the siren |peter parker x siren!oc|

Serenity: Part 17

Two weeks later.

Peter had planned the surprise party in a frenzy, originally thinking that it was going out on a limb to assume that she would pass the test. After spending the Monday before asking Mr. Stark, he was reassured that it was highly unlikely that she wouldn't pass.

"No niece of mine will ever be set up to fail!"

A week after announcing her existence to the world, she walked up to him. For the first time. On her own. For a month she had been crutching around the compound, unable to stand for more than a minute, and now she was walking towards him, a huge grin on her face, only almost losing her balance every few steps, but she never fell over. Something had clicked.

"I think her brain finally understood what we were trying to get it to do," Dr. Blythe had apparently said, "You know how a baby knows when to take their first steps? I think it was very similar to that. It would be an interesting psych study if we had more subjects to test it on."

He had lifted her up, spun her around, happily listening to the laughter that he brought out of her. When he set her down, he was even more pleased to see that she was beaming at him, proud of her new accomplishment. Even though he had just seen her standing with Mr. Stark's contraption a week prior, it was almost odd to see her standing upright on her own. He had grown used to helping her get from place to place, but now they could walk anywhere that they'd like. She was short, and that was saying a lot compared to Peter's (technically) short stature. She had to be at least eight inches shorter than him, if not more.

A week after, she was speaking in full sentences. It could still be choppy and awkward, but she was starting to speak in his head less and less, relying heavily on her new verbal skills, and it was nice to be able to hear her voice. She was so close to fully adapting, coming so far in the span of five months.

The week of her test, she was shaking with anxiety almost every day. In the time she had to prepare for it, she had developed a desire to go to midtown, and while her enthusiasm was better than fear, he could also see that she was putting an intense amount of pressure on herself. No longer needing physical therapy, she spent most of her day with her tutor, exhausting herself with the endless amounts of studying she inflicted on herself.

It was crazy how quickly she grasped concepts. Things that had taken Peter his entire life to learn, like algebra and literature, she could understand in a few weeks. She would truly excel in the academic atmosphere, and while it would be difficult for her to interact with other humans, there was no better way for her to develop those skills than to throw her into the water. No doctor or tutor could ever help her with social interaction.

Mr. Stark had loosely brought up the idea of the surprise party, and it was Peter who took it and ran. With Lena filling all of her energy into her test, he didn't want to bother her, so he took on a project of his own for the week. It wasn't until he was knee deep that he realized it would be hard to plan a surprise party for a half-siren with hardly any friends, but he was sure Mr. Stark would show up, possibly Pepper, and if he was lucky Happy and all of her doctors would make an appearance. So he proceeded with the idea, with Mr. Stark providing him with everything he needed.

While she was at Midtown Tech, acing her test, Peter ran around the main landing, making sure catering was squared away, handing out noisemakers, and double checking every single decoration to make sure nothing was out of place. After another day of Peter begging Mr. Stark, he had finally gave in to let Ned come, and he saw his best friend excitedly annoying his mentor, causing a twinge of embarrassment, but simultaneously a bit of warm pride. Two of his favorite people interacting couldn't be a better sight to see.

Well, Lena might be.

"Peter, stop acting like this is your final project for the class on half-mermaids," Ned called out across the room as Peter straightened the banner he had made. He heard Mr. Stark chuckle at the teasing comment.