NUMB || MARVEL

13

"You're idea is to bring in a kid?" Aileen asks as Tony and she are sitting in his car. He nods and looks at the building where the kid is supposed to live. "Does he know that you know?"

"Not yet." He says and gets out. He hesitates as he sees that Aileen is not following him. "It would look creepier if I went in there alone."

"You're the rich guy, make something up." She replies before closing the door. Tony sighs and opens the door once more before getting in and sitting next to her.

"Please?" Aileen crosses her arms and shakes her head stubbornly. "What exactly is the problem?"

"He's just a kid!"

"You were just a kid."

"She's just a kid!" Aileen hears someone yell before a lot of noises fly towards her. She quickly covers her ears and closes her eyes before she starts humming.

Aileen frowns as she looks at him. "You were. They used you."

"And now you want to use him." She tells him, though a million questions raise in her head.

"He won't get hurt. I promise." She frowns. "I didn't let you get hurt." He mutters and her face softens. "I truly tried to get you out of this." He waves his hands around. "All of this. But you were stubborn and here we are." She narrows her eyes. Did he know more about the accident than he let on? "We need him Lena." Something flashes before her eyes as he says the nickname and she nods before following him out of the car and towards the apartment.

"You can't do that Tony!" Aileen yells as she throws a glass at his head, missing him because he ducked out of the way. "You can't just say yes on my behalf!"

"Lena!" He walks over with his hands towards her, showing that he meant no harm. "They want to offer you a job, a great one. One I'll be at too!" Her eyes narrow. "It'll be great!"

"It would be good for you." She hears from behind her and she sees Pepper smiling at her softly before the woman grabs her bag and walks away with Phil Coulson who left behind data.

"Let's do it Lena." Tony says with a smile. "Let's get into some action again together. Like old times." She sighs and yells loudly, frustration clear in her voice. "That's a yes then?" He smiles at her and if she could, she would wipe that smirk away.

"I guess so." She turns to his desk. "What's the job?"

Tony had started an explanation at what they were doing there, after May had opened the door and had gasped at the sight of the man. They were waiting until Peter would return from school and May had given them walnut loaf, clearly not knowing what to do in the presence of greatness. That's what she asked Aileen at least, if it was weird working with such a great man. It wasn't, he was just Tony to her.

"Hey, May." A smile grows on May's lips as she shushes them, acting as if nothing was different.

"Mmm. Hey. How was school today?"

"It was okay. This crazy car parked outside." He walks around the corner and stops as he sees Tony and Aileen. Of course he knew Tony, but Aileen had no clue that the young boy also knew who she was.

"Oh, Mr Parker." Tony turns in his seat and looks at the young man.

"Um... What are you doing... Hey! Uh, I'm Peter." He stammers.

"Tony." Aileen decides that she should also tell her name. Keep up the act.

"What are you doing here?" Peter asks dumbfounded.

"It's about time we met. You've been getting my emails, right?" Tony gives him a look that says that he has to go along with the story. Thank god, the boy understood.

"Yeah. Yeah. Right?" He narrows his eyes. "Regarding the..."

"You didn't even tell me about the grant." May interjects.

"About the grant." Tony says with another look.

"The September Foundation." Aileen adds.

"Right. Yeah." Peter awkwardly crosses his arsm.

"Remember when you applied?" Aileen asks and he narrows his eyes.

"Yeah."

"I approved, so now we're in business." Tony smiles at him and May walks up to Peter.

"But you didn't tell me anything. What's up with that? You keeping secrets from me now?"

"I just know how much you love surprises so I thought I would let you know..." Peter tries to talk his way out of it before looking at Aileen and Tony. "Anyway, what did I apply for?"

"That's what we're here to hash out."

"Hash it out, okay." He repeats.

"It's so hard for me to believe that she's someone's aunt."

"Yeah, well, we come in all shapes and sizes, you know?" May replies to Tony just as Aileen elbows his side. That was kind of inappropriate.

"This walnut date loaf is exceptional."

"Let me just stop you there. Yeah. Is this grant got money involved or whatever? No?"

"Yeah, it's pretty well funded." Aileen says and May smiles.

"Yeah? Wow. Look who you're talking to." May sighs as she looks at Peter and gestures towards Tony.

"Can I have five minutes with him?"

"Sure." May nods at the two men and they leave the room.

Aileen looks around the room awkwardly as Tony and Peter leave.

"You want more walnut loaf?" May asks with a beautiful smile and Aileen doesn't have the heart to tell her no. It wasn't about the fact that it wasn't good - it was - but she was so full. "So you're the head of the September Foundation?" Aileen's eyebrows raise in a questioning way as she takes a bite. "Because you're here with Tony." Aileen quickly nods.

"Not the head per say, but I do go over who gets accepted or not."

"Yeah. And you chose my Peter." May sighs blissfully as she leans back in the chair. "So how does the process go?" She looks over to Aileen. Aileen didn't know this about herself, but she was a really quick thinker. Maybe that's why Tony wanted her to come along.

"Of course it starts with the thousand of applications," Aileen begins and motions her hand as if there was a big pile underneath. "I'll check the grades and the motivation letters."

"Of all of them?" May's eyes widen and Aileen nods.

"I'm a quick reader." Aileen explains and May nods. "Some of them don't belong because they either have their good grades in other subjects or have a wrong motivation. Sometimes I'll email them if they can elaborate and it would turn out that maybe one of them just isn't that good with letters so that one goes back on the maybe pile.." Aileen goes on and she sees that May is completely mesmerised by the story.

"We have it all hashed out." Tony announces from behind her and Aileen turns, giving him a quick glare. He knew that she didn't want to be left alone, she told him on the stairs. "But it does mean that Peter will have to come with us for a few days. That okay?" He looks at May who vigorously nods. "Pack your bag." He shouts back at Peter and Tony and Aileen wait outside until he joins them. Giving him time to say goodbye.

"So what exactly is the deal?" Peter asks once they're in the car and Aileen looks over to Tony, he could explain better.