I had this picture in my mind of Peter calling out in the darkness "why is everyone running... nobody wants to play with me" and "Come out, come out wherever you are..." With several different creepy sounds that will freak out the guys.
Plus Peter can communicate with spiders.
For the sake of the story, we're going to pretend that nobody has PTSD or a heart condition that would make this all a bad idea ;
The one where half the team learned to NOT underestimate Peter...
…Or how the Avengers learned just how scary Peter can be.
Tony, Steve, Sam, and Clint were sitting in the common room watching a show. Thor and Banner are out in new Asgard. Bucky is having some maintenance done on his arm, in Wakanda.
Suddenly the power went out.
Being the superheroes they are, they immediately sprang into action.
"FRIDAY?" Tony asked to find out what's going on.
However, the usual Irish tones of Tony's primary AI wasn't heard, instead a high-pitched voice spoke in the dark with a sing song tone, "FRIDAY isn't here right now… you get to play with meeee…"
The guys were suddenly even more on alert.
"Who are you?" Steve demanded as they tried to make their way to the armory where their equipment is stored.
They noticed that Natasha was still sitting on the couch reading, she had acquired a light and was calmly reading her book.
"What the hell…"
Natasha looked up with a smirk. "You guys asked for it…. маленький паук…" she called up.
"Yes, мама паук?" Peter's voice was cheerful.
"Have fun hunting baby."
"Okay, thanks… I well."
Tony growing a little worried turned back to Natasha asking, "what is Peter… hunting?"
"Why his prey of course… wolf spiders hunt for their food after all." Natasha said calmly.
"Tony what about your suit?"
"No good, it's not responding."
"I know, that would be cheating… and that's wrong, isn't that right Mr. America." Peter said from just above them.
"Welcome to my parlor… said the spider to the flies." Peter deepen his voice, when they found the armory door blocked by… webs.
"Peter?! Okay that's not funny stop playing around."
"But why? Don't tell me your… scared?"
"No of course not…" Tony said with as much confidence as he could muster.
"Ye… ow!" Sam started to agree but was shocked by something.
"Oh Samantha, did you run into my little surprise?" Peter asked.
"Peter… I'm warning you, stop it right now." Steve demanded.
"And if I don't?"
"Then… ow… stop it." Steve started to say when he ran into the same type of surprise as Sam.
Clint spoke quieter, "let's just go back into the common room, Peter will get bored and stop eventually.
"Are you sure about that? I can hear your heartbeat; it seems pretty high… Are you sure you're not just a little bit scared?" Peter whispered; it seems like he's right next to Clint's ear.
Clint couldn't help it he jumped slightly.
"Shit, fuck, something just touched my hand." Sam suddenly said as he too jumped. "Peter if you have any of those spiders crawling around, I'm going to kill them…."
Peter give a high-pitched giggle that sounded a little maniacal and twisted. However, he refrained from saying anything. He wouldn't summon any spiders, that would be too much for the guys and he wouldn't want to take the chance of them killing the spiders.
"Stark your kid is… freaky." Clint said.
"No, no… this is all мама паук, I'm not claiming this version of him." Tony denied as they slowly made their way back to the common room.
"You sure you want to invoke Natasha?" Clint asked.
"What was that?" Natasha called out from the common room.
Tony immediately felt a chill run down his spine and was quick to respond with, "Nothing, nothing at all."
Natasha bit her tongue to keep from laughing, Tony's voice took a panicked tone.
Suddenly over the 4 men Peter said, "why are you running… don't you wanna to play with me?"
All four shivered at the demented childlike tone and the fact that it sounded like he was inches above their heads.
"Come out, come out… wherever you are?"
"Okay, who showed Peter, Cape Fear?" Tony asked.
"Mistttteeeerrrr Ssstttaaarrrkkk, won't you come play with me?"
"No can do, kid…" Tony said shivering again."
Saaammmmyyy… what's the matter?" Peter.
