Peter awoke that Saturday morning at around ten am. It was the latest he had slept in for a very long while, either because of nightmares, being out as Spiderman or because of losing his Aunt May.
Peter stretched and then went to the shared bathroom to have a shower. He undressed and let the warm water wash the remaining tendrils of sleep away. Peter then got out of the shower and wrapped his towel around his waist so he could deal with the other stuff that came with his morning routine. That included staring in the mirror while brushing his teeth. He then caught sight of one of his scars running across his chest. Lizard had given it to him. This made Peter think back to what his great grandfather said yesterday.
"I can lie, I am human you know. I just don't lie normally, I believe you should barely ever lie, if ever."
Was Peter lying when he wasn't telling them his secret? Peter stared at the scar as if it held all the answers. He had never told his aunt yet he felt happy when he knew that she actually knew. He was brought out of his daze when a blob of mint toothpaste fell from his slightly open mouth and rolled down his chest. Peter quickly rubbed it off before spitting out the contents of his mouth and washing his face. He was careful to check that Steve wasn't in the living room before sneaking back into his own room. He had forgotten to bring any clothes in.
As Peter picked up the clothes he was going to wear, his spidey sense tingled and he moved his foot out the way as his phone thumped onto the floor. Thankfully the phone was pretty indestructible so it didn't have any scratches on it. Peter realised he hadn't even looked at it since last Saturday. The battery was dead so Peter put it on charge and left for breakfast.
Bruce was sitting with his newspaper on the kitchen counter reading about a section in politics. He looked up when he saw Peter enter.
"Good morning." He said with a small nod.
"Morning." Peter yawned.
"And how are we this fine morning?" Bruce asked.
"Good, tired but good. Where is everyone?" Peter said looking around.
"Well, I don't think Tony went to bed. I think he's trying to find a way to get Pepper to forgive him so he's locked up in his lab. That, or he's starting a new suit. As for Steve, I think he's gone for a run. He normally does a work out in the morning and if there's nothing to do he goes on a run or wanders around. He might be trying to immerse himself in modern technology but I doubt it." Bruce said.
Peter nodded, accepting the explanations he was given and started hunting for breakfast. He found coco pops and milk, memorising what each cupboard held for later reference. Bruce pointed out where to get a spoon and bowl and then Peter joined Bruce at the table. They sat in a comfortable silence until Peter finished when Bruce directed him to the dishwasher. As Peter was loading his plate someone entered the room.
"Think fast!" they shouted. Peter's Spider sense warned him of an incoming object within a second and Peter spun around skilfully and caught the offending object. He saw Tony with his arm outstretched looking more shocked by the millisecond and Bruce looking confused. For good measure, Peter then tripped over to make it look like he had no skill and it was all accidental. He only wished his falling skills were as good as his catching skills because his hip hit the open dishwasher door just before he landed. His side throbbed and he took a moment before climbing steadily back to his feet.
Bruce had a look of concern on his face and Tony was laughing.
"For a moment I thought you had some skill!" Tony laughed.
"No, just accurate timing and two left feet." Peter said hoping he sounded believable. He noticed how raspy his voice was. He had the air knocked out of him as he hit the floor. Bruce stood up from the granite table and cushioned dinning chair.
"Are you alright?" he asked walking towards Peter. Peter brushed him off.
"I'm fine." He grunted.
"That did not sound fine." Bruce pointed out.
"Kid, capsicle will kill us if something happened to you." Tony said as his laughter subsided.
"Seriously," Peter said standing up and ignoring the pain, "it's not that bad, the most I'll have is a bruise."
Bruce eyed him wearily before turning back to his chair. Tony shrugged and walked over to the coffee machine. Peter was about to go upstairs, he wasn't sure what he'd do but if it got him out of this awkward situation, he could live with boredom. Just as he was reaching out to call for the lift, Jarvis's voice called through the room.
"Sir, a police officer is here wishing to speak to Mister Parker." Jarvis announced. Bruce and Tony turned to Peter and Peter paled, he wondered what this could be about. Was this about him being Spiderman or if he had done something wrong in the past. Or had something happened to Steve? What could they want?
