i miss ice cream
"he seems young"
bucky nodded. he ran a hand through the messy, brown locks that dangled in his face.
"like high-school age" steve continued worriedly.
the supersoldiers were standing atop stark tower, staring at where the vigilante had swung away, presumably heading home for the night.
bucky had been sat on the rooftop for quite a while until steve found him, and when the former HYDRA agent explained why he was up there, steve stayed with him to watch the mutant.
"he can handle his own" bucky comforted the blonde, patting his muscly shoulder.
steve huffed. "I know he can, but he's young and although he seems amazing he's probably inexperienced "
bucky opened his mouth to defend the spider when they heard a familiar female voice behind them.
"vision's making chili and he wants you guys to do the dishes" nat called, red hair caught in the night breeze as she poked her head out of the trapdoor.
bucky pulled a face. "vision's cooking?"
natasha smirked. "wanda's supervising"
she hauled herself up with ease and joined them at the railing.
"late-night contemplation?" she asked, and steve scratched his head.
"not exactly" he admitted, and bucky jumped straight in with "we were watching that spider kid"
nat raised an eyebrow. "why?"
bucky shrugged. "I want to get to know him, he's funny and he helped me yesterday"
"it's not just that, buck." steve added, his face becoming more stiff and serious, something the team liked to refer to as 'captain mode'
"it depends really on the situation, but spiderman would be a great asset for the team, the way he works is efficient, and he really gets on with us" he said, ignoring nat's eye roll.
"well you know how i feel" she sighed, walking back to the trapdoor.
the redhead had expressed her feelings about the vigilante a few days ago when they'd called a meeting in the conference room to discuss whether or not to try and track him.
nat, wanda and bucky had been most against the notion, and nat had gone on about how "we can't violate his wishes to remain anonymous, his secret identity is probably the only thing keeping him safe"
trust the black widow, infamous for her many aliases, to know about identities.
bucky waved a goodbye to nat. she receded back down the ladder, but not without a "if you haven't done the dishes in the next half hour, stark's gonna remove your mario kart priveleges"
bucky chuckled, but noticed steve's troubled expression.
"hey, cmon cap, it's fine. we can't force the guy to talk to us" he said, drifting away from the railing.
steve smiled faintly. "yeah, i know. i just worry"
bucky grinned. "you're like a mother hen. you've always worried far too much"
steve punched his shoulder, and bucky reciprocated with his metal arm, snorting when steve whined.
"ah, come on. il dry, you wash?" steve offered, and bucky scoffed.
"in your dreams, I washed last time, golden boy"
peter punched the air, whooping loudly, but instantly regretting it as his chest twinged painfully, his aching lungs still sensitive from that fire.
"oh fuck YES!" he hissed, clutching his ribs but still celebrating.
he'd successfully managed to get around the snag he'd hit with developing his AI, and the progress he made definitely paid off.
peter smiled triumphantly at the computer monitor in front of him, displaying his beloved project.
he could've kissed the moniter, but considering he'd found the thing in a dumpster he decided to just punch the air a few more times.
"fuck yeah!" he uttered, his smile so wide it hurt his cheeks.
peter was about to grab his suit and upload the AI right now, but hesitated as he felt the aching in his muscles and back. he'd been hunched over his setup for far too long.
peter decided he'd get some air before testing out his brain child, and walked out of the slanted doorway that was half-caved in, giving the illusion the warehouse was no good.
he walked round the block, hands shoved in his grey jeans, curly brown hair unruly and pretty dirty.
there was a small shower block that was surprisingly nice considering the rough area peter resided in. he'd head there later when he'd finished uploading his AI.
peter tutted as he saw the fresh litter of cans and food packaging scattered around the alleys linking to a small skatepark and another cluster of warehouses, and he snatched them up and stuffed them in the bin.
he waved to the scruffy teenagers who were sat up on a high ledge, doing some variation of drugs. they waved back with enthusiasm, some of them actually bothering to smile.
when he'd first arrived at the area, some of the fellow homeless had tried to rough him up, noticing the selection of expensive things he'd taken with him from aunt may's, but they'd learned very quickly peter was not one to be messed with.
the local gangs and such had grown to give the suspiciously strong boy a wide burden, and after a few incidents where peter had showed his kindness, given them previsions such as sleeping bags and even patching a couple of kids up after a fight, they began to respect him
he was glad he'd had a positive influence on the area, as he had stopped fights from breaking out on numerous occasions.
half an hour later peter arrived back at his hideout, and started getting to work implementing his artificial intelligence.
he'd yet to give it a name, actually.
after a couple of test runs, where peter had excitedly conversed with the computerised voice (he still needed to give it a voice, an identity) and given it commands, which it successfully carried out, he grinned with glee and leaned back in his second-hand swivel chair.
