"Pete, you gotta pull the larger end through the loop. Do that, and you're done,"
Watching Peter Parker attempt to tie his own tie was truthfully one of the best things that Charlotte Watson had seen in a long time. The smile never left her face as she stared at the hologram screen before her, laughing as she watched May Parker attempt to help her nephew with the tie.
"You make it sound so easy," Peter grumbled, grabbing the end and beginning to pull it through. His face brightened as he thought he had done it correctly, only for the entire tie to fall apart immediately. "This is hopeless! I'm not wearing a tie to homecoming! How do you even know how to tie one of these?"
"Steve liked when I did it for him," Lottie told him with a shrug, chopping up the last of her vegetables, dumping them into the mixing bowl beside her as she looked back at the screen. "You missed the loop. Pull the section at the front and just pull it through."
"Wait, I think I got this," May reached into the frame, moving Peter's tie into the correct place. The pair celebrated on the other end of the call as Lottie let out another laugh, shaking her head as she prepared her meal. "BOOM!"
"I got two corsages! Lottie, I need you to help me pick one!"
Another laughed tumbled from both Lottie and May's lips as Peter rushed off the sight of the screen and out of camera line. May shook her head, sitting down on Peter's bed as she looked over at the woman on the screen before her.
"I really can't thank you enough, you know? Peter always admired all of you, I did too not going to lie. I thought when he said he'd lost this internship, it would all go away..."
"He's like a little brother to me, May. I wasn't going anywhere," Lottie told the woman with a smile as she placed her finished meal into her bowl. "I don't know what was going through Tony's head when he took the internship away, but I'm not just going to abandon Peter."
"It just means a lot. The internship meant so much to him, and after everything he's been through..." May trailed off before looking at Lottie with wide eyes. "I'm not trying to say that you haven't been through a lot! Wow, you've probably been through way more than any of us-"
"May, it's alright. Trust me,"
The women only smiled at one another, engaging in small talk as they waited for Peter to return with the two corsage options. Lottie continued to keep up the facade of being one of Peter's mentors for his Stark Internship, the cover story he had invented for being Spider-Man.
Just as she had suspected, Peter had left her a depressing voicemail crying about having his suit taken away. She didn't get to listen to it until the early morning, right about the same time that she stumbled upon Tony and Rhodey throwing away all of the alcohol in the compound. That might have led to a small heart to heart between Rhodey and Lottie, though the man would deny that there was any crying involved in that discussion.
"Okay!" Peter slid back into view, holding the two cartons in his hands as he looked between two of the most important women in his life right now. "Red one or white one?"
"You said Liz's dress is red, I'd go matchy-matchy with it and do the red one," May nodded along with Lottie comments, squeezing her nephews shoulder as she excused herself for a moment. Lottie took a bite of her dinner, smiling as Pete sat down on his bed. "So, you excited for tonight? You're taking the girl of your dreams to homecoming!"
"Yeah, yeah I guess I am..." Lottie frowned at the unenthusiastic sound of his voice.
"And what else is on your mind?"
"I'm just upset that I let Mr. Stark down," he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. "Spider-Man, it was everything to me. Then I let him down and he took the suit."
"That suit didn't make you a hero, Peter," Lottie told the boy with a comforting smile. "With or without the suit, you're still Spider-Man, you're still a hero. Enjoy tonight, be a kid, but if the world calls on you, just remember that you'll always be a hero at heart."
Peter's face brightened at her words, but the conversation couldn't go much further as May reentered the room once again.
"Sorry! Had to take a quick call! Charlotte, do you think you could teach Peter how to dance? I haven't done that in years!"
Lottie laughed, moving away from the island counter and leaving her food behind.
"Thankfully, that's a subject I'm pretty well versed in,"
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Charlotte Watson really couldn't figure out why her senses were going off.
Ever since that first day when she left to go see Peter, every once and awhile her senses would just go haywire. At first she thought that maybe her head was trying to give her a vision, but she quickly realized that it wasn't that same feeling. She had been training to block out her visions, realizing that seeing the future was something that was just too much pressure.
This feeling she kept having, that came and went every few days? It was more like the feeling of being watched.
She stood on one of the balconies that scattered the compound, her cardigan pooling around her elbows as she took a sip of her drink, staring out onto the river. Tony was forcing her to drink coffee almost every hour, hoping that getting her addicted to coffee would keep her far away from alcohol. She wished Tony was here, but him and Pepper were currently out to dinner somewhere in the city.
