violin_for_life

"Let me get this straight. You want to hire me to spy on your pet spider?"

"He's not my pet," Tony snorted, "he's an Avenger, and this girl is getting really close to him. I'm just trying to protect his interests."

"His interests, or yours?"

"Why does it matter so much to you? You're getting paid a pretty hefty fee for a spy in my opinion."

Jessica leaned back in her chair, sitting across from Tony at a coffee shop not too far from her apartment. He had called earlier that morning and was referred to her by Matt Murdock for this job. Ever since she and that damn lawyer worked together, he kept bringing her business and she just wanted a few days off. But when Tony Stark calls and has a wide-open wallet, you take the call, no matter what the job is, and no matter how ridiculous it sounded. "You can afford it."

"Listen, you came highly recommended. Can you follow this girl or not? I just want to be sure that she's legit and not with the kid for the wrong reasons. I can't imagine this will be a tough one for you." With a quick motion, his hand crossed the table and pulled back, leaving an impressive stack of cash within her reach.

"Don't you have that computer girlfriend or mommy or whatever it is that can do this?"

"Yes or no, Jones? Last time I ask."

Chewing on her lip as she considered it, thinking about how he was right, it would be easy work for this kind of cash, but also that if word got out that she was spying on Underoos for Stark, she could lose serious credibility. But, it wasn't often that a man like Tony would seek her out for a job that he could do so easily on his own, and she finally decided that if she were to pass this up it would never happen again.

"Yes."

~~~

After a week of just trying to figure out how to even find this kid, who was an impressive master of dodging her, Jessica had finally caught sight of Peter after school one day when he actually went home like he was supposed to. She waited for him every day since her meeting with Stark, but Parker never left the school, no matter which door she tried to watch over. Either he was an amazing student or a nerd with no life, as far as she could tell. She didn't know right away that he would sneak out by different methods on each day so that he could run off and be Spider-Man without being caught.

Well, she had just caught him.

"There you are, you slippery little bastard," she mumbled under her breath, her camera aimed his way and snapping pictures as quickly as she could. "Now, where's that girlfriend of yours, huh? She must be trouble to set off Daddy Wannabe's alarms."

She stayed in place under the train tracks for as long as she could, her eyes and lens trained on him as he walked, his head down and staring at his phone with his fingers rapidly typing on the glass. She couldn't stifle a chuckle when he missed a step and tripped, his beloved device nearly flinging out of his hands but caught at the last second with a quickly aimed web to pull it back.

"Maybe she's in it for the hands," she shrugged to herself. When he had reached the end of her limit of sight she looked around carefully and stepped out into the light to follow, but her breath was caught by what...or rather who she saw standing with him, fingers intertwined as they met for a quick kiss before walking away together.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me," she groaned. Her posture immediately dropped in defeat as she tossed her camera into her bag to leave. Suddenly the entire operation felt like a set-up, and that whatever joke was being played here wasn't readily laughed at. "I knew I hated Stark for a reason."

~~~

"So, how was school?" you smiled, resting your head on Peter's shoulder as you walked him home. "I'm sure you barely had to think once, right?"

"No, I did. Just once though."

"Called it."

"You sure your last name isn't Stark?"

"Ha!" he chuckled loudly. "Not even close! The last thing that Mr. Stark wants is to have to deal with a teenager every day. Especially this one."

"What do you mean by that? He's obviously investing his time in you for something. A guy like that doesn't just pick a kid from Queens at random to be an intern. You must have caught his attention for a reason."

Pete swallowed thickly, his mouth suddenly dry as his nerves raged. He had yet to tell you about his alter ego, and he really didn't have any plans to do so any time soon. Tony and Ned were the only ones who knew about Spider-Man and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. He was sure that if you found out and that he was hiding it from you, then you'd leave him in a second. "I uh...remember? I uh...I applied for that...September Foundation thing."

"Oh, riiiight," you conceded, "I forgot about that. Here I was trying to give you credit for your genius alone. He must have a soft spot for hard-luck cases too."

