𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘
𝐛𝐲 -𝐬𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧

— — —

"MR. BECK?" Peter called out as they both ran towards him. Peter gave his shoulder a small push, making him groan. Quentin blinked, struggling to look up at the two. "Oh, thank goodness,"

When Quentin held up his hand, Peter quickly clasped it and pulled the man to his feet. Lucy rose with them, holding onto Beck's bicep.

It wasn't long for Maria and Nick, along with Dimitri to flood the scene. Maria spoke up first, "So it's over?"

Quentin, seated on a boulder, nodded tiredly. "That was the last of them."

"But not the last threat we'll ever face." Nick commented, glancing down at him.

Peter walked over to Lucy, quietly asking if she was okay or hurt in any way. The two grabbed each other by the forearms, exchanging small talk about each other's possible wounds.

"We need to stay vigilant." Fury continued, "There's a void in this world for someone like you. Hill and I are going to Europol headquarters in Berlin tomorrow. You should join us."

Quentin's lips tugged at a smile, standing to offer his hand to the ex-director. "Thank you. I just might need to take you up on that."

Nick's head slowly turned before he approached the two heroes. Lucy was currently clutching her side, feeling a bruise forming over her right side. Gripping the bottom of her eye mask, she tugged it up so it rested on her hairline.

Peter stood idly, clearly in shock. She pursed her lips, lifting her hand from her side to rest on the back of his bicep.

Nick stood over the two, and Lucy tried to put on a brave face for him. "You got gifts, Parker," he spoke towards her boyfriend first. "But you didn't wanna be here."

"Mr. Fury, I—"

"I'd love to have you in Berlin."

From a scowl to shock, Lucy's eyes widened at the proposal for Peter. Nick glanced at Lucy, his lips hinting at a smirk, "You too, Green. You impressed me tonight."

She blinked at his offer before Nick now glanced between the two, "But you two have got to decide whether you're going to step up, or not." Fury directed his gaze to Peter for a moment, "Stark chose you. He made you an Avenger."

He now sparred a look at Lucy. "I need that. The world needs that. Maybe Stark was wrong." Nick paused, inclining his head towards the two questioningly. "Was he? The choice is yours."

Peter watched Nick walk away in silence, having the goggles flipped upward. When his head turned to gaze at Lucy, her face washed over with sympathy when she noticed his tears.

"Hey," she said in a soft tone, gingerly sliding her hand up to his shoulder. Peter stepped towards her, now having his body facing Lucy. "It's going to be okay. Don't pressure yourself into anything you don't want to do."

Outstretching her arms, she brought Peter in for a long and comforting hug. Peter pushed his face into her neck, fighting back the urge to cry. "It's okay to say no." Lucy whispered so only he could hear. Her tone was soothing to him, and he nodded timidly.

A sudden tap made Lucy turn her head, making Peter do the same. The two stepped back from one another. Quentin smiled at them both, "You guys up for a drink?"

Her frown returned, remembering the pain pitching at the right side of her body. "I'll pass, but thank you." Beck gave a single, understanding nod. "I can feel a bruise forming and I wanna try and get ahead of it."

"I understand, Lucy. Peter? What about you?" Quentin turned his eyes to the boy. Peter glanced at Lucy, almost as if asking for permission from her.

"I-I'm not twenty-one."

Lucy chuckled, which hurt. "Go on, Peter. Have a drink. I'll see you later at the hotel, okay?" She tugged her mask back over her eyes before leaning in to press a kiss to his masked cheek. When she pulled back her head, Peter nodded vigorously at her.

The two men watched Lucy nearly limp away, walking away from the destroyed carnival.

LUCY hissed through her teeth, standing alone in the bathroom. She was sort of glad everyone now had their own room to themselves in the lavish hotel. Lucy looked at her torso in the large mirror, having her suit pulled down just above her hips. All that was left on her upper body was a sports bra, and a hideous bruise.

Her toes curled against the cold, polished granite floor; having her boots off now. Being slow with her movements, Lucy raised her right arm over her head, getting a full view (besides the small section hidden by her undergarment) of the injury that had now fulled developed.

The bruising was severe. Her entire right side was a deep purple, mixing with red and some yellow. It stretched from her bicep and armpit, down to her knee. Lucy's face physically scrunched, studying the large area of discolouration on her body with disgust.

Placing her hands on the basin in front of her, she let her head hang in defeat.

Suddenly, a sharp pain made her wince. Clutching the side of her head, Lucy moved to the small bag containing her toiletries. Shuffling around her makeup and other products, she found the small bottle of aspirin she packed.

Lucy shook two pills into her palm, before popping them into her mouth. Next, she turned on the faucet and cupped her hands. Collecting water, Lucy drank from her hands and swallowed the medicine. Turning off the faucet, Lucy wiped her mouth and hands with a small towel.

