Stark Men Are Made of Iron

Secrets

Peter spun in his office chair and let his free hand fall to his side. The other held his cellphone up to his ear.

"What are you going to make your suit out of?" Ned asked.

"'Dunno. Probably something super cool."

"Are you going to use your dad's lab to make it?"

"No," Peter laughed. "He'd figure it out when things turned up missing. I was thinking I can just use an old sweatshirt and stuff. The big thing is making sure my face is covered."

Ned hummed on the other end of the line. He was surprisingly calm for someone whose best friend had just found out that a spider bite had given him the ability to spin webs from his wrists and climb walls. Oh, and the super strength. And the enhanced senses. And the super healing.

If there was a "Best Best-Friend of The Year" award, Peter would have nominated Ned years ago, even before he'd started helping Peter with this whole thing.

"What are you going to go by?"

"Spiderman," Peter said quietly. The last thing he wanted was for his dad or his family to hear that he was planning on becoming the city's vigilante superhero at just 14 years old.

"Have you thought about your signature colors?"

Peter stopped spinning and let his head loll for a moment as his eyes adjusted. His shoes, the ones from his uncle, caught his eyes. "I think red and blue."

"Really? Like those old 3D drawings?" Ned asked.

"Yeah," Peter replied with a shrug. "I think it looks cool."

Peter heard Ned's mom yell in the background, but the phone muffled most of the words. "Coming!" Ned yelled back, then in a softer tone, he said "I got to go, man, my mom says dinner is ready."

Peter and Ned said their goodbyes and made plans to talk later that night. It was the first time Peter was going to try out his powers, which meant that before he could go out, he had to find something of a suit and mask. The teen made his way out to the living room and grabbed his bus pass and some cash. "Hey, dad?"

Tony, who was at the table doing work, turned.

"Can I go out for a bit?"

Tony seemed to give it extra thought as he paused. It'd only been a few days since Peter had recovered from his mystery illness, and Tony was apprehensive to let him go out in the city.

"Would you let me send Uncle Happy with you?"

Peter shook his head. "No way! I'm just going down the street to get some clothes at the thrift shop."

"Clothes? At the Thrift shop?" Tony scrunched up his face. "Don't you want, like, nice things?"

Peter waved his hand. "I just want a few flannels and stuff like that, I like them second-hand better than new."

"Whatever," Tony said with a smile. "Go have fun. Be back in an hour, though, okay?"

Peter was already off, the elevator doors closing behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You could see just about everything from the top of the Lady Liberty, but it was all the same. Vast swaths of buildings and city.

"Hey, Ned?"

Peter was wearing a pair of bluetooth headphones, which were connected to his phone. Ned was on the other line, acting as Peter's guide and homebase.