"Guess so. But enough about Mr. Stark, what are we doing tonight?" he quickly changed the subject and pulled you in a little closer with a kiss against your hair. "We haven't been able to go out in forever, so anything you want."

"Hmm, I think grabbing take-out and a movie at home sounds great."

"Perfect. Your place or mine?"

"Yours," you answered immediately. "You know how she hates it when I have people over. It's not exactly the best environment for children."

~~~

At almost midnight, you woke with a start and bolted up from the couch in a panic. You were so late getting home, and there was no way that you'd be able to sneak back in at this point. May must have gone to bed and not waken you or Peter up, and in her attempt to be polite she had probably gotten you murdered instead.

"Pete! Wake up!" you whispered as loudly as you could. "We fell asleep, I need to go!"

"Oh, shoot," he bolted awake, standing to help you gather what you had brought. Fumbling over his own feet and even yours a few times, he grabbed anything that looked like it might be yours and threw it hastily into your bag. "I'll call for a ride. I'm really sorry, (Y/N)"

"It's okay, not your fault." Zipping the bag shut you rushed to the door, only to turn back quickly and grab one last kiss before making your way out. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay? Love you."

"L-love you...t-too," he stammered as the door shut behind you. He put his hand cautiously and gently against his own lips, smiling to himself in the realization that it was the first time either of you had said that. A new skip in his step appeared as he happily cleaned up the mess that had been left behind, clearing away half-eaten plates of food, empty glasses and a bag of chips that was no more than crumbs that no one wanted to finish.

Peter had a strangely domesticated presence overtake him as he worked, and his mind wandered to the future. Only this time as he dreamt, you were in it with him for the first time. He closed the dishwasher with a little extra snap, and he rearranged the pillows of the couch as perfectly as May would have. He smiled to himself at the accomplishment, but it was soon destroyed by the sight of his suit barely peeking out from beneath it.

"Okay, calm down," he muttered softly, "she didn't see it. She would've said something. You're okay. Just breathe, Parker." Taking the suit and pushing it into his school bag he hurried to turn off the lights around the apartment and go to his room, closing the door with a long sigh of relief. He tossed the bag on his bed so that he could change into something for sleep, but the suit spilled out and there was one glaring problem that he couldn't just talk himself out of seeing.

"Where's my mask?"

At your own apartment, you were not nearly as successful at sneaking around as Pete was, and you were right; your sister looked ready to murder you for being so late getting home. She had been overprotective like this since you had moved in a year ago, and you had done pretty well to follow the rules that she barely enforced. Sure, you knew she'd be pissed but the look on her face was so incensed that you may as well have killed her puppy if she had one and the actual ability to keep an animal alive.

"I know I'm late, Jess. Take off the murder face."

"When in the hell did you start dating Spider-Man?!"

"What?" You dropped your bag on a nearby chair and turned to face her. "That's ridiculous, how did you come up with that? I don't even know who Spider-Man is, and if I did, why would I want to date him? The guy's a freak of nature."

"He's also your boyfriend, dumbass," she pressed, "look, I have proof." She pulled a picture out from behind her, extending it to you with the scene up so that you couldn't miss it. It was as clear as day that you were with Pete, and her point was nowhere near being made.

"That's Peter, Jess. You might want to get your eyes checked if you want to keep your day job."

"Tony Stark hired me to follow you guys because some girl was getting too close to Parker and he wanted to know who it was."

"Yeah, Pete's in the Stark Internship-"

"And the Avengers!"

"You've lost your mind," you snapped, forcibly handing the picture back. "Maybe lay off the Jack a bit, sis, it's messing with your head." She didn't answer, instead watching you walk away with your bag in hand; she saw it before you did and just needed to stand silent and wait for the inevitable. She watched you go into your room and close your door, hearing you drop your bag onto your bed in a huff and the gentle slide of the zipper as you opened it.

"What the fuck?!"

Sometimes, Jessica really did hate being right, especially when it meant hurting you, but this had to come out eventually. She only wished that she hadn't have been paid so well to actively ruin your life. She didn't want you hanging out with the superhero crowd, so when you opened your door again with the Peter's mask in your shaking hands, she couldn't stop her moment of relief during the worst moment of your life.