"Send him up." Tony said, his curiosity was shining openly in his voice.
"Of course, sir." Jarvis said. Peter stepped away from the lift and watched as the lift stopped on the ground floor. It then slowly started making its way up.
Peter moved to the kitchen area, nervous about who would come out. The lift then stopped on the same floor they were on. Peter held his breath as the doors slid open. Out stepped Officer Mark, the officer who had taken him back to his house. He release a bit of the breath he was holding.
"Hi again, Peter." Mark said awkwardly. Peter assumed Mark was a little star struck when he realised that one of the most powerful and rich people in the world was standing right behind Peter.
"Hi, Officer Mark." Peter said with an awkward wave.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Tony asked.
"Yeah," Peter said turning around, "he took me back to my house last week."
Mark nodded to confirm the story.
"That's why I'm here. They were going to send a social worker but I wanted to see how you were getting on. Shall we sit down?" Mark suggested. Tony nodded and lead Peter to the kitchen table , Bruce looked up from his paper and Mark took the only remaining seat.
"Is your guardian here?" Mark asked. He had no idea who Peter's guardian was.
"No, he's out." Peter said, Mark nodded.
"Right, well straight to business. I said that anything you didn't take with you would be put into storage until you were of age." Mark said just to confirm he remembered correctly. Peter nodded silently.
"I'm afraid that's not the case. Your aunt had some debts and outstanding bills. You were very tight for money."
Peter looked down at his hands in shock, he didn't know they were that tight with money. He knew they were being slightly cautious but not as bad as Mark was making it sound.
"They're going to reclaim the house tomorrow and anything left in it to pay the debts." Mark stated staring at Peter. Peter was quiet for a long time.
After a long pause Peter spoke up.
"What do you mean by everything?" Peter asked trying to keep his voice normal.
"Everything and anything in your house will go including the house. I came here to tell you, see if there was anything you wanted to sneak out before it was all gone." Mark said. "Do you want to go back?"
Peter waited for a second and then nodded. Tony interrupted.
"Pete, if you want to keep the house I'll pay off the debts!" Tony exclaimed.
Peter looked up at Tony curiously.
"You've only just met me and you're willing to throw money at me?" Peter asked dumbfounded. He had never lived in a rich household, he could understand helping someone with a glass of water, spare change, little things to help but pay off large debts for someone you don't know. Peter couldn't understand.
Tony was taken back, Peter had been so blunt, he hadn't expected that response.
"Yeah, but I like you Peter and if you want to keep it you can. I have enough money; this won't even dent my account." Tony answered.
Peter looked like he was considering the offer.
"I can't take your money, mister Sta – Tony." Peter said uncertainly. Bruce was trying to think of what Peter might be thinking, wondering about his thinking pattern while Mark just watched the conversation.
"Peter, money doesn't matter to -"
"No, I don't want your money and I think I need to move on." Peter finalised. Bruce could understand that logic, Mark couldn't believe he was sitting in Tony Stark's house listening to a teenager turning down a billionaire's money and Tony looked Peter straight in the eyes to see if he was being honest. When he saw no other motive behind Peter's logic he nodded and Peter looked at Mark.
"I'll go." Peter said. He had a sudden longing for Steve to be there. He knew that he only met the man the day before but still, he was his family and for some reason that made Peter want his support. As if reading his mind Bruce looked at Peter.
"We'll come with you." He stated.
Tony's head whipped around to look at Bruce. Bruce looked at Tony with a look saying go along with it.
"Sure, we'll come." Tony agree, somewhat confusedly.
"Well, that settles it, will you be coming in my car or your own?" Mark asked.
"We'll take the Ferrari." Tony said. Bruce rolled his eyes. Tony loved showing off his wealth. They all stood up and headed out. As the elevator went down Tony passed on a message for Jarvis in case anyone was wondering where they were.
They arrived at Peter's house within half an hour. It looked exactly the same as when they had left last time.
