//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 - A Friendly Neighborhood // Story: This War of Ours // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Queens, New York 3:33 p.m. Seven-hour school days, hallways ripe with bullies, high school crushes, disgusting lunches, studying, dodgeball, and how could he forget the oh-so-loved algebra tests. It was too easy for him. Most of it anyway. Nailing algebra tests and studying were two of his best attributes, he just couldn’t grow out of the shell that most of the freshmen found themselves in. With the sweet DVD player just sitting out in the open resting under his armpit, he had no reason to complain. The sweet, sweet tune of “Left Hand Free” by alt-J flowed from his phone, through his headphones, and into his eardrums. Walking step by step into the apartment complex, he pulled out his keys and made his way to the place he called home, the thoughts of his homework for the night ripe on his mind. It was just another day in the life of Peter Parker. It felt that way at first. The moment he stepped into his and his Aunt May’s apartment, he knew it wasn’t going to be just another average day. “Hey May!” Peter called, grunting as he let his backpack fall to the floor. “Hey!” his Aunt May called back, watching Peter drop what appeared to be a DVD player on the dinner table. She asked, “How was school today?” “It was okay,” Peter replied, turning his eyes to the couch where he assumed May was sitting. “There’s this crazy car parked outside…” He stopped. He wanted to stop breathing, too, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Instead, he desperately tried to wrap his head around the fact that Tony Stark was sitting on his couch. Well, his Aunt May’s couch. Their couch. Not only that—as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing already—he noticed the violet figure sitting between Tony Stark and May. It twisted its head around, revealing a protruding horn and twin violet irises. He noticed the warm smile arise, as well. Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Friendship. The alien ambassador from planet Equus. Peter and May had been keeping up with the news over the past few weeks. It was basically the talk of the whole school, probably the entire country. Heck, maybe even the world. Regardless, she and Tony Stark were inside their apartment! Their apartment! But why? “Oh, Mr. Parker,” Tony Stark greeted. He knew his name. Peter could feel his heart practically breaking through his chest cavity. “Um…” Peter mumbled, taking out his earphones. He could see Princess Twilight offer him the sweetest smile he had seen in a long time. His mind was drawing a blank, so he said what came natural. “W-what… What are you doing…? Uh… Hey!” Then she giggled. Probably the most adorable laugh he’d ever heard. “You don’t have to be nervous, Peter,” Twilight said, then suddenly recoiled, a hoof rising to cover her mouth. “Oh… um… can I call you Peter?” Peter felt a bead of sweat roll down his head. Quickly wiping away at his brow, he smiled and shook his head too many times than he probably should have. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, no prob. I’m… Oh, wow… I’m just… wow.” “Pretty overwhelming, isn’t it?” Stark asked, earning a giggle from Twilight and a nod from Parker. May bit her lower lip, brows rising in excitement to her nephew. Peter shot her a quick glance before returning to Stark. “Well, we were just dropping by to inform your… unusually attractive aunt that her nephew… was approved for the September Foundation Grant.” Peter’s eyes widened at that statement. He had heard of the grant before, but he never did apply for it. Now, he had Tony Stark and the Princess of Friendship pretty much congratulating him on his approval for the grant. He was oddly surprised, confused, and excited at the same time. Aunt May simply waved her hand, that same hand reaching to rub a strand of hair behind her ear. “Oh, come on. I’m just like everyone else’s aunt,” she said. “You’re lying and you know it,” Stark replied, earning a laugh from May. “Come on, what’s your secret? Botox, exercise, huge bag of wee—?” “Tony,” Twilight interrupted, “I think now would be a good time to tell Peter what he’s actually been approved for.” “Oh, yeah definitely,” Stark agreed, turning back to face Peter again. “As my