Chapter 60
Peter Parker woke up, feeling groggy as he blinked himself awake. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light of the room, and another moment to realize just where he was.
Why was he in the Tower? Wasn't he supposed to spend the night with Ned? After the field trip?
"JARVIS?" he asked, unsure, "How did I get here?"
"Miss picked you up after from your school after you came down with a fever. You have been in and out of consciousness for the last seventy-two hours, however my scans show that your fever has faded, so you should begin to feel normal. Ms Stark has been waking you up periodically to ensure you are eating properly, however she and Mr Rogers have been letting you rest while you recuperated. How are you currently feeling Mr Parker?" JARVIS asked him.
Seventy-two hours? He frowned to himself at that. What had happened to him that he'd been out of it for three days? He didn't remember coming to the tower. He didn't remember Toni or Steve getting him to eat. He didn't remember anything from the cold that he apparently had caught.
The last thing he truly remembered was the trip to Oscorp. He'd been excited about it, given the company was one of the leading labs that specialized in biological engineering; something he enjoyed.
He was so grateful for all that Toni had done for him, but while mechanical engineering came easy to her, it was biology and chemistry that interested him more. Still; nothing beat working with her in the lab when she'd show him how to let his designs on the page come to life in front of them, something she'd been doing for him for the last several years.
It wasn't until he'd been older that he truly appreciated what it meant for her to take him under her wing. She'd shown him more than he could have ever hoped to learn, even at a school like Midtown. And he truly did love spending time with her, despite how busy she must have been regularly.
He knew he could hardly brag about spending time in the lab with her; it had been one of the conditions for his mentorship, as she'd wanted to protect him from the media. And that was just fine by him. If someone like Flash found out that he'd been visiting Toni Stark regularly, that he had a room in her Tower, Peter wasn't entire convinced it would make the bullying stop. It probably would just make the entire thing worse.
He looked around the room that she'd set up for him. It bothered him a bit that he couldn't remember the trip to the Tower. Even after all these years, he always looked forward to visiting Toni at the Tower. How sick had he been that he couldn't remember any of it?
What was the last thing he even remembered?
He remembered waking up that morning. He remembered getting ready for school, and meeting Ned on the bus for the trip. He remembered wandering the halls of Oscorp in awe, as the tour guide showed them some of the publicly available exhibits.
He remembered Ned asking him if he wanted to come over for a sleep over. Uncle Ben had still been at the hospital and while Peter was old enough to stay home alone now, they still didn't like him staying alone for long periods of time. It had been why Toni had set him up with a room on her floor of the Tower anyways. But he still felt guilty monopolizing so much of her time. So instead of going over every night when Uncle Ben stayed with Aunt May, he stayed at home some nights and stayed with Ned others as well.
He'd fallen behind from the group, trying to call his uncle, but he knew the reception at the hospital was spotty sometimes, so Peter had settled for leaving a voicemail instead.
And when he'd looked up, his group had been gone.
He saw the back of someone's head entering a room, and in his mind, it had made sense at the time that his group must have gone through that door. So he'd swiftly followed, holding the door before it had closed, and in hindsight, locked. It wasn't until he'd entered the room that he'd realized he'd been very, very wrong.
The room had been a circular lab, with a giant tube of spiders in the centre. While spiders definitely weren't his favourite creature, seeing them in the tube with their webs everywhere was insane. He'd walked closer to them and placed his hands on the glass.
He'd felt the sting on the back of his neck then, swatting the spot quickly as he saw a spider fall to the floor.
But before he could do anything about it, he'd heard the door open, and suddenly remembered that he very much was not supposed to be in the room in question. He darted behind one of the tables before he was spotted and snuck out of the room.
Thankfully he saw his group up ahead coming out of another room and caught up with them. Ned gave him a concerned look, but he'd shaken it off, knowing he was fine.
The rest of the day was foggy after that, and while he could remember the bus ride back to the school, it certainly wasn't as clear as the rest of the day.
Perhaps that had been when he'd started to get sick? Either way, he owed Toni a huge thank you for picking him up and taking care of him for the last few days. He knew she never minded him staying over, but at the same time, he was just a random kid from Brooklyn, and she was Toni Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, Iron Woman, Avenger, and the person he'd looked up to his entire life. Even if she insisted that he just call her Toni.
He reached over for his glasses on the nightstand to put them on, and to his surprise, the glasses stuck to his fingers.
