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Peter stepped out of the school building with a loud sigh, his shoulders slouching and his back already aching from a long exhaustive day. The entire day had been a disaster, starting with the fact that he woke up late and ended up missing the school bus, only for him to then blank out during his Calculus quiz and then stutter in front of the entire class while giving a history presentation.
‘This day can’t get any worse.’
It was at that moment that a single drop of rain splattered on his cheek, the drop wet and cold against his face. Peter barely had a second to look up before it started downright pouring, drenching his backpack and forcing him to run back towards the safety of under the school roof. Scowling, Peter suddenly regretted staying after school to work on his physics project since it meant he would have to walk home instead of taking the bus. Unless…
Peter quickly whipped out his phone and tried to call May, only for the screen to show that it was at 2%. The phone died before he could make a phone call, causing Peter to groan in anger before shoving it back into his backpack. How the hell was he going to get home now in this rain?
‘Running home it is.’
Putting his school bag over his head, Peter quickly ran through the rain and across the street. Forcing himself to run faster, the rain cut into his cheek like a blade as his clothes got soaked, sticking to his body and causing him to shiver. Peter hated every moment of it but pushed on, wanting to get to his apartment as quickly as possible.
He was stopped by a moving truck which splashed some water onto the sidewalk (which Peter thankfully managed to dodge at the last second), before the traffic light in front of him turned red.
“Great.” muttered Peter bitterly, staring at the red light in annoyance.
The cold rain continued to pick at his skin, traveling down his neck and managing to trickle down underneath his jacket and onto his bare back. Freezing, he slightly hugged himself with one arm, trying to warm up while waiting for the light to turn green.
“Do you need an umbrella?”
Peter looked up to see that a red umbrella was being held over his head, prompting him to turn around and stare at you in surprise. Blushing, Peter quickly shook his head, so you stepped next to him and moved your umbrella so that it would cover the both of you.
You gently tapped your feet on the sidewalk while watching the cars pass by, far too fixated on the road to notice that Peter was staring at you. He took a moment to admire your face, from the way your hair curled at the edges and gently swayed with the breeze, how it seemed to frame your face perfectly and your eyes were the perfect color of-
“So what’s your story?” you asked, interrupting Peter’s thoughts. Peter blinked twice, suddenly dazed, before snapping out of it and blushing.
“W-what do you mean?”
You shrugged.
“I don’t know, why don’t you have an umbrella with you?”
Peter was about to respond when the light suddenly turned green, causing him to step forward in response. You had to jog a bit to keep up with him, and Peter noticed that you were struggling at trying to hold the umbrella over both of your heads while walking. Without thinking, Peter’s hand went down to grasp the handle, touching your hand in the process.
You looked up at him, your cheeks flushing at the sudden contact while Peter’s own face also flushed before he retracted his hand.
“S-sorry! I… I just saw that you were struggling with the umbrella, and, um… I-I can carry it instead.” stuttered Peter, causing you to smile at his awkwardness.
“That works.”
You passed over the umbrella to Peter, allowing him to comfortably hold the umbrella up high. Letting your arm fall to your side, you were honestly glad to not have to hold the umbrella any longer. Almost hesitantly, you slipped your arm into his before looking up at him.
“I-is this okay?”
Peter tried to ignore how fast his heart was beating and nodded, pretending as if the body contact wasn’t freaking him out.
“Y-yeah. It’s fine. Where are you headed to?”
“Down this road, how about you?”
“Oh yeah, my apartment is down this way too.” lied Peter.
You smiled, glad that you wouldn’t have to say goodbye to him so quickly.
“Well, I guess then in the meantime you should tell me all about yourself.” you joked, causing Peter to shyly smile back.
“Okay.”
The rest of the walk was pleasant, and Peter forgot all about how cold and wet he was just by having your warm body close to his. He told you everything from his family life to how school was going and what he liked to do in his free time (leaving out the part about him being Spiderman, of course), and he was genuinely shocked at how interested you seemed to be in his mundane life.
And before Peter knew it, you stopped in front of a small brick apartment and slipped your arm out of his.
“Well, this is me, I guess.” you said quietly, looking up at Peter with a small grin. Peter only bit his lip and nodded, slowly lowering your umbrella before folding it shut. You took the umbrella from him as the rain continued to pour, the ambient noise filling the silence.
“Um, thanks for the umbrella. A-and for listening to me. Y-you’re the first girl to ever listen to my boring stories.” muttered Peter, shoving his hands in his pocket and looking up at you hesitantly. You only shook your head sideways.
“No problem. Thanks for talking to me and being so nice.” you replied, tucking the umbrella underneath your arm. Waving goodbye, you turned around and walked up the stairs to your apartment, only to stop mid-way and look back. The rain was still pouring down viciously, and it broke your heart that Peter was going back home without an umbrella.
“WAIT!”
Peter stopped walking at the sound of your voice, only to see you being drenched by the rain while handing over the open red umbrella to him. Peter stared at you warily and took it from you hesitantly.
“A-are you sure? It’s yours, and I’d feel really bad if I made you walk back home without an umbrella-”
You laughed.
“My house is literally a few feet away, I think I’ll survive.” you teased, causing Peter to flush red.
“R-right. Um, thanks. A lot.”
You smiled at him one last time before turning around and walking towards your apartment as Peter stood at the same spot, watching you disappear into the apartment entrance. Grasping the wooden handle of the umbrella, he smiled before exiting the parking lot and walking back to his apartment, the red umbrella shielding him from the rain along the way.
