O R E N D A

2

"um, hey. sorry, i don't usually look like i crawled out of a sewer," lily leaned forward to shake the boys hand. he was pretty cute, tallish with kind eyes and fluffy brown hair.

"no, no you look-fine. yeah. i mean not like fine, fine, but like i wouldn't say sewer," he stumbled over his words, clasping his hand in hers. it was warm, and slightly calloused, and she couldn't help but smile at his demeanor.

"wowww, tony, you picked a smooth one," steve said, watching the teens with a faint smile on his face. this earned him another swat from natasha as she rolled her eyes. the pair were leaning against a huge glass wall in the room, watching it unfold.

"you're mr. starks daughter, right?" peter asked.
"tony, yeah." she said, plopping down on the couch.
"tony." the boy repeated.
tony stark himself came around and patted the boys shoulder. "we aren't at first names yet, kid. it's like a game. you're at level 1. you've got a while to go before level 36, especially considering there's ads between each one." he slipped past and sat next to pepper, lazily slinging an arm behind her on the couch.

"oh, uh, sure." the poor boy said, obviously confused. lily rolled her eyes at her dad.

"so, you visiting or?" lily looked up at peter expectantly. she knew exactly who he was, the spider kid, but she wanted to see what he said.

"peters gonna be staying with us for a little while. steve and i will be working with him on controlling his spider powers and making sure he doesn't burn the city down." her dad cut in, leaning back against the sofa.

"powers?" lily asked. peter, still standing in front of her, brightened a little.
"oh yeah, uh, spider-man, at your service!" he said, doing a weird little bow. lily raised an eyebrow. what a strange boy. she liked him. "so what, you like...stick to stuff?" natasha asked. she also knew exactly what he did, but lily caught a little wink from her.

"no. well sorta, but im mostly working in honing in my spider senses. i just kinda know some things, or like get a feeling, ya know?" he said, fidgeting with his hands.

"so like...a peter tingle?" lily deadpanned. he whipped around to look at her.
"uh no. a spider sense," he said, sitting down next to her on the couch. steve chuckled as she looked peter up and down and decided, "mm yeah, i'm gonna call it the peter tingle." steve said, nodding at the boy.

"hey, does margarita work for everyone? kid, pepperoni?" tony asked, pointing at peter and holding the phone away from his ear. peter tried to stammer out an answer but tony snipped, "too late!" and walked away, speaking italian to whoever was on the other line.

•••

an hour later, everyone was sitting around the floor, eating their pizza and talking. peter was sitting on the couch and lily sat on the floor beneath him, scrolling through instagram.
"so, what are your powers?" peter nudged her with his knee. she looked up at him, squinted for a second, then the pizza crust he was munching on flew across the room to hit steve in the back of the head.

"kid!" he growled, looking over at her playfully. she pointed up at peter and shrugged, even though everyone knew it was her.

"whoa, so you have mind control?" peter asked, sliding down next to her. she handed him her crust, feeling slightly bad, and he took it gratefully.

"technically, it's telekinesis. but that's just words. i can do a lot of things, i've been in testing for years," she shrugged, "and you...stick to things? shoot your webs?" she asked, not unkindly. she watched him get a little nervous for a second, obviously not used to talking about his abilities so openly. she liked the way his eyebrows scrunched up when he thought, like they were thinking for him.