It was strange watching the room of reporters fall under her trance. He felt the wind, a strong brush washing across his ears and hitting every noisy reporter like a wall. She manipulated the speed of time passing in that room as every reporter failed at resisting the lure. Peter looked at Mr. Stark who looked right back at him, his eyes filled with panic. He had never seen the man scared before, but the control that Lena had was terrifying.

It was a force to be reckoned with.

She set them free, the atmosphere returning to normal. nodding at Mr. Stark to continue what he was saying. It was deathly silent except for the heavy breathing of Pepper standing behind them. He could feel the tension rising both in her and Mr. Stark, they were just doing a phenomenal job of masking it. Peter felt his jaw lock and his teeth clench for what felt like the hundredth time that day. This time he was lucky no one could see his face under the mask.

When Pepper took over, Mr. Stark guided Peter and Lena out the door, a gentle push with his hands on both of their shoulders. The second the door closed behind them, Mr. Stark had let go of him and grabbed Lena.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he sounded nervous, and Peter could see that his hands had a slight shake to them.

"Mr. Stark don't-
"Peter, quiet," Mr. Stark snapped pointing a single finger in between Peter's eyes and then returning to Lena, whose mouth was wide open, probably not having the words to come close to responding.

It was too loud, she said in Peter's head.

Then tell him that, he thought at her, not sure if she would even hear it at all.

She was starting to shake as well, her hands clasping as she tried to manage them. Peter wanted to help, to let Mr. Stark know what the hell she was thinking. It made sense to him; he had seen her have a panic attack before.

"It was too!" was all Lena had in her. Loud wasn't a part of her vocabulary yet, and that wasn't her fault.

"What? It was too what?" Mr. Stark was frantic, almost shaking her to try to get her to speak.
"Loud, Mr. Stark. It was too loud in there. I'm sure that's the loudest scenario she's ever been in, and I understand why it freaked her out. Hell, the first time she cried she freaked out. Can you blame her? You're throwing everything at her pretty damn fast," Peter had started talking, and words were spilling out faster than he could think. "Give her a break okay? She just found out with the rest of the world that she's going to be a superhero."

Mr. Stark stood upright, and turned around, looking shocked at the audacity Peter apparently had. He was surprised with himself, that was for sure. Most conversations he had with Mr. Stark involved a copious amount of nervous stuttering, and that was when he was relaxed. Seeing Lena being carelessly tossed around like she was less than human was starting to drive Peter insane.

"I am," she said, breaking the awfully uncomfortable silence forming between the three of them. "Less than human. I am."

Mr. Stark expelled the remaining air that he had been holding in his lungs, "Peter. Do you understand what just happened? Do you understand that she revealed her capabilities on live television? People are going to think she's a threat. We know that she's not a threat, but how are they supposed to know that? Huh?" he pointed at the door, referencing to the press within the room, "Tell me Peter!"

The yelling, the frustration, and the undermining of Peter's knowledge was reminiscent of the last time Peter had taken matters into his own hands. He was swept away into the moment he almost had his suit permanently taken away. Both Mr. Stark and he had learned a lot since then, but his mentor's raised voice tended to ring in his head, bouncing between his ears.

"I think Pepper will be able to handle it," Peter said coldly.

He looked over at Lena, who was taking off the device that was keeping her upright. He wasn't sure why, she still needed to get to her room, but she sat on the floor and yanked it off, silently handing it to Mr. Stark and holding her hands out for Peter to take, a mute expression taking over her eyes.

Peter took her by the hands to stand her up, then wrapped his arm around her waist to carry her bridal style to her room, trying to avoid the intense stare that Mr. Stark was shooting into his heart, which was racing beyond belief. As he started to walk away, the weight of Lena's head against his heart starting to slow it down, Mr. Stark called after them.

"Kids- I," he sighed, cutting himself off. "Listen kids, I only want what's best for you," he sighed one more time, it was likely he was reminding himself of his father, like last time, "I want the world to love Lena as much as all of us here love her. First impressions are tough, but I'm sorry that I snapped. Okay?"

Peter looked down at Lena, who had barely uncoiled from the complete enclosure of his arms, her silver eyes met his, and she turned to Mr. Stark, nodding. Mr. Stark nodded back, and Peter headed to Lena's room. If anything, she desperately needed to relax.

They got to her room, and Peter was so tense a headache was forming behind his right eye. He used his fist and rubbed, but that only made it worse. He closed his eyes, leaning against the door frame, and opened them to see Lena looking at him curiously.

"I-my head hurts, that's all."
You're stressed.

"I mean I guess I-"

I can fix that.

"You-"
She opened her mouth to sing, but this time, the fog engulfed him. It wasn't as strong has he remembered it, which brought him to think that she might be able to control its strength, but he let it wash through his body and into his veins, the headache vanishing completely. It was like someone had turned on the air conditioning inside of his person, cooling him off with the strongest relaxation he had ever felt.

