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"You did what?"

"Honey, it seemed like the most reasonable outcome — "

Tony tried to defend himself, but to no avail. (Y/N) had her arms crossed defensively over her chest, her foot tapping against the floor. She was glad the room was empty, or she would've been embarrassed of people watching her loud talk with Tony.

"You took the kid's suit?!"

Tony cleared his throat and adjusted the sleeves of his clothes. "You watched the news. It was the least I could do."

(Y/N) hummed in reply to that defense. She did watch the news, since Tony had interrupted inn the middle of her reunion with Natasha to make her watch for herself. The friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, or in this case, Peter 'the kid' Parker, had been in the middle of a Staten Island Ferry explosion. Fortunately for him, no one died, but the explosion had split the ferry in half and almost sunk to the bottom of the ocean if it weren't for Tony's impecable timing.

"It kinda feels like you're doing one of those moments when a parent takes a toy away from a kid because they misbehaved," (Y/N) moved her hands to rest on her hips.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," Tony copied her pose, lifting his chin in pride. "Kid needs a lesson."

(Y/N) didn't know what to say, she just shook her head in disbelief. She sighed and tried to make her point, "He just wanted to prove himself for you. He's literally a 15 year old teen. Did he screw up? Big time. But did you have to  — "

"Okay, I admit I might've crossed the lines over the things I said," he cut her off and she could see how his shoulders sagged, removing weight from them. A part of her was shocked, since it was strange occurrence to hear him admit he was wrong. "You should've seen it. I sounded like my dad."

(Y/N) knew that was a rough spot for him, and how much he wanted to stray from that image. She wished she had a better knowledge and understanding of how was his father — the great Howard Stark — but those memories went down the drain after the crash and she had no possible way to comfort him. Right now, she pressed a soothing hand on his arm.

"What are you planning to do?" she asked next, and strayed from the subject, knowing that's what he wanted.

He sighed, afraid of the question. "Hoping that teaches him to back off from things he doesn't understand and hopefully give him the suit back."

"That's good," she nodded. "He has a lot of potential."

Tony smiled softly and his eyes visibly softened, as if a thought came to his head. "You know, if you and I had a kid, he would be like Peter."

(Y/N) froze her movements at his words, not expecting that at all. The topic of her having children was a sensitive one, and she still remembered how she deflected when Tony asked her if she had thought about it a few days ago. But at the same time, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes came to her face at the thought of having a child that was like Peter, a boy that she didn't know that well, but knew how special he was.

"Yeah," she responded monotonously, her head not in the right headspace since she was still in heavy thought.

Tony squinted his eyes at her. "You okay."

"Sure, sure," she shook her head to get rid of all the contaminating thoughts in her mind. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

(Y/N) nodded, and Tony didn't look fully convinced but didn't pry on the matter. His phone rang at the perfect timing, and he sighed in disappointment before answering the call, since he knew it was going to distract him from talking with (Y/N).

Looking extremely apologetic, he pressed a farewell kiss on her cheek before leaving the room to take the call and probably exit the building to attend his business. (Y/N) was left all alone, trying to stop her head from diving into the wormhole that was the thought of having a family of her own.

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"Here? Are you sure?"

Happy rolled down the window from the pilot's seat of the car, sunglasses covering his eyes but his furrowed eyebrows were still a bit visible. (Y/N) had stepped out of the car once it came to a complete halt, smoothing the wrinkles of her clothes as she did so.

"Yeah," (Y/N) looked back at him, then she pointed toward the building. "You said it was the seventh floor, right?"

"If I remember correctly, yes."

(Y/N) hummed in response, but before she took a step toward the building, she paused. "Don't wait out here if I take too long. I'll grab a cab or something."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Happy shook his head, and to see him offer to wait up for something was unusual for (Y/N). "I have nothing better to do today."

"Don't you have the move to manage?"

Even if his eyes were covered by his sunglasses, the realization hitting him was visible from her point of view. She laughed and shook her head, expecting nothing less from Happy. He was clumsy and forgetful about his job, but he did his best when he could.

"Right. I better go," he ignited the engine. "Please don't tell Tony."

"Lips are sealed," (Y/N) made the lip-locking motion. "Don't want anyone else as 'forehead of security'."

Happy let out an annoyed noise at the name and rolled up the window. The car engine roared in ignition and (Y/N) waited until she watched it disappear from her line of sight through all the other cars in the busy street before turning away from it. The apartment complex was staring right back at her, and she inhaled a breath for confidence before walking through the front door.

She walked toward the elevator doors and pressed on the seventh button, hoping it would take her to her destination. She wasn't sure why she wanted to come here in the first place, but she thought it might bring some good.

The elevator doors dinged on the floor she had pressed the button to, allowing her to step inside a stretched hallway. If she remembered correctly, the apartment she was looking for was on the right side of the hall, just a few steps deep into it. She counted in her head, number through number, door to door, until she finally found the right one. Here goes nothing, she murmured to herself, before raising a hand to knock on the wooden door.

It took just a few seconds before the door opened by half an inch, inside peaking in a brunette woman with glasses, seemingly covering the majority of the apartment's view because of the smoke that came from inside. (Y/N) wasn't sure if she wanted to know the reason why or not.

"Hello," the woman greeted warmly, though her expression showed confusion at the visiting and embarrassed. "May I help you?"

"Mrs. Parker?" (Y/N) questioned with hesitancy.

"That's me," she said, and (Y/N) was relieved that she was staring at the right woman. "How can I be of service?"

"I'm — " (Y/N) cleared her throat to think her lie through before responding. God, she had fought against aliens and robots but didn't know how to tell a good lie to save her life.

However, before she could rationalize all her thoughts, May Parker analyzed her completely and her eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, my God," she whispered in full awe. "You're — You're her!"

