Ok, so this was a prompt from one of my favorite fellow writers, Just Watch Me Fly.
Their prompt was: 1. Peter hitting teenage years and his powers going haywire, chaos ensues.
It didn't exactly create chaos, but I though it was pretty interesting. Auh, the joys of puberty... Enjoy them, readers! Bask in the glory... of 12 year-old Peter hitting puberty, Spidey style!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Bruce shot awake, nearly tumbling out of bed as he rushed to go to Peter.
The boy's screams kept up as Bruce tripped over furniture, almost going green with anger over the thought of not being able to protect his son.
When Bruce finally reached the boy's room, he was flabbergasted by what he saw. There sat his 12 year-old son on top of the bunk bed, and on the floor…
Bruce frowned, as he panted from the adrenaline rush. There, on the floor was a… carcass? No, it was a… shell, in the shape of Peter sleeping. Looking up at Peter, tears running down the boy's horrified face, Bruce covered his mouth… and snorted.
After a few quiet chortles, Peter looked up at him as if he had two heads. How could his own father be laughing at that… thing on the floor?!
Looking back at Peter's confused expression, Bruce lost it. He fell to the floor laughing so hard, Peter was sure the grown-man was about to pee himself. By this time, JARVIS had woken Tony, as it seemed a foreign object had induced elevated epinephrine, adrenaline and a number of other hormones in Master Peter, and Dr. Banner was currently incapacitated on the floor.
Just as Bruce had started making a choking sound, Tony walked in.
"Good lord, Bruce, what the hell happen-?" Tony croaked out before stopping in Peter's doorway, "What the hell is that?"
By now, Peter had become too annoyed to be sufficiently terrified by the thing, and had gotten down, skimming around it.
Tony helped the red-faced Bruce sit up, and handed him a water bottle from Peter's mini fridge. The boy only kept water in it, which was strange as he was an obsessive soda drinker.
When Bruce could finally breathe properly, he was light-headed, and thinking he might have over done it with the laughter, but it couldn't have been helped. Bruce led the two to his labs, pulling up the research he'd been doing recently.
Tony and Peter pestered Bruce with questions about what the heck was going on but the man was inconsolable. Obviously, he must have gone insane.
Bruce finally took in one breath and cleared his giggles, "I'm so sorry. I really am. It's not really that funny, but…" He snickered, before drinking more water to cool himself down, "Tony, Peter's just hit puberty.
Tony and Peter both cocked their head in such a similar way, that Bruce started to lose it again. Tony wacked his best friend upside the head, and he shut up quickly, turning back to pull up some documents.
"I've been looking into it best I can to see what to expect. Peter, have you heard about puberty at school yet?" Bruce looked warily at Peter, a little nervous about having the Talk at 3 in the morning with Tony adding his two cents.
"Yeah," Peter admitted huffily, still grumpy and confused. And a little hurt too. He was scared out of his wits, and his Dad just laughed at him.
Bruce frowned, saying, "Peter, I'm sorry. That was really insensitive of me to laugh like that. But it really isn't anything to worry about," When the boy still wouldn't answer him, instead looking glumly at the floor, Bruce gestured for him to join him up on the stools.
Although Peter had his own lab of sorts closer to his room, he rarely got to join his dad in the bigger lab, so he quickly joined the older man up on the stools. Tony joined, standing behind Peter like a protective shield.
Bruce then pointed to the screen, "I expect that, including our little friend on your bedroom floor, you're about to get a few other unexpected surprises as well. And they aren't all that pleasant," Bruce grimaced while Tony smirked.
"W-what do you mean?" Peter asked, innocently confused. He was still so small and young, so much the little boy Bruce had found in Turkey who had trustingly taken the hand of a total stranger.
"Well, along with what you've learned in class, you'll also start having spider puberty," this time, even Tony looked confused.
"Are you saying Peter's going to grow another set of arms and legs or something?!" Peter's eyes widened in alarm at the thought.
"No, no! Shut up, Tony, you're not helping. No, but we may be seeing a few more of those shell things soon. I don't know how that's even possible but…" Bruce turned back to the holo-screen, thinking.
"Spit it out, Brucey. I'd like to get some sleep tonight," Tony said, sighing dramatically.
Bruce sighed, "While spiders mature, they go through a moulting season. Because spiders' skeletal frame is on the outside, as arachnids have exoskeletons, they have to have a way of growing larger. They can't be born the size they are, that'd be absurd. Well, instead, they fill the inside of the bodies with a type of fluid before popping off the previous skeleton and growing the new one. I really don't understand why this happened to you, though, Peter. You don't have an exoskeleton, neither do you need to go through this process. It's like a weird… side-effect of cross-species genetics…" Bruce and Tony started to discuss the possible implications when they were suddenly stuck to the table. Peter yelped before running over.
"I'm so sorry! I really am, I didn't mean it, honest, I was just looking the other way and they went off!" Peter had apparently webbed his dad and uncle.
Half an hour and many broken wire cutters later, and the two men were still picking webbing out of their hair. After having given up on his hair for the most part, Bruce had turned to look more closely at Peter's wrists.
Bruce had to marvel once more at the beauty of his son's cross-species physical changes. On both the boy's wrists were two small bumps, hiding a complex system of natural webshooters underneath the skin. Bruce had seen this so many times but he never tired of how amazing his son was. He was sure no father could be more proud.
"Malfunctioning webshooters might also be a side-effect. I'm going to need you to wrap your wrists up every morning before school, alright Peter?" Bruce knelt down in front of his son, giving him a this-means-business face.
Peter scowled, "But the kids'll think I'm weird, erh, weirder than I already am…"
Bruce frowned; he knew that the kids at school picked on Peter for living at Stark Tower, because who wouldn't be jealous of the boy? Not only did he live with the Avengers- who were basically his family- but he also lived in the huge Stark Tower, and was really rich.
And, along with Peter's special abilities, another thing the public didn't know was that Peter was also heir to the Stark Empire.
Tony and Pepper had come home last year from the doctors with test results showing infertility. Tony had locked himself in his lab for weeks, not coming out to even eat. JARVIS finally let them in when he passed out from hunger. The idiot had to be hospitalized, and all while Pepper needed comforting. The woman had been inconsolable for a few days, but had gotten over it surprisingly fast. That's Pepper for you. When Tony had finally been discharged, he'd written into his will that Peter was the sole heir to Stark industries as agreed to by Pepper.
"I know it's tough, Bud, and I'm sorry. But you know they're just jealous, right? Sooner or later, you'll meet some great kids who'll want to be your friend. Then, you can bring them over whenever you like, k?"
Peter sighed and nodded glumly.
Tony, who could never be kept silent for long, finally interjected, "Ugh, bed. Now. I'm out. Peter, puberty isn't that bad. Really. Don't worry about it. It works itself out in the end, and soon, you won't even notice it, k?" Tony stared Peter down as he walked backwards out the door- narrowly avoiding a laser cutter- before turning and walking out.
Come on, Peter. Let's get to bed, too. You have school in a few hours and you need your beauty sleep," Bruce ruffled his son's hair, grinning as the boy struggled to get away, giggling.
Bruce watched as Peter ran to his room, checked, then yelled back, "Looks like Tony took care of… it. G'night, Dad!" the boy disappeared into his room as the door closed and the lights turned out.
Bruce shook his head, smiling. Life in Avengers Tower would never get old, and never stop surprising, that's for sure.