A/N: I know this is a little late, but I've been drowning is essays all week long and no matter how fast I finish my work, I can never actually finish, if that makes sense lol. I would've uploaded it yesterday, but I forgot and it was 12:30 so I made sure to not forget today. Technically it's almost tomorrow lol. Anyway, enough about my sob story.
So remember how I said last chapter was the last time Peter was going to push his glasses up? Well, I lied. I'm sorry, but I just can't help it! That little action is so cute for some reason and I love it so much even though it gets on Adelaide's nerves. I think he ends up doing it like 5 times in this chapter so just bear with me because I have no self-control. This will be the last chapter where he does that, I promise. Well, not promise promise.
Most of this chapter is the scene from the field trip and the whole HYDRA things has been kind of put on hold for now. Well, let's just say Ned's working on it. The chapter is mostly focused on Peter because it's so important to his development, obviously. He's gonna be Spider-Man now. No more superpowerless Peter Parker. I'm gonna miss him, though. I wish he could stay that way forever. Innocent and shielded from the horrors of the superhero world. All that responsibility...
So I have a question for you guys...I actually saw another author doing this and I thought it was a pretty neat idea so I guess I'm going to start doing this, too. Basically, I'll ask you a question about the chapter or plot or just stuff in general I guess cause I think it'll be kind of fun to see your answers. Depending on the chapter, the question will be either before or after. So here's the one for this chapter:
If you could have one superpower from any character in the MCU, which character and what superpower would it be? For me, I'd say Scarlet Witch because I love her and I love her powers and I love Elizabeth Olsen; she's so beautiful it hurts.
Flufflymarshmallows: I can't wait for all the cool things that happen after he's Spider-Man even though I'll miss fetus Peter lol.
Anyway, enough of all this, I won't hold off the chapter any longer so here it is! By the way, it hasn't really been proofread and the next chapter might be a little late too because I have stuff going on this weekend. Sorry. :/
"Everything is going to change, Peter.
Nothing is ever going
to be the same again."
DECEMBER 1, 2015
The day did not start out as Peter Parker had planned. His alarm didn't ring on time and he realized he only had five minutes to leave the house before he would miss the bus so he had to substitute a shower with just a splash of cold water (thank god he had decided to shower last night). He had been in a such a rush that he had almost left the camera at home and he had to run out of the car and back inside, up the stairs and back outside, all within 15 seconds. Then, he had to rush Ben to go faster (he only went ten over the speed limit) so they would get to school before the bus left for the field trip.
"Bye Uncle Ben!" Peter shouted over his shoulder as he stumbled out of his uncle's car.
"Bye kiddo! Have fun!" Ben shouted after him. He watched his nephew as he ran towards the school bus, almost tripping over the raised sidewalk. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head.
Peter held onto his backpack as he ran towards the school bus. He was just seconds away when it began moving.
"Wait!" he shouted. That caught Flash's attention who was sitting in the back. He began laughing and everyone in the bus started chanting Penis! Parker! Peter groaned at his insufferable nickname, trying to catch up to the bus. Suddenly, he saw Ada appear next to Flash and Peter waved at her, signaling to tell her to stop the bus. She gave him a small nod, Flash a quick flick on his head, and disappeared again. Slowly, the bus came to a stop and Peter let out a relieved sigh, jogging up to the entrance.
The doors opened, and he climbed inside, the bus driver giving him a dirty look as he did so.
"Pete!" Adelaide shouted to get his attention, pointing to the seat behind her where Ned was seated. Peter pushed his way through the aisle, almost tripping and falling on his face when the bus driver started the bus again. Somehow, he plopped down next to Ned in one piece. He groaned, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, trying to catch his breath. This day could not be any worse and it was only 8 o'clock in the morning.
"Tough morning?" Adelaide asked, noticing how tired he looked.
"You have no idea," he groaned and Ned patted his shoulder.
"Excited?" she asked. She was in an awkward position where she was turned around in her own seat and sitting on her knees so she could see Ned and Peter who were sitting behind her. Who the hell had decided to make these seats so damn tall? Sitting next to her was Michelle, reading a book, as usual. When Adelaide had greeted her, she only got the usual response which was a slightly annoyed grunt.
"You bet," Peter answered, a smile slowly appearing onto his face.
"Excited? I'm literally bouncing in my seat!" Ned said, which was partly true. It was a very bumpy ride. Soon, they arrived and Mr. Harrington ordered everybody off of the bus in an orderly fashion. They stepped off, taking a moment to stretch their limbs. The ride here wasn't that long, thankfully.
