But I could be more, isn't there more?

III.

Elly returned to the family office on the fourth floor to work in private could sneak a peak at her project. She grabbed a collapsible easel from the same drawer she grabbed the tape measure from earlier. After she set it up with a blueprint sketchbook, she started drawing out a pattern, getting enthralled with her work once again. Elly laid out the general sketch of his suit and knocked out the easy part—it was the mechanics of the suit that was the real problem. She checked the watch she wore on her right wrist; 3:23p.m. Finishing up the designs on the Spider-Man suit, Elly figured she could meet up with Peter for lunch. Hopefully Natasha was done whipping his ass into shape. She made her way back to the second floor, already seeing Peter waiting at the communal dining table. Upon seeing her, he stood up abruptly. "H-hey!" He greeted, clearly trying to appear casual.

"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." Elly slinked off to the fridge to see what was available to eat.

"Oh, no not at all. Um, what did you want to do for lunch?"

"I figured you'd have a plan since you asked me." There was that lingering tone of teasing that wasn't there the first time Peter had met her. On the one hand, he was glad she wasn't as deadpan as she was that day, but her playfulness constantly left him flustered. "I'm joking. I'll whip us up something real quick." Before Peter could protest, she was pulling out ingredients. He watched in curiosity as she seasoned two chicken breasts at the same time as heating a saucepan half full with water and a skillet with the tiniest amount of olive oil. "How was training with Nat?"

"Pretty good, I think. Except for the fact that she can kick my ass in hand to hand combat." The faintest hint of a pout was on the young boy's face, making Elly grin in amusement.

"Dude, she's been doing this stuff longer than we've been alive. I'd hope she can kick your ass." Peter gave a mocking laugh before glaring at her.

"I'll beat her one day!" She gave a dismissive 'mhm' as she turned the seared chicken breasts and dropped pasta into the now boiling water. She pulled a vegetable steamer out from a cupboard to the left of her, placing it in the same pot as the pasta and steamed fresh cut broccoli. These were incredibly menial tasks, Peter realized, but he was mesmerized.

"What's the matter, Parker?" Madelyn asked.

"W-what? Nothing."

"You're staring, Spider-Boy."

"Spider-Man." He emphasized the word man in annoyance. "And it's just different to watch someone cook. I usually hide in my room when my aunt cooks and pretend I'm asleep. She isn't exactly the best at cooking."

"Well, looks like I'll have to avoid having future dinners over there." She joked before turning back to the stove. Did Peter hear that right? Did she just insinuate that she would have had dinner at his house if he didn't mention May was a bad cook? No, he must have heard that wrong. "All done!" Elly turned off the burners and plated their meals. With one in each hand, she set one in front of him at the table, the other in front of the seat directly to his left. In silence, Elly began to dig in with Peter following suit.

"This is really good." He said after swallowing his second bite.

"Glad you like it." Silence filled the air as they ate. They had nothing to talk about and each one of them knew it. Peter was trying his absolute best to not look like an idiot in front of her, but had wanted to ask her so many questions. Or even just tell her simple things but felt that even compliments were crossing boundary lines. Elly wanted to know what it was like to be normal, and the question was gnawing at her. She was, is, and always will be Tony Stark's daughter—and that had a stigma to it. She also grew up keeping to herself, even in school, so nobody would ever find out who she really was. She already tried that once and failed. The only socialization she ever had was with people of power: The Avengers, Rhodey, SHIELD agents, and the like. She had nobody even remotely close to her own age to offer childhood friendship to. "Hey, Peter?" Elly decided to break the ice.

"Yeah?"

"What are your friends like?" He looked taken aback.

"M-my friends? Uh...well I don't have that many really. Most people pick on me. Ned is the one who bumped into and ruined your sketchbook; he's my best friend. And Michelle is weird. She's not really a friend, but she always sits...by us at lunch?" Peter wasn't sure how to role Michelle into his friends. She was just always there but didn't officially qualify as a friend. She was definitely strange, but Peter had no reason to exclude her from his friend list.

"Do you and Ned do everything together?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Well, kinda. Not so much anymore since your dad offered me this grant, internship, whatever you want to call it. I feel kind of bad 'cause I've been ditching him a lot lately." He hadn't meant to admit the last bit out loud. Out of embarrassment and guilt, he took a big bite of his meal to delay more words from spilling past his lips.