(Y/N) smiled awkwardly since she never knew how to react when people did this. But this time, it was crucial for her lie to maintain a proper image of herself. "That's me."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I know that your nephew was part of the Stark Industries September Fund program until a few days ago," Even she was surprised by the fluidness in her lie. "I was wondering if I could come inside to discuss with him about rejoining?"

May Parker seemed surprised by this, still she nodded but with hesitancy. "Sure, but he said that it got so stressing for him to keep up."

"I understand, ma'am," (Y/N) nodded in empathy. "All we want is the best experience for our applicants."

May nodded once more and opened her door wider to allow (Y/N) in. If Natasha was here right now, she would've been proud at the smoothness in (Y/N)'s lie. The smoke coming from the kitchen had mostly escaped through the open windows, but the smell was still in the air. The older woman was embarrassed by the state of her home, yet (Y/N) looked around in full interest at the apartment's decor and the baby pictures on the wall, along with accomplishment diplomas. A part of her had a sense of deja vu from the scene.

"I'm sorry for all — " May gestured to the smoke. "Dinner didn't go as planned."

(Y/N) smiled at the woman. "No worries. It's actually quite a familiar scene for me."

May didn't know what she was referring to, but (Y/N) could recall all those times that Tony tried to surprise her with a breakfast in bed but ended up almost burning down the kitchen.

"Why don't you sit down?" May gestured to the couch. "I'll call him, he's in his room."

"Actually, do you mind if I go talk to him there?" she internally winced at how weird that must seem.

May didn't seem to mind. "Go ahead, I'll fix you a drink. His room is the door to the left."

(Y/N) walked toward the hall that May gestured to, and it was a quick walk from the door to Peter's room. She expected it to be covered in 'Keep Out' posters like the ones she had seen teenagers have in movies, but nothing was glued on the wall. She organized all her words through before she knocked on the door, taking in a deep breath since she was worried he might not want to speak to her.

"Come on in," she heard his voice say through the door.

(Y/N) turned on the knob and opened it just in time as Peter turned his chair to face the door with a pencil between his fingers. "May, you don't have to knock — "

"Not May."

(Y/N) leaned on the door frame and gave the boy a smirk as she shrugged. The sight of her made Peter's eyes widen and the words died on his tongue, too starstruck to say something. It seemed like his mind had short-circuited.

"Ma'am," Peter stumbled over his words and stood up from his chair, growing aware of the mess inside his room and tried to clean it.

In a failed attempt to grab the dirty laundry from the floor, he slipped on a loose sock and nearly tripped if it hadn't been for (Y/N)'s quick reflex in catching him.

"Careful there, you don't want to break those web-shooting arms."

Peter cleared his throat with flushed cheeks, and decided to sit by the foot of his bunk bed and not move.  "Ma'am — W-W-What are you doing here?"

She crossed her arms and didn't want to run circles around the topic, so she instantly blurted out the question. "What do you want?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you, Peter," she specified. "What do you want?"

"I. . .I wanted to prove myself to Mr. Stark. That I was ready to become an Avenger and be part of the bigger leagues," he sighed, finally letting all those thoughts out. "But I messed up. He probably told you about. He probably tells you everything, I mean, you're kinda dating — "

"Peter," she interrupted, knowing he was straying from the main topic.

"Sorry," he flashed a sheepish smile. "I — After I got these powers, I wanted nothing more than yelling out to the world that I was Spider-Man, but I didn't, because I had something to prove to the people of the city. That anybody could be Spider-Man behind the mask. But now, I feel like I have failed everyone. Mr. Stark, the people out there, and probably even you."

(Y/N)'s lips pressed into a thin line at his words, and moved from her spot on the frame to sit beside him. When she got close enough, she almost leaned down until she noticed the small pile of dirty laundry on the side she wanted to sit down on.

"Can you move that, I wanna sit here," she murmured, and the teen rushed to clean that spot to make her sit down.

(Y/N) almost didn't fit through the frame of the bed and nearly hit her head with the poles, yet she sat down comfortably beside Peter. She placed a hand on his shoulder before she spoke up.

"If there's something that I've learned from this job, is that we learn from our past mistakes," she began, having given a speech like this a few years ago. "We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for them."

"But what do I do to get Mr. Stark to trust me again? To give me back my suit?"

"I'm going to rephrase what he said to you that day," she cleared her throat. "A suit doesn't make a superhero super. The person wearing it does."

Peter stayed silent and allowed (Y/N) to pat him in the back in a comforting manner. He didn't even realize he was sniffling to fight back the tears in his eyes until it was too late to hide them from (Y/N).

"Oh my," (Y/N)'s eyes widened at the sight. What do I do? What do I do? she internally panicked.

"Do you want a hug? I was told I give some really good hugs — " she ranted as she desperately wanted him to feel better. "Once, the Avengers voted me as the best hug-giver on the team, for a whole year. Come on."

(Y/N) pulled Peter toward her in a side hug, allowing him to rest his head on her shoulder. Her shirt was getting stained by the tears but she didn't mind as she kept rubbing soothing circles on his arm. A warm feeling spread through her chest. Is this what a mother feels every time she holds her child close? Is this what May feels?

The thoughts scared her and she tried to distract herself from them. Soon after that, Peter sniffles loudly and pulled his head up from the grasp.

"Thank you, Miss Vaughn," Peter's voice was close to cracking. "You're good to talk to."

(Y/N) nodded. "Don't worry, kid."

She stood up from the bunk. "I must go, I can't stay long. But if you need anything, anything at all, feel free to call for me through Happy's phone."

He considered the idea. "Thank you."

incorrect quote cus i missed doing them.

- see you soon, bex <3