Agent Barton… you aren't scared… I thought the big bad secret agent wouldn't be scared of the dark… but your heart is beating awfully quickly…."
Peter waited until Steve stopped moving, knowing that Steve can't see him any better than the others, Steve's senses are better the rest of the team, but nowhere near as good as Peter. Peter whispered, "Mr. America, surly you're not scared, I thought you were the super soldier and fearless?"
"I'm not afraid Peter." Steve stated.
"Your rapid heartbeat says otherwise… it's not nice to lie." Peter said softly almost sad, but still with a demented singsong twist.
"Fuck… dammit Peter stop brushing my hand with whatever it is." Sam said when he felt something lightly brush his hand.
"What's the matter Samantha… surely little old me can't scare a big bad avenger like you…."
(Flashback one week ago)
Peter is laying on the couch his head on Natasha's lap as she runs her fingers through his soft hair. She can quietly hear and feel Peter purring over the noise of the movie and the guys sitting closer to the TV.
She watches as a black widow spider crawls up on the couch and Peter put his hand down for the spider to crawl on.
As Peter gets older and his powers mature, he started noticing that he could 'hear' spiders in his vicinity. Soon he found he is able to communicate with them. He does it telepathically and after lots of practice, he learned how to decipher the spider language. Of course, Peter first had to get over his own discomfort of spiders, but after spending so much time communicating with them. He became comfortable with just about every species he's found. From the smallest spiders to the big tarantulas at the zoo.
That had been a very interesting trip. Natasha and Peter went one day just to see if he could communicate with any kind of spider. At first it was almost overwhelming all the different species speaking at once. But soon Peter was able to treat it like his other enhanced senses and control it. He discovered that most creatures have a connection to nature, and he learned about the web of life. Spiders along with other invertebracy have a form of group speak. They can communicate with each other. Each species has a different accent, for lack of a better term.
Natasha watched Peter bring his hand up and stare at the small black spider with the infamous red hourglass design on her back. She could see Peter's facial features change. It's clear that he's communicating with the spider.
Natasha unlike most of her teammates is fascinated by his new ability. In part because Peter loves to explore it so much. While her teammates tend to get nervous and fidgety when Peter has a spider especially a poisonous one like the black widow that's currently on his hand.
Suddenly the spider turned to look at her, Natasha could swear the spider was sizing her up.
"Peter?"
"Yes, мама паук?" Peter spoke softly as not to scare the spider.
"Why is your spider checking me out?"
"Uh she… we were talking, and she asked about my mom… it's a spider thing. I told her that you are my mama spider. So…" Peter looked at back at the spider on his hand and a light blush showed.
Natasha waited, whatever they had said was something big for Peter to blush like that.
Peter looked over at Natasha, "She uh said you are acceptable as my mother… from what I've gathered that's pretty high praise. You know how important babies are to mother spiders. She uh wanted to know if you would be okay if she called herself Nat. I had mentioned that your other name is the black widow… she doesn't understand the concept of codenames."
Natasha felt oddly touched, and she told him so.
She went back to reading her book and running her fingers through Peter's hair. Not long after that he started to purr again.
She glanced over when his purring immediately stopped, to see a bright red blush creep up Peter's neck and she could tell he was doing his best to avoid looking at her.
She wondered what happened.
She waited, knowing Peter would look at her eventually.
She raised her eyebrow when he sheepishly looked up at her.
Peter knew that was her way of silently asking him to tell her what's going on. "Nat the spider… she said I'm too skinny for being the world's biggest spider…" Peter blushed again at the name the other spiders have come up with for Peter. "She… uh, she's trying to figure out how much prey you would need to catch to take care of it…." Peter had said it all quietly.
Natasha softly chuckled, before adding, "well she's right you are too skinny."
Peter looking slightly put out said, "I'm not too skinny, I'm streamlined. I have to be to web swing like I do."
"I know baby."
"Anyway…" Peter started to speak when his head whipped back down at look at Nat the spider and he blushed again. Natasha heard a small groan coming from Peter.
