Life soon falls into a rhythm.
Darwin walks Peter to school everyday. There's no need for a leash, since the dog follows his boy loyally the entire time and then hangs around the school until 3PM. After that, they go home, occasionally stopping by Peter's favorite sandwich shop.
Mr. Delmar is kind to Peter and Darwin warms up to him quickly. With how familiar the two are with each other, it's obvious that Peter is a regular there, so Darwin finds it important that he make a good first impression. He doesn't bother the cat Murphy, although the feline doesn't seem too happy with his presence. She glares at him smugly whenever Peter pets her. Sometimes Peter gives him a bit of his sandwich, and after a couple of visits, Mr. Delmar starts tossing him a slice of ham whenever they come.
Sometimes Ned joins them. He and Peter are hanging out more often, which relieves Darwin, and the other boy finds it 'sooo cool, Peter, oh my God-' that Darwin waits for Peter to be done with school.
Another upside to Darwin's presence is that Flash never bothers Peter when he's around. It appears that the large dog intimidates him a bit, especially since he growls whenever Flash does try to approach. Darwin can't protect Peter once he's in school, but at least his early mornings and late afternoons are bully-free.
His bond with Peter strengthens enough that he can feel the boy's emotions during the day. They spike whenever Flash is being particularly nasty, so Darwin knows what days to give the bully a couple of extra growls and glares when school gets out.
So, the first couple of weeks are nice. Simple. Go to school, hang out until Peter's done, and then go home to a nice warm meal and a soft bed. It's ten times better than being a stray, Darwin decides.
It's obvious that his presence has been helping Peter, too. He seems lighter, somehow. He still gets sad sometimes, but Darwin always distracts him when he does. He doesn't have as many panic attacks as he used to. Darwin still sleeps with him in his bed sometimes, but most of the time the dog sleeps in his own bed beside the boy.
May does manage to register him as an emotional support dog. It's surprisingly easy, she just has to fill out some forms and get a letter of approval from a therapist. Darwin doesn't have the same rights as a service animal, so he can't go with Peter into restaurants and stuff, but if Peter ever gets a place of his own, Darwin will be able to live with him even if there aren't animals allowed in the building. He's also allowed to go with him on airplanes, but Peter doesn't travel much so that part isn't very useful.
Peter hangs out with Ned and even invites him over sometimes. Darwin always keeps a watchful eye on them, especially when May isn't home, but he lets himself relax a bit more when Ned's around. It's nice not being the only one determined to keep Peter happy. And Ned definitely is determined- he never lets there be a moment of silence, and even after he leaves he keeps making Peter laugh by sending him memes throughout the night.
'He's a good boy,' Darwin thinks. Although he doesn't quite understand his obsession with memes.
Amongst other things, Darwin discovers that May is a terrible cook.
The first few days he thinks that perhaps she is just having a string of bad luck. However, on one Saturday afternoon, Peter and Ned are playing with Legos in Peter's room and Darwin takes the time to watch some TV. Peter and May find it hilarious that he actually appears to be watching the TV, but they don't get suspicious, so Darwin thinks it's okay to continue. He's on the couch, watching Animal Planet, when May walks into the living room.
She glances between him and the TV. A show called River Monsters is playing. Jeremy Wade wrestles a giant catfish out of the water, and May declares, "I'm going to make fish tonight!"
The apartment smells like fish for the next two days.
After that, Darwin has a newfound appreciation for takeout. Peter always sneaks him food underneath the table during dinnertime and May pretends not to notice.
So, for the first two weeks of his life as a pet, everything goes wonderfully. But, of course, something always has to change.
Peter and Darwin have just gotten off of the subway and are walking back to the apartment when they hear commotion down the street. When they push through the crowd, they see that everyone is staring at a rather nasty car crash. Everyone seems to be frozen, unsure of what to do, but when a cry comes from one of the cars, Peter springs into action.
