chasing waterfalls [Peter Parker]

~52~

The three of us sat at the bar. Beck looked over at me.

"So what's your story?" I sighed, clutching my water.

"My sister got me out of Russia when I was a baby. She didn't want me to have to go through the Red Room like she did. She wanted me to have a normal childhood and not be forced to become an assassin." I looked at my drink, a frown appearing on my face. "And now she's gone." Beck nodded, and looked at Peter, who was more glum than I was. He sighed.

"You gotta celebrate. We did something good tonight." Peter and I looked at him.

"Yeah." Peter muttered. "Fury was right. Tony did a lot for me, so I owe it to him. To everybody." Beck raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?"

"Yeah, I mean..." Peter sat up. "Mr. Stark gave me the chance to be more, he wanted me to be better than him, and Fury just wants me to live up to that." Beck nodded.

"What do you want, Peter?" Peter shrugged.

"I don't know." Beck looked at him.

"What do you want, Peter Parker? Now. I know you're thinking about it."

"I want to go back on my trip with my friends, and hang out with my girlfriend, and enjoy my summer." I smiled, and Beck sighed.

"You're not gonna do that, are you?" Peter shook his head.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I have too much of a responsibility." A lady walked up and handed Peter the glasses. She spoke in Czech. "Oh my god, thank you so much." Beck raised an eyebrow.

"What are those?" He pointed at them. "Are those the-"

"EDITH glasses, yeah." Peter responded.

"They were just on the floor? Try them on. Let's see how they look on you." Peter put on the glasses.

"I actually really like them." Beck nodded.

"Can I be completely honest with you?"

"Yeah."

"They look really stupid. But maybe they have a contact-lens version." I let out a laugh. Peter looked at me, then at Beck.

"You try them on." Beck shook his head.

"No, come on."

"Try them on."

"I don't wanna try them on."

"Just put them on." Beck sighed, then put them on. Peter muttered something. "Mr. Stark left me a message with those glasses: 'For the next Tony Stark, I trust you.'" Beck looked confused.

"I'm still not following. How many lemonades have you had?" Peter shook his head.

"He knew every mistake I ever made, okay? So he must've known that I was not ready for something like this. Maybe he didn't trust me to have EDITH, he just trusted me to pick who should. It makes so much more sense. He always knew I would do what's right. And he's not gonna give them to Fury because Fury would give himself EDITH." Beck nodded.

"Aye, you're probably right about that." Peter sighed, and continued.

"Right, so the world needs the next Iron Man. And it's not gonna be me. I mean, I'm a 16-year-old kid from Queens. It needs to be an adult with some experience and that's good, like Tony Stark, like you. Beck took the glasses off.

"No. Peter, come on. No." Peter took the glasses and put them on.

"EDITH? Hi. Yeah... Um, I'd like to transfer your control over to Quentin Beck." I looked at him.

"What are you doing?" He looked at me.

"Doing the right thing." Beck shook his head.

"Stark gave you the glasses!" Peter looked back at Beck.

"Stark gave me a choice. It's my choice to make, okay? And I'm gonna make it. You're a soldier, a leader. You stopped the Elementals. You saved my life. You saved the world, okay? He'd want you to have them. Confirm." He took the glasses off and handed them to Beck. "Welcome to the Avengers." Beck nodded.

"Thank you. It's an honor." The two shook hands.

"Yeah. Mr. Stark would've really liked you." We both stood up.

"Where you two headed?" Peter looked back at him.

"To enjoy our summer."

Later that night at the hotel, Dani and I were talking when I got a knock on the door. I got up to open it, and on the other side was Peter, Ned, and MJ.

"We have a problem."