#spiderfly

When Mr. Stark had called Peter and told him that he had a job only Spider-Man can do, the last thing he expected to see was, well… An angry, normal looking guy in an interrogation room, glaring holes at the one-way window. Sure, he was dressed kinda funny, but Peter couldn’t see anything else weird about him.

“Your job is to babysit him,” Mr. Stark had said casually. “You know, make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble for us.”

Peter crossed his arms and let out a small sigh. Did he really put on the suit for nothing? “I don’t know why you need me. Can’t Happy watch him or something?”

Mr. Stark looked at him like he was an idiot. “Well, we don’t know what kind of powers he could have. The boy appeared out of nowhere in a flying time machine with some lunatic doctor. Says he’s from the year 1985.”

That was a little exciting. He perked up and eyed the guy some more. “Really? So he could be dangerous? And you think I’m the only one who can handle him?”

“Well, he’s a defiant teenage boy. Much like someone I know.” Something about the look on his face made Peter just a bit defensive. “Chances are, you’ll either get along just fine or try to kill each other. As long as he’s not wreaking havoc, I don’t care.”

Alright, a little less cool. But manageable.

“I think I can handle it,” Peter said with a confident grin that leaked into his tone. “Lemme at him.”

As soon as the door opened, he sauntered in. The heated glare he got put him a little on edge, but he just ignored it in favor of taking a seat right across from the guy and greeting in a friendly tone, “Hey there. I’m Spider-Man.”

The guy just kept glaring.

“Anyway,” he continued awkwardly, holding out a hand over the table, “what’s your name?”

“Marty,” he said, making no move to shake his hand. Then he leaned forward, eyebrows furrowed together. “Where’s Doc? What’d you guys do with him?”

“Uh…” Peter’s brain stopped working, and he slowly withdrew his hand. He honestly didn’t have an answer, it’s not like he was actually given that information. But this Marty guy seemed worried, so he couldn’t just leave him hanging, right?

“Mr. Stark’s taking good care of him,” he assured, as genuine as can be. “I promise.”

“You’re not gonna get him to talk,” Marty said out of the blue, leaning back against his chair once more. “He won’t tell you a damn thing about the DeLorean.”

“DeLorean…?”

Marty huffed and rolled his eyes. “The time machine.”

“Oh!” Peter nodded, pretending as if he knew all along. “Right, well. Okay.”

The silence that followed was pretty awkward. Peter didn’t know what to say, and it seemed like Marty wasn’t too keen on starting up a conversation either. He tried thinking about what people liked in the 80’s. Rock ‘n roll? Bad fashion? Poofy hair?

“So, you like music?” Peter asked, and as soon as the words left his mouth he felt like an idiot. Do you like music- who doesn’t like music?

Marty eyed him suspiciously and tapped his fingers against the table, lips sealed tight.

Clearly, this wasn’t going to get anywhere. Maybe if he could get Marty to trust him a bit, he’d relax? It was probably a stupid idea, but there wasn’t any harm in it, right? What could this guy do, anyway?

With a deep breath, Peter took off his mask and locked eyes with Marty. “Look, my real name’s Peter. Peter Parker. I’m a sophmore in high school. And I kinda just happen to have super powers.”

Marty’s eyes grew wide. Then after a moment, he let out a sigh. “Powers? What’re you, Superman?”

“No, he’s just in comic books,” Peter said with a bit of a grin. “I’m Spider-Man. I’ve got super strength, and I can climb walls.” He held out his hand to show off his wrists. “Plus I have these web shooters. Helps me swing around and stop bad guys.”

“So you’re some kind of hero?” Marty asked, sounding like he didn’t believe a single word Peter said. “Really?”

Huffing, Peter crossed his arms and said, “Yeah, I am. C’mon, you got here in a time machine, this can’t be too crazy for you.”

“Alright, you got me,” Marty conceded. It looked like he was finally relaxing a little. “I just can’t believe a kid like you’s out kicking ass. You seem more like a, uh, geek.”

He couldn’t deny that. “Yeah, well, I am. Part of the academic quiz team and everything.”

That made Marty laugh a little. “Knew it.”

“Well, you seem like the kind of guy who gets detention a lot,” Peter teased. “A real trouble-maker.”

“Sometimes I’m late to class,” he admitted with a casual shrug. It seemed like he didn’t care. “School’s lame, anyway.”

“Well, what’re you interested in, then?” Now Peter was getting a little invested. “There’s gotta be something.”

Marty gave him a bit of a cocky grin. “Music. I play guitar for my band. And we’re pretty awesome too. Maybe if I get out of here I can show you sometime.”

Mr. Stark’s voice came out of nowhere, “Well, that might be sooner than you think, Marty.”

Peter jumped and swallowed heavily, watching carefully as Mr. Stark came into the room. “Look, I-”

A hand stopped him. “I don’t want to hear your excuse for revealing your identity to a potential enemy,” Mr. Stark chastised with a firm look. “You’re just lucky it makes things a little easier. Now he can stay with you instead of wasting my valuable space.”

“Stay with me?” Peter asked, jumping up to his feet. “Are you sure? What if he has hidden powers, or-”

“Hey, I’m right here,” Marty cut in, sounding rather put off. “And I don’t have powers. So just let me go already and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Doctor Brown has agreed to let us help him fix the time machine,” Mr. Stark said, coolly looking Marty’s way. “So until that’s all done, you’ll be staying with Peter and living out as normal a life as you can.” The look on his face meant no arguments from either of them. “Got it?”

Peter swallowed thickly, while Marty rolled his eyes.

“Yes, sir.”