That feeling loomed over Lottie as she stared out into the treeline around the lake. She knew she was alone, there was too much security around the perimeter of the compound for anyone to even get close. But for some reason, she just couldn't shake it.
The pinging of her phone drew her attention away from the tingling feeling as she pulled it out, the holographic image of the screen appearing before her as the video call began.
"Hello?"
"Miss Watson! Lottie- Charlo- SLATE! Yes, Slate! Wow, I'm a huge fan!" the young boy turned back to face the screen, a headseat resting on top of his head as he looked at her. Lottie's eyes widened when she recognized him from multiple photos Peter had showed her.
"Ned?"
"Listen! You gotta listen to me, please don't hang up!"
"Ned, calm down, I'm not going anywhere," Lottie quickly tried to calm him as she moved back inside, climbing down the stairs back to the main room of the compound. "Why are you calling me, what's going on? Is Peter okay?"
"Listen, the guy with the wings selling the alien weapons? That's Liz's dad!" Lottie's eyes widened as she quickly placed her cup in the kitchen. "He threatened Peter tonight to stay out of his way!"
"Oh my god, tell me that's a joke-"
"He's going after the plane! He wants what's on the plane!"
Lottie mumbled a quick shit to herself, quickly throwing on her jacket as she took off out of the compound, grabbing her keys along the way.
"Friday! Avengers Tower, as fast as you can, now!" Lottie told the AI as she climbed into the car, placing the call on the dashboard as Friday followed her commands and took off down the streets. "Ned, where's Peter right now?"
"He's going after him, he's gonna try and stop him!"
"Okay, did you call Happy?"
"He hung up on us!" Lottie rolled her eyes as Friday maneuvered the car in and out of traffic.
"Stay on the line with Peter, tell him I said not to do anything irrational. Keep him safe, I'm gonna try to stop the launch,"
"Okay Ms. Slate!"
Friday maneuvered them in and out of the late night traffic as fast as possible while Lottie constantly dialed for Happy. She threw her phone into the backseat, letting out a shout of frustration when he never answered her calls. She knew she couldn't call Tony, this dinner with Pepper was strictly 'no electronics period'.
After the second call, Lottie finally checked the time, and froze: the plane was already in the air.
The tires skid across the ground as Friday stopped the car in front of the tower. Before the car was even stopped, Lottie was flying into the building and into the elevator, pressing the button for the living room knowing that's where Happy would be lounging.
In fact, Happy Hogan was lounging in the living room, quite proud of himself for getting the plane in the air successfully. He brought a drink to his lips, the glass shattering to the floor once the elevator doors dinged open and Lottie walked out, screaming.
"Happy!"
The man froze, looking at Lottie as she walked further into the room. Her gaze fell to the windows, eyes wide as Happy followed her gaze, the pair watching the streak of orange falling through the sky near the beach of Coney Island in the distance.
"Please tell me that's not-"
"Peter," Lottie breathed out, turning to Happy with wide eyes. "If that kid is dead, I'm going to kill you myself. Get in the car."
The pair wasted no time, into the car within minutes as Friday set course for Coney Island. Happy was busy on the phone, getting teams of agents prepared to meet them there while Lottie scrolled through the breaking news online of the destruction on the beach.
Lottie's foot tapped rapidly the entire ride there, one thing on her mind: Peter. She had told him that he would always be a hero, no matter if he wore a fancy suit or not. If he was dead...she'd blame herself.
The second the car was parked at Coney Island, Happy and Lottie were out of the car and rushing onto the beach, followed by hoards of agents and police.
The destruction was bad. Broken pieces of Coney Island rides littered the ground and everything in their path was on fire. They moved together toward the biggest section of the plane that was still recognizable on the beach, and their eyes widened at the sight.
The winged man, or as Lottie now knew him as Liz Allan's dad, was webbed to the pile of boxes saved from the plane. He stared at them before looking at the note that sat webbed next to his head.
FOUND FLYING VULTURE GUY.
-SPIDER-MAN. P.S. SORRY ABOUT YOUR PLANE.
Lottie couldn't help but smile as Happy and the team rushed forward with the police.
"Good job, Spider-Man,"
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Not going to lie, I spent the majority of writing this chapter while also watching whenisgamora3456 do an Insta live and it was fantastic lol