He raised his hand into the air and saw the glasses dangling from them, without his interference. He tilted his head slightly, unsure of what was going on, and saw tiny little hairs sticking out of his fingers and clutching onto the glasses.
Maybe the fever hadn't passed after all. Maybe all of this was one giant hallucination.
Yes, that was the only thing that made sense.
"Peter, your heart rate is escalating," JARVIS told her, "I will call Miss to come take a look at you."
"No!" he said quickly, as the glasses fell off his fingers. "I mean, not yet. Just give me a few minutes, JARVIS, please."
"Very well," JARVIS said to him.
He looked at the glasses in front of him on the bed, as he reached for them again. This time they didn't stick to him. He looked at them untrustingly, as he placed them on his face.
Only for the entire world to turn blurry after the gesture.
he took the glasses off, and saw the world turn clear again, before repeating the experiment several more times.
Peter might not be blind, but his vision had always been pretty poor. He'd needed glasses from a young age. He'd always known and accepted that. He'd barely even remembered a time before he needed glasses.
And yet while he was wearing them, he could no longer see, and without them his vision was clearer than it had ever been even while wearing glasses.
"JARVIS, am I awake?" he asked the AI.
"Yes, sir," the AI confirmed to him.
"Tell me something that I don't know," Peter asked the AI, "Something I couldn't possible know if I'm still asleep."
"Killer whales are actually dolphins, despite their name," JARVIS said, and Peter blinked.
Okay, he definitely did not know that.
So he wasn't dreaming.
That meant whatever was happening to him was actually happening to him. Whatever had caused his fever had somehow caused him to have sticky fingers and clear vision?
Peter Parker knew a lot about superpowers. He'd met the Avengers and often stayed over with two of the best ones. His mentor was without the doubt the coolest superhero to ever exist. So it was safe to say he'd seen a lot of different kinds of super powers.
And yet, his was somehow lackluster.
Sticky fingers.
At least clear vision was useful.
But sticky fingers? What did anyone even do with sticky fingers? And how does that even happen?
His mind flashed back to the bite he'd received before the signs of the fever had started on setting. Could it have been related? Was whatever that was happening to him somehow the result of the field trip?
What would he even do if it was? He could hardly go back to Oscorp and tell them, "Hey I snuck into one of your labs by accident cause I got lost during a field trip and somehow got bit by one of your science experiments. And because of it I somehow have clear vision?"
Perhaps that was the entire experiment. A natural way to give those who need glasses clearer vision. And clearly, they still were in the testing phase if the side effects are him having sticky fingers.
That didn't really make sense; spiders were hardly known for their good eyesight. So why would they pick them for the trial? Eagles and owls had far sharper vision.
Maybe the trial was for something else, and the eyesight was just a consequence? Along with the sticky, hairy fingers he seemed to have developed.
Which implied that there was something else that had changed about him. Something else was different, and he had no idea what it could be.
He frowned to himself.
He was Peter Parker. He lived with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, and sometimes stayed with Toni Stark. He was a normal kid who wanted to live a normal life.
He'd always wanted to have a suit for himself, like Toni did. To fly around with her and be special.
But he wanted to do it as a normal person. Not as some enhanced individual.
It seemed like the choice was taken away from him, however. He had superpowers of some sort whether he liked it or not.
He knew he'd have to test it. It was the only way he could truly know what had changed with him. Even if it meant he'd never be the same Peter Parker he once was before. He needed to know what was happening to him. And if sticky fingers were the only problem he had to worry about.
He sighed to himself, as he sat on the edge of the bed, unsure of what he should do.
On one hand, he was currently staying with Toni Stark and Steve Rogers. If anyone understood human mutations and could help him figure out what was happening with himself, it would be the two of them. Toni had the best labs in perhaps the entire world, and she'd be able to find out what was wrong with him and help him with it.
But on the other hand, did he really want to tell them that he was no longer normal? Something was different with him, but he had no idea what it was. For all he knew, the entire thing would fade over in a few hours, so what was the point in bringing it up to any of them when it would all be gone soon.
It probably wasn't even worth telling them about. Not til he had more concrete evidence that something was wrong with him for real.
He'd take it one step at a time, like his Aunt May had always taught him. Face one problem at a time head on. First, he'd see if the sticky fingers and apparently clear vision left. And if not, he'd see what else he could apparently do. Then he'd figure out the rest as he went.
