Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

07 | Reverse Psychology

   "Hiya, Miss Valor!" a cheery voice chirped from behind the hero.

   Rather than jumping or even shrieking out of surprise, Riley somersaulted backward and leaped onto her feet. She raised her hands, entering a fighting stance out of pure instinct, before sighing. It was just Spider-Man. "What do you want, Bug-Boy?" she demanded.

   Peter wondered why Valor was always a little snippy when it came to him. He remembered when they first met in Berlin, she was the same way. But after a little fight with Ant-Man (who, news flash, can actually turn into a literal giant) at the Berlin airport, Peter noticed how worried she became after he took a nasty hit. That was how Peter knew she could be a super cool, nice person.

   Besides, Valor was an original Avenger, one of his childhood heroes! He'd have to be an idiot to let the opportunity to be friends with her pass him by. Peter didn't care what it took. After seeing her show true kindness, he knew he'd have his chance to be her friend. He just had to be patient and wait for a breakthrough.

   So, he ignored her somewhat annoyed tone and shrugged. "Oh, well, I saw you up here, and I—Whoa! What happened to you!?" he exclaimed, his gaze stuck on her blood-stained shoe.

   Valor remained calm as she dismissed, "I got stabbed in the foot."

   Alarms went off in his head as he shouted, "What!? You got... You got stabbed in the... in the foot!? Are you okay?"

   She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Yeah, have you never stepped on glass before? No—wait, have you never been stabbed before?" she queried, somewhat astonished. She thought that was normal for most people... at least, people who were in the same industry as her, like Spider-Man.

   The arachnid hero merely stared at her. Riley couldn't depict his emotions because of his mask, but she could sense he was concerned. That wasn't too impossible to imagine. After all, who wouldn't be concerned after finding someone bleeding, especially your friend?

   ...Not that Valor and Spider-Man were friends...

   Sure, they ran into each other often during patrols, and yeah, Riley and Peter were technically friends now, but... That's not the point!

   "Huh? No!" he denied. "Hang on, how many times have you been stabbed!?"

   Scoffing, Valor fired back with, "How the hell am I supposed to know? That's like asking someone how many times they've breathed today!" She released an exasperated sigh, mumbling to herself, "Geez, where does Tony find these people...?"

   "Hey, I heard that!" yelled Spider-Man. It was then when a lightbulb seemed to go off in his head. "Wait... Tony? As in Mr. Stark? Did he send you here? Are you doing business with him? Are you—Hey, where are you going?"

   Valor, who had been in the middle of walking away from Spider-Man, turned back around. "I have plans, Bug-Boy."

   Nodding slowly, he queried, "Ohh... Can I come with you?" He began to run after her.

   "No."

   "Is it something Avengers-related?"

   "Why do you need to know?"

   "Because I'm an Avenger!"

   Valor snorted. "If you were an Avenger, then wouldn't you know if it's something Avengers-related?" she challenged.

   Spider-Man placed a finger up to his chin, thinking about it. "Well, what if you're asking me that because you're secretly not an Avenger and you want to know if there's something Avengers-related happening?" Spider-Man fired back. "You know, like reverse psychology!"

   Valor folded her arms over her chest, having to look up at the webbed hero, who was much taller than her. "Alright," she said. "Then, is there?"

   "What...?"

   "Is there something Avengers-related?"

   "Well... I don't know..."

   "Ha!" Valor cheered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Bug-Boy, but I have important business to attend to."

   Valor began to walk away, preparing to leap off of the deli shop rooftop when she heard Spider-Man's squeaky voice. "Hang on, do you have the time?" he called.

   She shrugged. "I dunno. I think it's 11 o'clock? Maybe noon?"

   Gasping audibly, Spider-Man yelled, "Shit! I have plans! Gotta go, Miss Valor! See you later!"

   Then, Spider-Man leaped off of the building and swung off into a direction that was unknown to the Avenger. Riley stared at him as he swung from building to building.

   Turning herself invisible, Riley shook her head. "That kid better not be late for our study session," she mumbled to herself before jumping off of the building.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

wow i love riley and peter's dynamic already. like they have such a fun good cop bad cop thing going on already, and i LOVE it <3

what's interesting to me is that valor is all "i'm edgy! i killed my parents! i could break your legs if i wanted to!" (especially to spidey!). but when riley o'dair's undercover as a normal teen talking to peter parker, she's so soft and sweet. probably because she's on a mission but who knows yk like maybe that'll end up being really important character development cough cough who knows!

let me know what you guys are thinking so far! do we love it, do we hate it, do we have constructive criticism? let me knowww! (and as always, thank you so much for reading! it means a lot to me <3<3)