Erin stared sullenly into her cereal. The Compound was so quiet now, it set her on edge. A mere two weeks ago she had been in this same spot at the kitchen island with Wanda, chatting about the latest episode of their favorite guilty pleasure tv show. Erin had teased Wanda about Vision's apparent infatuation with her. It had been too easy to make her blush. Two weeks ago she had been training with Nat, trading dirty jokes and punches. Two weeks ago she had been trying to convince Steve to let her ride his motorcycle. Then, so fast it had given her whiplash, everything had changed.
All her friends were gone and Erin was left here in the vacuum they had created. She tried not to blame her brother, but it was really hard. Erin knew that Tony's hand had been forced, that he had been put in an impossible position and made the decision he thought was best, but that didn't mean Erin wasn't bitter about it.
And what's worse - her friends had left her here with no real way out, if that was indeed what she wanted. She had been forced to sign those stupid Sokovia Accords even though she didn't necessarily agree with them. No amount of pull from Tony would have kept her out of a cell if she had refused. Erin couldn't help but feel betrayed. All of them had refused to let her play a part in the conflict, citing her age, and had left her behind. The feeling of impotence made her fist clench around her spoon, slightly denting the metal.
Just then Tony walked into the kitchen. He observed her playing with her cereal halfheartedly, judging whether she was okay to approach. He had been walking on eggshells around her for the past week. When he had returned home from Germany she had blown up at him. How could he let bureaucracy tear their family apart? How dare he just leave her here to wonder what was going on? How could he just chase some personal vendetta, even after Rhodey had been medflighted home? She glared at him now, but her heart wasn't truly in it. Honestly, she was tired of being angry. Now she was just sad.
Tony picked up a piece of fruit from the basket on the counter, playing with the stem. "Whatcha up to, kiddo?"
Erin thought about giving him the silent treatment, but the idea made her exhausted. Instead she opted for teenage snark. "World domination, obviously."
Tony looked surprised that she had even answered. "Well, at least you're being productive."
Happy stalked into the kitchen, his phone clutched in his hand. "Tony, you gotta do something about this kid." At first Erin thought he was talking about her and wondered what she'd done to piss him off. "He's driving me nuts. He won't stop texting me."
Who was He, Erin wondered.
"Hey, hey!" Tony put his hands up, "You're the one who said you wanted to branch into asset management, remember."
"Yeah, asset management. Not babysitting toddlers."
"Ok, come on. He's a little older than a toddler." Tony started to munch on his fruit. "What's the problem? Just get a report from him every once in a while. Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Hold on," Erin interrupted them. "Who are you talking about?"
"No one," said Tony at the same time Happy said, "The kid Tony took with him to Germany."
Erin stared between the two men for a long pause. "What?" She glared at Tony. "You're telling me that you took some other kid with you to Germany but refused to let me go?" Tony had the decency to look abashed. "How old is he?"
"I don't know," Happy intoned, "twelve maybe? He's really annoying."
"Would you shut up, man. You are making things worse for me."
Happy, finally reading the room, snapped his mouth closed and turned red. "I'm just gunna," he motioned vaguely towards the door, "Yeah." He turned to leave and Erin shifted her glare at Tony.
"What the fuck, Tony."
"Language," he chastised. Erin scoffed and made to stalk out of the room. "Come on, Erin." Tony called after her.
"I can't believe you," she fumed. "Everyone that I love was involved in that fight, and you told me, 'Stay here. It's not safe. You're too young. You're not ready.' But that was all a bunch of bullshit, because turns out you had a little sidekick up your sleeve." She stomped down the hallway towards her room, Tony chasing after her.
"He's not a sidekick," Tony muttered and Erin threw him a wilted glare over her shoulder.
"I could have helped, Tony. I should have been involved. And instead I had to sit here while my whole family destroyed itself."
She got to her room and made to slam the door in Tony's face, but he slapped his hand against it. "How would you have helped, Erin?" He raised his voice. "What could you have done that would have provided a different outcome?"
She gaped at him. "I-I don't know. Something. Anything! We would have figured it out!"
