WEB OF LIES [TRANS PETER PARKER]

eleven

Chapter Eleven

Peter's POV

"Evening, Peter. I was wondering when you were gonna show up."

I met the eyes of Tony Stark, who was lounging casually on the couch, still done up in a dark grey suit and tie and with his hair perfectly untouched. I had barely gotten in the door, and now I stumbled forward, dropping my backpack to the ground. "Hi, I'm- I'm Peter," I said in awe, even though he had just said my name. My voice cracked and I winced.

"Peter, the door, please," May said, sitting down next to the celebrity with a mug of tea and a plate of scones.

"Right, yeah, the door..." I said, still in a dreamy state. I reached an arm out blindly behind me and shoved the door closed, not taking my eyes off of Stark. "What are you... what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk to you about..." he eyed May worriedly, but she was too busy beaming at me. "...the Internship program."

"The- the internship! Right, right of course. That's- yeah, I didn't except to be hearing back so... soon!" I mumbled, trying my best to follow along.

"Yeah! Well, you know me, always on top of things!" he exclaimed over exaggeratedly. May still had a look of amazement rather than disbelief.

"Tony- erm, Mr. Stark, this all must be a huge deal, right? I mean, you did come all the way out here yourself," May questioned, now settling her eyes on him.

"Haha, yes, you're right!" he said, fiddling with his gold watch. "I mean, I do quite like the attention."

"The attention, right..." May seemed unimpressed. She had always been wary of celebrities, constantly lecturing me to not compare myself to them or idolize them. I nearly facepalmed at Tony's lame excuse.

"Peter! How about-" he turned his attention to me and then back to May. "Can I have a few minutes with him?"

May looked at me as though for approval, and I nodded shortly. "Sure, go ahead. I'll wait here," she said to Tony. He smiled politely in return. I walked to my bedroom, glancing behind to make sure that he was following.

A moment later, I was sat on my bed fidgeting with my hands nervously. Tony closed the bedroom door behind him and proceeded to lean back against it. He stared at me for some time, as though desperately trying to read me, all the while allowing me more and more time with my thoughts. I had just nearly gotten arrested, and now Tony Stark was in my bedroom after he came to my rescue out of no where? More importantly, I was stressing over how much he had told May. She clearly didn't know, but Tony hadn't exactly been inconspicuous, either.

"Parker," he began, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You're welcome." I considered firing back some unknowing comment, denying any sort of affiliation with a certain arachnid hometown hero whom he had just saved, but figured that that would only complicate things.

"How did you find me? Why- why are you here?" I stuttered.

"I've sorta been keeping tabs on you. Actually, I have been. I mean, how else was I supposed to know whether you actually went home when I asked?"

"So, you've been spying-" I began, but was cut off.

"Ah-ah, I wouldn't call it spying. More like looking over, or reading up on." My eyes widened. If he knew that I was Spider-Man, what else did he know? "Who knows?" I started to answer, but he continued. "And don't try to play dumb with me. I know more than you think."

Well shit. My binder practically tightened around my chest at that point. I admitted that I had been wearing it much too often lately, but I only truly regretted it in this moment. Breaths came slowly and with much struggle, but I tried to play it off. Nerves, right? He would understand that.

"Nobody, sir. Nobody knows. And I would like to keep it that way," I warned. "Not even May. She would kill me!"

"And I wouldn't?" Tony asked, now throwing on a rather serious face. I couldn't keep up with this guys humor. "You have some serious skills, man. I've seen you on YouTube. Spider-Man, is it?"

I nodded weakly, hating that I was admitting to being Spider-Man while I was being seen as Peter Parker. I hated the two being linked, even in the eyes of Tony Stark, apparently.

"What do you say, homeboy?" he asked suddenly, his tone going from interrogative to that of a boy asking his friend over for the first time.

I was utterly confused. "You didn't actually propose anything for me to agree to, you know."

"You're right, my bad, I'm not quite used to recruiting. Would you like to join me and the gang at Avengers Tower for the weekend?" he clarified, and then rushed on, as though he was worried I might say no. "Well, I told the cops you were with me, so... otherwise I could just hand you back over to the cops, no questions asked."

I couldn't tell if that last part was meant to be a joke or not, or whether this all was rhetorical. I wanted to trust Tony Stark, but at the same time I was afraid of what he would say if I said no. Don't get me wrong, this was the greatest deal I'd ever received. The Avengers, man, that was the dream. There was nothing that I wanted more. But then there was the crushing thought that I probably wasn't what they were expecting. Sure, a fifteen year old kid was not ideal, but I would age. What I was talking about was being trans. What if they didn't accept me? What if they found out how dangerous it was for me to be running around for hours on end in a binder? What if they thought I was a freak?

"It's a Wednesday night, Mr. Stark. I've got school tomorrow, a big math test..." I said, and though it wasn't exactly a lie I still earned a very confused glance from the man. "I can't ace it if I'm not there to take it."

Though puzzled, he still looked very determined. "Then you'll take it. A car will pick you up when you finish your test."

We discussed the terms of the meeting tomorrow, and it was arranged that a driver would be sent to the school at precisely 2:40, the time the school let out. I was informed that I would know which car it was, and that I wasn't to be late. Tony left quickly after that, insisting that he had some things to get ready. I realized that he had avoided telling me what this all might entail. Was it some sort of an initiation, or was I just to feed them information about myself and endure tests? I couldn't help but fear what I had gotten myself into.