Even a week after the incident, Peter just couldn’t stop thinking about you. The damn red umbrella didn’t make it easier, standing at the foot of his doorway and remaining unused during most days as it wasn’t raining in New York that much recently. Even after a week, he still remembered the way your nose would scrunch up when you giggled, the feeling of your arm linked with his and the way your would brush your hair out of your eyes.
It was killing him.
It also didn’t help that when questioned by Ned, he couldn’t even give his best friend a name, all because Peter just happened to forget to ask you for your name.
‘I cannot believe I would forgot to ask the most basic question in existence.’
Only having your appearances and the red umbrella to remember you by, Peter was slowly going crazy. He threw himself into his school work, went out on night patrols more often, even started visiting the Avengers tower frequently for training- but nothing he seemed to do work.
‘I just can’t get her out of my head.’
Today was the first day since the last week to rain, so Peter made sure to grab the red umbrella and head to the Avengers tower as quickly as he could. Even though he left it at the entrance of the tower, Peter still couldn’t stop thinking about that special red umbrella and its owner.
“So the suit needs just a couple more patches, I was thinking- Peter. Are you listening to me?” asked Tony, cocking an eyebrow at Peter. Peter stopped staring off into the distance and quickly nodded, only for Tony to pull up a chair and sit next to him.
“Alright, you’ve been out of it the whole day. What’s wrong, kid? Only time anyone’s that quiet is when someone died or it’s a girl.”
Peter’s face felt hot at the mention of a girl, causing Tony to smirk.
“Oh so it is a girl. What’s her name?” asked Tony teasingly. Peter sighed, toying with the edge of his jacket in frustration.
“I… I don’t know. I forgot to ask.”
“Then… how did you meet her?”
Peter sighed fondly, remembering the day clearly.
“It was about a week ago on Friday. I didn’t have an umbrella so I was just standing in the rain when this girl came up to me and offered to share an umbrella. I-it’s the one I brought today, the red one.”
Tony jokingly elbowed Peter, smiling at how adorable Peter looked.
“You really like this umbrella girl, and you don’t even know her name!”
Peter bitterly sighed.
“She was really nice and very pretty. I just wish I knew her name, that I-”
Peter suddenly stopped talking when he saw you enter the lab, a white lab coat wrapped tightly around your frame as you opened the glass door and stepped inside. Peter felt his heart stop and immediately stood up, catching Tony’s attention.
“Woah kid, what-”
“T-THAT’S HER.” shouted Peter in disbelief, pointing at you. Tony stared at where Peter was pointing in confusion.
“That’s who?”
“That’s the umbrella girl I was telling you about!”
A beat of silence passed before Tony replied.
“…That’s also my daughter, Peter.”
Peter’s eyes widened in shock before he turned around in panic.
“W-what?”
As if on cue, you exited the lab and matched eyes with Peter, your eyes widening in recognition. Smiling, you walked briskly towards Peter.
“What are you doing here?”
“(Y/n), is this the lost boy you were telling me about?” questioned Tony, pointing at Peter.
“Yes, dad.” you replied, annoyed.
“And she’s the umbrella girl, Peter? My daughter?” questioned Tony, amused. Peter quickly looked down at the floor, the embarrassment sneaking up to his cheeks.
“I-I’m sorry, Mr.Stark. I-I didn’t know that she was your daughter-”
Tony only chuckled and clapped his hand down onto Peter’s shoulder, causing him to look up.
“I’m kidding, Peter. Besides, it’s a damn good thing you brought the umbrella she gave you, because it’s been her favorite one ever since I bought it for her when she was five.”
A sudden alarm interrupted the conversation as Tony looked at his phone before looking up and smiling coyly at you two.
“I have a meeting now, so you two kids behave while I’m gone, okay?”
You rolled your eyes playfully.
“Okay, dad.”
When Tony left the room, Peter finally looked up at you, a slight tint of pink still on his cheeks.
“So….”
“You called me umbrella girl?” you asked teasingly.
“Okay, well I didn’t know your name so I had to call you something! Also, you called me lost boy.”
You laughed at his response.
“Well, you were lost.”
It was Peter’s turn to laugh at your answer, the tension in the room finally dying down into a comfortable silence.
“Thanks for giving me the umbrella. I didn’t know that it was your favorite. Why did you give it to me if you liked it so much?”
You shrugged.
“You looked like you had a shitty day. Also, I would’ve kind of been a horrible person if I let you walk back home while it was pouring outside.”
Peter couldn’t help but grin at your response before his thoughts drifted back to the red umbrella.
“Right…. So, um, I’ll give you back your umbrella. It’s downstairs.”
“Alright.”
You followed Peter to the first floor and gratefully accepted the umbrella from Peter’s hand. Peter stared shyly at you before coughing and blurting out the question that was replaying in his mind the entire time.
“D-do you wanna maybe go out sometime?”
Peter mistook your silence as a rejection and began to speak quickly, his anxiety taking over.
“I-I just want to repay you for being so nice. B-but not just that, obviously. I also like you, and I-I think it’d be cool if we got to know each other more.”
“S-sure.” you replied, unable to keep yourself from stuttering. Thankfully, Peter seemed to be equally shy and replied quietly.
“C-cool. Um, does tomorrow at five work for you? I can come here to you know, pick you up for dinner or whatever you want.”
You laughed softly.
“Yeah, that does work.”
You leaned forward and pressed your lips to his cheek, giving him a quick kiss.
“See you tomorrow, lost boy.”
Peter watched as you walked off before he muttered to himself, a wide grin on his face.
“See you tomorrow, umbrella girl.”