Peter was sitting at the table with his Aunt May when there was a knock at the door. May got up and squeezed his shoulder before walking towards the door, Peter paused and wondered who it could be before his eyes widened and he nearly hopped up and rushed to the door, but May was standing there "Hello there, I'm looking for Peter Parker. I'm…" Clark hadn't planned on Peter's aunt being around, as he thought Peter was living alone, the old woman with long brown hair held a warm smile as she looked at the nervous man before her,
"Clark Kent, I'd like to speak to him about a part time job" he offered something he knew Ma would have liked to hear, and it appeared to have worked somewhat. "Oh that's good to hear, I'll go fet-" she was cut off by Peter nearly jumping through an open walkway behind her, landing behind him "Hey, I'll, I'll go get my shoes and be back" he muttered before May waved him off "Nonsense, if you'd like to come in for dinner we'd love to have you." The way she spoke reminded him of home, most people of New York were a bit mean, a little angry, and always in a rush.
Peter turned around on the stairs and smiled a bit, he should have guessed May would have invited him in, not that he didn't want Clark to be here but he was a bit nervous about his hero life coming into his home life, Clark on the other hand didn't see the danger in a meal before their chat and was sure that if Peter came to Smallville Ma would have grounded him before letting Parker leave town without stopping by, besides he thought it was a wonderful idea as the three of them sat down, it was mostly a lot of questions for Clark as the other two had nearly finished eating before he had arrived.
"He sells photos to the Bugle, is this what this is about?" May asked curiously, the back of her mind she knew what the photos were and what Peter did when he was "out" but didn't want to pull that to the forefront of her mind because she'd be even more worried.
"Well I work for the New York Bulletin, I'm new and was hoping to ascertain how Peter gets his photos, they're very good and I was hoping to recruit him to our side as it were" He said with a smile. Peter grinned as he thought Clark was lying, it couldn't be that simple could it? A real job, not just a freelancer?
"You seem to be the only person in the state able to reliably get photos of Spider-man which are always great, and with the Avengers cropping up and the Bat still running around Gotham I'd say the Bulletin could use a good photographer, and the editor said we'd pay, I think you're good enough to get an actual job, with benefits" Clark floated out the thought, Ellison had said get him pictures and Peter was the best at doing that.
"I don't have time for a full time job right now Clark, but...ah I'll at least talk with your boss and see if we can work something out, let's get going?" He said getting up as Clark quickly finished his foot and began to leave. ``Thanks May, I'll see you around" he spoke as the two men left May at the kitchen table to wonder which one of Peter's new friends Clark was, the red cape or the black cape?
As the two got outside Peter was quiet for a few moments, they walked and he finally broke the silence "So are you near or short sighted?" He asked completely deadpan, Clark didn't know if he was joking or not and just shook his head "No I've still got perfect vision but that's the thing about me, catch a falling alien out of the sky, save the day and fly away? No one expects a guy not wearing a mask to have a secret identity" he said before blushing "Except a waitress who I carried away in my arms and had to interview" he said as Peter laughed "You really should wear a mask, someone is gonna come by and not be so nice about discovering who you really are" The webslinger spoke as they walked the street, his eyes moved from the ground to Clark as the alien parted his lips, having told himself a mask was a bad idea.
"Its different for me and you Pete" he said bluntly as they continued down the sidewalk, Parker looked confused as Kent continued "At the end of the day, you and Bruce are humans, special in your own ways and excellent men but you're still human, and I think there's something about people that by and large understand that they could be shopping for groceries with you, or you could attend their kids little league games." He sighed looking at Peter as he stopped, Peter in turned and raised an eyebrow
"But I can do more than anyone, I can do more than you or Bruce or Tony" he said with a sigh "and if I'm wearing a mask, if I don't put a face to the man behind the actions people will be terrified that Superman might turn evil one day, that the Avengers won't have the strength to stop him" Clark said shaking his head.
"Yeah, yeah I guess that does make sense, an alien that can pick up the empire state building and run at the speed of sound, probably needs all the trust he can get." Peter acknowledged as he looked to his teammate, understanding why Clark couldn't wear a mask but definitely thinking he needed to work on his secret identity a little more
"Maybe pitch your voice up a bit? Definitely don't want to sound like Superman, right?" Peter half joked, thinking that Clark needed to be severely different from Superman in looks and appearance.
"I can still see the blue in your eyes, maybe I can design you a pair that sort of shields them? Change the color a bit? I'm not making promises here, just saying maybe" he said shrugging a bit as they spotted their bus, Peter adjusted his bag and followed Clark as they got onto the bus, Clark fished out fare for the two of them before they took their seat in a secluded part of the bus.
"I'd appreciate that, maybe I...well maybe we can figure out something good in a lab I know of, if your suit can withstand the cold" he remarked as Peter raised an eyebrow "I haven't needed the winter suit in a few months, where is your lab at, the south pole?" He asked curiously, Clark's almost grinning reaction made Pete's eyes go wide "No way you're being serious." he muttered as Clark nodded "It isn't a pole, more like in northern Canada but it still gets pretty cold up there, or I've heard" he said shrugging as if it was no care to him.
