The Devil With The Face of an Angel | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 24

He couldn't resist. Day after day he kept thinking of his suit, which he would like to wear all the time. Even Ned had already begun to complain that Peter's thoughts were constantly somewhere else and he wasn't involved in the debate on various theories about Star Wars. Peter was ashamed to put his best friend on the sidelines like this and tried to suppress his thoughts about Spider-Man. Still somewhat unsuccessful, as he ran to them every five minutes. But at least he was starting to focus on Ned again.

He had only worn the suit twice, and always under the strict supervision of his father, who seemed to be worried lately, but he still kept his eyes on Peter. And when Tony was gone for at least a moment, Pepper was home for a change. And although Peter had tried several times, he didn't want to lie to her. Not like that, right in the eyes. He couldn't just tell her he was going to Ned, and he'd be swinging around in his super-amazingly-perfect suit. He just couldn't do it, and he hadn't figured out how to get around his father.

But one day he was lucky. Tony was gone all day, Pepper still had some meetings. And at school they had canceled the last two classes, so he wondered that he would be able to take his suit for a while and head out into the busy streets.

"Hello, Peter. What are you doing here?" Goddamn it, Friday. Peter rolled his eyes as he wrapped himself in his suit.

"What do you think? If you tell Dad about it, I guess I'll play with your coding a little," he warned her. He didn't know what he would do to her, but he had to threaten her somehow. He loved Friday, but no one could replace Jarvis anyway. "I am ripping you up and destroying you and Paul will talk to me instead of you."

"Who is Paul?"

"Your replacement obviously. Passively aggressive ultra-lama. P. A. U. L. Damn, I can't think of names with any deeper meaning," he murmured, then grimaced.

"Word ultra-lama doesn't exist."

"It exists, I just invented it. Cover me, Friday, please! If anyone happened to be here, I'm at Ned, okay?" No longer waiting for her assurance, he ran straight to his room and jumped out the window, shooting the webs into the distance, where they would catch a little solid and he could pull.

It was a great feeling to swing through the air like this, to be free, and to have the whole city in your palm. Forget everything for a moment, leaving even the slightest trouble down, on the ground, and being somebody else, anonymous. With a mysterious identity. Being a Spider-Man.

Peter flew past the gleaming windows and paused for a moment on the skyscraper roof. He looked down to where the cars were riding, then looked at the fluffy clouds. He could lie on the roof and watch the clouds for all eternity.

He was disturbed by the phone beep. Peter pulled it annoyed - he was safely hidden in his suit, of course - and tensed when he found his father calling. And he wanted to make a video call.

He quickly dismissed the call and then called him back without the camera. This was safer. "Hi, I'm sorry I dismissed the call, but- "

"Where are you?" Tony interrupted, and Peter knew he was frowning dissatisfied. He swallowed. There was no way he could know. "Happy was waiting for you outside school. Your two classes were canceled, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Peter agreed, startled.

"So where are you now?"

"Well, you know, I went for a walk. I thought I'd come by Ned and I didn't want Happy to take me there. I wanted to clear my head a bit, you understand that right?" he tried to sound convincing, hoping he'd succeeded. "I thought you had some important meeting?"

"Hmm," Tony murmured. "Yes, but I feel like I am going crazy about it. I needed to talk to someone normal." Peter grinned. "And I miss Pepper too, kid. I realized I haven't spent as much time with her lately as I should."

"Take her to dinner," Peter suggested to him immediately. "When I get home, I'll check her diary and find out when she's free. Have a nice evening. And then ask her to marry you."

Tony laughed. "You can't get away with it, do you? We'll see. Well, I guess I'll have to go. I can't wait to be home. Kiss your mom for me, okay?"

"Okay, see you later," Peter said good-bye and ended the call. Then he hid the phone back and continued his way without a target.

After a while, he saw a woman with a man in a narrow street. He didn't like it at all. When the man suddenly grabbed her wrist and she swung at him with her bag and screamed, he headed straight for them.

The woman yelped when he appeared. Peter knocked the man to the ground, tied his arms and legs with webs. He began to fiddle with the idea of wrapping him around the web like a mummy, but he didn't want to waste his webs on such a pig. He looked back at the scared woman.

"Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked her.

She was watching him in disbelief. "You're the Spider-Man that's all over the Internet right now, aren't you!" She breathed, her eyes twinkling. She looked pretty. Brown hair, darker eyes.

"On the Internet? I had no idea," he said, thinking he should ask Friday if the videos could be deleted. "Are you really okay?"

"Yes. You are my savior," she told him and smiled. Peter's heart jumped with joy. "The Avengers are the past. You are now our hopes, justice, future."

"I can't match the Avengers."

"Don't be so modest. You and your skills will be a legend," she chuckled and Peter stood up. He was full of contradiction. He didn't want to listen to her, but he liked it...

"Well, I'll have to go now. They may need help somewhere," he said, holding up his palm in greeting and shooting the webs at the opposite building.

"I'm cheering for you so you to know!" she called after him and Peter's stomach twisted.