"Peter?" Natasha asked. This time he was even more embarrassed.
Peter took his free hand and covered his eyes after he glanced over to see that the others were not paying attention to them.
"She, uh… she asked about my purring, she uh… oh god this is embarrassing. She said that only wolf spiders purr or rather vibrate the ground… and they only do it when…" Peter couldn't finish.
Natasha smirked slightly finishing his sentence, "… when they are trying to attract a mate?"
Peter didn't look surprised he knows that Natasha is smart. He just nods his head slightly and keeps his eyes both closed and covered by his free hand.
"Are you trying to attract me as your mate… Peter?" she teasingly asked.
"No… I, uh, I mean you're really pretty and uh I love you and… uh…" Peter started to say floundering he barely kept his voice down to not attract the attention of the guys.
Natasha softly shhhed him, "I'm teasing you baby. You know I love you to. But you're still a little too young to be thinking about any mates…"
Peter nods knowing that's true. It's not that he isn't attracted to Natasha she is one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen. Still being her baby spider and spending time with her is more than enough for him. He smiled at her and went back to explaining the relationship to Nat the spider.
About that time Tony walked into the area to get more coffee and had a small heart attack seeing the spider in Peter's hand, his automatic reaction was to try and smash it.
However, Peter's much faster reaction times means that Peter grabbed his wrist with his other hand and Tony was treated to twin looks of irritation from both Peter and Natasha.
"What are you doing, why are you trying to kill Nat the spider." Peter said after releasing Mr. Stark's wrist.
"It's a black wid… wait did you say Nat the spider? As in Natasha?" Tony responded.
This time Natasha spoke, "yes she wanted to be called that… do you have a problem with it?" her tone was deceptively calm.
"Uh no, not at all…." Tony said deciding to just get his coffee and ignore the whole thing.
However as soon as he got back to the couch with the other guys, he was muttering about how Peter was like a Disney Princess of spiders.
Tony, Steve, Sam, and Clint had been joking around about how Peter is a cinnamon roll and so cute, lots of comments about the spider baby. They had been laughing about how Peter is like a cuddly spider.
Natasha remained quiet, but she noticed that for some reason the teasing slightly bothered Peter, not enough that she would need to step in, but maybe enough for Peter to do… or say something. She is forever pushing her baby spider to be more self-assertive.
She was not disappointed….
Peter doesn't normally let the teasing that the team does get to him.
But for some reason, this evening… Peter couldn't let this one go.
"Did you know that pound for pound, spiders are some of the deadliest creatures on the planet?" Peter said simply while there was a lull in the teasing. "And when asked spiders are usually at or near the top of things people are most scared of.
"Uh, sure, I guess…" Tony said wondering where Peter is going with it.
"But you don't think I can be scary?" Peter asked, his voice deceptively calm and soft.
"No offence kid but no, you are about… what 100 pounds soaking wet?" Clint said his tone amused.
Steve, Sam, and Tony all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Huh, you do know that not counting Thor and the Hulk, I'm stronger and faster, than all the rest of you combined." Peter said wanting to see how far the guys would take the teasing.
"I know you have powers but honestly you're so small… and well… helpless looking that I can't believe you could scare a kitten much less a person." Clint responded to the agreement and amusement of the others.
"That may be true, but we have more experience and I know I personally have seen things that would scare you no matter how strong or fast you are." Steve added, he's not proud of it, but he's kind of jealous of Peter's abilities, not necessarily the ability to stick to any surface, but his strength and speed are several times more the even the most Steve can do.
"So, you don't think I could scare any of you at all?" Peter asked, knowing the answer.
"Kid you scare me when you pull insane stunts and or get hurt and ignore it. I swear I didn't have any grey hairs before I met you, but now…" Tony said pointing to his head. "However, beyond that… no, you couldn't scare any of us, not an avenger that have seen what we've seen."
"Well I'll admit your new ability to summon and communicate with spiders is kind of freaky, but as for scaring me otherwise, no." Clint said.
