I sat in the cluttered room. I decided to not sit on the twin bed, since there were clothes and it seemed weird for me to do so. I decide to lean against a dresser. I tried to look cool. I'm not sure if I got that effect across.

I heard voices and doors. A bit of quiet. Then the door to this bedroom opened, and a young boy stepped in. Tony followed and closed the door behind him. He went over to the trash can, and spit out something. I just looked at the star wars posters on the wall.

"As walnut bake loaves go, that wasn't bad." Tony turned from the trash can. He looked down at me. I had spotted an old VHS tape on a dresser. I stood and walked over to it.

"Who are you?" I ignored the brunette's comment about me.

"Oh. What do we have here, retro tech, huh? Thrift store?" I let Tony finish my comment with, "Salvation army?"

The kid replied with, "Uh, the garbage actually."

"You're a dumpster diver," Tony stated after putting down an old Walkman.

I snorted, saying, "Not everyone is as rich as you Tony." I sighed. I had picked up an old Terminator tape. I stopped playing with the tape and slid it back into the box.

"Yeah, I was... Anyway, look. Umm. I definitely did not apply for your grant."

The kid was looking back and forth between me and Tony. I bet he was shocked at how short Tony was. Or it was how tall I was. I wasn't sure which was which.

Tony looked to me when the teen said that. That was my cue.

I picked up the tape case again. I read the first phrase of the description.

"It's the age of darkness... That is talking about 2029. I argue that we are in the age of darkness now." Tony had ended up sitting on the bed. It looked comfortable.

I continued, redirecting my attention the the retro garbage littered around the room.

"We hear about Random Acts of Kindness, but they shouldn't be random. We should just be nice. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Why are you talking about this?"

I turned to look at the brunette.

"What's you name?" I looked into his dark brown eyes.

"Peter." He added, "Parker," as an after thought.

"Well Peter Parker, there has been a lot more kindness recently."

I paused and studied his features for a second. His lips were tight. He was paying attention.

"I believe that a certain 'vigilante' has inspired the people to be a little kinder."

"Quick question of the rhetorical variety. That's you, right?" Tony stood from the bed at this point, and tapped his watch. A hologram of the vigilante I was talking about came up.

"Uh no. I don't-I don't know what you are-"

I directed my attention to the hologram along with the two other guys. The hologram showed the red and blue superhero catch a car and stop it from ramming into a school bus.

"Wow 2000 pounds at 45 miles per hour. That's not easy."

Peter stood up and looked at me and then to Tony.

"That's all-That's all on YouTube though right. I mean that's where you found it. Cause' you know that's all fake. It's all done on a computer?"

Tony began walking around the room. I crossed my arms and said, "Oh ya. Totally." I let sarcasm drip from my words.

He didn't pick up on it and looked nervously at where Tony was poking around. He sputtered out, "It's like that video that records-"

"Yea yea yea yea...oh you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix?" Tony had come on a latch in the roof. I had spotted it when I first walked in and I am sure he had too. He was just stalling to add suspense. That little diva.

"Exactly!"

"What have we here?" Tony pulled the string. Peter quickly sprung at the red-blue blur and stuffed it into his closet. He did a weird lean against the wall.

"So your the-" I began my sentence, making sure they hadn't forgotten me. Tony of course had to steal my thunder.

"The spider... Ling. The crime fighting spider. Spider-boy?"

I knew Tony knew the name, but he was messing with the kid. Peter sighed and put his hands by his sides.

"S-spider...man."

"Not in that onesie your not."

"It's not a onesie." Peter was angry. He walked by Tony to one of the dressers, ignoring my presence. "You know," he picked up something and fiddled with it, "I was having a really good day today Mr. Stark-"

"And other," I muttered.

Peter looked at me, but I was busy poking around the dresser cluttered with things.

"Mr. Stark and other. I found a perfectly good DVD player and algebra test," he slammed down a small plastic tube on a little contraption causing a short clang, " nailed it."

I asked, "Who else knows?" I stepped forward, spinning around a small object in my hand.

"No one."

"Not even your... Unusually attractive aunt?" Tony spoke this as if it wasn't weird.

We both looked at Tony as if he were a perv. I mean he kind of is but still.

"No. No, no. No, no. If she knew, she would freak out. And when she freaks out, I freak out."

"You know what I think is really cool?" I threw the little container I was spinning right at his head. He caught it with ease. "This webbing. Tensile strength is off the charts."

