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GOD... IT'S BRUTAL OUT HERE!

"Never be so clever, you forget
to be kind." —Taylor Swift
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Midtown School of Science and Technology

Location: Queens, New York City

August 9, 2016

"WHAT was she like?" Ned whispered to his best friend as they jogged around the football field. They simply had to jog around for a few more laps before they could go to the locker rooms to change. Turns out that Aurora was in the same gym class as them, she mostly kept to herself but sometimes Levi would accompany her. After he found out that Peter shared two other classes with Aurora, Ned couldn't help apart from being curious. On the other hand, Parker was distracted as he pondered if anyone noticed something different about him during class.

Ever since Peter got bitten by that spider, not only did his physique change in the summer but he became... stronger. Often he would hold back his strength or purposely mess up so no one would question him. He maintained a steady pace while jogging and even acted a bit fatigued yet there was no sweat evident on his face. Most of the boys were the ones jogging and the girls would simply walk around the field, well except Aurora and Michelle. She just thought it was stupid to walk around so she preferred to jog, reminding her of the early morning jogs she used to do with Steve and Sam.

"W-What?" The question caught Peter off guard, blinking momentarily as he didn't pay attention to a word his friend said. He noticed Liz when they made a turn around the field with the other popular kids... which also meant Flash Thompson. She was a couple of meters behind, simply talking with her friends and strolling through the exercise routine. His eyes flickered away since he didn't want to look like he was staring for too long, glancing at Ned with a neutral expression.

"Did she smell nice?" The Filipino boy asked another question, Peter immediately glimpsed around hoping no one heard him. Of course, they weren't the only ones in school who wanted to know about her. Even some students noticed that Peter was the one showing her around and to his surprise, some even talked to him. He guessed that he wasn't a complete loser anymore with Ned but continued to be a nerd.

"I-I don't know– she smelled... good I guess. Look can we j-just... not talk about that— right now." Parker mumbled faintly, unsure why Ned was particularly interested if she smelled good or not. Out of all the questions he could have asked, it just had to be the one that sounded a bit perverted.

"You have to admit she's cute. A bit intimidating... but cute," Ned stated with a slight shrug as they eventually decided to do a light walk to conserve their energy. Unaware that Aurora and Michelle were starting to catch up to them, both talking about their class schedules. Peter accidentally overheard that they had their next class, English Literature together. He then picked up another voice who wanted to speak to the new girl, recognizing it to be Flash.

"You must be the new girl. The name's Flash–." Flash tried to introduce himself with a warm smile, however, it annoyed the young Stark that her conversation was interrupted. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes dramatically, she glanced at the Latino boy with a neutral expression.

"Not interested," Aurora said flatly, walking right past him without a care in the world. Michelle snickered lightly while the boys turned around to witness how fast she rejected him, noticing Thompson's surprised expression. He still walked up to her, hoping she might change her mind once she listened to what he had to offer.

"I-I was going to say that I'm hosting a party on Friday, you know, for the first week of school. You're invited," Flash explained briefly, showing off his phone to display the invitations he was going to send out to everyone. "Everyone will be going– I hired this cool DJ and there'll be lots of food and drinks."

"Oh... in that case, I still can't. Busy that day, going out of town. So maybe next time." She told him with a fake apologetic smile, adjusting her braided ponytail wishing to change the conversation. Michelle couldn't help but enjoy seeing Flash in an awkward situation and yet he didn't seem to back down.

"Busy? This can be your chance to get to know people... get to know you perhaps." The boy implied suggestively that she nearly wanted to puke her guts out. Aurora resisted the urge to find something to kill him with when he suggested that, knowing that he was asking her out. Peter silently clenched his fist after realizing what was happening, although he was unsure why he was feeling slightly envious.

"Last lap, everyone! The sooner you finish the sooner you can change!" Coach Wilson declared to the students with his megaphone, giving the young Stark the perfect excuse to leave. She glanced at Michelle as she quickly asked if they wanted to get this over with before looking at Flash with one last smile.

"No offense... but you're not my type. But thanks for the invite," Aurora quickly announced to him before she started to jog the last lap with Jones, not caring if she hurt his feelings. Peter struggled to hold back his laughter once he registered that she ditched Thompson, watching her jogging swiftly that even Michelle struggled a bit to catch up. The girl was cautious with using her enhanced agility so she kept a fast pace around the field before they finished. Wilson directed them to the locker rooms as Michelle took a sip from the water fountain, Hunter leaned against the wall to relax a bit.