Everyone was quite as Peter entered the house. He was no longer in a day dream/day nightmare and saw everything. Peter walked around the house grabbing things he forgot last time like a spare charger, his ipod, his USB stick with anything important on it. He then stumbled onto the spare cupboard and found a load of picture books. He sat down on the worn green carpet and rested his back against the back of the queen sized bed in the room. He pulled out a blue photo album and a grey one. He scanned through and saw that the blue one had pictures of him, his uncle Ben and his aunt May for the last two years. There were birthday pictures, his aunt and uncle's twentieth wedding anniversary and their twenty-first. Peter had taken their picture. He wanted to photo shop it to perfection but Uncle Ben had said no. He and aunt May wanted it to look just the way it was, it was perfect according to them. He found a picture of Ben trying to stand on his skateboard. Apparently he had been good at these sort of things in his youth... if he had been, he had lost all talents. The picture was slightly blurred because Ben had been trying to stay up right and had been failing.
Peter was about to look through the grey one when he noticed a tattered leather book at the back of the cupboard. Putting the other books aside he clambered over the bits and bobs in the cupboard and grabbed the tattered old book. It had no writing on the front or inclination of who it belonged to but Peter climbed back out with the book in his hand. No matter how thick or heavy, it felt as light as a feather due to his extra strength. Peter smoothed down the tattered remains of the leather front cover and then opened the book. There was a brownish tinted picture of a beautiful woman with darkish hair in formal military attire and smiling. Standing next to her was unmistakably his great grandfather, Steve Rogers standing in his Captain America suit. To Peter's eyes it looked like he hadn't aged a day. That was the only picture on that page. Peter flicked over and found the same woman sitting in a hospital bed with a little baby, underneath it was written January 20th 1947, Katherine Carter, daughter of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter was born. Peter was good at analysing picture and people and, although Peggy as he now knew her, looked unbelievably happy, in the corner of her eye, or maybe her mouth, Peter got the impression that she was sad. Peter then realised why, Steve had been frozen! Their child was born but her father and Peggy's lover weren't there, to them, he was dead. Peter flicked through the next few pages and saw that most of them were Katherine growing up. She looked a lot like her father, Peter noted.
He then got to around the middle of the thick book and saw Katherine with a man. Underneath it said Katherine Carter's first date with Tom Parker age 16. The pictures now help both Tom and Katherine in them as well as more with Peggy because someone else could hold the camera. Four pages later there was a large printed picture of a wedding. Age 19 Katherine and Tom wed. The following picture shows Katherine getting wider and wider, until it shows her in a hospital bed with a baby, Peggy holding her hand and looking in the camera and Tom kissing Katherine's forehead. Written underneath are the words Ben Parker born on February 3rd 1966. Peter keeps flipping the pages and finds the birth of his father, Richard Parker, born July 20th 1970. There's a four year old Uncle Ben sitting on the bed next to his mother, Tom's holding the baby and Peggy is stroking Ben's hair. The next ten pages show the kids growing up. Peggy has more grey hairs and wrinkles as the pictures go on but somehow she retains a certain beauty about her even as she becomes frailer. The next significant picture is Aunt May's and Uncle Ben's wedding. Aunt May came into the pictures about a year and a half back if the dates were anything to go by. His dad was best man and his mother wore a light purple dress just like all the other bridesmaids. She looked beautiful. Two pages later, dated 1993 his dad and his mum had their wedding photo and then his mum was in the hospital bed surrounded by her family but there was no Peggy. Underneath it says Peter Parker, born March 13th 1996. For the next four pages there are pictures of him and everyone else in family get togethers but Peggy was in none of them. Then in 1999 the pictures stopped. Peter remember being told about that year, he was too young to remember it, it was the year his grandma and grandpa died.
Peter stared at the picture of his parents, his whole family. He heard a knock at the open door and saw Bruce standing there.
"Hey, Peter." He said quietly. "We've been here for an hour, it's time to go."
Peter looked at his watch and was surprised to see how quickly the time had shot by. He still didn't move with the leather book on his lap. Bruce walked over and slid onto the floor next to him. He looked down at the pictures.
"Is this your family?" He asked.