He stood up, as he made his way towards the kitchen, suddenly feeling a bout of hunger set in. But he didn't want to put too much thought into it. It was probably more related to the fact that he hadn't eaten a proper meal in three days given he'd been sick. Even with whatever Toni had been feeding him, he probably didn't eat anywhere near as much as he usually did.
Well, he was fourteen, so it made sense that he needed to eat a lot of food; he'd seen how much some of the seniors at his school ate on a regular basis. And even the kids who weren't jocks seemed to suddenly have increased appetites as they entered their teenage years.
"Hey Pete," Toni said, as she saw him enter the room, "How are you feeling this morning? Your fever broke late last night, so you should be back to normal soon."
Normal.
Right.
Sticking to his glasses was definitely normal behaviour.
She walked over to him and pressed a hand against his head. He felt himself grow a little self-conscious as she did, worried she might be able to somehow tell that something was off with him with just a simple glance in his direction.
He'd never been the best at hiding things from his family. Not when he was a child and not know. How long would it take her to notice that something was up with him? How long until she saw right through him and figured out the truth.
"You seemed to have cooled down," she commented, as she glanced back at Steve.
"Your Uncle called a few times to check in on you," Steve told him, "We said you'd call when you woke up. He was worried and wanted to come by, but we told him we had it all under control. You were pretty out of it, so there wouldn't have been much he could have done anyways."
"Thank you for letting me stay with you," Peter told them with an earnest smile. "I know it's hardly what either of you signed up for, to take care of a sick teenager."
"None of that now," Toni told him, "You know you always have a place here, Peter. This is your home too. Besides, even when sick you're easy to look after."
"Easier than Toni, that's for sure," Steve commented, as he flipped the omelet he was making onto a plate.
Toni swatted at him lightly and he grinned before pressing a kiss to her lips.
He smiled at the scene in front of him and how domestic it was. He'd known Toni before Steve, even if he'd been young at the time, and while she'd always been warm and open in his presence, Peter couldn't deny that she was definitely happier with Captain America.
Steve passed the plate to Toni, and she plopped it in front of him. His stomach growled again, and she gave him a knowing smile.
"Eat," she told him, "You barely ate a thing over the last few days, and we need to get something into you. You're a teenage boy, you probably are starving."
"I am," he admitted, and she gave him a pointed look, so he began eating the food in front of him.
"How are you feeling?" Steve asked him, as he placed a plate in front of Toni as well. She gave him a surprised look and he gave her a similar look that she'd just given Peter.
"Don't think I'm not aware that you haven't eaten anything since lunch yesterday," Steve said, unimpressed with her. "You can't sit here lecturing Peter without eating as well. How else are you going to teach him to eat at proper times?"
She sighed dramatically at that but began eating as well. Steve turned back to him, waiting for an answer.
"I feel better," he admitted, after finishing chewing. He still felt a little drained, but he supposed it was the aftereffects of the fever he'd apparently had and that it would wear off soon enough.
But would the sticky fingers?
"You're not wearing your glasses," Toni commented with a slight frown, "I thought you couldn't see without them?"
While he might be able to hide the fact that he had sticky fingers, he knew he wouldn't be able to hide the fact that he didn't need glasses. Not when it made it harder to see if he wore them.
"I could see this morning," he said with a carefree shrug, trying not to show just how much the entire thing was really freaking him out.
She exchanged a glance with Steve.
"Uh huh," she said. "That's not how that works, Peter. Is someone giving you a hard time at school over wearing glasses? Because you know that you shouldn't care about their opinions. Especially when you're so much smarter than the other kids. It's just jealousy."
"It's not that," he said quickly, but she didn't look like she believed him. "I promise, it's not that. I just, don't really need them right now?"
He looked over at a box of cereal on the table across from him that Steve had been eating and began listing the ingredients.
Her eyebrows shot up and Steve looked a little impressed.
"I don't think I even know what half those ingredients are," Steve said, glancing warily at the box.
"I guess you really don't need glasses," she commented, a little unsure.
"It happens to children all the time," he tried to say nonchalantly. "Not everyone needs glasses for the rest of their lives. I guess I just got lucky."
"Lucky," she echoed, a little unsure. "Maybe I should have Helen look you over. Just to make sure you're actually doing better."