"I think you just made him cry," Michelle joked after drinking, wiping the water droplets from her lips. Aurora pretended to pant and appear fatigued from the last lap yet this was nothing compared to the gruesome training HYDRA did years ago. "No one rejects him, at least not on the second day of school."

"You think so? Didn't know I just broke that record," Aurora answered with an amused smirk, deciding to head to the girl's locker room inside the gymnasium. They had to split up since they weren't near each other, the young Stark quickly changed into her white baby tee and jeans before wearing her leather jacket and Doc Martens. She waited for Michelle by the side of the building, putting in her earbuds to listen to some music.

Peter and Ned just finished their lap, passing by Aurora who didn't pay attention to them. He let his gaze linger for a few seconds... he felt like there was something familiar about her. Only he couldn't pinpoint where or when he met her. The boys entered the boys' locker room to their respective lockers, Parker swiftly took off his gym shirt. Momentarily shirtless before slipping on his t-shirt and then hoodie, replacing the shorts with jeans. Levi walked right past them since he finished earlier as they didn't have much time until their next class.

"Never thought I would see the day that Flash gets rejected," Leeds remarked with a large smile on his face, definitely the highlight of their day. He pulled the backpack over his shoulder before locking his gym locker as he waited for Ned. Peter cracked a small smile when Aurora did that, discreetly taking his phone to check if he received any notifications from Happy, Tony, or even Phantom. So far nothing... as usual, Ned got his stuff as the two boys headed out of the room.

"Yeah... that was... awesome," Parker told Ned yet the moment was cut short when Flash bumped his shoulder. The Latino boy turned around with a wide smirk to show off his new designer jacket and shoes.

"Watch it, Penis Parker!" Thompson announced, wiping off the nonexistent dust from his jacket. Peter simply ignored the remark as he just wanted to go to his next class, urgent to get the day over with. Thankfully he didn't have training today with Phantom so he could use that time to be Spider-Man for once. However, Flash overheard them talking about what happened, he tried to explain, "Anyway... she was probably embarrassed that a guy like me would ask her out."

"Y-Yeah, Flash. That's, uh, probably what happened." Peter nodded his head after his sarcastic comment, holding back his laughter. The Latino boy couldn't tell that he was joking so he just walked out of the locker room, both boys finally being able to laugh. Moments later the school bell rang, indicating that they needed to head to their next class.

"Hey, I forgot to mention but I convinced my mom to get the new LEGO Star Wars set we've been talking about. It should be coming in two to four weeks," Ned brought up, recalling that he ordered the set last night.

"No way, we definitely need to build it once it comes," Peter mentioned with a wide smile, already imagining completing the set since they've been talking about it during the summer. The boys continued to have their little banter before splitting up since Ned had World History while he had Trigonometry. Although they both have Woodshop as their last class, they do their special handshake, "See ya later, Ned."

Peter arrived at his math class shortly after, occasionally glancing at the clock throughout the lesson. Most of it was review from freshman year before the teacher started teaching complex numbers and graphs. Since he sat in the back of the classroom, he took out his beat-up laptop and looked up the latest update about Phantom or recordings of Spider-Man on YouTube. Once he got bored of that, he thought of doing something more useful. He discreetly took out his 'scientific' notebook and revised the web formula he wanted to update.

It had to be lightweight yet sturdy, nearly unbreakable if possible. From the last training sessions, Phantom managed to break free with a certain amount of strength so he wanted to improve that. Pondering what elements would work best, Peter wanted it to be as strong as Vibranium but be able to dissolve after a few hours. He had to test this out before tomorrow's training so he would have to create it in the Chemistry lab during class period. Toying with the mechanical pencil between his fingers, he wrote down some notes and chemical equations.

His teacher wrote down the homework assigned for the week on the whiteboard before dismissing them early. Peter swiftly put the notebook away in his backpack, not wasting time leaving the classroom. One more class left then he had the Decathlon meeting, a chance to see Liz Allen again. Eventually, students started to crowd the hallway as he found Ned and walked together to Woodshop class. There was an announcement going on through the P.A. system about upcoming events and club rush will start in two weeks for students who want to join.

Aurora overheard that the Decathlon team was still accepting member applications for another two weeks. Unlike previous years, the Decathlon organization decided to introduce two new sectors: Engineering and Linguistics. She knew that Michelle and Levi were members but thought only nerds or geeks would be interested. Besides, she had to focus on training Spider-Man, school was the least of her worries. Nonetheless, that didn't stop Levi from trying to convince her otherwise, hoping that he'd give up once he realized that she didn't want to join.