"Or," Tony said bitterly. "You could have left with the rest of them." The silence that rose between them was deafening. "What? You've made it perfectly clear that you don't agree with the Accords. That you think I've fucked everything up beyond recognition. And if you'd gone with me I couldn't guarantee that you'd come home with me." He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "I knew Peter would be impartial, and I needed an ace in the hole. Your whole heart would have been on that field. I couldn't ask you to fight against your friends. Or worse, give you the opportunity to leave too."
"Tony," Erin said softly. She dropped down onto her bed, deflated. "I would never leave you. You're my brother."
Tony flopped down on the bed next to her. They sat in silence for a while, the wind taken out of both their sails.
"Is he really twelve?" Erin muttered.
Tony snorted. "No, he's more your age, just a little younger. Happy is just overwhelmed by him. The kid's kinda like a labrador."
Erin pictured a big yellow dog jumping up on Happy and snorted. "Sounds annoying," Erin smiled.
Tony shrugged. "He's not too bad. He's got a lot of heart." Just then his eyes got round and he looked at her. "Oh, I've got an idea. Why don't you help Happy with him?"
"Like some kind of play date? Um, no thank you."
"Come on. The kid needs someone to show him the ropes. How we operate." He nudged her shoulder.
"Do we even know how we operate anymore?" Erin snarked.
"Touche," Tony said. "But the fact stands, the kid needs some polishing. And you need something to do. Because if I have to watch you death-stare into your cereal anymore I'm gunna have to call a therapist."
Erin rolled her eyes. She supposed Tony had a point. She'd already graduated early, so school wasn't a thing for her. Her days had mostly consisted of training with Nat and the others, waiting for the day when she was finally promoted to full-fledged Avenger. With most of the team now fugitives and Rhodey in recovery, she didn't see much for herself on the horizon.
"Fine," she finally relented. "But if he jumps on me like a dog, I'm out."
"Happy will be pleased." Tony smiled.
He got up and made to leave the room. Erin called after him. "Tony." He looked back. "I don't think you fucked everything up." She muttered. "I just miss my friends." Her eyes filled with tears and she looked away.
Tony walked back to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Me too, kid." They stayed that way until Tony pulled back. He faked-coughed something that sounded a lot like, "Love you, kiddo."
Erin laughed and shoved him a little. "Dork."
Before he left her room Tony told her he'd have Happy set up something with the kid. Erin sat on her bed for a while, again thinking back on all that had happened in the past few weeks. She wondered what exactly made this Peter so special.
So, two days later Erin found herself sitting in an apartment building in Queens, waiting for one Peter Parker to show up. When she had knocked on the door a pretty middle-aged woman with oversized spectacles had answered. "Hi," she said brightly.
"Er, hi." Erin replied. "I'm looking for Peter?"
"Oh! Do you go to school with him?" The woman ushered her in.
"Um, no. I'm with the Stark internship. We're working on a project together."
"Well, Peter should be home soon. He's at Decathlon practice right now. Between that and the internship that kid doesn't ever stop." She rambled on. "He already quit marching band to make room for this internship. I didn't necessarily agree, but what can I do? They really run you guys ragged over there, don't they?"
Erin followed her into the kitchen. "Oh, you have no idea." She looked around the small apartment. It had an eclectic flair to it, with just enough clutter to seem decidedly lived in. It was nothing like the Compound.
"You want some tea? Or something to eat?" The woman offered. "I'm May, by the way. Peter's aunt."
"It's nice to meet you," Erin smiled at the older woman. "I'm Erin. Tea would be great."
And that's how Peter found the two women thirty minutes later, laughing over tea. May was holding up a photograph of Peter. Ten years old and decked out in a chemistry apron and goggles, standing over a ruined science experiment, the tips of his hair singed away, eyes wide in shock. "The kid nearly blew his eyebrows off," May was cackling. Erin was giggling madly down at the picture. When she looked up, there he was, a more grown version of the kid in the picture.
He was taller than she expected, with a head of chestnut locks that curled slightly. He was dressed in typical jeans and a t-shirt with a science pun on it. 'Find x, here it is.' A bookbag hung heavy in his hand and white earbuds snaked from inside his shirt. Erin thought she could hear The Ramones playing from them. His chocolate eyes had a look of adorable confusion.
