Midtown High's Only Professional Wallflower

Tony leaned back and watched Peter, knowing that the younger man could figure it out. Peter had an incredibly brilliant mind, but he also had one of the biggest, most genuine hearts of anyone Tony had ever met. He smiled as Peter figured it out. “See?” he said. “You got it. It should shoot straight now. Which is pretty important, considering that’s how aiming works and all.”

Peter laughed –– as he looked at his newly working creation. He had used a lot of time on this, so he was both happy to be done; and happy to be able to make it work with some help from Tony. “Right?” the younger male picked it up, and aimed at the wall; making it shoot the web quite easily and correctly. He always looked for new and improved things to use, just like Tony did. “Thanks Tony!” 

“Yes, you can,” Tony said automatically, putting his tools down and pushing his glasses off his face and onto the table. He leaned forward to examine Peter’s work, frowning a little in concentration. “You almost got it,” he said, leaning back and looking at the younger man. “Look at those two wires again,” he added, pointing to the ones that he meant. He knew Peter could figure it out himself but he also wanted to help him along.

The best thing about being here, and working with Tony; happened to be the fact that he was able to learn and get help from the older male. Peter looked at the two wires Tony were pointing at. It felt like he had looked at them at least five times, and didn’t get it. “But I don’t think –– “ he started, until his face became a frown as he tried to think about the two things again. “oh, hold on!” he said with a grin. “yes!” 

The young Spider-Man looked at Gwen for a moment. They had been sitting on his sofa, playing Animal Crossing for the past two hours. After Peter came across both Miles and Gwen playing he had decided to get it himself –– and honestly it was very nice, and good way of trying to lighten the mood; in a rather dark-mood Gotham City. Peter had called his town; Spideytopia – for the lack of a better name. The two had used time catching bugs and random fishes; seeing who could get the biggest once. When she came with that steatment. “You don’t like my Spider-themed Island?” he joked with a smile. “I think it’s cool, tho I’m not that good at designing stuff yet so I should get someone to make a Spider-hoodie” 

Artemis laughed, “don’t worry, wild is overrated anyway.” Back in her days of running wild through the city streets, she had been known to cause a little trouble (well a lot) but since Oliver had taken her under his wing she had mellowed out and if Artemis was honest she preferred it. Getting into trouble never used to work out for her. The brunette nodded at, “tech mogul, mega-rich guy right?” she asked. Artemis thinks she had seen his face on the cover of Forbes magazine once. “That’s cool, so is that what you want to do for a job?” she asked, “I’m trying to make it as a photojournalist, trying being the operative word.”

“Yeah, that’s him” Peter didn’t think it would be fair to use that phrase Tony often used for himself, and it also didn’t feel right since Peter didn’t see him as that either.  –– to him, Tony was a very cool, and smart person who seemed to not think Peter bothered him ( at least not always ) he loved being around him, learning and just soaking up all that he could. “mhm” the male nodded as they walked along together. “I’m really into that kind of stuff, so I’d love to work with it some day” a smile came across his face when she told him she wanted to be a photojournalist. Peter loved taking photos too, and honestly he would not mind working with their either in the future. –– he did now. “Really? That’s so cool” he took his phone out and could not help but be excited about it. “Me too –– like sort of, I mean I love taking photos and I think photojournalism is a good place for that” he showed her some of the photos he had taken. 

“Sure,” she smiled. “I’d be happy to give you the official Artemis Crock tour of Gotham City,” she joked. “And don’t worry I won’t take you anywhere too wild,” she reassured. “So,” she started, “what brought up to our fair city?” she asked curiously. Especially right now, Artemis wouldn’t imagine Gotham was on any top ten destinations to move to if anything people were moving away to escape the chaos. “Do you have family here?” The brunette began to walk towards the roller rink. 

