Variation - W.M.

Chapter 35 - December 5, 2016

"You've been distracted lately" Tony observed as he sipped his coffee. I hummed, staring down into the slightly swirling brown liquid in my own mug.

For the past week Wanda had repeated what I originally thought to be a one time occurrence; showing up in my room once silence overtook the living area, although she was always gone by the time I woke up each morning for coffee.

Unlike the first day Wanda didn't join us for coffee; simply returned to her normal routine. However, just like the first day, we didn't talk about it; almost acting as if it didn't happen. At this point, I wasn't sure if it was simply a hallucination or not.

Nat had disappeared a couple days ago without warning; receiving some mail and then leaving. Because of this, training had once again been halted.

With so much time on my hands I wasn't truly sure of what to do, although my brain seemed content with my increasingly common thoughts that centered around Wanda.

In addition to what seemed to be an incredibly inconvenient schoolgirl crush I was painfully aware of the rapidly approaching date, and as it inched closed I debated pulling another stunt that would leave me incapacitated.

"Ollie."

I hummed, looking up to see Tony standing by the door. "What?"

"You're coming with me to recruit spider-boy." Tony informed me and I blinked before standing up, downing the rest of my coffee.

"It's spider-man" I corrected, glad to have a distraction. He ignored me, leading me out and to a car. Happy sat in the driver's seat so I slid into the back.

The ride was quiet for far too long so I decided to change it, leaning against the empty passenger's seat. "Hey Happy, why are you called Happy? You never look it."

"It's from his old boxing days" Tony snickered and my eyes widened.

"No way. Happy, you should train me! Nat fell off the face of the earth and-"

"No." The man deadpanned. I huffed and sat back in my seat.

"Someone named you after the wrong dwarf."

By the time we got to Peter's apartment I had the sneaking suspicion that Happy didn't like me. Now, it could have been the fact that he told me he didn't like me, but how valid were those words.

"Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can" I sang as I skipped up the stairs.

"Could you not blow our cover?" Tony hissed and I frowned, looking back at the man as he leisurely made his way up. "You seem to be in a better mood now."

"Because I get to see Peter. He's so adorable" I gushed, bouncing a little and inching towards his apartment. "I get to spend time with him here since I don't hate you."

"Remember, he doesn't know who you are" Tony warned and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I've been here long enough to know that. Now come on, knock on the door" I urged. The man sighed but knocked on the door. After a few moments Peter opened the door, his eyes growing wide.

"You're Tony Stark."

"And you're Peter Parker" Tony responded, a smirk on his face. He opened his mouth to say something else but I shoved a hand over his mouth, catching sight of Peter's Aunt.

"Anthony here wants to invite you to participate in an internship at Stark Industries. It'll be super" I hinted, my hand phasing through Tony's face.

"I hate when you do that" he muttered, his face scrunched in disgust.

Peter's eyes grew wide and he gaped at the two of us. "How-"

I coughed loudly, looking over his shoulder. "Hi, we are so sorry to bother you" I apologized politely. "We were just here to extend an invitation."

"I heard. I can't believe you made the trip down here. Peter, why don't you invite Mr. Stark and Miss" May trailed off, looking for my name.

"Attwood. Olivia Attwood" I smiled, holding out a hand. She grabbed it, shaking it with a smile.

"Nice to meet you Miss Attwood. I'm Peter's aunt; May Parker."

I grinned as I released her hand. "Olivia is fine, Miss Parker."

"And May is fine for me. Now please, come in. I would love to hear more about this internship."

I nodded, stepping into the apartment with Tony on my heels. It was a nice apartment, reminding me a bit of the one I lived in with Oscar. Nothing like the shithole I lived in now-

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "Sherman."

"What?" Tony asked, a brow raised as everyone looked at me in confusion.

"Sorry, I have a pet at home and I'm just wondering if he's okay" I apologized, looking at Tony in despair.

"I'm sure he's being taken care of. Now is not the time to be worrying about him" Tony said firmly and I frowned sadly.

The information I had so gracefully left out was that my "pet" Sherman was actually a cactus I had gotten after everyone, including me, was brought back; an impulse buy at a Walmart in a sad attempt to have something to keep me company.

I wasn't exactly allowed to have animals at the rundown apartment I was in so a cactus had been the next best option.

Fish freaked me out.

It seemed almost pitiful now, that my only friend had been a cactus, but being left behind by someone I thought was my best friend, being told that I was weak and pathetic, was something I truly found myself needing to talk about.

Sherman assisted me in that need because, let's face it, he was a great listener.

My mind continued swirling around my cactus, inevitably leading to me rethinking the desire I had to try and make up with other Wanda. It wasn't until a sharp blast of cold air hit my face that I realized we were outside, the highschooler in tow.

"What's happening?" I asked, looking around wildly for Tony, my body coming off of autopilot. The man's head popped out of the black car in front of me.

"We're taking the kid back with us for the 'internship.'"

"Oh, cool" I hummed, moving to get in the car. Tony stopped me, however, shaking his head. "Happy refuses to drive you. Says you're too annoying."

"You're his boss, force him to" I scoffed.

"Sorry, I've known him longer" Tony shrugged, letting Peter in the car before they took off.

"I'm going to make his coffee with toilet water" I grumbled, blinking lazily in the direction I needed to go in. At least I could make it home faster than them.