"You should spend more time with him. The internship isn't going anywhere."

"What about you, who's your best friend?" He asked, trying to deter the attention from himself.

"I-I don't have one anymore..." She murmured, a smidge of sadness flashing in her eyes. "My best friend passed away two years ago."

"Oh, shit. I-I'm sorry, forget I asked." His cheeks burned red as he mentally yelled at himself for even saying anything. To ease his nerves, he cleared his plate.

"No, it's okay. Really. Sometimes talking about her and her passing kind of...comforts me for some reason."

"How did she…?" Peter couldn't bring himself to completely asked how she died.

"It's a bit of a long story, but long story short, she overdosed." Empty noise wafted into the air, making Elly the slightest bit uncomfortable. She never felt like talking about death was over sharing, but Peter was so young. There was no possible way she could explain the death of her best friend in a way didn't make her sound like an insane person.

"I lost my uncle a few years ago. I learned to cope with it..." He trailed off, unable to connect his thoughts with his mouth.

"But it never really goes away." Elly finished somberly. "Maybe I'll tell you the story one day." Peter nodded, silently vowing the same as she finished her meal. He picked up both of their plates and brought them to the sink to wash. Elly told him he didn't have to worry about doing the dishes, but he brushed her off.

"You cooked, so I'll do the cleaning!" A silent sigh of relief passed through Elly's lips—she absolutely loathed doing dishes.

"Thanks, Petey, you're the best." She teased before pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek. "I've got some work to start in the lab, so I'll be at the top floor if you need me." Elly called for the elevator and left poor Peter Parker standing there, utterly stunned. His mind was in a complete whirlwind. Madelyn Stark was his first kiss that wasn't from family—even if it was just on the cheek. Already, he was overly aware of their age difference; that he was only about to turn sixteen and she was more than likely going to be turning eighteen. She had said just a couple of weeks ago that this would never happen when he wrapped an arm around her waist for a picture, whatever this was. She was also his boss' daughter, and not just any boss for that matter. She was Tony fucking Stark's daughter! But gods above, she was brilliant and beautiful and there was nothing Peter wanted more than to feel her lips against his skin again. After mild deliberation, he rang for the elevator to take him to the lab on the top floor.

Elly was working in her own, albeit small, quadrant of the Avengers laboratory. Her father was working on his own projects on the opposite side and, despite the distance between them, Peter could spot numerous similarities between the two. Both of them were angling their gaze slightly upward to their virtual screens in front of them; she was almost his mirror, having his cheekbones and nose. But she definitely had Pepper's eyes. He walked towards Elly's smaller workspace, alerting her with the sound of his footsteps. "Oh, I'm glad you're here!"

"R-really?"

"Yeah. I need a sample of your web fluid so that I can make some adjustments for your suit." Peter hoisted his backpack onto an empty spot on her desk, digging through the front pockets to grab a small of vial of his signature web. "Perfect, thanks Peter." She put that aside and saved the coding file she was working on. Elly was unsure how tech savvy he was, so she was trying to keep anything related to his suit a surprise to him. "So, what else did you have planned for the day?"

"Nothing else, I don't think. Unless Mr. Stark has specific instructions!" Peter called out the last bit of his sentence loud enough for the man in question to hear. Tony offhandedly waved, but said nothing. "Looks like I'm done here."

"Cool, want me to take you home?"

"Uh, yeah. That would be great." He struggled to keep his cool, but her words filled him with anxiety and excitement. He would get to be alone with her in the car and, thanks to New York City rush hour, it would most likely be longer than the ride in. Elly got up from her stool and swung her purse over her shoulder..

"Hey, dad! I'm going to take Peter back to Queens!" She called out.

"Okay, honey. Be careful!" He didn't turn around once, which somewhat alerted Elly. He hadn't looked at her since she got to the lab. But she did her best to ignore it as the two teens got into the elevator and waited for it to drop down to the garage level. They stood quietly and, while Elly thought nothing of it, the gears in Peter's mind were turning, causing his nerves to cultivate. As she backed out of the garage, she had A.A.R.O.N play the same album as before, the calming yet upbeat music seeping into Peter's veins. He did his best to watch the city go by him, but it was difficult with the car coming to a stop due to traffic. When finally looked at Elly after god knows how many muted minutes, her lips were moving along to the lyrics and bopping her head to the beat. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he was also able to hear her softly singing along.

