Removing My Mask ; Peter Parker

5.8

PETERS POV

"You want a beer?" Beck asked as both of us sat down in the busy bar.

I shook my head, "I'm not old enough to drink."

"Come on, you blipped! Technically you're old enough."

I shifted uneasily in my sit. Beck sighed, ordering a beer for himself and a small juice for me. I thanked him, our drinks coming out quickly.

"What's on your mind, kid?" Beck asked, taking a swig of his beer.

I let out a heavy sigh, picking at my fingers, "Mr. Stark gave me the chance to be more. He wanted me to be more. Better than him, even."

"What do you want, Peter?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, "What do you mean?"

"What do you want?"

"I don't... know." I let out a small laugh.

Beck rolled his eyes, "Come on, I know you're thinking about it. What do you, Peter Parker, want right-"

"-I want to go on my trip." I cut him off, taking a sip of my juice, "I want to feel normal again. Like back before I got these powers and I want to spend time with my girlfriend and friends."

"But you're not going to do that, are you?"

I shook my head.

"Why not?!" Beck asked with a laugh, taking another swig of beer.

"Because I have too much of a responsibility." I told him pulling out the EDITH glasses and setting them on the bar counter.

"What are those? Are those-"

"Tony gave them to me." I said softly.

Beck gave me a look of sympathy, "Try them on. Let's see how they look on you."

"Okay." I nodded putting the glasses on.

"can I be completely honest with you?" He asked.

"Please!"

"They look really stupid. But.. maybe they have a contact version of them or something." The hero shrugged.

I took the glasses off just as quickly as I put them on, feeling insecure about it.

"You try them on then!" I handed him the glasses.

"No, I can't!" He laughed.

"I insist." I pressed.

Quentin sighed, nodding his head and taking the glasses from me. Slowly he put them on, turning to look at me and my breath hitched.

"You look just like him." I mumbled softly to myself. Beck must have heard me because he took the glasses off.

Then it dawned on me, for the next Tony Stark I trust you.

Maybe this is what Stark meant all along. Maybe he gave me the glasses to pick the next leader for the avengers, a new guy who was more responsible and had more hero years under his belt.

"For the next Tony Stark I trust you." I said aloud.

"What?" Beck asked.

"Tony left me a note with those glasses. For the next Tony Stark I trust you."

"I'm still not following." Beck shook his head.

"Tony gave me those glasses so I could give them to the next Tony Stark. And I think I'm looking at him."

Quentin has a shocked expression on his fave, "Woah, woah! Kid, Stark gave you the glasses."

"Stark new every mistake I made. So he knew that I wasn't ready for something like this. He just trusted me to pick the guy who was. It makes so much more sense now. Stark wouldn't give Fury the glasses because then Fury would just give himself EDITH."

"Right." Beck agreed with a nod.

"So the world needs the next iron man and it's not going to be me. It needs to be an adult with experience and not some kid from Queens. It has to be someone who's good, like you."

Beck cracked a small smile, taking a swig of his beer to finish it off, "Peter, I appreciate the thought but no."

I clenched my jaw, grabbing EDITH off the bar counter and putting the glasses back on.

"EDITH?"

"Hello, Peter."

"Hi, um, I'd like to transfer your control over to Quentin Beck."

"Peter, what are you doing?" Beck asked.

"Doing the right thing." I smiled.

"Any transfer will require confirmation."

"Stark gave you the glasses!" Beck said incredulously.

"Stark gave me a choice, okay?! This is my choice. Look, you're a solider. You stopped the elementals, you saved my life and you saved the world! He'd want you to have them."

"Waiting for confirmation."

"Confirm." I said taking off the glasses. "Welcome to the Avengers."

Quentin hesitantly took the glasses out of my hand, putting them on once more.

"They look good on you." I smiled, feeling proud.

"Thank you." Quentin grinned. Both of us shook hands, "It's an honor."

"Yeah." I breathed out, getting up from the bar stool.

"Where ya going?" He asked.

"I'm going to go find y/n."

"Have fun, kid."

I nodded, bidding my goodbyes and walking out of the bar, a sense of relief washing over me.

THIRD PERSON POV

Once Peter left the bar, several things began to disappear. Both object and people are revealed to be just mere holograms. Quentin, who was sitting in the middle of the illusion, began to smile.

"See? Wasn't so hard, was it?" Quentin grinned, taking off the EDITH glasses to inspect them.

The people that hadn't vanished began cheering.

"Somebody get this stupid costume off me!" Quentin laughed, clearly overjoyed by his victory.

Quentin handed the EDITH glasses to once of the people on his team for safe keeping, smirking as he stood and stared at everyone.

"Okay, we got EDITH. Connect it to our system."

"Speech, speech, speech!" Mysterios team cheered.

Quentin laughed, bouncing up and down in the balls of his feet, "Now, this is a big win, but we still got a lot of work to do."

"Toast, toast, toast!"

"Okay, toasts! Give me that, Doug!" Beck grabbed the bottle of champagne, "To the man who brought us all together, our former boss, Tony Stark."

Beck lifted the bottle into the air, toasting.

"Tony Stark is gone. There is a window of opportunity and someone will step up. But these days, you can be the smartest guy in the room, the most qualified, and no one cares. Unless you're flying around with a cape, or shooting lasers from your hands, no one will even listen. Well, I've got a cape. And lasers. With our technology, and with EDITH, Mysterio will be the greatest hero on Earth. And everyone will listen. Not to a boozey man-child."

"No!"

"Not to a hormonal teenage."

"No!"

"To me! And to my very wealthy crew. To us." Beck grinned.

"To us!"

Everyone tossed their head back and took a drink of their alcohol, celebrating this moment of success that paved the way for what was to come.