Chasing Spiders (A Spiderman Love Story)

It's Just a Place

I stare in shock as Tony Stark is standing in my apartment. "What the hell? How did you even- What are you doing here?" I ask, looking around and wondering if we're alone. "Don't worry kid, it's just me, figured I'd come visit you myself, see what's so impressive about you." I see him pick up a book on the desk and quickly put it down, "Listen kid, I know you like being on your own, personally I don't blame you." He starts, "But I have a proposition." He stops and looks at me, "and you came to me because...?" I ask slowly. "Oh! Well when all of SHIELD's files when public a couple years ago, your friend Fury made sure to give you the same deal as Barton, so your files weren't on any known data bases." Stark starts explaining to me, but I roll my eyes because he's telling me everything I already knew. "Go on, I get it, I'm a ghost. Why are you here though?" I ask again. "Because Fury gave your files to me, I read- well, skimmed over them. Listen, you've got talent." He says, I scoff at him and sit on the couch, "So you want to use me, that right?" "No." he says, I snap my eyes up and look him in the eye, he sees the curiosity in my face.

"I wanna help you," he moves to sit with me, "I owe Romanov and Barton." He sighs at the mention of the two agents, I study his face and see that his words are genuine. "Okay, say I agree to all this, what is it that you want me to do?" I ask him, 'I should at least hear him out' I think to myself. "well, first things first, you'd move out of this broom closet. You can have the choice between staying at the compound upstate, you could train, keep studying, whatever you wanna do." I think over my options and look around the room, I can't stay here forever since SHIELD fell someone's bound to find me, but it's not like Stark can give me any work to do... Tony's voice breaks the silence, "If you're worried about getting bored, there is another option on the table. If you're interested." He sees my interest and continues, "If you don't want to stay at the compound, we can work something out, but how would you feel about transferring to a different high school?" he asks. "Well, what school?" he smiles at me, "Oh you'll love it, great science program, nice scenery, easy curriculum, everything a kid could want. Midtown Tech."

I think for a moment and finally say, "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do." Tony smiles and pats my shoulder. "Alright get what you need and let's go! Meet you down stairs." He gets up and starts for the door. "Alright, I'll just grab a few things," I say to him as he walks out. "If this is my best bet, I'll do it." I mumble to myself as I pack my clothes and grab a black duffel bag from under the bed. I walk to the door and take one last look, 'It's just a place.' I close the door and walk downstairs to meet Tony.