"Happy?"
Peter and Happy lock eyes. Both of them looking very surprised.
I raise my eyebrow, "you know him?"
Peter presses his lips together, "well, um, yeah. Everybody knows who Tony Stark's driver is! Um, how do you two know each other?"
"Well, he, um, he kinda grew up with my uncle. Yeah. And then he, uh, met my dad in University, so, um, our families have been kind of, um, close. My uncle's kinda dead now though, but, um, my dad wasn't able to pick me up, so, um, he sent Happy! You sounded like you knew him more personally. Have you met before?" I say while making wild hand gestures and ignoring Happy's muffled laughter.
"Um,"
"Alright kids," Happy cuts in, he turns to me, "your dad is expecting you home soon, so we really gotta go."
My eyes widen, "right!"
Peter and I step into the car, and we begin to drive. The car ride is silent until we reach Peter's home.
I reach over his body to open the door for him, when I feel a warm arm on my back. I press my lips together to hide a smile. "Peter...I was just getting the door for you."
"Oh." Peter pulls back quickly, red faced. I giggle softly. The quickly lean over to give him a quick hug. It maybe lasted a second.
Just because I kinda feel bad. That's it.
Are you sure about that?
Yes! Shut up.
My mental discussion comes to a halt as Peter steps outside with a grin on his face. "Thanks for the ride. See you tomorrow."
"Bye."
After making sure Peter gets inside okay, we pull away and start driving back to my house.
"Okay, how do you really know him?" I ask flatly.
"What are you talking about?" Happy briefly looks in the rear view mirror to look at me.
"How do you know Peter?"
"What do you mean?"
I sigh, "Happy...neither of us told you where he lived."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Busted."
"Okay, well, the kid had a Stark internship, and I had to drive him home a few times."
"Wait, a Stark internship? With my dad?"
Happy remains silent.
"...Happy..."
He remains silent.
"Happy!"
"We're here!"
I roll my eyes as I look out the window to see us pull up at the Avengers Building. Home Sweet Home.
.......................................................................................................................................................
"Hey, kiddo." My dad ruffles my hair as I walk into the kitchen.
"Dad!" I run my fingers through my hair. Because my hair wasn't messy enough already.
"How was your first day of school?" He asks.
I jump up on the counter, "well, a lot different than kindergarten. That's for sure. Still, it was good. I made some friends, I think."
"That's good. Not the popular snobs, right?"
"Right."
"Or the really gross nerds?"
"Nope."
"Cool. What are their names?"
He hands me a Coke bottle. I open it, "well there's this one girl named Michelle."
"Mm-hmm." My dad takes a sip of his coffee.
"And one guy named Ned..."
"...okay."
"And another guy." I take a sip of my Coke, "Peter Parker."
My dad freezes.
"Do you know him?" I ask, practically pouring innocence into my voice.
"Uh, no. I don't think so."
"Hmm." I set my Coke down. "Funny. Happy said he had a Stark internship."
"Did he? Well, I can't keep track of every internship at Stark Industries."
"Hmm. Oh well." I shrug, hiding my smirk. "Still, if Happy had to drive him home before, you would've at least had to have met him once. Right?"
He sets his coffee down, "why so interested in this Peter kid? Do you like him?"
And just like that my face heats up as hot as the sun, "DAD!"
"What? It was a simple question." He takes a sip out of his coffee, his smirk hiding behind his mug.
"I just met him!"
"Alright fine." My dad shrugs. "Is he cute?"
There goes my tomato face again, "..."
"Well?"
Fine, dad. You wanna play this game? Bring it.
"Yeah. Actually, he is. The boys certainly got a lot cuter since kindergarten. And, hey, I'm a Stark so..." I walk out the kitchen without another word, leaving my dad sputtering in defeat.
I plop down on my bed, melting into the covers. My head sinking into the pillows.
"Thursday." I say into my vast room.
"Yes?"
"Scan all files available for Peter Parker."
"Scanning."
I twirl a random stray curl as I wait for Thursday.
