INVISIBLE | P. PARKER

FORTY FIVE

FORTY FIVE;
THE FLYING WEIRDO

A WEEK AFTER CASSIE LEFT TO NEW JERSEY, it seemed like crime and school had teamed up to make Peter's life a living hell. Teachers had started to notice the growing bags under his eyes and the poorly done homework he would hand in every time he could. Even Aunt May knew something was happening with the boy, but every time she asked her nephew about it he would only shrug it off and say it was only stress.

That afternoon, as Peter tried to keep his problems out of his head, Tony watched carefully as he trained with Pietro's help. The man rested his body on the frame, his eyes carefully scanned the boy's moves. He seemed broken and extremely sad, and he understood, because that's how he felt too.

"This is not working." Peter exhaled, resting his sweaty forehead against the punching bag. He closed his eyes and as he did so, he focused on the memory of Cassie. Her laugh, her smile, her–

"You alright there, kiddo?" Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "You've been very quiet."

"I'm tired, that's all." The boy replied quickly, not moving from his position. "And a bit angry."

"Angry?"

"Yes, angry." Peter repeated, opening his eyes to look at Tony. "Are you familiar with the feeling?" He snapped, referring to the incident from the other day.

"Don't tell me that you're still bitter because of what happened with the flying weirdo." The man rolled his eyes. "He would have killed you, son. I'm doing you a favor here."

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled, taking off his gloves.

"There's something else, isn't it?" The man asked, shifting his position to have a better look of the teenager. "It's about Cassie."

Peter chose to stay silent as he searched for his bottle of water, but he felt Mr. Stark's eyes on him as he walked. The boy exhaled deeply and finally turned his gaze to meet the man's eyes.

"I miss her." He finally said.

Tony's face softened. "I know you do, kid. We all do."

"It's driving me insane that I can't even call her. It feels like she died."

"But she didn't." Tony replied almost instantly. "She's not dead, she's only in a group home in New Jersey."

"Yeah, well, what's the difference?" If it wasn't because of Pietro's snort, the pair almost didn't notice he was still there.

"Don't mind me, just trying to use training as a way to try and forget my sister got taken away from me and my brother is in coma or something." His thick accent echoed in the training room. "You continue your little talk."

"Sorry." Peter sighed.

"It's fine." Pietro sighed as well. "I think Tony's right, though. You shouldn't be looking for unwanted problems, Peter."

"But–" The boy began.

"See? Even Quickie agrees with me. That man is really dangerous, you need to leave those kind of problems to the adults." Mr. Stark interfered.

"I'm seventeen. I'm not a kid anymore."

"But not an adult either." Pietro said, crossing his arms. "Trust Tony, everything is going to turn out fine."

+++

"What if somebody had died?" Tony exclaimed angrily as he walked off his suit. Peter pressed his lips together.

"I–" He swallowed with nervousness. "I was just trying to be like you."

"I want you to be better." The man said calmly, although it seemed like in the inside he was everything but calm. "I expected more from you, son. And what's happening with Cassie is not an excuse to throw yourself into problems like this!"

"But–" Peter tried to talk, but Mr. Stark was too angry.

"I'm gonna need the suit back." He said, resting his hands on the sides of his hips.

"But I'm nothing without the suit." The boy replied almost instantly.

"If you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it."

Peter stayed silent as the man's words echoed inside his head, his brown eyes scanned Mr. Stark's face in search of some sort of clue that he was joking, but he didn't find any.

"O-Okay." He nodded.

"Send it to me when you get home." Tony said and with that, he was out of Peter's sight.

The boy exhaled deeply, he threw his arms up and pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes to try and stop the tears from leaving his brown eyes. He felt how his walls slowly started fall down and he found himself craving someone to hold him.  Peter raised his head and stared at the view before him.

He would probably get in so much trouble but he needed Cassie.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark." He mumbled.

+++

It had been another awful day to add to the list of awful days, according to Cassie. The girls from the group home were, again, making her stay at the house feel like she was in jail. Another fight was the reason why she had to take care of the house's chores for a couple of weeks, from washing the dishes to taking out the trash. What pissed her off the most was that Stella didn't even move a finger to help her, she only watched as the girls bullied her from day to night.

"Stupid girls. Stupid group home and stupid Stella." The girl muttered as she walked out of the house with two big bags of trash in her hand. "I can't wait to get out of here." She said as she angrily threw the bags inside the trash can.

A sound startled her, and made her freeze in the spot. She turned her head back as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness of the night. The street was deserted and not a soul could be seen at those hours.

"Hello?" She stupidly asked.

When she head steps coming closer to her, she turned herself invisible and tried to calm herself down with the breathing exercises Wanda taught her. Her brown eyes scanned the area as she backed away a few steps from the front yard.

"Hello?" She repeated.

A gasp got stuck in her throat after a figure dressed in red landed on the middle of the street from only God knows where. She frowned as she walked a few steps closer to the front yard's door. She gasped loudly when she recognized the figure as Peter, and the silent was broken by the sobs coming out of his lips.

"Peter." Cassie whispered as she turned herself visible and watched as the boy jumped up the front yard to be with her. "Oh my god, what are you doing here?" She asked as she frantically looked back and forth from the boy to the house.

Peter didn't say anything as he stared down at the floor and the tears cascaded down his cheeks. The girl exhaled deeply as she placed the palm of her hand in the side of his face, making him look up to find her gaze. The boy frowned as he scanned her face in silence, and cupped her face in his hands as well.

"I'm sorry." He cried out as Cassie hugged him tight. "I'm so sorry."

"Sh." The girl whispered in his ear. "There's nothing to be sorry about."

"I wanted to save everyone. I wanted to make a difference." Peter explained softly, and Cassie listened in silence. "I wanted to be just like him, to make him feel proud of me. But I ended up screwing it up, like always."

"I don't know what you're talking about but I'm sure you didn't screw up anything." The brunette said, still in the boy's arms. "You were probably doing the right thing, and it's okay to fail at it. You shouldn't be pressuring yourself to save everyone."

"But–" Peter cleaned his tears quickly.

"You're one of the best superheroes New York will ever have, believe me. Don't lose your hope because of a small failure." She half-smiled and so did Peter.

"God, I love you so much." He exhaled deeply as he pressed his forehead against hers. "I don't know how I'm managing to live without you."

"You're doing a great job, tough guy." Cassie smiled. "And I love you too, by the way."