"I want no talking once we're inside and, please, stick to your assigned buddy," Mr. Harrington instructed. Adelaide nudged Michelle.
"Hey, buddy." She just gave her glare in return and Adelaide rolled her eyes. Slowly, they all began walking inside and Mr. Harrington shushed everyone as soon as they stepped foot in the building.
"I can't believe we're finally gonna see the spiders!" Ned whispered to Peter once they had passed Mr. Harrington. Although, it was loud enough for Adelaide to hear, too.
"I can't believe I actually get to miss Algebra for this load of crap," Adelaide whispered back and Mr. Harrington glared at her from across the room. She gave him a sheepish smile and turned around.
"It is so not a load of crap," Peter whispered back once Mr. Harrington had turned away. Adelaide rolled her eyes.
A few moments later, their tour guide appeared in front of them. She didn't look too excited about the spiders, either. Adelaide immediately liked her. Finally, someone who wasn't overly obsessed with spiders. Why couldn't they have gone to a water park instead? Well, maybe that wouldn't have been the best idea in December…
"Good morning, Midtown High. My name is Una Damon and I will be your tour guide for today. As instructed, please stay with your buddies and do not wander around. Do not touch, smell, or taste anything unless instructed to do so. Any questions?"
Flash raised his hand.
"So can we take one of the spiders home?" he asked and his friends snickered around him. Mr. Harrington glared at him.
"No, you may not take any of the spiders home. Any real questions?" the tour guide asked. No one raised their hand.
"Alright, then," she nodded, "Follow me." She turned sharply and then the tour began.
They entered a hallway and exited into a big room that looked like an exhibit. Adelaide glanced around. This was definitely the spider exhibit and an arachnophobes worst nightmare. Good thing she wasn't scared of spiders.
"32,000 species of known spider in the world," the tour guide began, "They're in the order Arachne which is divided…"
"Wow," Peter breathed, taking in the exhibit, "that's amazing. This is the most advanced electron microscope on the eastern seaboard. It's unreal."
"...Arachnids from all three groups possess varying strengths which help them in their constant search for food," the tour guide continued. Peter watched Liz from the corner of his eye as she was saying something to Betty Brant, making her laugh. He smiled to himself. She was so…
"Pete!" Ada whisper-yelled at him when he bumped into her. Peter took a moment to recollect his thoughts again, stepping out of the trance that he'd gone in to.
"Sorry," he mumbled. Liz passed by him and he smiled at her awkwardly, pushing his glasses up his nose. (A/N: I couldn't help it!) She gave him a polite smile and moved past him so she could hear the tour guide better.
"For example," the tour guide said, "the Delana spider, family Sparassidae, has the ability to jump to catch its prey." They stopped in front of a glass cage, where there was a fuzzy, brown spider crawling a twig. Adelaide wrinkled her nose. So he could jump. So could she. She couldn't understand why it was such a big deal.
Peter raised his camera, glancing at the tour guide lady for permission.
"For the school paper?" he asked.
"Mhmm," she nodded. Peter smiled and then focused the camera on the spider, his finger hovering over the button. Suddenly, someone shoved his shoulder and made him press the button, capturing a blurry picture of the tiled floor. Peter looked over his shoulder to see Flash and his friends snickering. Peter sighed and turned away, following the tour guide to the next spider.
"Next, we have the Net-Web spider," she said, walking up to the display. Family Phyllis Teddidae, Genes Cuckoocannea. It spins an intricate funnel-shaped web whose strands have a tensile strength proportionately equal to the type of high tension wire." Peter raised his camera to take a picture when Flash bumped his shoulder again, making him lose focus. Adelaide noticed the movement from the corner of her eye and she saw Flash's smirk aimed at Peter.
"Leave him alone," she whispered to him with gritted teeth.
"Or what?" Flash said. One of his friends snickered from beside him.
"Or she's gonna come over there and sissy punch you," he said and then they both bursted out laughing, giving each other a high five.
"What is going on?" Mr. Harrington said, appearing next to them, "The next person who talks will fail this course. I kid you not. Let's go." Rolling her eyes, she followed Mr. Harrington to the next spider.
"...This grass spider hunts using a set of reflexes with nerve conduction velocities so fast that some researchers believe it almost borders on precognition."
Adelaide lightly bumped her shoulder with Peter's once they were clear of watchman Harrington.
"Don't listen to Flash," she said, "He has the mental capacity even less than these spiders." Peter smiled.
"Hey," he said, pretending to be offended, "these spiders are pretty smart, you know."
"Oh yeah? I bet they can't do math better than you," she teased and he glanced at her, smiling. He decided to go along with it.