Breathing unevenly, Lucy stared at her dismayed reflection in the mirror.

PETER took a sip of his lemonade as Quentin took swig of his beer. Quentin lowered the bottle before glancing down at Peter. "Hey," The boy turned his head as Beck clasped his shoulder. "We gotta celebrate. You did something good tonight."

Peter rubbed his eyes before holding his glass with both hands. "Fury was right. He did a lot for me...so, I owe it to him, to everyone—to Lucy too."

Quentin narrowed his eyes, "Do you?"

"Yeah, I mean..." Peter trailed off, readjusting himself in his seat with frustration. "Mr. Stark gave me a chance to be more. He wanted me to be better than him." His mind went back to 2017, when he had messed up with the ferry, and Tony taking away his suit. "And Fury just wants me to live up to that."

"What do you want, Peter?"

Peter turned his head, "What do you mean?"

"What do you want?" Beck repeated, his expression curious and expecting.

Peter forced a chuckle at the question, shrugging his shoulders stiffly. "I don't know."

"What do you want? You, Peter Parker, now. I know you're thinking about it..."

Peter suddenly sat up straight in his chair, leaning towards Beck, "I wanna go on my trip. Right? I wanna go back on my trip, with my friends. And, go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, with the girl who I know I love and tell her how I feel, and...give her a kiss!"

At the last part, Quentin's eyebrows raised as he smiled teasingly. "Whoa,"

Peter blushed, letting a wide smile break on his lips. "Shut up, man."

Beck laughed, giving Peter's shoulder a tap. "You're not gonna do that, are ya?"

"No." Peter's smile dialled down. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I have too much responsibility," Peter replied, now frowning. A woman suddenly walked by, but not before bending down to hand Peter his sunglasses that he had dropped. "Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much."

"What are those?" Quentin's eyebrows raised again as he caught eye of the glasses. "Are those the—"

"EDITH glasses, yeah."

"It was on the floor?" Quentin gave him a look, and Peter nodded. "Try them on. Let's see how they look."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Peter ducked his head, slipping the framed over his nose before turning his body towards Beck. When Quentin just stared, Peter cocked a brow, "I actually really like them. Lucy does too."

"Can I be completely honest with you?"

"Please..."

"You look really stupid." Quentin said bluntly, shaking his head.

Peter's shoulders sank at the comment. "Oh."

Beck tilted his head, smirking at the teen. "But maybe have a contact lens version of them."

Peter quickly ripped off the lens, offering them to him, "You try them on."

Quentin glanced down at them before laughing. "No, come on."

"Try them on." Peter repeated, pushing the sunglasses at the older man beside him.

"I don't want—I don't wanna try them on." Quentin replied, still laughing.

"Try them on."

Beck's laugh died down as he gave Peter a look. When Peter's face didn't let up, he gave a snort before grabbing the shades and putting them over his own nose. He raised his eyebrows in question. "What do you think, kid?"

Peter paused, staring at Quentin as thoughts raced through his mind. His eyes lowered, "For the next Tony Stark, I trust you." Peter nodded at the remembered note, "For the next Tony Stark, I trust you."

"What?"

"Mr. Stark left me a message with those glasses; For the next Tony Stark, I trust you..."

"I'm still not following. How many lemonades have you had?" Quentin leaned forward in his seat, confusion on his face.

"He knew every mistake I ever made, okay? So he must have known that I was not ready for something like this."

"Why would he give it to you?"

"Because maybe he didn't trust me to have EDITH, he just trusted me to pick who should." Quentin tilted his head as Peter went on, "It makes so much more sense. He always knew I would do what's right. And he's not going to give them to Fury, because Fury would just give himself EDITH."

Beck nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right about that."

"Right. So, the world needs the next Iron Man. And it's not going to be me or Lucy. I mean, we're both just seveteen-year-old kids from Queens. It needs to be an adult, with some experience, and that's good like Tony Stark. Like you."

Quentin frowned, taking off the sunglasses. "No, Peter. Come on. No."

Peter pursed his lips, taking them back before putting them on. "EDITH?"

"Hello."

"Hi, yeah, um...I'd like to transfer your control over to Quentin Beck."

"Peter, what are you doing?" Quentin asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"Any transfer will require confirmation."

"Stark gave you the glasses!" Quentin exclaimed, gesturing with his hands.

"Stark gave me a choice!" he shot back, "It's my choice to make, okay? And I'm gonna make it. Look, you're a soldier, a leader, you stopped the Elementals. You saved my life—you save Lucy's life. You saved the world, okay? He'd want you to have them."

"Waiting for confirmation."

"Confirm."

Quentin's eyes were wide as he leaned his chin on his hand. Peter took of the glasses, offering them to Beck. "Welcome to the Avengers."

When Beck put them on again, Peter nodded, "They look good on you."

Beck smirked, nodding one back. The two shook hands. "Thank you. It's an honour."