Peter could see the others nodding in agreement. "Huh, okay…."
Peter just looked over at Natasha and smiled at the proud smile she has for Peter. Proud of how he'd stood up for himself, even if it was only some light teasing, they all know that at the end of the day. Peter is family and they would take on heaven and hell for him. However, that doesn't stop the guys from teasing him when they get the chance.
So, Natasha will sit back and enjoy the show.
(End Flashback)
"мама паук…" Peter's demented voice called out.
"Yes baby?" Natasha answered without looking up, she is once again holding back her laugh at how hard the guys are trying to pretend, they aren't scared.
"Nobody, wants to play with meeeeeee." Peter sang out putting as much demented childlike sounds as he can.
"I know baby. I guess you'll just have to try harder."
"Shit… Nat…" Clint couldn't help but sputter out.
"What's the matter, I thought he wasn't scary?" Natasha asked finally looking towards the four guys that are back to back in the common room. "Oh, big bad scary avengers afraid of a… what did you call him? A Disney princess and a cuddly spider?" Natasha didn't care that the light was bright to the guys after being in the dark for so long.
There was a short break while Peter remained quiet and still, causing the guys to wonder what's happening.
When suddenly a loud high-pitched scream came from Sam. "Fuck, fuck, fuck… something just brushed the back of my neck.
"Good job baby." Natasha spoke out loud.
"Thank you мама паук." Peter said from right above the guys.
Peter then waited a few more minutes the softly spoke, "I thought I'd invite a few of my friends in to play… can you hear them? Their legs scurrying across the floor, walls, and the ceiling?" Peter rapidly tapped his fingers lightly on the ceiling to stimulate scurrying sounds. "Oh, that's a big one… he has some nice big fangs. He asking me, which one I want him to play with. Oh, that's cute one of the spiders has her babies with her, she's teaching them how to hunt and trap their prey. Oh… oh… their almost on you…" Peter kept talking and very amused at how much the guys are franticly trying to see the spiders in the dark.
Natasha waited until the guys got the bright idea to move closer to her for the light… it took them long enough, she smirked as she shut off the light she is using, to plunge the room, in fact the whole floor in almost pitch black. She couldn't hold back her snicker when she heard one of them whimper as the light went out. She couldn't tell who it was, but figured it was either Sam or Tony. Clint and Steve are less likely to do that…. Or so she thought.
"Agent Barton… was that a whimper I heard?" Peter said quietly.
"Clint?!" Natasha asked surprised. "Oh, I'm so telling Maria and Fury."
"Shit, fuck, no, I'll do whatever you want…." Clint said panicking. He thought he saw moment right before the light went out, and he can just feel the spiders all around staring at them with those beady little eyes.
"Oh Mr. America they seem to like you… I'm surprised you can't feel them on your pants. The babies are kind of small so that might be why.
Peter smirked to see Steve's hand twitching it's a known fact that in the dark with heightened awareness you can make people believe something just by talking about it. So even though there are no spiders around them at all, they are all acting like they can feel and maybe even see the moment in the dark from the spiders.
(Flashback 5 minutes before the lights went out)
Peter waited a week after they had the conversation. Long enough to let them forget the about it, the guys had teased Peter a few more times since then, but Peter just took it in stride.
He could hardly contain his smile, in fact Natasha had noticed Peter excitement all evening. He'd seen her just shake her head slightly amused at his excitement.
Peter is once again cuddled up with Natasha playing on his phone when he takes a pair of glasses frames that have lights on the sides and hands them to Natasha. She looks at Peter strangely for a few seconds, but she understands as she smiles and tenderly kisses his forehead then softly tells him 'have fun' to which she is rewarded with one of Peter's bright smile that seems to take up his whole face.
She puts on the frame and waits for the lights to go out.
She then turns on the lights and continues to read.
(End Flashback)
Tony suddenly said, "Natasha call him off, please."