~~~

Jessica sat at the exact same table where she had first met Tony, with a packet filled with notes and pictures in hand. The shop was oddly quiet today, the sound of her fingers drumming on the tabletop echoing around her enough to annoy the few customers unfortunate enough to be so close to her. The silence didn't help her thoughts either, her mind berating her for what she had agreed to and what she had caused; this was never her intention, and it wasn't likely that she would be able to fix any of it. No, she didn't like the fact that you were dating Parker, but after the one solitary hour of sleep she was allowed, she began to see that this wasn't for her to interfere, and the remorse of it all was crushing her.

She wasn't sure if you would even agree to stay after this.

"Alright," Tony approached, jarring her to attention, "what happened?"

"Fucking disaster," she snapped, pushing the folder angrily at him, "that's what happened. Did you know?"

Tony sat down and held silent, knowing full well that each second was only pissing off Jessica that much more. He slid a finger under the flap of the envelope and carefully pulled out a few of the pictures she had taken, inspecting each one as if there wasn't anything that was new to him at all. "Know what?" he finally asked quietly, his eyes never leaving his hands.

"Did you know that (Y/N) was my sister? Was this some kind of sick fun for you? What would you possibly get out of this? They broke up because of you."

"They broke up because of you," he clarified, finally looking up with a sharp point across the table. "You never had to say anything to her. That's all on you, sweetheart."

"Don't call me sweetheart, asshole."

"Don't call me asshole, unless you're into that. Even so, you're not my type," he smiled coldly, the emotion false and his eyes showing none of it. "We're done here, thanks." He stood to leave, only to hiss in pain at the sheer force of her grip on his arm as if she were crushing the bones beneath her fingers. With a quick turn of his other wrist a glove built over his hand, bright red and a repulsor charged; he grabbed her hand and twisted it back forcefully to get her to let him go. "I said, you're not my type. No touching."

~~~

It had barely taken two days since the break-up for Tony to begin to see the effect that it had on Peter, and to understand that he had the most to do with it. He honestly believed that he was doing the right thing in protecting his protégé from anyone who might use him to get a little too close or to get to the team through him; Pete was so kind and trusting that he could be an easy target that Tony just wanted to keep safe. He didn't plan for it to go this far, and he had no idea that you were Jessica's sister. That was family drama that he didn't care about and had he known he never would've approached her.

It was unfortunate that it had taken this for him to see all of that, as he sat in the back of the jet with his hand pressing into the young man's shoulder to keep as much blood inside of him as possible. The heat of each pulse trickling between his fingers was nauseating to feel. What scared him more than that, and more than the inevitable ass-kicking that Aunt May was undoubtedly going to provide, was the fact that Peter didn't seem to care at all.

Every few minutes, Tony would give a little more pressure just to try to get a reaction from the kid, but he may as well have been trying to push over a wall; he got nothing.

"Pete, how you feeling?"

"I'm okay, sir."

"Rhodey, how far?"

"Five more minutes," the pilot called back to them. "Medics are on standby waiting for us."

"Good, thanks," Tony nodded to himself. At least there was one positive thing happening in all of this, even if it were emergency services that shouldn't have been needed at all. "Parker, listen...I think I need to admit something to you."

"Okay? It won't take long, right?" the young man said weakly. "Not sure how long before I pass out."

"Then I'll talk fast," Tony perked up, "and maybe a little more...pressure. Okay, so anyway, admitting something...um...right. Okay...so here goes..."

Rhodes spun the pilot chair around and took a deep breath of frustration, slapping his hands together in a sharp clap to get the attention his direction, "Tony hired a P.I. to follow you and your girlfriend because he thought that she might be using you to get close for the wrong reasons, and it turned out that she's the P.I.'s sister and that's how she figured out that you're Spider-Man. He's why your girl dumped you."

"See, that kind of shit right there is why Iron Man doesn't need a sidekick. I trusted you with that information, man."

Pete's eyes widened and if possible, his skin grew paler. He knew that he had lost a pretty significant amount of blood and that there probably wasn't a huge surplus left behind, but what he wasn't sure of was if that would make him be hearing things as ludicrous as his mentor sabotaging the one thing in his life that he was absolutely certain of. Would blood loss make him lose such deep-seeded respect in a snap? He'd never heard that as a side effect before, but here he was, ripping Tony's hand away no matter what the cost.

"I don't need your help," he seethed. "I think you've done enough for me, Mr. Stark."