Peter smiled when she said her name; it sounded so badass and pretty. –– he sort of wanted to tell her but decided not to. He truly wasn’t the best at doing any sort of compliments to people, because it either sounded wrong or way too aggressive: So Peter followed her happily down the street, to this roller rink she kept talking about. “I can be wild” he added but sort of added quickly after “or wait –– no not really; I’m not really –– yeah, never mind” he chuckled. “I think the roller rink seemed fine” he smiled. “Sort of” he wasn’t sure what to call Tony, he wasn’t family but he was as close as it could be right now. Aunt May had allowed him to stay in Gotham, for learning from Mr Stark; “Do you know who Tony Stark it – Iron man?” he asked. “I kind of have a sort of internship with him; I like tech and science a lot” 

Artemis laughed, well Bruce certainly had the temperament of a bat that was for sure. “That’s fair, I mean it is a little out there if I hadn’t grown up in this city I’d be thinking the same thing,” she said. “So what parts of the city have you seen?” she asked. Artemis doesn’t know why, because god knows she hated Gotham most of the time, but it seemed like every time an outsider visited she became weirdly protective. Sure it was a hell hole most of the time, but hell it was her hell hole. “Have you gone to the roller rink yet? A lot of my friends think it’s kinda lame, but I kinda love it.”

To be fair, Peter had not been out exploring the streets of Gotham City yet; he had tried his best to keep himself focused on what he could do to help. Both Tony and Steve had told him about what kind of chaos lured around this place now. He had also done his fair enough looking-into Batman and the once who followed him and helped him. –– so exploring had not been his biggest task yet. “No, I’d love to see it” he smiled. “I haven’t been able to see too much of it yet” he told her and was more than happy to see more of it; by a guide that looked like Artemis. He had never heard that name before, it was really cool. 

Artemis made a slightly confused face, “spider-man?” she repeated slowly, “someone recently told me that name, said they were a big thing in New York.” It was a testament to how little she paid attention to things that happened outside of her own circle. “Is he like… part spider?” she asked with a grin curious. The brunette didn’t know why, but she felt at ease talking to the boy, it was nice. So many of her conversations held heavy baggage, with so many things left unsaid, that was nice to talk to someone who had no idea who she was, or what her past had been - it was refreshing. 

“what, half spider?” Peter could not help but laughed, because it seemed like the be the normal question everyone had. And to be fair, it wasn’t the stupidest question; so he smiled gently as he replied “Nah, he isn’t exactly that” he shrugged; trying to seem like he wasn’t an expert of the matter “I think he just has a lot of spider-like abilities“ plus he was kind of smart enough to make things that helped his abilities. “Suppose it’s a fair question, because when I heard about Batman; I imagined this huge man with wings and fangs or something” he could not help but blush slightly at how silly that really was.  

It was nice to see that even among the chaos, he could still find people that were good and were willing to help out people. He was walking out of a cafe, when he saw the young man helping a couple with their shopping. It was something small but it was still sweet. It was not something that you saw every day, and it made him smile. The same young man ended up bumping into him shortly after, but he kept his usual smile as he assured him that it was okay, “Don’t worry about it, just be glad I didn’t spill coffee all over you,” he patted his shoulder in a friendly way, to assure him even more that he wasn’t mad. It took him a lot more to get angry, and something as small as someone bumping into him, wouldn’t be enough to make that happen, “I saw what you did for that couple, it was really sweet.”

“Sorry!” Peter said again, just to make sure the stranger understood; luckily it truly seemed like he didn’t mind. “Oh god, yes; that would not be a happy moment” happy he had not made the man spill coffee over him, or himself. –– when the older male commented on what Peter had just done, the younger smiled friendly at him. “Thanks, I mean; it’s not much but I like to help out wherever I can” looking around he added “Even in this chaos I think everyone who can, should try their best to help” Peter smiled as he added “Are you from here?” most people he seemed to meet today were native to Gotham; Peter himself had never been here before now. 

Gwen chuckled, a slight blush colouring her cheeks. She’d been caught playing Animal Crossing by one of the smartest, and coolest guys she knew. This Earth’s Peter was a lot like the Peter she’d lost, but he was a little softer. She liked that about him, though. It made it easier for her to trust him, and not have to worry that he was going to become the Lizard. “I am! I have to beat Miles. His museum has more fish than mine, and I can’t let him have that victory.” He asked how Nook’s Cranny was, and she shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess. Nothing cool there yet. But I did build a bamboo lamp which was pretty rad.” Lowering the Switch, she moved to wrap her arms around her friend. “How’ve you been, Peter? I’ve missed you.”