"Hi," she said, the remnants of her giggles trailing off.
"Um, who…" Peter pointed at her, popping his earbuds out of his ears, a confused look on his face. His eyes toggled between her and May.
Erin interrupted him before he could go any further. "Don't tell me you forgot we were working on the project today." Erin rolled her eyes.
"Honey, you didn't tell me you had made a friend at the Stark internship," May said, clearing away the tea cups.
Peter floundered a bit, but recovered. "Oh, well you know." He shrugged.
"Is it because this one's pretty?" May mock whispered.
"What?" Peter turned red immediately. Erin giggled at his discomfort, but raised from her seat.
"Thanks for the tea, May. But we should probably get to work." She gave Peter a pointed look.
"Er, right," he said. "Yeah. We should get started. On that project." He looked her up and down. "That we are working on together." He stood there awkwardly for a moment and then moved towards the hallway. "All the plans are in my room."
"Bye, May." Erin followed him down the hall.
"Bye, sweetie. Don't be a stranger."
Once in his room, Peter closed the door quietly behind her. She looked around at the various posters that hung on the walls, the diagrams and models that littered the surfaces, displaying his nerdiness. Apparently he was a pretty big Star Wars fan. His desk was buried underneath piles of paperwork; some fairly complicated chemistry equations, a couple of textbooks, and more than one comic book. She shuffled through it and found a yellow note pad under it all. More complicated equations.
"You're not worried about your aunt finding any of this stuff just sitting here?" She held up the pad.
"She wouldn't understand it even if she did," Peter said, ripping the notebook from her hand.
"Oh no? It literally says 'WEB FLUID' right across the top. Is she illiterate?"
His eyebrows drew together as he frowned at her. "Who even are you?" He asked.
"I told you, I'm with Stark." She grabbed the notebook back to read through the notes. "Happy didn't tell you I'd be stopping by?"
"No," Peter sulked. "No one's said anything to me since," he trailed off. "Well, anyways." He took a moment to study her while she was busy reading his notes. "Aren't you a little young to be working for Mr. Stark?"
"Aren't you?" She snarked. "You know, you should really add some form of an acetone solvent to your equation, otherwise you run the risk of this stuff drying up in it's container."
"Oh," he looked at his notes over her shoulder. "That's what I had the methanol in there for."
"Acetone evaporates faster. You want your webs to actually stick, don't you?" She looked over her shoulder and into his brown eyes. He contemplated her for a moment. She could see his mind working, deciding whether he could trust her. Finally, he nodded and thanked her. "That's a good idea," he admitted. She noticed how close they stood together and took a small step away, holding his notes out to him.
"I'm Erin, by the way."
"Peter," he said. "Peter Parker."
She giggled. "I know."
"Right, yeah." He breathed a laugh. "So, you actually work for Mr. Stark?" His voice held hints of both awe and jealousy.
"Not exactly," she said. "I guess you could say I'm also interning."
Peter's eyes lit up. "You mean you…" He motioned extravagantly with his hands.
Erin smiled and laughed again. "Well, I don't exactly go swinging from building to building, but I can throw a hell of a punch."
"So you're more like Captain America?"
Erin couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped her. If Tony could hear Peter compare her to Steve he might drop dead. "Don't let Tony hear you say that," she scoffed. Secretly she was pleased to be compared to Steve. "Look," she continued. "Tony thought it would be a good idea if I got involved with your-" she searched for the right word. "-Initiation. Do you know any hand-to-hand?" She asked.
"You mean like fighting?"
"No, dancing," she deadpanned.
Peter turned red and sputtered. "No, not really. I mean, I do fight. But that's more like web slinging and flipping and stuff," he rambled.
She smirked, "Okay, Spider-guy."
"Uh, it's actually Spider-Man," he mumbled.
Erin nodded, amused. She wrote an address down on a random piece of paper on his desk. "Be at this address at four on Wednesday, and we'll get to work."
Peter's eyes widened and so did his smile. Erin could definitely see why Tony would equate him to a labrador. It was somewhat endearing. "You mean like Avenger training?" He breathed.
She laughed. "No, I mean like basic self defense. Now show me the suit."