Ugh, Why me?
“What do you mean get back home?”
That was the first sentence Peter uttered when they entered his room. For some odd reason by opening the window instead of going through the front door.
“What do you think it means?”
“Um, I don’t know,” He put his hands on his hips and stared at her with mockery on his face, “Get back home, maybe.”
She shrugged her shoulders, “Then that’s what it is.”
“But you said, you live in Brooklyn!”
“I lied.”
Peter dropped on his bed, “I already have enough trust issues,” a sigh escaped his mouth, “and you say this.”
Raven was in a pickle her and contemplated what she should tell him. She could spill her guts, but there was a chance he wouldn’t believe her. Why would he, her story would sound ridiculous to anyone else, including her. For him, to help her was, nevertheless, necessary.
A thoughtful finger rested on her chin while she weighed her options. After a minute of anticipating silence, she made her decision.
“Look Peter, this may sound absurd, but I am not from here.”
He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you already said that.”
She pressed her fingers tightly against each other, “I mean, not from this dimension…”
His eyes widened, lifting his upper body off the bed.
Here we go…
“WHAT?”
“You know people from my dimension, still have the same hearing as in yours,” she rubbed her ears.
“FROM ANOTHER DIMENSION?”
“Let me explain…”
A glass of water was what she needed, after explaining her dilemma and the onslaught of questions. To say, Peter was a curious person, would be an understatement and she gratified his demand only, because she had to gain his trust. The irony was the fact that she hadn’t revealed everything, not even close.
Time passed by so fast it escaped her sense of time, and then the first sunbeams blinded her for a few seconds. Although she had a lack of sleep, she would conclude her fatigue came from Peter’s questions. Annoying.
Peter served her a glass of water and a semi- look of ‘I can’t believe this’ and sat down on his chair. The anticipatory eyes he had for her, as she was moisturizing her throat, wasn’t subtle in any way, although he might have thought otherwise.
This ruthless bastard. She didn’t have the endurance for another attack. She should stop him, as a matter of fact it’s time for her to ask some questions.
“What els-”
“Stop,” she said, putting the empty glass on the table.
“You have a rambling problem, man.”
Peter ashamed, faced towards the ground, “I’m working on it.”
She massaged her temples, “Look, I know this may overwhelm you, but like I said I know your help.”
“Yeah, about that…” he scrunched his face, “How am I supposed to help you?”
“I mean…” he continued “You can do all this magic stuff, and I am pretty oblivious about that. I am a hero like you, although not in a group or in a tower built for you. I’m just your friendly neighborhood Spider-man… unfortunately, living in a rather old apartment with my aunt. I can’t help you with dimension travel and what not…”
Raven wondered why Peter sold himself short. Yes, he didn’t have the facilities she had that shouldn’t diminish his work, though. Even the Teen Titans purpose wasn’t to fight world destroyers, keeping the city safe was all that mattered.
And it was enough.
Her hands landed on her hips and sighed, “I already know, that Peter. My reasoning is that you may have connections in the superhero community. Someone who could help me.”
Peter contemplated, crossing his arms, “I don’t know her personally, but there is someone that could aid you…”
“Who-”
“Although…” he shook his head, “Finding her would cause trouble.”
The silence from Raven signaled Peter to carry on.
“The scarlet witch.”
“Why her?”
“I fought against her in airport Berlin. From what I’ve seen she has similar powers to yours.”
“Where can I find her?”
He chewed on his lips, eyes affected by concern, “Did you hear about the civil war?”
“I saw it in the newspaper.”
Peter raised an eyebrow, a chuckle left his mouth, “Who reads the newspaper?”
“It’s kind of hard when you don’t have a phone or internet connection,” she tapped her foot.
“Still, you know there are televisions around, in bars or malls or anywhere actually and even Starbucks has internet. You could’ve asked their sta-”
“Peter. I am going to murder you.”
“Sorry. Where was I?”
She inhaled a deep breath.
“So, after the civil war Captain America’s coalition were arrested and charged as war criminals. Most of them got out or broke out, and she went into hiding.”
“Seriously?” She threw her arms up, exasperated. There was always something.
“But all hope isn’t lost.” Peter rummaged in his pocket, revealing his phone.
“I got a connection to Tony Stark.”
“That iron guy?”
Peter gasped, “He is also a genius, billionaire and Philanthropist,” he added dramatically, “How could you tarnish his legacy like that.”
Raven waved her hand dismissively, “How can he help me?”
“He is rich and a superhero. If he doesn’t know someone who could help you, I don’t know who does.”
“And you can reach him?” her lips pressed into an unpersuaded line.
“Well, if your newspaper provided you with enough information, then you would know that I was in Iron man’s team. After the whole shit show, he kinda gave me his number.”
“He kinda gave you, his number?” the repetition of his words were slow and drawn out, with unmistakable mockery.
