 ( chapter one )
PETER PARKER, THE BOY WHO CAN'T TAKE A HINT.

Lennon still hadn't spoken to Nat. It had been two months and they hadn't been in contact. Sure, Lennon's phone rang once or twice because of a number Natasha had made her memorize just in case the woman had to go into hiding, but Lennon hadn't answered.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, it's just she couldn't. She couldn't bring herself to face Nat after what she had seen just two months before.

And in that time Lennon had become a full-on high school student. Tony didn't think it was good for her to be cooped up so often and decided it was time she tried out that normal teenager lifestyle since she probably would never have to worry about another mission from the Avengers.

So, Lennon was officially an everyday teenager. Friends, homework, everything. She completely dropped her part-time schoolgirl lifestyle at Midtown High and became normal like everyone else.

Lennon didn't see the point but Tony was constantly stressed lately and she didn't want to add another thing he had to worry about. So, she smiled and said she was excited and that was that.

It wasn't all bad. Even in her time as a part-time student, Lennon had been able to make friends. She was particularly social and found talking to others quite easy, even if sometimes the topic of conversation was a bit boring. But Lennon had found Josie McNeal, James McNeal, and Laila Yao. And somehow, the three had decided that Lennon was an official member of the group the moment they met her.

It was nice. The twins were insanely similar while being sure they were polar opposites and Laila had a fire inside her that caused even the scariest people to back off. Lennon loved them, she had found people that she could call her friends and people who called her their friend right back.

Which all led her to today. Today Lennon was at her locker when James appeared, suddenly leaning against the locker as if he had been there the whole time. "So, what color were you thinking for your dress?" Lennon looked at the boy confused. "What?" James just continued. "Because I saw this one tux I thought was cool but didn't want to throw anything off in case the color of your dress was too different."

Lennon shook her head and laid a hand on his arm, stopping the boy from continuing. "Can you please stop rambling and tell me what you're talking about?" James looked back at her now like he was confused. "For Homecoming?" When he saw the look on Lennons' face, his dropped. "Don't tell me you've never been to Homecoming before. Seriously? It's like–– the only things anyone looks forward to when school first starts up." Lennon just smiled. "You forget my lack of actual schooling for most of my life."

James smiled back, teasingly. "Oh yeah, you're weird I forgot about that." Lennon laughed a bit as she lightly smacked James' arm in protest of his comment. "But anyway, it's a dance. And since we've already gone over how weird you are, I thought I'd be chivalrous and take you." Lennon raised her eyebrow with a smirk. "Oh, will you now? What if I don't want to go with you?" James just scoffed. "Who wouldn't want to go with this? I'm gorgeous!" Lennon nodded slightly. "And very modest."

"So, what do you say?" James smiled, a hopeful glint in his eye. Lennon shut her locker and turned to the boy. "I tend to look better in blue, so do with that what you will. Also, you need to get better at asking girls out to things because they'll say yes so much quicker when you get to the point." And with that, Lennon turned on her heel and left James standing by her locker with a stupid grin plastered on his face.

She shook her head lightly with a smile, already not knowing what she was getting herself into. Lennon didn't even know if she felt the way for James he seemed to feel for her, but she was willing to give it a try. He had been the only boy she'd met that had treated her like a friend before anything else and she appreciated that, finding far too many boys at her school to be just like Flash Thompson.

Who, somehow seemed to know she'd been thinking of him when he walked straight up to her. "Lennon! What's up?" Lennon tried not to roll her eyes, sending the boy a smile. "Nothing much, Flash. Though, I need to get to class, so—"

"Woah, woah, woah. What's the rush?" Flash responded, smiling at the girl. She grimaced. "Well... class. I kinda of have to go to it so... see ya." Lennon walked away quickly, ignoring Flash's attempt to "catch her later" as she moved down the hall.

But it seemed no one wanted Lennon to go to class as she was suddenly pulled into a random empty classroom. Immediately Lennon found herself ready to slap someone, throwing her arm out just for her wrist to be caught. Lennon looked towards who grabbed her to see none other than Spiderman himself, Peter Parker looking back at her.

"Peter? What are you doing here?" Lennon wondered, looking at the boy curiously. She had no idea what he was doing at her school or how he found her. Peter just chuckled awkwardly. "Uh, I go here." Lennons eyes widened, she had no idea. "Oh."

Peter, trying to save himself the embarrassment, rubbed the back of his neck. "I saw you walking down the hall and figured this was the best time for us to talk. Sorry if I—Uh... freaked you out." Lennon sent him a small smile. "Oh not at all. Who gets freaked out when someone randomly grabs them and pulls them into an empty room?"

"I see how that could be an issue. Sorry." Peter apologized again and Lennon just smiled. She figured messing with him could wait. "So, uh, I was wondering if you had intel on any new missions? I've been leaving messages for Happy for a while now but haven't gotten a response, so I figured you'd know. When does Mr. Stark need us again?" Peter wondered quickly, looking around as he spoke to make sure no one was going to walk in on them.

Lennons eyes widened, she didn't expect him to openly talk about the work he did as Spiderman. "Uh, can't say... I don't really have information on what's going on." Peter frowned before sighing. "Crap. Do you know when you might know?"

Lennon chuckled lightly. "Here's the thing, Peter... there aren't exactly any Avengers anymore. So, there's not really much we need to do. Maybe just try and focus on your life as Peter Parker for a while." Peter tapped his foot lightly against the ground, a disappointed look evident on his face. "But what if something is happening but Mr. Stark doesn't know about it and he needs us to fix it? What are we supposed to do?"

The blonde girl just tried to smile. She didn't really see where this us was coming from. They'd met once before this day and barely fought together in Germany. Lennon hadn't even fought, just watched over. So she didn't really know what Peter wanted from her.