He runs over to the smaller of the cars, Darwin right on his heels. The teenager rips open the driver's door to reveal a dazed-looking woman. The airbag has flattened, but there's blood on the side of her head and the front of the car is crushed, causing the dashboard to trap her legs.
"Are you okay, ma'am?" Peter asks worriedly, already reaching across her to remove her seatbelt, "Can you move?"
The woman shakes her head but frantically pushes him away. "My- my kid!" She croaks, "My kid- in the back- I can't-"
"Don't worry, ma'am, I'll get her."
The little girl is crying, but thankfully it's easy to get her out of the car. Peter gently sets her down next to Darwin and the dog starts sniffing her. It doesn't look like anything's broken, she's just a bit bruised and shaken, so Darwin licks her comfortingly.
It seems that Peter's action has spurred on the other civilians as well. As soon as he gets the little girl out, adults start rushing over and try to help the woman. A few check on the other driver as well, but he's already managed to stumble out of his truck.
As a lady on the sidewalk calls 911, Peter and Darwin step back and leave once the cops arrive.
Later that night, once May has gone to sleep, Peter climbs up on his walls and reaches towards the ceiling. He takes his old Spider-Man suit out of the attic before dropping down onto the ground. He holds it for a few moments, just staring at it. He feels apprehensive, but also excited and determined at the same time.
Concerned, Darwin stands up and snuffles at him worriedly. Peter looks at him and smiles softly.
"Don't worry, bud," he whispers, scratching his ear, "I'll be back soon. I've just gotta do something."
He quickly changes into the suit, then quietly opens his window and sneaks out. He leaves it slightly cracked open, probably so that he doesn't have any trouble getting back in, but Darwin jumps on the opportunity.
Quickly, he noses the window open and hops onto the fire escape. Peter is nowhere to be seen.
'He's fast,' Darwin thinks, glancing up, 'I should get a better vantage point.'
The dark grey dog climbs up the stairs towards the roof. He tries to be as quiet as possible, but the metal stairs are old and creak with every step. Still, he manages to get onto the roof without waking any of the neighbors and glances around.
Queens is vast and the streets are active, even at night. However, Darwin still can't see Peter anywhere.
'You'd think a bright red-and-blue suit would be easy to spot,' he thinks.
Thanks to their bond, however, he can still feel the boy nearby. He's getting farther and farther away and the dog isn't quite sure what to do now. He could go back into the apartment and sleep, since he doesn't know how long his boy will be gone, but he knows he won't be able to rest until he's back. So, Darwin sits down and waits.
It's terribly cold on that February night, but Darwin stubbornly endures it for the next three hours. He feels Peter's excitement through their bond, the occasional flashes of panic followed by pride and triumph. It's around midnight when Peter does return.
Darwin hears a light thump behind him and glances over his shoulder.
Spider-Man stares back at him. Darwin assumes that his eyes are wide behind those goggles.
"Darwin?!" Peter hisses, "What are you doing out here?"
Darwin pads over to him and sniffs him, checking for injuries. Peter immediately starts shooing him back to the fire escape. "Go, go! Go back inside! It's freezing out here!"
Once they're both back inside the bedroom, Peter takes off his mask and glares at Darwin.
"Don't leave the apartment at night!" He scolds, "It's not safe!"
Darwin gives Peter an incredulous look.
The teenager rolls his eyes and sighs. Despite his annoyance, he seems happy. Satisfied. Darwin finds out why the next morning when he sees a news reporter on TV talking about how Spider-Man saved an elderly woman from being mugged. The woman weeps grateful tears as she's interviewed and expresses how glad she is that Spider-Man is back.
There's a smile on Peter's face for the rest of the day.
And so, Spider-Man becomes part of life's rhythm. Darwin walks Peter to school, waits for him, then walks with him until Peter finds an adequate spot to change into his suit, and then Spider-Man is off and Darwin walks back to the apartment. He waits for Spider-Man on the roof, then they both go inside right before May comes home. Darwin even begins carrying Peter's backpack back to the apartment after he loses the last one.