"You can sing if you want, there's no one here." He offered, making her look at him in a questioning manner.

"Did you refer to yourself as 'no one', Spider-Man?" There was that teasing tone again that couldn't help but leave Peter flustered. Before he could start stuttering like she knew he was going to, she began belting out to the chorus along with the car radio. When EDEN's voice faded out, so did Elly's.

"Y-you have a pretty voice." He said quietly as he looked out the windshield at the stopped vehicles. He decided he was going to inch over the imaginary boundary line that he feared crossing. She snorted in response in conjunction with her laughter.

"That's hilarious, Peter. I'm as tone deaf as my dad." She said. He was trying to hold it together, as much as he wanted to crumble at her playfulness. He also wanted to throw it back to at her.

"I mean, I was trying to be polite..."

"Oh boy, spidey's got jokes!" The two were laughing raucously in the car as the rest of New York was at a standstill.

"A.A.R.O.N, please turn on the Ultimate Playlist." The intro to HandClap by Fitz and the Trantums' came on, and Elly immediately started dancing in her seat as much as her seat belt would allow her. Peter was watching in amusement as she sang along with rigorous shoulder shaking and dramatic hand movements, most of those involving her fingers delicately brushing the underside of his jaw.

"You've got your dad's old man dance moves too." There was a smirk on his lips as Elly feigned false anger with her mouth agape. But she was also smiling and laughing while trying to reach for Peter's hands to make him clap along with the song. Traffic was finally moving ever so slightly, and that was the only reason she had stopped being goofy, though she would pause to clap to the beat every time it had come up. She was still chuckling and it made his heart murmur ever so slightly. "Hey, A.A.R.O.N, could you put something on that will make Ms. Stark sing?" She looked over at him in slight disbelief, thought she was still trying to keep her eyes on the barely moving traffic. He was conspiring with her robot assistant!

"Understood, Mr. Parker." Elly heard the soft strums of a guitar that she immediately recognized and, before she could stop herself, she was singing along to Vance Joy. Traffic was finally moving more than a few centimeters at a top, yet she had hardly even noticed. She was too busy singing along, hitting her hands against the steering wheel of her Audi to the beat.

"I told you you had a pretty voice." Peter said, holding up his phone that showed a looping Snapchat video of Elly screeching along, entirely out of key.

"You better delete that, Parker!" She yelled jokingly as she exited off of the freeway. He would be home in just a few moments now.

"No way, the world needs to know this side of the Stark family!"

"That's where you lose, nobody knows I exist!" She had him in a checkmate, or so she thought. With Peter's knowledge, he had to tread carefully while in check—but he also knew the only way to win now was to take a risk. The two had arrived outside of his apartment; now was his time to take the chance.

"Hey, thanks for taking me home, Elly." He said, turning down the music to a faint whisper. "Um...I-I wanted to ask you if you wanted to do something this weekend? You probably already have plans, but if you're not doing anything…?" He couldn't finish his sentence. Her silence made him feel so incredibly foolish for even considering asking her to hang out. But he wanted—needed, even—to see her more than just their internship.

"Nah, I'm not doing anything. Did you have something in mind this time or am I making the plans again?" Damn her and her teasing tone.

"W-wait, really? N-n-no, I'll have the whole day planned for us!" Before he could have more tongue tied words stumble past his lips, he opened the door and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"Sure thing, Peter. I'll be here around six on Saturday?" Despite her exuding confidence, Elly could feel her cheeks burn in the slightest.

"Sounds great, I'll see you then!" He turned away and shut her car door, fumbling for his apartment keys in his backpack. He refused to let Elly see his beat red face and toothy grin; he could feel his rapid heart beat in his throat. "Hey, aunt May!" The overly excited teen called out into his seemingly empty apartment. "I need your help!"

"What's wrong, Peter?" She emerged from her bedroom, alarm crossing her face.

"I think I have a date."

Author Note: Hiyo~ This story has already been posted to my Tumblr, Tom-Hollandaze but I figured I would share this here.