Spiderman's Sister

How was your week?

When I come into the living room, Peter is sitting on the sofa. There's some documentary about space on the TV - I can't imagine anyone but Peter watching stuff like this - while Peter is tinkering with one of his webshooters. I really missed my nerdy little brother. Sometimes I think about how our lives would have been if Peter wasn't a smart, quiet teenager who rarely got into trouble. Admittedly, since he's an Avenger, that's been the case every now and then. But actually I'm really lucky that I don't have a grumpy rebellious teenager to be responsible for. Peter makes my job very easy.

Victoria: Hey Peter.

I'm leaning in the doorway as he looks up from his webshooter.

Peter: Hey. Where were you? I called for you when i came home.

Victoria: Yeah....um.....I had a nap after I got home. I guess I didn't hear you.

He doesn't look too convinced, but doesn't say anything else either. I drop onto the sofa next to him.

Peter: Is it possible that I saw Bucky's car in front of our house?

Fuck! I had completely forgotten about James' car in front of our house. Ok Vicky, don't let on that you know why the car was there.

Victoria: I have no idea what you saw outside.

Peter: It would be a strange coincidence to see his car here. Mainly because he hasn't been home all week.

Victoria: I really don't know Peter. Maybe he knows someone around here, or maybe he had something to do around here.

Peter: Still strange.

Victoria: Peter, I really don't know why his car should have been in front of the house. If it was his at all.

Ok, steer the conversation to something else. I don't need Peter to become suspicious of his own accord.

Victoria: How was your week?

Peter: It was super cool. Mr. Stark and I spent most of the week in the lab working on my suit. We managed to add a feature that would let me breathe in space, it was really tricky, but we did it.

Victoria: And how do you know it actually works?

Instead of answering, Peter looks at his hands on his lap. If what I suspect is true, I'll probably kill Tony Stark after all.

Victoria: Peter? I won't ask again. How do you know it works?

Peter: We may have tried it.

Victoria: Tried it? Here on earth? That would hardly prove that it works, would it?

Peter: Please don't be mad. Yes, we've tried it, but not here on Earth. After all, we had to create a realistic environment.

Victoria: I'll kill him.

I'm already on my feet and heading down the hall when Peter stops me.

Peter: Can you please just sit back and not lecture Mr. Stark on this?

Victoria: What? Peter - Tony Stark can't just take you into space without at least letting me know. What if something had happened?

Peter: I wasn't alone up there. If something had happened, Mr. Stark could have helped me, he was there too.

I rub my temple and try to calm down. What was I actually expecting? That Peter spends the whole week there and just sits quietly and secretly in his room? Okay, so Tony Stark isn't going to die today after all.

Victoria: Ok..... but...... but before you do this again in the future, please let me know, okay?

Peter: I promise.

I hug him and I really can't believe my little brother does all these things. All that superhero stuff and space adventures.

Peter: Now that that's settled, can we have a cozy brother-sister TV night? With pizza?

Victoria: Sure. You pick out a movie, I'll order pizza.

Half an hour later we're sitting on the sofa with pizza and cola and watching "Back to the future". At some point Peter asked me about my week and I had to make up something quickly so as not to tell him the truth. I ended up telling him a modified version of the truth. The place was different and I didn't say anything about James, but apart from that I left everything to the truth so far. Well, I skipped the party nights too. This is beautiful. Pizza, movies and being cozy with my brother. In fact, it would only be nicer if James were here too. But, even though we're sitting so comfortably together now, it doesn't feel right to reveal the truth now.