Nikki's POV

"Yeah, no problem Mr. Williams, glad I could help." I handed the bag of groceries to the frail old man and collected my money. As I left and closed the door behind me, I sighed in disappointment and began stuffing the few bills into my wallet.

Fewer and fewer people had been needing my services to get their groceries or do other chores for them, and I was beginning to feel the strain. I only went to the store for myself at most once a week - and only then for the bare necessities. Most of the money I earned went towards paying rent, which was increasing steadily as the months wore on and our economy continued to suffer.

If only I wasn't the way I was...then I wouldn't have to struggle like this.

I stepped onto the sidewalk and began walking back to my apartment to hopefully get a few hours of sleep to make up for the all-nighter I had pulled the night before. After walking for a couple minutes, some running teenage boy came and knocked me to the ground, probably scraping up my elbows pretty badly, though I didn't bother to pull up my hoodie sleeves and check.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! Are you okay?!" The boy asked in a strangely highish voice for a guy, but hey, I'm not one to judge. I thought I vaguely recognized it, but I couldn't quite place where from. I knew for certain I had hear it somewhere...hopefully it would come to me before I could make a complete fool of myself.

His question had sounded so genuinely concerned, which surprised me. Then, noticing my foot brace coming up around my ankle, and how I was struggling to stand up using only the right side of my body (I had a wrist brace hidden in my oversized hoodie), he quickly offered me his hand.

I hesitated. I usually don't do the whole 'physical contact' thing, but I didn't want to stay here all day, so I grasped it with my right hand and he helped pull me up.

"Are you okay??" He asked again, pulling the earbuds out of his ears.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry," I answered quietly, managing a small smile. I found myself looking up to talk to him, as he was several inches taller than me.

He look at me, unconvinced, glancing at my foot. "...Are you sure-?"

"It's normal, nothing I can't handle," I said, kind of sharply. His eyes looked alarmed for whatever reason when I said this, but I ignored him. "Now thank you for helping me, but I have to go now." I tried to walk away, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back.

Congratulations, you have a random stranger feeling pity for you.

"Wait!" He called.

I flinched, because he had just grabbed my hand in the brace, which was, surprise surprise, noticeably different in how it felt than my other.

The boy seemed surprised, but I just stared at the brick wall next to him, my face tight, not wanting to make eye contact. Other pedestrians walked past and jostled us, but didn't pay us any mind.

"Look, why are you so unconvinced I'm okay?" I demanded, pulling my hand away from his strong grip, which was actually starting to hurt.

How can a guy this...scrawny have such a firm grip??

"Because you don't look okay! I mean, if you ran into someone, sorry again about that by the way, and they were hurt, wouldn't you not believe them if they told you they were 'fine'?"

What is up with this guy?? Why does he care so much if I'm fine or not?

"I guess not. But-"

"Look. I care about people. If they're hurt, I wanna help. Please let me help. Pleeeease." He made his dark brown eyes really big, making a pleading face.

His brown hair blowing in the wind, hazel eyes pleading, overall just looking completely innocent and nice, he almost won me over. Almost. But I couldn't trust him. I had difficulty trusting people, probably because I had been sued for attention by so many others who had called me their friend. But something in him...just looked so honest, like he actually cared about my well-being, even though we had just met.

I sighed. "Even if you wanted to, I doubt anything  you could do would help. This," I gestured down to my foot, "is my normal. I've never known anything else. And before you ask, no, I do not have a disability that forces my foot to be in a brace at all times, it's simply...oh, how to explain this?" I ran my hand through my short hair.

"It's just the way you are?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." It felt odd to be talking like this with a complete stranger, but something about this guy just felt like I could trust him. I mean, I think I recognized him from classes which had let out a few weeks before, but that hardly counted. We had maybe talked on occasion, but never very much and usually just about trivial things like homework. That reminded me..."Hey, I don't even know your name yet."

"Oh. Right. Hello, my name is Peter. Peter Parker. Pleasure making your acquaintance, my fine lady." He bowed and mimed tipping a top hat. "And may I ask your name?"

"My name's Nikki. Nikki Hammond." I gave a small, halfhearted curtsy.

"Wonderful meeting you, Miss Hammond. Would you mind terribly taking a stroll to better acquaint ourselves?"

I held in a laugh. To think, we started a conversation because I was knocked over. "I suppose that wouldn't be too bad." I wanted to be careful, but he seemed genuinely nice. Sure, I had just met him, and I wasn't always the best at seeing people's intentions, but I just had a feeling.

He took my hand - my right one, and gently this time - and started leading me in the opposite direction than I had been going before.

As we walked, we just talked. About life, little things about ourselves, just whatever. It surprised me, but I actually enjoyed it.

Apparently, this guy Peter didn't have any siblings, had a 'super cool amazing internship', and lived either where he interned (what???) or at his aunt's apartment in Queens.

I didn't want to share too much, so I kind of just told him the bare minimum of my life, kind of like he did.

"Let's see...I have four siblings, I moved here from Arizona just over a year ago, and I live here in the city by myself."

"What?? How old are you even? How do you live by yours-"

"I'm fifteen, thank you very much." I said, snapping a little more than I intended. I look older than I am, but I'm fairly short, so people often can't tell how old I am just by glancing. Some might say fifteen is even too young to be living by yourself, but hey. I can handle myself, so I choose to live on my own.

"Hey, I never said it was a problem," he responded defensively. "I'm just a little surprised that you're on your own already." He held up his pale hands in an 'I'm innocent' position. To change the subject, he questioned, "You...want to see where I intern?"

"I-sure?" I wasn't sure how I was supposed to answer, so I just agreed.

Silence fell upon us as we walked for the next few minutes, until we came to a huge tower that Peter stopped me in front of. "Well," he stepped in front, turned towards me, and spread out his arms, "here we are!"

I stood, flabbergasted with my mouth hanging slightly ajar. "This is where you intern?"

"Um, yeah?" He looked a little uncomfortable that I was focusing my attention on him, but I honestly couldn't help it. This place was amazing. It was incredibly tall, with glass walls and...was that a helicopter landing pad??? I had never seen a building quite like it, it was just so...beautiful. It had been a while since I had last seen it, but it was still breathtaking.

"It's so..." I started, but I couldn't find quite the right word to describe it.

"Welcome," he said," to Stark Tower."

Word Count: 1351