Peter sits in front of the bar nervously. He came here with his new friend, Quentin Beck, who happens to be missing. Peter hasn’t seen him for 20 minutes since they got here.
“Goddamnit Beck. Where the fuck did you go this time?”
Since the beginning of summer, Peter and Quentin have been ‘dating’. Really it’s just Peter running after Quentin like a lost puppy.
“Do you want a drink, buddy?” The bartender raises his eyebrow in Peter’s direction and Peter shrugs his shoulders.
“I’m okay, Frank. Thanks though.” Peter turns his head to the pool table and sees a woman in a blue dress eyeing him up and down. He smiles in her direction and waves. She winks at him and continues to talk to her friends. Peter’s phone starts to vibrate and he quickly pulls it out of the pocket of his ripped jeans. The caller ID says Ned and he answers with a quick “hello”.
“Yo dude, are you coming over tonight? All the Star Wars movies are on!”
Peter winces at Ned’s booming voice. “No sorry man. Not tonight. I’m out with Beck at the bar.”
“Peter you’re underage! You can’t drink!”
“Don’t worry I haven't had anything! I don’t plan on drinking alone anyway.”
“Alone? Peter, did he leave you again?”
Peter held back the tears after he hears the emotion in Ned’s voice. “Yeah, Ned. I can’t find him. Why does he do this to me? Why is it always the bad guys I fall for?”
Peter laughs and wipes away a tear.
“Peter… He’s a dick head and doesn’t deserve you. You fall for the bad guys because, well, they are hot. Maybe you just need to find a good bad guy? Like a badass?”
Peter chuckles at his friend. “Thanks, Ned. I think I might meet you later tonight if that's okay with you.”
“Yeah, no problem buddy. Talk to you later?”
“Sure.”
Peter hangs up the phone and pushes it back into his pocket. He turns around to the bar and lays his head on his arms. He feels tired. Tired of Beck.
“Need a drink, sweetheart?”
“I already told you, Frank, I don’t want a dam-” Peter looks up and meets eyes with a man in a leather jacket and sunglasses. The man is smiling down at Peter and takes a seat next to him. Before he could say anything the man calls to Frank, ordering a whiskey and some apple juice.
“How are you doing, kid?” The man turns in his seat to face Peter.
Peter closes his eyes for a second before opening them again, obviously realizing this is not a dream.
“Umm, who are you?”
“Oh, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. The name’s Tony, Tony Stark. You are?”
“Peter Parker.”
“Well Peter, it's nice to meet you. So how are you?”
Peter looks at Tony confused. “Why should I tell you?”
“Because I just bought you apple juice.”
Just at the right time Frank comes over to them and places the drinks down before walking away. Peter glances to the drink and back to Tony, who has a smirk on his face.
“I never asked for it. Besides, why apple juice?”
“Well, when I first walked over here I thought you were older but when I saw your face I knew you were much younger. A kid. Not quite 21 but over not under 18.”
“I’m 18. That’s some crazy skills there.”
“I practice. So anyway, what's the problem? I noticed you crying earlier.”
“Oh shit, how many people saw that?” Peter looks around, trying to see if anyone was looking at him right now.
“Just everyone who happened to look in your direction I suppose. You still haven’t answered my question.”
Peter looks back at Tony and takes a sip from his drink.
“I came here with my boyfriend, but he just randomly disappeared.”
“What does your boyfriend look like?”
Peter thinks and then pulls out his phone to show Tony a photo of Quentin. Tony’s eyes change. Almost like he feels pity for Peter. He shakes the feeling off and places his phone on the bar table.
“He’s been doing this for 2 months now. Leaving randomly and appearing randomly. It drives me crazy.”
“It would drive me crazy too, kid. He sounds like a total asshole.” Tony raises his eyebrow at Peter.
“I mean, yeah he is, but he’s still there to listen to my problems. I can talk to him about different things.”
“So he always there when you need him?”
Peter looks down at his hands. “Not exactly.”
“Peter, he doesn’t sound like the best boyfriend. If you want you can come with me and my friends right now. We are about to leave and if you need a ride or anything I got you.”
Peter looks up at Tony and for some reason, he feels angry.
“It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Peter I’m just trying to help. I know what it’s like to be cheated on-
“He’s not cheating on me! What would you know?”
“Pete, I didn’t mean-”
“Fuck off” Peter averts his eyes away from Tony’s. Tony stands up and puts a $20 on the bar table. Quickly Tony grabs Peter’s phone off the table and adds his number into Peter’s contacts.
“There is my number just in case. You can talk to me about this kind of stuff anytime you need to.”
Tony hands the phone back to Peter and walks over to his friends. The group of men and a woman walk out of the bar with one last glance from Tony who points to the bar’s bathroom.
Peter glances to the bathroom confused. He stands up and walks over. Slowly he pushes the doors open and sees Beck making out with the girl in blue.
“What the fuck Beck?”
Beck pulls away from the girl and backs up. “Peter, baby, it's not what you think.”
Sick of the lies, Peter runs out of the bathroom and out of the bar doors. He bumps into a tall, muscular man and looks up.
“Wow, there kid.”
Peter looks behind the man and sees Tony with a worried face. Tony jogs over to Peter and pats the man’s shoulder.
“I got him, Steve.”
Steve walks away and joins his friends.
“Last chance, kid. Do you need a ride?”
Before Peter could answer Beck runs out of the bar and stops dead in his tracks.
“Peter don’t you dare go with him!”
Tony towards Beck but Peter’s hand stops him.
“Please take me to my friends.”
Tony nods his head and walks Peter to his motorcycle. Tony gets on first and Peter straddles the bike from behind.
“Peter if you leave we are over!”
“Fuck you Beck. We’ve been over.”
The motorcycle engines mute out the rest of Beck’s words as they ride off.
Tony splits off from his friends and they drive directly to Ned’s house. Tony stops in front of the building and helps Peter off.
“Thank you, Tony. Even though you are a stranger you helped me.”
“No problem sweetheart. Have a good night and stay wild.”
Tony rides off, leaving Peter standing in the cool summer night air.
He knocks on Ned’s door and once the door opens he smiles at his best friend.
“Ned, I think I just met my badass.”