Electric Storm

Chapter 26: Revealed

'Happy, I'm back!' I shout, dumping my bag in the corner and angrily muttering to myself as I head straight to the fridge. 'Why was he staring at Liz?' I lay out the ingredients in front of me: onion, carrot, minced meat. 'Because he's moved on and so should you.' I start chopping away.

"She's just her... and she's perfect."

Tears cloud my eyes. 'Oh, bloody onions!' I shout, sighing frustratedly.  I start aggressively grating the carrots, using the motion to numb my feelings. I try to pretend I'm done caring; that I never cared at all. Because he likes Liz now. It's finished. 

As my bolognese boils, I move onto the worst part of the day. Monitoring Spiderman for Happy and dad. It's called the baby monitor protocol, Parker doesn't know it's a thing, and it means I can check he isn't doing anything stupid. 

I switch the video on and watch via my laptop whilst completing my homework. It's quite sweet when the old lady hands him a churro. That's the kind of hero I liked being, the kind anyone can do; just making little differences. But Parker is Parker. Showing off as he swings through the city, performing back flips for onlookers and riding the train for all to see. What a dick. 

I shove my maths homework aside and finish packing some more things from my room. Most of it's in boxes now, ready to travel with me to a new life. 

A loud smack makes me stare up at my laptop. I can't contain my laugher. Parker just swung right into a building. I play it again and hit record. 'What a dork.' I shake my head. I send the video to dad. He'll enjoy that. 

Now comes the part I hate most. When Parker is finished for the night, he always sits in our spot. And I hate it because that's our spot and we're meant to be there together. 

'Hey Happy, here's my report for the night.'

And he uses it to give his bloody reports. I really think we should just tell him we know what he's doing, that way I don't have to listen to this each night. 

'I stopped a bicycle theft, I couldn't find the owner so I just left a note, um... I helped this lost old lady-'

I can hear him eating down the phone line. 

'-she was really nice and bought me a churro...' Parker sighs. 

And here it comes...  

'I just feel like I could be doing more, you know? I'm curious when our next mission is going to be so just call me back. It's Peter. Parker.'

Firstly, no one is calling him back. Secondly, we know it's him - nobody else calls as much as he does - and thirdly, this, this is why watching Parker is infuriating. He does all this great stuff but feels he needs to do more. And not 'I want to help people more', he wants to stop organisations like Hydra and be a "real Avenger". Fighting Hydra does not make anyone an Avenger.

I shut my laptop, sighing loudly.

The Avenger's were formed to make the world a safer place. Spiderman is making it better. I wish he could see that. If only he could realise that just being him is enough.  

Because he was perfect... just the way he was. 

My bolognese is almost done. I should go to find Happy. 

'Ok, yes, yes...' Happy orders the poor workers around. He's really stressed about anything getting broken but he really shouldn't be. If it's made it this far, after Ultron attacking the building and the Avengers living here, it's probably indestructible.

'Hey Happy. Dinner is ready whenever.' I smile. 

Happy gives a thumbs up but it instantly drops when he sees Dum-E holding an expensive looking vase. 'Put that down, that's worth more than you.' He scolds. Someone should tally how many times he says that every hour.