Radio - Lana Del Rey
No one even knows how hard life was
I don't even think about it now because
I finally found you, sing it to me
Yeah my life is sweet like cinnamon
Like a fuckin' dream I'm li in' in
Baby love me 'cause I'm playing on the radio
It had been a small break-in, some amateurs who thought they could get away with robbing a small convenience store on the outskirts of town, somewhere that Spiderman or Aura or any of the other Avengers never found themselves.
A simple enough crime, in and out, get the money, no casualties. They probably would have gotten away with it, too, if Amara hadn't been over at this side of Queens, visiting her friend and Spiderman hadn't been trailing them the whole way there. This was exactly what's wrong with the justice system these days. The popular and touristy areas get the most attention, safety-wise, while the less... decorative boroughs have to suffer the brunt of the spikes in crime.
Amara had promised to change that when she was a young girl taking shelter on these very streets, trying her best to figure out how to use her powers for good (before she became a billionaire heiress, of course), but today had proven that she had failed. It didn't matter that it was a small crime, that probably didn't need superhero attention and could have been dealt with by the local police. If Amara had learned anything in her life, it was that small ants always lead back to a huge nest.
Amara wasn't particularly sure why, exactly, they had been followed by Peter, but she did know that if he hadn't been there, MJ would have been waiting a lot longer for her friend to return. Amara was definitely grateful to Peter for that.
By the time she had made it back to the bakery, MJ had ordered food for them both and was looking quite annoyed, most likely at her supposed friend who just got up and left her with no explanation on their sleepover.
Amara approached her, "Hey..."
MJ looked up at her, "You're back. For a second there I thought you might have just left."
"MJ, I would never-"
But MJ cut her off. "You would never, what? Abandon your friend for no reason? And then come back after..." She checked her watch, "...42 minutes without any form of an apology and still no explanation? Yeah, you're right, you'd never!"
She paused and for a moment it seemed like she was done and Amara could jump in with one of her pre-rehearsed excuses. But then MJ spoke again, "You know, if you didn't want to answer my questions or talk about whatever we were talking about, you could have just told me or changed the subject! You know, like a normal person? You didn't have to leave me here by myself during our sleepover! With no explanation other than you can 'feel something!' Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?! We've known each other for a while now and you call me your best friend, and yet I don't know anything about you. I don't think anyone does."
Amara winced. Before this, Amara had been more than ready to use another one of her excuses. To do anything to keep her identity intact. But now, Amara realised that if she kept up these lies, she could be losing her friend, and she could not let that happen.
"I'm sorry, MJ. I'm a shitty friend, and I have no excuse. I shouldn't have left you like that. It's just that, this thing... it's more complicated. I can't just tell you, it would..." Amara trailed off.
"It would what?! Do you not trust me, or something?-"
"What?! No! That's not-"
"I mean what could be so terrible that you feel like you can't tell me?! Like what is it? You think I'm gonna run off and tell somebody, is that it?"
"No! MJ I swear to you, that is not it at all!"
"Then what is it?" Amara hesitated, "what is it, Amara?!"
Amara had no idea what to say, so she silently and quickly made a pros and cons list in her head, she did this every time she found herself in a situation where she had to make a life-changing choice.
Okay, cons first - I would be revealing my secret identity to someone other than my family, I would have to deal with my dad when he finds out and I'd be putting MJ in the direct line of fire if she knows who I am. And what if we're ever not best friends, would she tell people? But then again, it would be nice to have someone else know about this, and dad doesn't technically need to know right away. And MJ would be in danger even if she didn't know who I was, just by knowing me, at least this way she knows what to expect and she can back out if wants to. Plus, telling her would mean that there would be no more secrets between us, and therefore less of a chance that we'd fall out. And I trust MJ to keep this a secret even if we're not friends anymore... And it would be nice to have someone cover for me at school too when-
"Amara!" MJ said.
"What?"