Peter nodded and then flicked to the front of the book where there was a picture of Peggy and Steve. Bruce looked at the picture but couldn't believe his eyes. It was one thing to be told that this teen was the great grandson of a man you truly respect yet he looks younger than you. It's another thing to see this man at the beginning of a photo album that records the progress of the family.
"Come on, we'll take these books with us." Bruce said standing up. He picked up the grey book and the blue book Peter had found earlier while Peter scrounged around and picked up three more to go with the leather book. Bruce was surprised that Peter wasn't struggling with that weight. They looked sort of heavy and his muscle's didn't even seem tensed at all. Bruce brushed it off and lead the way out of the room, shortly followed by Peter who looked at the room one last time and then never turned back.
Once they were back at the house they said goodbye to the officer and then Bruce and Tony helped carry Peter's things to his room. As they stepped in they heard a loud beeping and Peter looked over to his phone. It was his text ringtone. It then beeped again signalling another message. Then it started properly ringing. Peter ran over and picked it up with Bruce and Tony standing clueless in the middle of the room. Peter didn't check caller ID he just picked up. Oh how silly he was. Within a second it was flung onto the bed with shouting erupting out of the speaker. In his desperation to get the phone away from his poor ringing ear he had accidentally pressed loud speaker. Now the voice was shouting at full volume for all to hear.
"PETER PARKER! HOW DARE YOU PICK UP NOW AFTER NOT TALKING TO ME FOR A WEEK. I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK! FIRST I HEAR THERE WAS A FIRE AT YOUR HOUSE AND THEN YOU'RE NOT PICKING UP OR AT SCHOOL AND NO ONE WILL TELL ME ANYTHING! I THEN FIND OUT YOU'RE ALIVE BUT NOT WHERE YOU'RE LIVING! ARE YOU OK? WHEN YOUR UNCLE DIED YOU CAME INTO SCHOOL ALL BEATEN UP WITH A BLACK EYE, PLEASE TELL ME YOU'VE NOT GONE AND DONE SOMETHING AS STUPID AGAIN?!" The voice screamed. Peter was silent in shock and horror. Bruce looked slightly scared of the phone and Tony looked halfway between laughing and terrified.
"Peter?" the voice questioned when only silence went through the phone.
"H-hi Gwen." Peter stuttered. He stayed routed to the floor and looked at the phone as if it would eat him.
"Oh thank god, you are there." Gwen said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Sorry for not calling. I didn't realise my battery was gone." Peter said. He still looked scared of the phone.
"You could have at least thought to inform your girlfriend that you were okay! I've been worried sick!" Gwen cried through the phone. Gwen took a deep breath like she was going to go on another rant when laughter erupted through the room. Peter was still in shock from answering the phone, for a moment he wasn't sure what the noise was or where it was coming from. He then looked around and saw Tony holding his sides as he laughed. Even Bruce had a grin on.
"Peter? Who's there? Who are you with? Are you laughing at me, Peter?" Gwen asked over the laughing.
"Gwen, I'm not laughing at you I swear. As for who I'm with, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Peter said wearily.
"Petey has a girlfriend!" Tony spluttered out between breaths.
"Is that so hard to believe?" Peter muttered. Bruce gave him as sympathetic smile and Tony ignored him.
"And she has the same temper as Pepper!" Tony finished. Peter groaned and then picked up the phone and turned off loud speaker.
"Do you want to meet up and I'll explain everything?" Peter asked over Tony's laughter.
"That sounds like a good idea where should I-"
"I'll meet you at your house in about fifteen minutes." Peter cut off and then hung up. Gwen might be peeved at him for doing that but hopefully she'll forgive him. He then looked at his phone and saw over three hundred texts from Gwen and from a few other people he knew at school. There was also an uncountable amount of missed calls and voice messages from Gwen. Peter just deleted everything in one go. He would explain it all in a moment.
Now he just had to get past Tony and Bruce, but mainly Tony.
This should be fun...
I'll leave it there for now. Sorry for taking so long to update, I've just been busy. What do you think? Good or crap?