Peter was a bit awestruck at the idea of visiting an alien spaceship and to study something there, maybe there would be something that could help him out too? Perhaps he could convince Clark to let him take some tech home with him.
The bus ride passed across the town as they were somewhat quiet, maybe the pure shock of Peter visiting an alien spaceship in the future kept him quiet but they approached the Bulletin and got out, Clark looked up at the building's exterior with a little smirk on his face before gesturing to the door for Peter to walk in.
The heroes walked up the stairs to the bullpen and into Ellison's office, Clark knocked and stepped aside "Ellison, this is Peter Parker" he said with a quick gesture to his friend before Peter awkwardly waved and looked around the office at all the things Brett Ellison had on the wall "You're that kid working for Jameson, right?" Ellison asked as Clark let Peter take the floor
"Ye...yeah...well no...I'm freelance, he pays me for what I bring hi-" He stopped as Ellison cut him off "Yeah I know what Freelance means, any reason he hasn't brought you on full time?" the older man asked as Peter nodded "I...I can't do full time with School" which brought out a laugh from his prospective employer "Jesus kid you're at least 22, what are you doing in school?" Which brought Peter to nod "No I know but I had to take care of my aunt after my uncle passed and went through some things but I'm going back for my doctorate"
"Jesus Kent the kids gonna be a doctor, I'll get to say I had a doctor on payroll at some point" He remarked sarcastically "Look I used up all I could for full time with farm boy over here, but what I can do is promise you a part time, at least twenty hours paid a week for exclusive photos of the wall crawler and any other costumed heroes that might be crossing the end of your lense alright? No benefits unfortunately but if you do a good job I can promise you that you'll always have a spot here, unless we shut the doors" He nodded, extending a hand to Peter as they agreed on the deal.
Clark and Peter smiled as Ellison nodded "Now get to work" he spoke sitting down at his desk and waving them off.
The two left the building to start to get to "work" , both of them doing costumed work and real work.
Peter would take pictures of Superman while Clark would do interviews with Spider-man as the hero would attempt to rehabilitate the poor image Jameson had given Spider-man over the years. And their plan had worked out well over a few weeks, people had started to trust Spider-man.
Clark landed behind Pete's house and changed into his street clothes at super speed before knocking and entering "Peter? Are you ready to go?" he asked as May greeted him with a smile and Peter called out "I'm coming dude just give me a minute"
May pushed Clark a cup of coffee across the kitchen counter and mused "Can't believe Peter wants to go to Gotham city, willingly" May spoke with concern as Clark adjusted his glasses and picked up the mug
"Gotham isn't so bad, and the boss wants us to cover the Knights and Meteors and I need his camera" Clark said, he had gotten good at lying about what was going on with them, Peter was still better at it, having done it longer than him, lying to Gwen at first, her father, Ben, and now everyone at school, the only person he was probably being honest with was Clark, the only person who knew both sides of his life, Spider-man and Peter Parker.
Peter came running down the stairs with a camera in hand and quickly whipped around the kitchen, tossing bread into a toaster as he grabbed the jug of orange juice as he smiled "Clark, right yeah Gotham city….should probably be out of there before dark" The Spider-man laughed as May nodded "Please be back sooner rather than later you two, I don't need either of you running amok of any of those crazies over there" May expressed her concern as Clark nodded "We'll both be back by sundown May, I promise" Peter chuckled as he finished his orange juice, smiling as he hugged May, the men quickly left the house as Peter looked over at Clark "So we do we start this super piggyback ride?" He asked as he put his hands into his pockets "We don't yet, we take the short way to my apartment to get you a coat" He replied grabbing Peter and sprinting him off at super speed.
Peter quickly stumbled onto the counter of Clark's dingy apartment "Oh man, little warning next time dude" he said kneeling over the counter, his stomach felt like it had been thrown into knots "Sorry you just, I had in high school that knows who I am, he never complained" Clark said feeling bad, he wasn't used to carrying people.
"Just grab one or two out of the closet and go put your suit on" Clark said stepping out into the hall, two empty apartments sat next to his, one across the hall and another with a glass door that was larger than his but he wasn't able to afford the larger one on his new salary, he could have at asked Bruce or Tony for something but that wasn't his place, they weren't exactly the best of friends, someone was moving in soon based on the "sold" sticker on the glass of that door.
