AN: Quick question...if Lilly were to have a superhero name...what would it be?
"Ready?" My voice shook with slight fear and anticipation. I rubbed my hands together out of habit. Willingly doing something I don't want to do really took guts. Or maybe I had been spending too much time around Stark and Peter and completely lost my mind. My black leather jacket flapped in the wind and messed up my navy blue shirt. I picked at the sides of my black jeans in a jittery motion. This is crazy... My thoughts had grown more and more quiet lately. I had been more reckless than usual, so maybe it was my common sense dying out. Like right now, as little reckless as it was.
Peter's laugh forced itself passed his mask. His blue, red, and black suit fit tightly on his body, which was funny to think that my cousin wore spandex. Gross for me. Great for all the ladies out there who wanted a piece of him. He stretched in his spot and limbered up. "I'm always ready to kick your ass at something new."
"You're delusional. If anything, this will be your first victory," I remarked.
He threw up his hands and started to walk backwards, "Prove me wrong, Lilly. Prove. Me. Wrong." He leapt off of the building.
If this was any other person, I would have been worried. This was Spiderman. If he didn't have his web devices, I'd be jumping after him. Today that was not the case. I hurriedly put in the earpiece and yelled, "Hey! You didn't say go!" I hopped from rooftop to rooftop in hopes I was slightly faster than he was.
"Did I really need to? I thought it was implied," he replied and grunted. He swung from the sides of the buildings and jumped off of others like a professional gymnast. Peter performed a three hundred and sixty degrees flip before sliding against a building as if he were sliding across a floor while performing a dance. He laughed to himself and really enjoyed it.
I scoffed, "Show off."
"I heard that!"
"What are you talking about?" I pretended to be completely oblivious. "You're hearing things." My lungs constricted and lessened my air intake. I moved my arms with my body to increase my speed as my feet pounded against the concrete roofs. If I were to run any longer, I would brake out into a sweat. Running was hard work. I hit the edge of a rooftop and immediately stopped myself. I flailed my arms to balance on my own two feet without falling forward. A small scream escaped my lips from sheer panic.
Peter laughed. "What, you don't got a way to fly or something? Aw, poor little Lilly. You're going to lose the race to the tower. Guess who gets to buy me a few expensive memorabilia from my favorite movie?"
"I haven't lost the bet yet, Peter. Just watch." My hazel eyes sparkled with a mischievous tint. Why was I cursed with such brilliant thoughts? Loopholes. Peter should watch out for loopholes in our agreements. He's about to get lawyered. I contemplated and looked to see how close he was to me. I shot out my hands in his direction and created a portal. He tried frantically to stop himself, but he flew through the portal and was transported to the roof we started the race on.
He rolled onto the roof and stopped himself before he fell off. Peter cursed mildly and yelled into the mic, "Lilly Parker, that is cheating!"
"You never laid down any rules!" I backed up a bit before creating the bluest ice in midair and jumped onto it. My feet slid on the ice and created the ideal way of transportation back to the tower. The wind whipped through my hair and at times put strands in my line of sight. I huffed to make it go away and almost got into the middle of a flock of birds on accident. I swung my arms around and composed myself when I realized the birds were gone.
I reached the launch pad on the tower and sat down in the middle of it. I couldn't force myself to sit on the edge of the building. The fear of falling really took a toll on me sometimes. I leaned back and rested my hands behind me in a lazy fashion. The tower overlooked the city and provided an amazing view. Sunlight shined and reflected off other buildings' glass windows. "Guess who's buying me the new expensive laptop I really want?" I mimicked Peter's tone of voice from earlier.
"You can talk to Tony about that. He buys us everything we need," Peter answered and climbed to the edge of the tower. He perched on the edge and looked down below at the people busying around New York. Ants. Worker bees. They all appeared to be tiny insects on the journey to survival.
I wished I could see his face at the moment. I could pester him more, but without knowing, I had nothing. "So all I had to do was ask Tony? Why did we have this race, then?"
"For fun."
Peter finally sat down on the edge and dangled his legs. He kicked the air like a little child too small to put his legs on the floor. Peter seemed to have gotten lost in his thoughts, probably remembering his past. He took his mask off and ruffled his hand in his short brown hair. He remained silent for a few more moments before changing the subject. "How did you get through everything? You lost your parents and became something new."
"I..." Don't know how to answer that. What am I supposed to say? I didn't at first. I was a trouble maker until...Until I left. I didn't even show people my true potential.. I squinted my eyes when the sunlight started to irritate me. Yeah. That sounds good. Except, that's not what came out of my mouth. "Friends. I met a lot of great people growing up and they molded me into what I am today. You would definitely relate to my father figure. He is a complete sarcastic asshole who speaks his mind freely."
Peter cocked his head to the side and turned just a bit to see me out of the corner of his eye. "Did you just call me an asshole?"
"A sarcastic asshole," I corrected him.
He scoffed, "Now I know where you get it from."
"Shut up." I swatted him in the shoulder lightly. But that only got me thinking. "Is that why we get along with Tony so well? Because he's the same way?"