Michelle ditched her after their English class but Aurora didn't mind since they weren't friends, only classmates. Heading to her Engineering class knowing that the teacher would start assigning projects, she was eager to go. Before the bell rang, she entered the classroom and sat in the back near the windowpane beside the hallway. Unaware that Peter noticed that her class was directly across from his and had a good view of her. He didn't think she would be the type of girl to take an Engineering class and yet there she was occasionally using her computer.

Aurora sensed someone watching her as she turned her gaze at the windowpane to find Peter staring at her. She didn't know what to do so she merely gave a small nod followed by a tiny smile. Immediately, the boy's face reddened as he looked away, clearly embarrassed that he got caught by her. The young Stark wasn't sure why he reacted that way, did she accidentally give him a resting bitch face? Unsure of what to do, she ignored him before following along with the instructions and taking notes although she basically knew ninety percent of the material.

Once school was officially over, Aurora was the first to leave the class and head straight to her locker. Although it was on the other side of the building, she had to pretend that her backpack was heavy from carrying everything. Purposely does a bad posture and after a few minutes, dramatically drops her backpack to the ground. She was starting to get annoyed with pretending to be weak, muttering under her breath some vulgar words. She placed the textbooks she had accumulated for the day inside, knowing that she probably wouldn't need them throughout the school year.

Eventually, Levi came up to her, crossing his arms above his chest as he stood beside her. She put the last of her textbooks inside before locking it, glancing up at Warren. He calmly smirked after what happened between her and Flash as he mentioned, "You do realize I put in a good word for you to be invited? You're lucky you're pretty or else he'll never invite you again."

"Not really interested in parties, Levi. But... thanks for trying," She told him, sighing softly through her nose once she realized he was being nice. Aurora wasn't the best at making friends so maybe she can try better...? Yet her first impression of Flash Thompson is that he's presumptuous and has a punchable face.

"Parties can be lame sometimes. But hey, I'll be sure to invite you to one of mine next time." He shrugged his shoulders, emphasizing that he would host a better one. The girl raised a brow in confusion before he casually informed her, leaning against the lockers, "So... are you coming to check out the Decathlon meeting?"

"No offense Levi but I'm not interested." Aurora declared firmly, causing him to roll his eyes momentarily at her stubbornness. She started to walk away while he swiftly caught up to her, knowing that Darcy was waiting for her by the parking lot.

"Come on! It'll be fun, I promise." Levi insisted, giving a flirtatious smile although she nearly laughed at how that wouldn't work on her.

"Right... because being surrounded by geeks sounds like a fun afternoon. Look, give me one good reason why I should join your little meeting?" She crossed her arms above her chest, narrowing her gaze slightly as she awaited his answer. Truthfully, he stumbled a bit with his response, contemplating whether to tell her or not.

"Because I will be there." Warren merely replied, Aurora rolled her eyes at the lame answer. She cracked a tiny smile before shaking her head faintly and exiting out of the school entrance. She was pleasantly surprised that Levi willingly followed her considering the meeting was on the other side of the school.

"You do realize that didn't help your case at all." She remarked playfully, hearing a car honk as her guardian waved at her to hurry up. The girl glimpsed at Levi as he eventually gave up, taking a few steps forward before turning around to give him a small wave. Giving him a pleasant smile, "Look I gotta go, my Aunt is picking me up."

Aurora crossed the road, slinging the backpack over her shoulder. Darcy unlocked the vehicle before the teenager went to the front passenger seat, tossing her stuff in the backseat. Seeing that Lewis had a bag of snacks from her recent grocery shopping trip, she grabbed a ripe banana and took a bite of it. The woman glanced through her peripheral vision, letting out a chuckle as she drove out of the school, "That bad, huh? Also, is that the guy that gave you his number?"

"Yeah...." The young Stark feebly answered, even after having a big lunch she was still starving. Fuck her fast metabolism. She was going to steal another banana yet Lewis swatted her hand away from the groceries.

"He's really—." Darcy glimpsed at the dark-skinned boy, a small smirk on her lips.

"Don't start—!" Aurora cut her off, glaring at her while she grumbled under her breath. Something about school was draining her and she's been on more complicated missions than attending classes or socializing.

"Fine, I won't." Lewis declared, dropping the topic which the girl was thankful for. The drive back home took about fifteen minutes until they entered the garage. Aurora effortlessly took the heavy groceries and backpack upstairs to their apartment and helped stock them away. Darcy smiled faintly as she placed her things on the table, deciding to start cooking, "Making fettuccine alfredo tonight, so go do your homework or whatever. I'll let you know when I'm done."