"so... what do you think of ice cream?" he asked randomly, reveling in the comfort of actually having someone to talk to.
he had no friends, having left them all behind. the people at the newspaper company barely acknowledged him when he handed them his photos, so the snatched 'conversations' he had with criminals and occasionally, superheroes, were the best he got.
the robotic voice responded, hesitantly if that was possible.
"i myself am unable to taste ice cream, but i deduce from public data that the snack is most enjoyable" the voice said coolly, and peter snorted.
he reached forwards and started tapping away on the keyboard, changing its attitude settings to more informal. he didn't want such a dry-sounding computer companion.
"that it is" he said grinning. "I miss ice cream..."
his smile faded as peter remembered the times he and his uncle ben would sneak in a few cones when they were out on their daily errands, keeping it between themselves so as not to incur the wrath of aunt may.
"you are distres-upset" the AI noted, correcting its formal language, and peter rubbed his face slowly.
"I shouldn't be" he said dismissively. "I've just created my very own AI! I've been working toward this for months, I shouldn't be moping around"
"considering your past, peter, i think it's okay to be sad"
peter hummed in response, spinning around on his chair.
he placed his booted foot on the edge of the squeaky mattress on the floor as he spun to a stop, and bit his lip.
"do you think... do you think i should help the avengers more often?" he asked, curious to see it's response.
the AI seemed to debate for a bit before answering with "given the footage and the resources, it seems they get on a lot better when you're assisting them"
peter rolled his eyes. "duh" he said, his mouth curving slightly.
"now... what voice do you think would suit you?" he asked.
"a young female voice is favoured as most soothing" the AI replied, and peter nodded.
"you do seem like a she"
he spun the chair back around and started tapping the keyboard keys again, and listened to a few voices from this website he'd found.
after a few minutes of debating, he decided to upload the 12th one, a friendly-sounding teenage-ish(?) girl voice.
it took a few minutes to integrate, so peter hopped up and grabbed his suit, fiddling with a few cables.
he connected the wires, inserting the light grey thin cable into the small gadget lining on the inside of his mask.
he watched the screen blink green as the system started uploading, and he grinned his crooked, cheery smile again.
his family had told him once his smile could brighten up the world.
after may had died, the only parker relative left hadn't smiled for a full year before
realising his family wouldn't want him to scrooge his way through life. so he'd started to joke around on patrol, and soon his natural bright and goofy demeanour had bounced back full-force.
it was a shame no one was really around to see him smile. and the times he did he was covered by his mask.
peter licked his lips, eyeing the screen. the AI was 20% uploaded.
sometimes he wished he could take off the mask, let the people he save in the alleys see his face, let them know it was him that was helping them, but he knew he couldn't.
spiderman was his identity now. it protected him.
"voice has been uploaded, peter. hello"
said a nice-sounding female voice from the speaker linked up to his monitors, and peter smiled.
"hello! do you like your voice?" he asked excitedly.
"I like it very much" the comforting voice answered.
"now just for a name..." peter mumbled, twirling a black marker in his hand absent-mindedly.
"would you like me to suggest options?"said his computerised companion, and he shrugged.
" ahh, go on" he complied.
"popular choices for female names are Emma, Olivia, Ava, Isabella, Sophia, Mia, Charlotte, Amelia, Lydia...would you like me to continue?"
peter hummed thoughtfully. "ill think on it" he decided.
"my system is 90% intergrated" she(yes peter decided it was a she) chirped, and peter grinned, rubbing his hands like a mad scientist in anticipation.
he got out of the chair and leapt up in the air, at least fifteen feet, grabbing a chain that dangled from the ceiling. he used the chain to swing forward and flip, wheeling through the air to land on a cabinet with an echoey "thunk !"
it wasn't peter's fault he had ADHD, the kid couldn't sit still for five minutes.
peter blew a brown curl out of his face(god, he needed a haircut) and jumped down off the cabinet
"very impressive, my lord" the unnamed AI deadpanned sarcastically, and peter broke into laughter, his wheezy, breathy giggles filling the dingy spacious room.
twenty minutes later, peter was standing fully decked out in his red and blue suit on top of the warehouse, breathing in the crisp cold evening air and adjusting the new AI-controlled mask.
it felt odd, but he'd get used to it.
he was testing the last few commands.
"so... testing, testing... please could you activate my foam setting?" he asked, and he held up his arm to see the matte black webshooter flash white, the colour that displayed the foam setting, a material he decided to implement for small fires.
"ah... thank you. now, flying squirrel mode please" peter asked, and smirked when he felt the tug as a type of parachute-material emerged from flaps by his shoulder blades and the back of his shins that allowed him to glide in case he ever ran out of webfluid mid-air.
which he was unlikely to do, as his new buddy would now kindly inform him when he got to 20% capacity.
peter nodded, smug and satisfied.
"right. no time to dawdle, let's test this baby out!"