Instead of being called, Peter's the one that ends up doing all of the calling.
He texts Happy about a million times every day and leaves countless voicemails. The man picked up his calls on the first day, then quickly began ignoring them. Darwin can't blame him, to be honest. He's glad that Peter is excited, but Darwin is afraid he's coming off as a bit desperate. It's obvious that the kid assumed he was going to become some sort of Avenger-in-training after what went down in Germany. Admittedly, Darwin is kind of relieved that he hasn't been recruited and is simply patrolling the city of Queens as usual, just in a much safer suit.
Stark seems to be keeping busy, however. He's on the news just about everyday, the news anchors discussing the superhero fiasco and keeping people up to date on what's going on with the Accords. Stark is apparently trying to negotiate a compromise with the United Nations, but so far it's been a slow process. He's also been suspiciously quiet about the Rogue Avengers, who escaped authorities after Zemo's involvement was revealed a few days after the Germany incident.
Darwin doesn't quite know what to think of the whole situation, but he's starting to lean towards the Rogue's side. The world was safer when the Avengers were together and it was wrong for the government to restrict them so severely. Not that they should be able to do whatever they want, but it seems to Darwin that the government was trying to control their every move. He thinks it's partially because they're intimidated by the superheroes' powers. A large group of super powered individuals probably made many government officials nervous, and what happened in Lagos and later in Vienna was probably the excuse they were waiting for to put restrictions on the Avengers.
'Well, I hope Stark gets everything sorted out soon,' Darwin thinks as he lies on a patch of grass, waiting for Peter to be done with school, 'The sooner this situation is put to rest, the better.'
The summer passed by quickly. Peter spent a lot of his time out as Spider-Man, telling May that he was at his 'Stark Internship' so she wouldn't question why he was hardly ever home. Darwin used to wait for him on the roof while he was gone, but as the summer got hotter and hotter, he began just waiting for a few hours inside the apartment and only went up when he knew Peter would be returning soon. He spent a lot of time reading and watching TV, specifically watching movies about highschool in order to better help Peter during his sophomore year. The movies were very overwhelming- Darwin never realized so much drama went on during human teenage years.
Thankfully, Peter doesn't seem to be having much trouble with that now. Sophomore year has just started, but Darwin hasn't noticed anyone being particularly mean to Peter, aside from Flash. In fact, Darwin's nearly constant presence around Peter has garnered the boy a good amount of attention. He's known as 'the guy with the huge grey dog'. Students often pet Darwin after Peter leaves to go to class and sometimes, if Peter doesn't immediately jump out of school, people will gather around Darwin and pet him until Peter arrives.
Like now, for example.
The bell rings and students start flooding out the doors. A pretty girl that Darwin has taken a liking to approaches him and scratches his head. She always has bright and bubbly emotions when she comes to pet him. Her name is Liz and she's the captain of Peter's Academic Decathlon team. He also knows that Peter has a massive crush on her but is too shy to do anything about it.
'I can help with that,' Darwin thinks cheekily.
"Hi, Darwin," Liz greets cheerfully as she scratches behind his ears, "How are you doing today? You waiting for Peter? Oh, such a good boy!"
Darwin wags his tail and licks her chin. She giggles and brushes her hair back. Darwin sniffs. Another thing he likes about Liz is that she has a weirdly familiar scent on her. He can't tell what it is because he's certain he's never met her before, but something about it just sticks to his mind.
A few minutes later, Peter walks out of the school with Ned by his side. His eyes light up when he sees them, his gaze lingering on Liz. Ned whispers something to him and he quickly puts on a nervous smile and walks over.
"H-hey Liz," he stutters breathlessly.
"Hey Peter," she greets smoothly, "I can't get over how cute your dog is. It's so cool how he just waits for you for so long and doesn't wander off. How'd you train him to wait for you?"
"Ah, I don't know," Peter laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head, "Darwin and I- we're just really close, I guess."
"Peter's great with dogs!" Ned blurts out, "All animals, really!"
