stark, peter parker

xv. the washington monument actually looks nothing like george washington

dakota hadn't had so much downtime in her whole life, she thought. although moving the avengers tower to a new location was serious business and required a lot of moving and planning, she still found herself with nothing to do.

on this particular evening, she was sitting on the couch reading one of her many true crime novels. she had been wearing the same shirt for three days, and, as she had told happy, she had no intention of taking the oversized superbad mclovin drivers license shirt off at any point in the near future.

"damnit, i can't find my good mittens anywhere!" happy exclaimed, bending under the sofa to look for them.

kodie lifted her feet up out of his way, furrowing her brows at his statement. "why do you have mittens?" she set her book down, now highly intrigued by the conversation at hand.

"because," he said, reaching his arm as far behind the piece of furniture as it would go, "my hands get cold in the winter."

"so, you mean to tell me," dakota said, sitting up further, "you're the chauffeur for a billionaire, and you wear mittens while driving him around? why have i never seen you with mittens on?"

happy took his head and arm out from under the couch. "enough about the mittens, just help me look for them!"

"why do you expect me to know where you've put your good mittens?"

"we're not moving locations without them."

"happy, please-"

the man exited the room, going down the corridor and walking into each room one by one. after a few minutes, a loud rustling came from down the hall, making kodie look up from her book.

"you good back there?" she yelled.

"i found the mittens!" happy yelled back.

"oh, i'm so glad." the girl replied in the most monotone voice possible.

happy emerged from the hallway, two light brown mittens in his hands. "tony took them." he said in disbelief. "he took my good mittens!"

dakota shook her head, going back to her book. she was only reading for a few more minutes before her phone began buzzing with a call from peter. "how's our wonderful nation's capitol?" she asked, knowing that peter was with his academic decathlon team at his national competition. 

he hadn't wanted to go, but kodie had managed to convince him that he should. it would be a great experience for him, and would look great on college applications (though he didn't seem to care much about the prospect of college). 

"it's okay. i miss you, though." peter replied, making her chuckle.

"you flatter me, peter parker." she smiled. "i miss you, too."

she could practically feel his smile even when he wasn't standing in front of her. "i'll send you my pictures when we get back to the hotel." he promised.

"please do!" she said. "i hear the washington monument actually looks nothing like george washington. the country we live in is built off of lies." 

peter laughed. "well, i'll let you know." 

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

while dakota was bored out of her mind, peter was getting into the exact trouble he'd promised her he'd stay out of. he had also neglected to tell her any aspects of his plan. he reasoned that it was out of fear of her telling her father, but he also was afraid of ever letting her down.

kodie was in her room eating popcorn and watching tv. as her movie ended, she went back to shuffling tv stations. everything seemed monotonous and boring, especially as she switched to the news. she instantly stopped what she was doing when she saw that spider-man, on the news, was on the side of a the washington monument.