USC, New Residence Hall, Room 421, Sunday Late Evening

[swerval_zero]

Zero was sitting on her bed, glaring at her notebook as if this would make a page full of doodles and half-completed thoughts produce film-making genius for her essay.

...yeah, she had nothing. Good thing it wasn't due until Wednesday!

She was also starting to wonder when the frak they turned the air conditioning on in these dorms, because it was getting rather warm, and her little fan was not cutting it. Maybe she should open a window. Spring. Who needed it? Aside from the plants. And animals. And...she was getting off track again. "Focus, Hopeless-Savage," she muttered to herself. Like that was going to happen.

((Open for [coy]one who knows who he is[/coy].))

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[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Suddenly there was a knock on the window. If anyone looked at the window from inside the room, though, there would be no sign of anyone.

After all, Peter wasn't certain if Zero's roommate was around, and he didn't want to blow the whole secret identity thing after being in LA for all of a half hour.

[swerval_zero]

Zero glanced at the window and saw--nothing. This wasn't Fandom, so she shrugged and went back to her homework.

Janine, for the record, was off with her latest flavor of the week doing squall knew what.

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter didn't hear anyone moving. Well, this already wasn't going the way he expected. It was just his luck. So he knocked again and kept a hand by the window to wave.

[swerval_zero]

Zero turned to the window again, confused. Birds?...no, a hand.

She hurried to the window and threw it open. "Doubleyoo-tee-eff?"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't sure if there were any rules about guests coming in this late at night, so I thought I'd play it safe and stay out here for a little bit," Peter said. "Also, this way it's a surprise."

[swerval_zero]

"Peter!" Zero squeed. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Did the island fall into the ocean? Get in here before someone sees--oh, it doesn't matter, they'll just think someone's filming something, but get in here what are you doing here hi."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"The island's fine, but I had a couple things I needed to talk to you about and it seemed better to do it in person," Peter said, climbing in the window. " First off, I need a date for prom. Do you know of anyone who might be interested?"

[swerval_zero]

"...you came all the way to California to ask me to prom?" Zero asked doubtfully. "Not that I'm not flattered or not going to prom with you or not thrilled that you're here anything, but seriously?"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"No, it's kind of a 'since I'm here anyway' thing, I might as well make sure you'd be able to come," Peter said. "So you're coming?"

[swerval_zero]

In response, Zero gave him A Look. "What do you think?"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"It's a stressful month with finals and everything, I just wanted to check," Peter said. "But, yeah, completely not the reason why I'm here. I'm making a point to try to include you in what's going on in my head from here on out after, you know, the Osborn thing, so this is that. And I thought it would work better in person. Do you have anything to drink?"

[swerval_zero]

Zero glanced at her fridge. "Milkshake? Wait. How did you get here?" They had these things called phones now...

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Portal, then I hopped around on cars until I got here," Peter said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "LA drivers are nuts. I mean, you hear that, and then you hold onto the roof of a cab for a couple miles and I swear, nobody warns you about how dangerous that is. And a milkshake would be great."

[swerval_zero]

Zero opened the door of her fridge and removed a tall frosty glass. A straw and spoon were produced from a bin on the top of the fridge. "I don't know what it is," she informed him, "but it's orange. An' yeh, the drivers're crazed out here. Dave an' I are vaguely scared sometimes."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter wasn't going to say a thing about her and Dave. Not. a. thing. "Thanks," Peter said, taking the milkshake. "So, I'm guessing you remember that whole thing where Nick Fury was going to draft me into SHIELD as soon as I graduated and I was going to try to juggle that, punching criminals, and somehow manage to get some work done in college?"

[swerval_zero]

"Yes, and I have worked out a cunning plan involving a trapeze and a squirrel," said Zero. "Really, there is no way it can go awry."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

Peter was rendered speechless for a moment. His mouth was open, but he had no response. "Um." He dranks some of his milkshake before going on.

"Anyway, Nick Fury's gone. And while he wasn't always a good man and he didn't always do good things, I'm at least sure that he always knew exactly why he did everything he did and that he was doing it for what he really believed was a good reason. The new person running the place, this Danvers woman? I don't believe that and I can't work with her. I won't work with her. So I'm done with SHIELD. And that, technically, will make me an illegal genetic weapon when I go back home. I don't think Danvers would be stupid enough to do anything about it, but I don't think I'm going back for any amount of time for a while. So."