"File detected."
"Perfect. From where?"
"Avengers Tower, S.H.I.E.L.D. files."
My brows furrow, "wait, what?"
"Avengers Tower, S.H.I.E.L.D. files."
I rub the bridge of my nose, "okay, read it to me."
"Classified."
"What do you mean 'classified'? What could be so important that it's classified?"
"I'm unaware."
"Try to hack it. Use software: Ketchup Chips." I swallow some saliva.
Dang it. Now, I'm hungry.
"Running software."
"Good." I walk back to the kitchen to get something to eat.
I find Natasha grabbing something from the fridge.
"Hey, Nat."
"Hey."
"Can you pass me something to eat?"
"Sure." She reaches in and grabs an apple. Then proceeds to toss it to me.
I catch it single handedly and look at it with disgust, "I meant something yummy."
"You love apples."
"Not as a lazy snack!" I roll my eyes and take a bite. "Hey Natasha?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you know anyone named Peter Parker?"
She pauses, "no."
"No?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"I don't know."
We lock eyes. Her gaze is so intense, I actually look away.
"Why do you want to know so much about Peter Parker? Do you like him?"
"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?!"
She laughs and tilts her head, "girl talk?"
I look at her and smile. "Sure."
We start to head back to my room.
Ever since my mom dies, I haven't exactly had a 'mom figure' in my life. Pepper and Natasha filled that role. Natasha more usually, since Pepper is always very busy.
Girl talk has 4 rules.
1. It is a safe place. No judgement.
2. We have to try to help each other with our problems.
3. We can talk about anything, from serious problems, to silly girl stuff.
4. Unless it is something life threatening, we don't tell anyone else. Ever.
Especially. Not. Dad.
We make our way to my room, and close the door behind us.
We take a seat on my couch.
"So, should I get Pepper? Or is this something we can handle between the two of us?" She asks.
"We're fine. I'm sure Pepper's busy." I shrug.
"'Kay. So what's going on? Do you like this Peter kid?"
"I literally just met him!"
"So?"
"That's not why I asked about him." I state.
Natasha smirks, "you aren't denying anything."
"Natasha!"
"You still aren't!"
"I. Do. Not. Have. A. Crush. On. Peter. Parker. I actually just met him. He's nice, and we're friends. I think."
"Okay, okay. So why so curious?"
"He knew Happy." I say.
"What?"
"He knew Happy."
"Okay...well, I'm sure lots of people know Happy. He is Tony's driver after all. He might have to start wearing a disguise."
"No, I mean he knew him personally. Happy knew him too. He knew where he lived. When I asked him how he knew where to find Peter's place, he said Peter had a Stark internship. But then dad was super dodgy about it. Acting like he didn't know a Peter Parker."
"...Okay... Something tells me there's more to this story." She says, looking directly into my eyes.
I sigh, "No telling dad."
"Right."
"Okay, well...I was curious, to say the least. So I asked Thursday to scan for files on Peter Parker. She found one."
"And?"
"It was a S.H.I.E.L.D. file. From the Avenger's tower."
"Oh."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What did it say?" She asks, finally.
"Classified."
"So you just gave up?"
I snort, "obviously not. Thursday is hacking it as we speak."
"You realize you're trying to hack a S.H.I.E.L.D. file, one your dad, the tech genius, probably invented himself, that probably has dozens of firewalls."
"You forget I'm my father's daughter." I wink, "A bit of a 'tech genius' myself. Using one of my own hacking software."
"Called?"
I feel my face heat up as I look away, "Ketchup Chips."
She stays silent for a bit before bursting out into laughter.
My face heats up even more. "I was hungry! Besides, no one will guess that it's a hacking software! It's genius."
She continues to laugh.
"Hacking unsuccessful." Thursday's voice interrupts.
"Damn. What could my dad be trying to hide so badly? What's so special about Peter Parker?"
Nat shrugs, "I don't know, but a smart girl like you should be able to figure it out."
She walks out leaving me alone with my thoughts.