"Well, maybe not, but they can definitely do math better than you," he joked and she faked a gasp which ended in laughter.
"You know, you're probably not that wrong," she said with a small shake of her head. The two of them walked up to Ned who was intently watching a spider in its cage.
"Look at that," Ned breathed, sounded completely awestruck.
"Some spiders change colors to blend into their environment," Peter said, watching the spider, "It's a defense mechanism."
"Peter," Adelaide groaned, "What makes you think I would want to know that." Peter rolled his eyes.
"Who wouldn't?" The three of them followed the tour guide through the exhibit. Michelle had disappeared sometime during the discussion of, well, spiders and Adelaide was willing to bet money that she had found a comfortable corner to read her book in and that's where she was right now. So much for sticking with your buddies. Adelaide turned away from Peter and Ned, looking at a spider cage.
"Over five painstaking years, Columbia's genetic research facility…" Ned silently nudged Peter to get his attention. He jutted his chin towards Liz who was standing in front of them, looking at the spiders.
"Are you gonna talk to her now?" Ned asked him. Peter laughed nervously, feeling his palms beginning to sweat.
"Oh, no, no way," he chuckled. Ned gave him a pointed look.
"You have to do it before…" Suddenly, Flash appeared next to Liz, glancing at her. Ned and Peter shared a look before Peter sighed.
"Disgusting," he heard Liz say.
"Yeah, I hate those little things," Flash mumbled. Liz glanced at him, grinning.
"I love 'em," she said.
"Yeah, me too," he said, trying to come off as cool. Peter took a deep breath.
"I'm gonna go," he whispered to Ned. Ned grinned, giving him a thumbs up. He mouthed 'Good luck' to him as he stepped towards Liz.
"You know," Flash began, "spiders can change their color to blend into their environment."
"Really?" Liz asked cooly.
"Yeah, it's a defense mechanism," he said. Peter felt his smile dropping. Flash had heard him when he had said it to Ned and now he had lost his chance with Liz. Flash looked over his shoulder, smirking at Peter and winking.
"Cool," she said.
"...the RNA to encode an entirely new genome, combining the genetic information from all three spiders into these 15 genetically designed super-spiders."
Adelaide who had been oblivious to the whole situation that had unfolded behind her, was watching the cage carefully (the spiders had become somewhat interesting) when she realized there weren't 15 spiders.
"There's 14," she said, straightening up.
"I beg your pardon?" the tour guide said.
"One's missing," she clarified. The tour guide watched her for a second before stepping closer to see if she was actually right and she, in fact, was.
"Huh," the tour guide said, "I guess the researchers are working on that one." She stepped away from the cage and moved on to the next part of the tour.
"Do you know that this is the largest electron microscope on the eastern seaboard?" Flash asked Liz. Peter felt himself turning his hand into a fist, but he was hopeless. He had missed his window.
Suddenly, Mr. Harrington appeared next to Flash again.
"You were talking throughout that woman's entire presentation," he said angrily, "Let's go talk about how we listen." He grabbed Flash's arm and dragged him away.
Liz chuckled, shaking her head and turning back to face the spiders. Now was his chance. Liz was alone again. Peter glanced at Ned who was still standing behind him. He gave him a thumbs up and then hurried away to catch up with the rest of the class. Peter took in a deep breath. He could do this. It was just Liz. He'd had long conversations with her in his head. Now he just had to do it in person. He swallowed nervously and took a step closer to her.
"H-Hey," he said, getting her attention, "Uh, can I take your picture? You know, for the school paper." She smiled at him.
"Sure," she said, "Yeah."
"Great," he smiled nervously.
"Where do you want me?" she said, moving to the side so that the spiders weren't blocked in the picture. "Over here?"
"Y-Yeah," he stuttered, pushing his glasses up, "Yeah, that's great." He held the camera that was hanging around his neck, raising it.
"Don't make me look ugly," she said with a smile that made Peter's heart flutter in his chest. He swallowed, smiling.
"That's impossible," he said, stepping back to get the whole picture. He held the camera up, looking at Liz through the screen. He couldn't believe this was actually happening! His hands were shaking and he tried to steady them so the picture wouldn't be blurry. Liz held up the clipboard in her hand, pretending to look at the papers with a smile.
"Perfect," he said, taking the picture. Unknown to him and Liz, a red and blue spider crawled down its web that hung from the ceiling, making its way towards oblivious Peter Parker.
"Is that good?" Liz asked, glancing at him. Peter was sure he was red as a tomato at this point, but he didn't care. He was living the best moments of his life.