"You sure? I rather do anything else but homework," The teenager offered, really wanting an excuse to help and learn how to cook. She went to her room to quickly discard her backpack on her desk before heading to the kitchen. Her guardian already started taking out the pot and ingredients with the recipe list on the tablet. "Seriously, I would rather cook than do that."

"Nope, it's all good. Why don't you go for a stroll or something? If you do, text me! I don't want your dad to kill me," Darcy affirmed with a soft nod, the girl sighed softly as she retreated to her bedroom. Locking the door, she discreetly took down the posters Tony gifted her to reveal a map filled with colored push pins. The red indicated the sighting of Spider-Man, mostly located in Queens and occasionally the Bronx. The blue ones were their training locations while the purple ones were potential spots where the hero might be.

She knew her dad intentionally kept Spider-Man's identity a secret, however, that wasn't going to stop her from finding out. Aurora did plan to test him by saving a civilian in distress, aka herself. Now that she thought about it, it might be a stupid idea just like taking a hostage. The teenager sighed softly as she grabbed a blue pin and placed it in Manhattan for tomorrow's training. Putting back the concert posters on the wall, she grabbed her leather saddle bag and went through the fire escape. Wanting to get some fresh air and a chance to continue working on the project she had a few years ago.

Climbing down the ladder and leaping off on the last few steps, heading in the direction towards the downtown area. There was a second-hand electronic store that Aurora managed to uncover last week, finding all kinds of cool stuff she could definitely use. Sending a quick text to Darcy before putting on her headphones, glancing around at her surroundings. Listening to 'Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, humming along to the lyrics as she strolled through the streets. A notification popped up, taking out her Ray-Ban sunglasses to place them onto the bridge of her nose.

"I got a surprise waiting for you at the apartment. You can thank me later, Firecracker." Tony's voice rang through her headphones, cocking her head slightly in curiosity. Unsure what to reply with, she simply decided to ignore it and answer when she got back home. Perplexed by what kind of gift he got her, she could only imagine that it was crazy expensive or a colossal disappointment. For the most part, this part of Queens was quiet and calm unlike Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan. Recalling that Steve was born in Brooklyn, she thought one day of visiting his hometown.

A soft smile on her lips as she reminisced the moments she had with Steve and Bucky. Although they weren't related by blood, Aurora would always consider them as family along with the rest of the Avengers. The same goes for Sam who sometimes might be a pain in her ass, he was a good friend when he wanted to be. And she can't forget Wanda or Natasha, who was like her older sister or aunt to talk about whatever she was going through. Clenching her jaw while holding back tears threatening to spill, she eventually arrived at the Digital World Electronics shop.

She entered the store with a neutral expression, clutching the saddle bag while simultaneously glimpsing around at the section of electronics. There were old cameras, cell phones, computers, record players, televisions, video games, and spare parts. Heading to the side of the store and surveying the array of selections of computers, noting the price tags and quality behind the glass displays. An old man owned the shop and Aurora thought it would be nice to support a small business and that she didn't need fancy new tech compared to Tony.

Most of her gadgets were handmade from spare parts HYDRA gave her, the teenager guessed that it was unnecessary to dispose of old technology just because it was outdated. Aurora would rather recycle them until she couldn't find a purpose for them. Silently debated on getting the whole computer even if she just needed a CPU and hard drive. She holds onto that thought before walking down the aisles, scanning for other parts she might want. After a while, she searched through the spare parts bin and managed to find three mint-condition vintage Tungsten watches, the perfect piece for the prototype.

Although she essentially mastered controlling her energy manipulation, the young Stark thought of enhancing it by creating gauntlet-like bracelets. The tungsten metal has one of the highest boiling points which can potentially withstand her energy beams or blasts. She still needed a CPU chip so she took the watches to the register while hoping the owner could help find one. Granted, she wasn't alerted that someone was walking in her direction so she stumbled and lost her momentum. One of the watches fell to the ground as she mumbled under her breath in annoyance until realizing it was Peter Parker who collided with her.

"Sorry, I didn't—." The boy muttered a quick apology, avoiding eye contact while picking it up with a sheepish smile. Aurora glanced at him with a soft nod as he handed the watch to her, their fingers barely touching. He bit his inner cheek while he fidgeted with his wrists, adding awkward tension between them.

"Parker? Didn't expect to see you here," The girl questioned him, causing Peter to nervously chuckle as he wasn't sure what to say. Placing his hands inside his jacket pockets while his gaze flickered down to what she was going to buy. She seemed the type to have money so he didn't expect to find her in an antique shop like this. Much less with lots of spare parts that can make a computerized device and a couple of watches.

"Me either. Are you a... collector or something?" Peter motioned to what she was carrying, curious what she was going to do with that. He assumed it might be part of her project for Engineering class?