[swerval_zero]

Zero didn't know why; it had seemed to her the only logical way to handle the situation. "I could modify the plan for this Danvers woman," Zero offered. "I might need two squirrels. And a better camera."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"No need. She's not going to last, squirrels or no squirrels," Peter said. "Fury survived as long as he did because he knew exactly how to play the game. And if he's gone missing now, there's no way Danvers is gonna last. She has no clue what she's doing."

"So, yeah. New York's out of the question for me. But I did get an acceptance letter from Caltech..."

[swerval_zero]

Zero blinked. And then she blinked again. "Caltech as in in LA Caltech?"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"Yes. LA Caltech. I mean, I don't know what dimension it's from, but I figure that an acceptance letter is an acceptance letter no matter what reality," Peter rambled. "Except for an opposite universe, then I'd need a rejection letter..."

[swerval_zero]

"We can hack the system if there's a problem. Twitch can hack the system if there's a problem," she corrected herself. "You can be in LA! With me!"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"And that's why I'm here," Peter said. "I mean, let's be honest, I'd be coming here for you. To be with you. Possibly to avoid dorm life by living with you? We can talk about that later. But THIS. This a big thing. This is so far beyond dating in high school or maintaining that relationship for a year while I'm still in high school. It's big and I needed to come out here, see you in person, and make sure that with whatever problems we may have had recently, that you'd be as in as I am right now. It just didn't feel like something to do on the phone."

[swerval_zero]

Zero blinked. "Okay, okay, let's think about this. I was going to get an apartment next year, but I was goin' to get a place with Janine--we could still get a place with Janine? Then Mum might not do her 'overprotective' bit, because Janine would be like a chaperone, but believe me Janine will be the worst chaperone in the history of ever. But 'm not sure how far it is to Caltech, so you might have to learn to drive, and--well, you'll probably have to learn to drive, this is LA, but--this is a really big thing, Peter."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I can get around without driving," Peter said. "And I'd be good with Janine and like I said, we don't have to get into that part so much right now, but... okay, this is a big thing, but I'm not going to stop being Spider-Man. I just can't. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't do everything within my power - all of my power - to help people. And that's going to bring a whole bunch of issues with it, not just keeping something like that from Janine, and not just the fighting crime part, and not just your feelings on the matter."

[swerval_zero]

Yes, because Zero totally was going to have issues with her swerval boyfriend being a swerval superhero. As if. "You probably should learn to drive. We can get a place reasonably high up," she mused, "but it's not like New York, everythin's a lot more spread out here, an' we can just tell Janine our room's off-limits an' you can go in an' out through there an' there shouldn't really be any problem. Or," she waved one hand. "Props and things. Special effects. We're film majors, she'll just be hella jealous. Oh oh can I be your sidekick?"

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"I can get around without driving," Peter said again. The thought of himself behind the wheel of a car scared him more than Otto Octavius cloning himself. "As for the sidekick thing, no. Not at first, at least. If you want to get in on the whole superhero thing, you're going to need to train for it. And in a way that's much less stupid than the way I did. Let me tell you, throwing yourself at guys with guns and hoping they don't hit isn't the best way of preparing yourself for the whole deal."

[swerval_zero]

"I have my doubts about whether you can get around without drivin', but you're welcome to try," Zero told him with a shrug. "An' I already did that bit. Before I met you."

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"You trained to be a superhero, wandering the streets in the middle of the night, looking for bank robbers to beat up?" Peter asked.

[swerval_zero]

"No, I tracked down and beat up skinheads with guns who had my parents. And then I tangled with secret police and gangsters in Hong Kong." Granted, she'd had help and the second time had pretty much been Arsenal's show, but still. It totally counted!

[peter--parker.livejournal.com]

"And that's why it's not a flat-out no and an argument to follow," Peter said. "Look, I... I'm not so good with teams. So I'm going to need some adjustment time for actually working with someone."

No way in hell was Peter about to mention the fact that he did at least have some partnering experience with Kitty Pryde, who was at that point an experienced superhero and that's the only reason it worked as well as it did.

"And full-time superheroing's a different animal anyway. It's constant. You might have fought skinheads and the mafia for specific reasons, but this is seeking them out, looking to take them down because they're out there, somewhere, everyday. Between that and issues that might spring up with secret identities... It takes a toll on you physically, mentally, it can completely uproot your life and school. I just want to make sure you're completely game for it before we go the whole way and make it a duo. I want you to be better prepared than I was."