Peter came out of the door and smirked "New neighbors?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, a large blue parka draped over Peter's clothes which held his suit underneath, Clark nodded hesitantly as the pair walked back down the stairs "Should be someone on this floor besides myself soon enough" Clark spoke as they exited the building, he looked around and stepped into an alleyway with Peter "Alright so now comes the awkward part" Clark spoke extending his arms outward "Find a spot to stick to me" Clark said as Peter looked him over and nodded, checking around the alleyway first before extending his fingers onto Clark's back, once he was on Clark nodded and took off to the ship, a few minutes later because Clark flew slow to not upset Peter's stomach again, they landed just outside of a large Kryptonian scout ship, Clark pressed his hand into the door, opening with great effort as Peter turned around and crossed his arms shivering "Tell me you have a heater in there or something" he spoke as Clark smirked and they walked inside, a device made of liquid metal floated up and Clark dug into his pocket, placing a codex into the machine and quickly a ghost came to life "Kal-el, you are aware there is a man behind you, correct?" The hologram spoke as Clark laughed "Jor-el that's Peter Parker he'e one of my teammates with the Avengers, Peter this is my father from Krypton Jor-el" he said as Peter eyed him up and down "I thought that you were the last one" Peter said as Jor-el took over as Clark walked further into the ship and they followed "He is correct, I'm strictly an artificial construct. A living ghost is how Kal put it. I have the memories of Jor-el" he said as Peter was stunned as they walked "That's amazing, your people constructed an artificial intelligence that carries the embodiment of the dead forward" as he spoke a part of him wanted to study this, to analyze it to figure out how he could do the same for Uncle Ben. Jor-el walked beside them as Kal-el spoke "He runs the ship, but as I never met my father I don't know if his personality is similar" Jor-el smiled and gave Kal a nod "I am as similar to Jor-el as I could have been, and I'm not a learning computer so I only have the knowledge of Jor-el, his hopes for the future I share but not his true personality" Jor-el explained as they got to the workshop of the ship, a place where technological repairs were made to everything, navigation configuration, repairs to the phantom drive, and monitoring the hibernation pods.
"Your people are amazing" Peter spoke as they arrived at the workshop, Clark grabbed a few tools and headed towards the hibernation pods started to cut the thick glass as Peter looked around "Pete, see if you can use something to reinforce your web shooters" Clark said as he fished his eye glasses out of his coat pocket and got to replacing the actual glass within them, the pods glass looked like it would hide the natural blue of his eyes turning them to something a little more gray.
Peter spent a little more time looking around before he didn't want to ruin the last piece of Clark's world "Jor-el, are there any parts of the ship offline? Not being used?" Jor-el appeared by the doorway to their current room and lead him down to what appeared to be the first officers quarters "I cannot see a reason for Kal-el to need this room, I should call Kal to break the wall apart for you" He spoke as Peter slammed a hole in the wall himself and got the wiring out "Are all of Kal-el's teammates superhumanly strong?" he asked as Peter took inventory of what he had to work with, he grabbed a few lengths of what appeared to be wire that would fit within his new web shooters, as well as peeling the metal from the shattered panel "Yes and no, I'm…" he grumbled almost counting in his head as he looked at Jor-el. "I'm the third, no fourth, well...fifth strongest on the team, I think" he said scratching the back of his head, he liked the idea of using the kryptonian metal in the event he ever got shocked again like he had against Max Dillion, and maybe the added space from the new metal would allow him to use different cartridges for different applications.
As they got back to the workshop Peter sat down at a table next to Clark and got to work disassembling his web shooters, he pulled out his own bag and began to work on his tech, he went with rubber insulation this time and plotted out space, having Clark to be his own smelting unit and someone to give him a hand with construction made this easier than the first time "Well I'll need a larger power cell eventually" he muttered putting them on, zipping up to the ceiling of the ship as Clark smiled "Everything working in order?" Clark asked floating up to meet his friend as Peter laughed "This is great, just got to get working on some prototypes I've had some ideas on" Clark raised an eyebrow which brought Peter to stumbling excitement "I'm thinking something like a taser web, maybe one to freeze something incase it gets too hot" he said as Clark smiled "I'm sure you'll figure that out, you're always welcome up here, guess you'll just need to call me first" he said landing down as he walked to a great hall of sorts "Jor-el, can you show me all of our history with Asgardians?" Clark asked holding his glasses by the temples as he bounced them in his hand, the liquid metal lit up as Jor-el showed the men a story of the great expanse and General Zod meeting with the Asgardians, Zod knew he couldn't defeat Odin or his young sons and didn't attempt to, the two parties reached an agreement to be allies in each others wars should the time come.
"Why did you want to see this Kal?" Jor-el asked as Clark nodded "Thor is one of our teammates and he invited me to Asgard recently and truthfully I am considering going to meet him and his father Odin" he said looking at his father.
"I'd advise postponing that meeting Kal" he spoke with urgency as Peter looked curious "Something is coming to the planet, you both should get going" he said as Peter pulled his mask out "Fly as fast as you want, I'm ready this time" he Clark nodded and told Jor-el "Patch into my cell phone and text Tony Stark that something is happening, he can ready the team" he said before disappearing in a violent burst of sonic energy out of the ship.
Just past Mars on his way to earth Hal Jordan spoke "Guardians this is Hal Jordan 2814, I'm going to check on the Chitauri invasion and how the planet handled it" Ganthet replied "Observe and report, we must know if we have to keep Rayner, Stewart, or yourself on world to protect it."