extra-terrestrial friend here said—you’ve known about the alien ambassadors, right?” he asked, earning a shaky nod from Peter. “Yeah, yeah. My aunt and I have been keeping up with…” Peter mumbled, his eyes falling to the equine once more, “… with the news.” “Good. Then… we can get down to business,” Stark said, taking a sip from the coffee May had provided. As he lowered the cup from his lips, he said, “We wanted to congratulate the winner of the September Foundation, and what better way than with the Princess of Friendship personally endorsing it. Nothing says perfect publicity than shaking an alien hoof and gettin’ a check.” Peter’s eyes widened at the mentioning of a check, then immediately fell when he realized he didn’t deserve it. “Wow, uh… before we get... we get started… um, how much money are we talking about here?” “An excellent question,” Stark said, turning to May. “Could we get a few minutes alone with him, please?” Aunt May nodded and smiled. “Sure,” she said, mouth falling in excitement to Peter. He smiled back before he was basically led to his own room by Tony Stark and Princess Twilight. He opened the door for them, kept his eyes centered on the equine for a brief moment before he entered himself. Hearing the curious sound of the door locking behind him, Peter turned around and watched Tony Stark step away from the door, instead choosing to observe his room like a health inspector. “Could I sit down, Peter?” Twilight asked, staring up at Parker expectantly. Peter nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah… Yeah, yeah, sure.” Smiling, Twilight flapped her wings gently to kick off the ground and settle herself on Peter’s bed. She ruffled her feathers quickly, the wings folding neatly into her sides. Peter watched her actions carefully, then mentally shook his head and turned back to Stark. “Hey… Mr. Stark—” “Nope!” Tony interrupted, causing Peter to flinch. He wagged his finger at him, keeping his eyes centered on the old computers lining Peter’s desk. “No need for formalities. Just call me Tony, or Stark. Or both. Whichever you prefer.” Peter nodded as if he was commanded to do so. Gosh, his pits were sweating so bad. “Okay… Stark…” he sighed. “Look… I didn’t apply for your grant.” “Oh, I know,” Tony said, rubbing his hand across the old-school keyboard. Peter took a double take. “You do?” “We both do,” Twilight said, smiling from Peter’s bedside. Peter turned to her, confused by her mysterious smile. “Really? Wait… then… w-why are you two here?” Both Twilight and Tony shared a humorous look, as if the two had a great joke only they knew. “Shall we?” Twilight asked. “Let’s,” Tony said, nodding. “Time to let the cat out of the bag, or in this case… the ‘spider’.” He pulled out his phone, and to Peter’s surprise a hologram emerged from its face, showcasing a poor video feed of a carjacker. But instead of breaking in, he broke down when a masked blur wrapped his legs in an invisible thread and pulled him down to his face. The vigilante left as quick as he came, the video pausing the same moment Peter’s heart had. “That’s you, right?” Tony asked, referring, of course, to the shot of the masked hero. Peter slowly shook his head, almost as if he was unprepared to. “Uh… no, that’s—” “Oh, really?” Tony said, showing another video, this one of a car with failed breaks. The same vigilante arrived, leaping in front of the car just before it hit an upcoming bus. And just as quickly, he was gone. “Look at you go. Wow, nice catch. 3,000 pounds, 40 miles an hour. That’s not easy. You got mad skills, bro.” As Tony put his phone away, Peter gulped, nervously stuttering. “Y-yeah, but that’s all on YouTube though, right? I mean, that’s where you found that? ‘Cause you know that’s all fake, that’s all done on a computer.” Tony was barely listening. Both he and Peter paced the room, one retreating and the other hunting. “Yeah, sure,” he muttered. “Hey, Twi, did you find it yet?” “Found it the first few seconds we came in,” the Alicorn replied. Peter’s shot his eyes to her, confused by her response, shocked to hear what she said next. “Nothing like a good ol’ magical pulse to find the fabric you hide in the attic.” His heart plummeted. “Wait, what are you—?” Peter began to say, his voice failing him. “Oh, you mean this attic?” “No!” Peter screamed, watching as Stark opened the small