"Tony told you to try and be a friendly neighborhood Spiderman... so, maybe take his advice. Stay on the ground for a while. It's not all that bad, you know." Lennon tried, hoping that even for a bit it would cut off Peters obvious need for a new mission.

But Peter just sighed, obviously not over the idea. "I've been on the ground my whole life. I don't just want to sit around and let things happen when I know I can stop them." Lennon smiled lightly. "Nothings happening, Peter. And when— if something happens, Tony will figure it out just like he always does."

Lennon walked out of the classroom at that, but Peter wasn't done. "But that's my whole point! If Mr. Stark doesn't know how will he stop it? With the Avengers stopping he's going to need other help. Like ours." Lennon bit her lip, she truly didn't know what Peter wanted from her. She'd been told to try and live a normal teenage life, that was the mission she had. Not to worry about Peter Parker and his need to do something.

"I just wish Happy would tell me something. Anything at this point." Peter continued, not really caring that Lennon wasn't listening as she walked. But an idea struck the boy. "Wait! Couldn't you talk to him for me? I bet he'd answer you."

Lennon frowned. "I've been given my own instructions just like you've been given yours, Peter. I don't think Happy wants me nagging him as much as he doesn't want you doing it." Peters eyes widened. "You have a mission?" Lennon quickly shushed him, looking around before grabbing the boys wrist and pulling him into the janitors closet.

Peters eyes widened as his cheeks heated up, seeing just how close he was to Lennon so suddenly. Lennon just looked at the boy inhaling. "Look. I get that this is all super exciting but you are endangering both of us openly speaking as much as you are. I've been told to just be a teenager, that is my "mission". So, that's what I'm going to do. Tony doesn't need more stress from us poking around him all the time so just keep helping out the little guy until he calls. When he needs you, he will call I promise. Okay? And if it gets you to stop bringing it up... I will talk to Happy."

Peter smiled, nodding quickly. "You've got it! You won't hear another word from me I can promise you that." Lennon shook her head with a small smile. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Parker. Just— hold off on all the talk until we aren't surrounded by people." 

"Got it. Thanks." Peter nodded. "Okay, I'm going to leave and you leave like ten second later, okay?" Lennon instructed and Peter just nodded, letting the girl open the door and shut it. Lennon moved into the traffic of the hall, unnoticed by her fellow students and looked back slyly to watch Peter leave the closet as well, walking a bit behind her.

Lennon turned her attention away from the boy, walking towards her math class finally hoping to just get to the room with no more distractions.

She smiled when she finally wasn't pulled away from the room, taking her seat as she waited for Josie to get to class. But when Peter walked into the classroom moments later, Lennon was truly ready to tear her hair out. He sat at the table behind her and Lennon shot her head around. "Are you following me?"

Peters eyes widened, horrified as it really did look like he was following her. "No! Of— of course not! No— I, uh, I've sat here all year so far... though I know the year just started but— sorry. This is my seat." Lennon scrunched her eyebrows together, once again she hadn't noticed him. "Oh."

Peter nodded slightly, lips pressing together awkwardly. "Well... happy sciencing I guess." Lennon tried to joke, turning back around and cringing. She had no idea why she had just said that.

Luckily, Josie walked into the classroom, smiling wide as she basically skipped over to her seat. She sat next to Lennon and immediately began telling her the exact reason for her joy. "Guess who just asked me to Homecoming." Lennon chuckled, honestly not knowing. "Who?"

Josie laughed a bit evilly. "Simon Pucket. And guess who I just got to reject." Lennon covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "You did not." Josie nodded. "Oh yeah. That little creep has been following me around since school started and I've finally been given the chance to get rid of him. Freedom is finally mine."

Lennon laughed, quieting down as her teacher, Ms. Warren, walked in. "Okay class let's settle down and get straight into it. I want someone to tell me how we calculate linear acceleration between points A and B. Flash?"

Lennon turned slightly to watch as Flash answered, smirking as he got it wrong. "It's the sign of the angle in gravity divided by mass." Ms. Warren shook her head. "Nope. Peter?"

Peters head shot up from behind his computer, Lennon turned back at the boy slightly upon hearing his chair squeak from the surprise of being called on. She made eye contact briefly before Peter turned his attention away from the girl. "You still with us?" Ms. Warren wondered. "Uh, uh... yeah. Yeah. Uh, mass cancels out so it's just gravity times sign." Ms. Warren nodded. "Right. See, Flash, being the fastest isn't always the best if you were wrong."

Lennon chuckled along with the rest of the class, sending Peter a small smile. The boy smiled back before his eye caught Flash's, smile instantly falling.

Lennon turned back to her paper, continuing to take notes for the class ahead.

———————

Lennon hadn't realized just how many classes she had with Peter. From math to science the girl found herself shocked when he walked into the room after her. Though it wasn't that crazy to think she hadn't noticed him before, she had only met him a few months prior.

The only thing was, they were sat at the same table during their science class, and they had been all year. Lennon felt like an asshole for not noticing that one.

She silently worked on her lab, catching a glimpse of a paper Peter seemed to be hiding under other papers. She didn't say anything as he hurriedly mixed something on his side of the desk in his cubicle, though she watched as it seemed to stick like a web. And Lennon soon immediately knew what he was doing, but just left him to himself as the bell for lunch rang.

She wrote a quick note down on a sticky note, "nice web fluid", before gathering her belongings and standing up. Lennon dropped the note down near Peters things and walked towards the front of the room, catching him opening the note with wide eyes as she walked out.

Lennon smirked lightly, finding it hard not to tease the spider boy when he thought he was so much slicker than he was. If he planned on annoying her and pestering her until he had a mission... she'd just have to make it a bit fun for herself too.

AUTHORS NOTE!
this has taken me so fucking long to publish jesus whoops