~~~

"Jessica!"

"Who the fuck is that?" she grumbled, pulling her pillow over her already messy and knotted black hair. "I think it's time to change my name."

"Jessica!"

"WHAT?!" She stood up and threw her pillow and blanket across the room with barely an effort that still could've broken a window. It would've broken the window had she not just tore it from the building when she yanked it open to see who the hell was waking her up at 3am on a Sunday. "Parker, no. Go home, baby arachnid. She's not here."

Pete held up his hands both in a little bit of fear and to try to stop her, urgently rushing forward with a voice just as panicked. "Please, wait...just...can you do me a favor? Please? After all of this, I think that m-maybe you...owe me...?

"I owe you?"

"Well, ma'am...you did help Mr. Stark and that's what started this whole thing."

"No," she snapped, "what started this is that you lied about who you are."

"I didn't lie," Pete argued back, "I just didn't reveal...so much of the...truth."

"That's a lie. I thought you were a genius? Isn't that how you got so far up Stark's ass?"

"Okay, we're getting off track here," he deflected. "Listen, all I want is to talk to (Y/N) for a minute. Even if she doesn't believe me, and even if she doesn't care anymore, I want to apologize. She can never speak to me again after that, and I'll figure out how to be okay...eventually...but I can't let another minute go by knowing that I've made her hurt like this and that I didn't try to tell her how sorry I am. I didn't tell her about the other part of my life because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she got hurt because of it, and I know for a fact that you understand exactly how that feels, right? I love her, Miss Jones, and I've never said that to anyone else besides my family and I meant it when I said it to her. Look, even if she doesn't believe me, I need to try. Please, just let me tell her and then I'll leave you both alone."

Jessica chewed nervously on her fingernail as she considered it, and if allowing him to see you would actually be helpful to either of you, or if it was just pouring salt into an already angry wound that she had helped to inflict. She had fought mind control, countless criminals, and even a blind pain in the ass who couldn't take a hint, but the worst of any of her battles was the one she continued against her own personal demons every day, and to pull you into that fight was cruel and unintentional.

"Fine," she gave in, "but stay there. You come in here and I call pest control."

"Ha, another spider joke. So original."

"Did you want me to let you talk to her or are you gonna be an ungrateful little prick?"

"Sorry, ma'am, sorry...wait," he stopped. "You said that she's not here."

"Yeah, well, I guess we're all a bunch of lying assholes."

Jessica disappeared from his view and he suddenly felt his entire body begin to shake, his nerves surging at the idea of how he was going to handle seeing you again; or more likely, how he wasn't going to handle it. He had his apology ready, and he would leave you alone after this if it were what you wanted, but it wasn't what he wanted. Maybe seeing you would make his resolve easier, to see that you were hurt and angry and that you wanted nothing to do with him anymore; if your eyes held even an ounce of love for him, he didn't know if he would ever be able to walk away-

"Pete."

"Holy crap!" he jumped, nearly a foot off the ground, spinning around to see you standing behind him. "How did you...where..." he spun around again, pointing up towards the apartment where Jessica was looking down on the scene, "where were you? How...h-how did you get there and I didn't see-"

"You're not the only one with a secret, Pete," you smiled weakly. With a gentle snap of your fingers, you disappeared before his eyes, only to return to view behind him to scare him just the same. "It really comes in handy when your sister is a spy. This is why Mr. Stark wanted to know who I was. I guess you're not the only one who caught his attention."