"Were you gonna say something, or just leave me in the dark as usual?"
Amara halted, thinking this through one last time before it was too late to turn back.
"Amara Rogers, I swear to god, if you're not gonna-"
"That's not my name," Amara said, so quietly that it was just above a whisper, but MJ heard it.
"What?" MJ looked fed up by this point, her so-called friend was gonna let her down once again.
"That's not my name," Amara said once again, louder this time.
"What do you mean that's not your name?! Are you insane?!" MJ exclaimed, obviously confused about what her friend was saying to her.
"My name isn't Amara Rogers."
"Then what is it? Some kind of embarrassing name that you just had to change because you couldn't live with it? Mildred? Muriel? Marlene? A name beginning with something other than 'M'?"
Amara laughed, "No!"
"Then what? You've just been lying to everyone for months?! Even Ned and Peter and- and me?" MJ's voice trailed off and Amara could see the hurt clearly on her face. She never meant to hurt her.
"My name isn't Amara Rogers... it's Amara...Stark..." Amara said the last bit so quietly that MJ couldn't understand it even with how quiet the bakery was.
"What was that?"
She whispered, louder this time, but only enough for MJ to hear, "Amara... Stark."
Amara saw MJ's eyes widen in realisation, "As-as in, T-Tony Stark? So you're a-"
"Yeah! I'm a Stark! Holy shit, you have no idea how good it feels to finally tell someone!"
"Wait, no! That- that doesn't make sense! Tony Stark doesn't have a daughter, he's never had a daughter! How can you possibly be his daughter?! You don't even look like him!"
"I'm adopted," Amara shrugged.
"Why would Tony Stark, billionaire and playboy, adopt a kid?!" MJ was very clearly in denial and Amara had no idea how to prove the truth to her.
"You know the musical Annie? It's kind of like that."
"What?! Annie? What the hell are you talking about?! Amara... are you on drugs? Is that what's really going on here?"
"What! No, I am not on drugs!"
"Then... this has to be a prank! Okay... okay let's say Tony Stark did have a kid, even with how impossible that is, how could he have possibly managed to keep it a secret for this long!"
"He was careful, and thorough and handled risks and breaches in security really well. I mean he's one of the smartest people on earth, what do you expect?"
"So let me get this straight... you're Amara Stark, not Rogers, Tony Stark's adopted daughter. And you've been keeping this a secret for months from... everybody, and no one's figured it out?"
"I live with superheroes and literal super spies, I've been trained to keep things like this a secret ever since I was little."
"How do I know you're not lying to me right now?"
"What benefit would I get from lying about this to you? But, fine! If you don't trust me, I'll prove it." Amara reached for her bag and pulled out her phone. She scrolled through her photos until she found some of Tony and herself. "Here. These are some photos of me and my dad."
Amara watched as MJ studied the images, "These could easily be photoshopped! or even just photos you took with him if you've met him!"
"MJ! I swear to you! I am not lying to you! I don't know what else I can do to make you believe me!" Amara breathed out in frustration. Then her eyes lit up as she reached into her bag, once again, and took out her FRIDAY glasses, "here."
MJ took the glasses, "The fuck am I supposed to do with these?!"
"Put them on!" Amara said. While MJ placed the glasses on her face, Amara leaned over to activate FRIDAY. She touched the side of the glasses and said, "Hey FRIDAY!"
"There seems to be unauthorised usage on the system."
"That's me FRIDAY, it's just MJ. Override code, 4c50 for an authorised visitor."
"Override code accepted, Welcome back Miss Stark, Miss Jones, a pleasure to finally meet you," Amara watched the visible shock and utter disbelief plastered onto MJ's face and smiled.
"Hey FRIDAY? What time do I have to be home for dinner?"
"It seems Mr Stark hasn't arranged for any dinner plans today as you are scheduled to be out on a sleepover with Michelle Jones. Your father and Miss Potts are planning for a 'nice quiet evening in', as it says on the calendar. Should I notify him that you will be joining them after all?"
