Title: Making New Friends
Fandom: MCU & Dresden Files
Rating: PG
Length: ~ 1400 words
Content notes: none apply
Author notes: this is also my assignment for intoabar: Peter Parker goes [into a bar] and meets Toot Toot. for those who aren't familiar, Toot Toot is a dewdrop faerie friend of Harry Dresden's.
Summary: Peter is finishing up his Spider-Man rounds and grabbing dinner on a rooftop before he heads home.

Peter alighted on the roof of the building across the street from his destination. It was pizza time. He'd spent the better part of the evening stopping car-jackers, getting no fewer than five cats out of trees, locating two dogs, and webbing four sets of keys out of the storm drains. People needed to hold onto their damned keys.

He tipped his head studying an odd flicker of light hovering in the awning near the door of Sal's Pizza. What the hell was that?

As quickly as it had appeared though, it was gone.

Watching still, Peter waited until the crowd in the pizza place had thinned before he swung down to the sidewalk. This little shop knew Spider-Man. He'd stopped in several times before. Not as often as he'd like, but when he had a few extra dollars to splurge on the fancy pizza, he'd stop in.

"Hey, Spider-Man! Want the usual?" the dark-haired man behind the counter asked as Peter, decked out in his hero outfit, came through the door.

"Hey, Sal!" That wasn't the man's actual name, but Peter had only ever heard anyone call him 'Sal' because of the name on the store. Apparently someone started it and it stuck. "Yeah. And toss in an extra slice of sausage."

"Sure thing. Ten-fifteen minutes."

---

Pizza and soda in hand, Peter stepped back outside and swung his way through the city to one of his favorite places to sit and have dinner. The view from there was great – he could see across the skyline of the city, but he also had a nice view of the little community garden below where the local residents had been planting and growing flowers and scattered vegetables for the last few years. Spider-Man would show up to make a bit of a fuss when the city tried to make moves to tear out the garden. He was working on getting it dedicated as a sort of memorial, but it was taking a while to work through the red tape.

He was just going to reach for his first slice of pizza when that weird light he'd seen earlier reappeared. What was that? It streaked around, so it was fast. It flickered as it moved. And it was much too big to be any sort of bio-luminescent insect.

For the moment, it seemed to be keeping its distance. It wasn't setting off his senses, so, apparently, it wasn't a threat. Peter didn't mind random wildlife, or whatever, as long as it left him to eat in peace. That's why pigeons get run off pretty fast – they try to steal his dinner.

Suddenly, the little blink of light darted toward him. Peter's hand snapped up and caught the - thing. It had a humanoid shape, but was about the size of a Ken doll. It had fluffy purple hair and a pair of fluttering dragonfly wings.

What the hell?

"Hey!" the little creature squeaked indignantly. "How'd you do that?"

"Fast reflexes," Peter answered.

The creature harrumphed. "Humans can't do that." Then it leaned forward. "What is wrong with your face? How do you eat pizza-" they said 'pizza' with a dreamy sigh "- with no mouth?"

Peter frowned and the eye lenses on his mask matched the movement. "I have a mouth. This is a mask." He pointed to his face with his free hand.

"Oh. Why do you wear a mask? It's not Halloween."

"No, it's not. It's a disguise."

The little thing leaned forward again, peering around. "What guys?"

That one took Peter a second. He shook his head, then explained. "I wear this so people don't know who I am."

"Oh. I don't know who you are."

"See, it's working."

"Ohhhhh -" The little creature glanced to the pizza box. "Are you going to eat all of that by yourself?"

"You want to steal my pizza?"

"No-" they trilled. "I want to know if you'll share. My friend, Harry, always shares."

Peter tipped his head. "Well, I don't know Harry, but I do share my pizza with my friends." The sprite perked up. "However," Peter said, "I don't even know your name."

"Well, that's easy! You can call me Toot Toot," they said proudly, straightening even as they were still trapped in Peter's easy grip. "Major General of the 'Za Lord's guard."

