Life as Maya Stark • Iron Man's Daughter [ 1 ]

2

"So you're Dad is really Iron Man?" Peter asked with wide eyes as he ate some of the ice cream his Aunt May and Uncle Ben had bought him. Maya nodded her head with a shy smile as she messed around with the plastic spoon of her own ice cream, "The one and only." "Wow," Peter breathed out.

"That's so cool. Not the whole him being a superhero means putting you in danger thing," Peter said which made Maya raise her eyebrow at him. She never thought of that. "Just the whole getting to help others and make a difference is so cool."

Peter ate some more of his ice cream before glancing outside and watching people walk by. "If I was a superhero," Peter muttered before turning to look at Maya with sparkling eyes, "I'd want to make a difference. I'd want people to not have to be afraid because they know that I'm there to keep them safe."

Maya watched him with wide eyes wondering how a small boy had such a big heart. Peter noticed her stare and quickly looked away. "Sorry, I'm rambling," Peter muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

Before Maya could object, Peter was already changing the conversation. "So why were you on the street by yourself? Where's your dad? It's your birthday, isn't it?" Maya's eyes widened slightly and she titled her head in confusion, "How'd you know that?"

"It's all over the media," Peter replied and Maya sighed. "Right," Maya muttered. That's one thing she missed having before she met Tony. Privacy. It felt like ever since she showed up on his doorstep, every single thing about her was exposed for the whole world to see.

Maya glanced up from her bowl of vanilla ice cream and said, "To answer your question. . .I mean questions, my father is busy with the whole Expo Center thing so he's not around today. And because I basically grew up here, I decided to just have a look around."

Peter's smile faltered and he gave her a sad look, "Your-Your father's not celebrating your birthday?"

Maya shook her head slightly and quickly looked down. Peter frowned at this and then glanced over at his Aunt May and Uncle Ben who were a few tables away from them. They noticed Peter's stare and quickly pretended like they hadn't been listening to their whole conversation. Peter rolled his eyes and gave them a look.

Aunt May glanced at the girl across from Peter before back at her nephew. Peter gave her his best puppy dog face and Aung May gave. She gave him a small smile and then nodded her head and Peter grinned before mouthing a quick thanks to his aunt.

"Well, you can celebrate with us if you want."

Maya's eyes flickered up and instantly locked with Peter's as she gave him a shocked look. "W-what?" Maya asked.

Peter had a huge grin on his face as he said, "We could do whatever you want. I know a bunch of cool places we could go. There's a bowling alley a few blocks away from here. Oh, and there's a movie theater down the street from where we live if you want to watch a movie. And for lunch, Aunt May and Uncle Ben could take us to Delmar's. They have the best sandwiches. Well, I know one of them is good since that's all I get when I go there. And-"

"Peter."

"-there's this amazing-"

"Peter."

"-pizza place if you don't want a sandwich-"

"Peter!"