Peter smiled, really liking how excited she seemed about the game. He had not tried the Animal Crossing game since the gamecube, so he was sure there would be a lot of things that had changed. However, Miles had already convinced him to get it. “I’ve messed you too” he replied and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her into the hug.  –– it was so nice actually; and without knowing it he truly had missed her a lot. He had just been so down the rabbit hole when it came to all this chaos at this town. “I’ve been alright; truly” after a good and long hug he gently pulled away and asked “how about you? You and Miles been kicking it back?” he smiled. Peter knew Miles and Gwen had a good friendship, it was really nice to see. Knowing that they would alway be there to look out for each other if Peter wasn’t able to. “Did everything work out fine after the carneval?” 

“Mmm?” Tony hummed, tinkering with one of his gauntlets. He was always trying to improve the suit, and god knew Gotham was testing even his limits. He wore safety goggles, of course – sometimes he forgot, but he managed to somehow remember when Peter was visiting. Had to be a somewhat good example. “Oh, not much. He keeps his identity a secret, which is boring.” Tony smirked at his own self-reference. “I know he’s buddy-buddy with the comish. Which means he either knows who Batman is or he’s exercised remarkable self-restraint for however many years.” He paused. “Or he’s stupid, but you know, who knows. And Batman has all these gadgets, apparently.” Another pause. “None of them are as cool as mine.”

“Nobody beat your coolness mr Stark” Peter said with a chuckle. He had tried to find a lot of info about Batman, but the internet were filled with blogs documenting his every move until he vanished. And the news in Gotham, seemed to have a love-hate relationship with him; like Queens seemed to have with Spider-Man. “Did you ever meet him?” he asked; because of Tony, Peter had been able to meet a lot of cool people; in person. “I want to help, but I also feel like the city is in big trouble, and it’s just gonna become worse” he sigh. “What do you think?” Peter really looked up to Tony, so his opinions was always walcomed with him, 

Well wasn’t that the million-dollar questions. “No, I wish I did though,” she said. Bruce hadn’t been keen on her at first. When Oliver had brought her to meet the brooding bat he’d made it blatantly clear that he thought it was a terrible idea. But slowly and surely, he’d warmed up to her, and Artemis had come to respect the man, and she thought deep down he respected her too (or at least liked her.) “All anyone really knows is he disappeared - not really his style at all,” she explained. “Some people are sure he’d dead, others are holding out hope his still alive.”

Peter had asked Tony about the man  –– and he seemed to be a symbol a lot of people looked to when they needed it. So when the man vanished, it seemed like all hope in the city had too. It was a shame, but just like Peter had said before; as long as there were good people, hope would never truly die. “Yeah, I heard that” Peter had read a lot about it, both in Gotham and online. “It seemed like people around here really looked up to him” he smiled before he added “in Queens, we got Spider-Man; not the same I suppose but he helps people” it was kind of funny to speak of himself as 3th person. 

“There was… light,” she started, “don’t get me wrong things were never perfect, but before batman’s disappearance, it was a good place to live. He protected the city, and everyone respected him. Now that he’s gone it’s like there’s this dark cloud, and the city is just shrouded in darkness.” Artemis wanted to believe, that Titans, hell even her, were fighting back and trying to restore the city to its former glory but it often felt like they were on the losing side of a war. “Maybe one day we’ll get back to that… hopes the last thing to die right?”

Peter watched her talk about the city she lived in, and the city she used to know. He had never been to Gotham before this, but had heard other people speak of it too, and it was another City once. “Wherever good people are, hope is too” he said offering her a smile. Spider-man was here to help, no matter how little; and Peter would help like he could too. Even if it was just with some shopping for older people. Queens wasn’t the grown of New York, but good people always came first, when the bad people tried doing shitty stuff. “ –– I hope it gets better. Do you know what happened to Batman?” he asked.