A flash of panic and Peter sharply elbows his friend. "Actually! Uh, just dogs, I mean, I've never had any other animals, and Darwin's really special-"
"You can say that again," Liz agrees, thankfully interrupting what would have been a nervous babble from Peter. She looks at Darwin and coos, "He's such a sweetheart."
Darwin glances between Liz and his boy. 'Well, c'mon Peter. Make a move.'
Peter looks like he wants to say more but doesn't know. Instead, he just settles for smiling dreamily at Liz when she turns back to him.
'Hmm, maybe he needs a little push.' Darwin steps behind Liz and headbutts her in the rear, making her stumble forward and into Peter's arms. Peter catches her but immediately turns red-faced and jerks backwards.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" He squawks, "Darwin, bad boy!"
However, since Liz is great, she just laughs and says, "Oh, no, no it's okay! I think he's just telling me to get a move on, I've been keeping you too long. I'll see you later Peter, alright?"
With one last pat to Darwin's head, she smiles at Peter and walks away. He waves at her until she disappears and then groans.
"Wow," Ned snorts, "I never thought a dog would be a better wingman than me."
Darwin tilts his head as Peter sighs and starts towards the subway station. 'What? It's not my fault you have no game.'
The next day, Peter decides to forgo the subway station and instead heads to Mr. Delmar's after school. Darwin has noticed that Peter has been eating a lot more often now that he's spending more time out as Spider-Man. He's not complaining, though, since he always gets a treat from Delmar when they visit.
"What's up, Mr. Delmar?" Peter greets as he enters the store, Darwin at his heels.
He grabs a couple of packs of gummy worms as Mr. Delmar says, "Hey, Mr. Parker. Number five, right?"
Setting the packs on the counter, Peter replies, "Yeah, um, and, uh, with pickles, and can you smush it down real flat? Thanks." He smiles at the deli clerk behind Mr. Delmar, who nods and goes over to the sandwich press.
Mr. Delmar smiles and asks, "How's your aunt?"
Darwin feels a flicker of discomfort from Peter. He glances down at the candies beneath the counter and says casually, "Yeah, she's alright."
Mr. Delmar then turns to the deli clerk and says, " La tía de él es una italiana muy bellissima."
"¿Ah, sí?" The other man replies.
Darwin glances between Mr. Delmar and Peter. 'What?'
Whatever Mr. Delmar said, it seems to irk Peter a bit because the boy leans over and says with a slight smirk, "¿Cómo está tu hija, eh?"
The deli clerk gives a hoot from behind the counter as Delmar's grin fades.
'God, I wish I knew French,' Darwin thinks.
"Ten dollars," the man grunts.
Peter protests, "It's five dollars."
"For that comment, ten dollars."
"Hey, come on, I'm joking! I'm joking!" Peter pulls out some cash from his wallet and hands it over to Mr. Delmar, who reluctantly takes it with a grumpy look on his face. "Here's five dollars."
Peter then moves over to pet Murphy and Mr. Delmar glances at Darwin. The dog lets his tongue loll out of his mouth and tilts his head cutely. The man huffs and turns around, soon returning with a slice of ham that Darwin devours in one bite.
Mr. Delmar snorts, "Man, I don't know how you keep a thing this big fed. He must eat like a horse."
"Yeah, he does," Peter says as he comes back and grabs his gummy worms from the counter, "He's like a vacuum, he'll eat anything he can get his paws on. I'm just glad he never gets sick."
"Don't jinx it, kid," Mr. Delmar says as he hands Peter his sandwich, "Here you go."
"Thanks!"
Peter practically inhales his sandwich as they leave the shop and makes his way over to an empty alleyway. "Alright, bud, I'm gonna patrol for a bit, you head on home," Peter says as he takes off his backpack and starts changing into his suit, "Take my backpack too, kay, bud?"
Darwin gently picks up Peter's backpack in his mouth and waits for him to disappear over the roof of a building before starting home. The walk doesn't take too long, since the apartment is only 6 blocks away from Delmar's, and soon he's climbing up the fire escape and nosing Peter's bedroom window open. He sets down the backpack on the floor and glances around.