"What?" Aurora remarked before noticing that he was indicating the items in her hand, registering that she needed to make up a reason for it. She knew that most girls probably liked fashion or makeup but not inventing. "This? ...I like to fix or make things. It's a hobby of mine."

"Oh, what are you making?" He wondered, his brown eyes glimpsing into her hazel-green ones with a soft smile. Peter actually sounded genuinely curious about her interest... something which she never experienced before. Often, Tony and Bruce were busy with their own inventions, Steve didn't understand much of technology, Natasha would listen but that's about it, and Clint would just ignore her. She remembered that he was taking a Woodshop class, similar to Engineering.

"You can't tell anyone about this but... it's for a... time machine." Aurora took a tiny step forward and whispered to him, awaiting his reaction. He seemed to believe it— or at least, imagine the possibility of it. Nonetheless, the young Stark couldn't hold back her laughter anymore, a large smile appearing on her lips. "It was a joke, Peter. Of course, time travel doesn't exist."

"Right... but it's not, uh, impossible. You never know." Peter stated with a light shrug, a calm expression on his face. She couldn't help but softly nod her head to his statement, there's plenty of theories of time travel or multiverses so... it's not out of the question.

"If time travel does exist, I would like to meet the person who invented it. Anyway, I just need the Tungsten metal from the watches since it is stronger than steel and titanium. Considering it has—." She indicated to the three watches in her hands, searching for a small basket to put the items inside.

"One of the highest melting points. I-I didn't think you knew Chemistry, so much that is." Peter finished her explanation, understanding the practicality of her experiment. He realized what she was looking for, getting a small basket by the bin and helping her put the spare parts inside.

"Well, we both have the same Chemistry class, remember? And you? What are you getting?" Aurora elaborated with a teasing smirk, silently thanking him as she let her hands rest a bit. Walking back to the computer section, Peter followed suit as he took his hand from his jacket pocket to adjust his backpack strap.

"Oh, uh, a tablet or laptop. Don't know yet... mostly because no one really buys old junk a-anymore." Peter mumbled the last part to her, she wasn't sure if he was joking or not. However, after a few seconds, she recognized he wasn't kidding so the girl scoffed and stopped in front of him.

"No offense, but that's a stupid reason. I'm here because I need a CPU chip. Which I can't find in a regular store unless I disassemble a computer. Just because it's old doesn't mean it can't work." She retorted, not understanding why he felt ashamed for having something antique. "If you do buy something, I recommend a tablet. Specifically, a Microsoft one, HP laptops are shit anyways."

"T-Thanks... might get it considering... um, tomorrow's my b-birthday," Parker responded, taken back slightly when she swore casually. Seeing a selection of tablets and computers behind the glass, he spotted the one she mentioned with a soft nod.

"Congrats, I guess... well, vintage stuff is much better quality in my opinion." Aurora acknowledged, pressing her lips together as she strolled to the register. Paying for her stuff while Peter was embarrassed for saying that, not sure what came over him. Overthinking that she probably thinks he's a loser even though she only thought about the dinner Darcy was making. Once grabbing her items inside the plastic bag, she glanced at Peter with a faint grin. "Who knows... you might find something you want."

Peter felt his phone vibrate, pulling out the device to scan through the notifications. Momentarily distracted once he comprehended that the anonymous phone number was from Tony. It was strange considering Stark wasn't the kind to be incognito with his messages. Not that Parker was upset or anything. He managed to contain his excitement as he read the note quietly, 'Happy early birthday, Peter. A little something waiting for you at your Aunt's apartment. From Stark Internship.'

"I-I uh, gotta go. Something came up," Peter apologized profusely, his face flushed as he waved goodbye to her and then exited the shop. Baffled by the sudden urgency, she thought it was rather strange how he seemed to be hiding something. Whatever it was, she didn't care as the girl put her headphones back on and left with her items. She trudged in the same direction back to the apartment, shuffling through her playlist.

Before the sun was setting, Aurora climbed through the fire escape to her room. She locks her window and then sets the bag full of spare parts on her desk, updating the checklist of her experiment. Making her way to the kitchen, spotting Darcy finishing up so the teenager grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. Scrolling through some channels until one talked about Spider-Man sighting in Queens and managed to prevent a thief from stealing a car. Nevertheless, she recognized a street that was four blocks away from the Electronic Store, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"How strange..."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Did something a little different in this chapter but focusing on Peter! Hope you guys like it and we're close to starting the actual timeline of Homecoming! Tell me what you guys want to see and until then, take care!