Peter set his alarm to wake him up an hour earlier than what he had set it the previous day. He did this mostly to avoid Chloe but also because he had other things he wanted to do. He pulled out his phone, going through his contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He called the number, putting his phone up to his ear as the call connected.
"Hello?"
"Uh, hi Happy." Peter hesitated before continuing, "Is Mr Stark there?"
"What is the problem?"
"I want to speak with Mr Stark."
He heard a sigh. "Alright. I'll find Tony."
There was some noise as the phone was transferred. "Hello?"
"Mr Stark?"
"Kid! Hello. How are you? You're in Italy right now, right? As an exchange student?"
"Paris."
"Paris! Right. Right. So why are you calling me at six in the morning?"
"Six? Wait. Mr Stark, isn't the time different in America to in Paris?"
"Yeah it's around midnight or something, but I'm not in New York right now."
"Huh? You're not? Where are you?"
"Germany-"
"Why-"
"Don't worry kid. Just tell me, why did you call?"
"Oh, right, uh, it's just that my suit is kinda broken-"
"Kinda broken?"
"Yes, well, it's a long story uh- well, I was fighting againsts an Akuma with M- Ladybug and Chat Noir and-"
"You were fighting something?" Peter heard the mixture of stress, concern and anger in his voice. "Why did KAREN not alert me of what was happening?-"
"Well you see, uh, the suit was somehow damaged and so I was just going to ask you how I can fix it-"
"I'll do the tinkering with the suit kid." Tony Stark told him. "I'll see what the problem is and while I fix it I'll bring you your old suit."
"No- no- Mr Stark you don't have to do that-"
"I do kid. You need to be safe if you're going to insist on fighting supervillains wherever you go. Please tell me that those people you mentioned are experienced and good role models."
Peter hesitated for a second, "Uh, yeah, sure."
"I'll bring your suit later today after you finish school, alright kid?"
"Uh, Okay. Thanks Mr Stark."
"See you later kid."
Peter heard a click as the phone hung up.
/*\*/*\
He ate breakfast quickly and quietly, escaping the hotel before Chloe was even awake.
Even though Tony Stark hadn't specifically told Peter not to use the suit anymore, he felt slightly guilty attempting to swing around the city with the half-broken suit. It was definitely a learning experience, attempting to web-swing with only his left hand, (the right web-shooter still being non-functional) but he treated it as practice for if one of his web-shooters were disabled again during a fight.
He headed towards the school. (Well, not directly towards the school. He took the 'scenic route', scanning the streets for any sort of 'early-morning-crime'.)
"Hey! Stop!"
Peter narrowed his eyes, swinging towards the direction of the sound. There. Peter spotted movement in one of the alleyways.
He swung onto the wall, climbing along it to see what was happening.
"Get back! You are not getting my bag!" A long, brown haired girl was backing up against the wall as two (almost cliche-looking) people advanced towards her.
"If you want to walk away from this with your life, you will give us your bag." One of them sneered.
"And the necklace- we want the necklace too!" The other added. "Your necklace is pretty!"
"No!"
"Seems like we're going to have to do this the hard way."
Peter heard the click of a gun and knew he needed to act fast.
"Hey! Stealing isn't nice! And it's uh- it's also bad! And don't do bad things because uh- it- isn't... nice." He double-checked the web-shooter on his left wrist to make sure that he had the correct setting and fired shots at both of the robbers. "Don't worry- uh- miss! You're safe now!"
Peter dropped down onto the ground and walked up to the girl. "Hey! Uh, are you- are you okay?"
"Yes." The girl replied smoothly. "I'm fine. Thank you."
"Oh. Well, uh, if everything is fine I'll be leaving then-"
"Wait. You're the Spider-Man, right?" She asked curiously, brushing her hair out from her eyes.
"Yeah, uh, that's me!" Peter laughed as she took a step closer to him.
"Would it be okay if you took me home? If I'm late my mother will be very worried and I don't want her to know I was almost held at gunpoint." The girl asked.
Peter glanced at the time displayed at the corner of his vision. "I have somewhere to be very soon, but if it's close I would be glad to make sure you are safe." He held out his hand carefully but she ignored it, brushing it away and sliding her own arm around his waist.
Peter hesitated briefly but accepted it, wrapping his useless arm around her and glancing at the girl briefly, his face warming uncomfortably. Peter shot out a web and pulled them upwards, scaling the wall quickly.
"Which way to your home, uh- you never gave me your name?"
"Lila. My name is Lila. And we go that way." Lila pointed past where the school was.
"Alright. Well, please hold on, uh, Lila."
/*\*/*\
"You can put me down over there." Lila said, motioning to an alleyway.
"Okay." Peter responded, slowing and dropping down.
They landed on the ground and Peter let go of her. Lila however, didn't let go, and instead lent into him further, causing Peter to stumble backwards to lean on the wall.
"Hey, Spider-Man, there's something I want to show you." His chest tightened as Lila got closer to him. She reached into her shirt to pull out a necklace with a fox tail attached to the end of it. "This necklace was given to me by my grandmother." Lila murmured quietly. "It is the Miraculous of the Fox, granting the power of illusion to those who use it."
"A Miraculous?" Peter echoed. "Like Ladybug and Chat Noir's?"
Lila frowned slightly at the mention of Ladybug but her warm smile quickly returned. "Yes, I am the super hero, Rena Rouge."
"Rena Rouge? That- that's you?" Peter echoed again, "Wasn't your identity revealed to Hawkmoth the other day by that Akuma- Observer?"
"Yes." Lila responded, "And that's also why I haven't appeared since." She brushed the hair from her eyes and lay her head on Peter's shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly. "I wasn't always called Rena Rouge though. The Fox Miraculous user was once called Volpina, but after I was Akumatised I didn't want people to remember me as a villain so I changed my name to Rena Rouge."
"That's uh- wow- Lila, I- why did you tell me this?" Peter asked her, remembering what Marinette had stressed about when he offered to reveal his identity to her.
"Because I know now that I can trust you." If Peter didn't have a mask on he knew he would have felt her breath on his face. "And I'm hoping that you will trust me too, Spider-Man."
"What are you asking from me, Lila?" Peter asked hesitantly.
"Tell me who you are Spider-Man. Who is under that mask of yours?"
"What?" Peter pressed himself closer to the wall, suddenly feeling trapped.
"Spider-Man, you're obviously an amazing person. We could make an amazing team together." Lila put her hands on his shoulders and narrowed her eyes with a soft smile. "Tell me your identity, Spider-Man."