During the summer, Peter upgraded from a twin bed to a bunk bed. May found it for a great price and bought it for him as a surprise. Darwin's bed being next to Peter's bed made the room kind of crowded, but now Peter sleeps in the top bunk and Darwin sleeps on the bottom bunk.
Through their bond, Darwin can feel Peter's boredom. It seems like it's going to be a boring patrol. He considers taking a nap, but instead settles for dozing in front of the TV until May comes home. He's in the middle of an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine when she does finally return. She glances at him, then at the TV, then at the remote on the floor.
"I swear, you know how to use that thing," she snorts, setting down her purse and walking over, "Bet you just drop it on the floor until it turns on the TV. It's a miracle this thing hasn't broken yet."
Darwin grunts and licks her hand when she pets him. She giggles and walks over to the kitchen. "I'm trying a new recipe tonight!" She declares.
'Uh oh,' Darwin thinks.
"Turkey meatloaf!"
'Looks like Peter's gonna be eating those gummy worms he bought earlier for dinner.'
Half an hour later, while May is in the midst of her battle to conquer turkey meatloaf, Ned arrives. He is holding the Lego Death Star set in his hands and tells May that he and Peter were planning on building it together. She tells him Peter isn't home yet, but he's welcome to wait in his bedroom. As May reluctantly returns to the kitchen, Darwin slides off the couch and pads after Ned.
"Hey, buddy," Ned says, patting Darwin's head. He sits on the bottom bunk and takes out his phone.
'Probably texting Peter,' Darwin thinks, 'Good, that'll give him a heads up so he doesn't sneak in in his Spider-Man suit.'
Darwin waits with Ned for a while. After about forty-five minutes, Ned sighs and begins slowly putting pieces of legos together. Darwin gets a bit antsy when he feels Peter panicking a bit and wonders if the boy has gotten himself into trouble. Ned has nearly finished building the entire Death Star by the time the dog hears Peter approaching the window.
His footsteps are soft against the side of the building and Darwin sees his hand, upside down, reaching towards the window.
'What's he doing?' Darwin thinks, 'He can't come in while wearing the suit! Does he know Ned is here? Uh oh, I should warn him!'
The large dog then stands and lets out a volley of deep barks.
It doesn't work as well as he would have liked it to.
Ned startles at the loud, sudden noise and drops the Lego Death Star, causing it to shatter into a million pieces. Peter startles too, hard enough for him to let go of the side of the building and crash onto the fire escape. Hearing the crash, Ned jumps to his feet and turns as Peter grumbles and opens the window.
"Darwin, what the-"
Halfway through the window, he freezes when he sees Ned.
"What was that?" May calls from the kitchen.
Peter whips off his mask and stammers, "Uh, it's nothing, it's nothing!"
"You're the Spider-Man," Ned breathes staring at his friend in awe, "From YouTube."
Peter scrambles into the room. "I'm not! I'm not!" He presses the spider emblem on his chest, causing the suit to become baggy and fall off his body. "Ned, what are you doing in my room?"
"May let me in," Ned explains, "You said we were gonna finish the Death Star."
"You can't just burst into my room!" Peter hisses, but Darwin interrupts him with a low woof when he hears May walking over. He whips around and stumbles backwards when she walks in. Darwin casually noses Peter's suit under the bed.
"Why'd Darwin start barking?" May asks, "I don't think I've ever even heard him bark before."
"Uh, he just saw a squirrel on the fire escape," Peter lies.
"Yeah," Ned adds, "And I dropped the Death Star 'cause he scared me."
"Huh. Well, anyway, that turkey meatloaf recipe is a disaster," May says, waving a rag in front of her face. Smoke is coming from the kitchen. "Let's go to dinner. Thai? Ned, you want Thai?"
"Yes-"
"No," Peter interrupts, "He's got a thing."
Ned catches on. "A thing to do after."
"Okay," May says, then pauses, her gaze running over Peter who's only wearing his boxers, "Maybe put on some clothes."