space in the ceiling. Per his touch, a folded red and blue suit fell down, attached by a rope, to which Peter quickly snatched and hid away behind him. He spun around, seeing the humorous looks of both Stark and Twilight. “Uh… that’s, um… You weren’t supposed to see that.” “I’m sure we weren’t,” Stark agreed. Peter crossed his arms, using his entire body as a shield just in case Princess Twilight wanted to try any other magic trick to see his suit. Instead, she stared at Tony, who stood in front of Parker with a humorless expression, completely opposite to what he held earlier. “So…” he began, earning the boy’s attention, “you’re the Spider…ling?” Peter dropped his gaze, shaking his head. “Crime-Fighting Spider? You’re Spider-Boy?” He refused to meet the man in the eyes. Instead, he sighed, and spoke barely over a whisper. “S-Spider-Man…” Stark nodded, remaining silent. It was quiet for a little bit too long, and then it was broken by Twilight starting to giggle. That giggle changed into laughter, controlled but still out of place. Peter, unfortunately, was awfully confused, and turned his concerned gaze to the Princess of Friendship. “What?” he asked. Trying to suppress her giggles with a hoof, Twilight breathed, saying, “Okay… that’s adorable.” “Adora—?” Peter said, blinking several times. He was visibly blushing at this point. “It’s not supposed to be adorable! It’s supposed to be…” He locked his fingers behind his head, exhaling before retreating to his desk. Defeat was ripe in the afternoon, Stark could feel it. He’d felt like that several times before, many when dealing with the adorkableness of Twilight Sparkle. With that in mind, Stark walked over to the basket and pulled out the suit, observing the crude design. “Who else knows?” Stark asked. “Nobody,” Peter mumbled. He breathed out, fists pressed into his desk. “Well… not anymore.” “Hm, interesting. You know what’s really interesting, though? This webbing.” He threw it at Peter, who caught it without even looking. He tossed a second webbing vial to Twilight, who caught it within her magical aura. The two examined the webbing in their grasp, one shaking his head, the other practically giddy over it. “It’s incredible, really,” Twilight said, closing one eye to get a better peak at the webbing. Peter looked over to the Alicorn on his bed. She continued. “The tensile strength is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” “Ditto,” Stark added. “You must have a great manufacturer,” Twilight observed, turning to Peter with a somewhat curious stare. “But you don’t… do you?” She read his mind. He thought if it was just another magic trick she did. Probably was. Shaking his head, Peter said, “No. I made it.” “And the climbing on walls, the abnormal strength…?” Tony pressed on. “All happened after the bite.” “Bite, huh?” Twilight asked, Peter mentally slapping himself for bringing it up. “Mind elaborating, Peter?” Once more, he shook his head, this time thinking with his words instead of blabbing them out. “Look, all you need to know is that I got these powers, my senses are off the charts, and now only you two know about it. My Aunt May can never find out. If she knows… she’ll freak.”               He sighed after that, lowering his gaze to the floor. Bringing up his gaze, he managed to catch the Princess’ eyes. Noticing his unease, Twilight motioned him forward. He let her scoot aside, allowing Peter to take a seat on his bed. He turned his attention to Stark finally taking a seat, only in Peter’s chair. It was silent for a few moments, definitely longer than before. Then, Stark asked a question that even Peter wasn’t truly prepared for. “Why are you doing this?” he asked. Peter just stared at him for several seconds. “No one asked for your help. You’re not getting money, I can tell. Just for the greater good or… what?” Leaning forward, wrestling with his hands, Peter punched his palm. He sighed. “Because I’ve been me my whole life. I’ve had these powers for six months. I read books, I build computers like you’ve seen, and yeah… I would love to play football, but I couldn’t then and I shouldn’t now.” Tony nodded. “Sure, because you’re different.” “Exactly. But I can’t tell anybody that.” Another sigh. Another pause, this one even longer. When he looked at Tony this time, there was something else in his eyes, something Stark