"Great," he said, snapping another picture. The spider got closer to him, but he was too focused on Liz to notice. He clicked another picture and the spider crawled closer. Then, it landed on Peter's hand.
"Liz! Let's go!" shouted Betty Brant, taking Liz's attention. She hurried away, catching up to her friend and leaving Peter behind. The spider crawled down his hand.
"Wait!" he said, "Thanks!"
The spider dug its beak into the flesh and Peter let out a shout, shaking his hand.
"Ow!" he shouted, noticing a spider crawling away on the carpet. He bent over curiously, holding his hand. The spider was tiny, with a red and blue body. Peter watched it until it disappeared under a cart. Letting out a shaky breath, Peter stood up again, inspecting the hand that was bitten. There were two tiny bite marks on the back of his right hand, just by the thumb. Before he could think about it too much, someone called his name.
"Parker!" Adelaide shouted, getting his attention. The dork had been standing there for who knew how long while the rest of the class had moved on. "Come on!"
He glanced at the spider bite on his hand and then stuffed his hand in his pocket, hoping it would go away before jogging to catch up with the rest of the class.
"You okay, Pete?" Adelaide asked, noticing how her friend had started to look slightly pale. Ned watched him, worried.
"Dude, you look sick. Maybe you should go to the doctor or something," Ned said.
"There's no...no doctor on the bus," Peter said quietly. He was hunched over in his seat with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Everything was aching and he hated to admit that he felt slightly nauseous and dizzy.
"When you get back home, dufus," Adelaide said, rolling her eyes.
"I'm just tired," he excused, feeling his head start to hurt too. There was shooting pain behind his eyes and his vision became blurry. He just had to hang in there a little bit longer…
The bus was soon stopped in front of his house and Peter let out a relieved sigh. Though, even that action made his ribs hurt. He grabbed his backpack which had become surprisingly too heavy and Ned had to help him put it on. Once it was on, he stood up and he almost fell over, seeing spots in his blurry vision. He stumbled off the bus, barely making it to the front door. Everything hurt so bad. He pushed open the door and stumbled inside, almost forgetting to close the door behind himself.
"Oh, hey Peter," May said, noticing her nephew come through the door, "You're just...just in time for...dinner." She watched him carefully; something was off. Peter looked...discoordinated.
"Hey buddy, how was the field trip?" Ben asked, not noticing how strange his nephew was behaving just yet. Peter dropped his backpack on the couch, making his way to the stairs.
"I don't feel well," he said, "I'm gonna go to sleep."
"Oh," May said, confused, "You won't have a bite?"
"No thanks," Peter said, barely pushing himself up the stairs, "Had a bite." He was ready to collapse right here, on the stairs. Although, that probably wouldn't fare well for Ben and May. Ben stood up, going to stand by the stairs to see Peter.
"Did you get some pictures, Pete?"
Peter pushed himself up the last step, disappearing around the corner.
"Uh, I gotta crash. Everything's fine," he said. Ben gave May a worried look.
"What's that all about?" Ben said. Something was definitely not right with their nephew.
Finally in his room, Peter locked the door and stripped away his clothing that was starting to make him feel claustrophobic. He leaned against the table, breathing heavily. His stomach churned as if he was on a roller coaster and his skin was burning. When he opened his eyes, there were two rooms spinning and he shook his head to clear the blurriness. Instead, he got a sharp pain his head and he let out a small gasp. What was wrong with him? Why did everything hurt all of a sudden? The rooms began spinning faster and he leaned away from the table, trying to make his way to his bed.
Suddenly, everything went black and he fell onto the rug at the foot of his bed, dragging his blanket down with him.
All three spiders into these...genetically designed super-spiders….
Super-spiders...super-spiders…
Spiders.
There were spiders everywhere. They were red and blue. Crawling on his walls, his desk, his bed, him. Peter shook his arm, shaking off the spiders on it. They covered every inch of his room until he couldn't tell where he was anymore.
Peter looked around frantically. He felt faint, same as he had before...before...where was he?
The spiders began getting bigger. They grew larger and larger, merging into one giant red and blue spider that was soon bigger than him. Peter stumbled backwards as its beady eyes bore into his and it snapped its beak together, as if getting ready to eat him alive. Peter's breathing grew heavy and he began to panic.
"Penis! Parker!" the spider seemed to shout. Peter looked at it from between his hands that were covering his face. Did the spider just…?
