I just.. feel like we should be doing more. You know? Just curious to when the next real mission's gonna be." He says with a sigh, Becca looks over at him she pops the last bit of churro into her mouth as she wipes her cinnamony fingers on her legs to dust them off before moving her fingerless gloved hand over to Peter's mouth, using her thumb to get the cinnamon off his face. He says goodbye to Happy's voicemail then turns to Becca.
"I love you." He whispers to her sweetly.
"I love you too." She replies and he smiles softly before sighing.
"Why would i tell him about the churros?" He questions himself and Becca giggles.
"Because churros are amazing." Becca responds quickly.
Peter chuckles as he looks over his wrist, seeing it's low on web fluid and he ejects the clip. It flies in midair but he scrambles to catch it in time. Becca watches as he exchanges the old clip for a new one in his web shooter as he stands horizontal on the fire escape. Becca looks over at an ATM bank adjacent to where they were sitting and sees men walking in to it wearing beanies and masks.
"Finally, something good." Peter says and Becca pulls her scarf back over her mouth and nose. When they reach the bank, Peter opens the door quietly and lets Becca walk in first, he follows her quickly but quietly, closing the door behind them as quietly as he can. He awkwardly stands with his arm above his head as he gets the four thugs's attention, "What's up, guys? Forget your PIN number?" He asks
Becca looks at the four, seeing them all wearing Avengers masks. She giggles seeing a Thor, Captain America, Hulk and Iron Man, "Whoa! You're the Avengers!" Becca gasps and Peter nods in fained excitement.
"What're you guys doing here?" Peter questions as he casually shoots out a web at one of their guns, he pulls the web quickly, whacking two of them as the masked Thor walks to Peter and shoves his elbow towards his face but Peter stops him. "Thor. Hulk." He states as he deflects punches thrown by the two thugs as Becca flips over the Hulk thug gracefully, then kicks him harshly in the back, making him stumble and fall, "Nice to finally meet you guys." Peter finishes as he jumps upwards, his fingers attaching to the ceiling as his feet stick to the chest of the Thor thug and he throws him behind himself into a sign. He flips over so he's upside down with his feet on the ceiling, "I thought you were more handsome in person." He teases.
"Iron Man, what are you doing here?" Becca jokes as Peter swiftly dodges punches thrown by the Iron Man thug.
"Yeah, what are you doing robbing a bank? You're a billionaire." Peter questions as Becca walks beside him as Iron Man thug throws another punch but this time, Becca catches it with her hand and throws his fist back at the thug and he falls into Hulk thugs. Becca jumps out of the way as the Cap thug holds a high tech looking machine and uses it on Peter. The machine holds Peter in mid air, causing the teenage boy to freak out. His senses were going haywire since this was out of his control. "This feels so weird." He grumbles through a warped voice.
The Cap thug violently sends Peter against the already broken sign and the Hulk thug. He groans but snaps his head up as Becca looks over at the Iron Man thug, sending one of her spider bites from her wrist cuffs at him and watches him fall to the floor. She looks over at the Cap thug, "What is that thing?" She questions and he then turns the weapon on her but Peter grabs his attention again before he can use the weapon on Becca.
Cap thug turns on the weapon again, using it to force Peter onto the floor and then the ceiling several times, "I'm starting.." ceiling, "to think.." floor, "you're not.." ceiling, "the Avengers." floor. He grunts out but before he can go back onto the ceiling, he sticks his fingers onto the floor. "Crystal, now!" He exclaims tensely.
Becca looks over, then sends a spider bite to the Cap thug before sweeping her leg out from under him. "We need to hurry, Spidey. It's a school night." She mutters as the Iron Man thug grabs the weapon and aims it at Becca. Peter quickly shoots out a web towards the weapon, pinning it against the window as Peter jumps to the Iron Man thug, sticking horizontally against the window.
"How do jerks like you get tech like this?" Peter asks but before anyone can answer, the Hulk thug had turned on another weapon and overloaded it, causing it to send a giant laser blast through the building they were in and any surrounding buildings.