(He doesn't understand how a boy as smart as Peter could expect to leave a backpack in an alley and not have it stolen, even if it is webbed to the wall).
Sometimes Peter goes out again after May has gone to sleep. Darwin disapproves, but Peter still manages to get all of his homework done on time, so he doesn't complain. The only time this whole Spider-Man thing really bothers him is when Peter comes home injured. It's never anything serious, but Darwin hates watching Peter patch himself up in the bathroom when May's not around, and then make up lies when she asks about the injuries that he can't hide with clothes.
Still, being Spider-Man is having an extremely positive effect on Peter. He's more chipper than usual, he's sleeping better (although that might be because he's dead-tired by the end of the day), and he practically swells up in pride whenever he hears people chatting excitedly about Spider-Man's latest heroic deed.
Darwin can't help but wonder what it must be like. 'Doesn't he think it's odd that he's practically famous, except no one knows it's him?'
Peter doesn't seem to mind, though. And as long as Peter's happy, Darwin's happy. So he looks past the negatives of Spider-Man and instead focuses on the positives. He helps Peter with his bag, he dutifully waits for his boy to return at the end of his patrol, and he licks and comforts Peter when he gets bruised and scraped.
This goes on for a few months. The snow melts and the air gets warmer and warmer. Peter and Ned take Darwin to the park more often now that the weather is better. And Peter's freshman year of highschool is starting to wind down. It's the beginning of May, and Peter and Ned are currently outside a coffee shop, chatting about finals. Darwin lies next to Peter's feet on the sidewalk, listening idly.
"I'm feeling pretty good about finals, actually," Ned says, "Although, I'm a bit worried about-"
Peter suddenly straightens up, causing Darwin to do so as well. He looks at the boy, wondering why he's suddenly feeling so anxious, but then follows the teenager's gaze to a TV broadcasting the news inside the coffee shop. They can't hear, but subtitles below reveal that the news anchors are talking about the Avengers.
"Hey... hey, Ned, look."
The three turn and stare at the TV.
"Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria, last month," One news anchor says, "The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred."
The image changes to a video of King T'Chaka speaking, "Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil. Not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent, is no victory at all."
Darwin frowns. He'd distantly kept up with the Avengers' activities during his time as a stray, mostly hearing about them from school-goers and adults on their way to work. Now that he's with Peter, who's a huge fan of the Avengers, he's been kept up-to-date on the superheroes' lives. He doesn't quite know what to think about their latest incident.
Peter, however, does.
"Oh, come on!" Peter defends adamantly, "It's not like they meant for that to happen!"
"Yeah, it was obviously an accident," Ned agrees.
Another news anchor goes on to say, "They are operating outside and above the international law. Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these."
"What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeria?" The first anchor asks.
Peter scoffs and rolls his eyes. "I think I've lost my appetite," he says bitterly, even though his croissant is nothing but crumbs, "Wanna head back to my place?"
"Sure," Ned nods, standing up.
They continue talking about the Avengers as they walk. Peter and Ned both defend their actions stubbornly, so it's not a very productive discussion, but it seems like they're just happy to vent their frustrations. They seem to have gotten everything out of their system by the time they reach the apartment, though.
"Hey, Aunt May!" Peter says, taking off his backpack, "Ned's here!"
May comes out of the kitchen. "Hi, boys! Did you have fun?"
"Yeah," Peter replies, "Until we saw the news."
"Ooooh, yeah, I saw that too," May winces. She shrugs and says, "Well, the United Nations are going to hold a conference in Vienna in a few days. Figure everything out, you know? It's on a Saturday, so we can watch the broadcast. Be the first to hear the good gossip."
"Oh, yeah," Peter says sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "That's going to be a blast."
And it is. Literally.