Peter rubbed his neck, “I mean yes and no…” he rolled his eyes, “I have the number of his bodyguard who is a close associate. I don’t know how long it will take for him to reply.”
“Great.”
Irritation struck in her core. It will probably take hours or days. Who knew. She wondered how she could fill in the remaining time.
She was hesitant to overstay her welcome in Peter’s home. Exploiting his generosity would be easy for a soul like him. Most likely, he was already a victim of that. The amount of purity his soul radiated was truly astounding.
She never witnessed a soul like that, ever.
Anyway, she should leave and check later whether he got a message. A shower wouldn’t have been bad or a bed or a well heated place… sigh. Not that she couldn’t summon a realm for herself to rest or for comfort. She could, and she did.
The loneliness and the lack of a company overpowered every other need and desire. No matter how hard she fought against those daunting emotions, practically strangling it, so it would never get a hold of her.
It fell like a ton of bricks when the impending realization hit, she became too attached. Attached to her teammates in the Titan Tower and all their quirky personalities.
She buried those unwelcoming feelings deep down, to never confront them. Wearing pink, she deemed as less cruel.
She dusted herself off, “I should be going.”
His lips parted slightly, “Bu- but w-where to?”
“You won’t have to worry about that,” she headed towards the window.
Peter chased after her, grabbing her shoulder. Raven flinched at the contact and turned around. If looks could kill, Peter would have been dead ten times over. Peter apologetically smiled which conveyed the hidden message “Please don’t hex my nuts off”
“Come on, you can stay for a while. I don’t mind.”
“I am thankful for that, but I don’t want to Intrude any longer.”
“Raven, you are not intruding anyone. I just want to hel-“
Peter’s voice blended into the background as an ominous creak, brushed against her eardrums. A unexpectantly attractive woman leaned against the doorway with a consequential expression which screamed trouble.
Was that his aunt?
Not what she imagined, and she had atrocious timing, dammit.
She cleared her throat awkwardly to get Peter’s attention, because this fool was still unaware of her presence and talking to me. His body flinched. A wide gap formed between his mouth, since he was in the middle of his rambling.
He turned his back to me. The air in the room felt heavier and with each passing second, Peter’s uneasiness projected against her. He wiped his hands on his pants, laughing. But even a blind person would see his anxiousness.
“Hey aunt May! Y-you are up early,” he paused for a moment, “What are we having for breakfast. I can’t wait to taste your fine dining heaven.”
“Peter, you know I am a horrible cook,” she heard Peter swallowing a big chunk of spit.
He was a terrible liar, the situation in the alley proved that. She never thought it could get worse, but there they were. Silence ensued and her eyes darted at me, then to Peter.
“So?”
“Ah-h yeah, right. This is Raven she is… uhh…” the cogs were rolling in Peter’s head
“Yes?”
Peter’s eyes brightened while his posture straightened, a big smile stretched across his face. A nauseating gut feeling crept up; she wasn’t going to like this.
“You know I have an internship at Stark industries. Well, turns out I have a partner, she also has an internship at Stark industries. Happy introduced her to me last night and he pleaded that she could stay at our place.”
What did he say? For the love of Azarath! Don’t tell me-I told him not to! This buffoon… UGH!
May’s consequential stare fell a bit and morphed into bewilderment, “You want to tell me; A multibillion-dollar company can’t arrange a place for her to sleep?”
Yes, there is hope. Come on Peter, she knows he was out of his depth.
“They uhh… th- they said, it was to strengthen teamwork and encourage discourse. For future, scientists that is very important, Aunt May. I thought you would know that by now.”
Wow, just when she called him bad liar. She should have never trusted her luck. She will have her vengeance, after this ordeal.
Peter pretended to be outraged. May was still doubtful, her posture relaxed, nevertheless letting it go for now.
“They could have told me, at least,” she mumbled.
Then, she stepped towards Raven and stretched her hand out, “Sorry for my rudeness, dear. Peter can be full of surprises. As you may have heard, my name is May, and I am Peter’s sweet aunt.”
Raven’s hand enveloped hers,”Ahm, hello. Nice to meet you.”
May pinched her cheek and cooed, “Aren’t you a sweetheart,” Peter visibly flinched from his aunt’s action, possibly petrified of Raven’s reaction. Raven knew better and smiled awkwardly.
“And I thought Peter would finally come out his shell and get a girlfriend,” she said with a tinge of disappointment, “That’s a start, though. Don’t you think?”
“Y-yeah,” Raven said with embarrassment.
One was dorky and inept, and the other outgoing without a sense of boundaries. A combination of unmitigated chaos, she was in for a wild ride.
An ecstatic scream left May’s mouth, “Finally, I have a fellow woman in my apartment. You must tell me about yourself, I’ll make us some coffee.”
May hooked her arm around Raven’s arm and dragged her to the kitchen. She turned to see Peter giving her thumbs up, although he rather resembled someone who regrets everything, they did 2 minutes ago.
Things were about to change, and she wasn’t ready for it.