Becca and Peter are sent in different directions in the small bank but the teenage girl notices that the laser blast had hit Delmar's. Her vision blurs as Peter stands up in the exploded bank. Her ears are ringing as she stands up wobbly, soot covers her face and body as she breathes heavily. "Mr Delmar!" Becca exclaims and she and Peter both tear into the demolished and on fire shop they had just been in hours prior.
Peter leaps over fallen debris as Becca mustgers her strength to shove heavy debris out of the way so people can escape if they're able to. "Hey, Mr. Delmar, you in here?" Peter calls out.
"Is anybody in here?" Becca calls out for any sign of life, she regrets not having her brother install Friday or her own personal AI into her suit in this very moment because she knew Tony's AI's could detect life forms.
"Hello?!" Peter calls out panicked as he leaps over the counter and finds Mr Delmar and Murphy the cat. "Crystal, in here!" He calls to his partner.
Becca tears over the counter and grabs onto Murphy as well as helping Peter walk Mr Delmar out of his destroyed shop. She helps Mr Delmar lean against a pole so he can begin to breathe normally again instead of inhaling smoke and ash from his shop and the fire in it. Murphy meows in her arms, he's slightly singed but otherwise okay and she's thankful for that.
Sirens fill their ears quickly and Peter knows they need to leave before they arrive. But Becca doesn't want to leave while someone is hurt and needs her attention. That was one of the strong traits she had inherited from her mother. She had the urge and the want to heal people that had been hurt. "Mr- Mr Delmar." She stutters out as Peter pries Murphy from her grasp and hands the cat to his owner.
"Fi- Crystal, we need to leave." Peter mumbles as he holds tightly onto her arms, pulling her away from Mr Delmar, "We can check on him tomorrow but we can't be here when the cops show up." He pleads with her, trying to get her to move on her own. She absentmindedly nods and wraps her arms around his neck, indicating for him to swing off. Her crystal blue eyes were wide and blurred with tears as Mr Delmar and his shop began to grow smaller in her eyesight as Peter took off
It wasn't until they were away from the crime scene and on another roof on their way back to their apartment when Becca finally spoke, "We need to go back." She pleads with Peter as he stops running. He sets her down onto her feet as he gently pulls her scarf off her face, her eyes locking with his own. "Benji, Mr Delmar almost died."
Peter knew she had the biggest heart for people she cared about. She cared about everyone, even strangers. He often caused her a lot of pain though and this moment was one of those painful times. Her breathing and heartbeat were erratic and it was causing him to panic as well. "I- I know, Fia. And we can check on him tomorrow. Why don't we call Happy? He needs to know." He says, trying to reassure his delicate flower as best he could.
Becca nodded slowly, wiping her eyes with her dirt covered sleeve of her suit as Peter pulled out his phone, amazed it was still intact. "Happy, the craziest thing just happened to Fia and I. These guys were robbing an ATM with these high tech weapons-" Peter rambles, in shock Happy had even picked up.
"Hey, Hey. Take a breath. I don't have time for ATM robberies, is Miss Barnes alright?" Happy says quickly, his only real concern for the teenage girl because she was his boss's sister.
"Yeah, but-"
"Or the thoughtful notes you leave behind. I have moving day to worry about everything's gotta be out by next week." Happy states impatiently over the phone.
Peter hesitates as he holds the phone to his ear, "Wait, you're moving? Who's moving?" He asks curiously, looking as Becca who only shakes her head, indicating she had no knowledge of this move.
"Yeah, don't you watch the news? Tony sold Avengers Tower. We're relocating to a new facility upstate. Where hopefully the cell service is much worse." Happy responds.
Becca gasps in shock. Her brother had sold the Tower, the Tower that held so many memories for her and her family. The tower where Winnie was born, the tower where Becca had met all of the Avengers and they had become her family. How could Tony just sell it like it was just another random building?
"Wh- What about us.." Peter mutters in disbelief, the us being himself and Becca.
"What about you and Miss Barnes? She's welcome upstate whenever she so chooses." Happy replies confusedly.