Peter grabs a shirt off of a chair and she leaves.
Immediately, Ned asks, "She doesn't know?"
"Nobody knows!" Peter says, then corrects himself, "I mean, Mr. Stark knows because he made my suit, and, well, Darwin knows because… well, who's he gonna tell- but that's it!"
Ned's eyes widen and he whispers, "Tony Stark made you that? Are you an Avenger?"
Peter hesitates, then nods sheepishly. "Yeah, basically."
Darwin headbutts him in the rear. 'Yeah, right.'
Ned practically has to hold on to the railings of Peter's bunk bed to keep himself from fainting. Peter pushes Darwin's head away and leans towards Ned, hissing, "You can't tell anybody about this. You gotta keep it a secret."
"A secret. Why?"
It takes some aggressive back and forth whispers, but eventually Ned seems to grasp the seriousness of the situation and swears not to tell anybody. Peter lets out a sigh of relief and sits down heavily on the bottom bunk. Seeing his boy's stress, Darwin pads over and puts his head on his lap. Peter immediately starts kneading his fur anxiously and sighs again.
"I'm guessing you barked to warn me, huh, bud?" Peter mutters.
Ned's eyes widen and he exclaims, "Does Darwin have superpowers too? Is that why he's so smart? Can he understand us? Can he talk-"
"What? Ned, no!" Peter snaps, rolling his eyes, "No, he's just a dog."
"Are you sure?" Ned asks, seeming excited, "I mean, he's weirdly smart. He understands your every command, he waits for you during school, and you've said before that sometimes it seems like he's watching TV-"
"Ned, seriously, he's just a normal dog," Peter stresses, "My life is weird enough without me thinking my dog has superpowers, alright? Just- just go home, man. I'll tell you about everything at school tomorrow."
Ned seems to notice the other teen's agitation and agrees, leaving after bidding him goodbye.
Darwin lets out a sigh of relief. 'Glad that's over. Ned got a bit too close to the truth for comfort. Well, it's not like Peter could ever find out anyway. Kinda hard to prove my powers.'
He can't help feeling a bit disappointed. He hasn't seriously been considering revealing his abilities to Peter, he doesn't even know how he'd do it, but he always liked to think that one day Peter would understand that he and Darwin have something special, a bond different than that of any other between boy and dog.
Speaking of said bond, Darwin feels a flash of worry from Peter and turns to see the boy lifting his shirt and looking in the mirror. He's twisted around so he can see his back, which has a few already fading bruises on it. Peter doesn't seem too concerned about his injuries and pulls his shirt back down, though he's still frowning. He's feeling very anxious and distracted and Darwin tilts his head.
'What happened to you out there tonight?' he wonders.
May eventually comes by and the three of them go out to eat dinner. Throughout the meal, though, it's obvious that Peter is distracted.
"What's the matter?" May asks, "Thought you loved larb. It's too larby?" Peter doesn't respond. "Not larby enough? How many times do I have to say "larb" before you talk to me? You know I larb you?"
Peter sighs and says, "I'm just stressed. The internship… and I'm tired. A lot of work."
May nods, looking a bit unimpressed. "The Stark Internship? I have to tell you, not a fan of that Tony Stark. Distracted all the time… he's got you in your head. And it's not just me that's noticed, alright? Look, even Darwin's upset."
They both glance down at Darwin who's lying at their feet, not seeming particularly upset. The dog looks up at Peter and follows the boy's gaze to a TV on the wall behind may.
The news anchor reports, "The beloved Queens' institution, Delmar's Sandwiches, was destroyed in an explosion earlier tonight after an ATM robbery was thwarted by Queens' own colorful local crime-stopper, the Spider-Man." May notices that Peter isn't paying attention to her and turns around to watch. "As the Spider-Man attempted to foil their heist, a powerful blast was set off, slicing through the bodega across the street. Miraculously, no one was harmed."
May turns back to Peter with a serious expression and says, "If you spot something like that happening, you turn and you run the other way."
Peter glances at her in surprise before nodding in fake seriousness. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course!"
Darwin snorts.