Tony asked, "Who manufactured it?"

Peter turned to Tony. "I did." He then went on to throw the cartridge into the same closet he tackled the suit into.

I turned to a wall that was covered in old 80s movie and band posters. Tony went on questioning the poor kid.

"Climbing the walls. How are you doing that? Cohesive gloves."

"It's a long story. I was uh..."

"Lordy! Can you even see in these?" Tony had pulled the suit out of the closet. He had put the little goggles onto his eyes.

Peter yanked them out of his hands and said, "Yes. Yes, I can! I can. I can-I can see in those. Okay? It's just that... when...whatever happened happened, it's like my senses have been dialed to 11. There's way too much input, so... they just kinda help me focus." Peter bashfully rubbed his arm.

"You're in dire need of an upgrade. Systemic, top to bottom. 100-point restoration. That's why I'm here."

There was an awkward pause. That was the reason Tony brought me along. He was painfully awkward when it came to human interactions. Especially with teens.

I sighed and sat down on the bed. I patted the bed next to me. Peter walked over and sat down awkwardly.

"Why are you doing this? We got to know. What's your MO. What gets you out of that twin bed in the morning?"

I looked him in the eyes. I wasn't trying to intimidate him now. I bet he could tell.

He glanced at Tony, before returning his eyes to me.

"It's just- I just- Gods this sounds stupid."

I laughed despite myself. He blushed, but I quickly clarified my humor with, "Oh I can guarantee you that I have heard stupider stuff," and he continued.

"When you can do the stuff I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen. They happen because of you."

I understood that feeling all too well. I wasn't going to go on spilling my thoughts to someone I couldn't trust. I learned that lesson a few times.

I nodded and Tony gave an understanding grunt.

He looked to Tony. I also knew that look. Peter saw something in Tony. Inspiration maybe. It could have been respect. But I like to think it was hope.

"I read books, I build computers... And-And yeah. I would love to play football. But I couldn't then so I shouldn't now." He was looking Tony square in the eyes.

"Sure 'cause you're different," Tony replied solemnly.

"Exactly. But I can't tell anybody that, so I'm not."

"So you wanna look out for the little guy. You wanna do your part. Make the world a better place all that, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah just looking out... for the little guy. That's-That's what it is."

"I'm going to sit here, so that means you have to get up. " Tony was looking at me. I turned my head, causing my hair to flip.

"No."

Peter looked slightly shocked, but that was only a fogged mirror of Tony's face. It took a trained eye to catch the shock that had covered the billionaire's face, but he just excepted defeat from the slightly taller and drastically younger girl and sat on the other side of the bed.

"You got a passport?" Tony patted Peter's leg.

"Uh no," he kind of scoffed a bit, "I don't even have a driver's listened to."

"You ever been to Germany?" How could he have gone to Germany without a passport?

"I have!" I raised my hand. The two looked at me. Their expressions were very different, but features quite similar. Hair color was close, eye color almost spot on. They even had the same dimple. How did I know they had the same dimple? Well Peter was smiling, and who hasn't seen Tony smile? His parties cause lots of smiles from drunk versions of himself.

Peter looked back at Tony with only a slight smirk left on his lips.

"No."

"Oh you'll love it."

Peter's smirk vanished.

"I can't go to Germany!"

"And why is that?" I asked this. I knew what he was going to say and it took all my will power not smile. This joke got me every time.

In fact it had taken a lot of will power not to mouth the entire exchange between the two heroes.

"I've got... Homework..."

Tony scoffed. Even their scoffs were similar. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

Tony stood and so did I.

"I'm serious! I can't just drop out of school!" He was standing now too.

"It might be a bit dangerous." I said this with my back turned.

Tony finished off with, "I better tell ur Aunt hottie that your going on a field trip in a fresh new onsie."

Tony's hand was now stuck on the door knob with a sticky white substance.

Wagging a finger at Tony that was hilarious and took a lot of effort to keep me from laughing, the brunette said, "Don't tell Aunt May."

Tony and I turned to Peter.

"All right Spiderman," I spoke this and barely held in a smile and used all of my remaining mental strain to keep myself from shivering with the words.

Tony looked at Peter. "Get this off."

"Oh I'll get that I am so sorry Mr. Stark."

A/N this is a chapter from my other book that I thought should be here. Hope you're all doing well I'm going to Las Vegas tomorrow then to DC! Might be grounded too.

Love life

You matter

Take care

~ele