hadn’t seen before. An uncertain strength, an unforgiving guilt. Peter said, “Look, when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t… and then the bad things happen… they happen because of you. Because you weren’t fast enough.” Tony leaned in, sending a quick, sad glance to Twilight. Twilight’s ears fell. He turned back to Peter, asking, “So, you wanna look out for the little guy? Make the world a better place?” Peter Parker just shook his head, but not in a denying way. He pursed his lips, shrugged his shoulders, and said, “I just want to do what’s right.” Good kid. Strong kid, really. Tony made the right choice coming to him. He had the potential, he had the heart and the spirit. No word of any parents, and by police reports it seemed his uncle died a little while back. Really strong kid. No one deserves to have to go through that much pain alone. His Aunt May couldn’t provide for the kind of potential he had. He needed someone else. He sure did. Tony looked down to his hands. “That’s why we’re here, Peter.” Turning to his left, Peter stared into Twilight’s eyes, asking, “Why, Your Highness?” She smiled, that same adorable smile from earlier. “I… prefer Twilight, if you don’t mind.” He nodded. “Sorry.” And just like that, her smile slowly faded. She sighed, eyesight lowering to stare at her violet hooves pressed into the cushioning. Peter watched her actions carefully. “Listen, Peter. My friends… they’re… they’re a little confused right now. They don’t know what’s right or what’s wrong.” “Same for Steve Rogers,” Tony finally said. He noticed the look Parker gave him, causing him to roll his eyes. “Captain America, is that better?” “N-no, I knew who you were—” Tony interrupted him, and said something that surprised even Peter. “He’s made a mistake, got himself in trouble by the law. The bottom of it is that he’s wrong and he thinks he’s right. By all means, that makes him dangerous.” “Captain America?” Peter asked. Tony nodded. Peter leaned back, his brows furrowing at the thought of Stark’s words. “Wow.” “Yeah, but don’t let him get to your head. He’s probably gonna say something stupid like ‘there’s a lot going on here that you wouldn’t understand’. Just go for his legs, he’ll be down quick.” “Wait… go for his legs?” Peter asked, Tony nodding. “You’re talking about… f-fighting… right?” Neither Stark nor Twilight answered, the two sharing uneasy glances between each other, eventually falling back to Parker. He turned left and right, stuttering, breathing, and finally forming enough strength to ask, “What are you two here for again?” Tony got up and sat on Peter’s right, Twilight on his left, trapping him in a Peter Parker sandwich. Tony brought up his hand, held it for a second, then placed his palm on his shoulder, asking, “Do you got a passport?” “What?” Peter asked, shaking his head quickly. “No, no, I don’t even have a driver’s lice—” “You ever been to Germany?” Peter paused. “No…” “Oh, you’ll love it,” Stark said, smiling. Peter’s eyes grew unnaturally wide. “What? No, no, no, I can’t go to Germany. Not now.” “Why?” Peter bit his lip, muttering, “I got… homework.” Tony rolled his eyes. “And I thought Twilight was boring.” “Yeah,” Twilight agreed, suddenly pausing. “Wait, what?” “Nothing,” Stark said. He stood up, walked away from the bed and approached the door, much to Peter’s dismay. It was even worse when he said, “Oh, well, better tell Aunt Hotty that I’m taking you to Ger—” His hand reached for the handle, and when he grabbed it he couldn’t let go. Not because of the handle, but because of the webbing suddenly trapping his hand against the wooden door. A sudden squeak of surprise escaped the Alicorn, prompting Stark’s full attention back to the bed. There stood Parker, his right arm outstretched, middle and ring finger pressed into his palm, and the web shooter now visible on his wrist. He pointed to Tony and breathed, “Don’t tell Aunt May.” Instead of seeing that blank stare like before, Peter saw a smile grace Stark’s features. “What do you think, Twilight?” he asked. Peter twisted his neck back, staring at the Alicorn deeply invested at the web shooter on his wrist. She breathed, her chest slowly rising and falling, and nodded. “Very impressive,” Twilight whispered. Tony nodded, Peter facing him again. “Alright, Spider-Man,” he said. “Let’s get you suited up.”