"Scared, Parker?" the spider said, though its voice sounded an awful lot like Flash's…
"Well it's about to get a whole lot scarier," the spider said and Peter watched it, terrified. What was it going to do to him? Suddenly, the spider dissolved into the black void and Peter was at school again. He was standing in the front yard, but there was no one else there. In fact, there was no one else anywhere. It was silent.
He turned around, immediately regretting it. Ned and Ada were standing in front of him, holding hands.
"We don't need Peter," Ned said. Ada grinned.
"Yeah, let's forget about that loser," she said. Peter felt himself gagging and he closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to see any more of that.
Then, someone tapped his shoulder. He opened one of his eyes, looking up. It was Ada and she had a smile on her face.
"Get up, Pete," she said softly. His eyes never leaving hers, he stood up. They were on a playground and he was somehow sitting on a swing with Ada sitting on the one next to his.
"What's going on? What's happening to me? Why am I seeing these things?" he asked. She smiled knowingly, beginning to swing slowly.
"You're mind is playing tricks on you. Nothing is real," she said. He looked at her, confused.
"What? Why?"
"Everything is going to change, Peter. Nothing is ever going to be the same again."
"What? What do you mean?" he asked, starting to become frantic.
"I'm sorry, Pete, " Ada said, looking him in the eyes, "I know you didn't ask for this."
"Ask for what?"
"Everything will be fine, you'll see."
"What? What will be fine?" He felt Ada starting to drift away from him and he had to strain to hear her voice. She began to swing higher.
"Just believe in yourself, Peter. You're gonna do great things," she said sadly, "Bye, Peter Parker."
"Wait!" he shouted after her as she began to swing even higher until she didn't come back down.
Peter shot open his eyes, breathing heavily. His mind was foggy and there was a dull ache in the back of his head. What was that annoying ticking noise? Wincing, he sat up, looking around. Why was he sleeping on the floor?
His eyes fell on his glasses sitting on his nightstand and he got up with a groan, picking them up. Yawning, he put his glasses on. When he opened his eyes, everything was blurry. He shook his head, confused. He took off his glasses, realizing something. The room suddenly became much clearer. That was weird. He put his glasses back on and everything turned blurry again. Strange. He inspected his glasses, seeing if the lenses were dirty. Oddly enough, they were perfectly clean. He put them back on, but the same thing happened again. Suspiciously, he folded his glasses up and put them into his backpack, just in case.
"Weird," he mumbled. Just as he was about to turn away, he caught his reflection in the mirror. Were those...biceps? He flexed his muscles, poking them with his finger. They were real. Unbelievable. He poked his chest and his abdomen. A six-pack! No way! Was he...did he...had he been working out lately?
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Peter?" May said.
"Yeah?" he said back, his eyes never leaving his reflection.
"Are you okay in there?" she asked. Peter glanced at his abs again. Was he alright? Was he dreaming? He poked his six-pack again. No, that was definitely real.
"Uh, I'm fine," he answered, surprising himself. There was certainly nothing wrong with him. Sure he had biceps and a six-pack and his glasses made things blurrier, but he felt fine. In fact, he felt better than fine. Much, much better. He flexed his biceps again.
"Are you feeling any better this morning? Any change?" May asked.
"Change?" Peter asked, his eyes traveling down to his six-pack. How sure was he that this was real? He grinned to himself.
"Yeah, big change," he said.
"Well hurry up!" May said through the door, "You're gonna be late!"
Late? Late. He had school. He was going to be late for school.
"Right," he said, hurrying to grab his clothes. He glanced in the mirror one last time before heading out.
"Let's do this," he mumbled to himself, still not believing what was happening.
"Peter!" May shouted again.
"Coming!" he shouted back, pulling his shirt on over his head and stumbling out of his room, grabbing the backpack that had appeared in front of his door. He rushed down the stairs, eager to get to school. He jumped the last few steps, landing on the floor without tripping.
"Jeez," Ben said, noticing how bouncy his nephew was behaving this morning, "I thought you were sick."
Peter grinned knowingly.
"I got better," he said with a shrug, turning away, "I better get going if I'm going to catch the bus. Bye guys!"
"But you haven't eaten anything!" May shouted after him, "Do you have your lunch money?"
"Yeah, I got it!" he said, opening the front door.
"Hey Michelangelo! Don't forget we're painting the kitchen right after school," Ben reminded him.
"Sure thing, Uncle Ben," Peter said, grinning, "Don't start without me."
"Don't start up with me," Ben replied with a smile of his own. Peter grinned over his shoulder one last time before heading out the door, jogging so he wouldn't miss the bus again. He couldn't wait to get to school today.
"Teenagers," Ben told May after Peter had left, "Raging hormones, they never change."