"No!" he said a little too quickly, then tried to back track, "I mean, I'm feeling fine. And she's one of the leading scientists in the world. She doesn't need to look over me just because I had a small fever."
"You were out of it for three days," Toni deadpanned, "That's not a small fever, Peter. If it got any worse, we would have had to hospitalized you."
"But I'm fine now," he tried to reassure her, "I promise I'll let you know if I feel off in any way. But I'm fine. I promise."
She didn't look like she believed him, but thankfully she let it go. He stood up and hugged her, as he caught her off guard.
She froze for a moment, before wrapping her arms around him.
"I was worried about you, Kid," she admitted to him then, and he pulled away so he could grin back up at her.
"I'm fine, Toni," he promised her, and her gaze softened at him. "Do you mind if I go call Uncle Ben then get caught up on homework? I don't want to fall behind."
He might have been lying a little bit, wanting to go test out his new powers, but she didn't need to know that. The less she knew while he figured out whatever was going on with him the better.
And if it turned out that his newfound weird powers didn't fade then maybe he'd tell her the truth.
"Of course, Sweetheart," she said with a nod. "Just don't overwork yourself too much, okay? You're still getting better."
He nodded and walked out of the room. He had work to do.
Toni turned to Steve the minute Peter left the room. "He's lying," she said once she was sure he was too far gone to hear her.
"He is," Steve said with a nod as he sat down beside her. He took her hand in his and stroked it with his thumb.
"He's hiding something," she said again when she didn't seem to get the reaction wanted. She was unsure of why he wasn't taking it as seriously, but she was worried. She and Peter were always close, why would he be hiding things from her now?
"Toni," Steve told her gently. "Peter's a good kid. He's never told a lie in his life, let alone to you. If he's hiding something from you then he must have a good reason for doing so for a reason. Trust him, Toni. If it's something serious he'll come to you to talk about whatever is going on. You just need to trust that everything will be okay."
"What if he's hurt?" she asked him, "Or what if he thinks he can't talk to me about whatever is happening? I care about him too much to let anything happen to him."
"He knows that," Steve said to her. "Just give him some time, okay?"
"Okay," she sighed, "I don't like it but okay. But if I remotely think that something could be wrong with him then I'm getting involved. And you won't be able to stop me."
"I wouldn't try to stop you even if I wanted to," Steve grinned at her. "I love you too much. Besides, it's kind of cute to watch you mother Peter. You're a natural at it."
She froze slightly at that.
"I don't really know what I'm doing," she confessed, "But I know that I care about that boy. And if anything put him at risk, I'd fight to the end for him."
"I wouldn't expect any less," Steve smiled, as he wrapped an arm around her.
She smiled at him, as she turned back to her food, trying to push all worries about Peter out of her mind.
Turned out Peter also had super hearing.
It was something he'd learned when he'd gone to leave the room, and despite being several yards away, he could hear Toni and Steve talking as clearly as if they were right in front of him. It would make sense, given he'd already noticed the changes to his vision, that his other senses were apparently heightened as well.
He tried not to feel too much guilt over lying to Toni, especially given that she seemed to be well aware that he was. He wasn't doing it to hurt her, but to shield her from whatever it was that was happening to him, at least until he had a better idea of what was even happening to him. He was too unsure of everything right now to tell her.
He couldn't go to the Avengers Compound, despite it being a great facility to test out his new powers, because he knew there would be no way he'd be able to hide it from all the Avengers. It was hard enough hiding it from Steve and Toni, let alone the rest of them.
He knew he needed to figure this out, one way or another, before he decided what he wanted to do about it.
Out of all the people who could gain superpowers, he was well aware of his unique situation. He could turn to Toni and Steve at any time and they'd help him.
But his entire life he'd been an outsider. The nerdy kid who got bullied. The kid who could barely make eye contact with half his peers. The one who really only had one true friend in Ned.
"JARVIS," Peter said, looking up at his ceiling, "Can you tell Steve and Toni I'm going for a quick walk to clear my head? I think I need some fresh air after being cooped up for the last few days."
He walked towards the elevator, pressing the button for it to go down, as a million thoughts rushed through his head.
One step at a time, right? That was what he'd decided to do.
If sticky fingers were his most interesting superpower, well then perhaps he could get away with no one ever finding out what had happened to him.
He stepped out of Stark Tower and onto the streets of New York.
Time to find out exactly what he could do.