"I don't have anything to do with it. This is all Peter. You want him to stop you have to talk to him yourself." Natasha said calmly sitting on the couch.
"Peter, you need to stop this." Steve said trying to remain calm.
"But why? This is so much fun…" Peter said as he dangled from one of his webs above the guys.
"SHIT! Stop it Peter…" Steve said as he felt something light brush through his hair.
"Language…" Peter sang the word extending it.
Despite the situation, Tony did have to chuckle at that.
"Tell you what… let's play a game… 'tag, your it' only you four are all it, and you have to tag me to win."
"Goddammit… Peter get these freakin spiders away from me…" Sam said after Peter used the end of his web to lightly brush Sam's hair.
"Never mind that, just spread out and find him." Clint said, he's mad that he whimpered and was called out for it.
"Peter are you going to stay down here so we can have a chance to tag you?" Steve asked.
"Oh, I suppose I could…" Peter said he was out of reach when he said it, but silently dropped down, behind Steve, in front of Tony.
Steve heard him due to his slightly enhanced senses, but when he lunged for Peter all he caught was empty air and a demented child's giggle.
Peter crouched down and lightly tugged on Tony's pants, he was rewarded by another high-pitched scream this time Tony thinking that spiders are on him.
Peter moved silently behind Clint who is actively trying to listen as he moves as quietly as he can around the room.
Peter takes his finger and just ever so lightly brushes the edge of Clint's ear with it.
"FUCK!" Clint yelled and jumped.
He turned when he heard the same demented giggle but this time, he heard Natasha's chuckle as well.
Peter has had enough fun it's clear that all four guys are scared. Peter silently walks behind Steve and with a soft 'pfft' sound trapped him in webs.
He then silently moved to the other three and did the same thing.
Then he went back to lay down on the couch next to Natasha who heard him and felt his head gently come to rest on her thigh. She smiled knowing what Peter had done. "Okay baby I think you've had your fun."
"You're right. FRIDAY? Go ahead and bring the lights back up slowly." Peter called out.
This time a familiar Irish voice was heard, and they could tell she was amused. "Of course, Peter."
As soon as it was bright enough to see all four were looking around the floor to make sure there were no spiders.
"No there are no spiders… unless you count me." Peter said, as he got up and taking the web dissolver fluid, he released the guys and the armory door.
Natasha before she went back to reading looked all four guys in the eyes, "I trust you will give my baby spider the respect he deserves?" She also did it keep any of them from trying to get revenge on Peter… at least for now.
All four didn't look very happy with Peter.
"Sam and Clint, you have no room to talk, you pull pranks worse than this on me all the time." Peter looked them both in the eye. He then continued, "Mr. Stark, you know I would never do anything to jeopardies the team. However, I needed to prove that I'm not the… cinnamon roll you called me." Peter looked at Steve last. "You failed to see this as a team building exercise that it could have been. You all got out classed by me without me really even trying. Instead of looking pissed off at me, you should think about how to keep that from happening for real next time."
Both Clint and Sam have to agree the prank wars between the team, are far wilder than this.
Mr. Stark and Steve has to admit Peter has a valid point. Mr. Stark told him so then asked if that was why he did it.
"Not really, I mostly just wanted to see if I could make one of you piss your pants, but as I got the thinking about it. I realized it could be a valid training tool. What if it had been a real enemy and not your favorite Disney Princess… as you put it."
Natasha who is proud of him for that nodded. "They do something similar at SHIELD… which is why Clint I'm so going to tell." She smirked at Clint's indignity look. But she sobered up and added, "Steve, in the red room they did similar as well, but it, like everything else was life or death. The winner was whomever was left standing. So, keep that in mind."
With that she got up and both Natasha and Peter walked down the hall, they could hear her say just before they exited the level, "I'm going to teach you a few things to really ramp it up, for next time. I'm pretty sure you will get at least Sam to piss his pants."
All four men felt a cold shiver run up their spine. As they heard the two of them let out an evil laugh as the door closed behind them