"Yeah." Peter slipped off his stool, grabbing his backpack. "Mr. Stark would've really liked you."

Quentin's eyebrows bobbed once, and he sighed. "Where are you headed?"

Peter smiled, gesturing to the door behind him. "I'm gonna go catch up with the girl I love."

"Good luck, kid. I give you a fifty-fifty chance. You're pretty awkward, so..." Peter chuckled at Quentin's comment. Quentin offered a friendly smile, "But, from what I've seen with Lucy, I know she'll feel the same way."

"Yeah, see you later, man."

"See ya."

The two shared one last look before Peter exited the bar and headed up the street, towards the hotel. When Peter was out of sight, everything in the bar started to disappear holographically. One by one, drones revealed themselves in the air.

When almost everything in the room had disappeared, Beck turned his head and gave a wicked smile. His shoulders tensed up in a shrug and he held up his hands. "See? What wasn't so hard."

Around him, various men and women cheered and praised Beck. He laughed loudly, leaning back on the counter. "Someone get this stupid costume off me!"

A man behind the bar rushed up to him, quick to work at the clothing.

When the cape and fake armour was off Beck, he stood from his chair. Taking off the shades, he passed them on to one of his helpers. "Okay, we got EDITH. Get this connected to our system." The people had gathered in front of him, chanting toast while holding up their own booze.

"Now, this is a big win, but we still got a lot of work to do."

The people continued loudly with big smiles, all holding up their various beverages. Beck gave in, climbing onto the countertop. "Okay, toasts! Give me that, Doug!" A man in the crowd held up their beer, to which Beck snatched.

"To the man who brought us all together, our former boss, Tony Stark." The group gathered at Beck's feet suddenly boo'ed.

"The jester king. Literally wrapped, in wealth and technology that he was unfit to wield. Like the holographic system I designed. A revolutionary breakthrough. With limitless applications, that Tony turned into a self-therapy machine and renamed..."

The memory flashed in Beck's mind, almost making him growl in anger.

"Binaurally Augmented Retro-Framing, or BARF..." Tony announced to the crowd of people in front of him back in 2016. The audience shared a laugh as Tony slipped off the glasses and the holographic room began to disassemble. He glanced down at the shades, waving them around. "Six hundred and eleven million dollars, for my little therapeutic experiment?"

"He renamed my life's work BARF. I told him it was a mistake. That my technology can change the world. And then... He fired me. Said I was...unstable." Beck extended his arm, holding the beer bottle high above his head. "To Tony."

"To Tony!" Everyone echoed, casting up their various glasses and bottles.

"Next, to William." Beck pointed to the man, as everyone cheered again.

"Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave!" Obadiah Stane roared in the scientist's face, poking him in the chest harshly. "With a box of scraps!"

"The integration of my illusion tech, with your weaponized drones, was brilliant. Powerful illusions, real damage, worked like a charm. And it's just the beginning."

"Thank you, brother." William raised his champagne glass before taking a sip.

"To Guterman." Beck continued, pointing to another man in the crowd.

"To Guterman!"

"The story you created of a solider from another Earth, named Quentin fighting space monsters in Europe, is totally ridiculous! And apparently exactly the kind of thing people will believe right now. I mean, everybody bought it!"

"To Victoria," the name was praised back. "Staging electromagnetic pulses at each attack sites with Fury's own satellites to confirm our lies? Inspired idea!"

"To Janice! After Tony died, she was the one who discovered that EDITH was being handed not over to us, not to the Defence Department, but to a child."

"Thank you." Janice smiled, holding up her class.

"To Janice!" the group cheered once more.

"To the rest of you, Tony Stark is gone. There is a window of opportunity and someone will step up. But these days, you can be the smartest guy in the room, the most qualified, and no one cares. Unless you're flying around with a cape or shooting lasers from your hands, no one will even listen."

Beck shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I've got a cape. And lasers. With our technology, and with EDITH, Mysterio will be the greatest hero on Earth. And everyone will listen! Not to a boozy man-child."

"No!"

"Not to a couple of hormonal teenagers!"

"No!"

"To me! And to my very wealthy crew! To us," he raised his bottle once more, and the toast was repeated back. "To Mysterio!"

"To Mysterio!"

"To Peter Parker, and that brat named Lucy Green."

"To Peter Parker and Lucy Green!"

Beck shook his head, voice lowered down to normal. "Poor kids..." He gave his crew a firm nod. "Let's get to work."

— — —

𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘
𝐛𝐲 -𝐬𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧

𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔
↓
i made a lil change to the
dialogue; in the movie, peter
said he's sixteen, but I changed
it so they're both seventeen !

also also alsooooooo
again—for anyone who tries to
imagine what they're reading (i do),
here is somewhat of what lucy's
bruises would look like;

colour :

affected area :

hope this helps?? sorry if it doesn't!