"Clearly," Peter leaned back and rested against the metal platform. He set his hands behind his head and his brown eyes watched the sky.
My phone buzzed. "Speak of the devil..." I whispered and reached to check the message.
Logan: Overdue checkup. Where are you?
I almost set my phone down until I realized he would bug me to death or threaten me unless I told him. I wasn't expecting a message from Logan...But a part of me squirmed in my skin knowing that I had the possibility of seeing him again. It had been years since our last encounter... My fingers danced across the keyboard and typed: You're probably tracking my phone already, so telling you where I am won't make a damn difference. I'm sorry I haven't updated you guys on everything, but I am dealing with a lot right now. It might be better if we stay apart.
Minutes seemed to pass and he never replied. I sighed and put my phone away. Peter helped me up, and after pretending to nearly push me off of the tower and almost having a heart attack, we went inside.
"Lilly! You've got a visitor!" Tony yelled from the elevator. As I walked over, I heard him keep talking to the guest, "I don't know how you got passed Jarvis. He always tells me when there's someone at the door."
I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks. "Logan..."
He didn't look a day older from when I had left, or even from when I was a little girl, for that matter. His greasy black hair was slicked back and partly falling to his right side. Logan's signature brown jacket tied in with his plain gray shirt and blue jeans. His hard brown eyes went from Tony to me and softened. Logan slightly grinned and opened his arms to hug me. I walked with long strides into his arms and hugged him tightly. He declared, "Good to see you again, Kid."
I rested my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes tight. I...I can't have him here. I backed away and frowned. Something inside of me writhed and hurt itself. But this was for the greater good. "Logan, you can't stay here."
He chuckled and glanced around nervously between Tony and I. "What are you talking about?"
I didn't want to be too pushy, but I basically pushed him off a ledge. I blatantly told him he couldn't stay. What was I supposed to do? I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "We have a situation right now. I don't want to put you or anyone else that isn't involved in danger."
Logan looked around the room. Tony calmly stood by, watching our encounter. Steve, Natasha, and Clint were watching a movie in the living room. Banner slept in his room and, well, Peter was swaying from side-to-side next to Logan. God, I forgot one of his idols was Wolverine. Logan raised an eyebrow and pointed out what was going on around us, "I don't see a situation right now." I gave him the look of irritation and he shrugged. "I don't see the harm in staying for two days to visit my little Lillybug."
I died a little bit inside. Logan only used that nickname to annoy me on various occasions. It wasn't cute when I was eight, and it definitely wasn't cute now. I groaned and cringed, "You had to bring that up in front of everyone, didn't you?"
"Lillybug?" Tony cackled and slapped his knee when he was out of breath. It took a full ten seconds until he wiped away the fake tear that dropped from his eye. "Now, that's adorable."
I looked at the ceiling and wanted to punch the wall. "You are never going to let that down, are you?" Tony kept laughing and walked into the living room with the rest of the group. I noticed Peter circling around Logan like a hawk with the widest eyes ever. He couldn't even play it cool. I needed to take him out to socialize more. I pulled him next to me, "Logan, this is Peter, my cousin."
"It's such a pleasure to meet you! Big fan of your work..." Peter shook Logan's hand and almost fanboyed over it. It seemed so unlike him. I'd never seen him that way before. Apparently no one else had either because they paused the movie just to watch.
"Killing bad guys?"
"Yeah!" Peter exclaimed.
Logan looked at my cousin up and down before furrowing his brow. "Hey. You're Spiderman."
Peter grinned from ear-to-ear and put his hands on his hips. The most heroic pose, yet it almost seemed silly at the moment. "Why, yes. Yes I am."
Logan dropped the small bag he was carrying. He tisked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I know someone who is dyin' to meet you."
"Who?" He asked excitedly. If anyone else wasn't there, he probably would have danced around in sheer joy. Peter loved it when he heard about fans and always wanted to go out to sign autographs or promote charities.
Natasha walked into the small vicinity and saw Logan. She tilted her head a bit and her green eyes narrowed for a few seconds. Her mind processed what was happening and searched through her memories. Nat's mouth moved to speak because it was on the tip of her tongue. "Logan?"
"Natalia?" Logan stepped forward towards her. They hugged for a long time.
Peter and I stood back in confusion. I thought this would be the first thing Logan would tell me once he knew I saw Natasha's file while working for Hydra. Nothing in there detailed her past; it only had fragments, and certainly, nothing mentioned James "Logan" Howlett.
Natasha sensed our confusion and elaborated, "He trained me when I was little."
That's more information about her past than she's ever shared. I thought. She never talked about it, and we never asked. We were all too afraid she'd beat us down and brood for the next week.
"Yeah, how do you think she's so good with hand-to-hand combat? This kid was trouble at first, but she learned pretty quickly." Logan wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "We have so much to catch up on."
Peter and I glanced at each other and watched them walk to the living room. Logan greeted everyone else and had an awkward encounter with Steve. They recognized each other from the war and went on a spiel for twenty minutes about the mission they went on together. Sitting together in that circle in the living room really brought a feeling of home to my heart. All of my favorite people to be around were having fun together. That, in itself, was a miracle. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.