When she stopped, it lingered, hanging in the air around him. He hadn't noticed he had walked a few steps towards her.

"Thanks."

Of course.

…

"Hey May, sorry I wasn't able to come home after-"
"Peter you were on TV!" May came running out of the living room, her socks skidding across the tiles almost causing her to slip. "Peter. Everyone is going nuts. Who is that? Who's the Siren? You didn't tell me you had a partner-"

"May May May!" he put a hand on her shoulder, almost laughing, "Slow down. You know that project that I've been working on with Mr. Stark for the past, I don't know, 2-3 months?"

"Yes of course."

"Well. . ." he maneuvered his hands back and forth, not knowing precisely how to say he's been rehabilitating a siren.

"That's-that's wow. Peter wow," May took a step back, landing on the bar stool behind her. "She's amazing!"

Peter smiled, "I know. She won't be ready to accompany me for a while, but they had to release the stuff about the ships and-"

"You knew about that the whole time and didn't tell me?"

"It's classified!"

"I'm your legal guardian!"
"And I'm Tony Stark's intern!"

May leaned back, taking all of the news in visibly, after an exhale she finally said, "So is she cute?"

Peter blinked, "Wha-what? Cute? Is she what?"
"She has to be gorgeous. That long blonde hair. The luring voice. You haven't shown interest in anyone since Liz, Peter. So is. She. Cute?"

His aunt looked more than enthusiastic about his answer, probably knowing it better than he did, "May I-I don't know! Maybe she might be I-"

"Okay. Cool," May winked and stood, returning to whatever she had been doing in the living room. Dumbfounded, he went to his room so he could get his homework done in time for patrol.

The rush he got from swinging through the buildings of New York would never grow old. He had been doing this for months now, and the wind whistling, the view of the city from a rooftop, the way people pointed as he swung by, it all filled his heart with something that was irreplaceable. That evening he stopped a mugging, rescued a woman from almost being hit by a car, and took down a man that was trying to lure a young girl into his car while her mother wasn't looking.

The nights weren't always busy like that. Sometimes he couldn't find anything to do, which were the times when he felt as if he wasn't doing enough. It wasn't like in Berlin where he felt like he was passionately doing fighting for the right thing. It definitely wasn't like taking down the Vulture, where multiple parts played into the villains demise. It was just wandering aimlessly in hope of someone needing help. If he knew the codes to the police dispatch, he would just use that, but he didn't, and Mr. Stark had programmed Karen to be unable to identify those codes. Mr. Stark would do anything to prevent Peter being tagged as a vigilante.

He sat on another unknown roof, knowing it would take less than five minutes to get home. Usually, he would go immediately to the front of his apartment to get into a car sent by Mr. Stark, but he could see from this roof that the car wasn't there. He had already seen Lena that day, so he didn't mind, but there was a twinge in his chest when he thought of the possibility of Mr. Stark being upset with him. He hadn't meant to diminish any authority.

Soon, Lena would be sitting on this roof with him. He'd carry her in his arms, swinging, having someone by his side to keep everything under control. That was her best asset: control. She could have complete control over anyone she wanted, although she had told him it was harder for some than others. He recalled that she once said that Mr. Stark was so thick headed that she never even had a desire to attempt trancing him. It would have to be completely voluntary for her to do it easily.

He could see it now. Her singing, him easily pulling the gun out of a perp's hand. It was a dream for his crime scenes to move slowly, and when he was done, he could end the performance with one of his classic one-liners. It was everything he could have wanted, with the only person he could picture himself doing it with.

For the longest time, the idea of him falling for Lena had been aggressively shoved from every ounce of his brain. It was so easy to develop feelings for someone as beautiful as her. May had asked if she was cute, but that would be a complete understatement. She was breathtaking. Every time they locked eyes his heart dropped to his stomach, and he lost every coherent thought that was going through his idiotic brain. His brain became mush around her. The last time he had feelings like that was with…

With Liz it was still different, though. With Liz he felt like he had every right to develop a crush on her. Lena was so fragile and impressionable that he felt like he was taking advantage of her somehow. There were times where he thought his feelings might be fabricated by the illusion that was her beauty. Her appearance was supposed to make his heart race so fast it could fly.

She had pressed her finger to his lips after he stuttered to fix his stupid mistake. He had acknowledged how pretty she was right to her face, and it was obvious she knew what it meant.

But it hadn't deterred her from relieving his headache, or accepting Peter taking her into his arms. In fact, she had placed her ear on his heart and was probably listening like she did with his thoughts. He knew she couldn't completely read them, but behind his eyes he saw her picking through them, shuffling through them like a song on a jukebox.

He didn't mind. Somehow he knew he was different than everyone else. She hadn't said it, but he knew that she couldn't do that with just anybody. He let her pick through his brain, because he trusted her completely.

For her, he'd open himself like a book.