the strongest avenger

four

Talia smiles at Peter Parker as they leave the school grounds and start walking to the boy's apartment.

"Did you have a specific experiment in mind?" Talia asks.

Peter shrugs. "I have no idea, I haven't thought that far yet."

"My uh, my dad works at the Tower—"

"Your dad works at Avengers Tower?" Peter's face lights up and Tal blushes.

"He's the, uh, lead researcher so he has access to all the labs. There's like multiple floors of just labs, so maybe we could do our experiment there."

"That would be so cool." Tal almost laughs at the awe on Peter's face.

The duo jump as the girl's phone starts ringing. She takes it out: Iron Dad

She quickly turns her phone away from Peter and answers.

"Yes?"

"Where are you going and why isn't Nat picking you up? Your tracker says you left the school."

"My what?!" Talia resists the urge to crush her phone between her fingers. She catches Peter looking at her and he snaps his head away from her and blushes rapidly.

"Nat didn't tell you that I had a project?"

"She might have mentioned it but it sounded like an individual assignment."

"It's a partner project, so we have to work outside of school. I'm going over to his place now so we can get it done."

"You're going over a guys place?"

"I'm going to hang up now—"

"STEVE! STEVE! SHE'S GOING OVER A BOYS HOUSE!"

"Dad—"

There's a crackle on the phone as Tony gives it to Steve.

"So, a boy?" Steve says.

"I'm hanging up."

"No, no...just be careful ya know. If you guys are going to...fondue."

"Steve! No fondue, not at all."

And with that, Talia hangs up and smiles apologetically at Peter, who himself is blushing alongside her.

Little does Tal know, but Peter heard what was being said through the phone.

"Fondue?" He asks, gaze locked in front of them.

"Oh uh—" Talia blushes. "There's a good fondue place around here. Like...cheese fondue. Ya know?"

"Y-yeah..."

They lapse into an awkward silence before Talia tries to break it.

"Tell me about yourself Parker."

"It's uh, Peter."

"I know." She grins wide.

"Well what do you wanna know?"

"I don't know."

Peter chuckles and turns to look at her. "You're not very good at this whole small talk thing."

"I've never had a friend my age before. Favorite color, go."

"Red."

"Typical."

"Well what's yours?" He raises his eyebrows in a challenge.

"Grey."

Peter jerks back as if he was offended. "Who likes grey?"

"I do," She sticks out her chest a little bit.

"What about...favorite movie?" He asks.

Talia has to think for this one. She's seen countless movies but just can't find one. "Maybe...Home Alone? I don't really watch movies."

"How do you not watch movies? Do you have a TV in your house?"

"Obviously...what's your favorite movie then if you're the expert?"

"Star Wars."

"Okay, I've heard of it, but never seen it."

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN STAR WARS?" Peter abruptly stops on the sidewalk and turns towards her.

Talia suddenly becomes conscious of herself, the wind blowing her long brown hair, the way the cold nips her skin.

"I haven't."

Peter shakes his head before gesturing for her to keep following him. Tal rolls her shoulders, coming back to herself and catches up with him.

They near an apartment building and as the boy directs them closer it becomes obvious that it's his building.

"Maybe um, we could watch them together? If you wanted." She blurts out as he holds the door open for her.

Peter freezes and looks down at her, he's a couple inches taller, his cheeks are tinted red from the cold and maybe from something else and his hair flops over his forehead.

Tal pauses, and inwardly curses herself. Of course he wouldn't want to watch the movies with her. "Or not, I mean if you don't want
to—"

"No, no! Y-yeah we should watch them together. That would, uh, that would be fun." The girl lets out a relieved breath as she enters the building. She almost giggles at the way his voice rises.

Tal looks around, there's a large staircase to her right and a hallway leading to more apartments. Stains litter the wall and the hallway smells...interesting.

She follows Peter up the stairs until they reach his floor, and waits patiently as he unlocks his apartment. Talia doesn't know what she expected, but it definitely wasn't this nice place.

Inside there's a nice living area and separate dining area leading into a kitchen. It smells nice, much nicer than in the hallways and there's decor, making it feel home-like.

She follows Peter towards the back of the apartment. Theres three doors, one's opened to reveal a bathroom and the other two, she assumes, are bedrooms. Peter opens the one closest to them and walks in.

Tal follows after him and watches him frantically throw clothes into his closet. It's a small room, a cot in the corner, a small desk filled with trinkets and outdated technology. There's a dresser filled with more little objects, a window on the back wall, and a carpet covering the floor. Talia smiles; it's cozy.

Peter turns to Talia and rubs the back of his neck. "I uh—I know it's not much...but—"

"It's awesome." She walks over to the older technology. "Where'd you find this stuff?" She then inspects the older model of a computer and turns back to Peter, who looks very anxious. "Did you build that?"

"Y-yeah um...I get the stuff from the uh...the trash." He winces as he says the last part.

Talia looks back at the handmade computer and then back at her friend—That's what he is, a friend. Talia has a friend.

She grins at the thought. "Dude...that's awesome."

Peter jerks his head up, from where he was looking at the ground. "W-what?"

"You built that computer?" Peter nods. "That's fucking sick."

The boy's eyes widen at her language but then a grin spreads across his face. "Really?"

"Yeah." She slides her backpack off her shoulder and sits down on the ground, leaning back against his bed. "Now are we doing this project or what?"