Peter sits down on top of a street lamp and secures Becca in his lap, holding her tight as she wraps her arms around his neck, her legs draped over his lap. It hurt hearing Happy talk about Becca versus how he talked to him, she had all the freedom to visit or even live upstate with her brother if she chose to do so. And that scared Peter. He was still trying to prove himself when Becca had to do none of that it seemed. And if he was being honest, he felt jealous of the relationships she had with people he was trying to build his own with. "Well, what if Mr. Stark needs me- us.. or something big goes down? Can i just please talk to Mr. Stark?" Peter asks, quickly correcting himself but Becca had still caught it.
"Look, just stay away from anything dangerous. I'm responsible for making sure you're responsible, okay?" Happy states bluntly, "And if anything happens to Miss Barnes on your watch, Mr. Stark will not be pleased." He adds and Becca can hear the faint spike in Peter's heartbeat when Happy mentioned her possibly being hurt.
" I am responsible." Peter tries to remind Happy until they reach the alleyway where their backpacks are being stored he hesitates, "I- Oh, crap." He mutters, noticing that both of their backpacks had been stolen, "Our backpacks are gone." He grumbles into the phone.
"That doesn't sound responsible." Happy quips.
"I'll call you back." Peter mutters.
"Feel free not to. But put Miss Barnes on the phone first." Happy replies and Peter sighs as he hands the phone to Becca. She gingerly takes it into her hands, she knew her boyfriend was upset at what had happened and what Happy had told him.
"H- Hi, Happy."
"Hi, Miss Barnes. Everything alright?" Happy says, Peter only feels his jealousy grow slightly when he can hear the obvious voice change in Happy's voice as he talks to Becca.
"I don't know.. Buddy never said anything about moving.. and the Tower has so many memories for me and our family.." Becca mumbles softly as Peter watches his girlfriend struggle with the thoughts that were invading her mind.
"I see. Well, I'm only following your brother's instructions. He wanted to sell it after what happened with your family fallout and the buyers are very nice. I'm sure they'd let you visit." Happy says, trying to reassure his boss's sister.
"Really? You think so?" Becca asks, her mood slightly lifting.
"I'm sure, but your brother would know more obviously. It wouldn't hurt to call him." Happy states, "Now i have to get back to cleaning out the building, if i see anything that belongs to your mother or Uncle Steve i'll set it aside for you to pick up at a later date, alright?"
Becca nods despite Happy not being able to see her, "Thank you, Happy." She says as the bodyguard hangs up. She walks back over to her boyfriend cautiously and hands him his phone. "Benji? I'm sorry Happy treats you unfairly."
Peter shakes his head, "It's not your fault. I just gotta prove myself, show Happy and Mr Stark I can do the superhero job." He says, the feeling of jealousy not leaving him but he knew it wasn't Becca's fault that he felt this way. She couldn't help but be close with them, they were her family. He was just a normal kid from Queens that got bit by a radioactive spider one day. She was born into the superhero lifestyle while he was thrusted into it.
Becca lifts his mask off his face slightly and kisses his cheek, then her lips mold to his in an attempt to calm both of them down from the night they had just had. He wraps his arms around her waist, holding her close as her hands rest on his cheeks. They break apart too quickly for either of their liking but they needed to get back home before May noticed anything.
It didn't take Peter long to climb the outer walls of the buildings with Becca on his back before they reached their bedroom window. He slowly shifted Becca onto his chest as he crawled through the window and onto the ceiling. He used his foot's stickiness to close the window as Peter crawled on the ceiling towards the door. He shot out a web and slowly tried to close the door to their bedroom. Becca instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck as Peter held onto her butt, trying not to keep a blank mind as he lowered the two of them onto the floor of their bedroom. Becca climbed off of Peter slowly to avoid making any noise and went to shut the door.
The two of them sighed in relief when she had finally gotten the door shut. Peter pulls his mask off over his head and Becca takes her hood off of her head and the scarf off of her face. The couple turns around to get ready for bed only to find Ned, MJ and Harry sitting on Becca's bed of their bunk beds with shocked expressions on their faces.
The only noise that's made is Ned as he accidentally lets the Lego Death Star he and Harry had built in the afternoon fall to the floor and smash to pieces as the three friends stare at the couple in complete and utter shock.

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