Cassie
“I’m home!” yelled a voice Peter assumed was Cassie’s. She came through the door, tossing a backpack onto a chair in the living room on her way through. She was about Peter’s age, with long dark-brown hair in a ponytail, and wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a Black Widow quote on it.
“Hey kiddo, you want pizza?” Scott asked, holding his phone away from his ear.
“Sure, Dad! I’d love uhhhhhh” she stopped short when she caught sight of Peter, who was standing upside-down on the ceiling, dusting the tops of the kitchen’s hanging lights with a rag. He waved.
“Hi! Cassie, right? I’m Peter Parker. Or Spider-Man, uh, depending on the situation. I guess you could say I’m like, a work friend of your dad’s?”
Cassie blinked a few times, then shook her head and nodded. “I, uh. Got that much from the name.”
“Fair.”
Scott finished the call and turned to Cassie. “Yeah, I know it’s a little short notice, but he needed a place to stay for a while, and we had a guest room.”
Peter dropped from the ceiling, twisting to land on his feet facing her fully, and stuck out a hand. “Nice to meet you!”
Cassie shook his hand with a grin. “You too! That was super cool, by the way, how did you do that?”
“Oh, I got bit by a radioactive spider and it gave me superpowers. I can walk on walls, I got superstrength, and I have kind of a sixth sense for danger,” Peter said, ticking off things on his fingers.
“Here, watch this,” Scott said from over Peter’s shoulder. He chucked something at Peter, who caught it in his left hand without turning; he glanced at his hand to find himself holding an apple.
“Whoa! Wizard!”
“I know, right?” Scott said, equally excited. “Anyway, how was school?”
“UGH.” Cassie slumped forward over one of the chairs at the kitchen table, then tilted her head up to glance at Peter. “Peter, I hope you don’t mind hearing me rant about Jenny Takeda.”
“Don’t know who that is, but I can do moral support.”
“Great.” She dropped her head down again and took a deep breath. “OKAY, so this bitch-”
###
By the time the pizza came, Cassie had finished the subject of her classmate and Peter was helping her with her math. They moved some books around on the kitchen table and had just flipped the boxes open when Scott’s phone rang.
“You two dig in, I’ll be back in a sec,” he said, and slipped out of the room. Cassie watched him go, then looked to Peter.
“I don’t want to pry too much, but… look, I love my dad, but if he wasn’t my dad he would not be my first choice for a roommate,” she said, sliding a couple slices onto her plate.
“No, it’s okay,” Peter said, filling his own plate. “It’s… I don’t really want to get into it all, but basically there was this big magic spell that went kinda wrong, and… he’s kind of the only person who remembers I exist?”
“Shit!”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, Dad!” Cassie yelled back. She made a face. “I swear, it’s like he has super-hearing but only for swear words. Sometimes I think he forgets I’m not still twelve, instead of seventeen.”
“I think that’s just how parents are. My aunt is- was the same way.”
Cassie frowned a little at that, but she didn’t say anything. That was nice – after Mr. Stark died, one of the worst things was people giving their condolences and talking about how sorry they were for him. Cassie just gave a reassuring sort of look and moved on.
“So, are you planning to do some heroing while you’re here?” she asked with her mouth full. Peter shrugged. Thinking about it still hurt, but… it was really all he had left.
“Probably. I’ll need to make a new suit first, though.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “Ooooh ooh ooh can I help?”