"Wh-what?" MJ managed to get out.
"No thank you, FRIDAY, I don't think that's necessary."
Amara watched the light disappear from the lenses of the glasses as she took them back off of MJ's face and placed them back into their protective case. Meanwhile, MJ was still struggling to put words together due to the shock of finding out that her best friend was a billionaire heiress.
"So... you weren't lying. And now, I'm a jerk who didn't believe my best friend when she trusted me enough to even tell me this."
"No! You're not a jerk! If I was in your position, I would probably, still be in denial."
"So, we're still... good?"
"Of course, we're still good! We're great!" The pair hugged and finished up their food as they headed toward a bookshop.
"You know, when you told me that you were going to explain everything, I kind of had another theory."
"Well... I haven't told you everything, yet. There's still one more thing and then, there'll be no more secrets between us, officially...I...-"
"Am Aura," MJ said, confidently.
"Wh-what?"
----------
Spiderman sat perched atop a building overlooking the 'Peter Pan Donut and Pastry Shop' as he watched two of his best friends walk out and enter the bookshop opposite.
Peter was still having a hard time believing that Amara has asked him to help her study, not that it meant anything, she probably just needed some help, which is understandable, Calculus is pretty hard. But still... out of everyone she could have asked, she chose him! And that made Peter more excited than anything.
Spiderman was at work. Patrolling the city wasn't always an easy job. One would think that fighting off crime would be the hardest part, but no! The hardest part was having to sit around waiting for crime to take to the streets; sometimes it would be 5 minutes, but most of the time it had to be at least a few hours. That's why Peter found himself over on the other side of the city, today. He wanted to see what Amara was up to. He knew, of course, that she was spending the night at MJ's, but he still wanted to try and talk to her again, as Spiderman, but once he got there, he realised how creepy that was, and how creepy he would sound - Hey Amara, I saw you in Queens, after school so I followed you here, do you want to go up to another random roof and talk?
So now Spiderman was stuck on the roof, looking like a fool and a creep, until, his spider-sense went off, and he almost didn't notice it because, at the same time, he saw Amara stand up from her seat and walk out the door.
Did she... did she feel that, too? No that's not possible! She can't have. It's just a coincidence. And you're being way too paranoid, Peter! She's your friend, if something was up, you would've noticed, or she would have told you... but then, you haven't told her that you're Spiderman, either. Maybe I should just tell her, then I could finally have someone to talk to about it.
By the time Spiderman arrived at the scene, Aura was already in the middle of fighting off 5 guys, only two of them were armed and the other three were attempting to fight with whatever they had.
Aura looked like she could handle this one alone, but Peter felt like he should probably help so he doesn't feel as stupid following Amara all the way over here.
He dropped down onto the street, webbing up one of the guys to the wall.
"Sorry, I'm late, got caught up on the subway," he said while shooting a web at one of the robber's feet and pulling them over his head, causing them to land on the floor behind him. "How did you get here so fast?"
"I was trailing you." Spiderman internally cursed his foolishness, how had he not noticed her following him? Probably because he was too focused on Amara. It's like his brain moves at half speed when he's around her. "You're forgiven if you can take down more of these guys than I can," she challenged, obviously waving off the whole why he was here instead of where he's supposed to be. Instead, Peter thought that she actually sounded, kind of... playful?
"You're on!"
(A/N: Another chapter done!!! And now MJ knows... I'm so excited about how this story is progressing and trust me, I have big plans... i really liked this way of writing, with the mixed up timelines and stuff, it was really fun and I might do more of these in the future!! I kind of wanted to create some more fluffy chapters with the avengers as well, just because they're cute and really fun to write, but if you guys want me to focus more on advancing the plot, then please let me know in the comments. I really want to cater this book to how you guys want it!!! Thank you so much for reading!!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!!)