HOPELESS ☾Peter Parker - 1

TWENTY ONE

Tony Stark did everything he could to search through the computer they had found in the Hydra base, but he found barely anything. 

He found himself not wanting to tell Aspen the news, but knew that he needed to in order to keep the trust he was building with her. 

What Tony didn't understand, however, was why a nearly empty computer was left at the Hydra base sending a signal out that practically anyone (with the right tools) could find. So, he continued to search through the computer, clicking on every icon and file that he could. 

Aspen Blue was sitting on a couch in the Avengers tower waiting for Tony to give her any information. They had gotten back from Virginia about an hour ago, and the older man had still not told her anything. 

Her leg was bouncing up and down like it always did when she was nervous and he fingers were playing with her necklace gently. Peter watched as her fingers expertly twisted and twirled the small silver charm and her beautiful face shone with soft color. 

The young Blue's cheeks were always a soft pink and Peter liked that about her. Even though her eyes were stone cold, her soft smile and skin was still a gentle pink that pulled him in. Her beauty was enough to make him attracted to her, but it was really her heart that he liked most. 

"What is that?" Peter asked, pointing at her necklace in curiosity. 

"This?" She said, pulling the charm and looking down at it. "It's a crescent moon." 

The boy leaned forward and carefully took the necklace between his fingers. "It's beautiful."

"My parents gave it to me when I was little," Aspen had a soft smile on her face as she remembered opening the gift on one of her birthdays. "It's kind of the only thing I have left of them, as cheesy as that sounds." 

"Why a moon?"

"Well my parents always compared me to the sun. They talked about how I was bright and happy, but I was always a bigger fan of the moon. Me and my dad would lay out in the grass at night and stare up at the stars. I just always found the night to be more beautiful, I guess." Aspen looked down at her lap, a little embarrassed by her words. 

She didn't like to be sappy, but when it came to her parents she could go on and on about how much she loved them.

She slowly turned her head and looked at the boy who was sitting right in front of her. "You kind of remind me of the sun, you know?" Her voice was small as she spoke, "You're like the day and I'm the night."

If the girl was embarrassed before, she was melting now. She absolutely hated to be cheesy and to show any hint of emotion, but with Peter she just couldn't help it. And in all honesty, it was true. Peter was the day and Aspen was the night. He was optimistic and caring and she was pessimistic and selfish. 

He was full of hope while the girl remained hopeless.

"Well I think the moon is beautiful." Peter said without thinking, for if he had thought about it too much he would've never been able to say it. 

Aspen's dark eyes met his and she smiled a real smile. She really didn't know how to react; no one had ever called her beautiful before. 

"Thank you, Pete." 

"Bingo!" Tony suddenly yelled and walked towards the seated tens with the laptop in his hands.

He placed the computer in the center of the table and they all leaned forward, looking carefully at what was on the screen. 

"At first, I wasn't finding anything. All of the folders and trashcan had been emptied, but then I went through all of the applications on the computer and found this." The man reached over and clicked an icon that read notepad.