Peter blinked as though impressed while biting down on his tongue so he didn't laugh, very grateful for the mask. "Well," he took a breath, "Toot Toot, nice to meet you. I'm Spider-Man."

Toot Toot tilted their head. "You don't look like a spider. You only have four limbs. And no hair."

"I know. I'm a special kind of spider. If I let you go, are you going to steal my pizza?"

"No! Never!" Toot Toot insisted. Then added, "Wellll – if you leave it behind, I might."

"Fair enough." Peter opened his hand and Toot Toot fluttered into the air. Getting a better look, Peter did notice the armor the sprite was wearing. But that was about all he could figure out without a lot of study.

"How are you going to eat the pizza?" Toot Toot asked curiously.

Peter grinned. Then he tugged the bottom of his mask up over his mouth. Toot Toot looked amazed but didn't say anything. Peter leaned forward, opened the pizza box, then drew out a slice. He held it out to the excited sprite who was buzzing around happily. "I'll share," Peter said.

Toot Toot snatched the pizza and began wolfing it down.

Peter dragged out a slice for himself and took a bite. Tomato, basil, cheese, and sausage. Delicious.

"This is different from Harry's pizza," Toot Toot said over a mouthful.

"Yeah? Where does Harry get his?"

Toot Toot shrugged. "From the pizza place," they said as though the answer should be obvious.

"Is it near here?" Peter asked.

"Oh no. It's where Harry lives."

"Where does he live?"

"In the city." Another of those 'obvious' answers.

This was going to take all night. "But not this city?" He pointed out toward the buildings around them.

"No. His city only has water on one side. And there's a place where a lot of people go to sit and eat pizza and watch other people hit a ball with a big stick!" Toot Toot said proudly.

"A city where they play baseball?" Which still only narrowed it down to 'everywhere'.

"Yes! The big kind. There are two places where they do that."

Peter tilted his head. A city with two big baseball teams narrowed it down a little more. "Um, LA? Los Angeles. In California?" He had no idea what sort of geographical reference the little sprite had.

"Does it get cold and snow there?" Toot Toot asked, eyeing the pizza box again.

"No. Which means it's gotta be Chicago."

Toot Toot shrugged. "It's Harry's city and he buys us pizza."

Peter had to laugh. The little creature had a one-track mind. "So, why aren't you there?"

"Because," Toot Toot groaned. "I came through here to see the big green lady another faerie told me about."

"Big green – oh, the Statue of Liberty? The one out on the water?"

"Yes," Toot Toot said dejectedly. "She didn't even move or anything. Just stood there."

"Very disappointing," Peter agreed. "But, she's not supposed to move. She's a statue. Made of metal."

"I know. Some of it is iron. I didn't like it."

"So, you came to see the green lady and, what? That's it?"

Toot Toot looked indignant. "Well, yeah. Until I saw all the pizza!"

Peter chuckled. "I'll let you have one more slice as a show of good will." If the little sprite didn't understand, once Peter opened the box, it didn't matter. Toot Toot's sole focus was food. Peter handed over the pizza slice, then grabbed a second one for himself. "Is this better than the pizza in Chicago?"

"Um – yes," Toot Toot answered with a resigned sort of sigh, like he didn't want to admit it. "Because it has the leaves on it."

Leaves? "The basil?" Peter held up a 'leaf' and Toot Toot nodded, mouth stuffed with pizza. "It is pretty good."

"Harry doesn't get the little leaves."

"He probably can. Ask about basil."

"Oooh! I will!" Toot Toot finished the pizza and licked his fingers. They let out a contented sigh, then fluttered up into the air. "I gotta go now. You sure you can finish that pizza?"

Peter grinned. "I'm sure."

"O-kay," Toot Toot said as though Peter might be lying. "Bye!"

"See ya." Peter finished his slice, collected his box, then started making his way home. That was weird.