In today's day and age, everything is online. It's hard to exist without a photo of you living somewhere - with your consent or not. But there's anonymity within that as well. Peter knows that there are likely hundreds of photos of him online. However, his lack of social media presence means he isn't tagged in any of them.
Could Peter have a social account if he wanted? Sure. But he's not sure that he actually wants any. He has news alerts on his phone and can follow everything he needs online without actually having his own accounts. And, even if he was "stopped" by that, he'd just hack around it.
See, Peter had always been smart. Even before the spider bite, Peter was at the top of his class and able to knock out his homework easily. But after the spider bite, no one had a chance of touching him. It wasn't that the spider bite dumped a bunch of knowledge in his head, but Peter could suddenly think through ideas faster. A concept that might have taken him a few minutes to understand before now took seconds.
Peter's mind wasn't the only thing that sped up. His physical speed and strength increased rapidly as well. To avoid detection, Peter went through a lot of trial and error. He couldn't show up one day in gym - sorry, P.E. - and be able to outrun the track kids. It also probably wouldn't look good if he suddenly started outperforming all the seasoned athletes.
Thankfully, Aunt May was looped in early. She definitely noticed when Peter went from eating slightly more than normal (as a regular teen might) to needing twice that amount. Keeping that secret would never have been possible. Peter honestly didn't even try.
Instead, he went looking for ways to help people. It started with a blue hoodie and stumbling upon an attempted armed robbery in an alley.
The woman was an easy target: dressed too well, wearing shoes that exposed her feet - in Queens? - and checking her phone every block. She was a lost tourist. But that didn't mean she should have to face down a gun and try to keep her purse.
Without a thought, Peter stepped in. "I don't think you want to do this," he said, startling both the woman and the would-be thief. His hood was pulled tight over his head, but Peter's 'tingle' - as his Aunt May called it - would guide him.
"What are you ten? Go away, kid." The man said, never moving his gun from the woman.
"Hmmm … not really," said Peter as he ran directly at the man. Knocking the man's arms up to point the gun at the brick wall above the woman, Peter yelled at the tourist, "Run!"
She needed no further instructions. Booking it, she was gone before Peter had finished wrestling the gun away from the man.
"Sir, whatever this is about, you probably didn't want to hurt her. What's going on, how can I help?" Peter asked throwing the gun onto the roof of the building behind him to completely remove it from this situation.
"Are you kidding me right now?" The thief asked. He was staring at the roof of the building behind Peter like he couldn't believe where his gun had gone. Peter made a note to go get it later and drop it off in the NYPD's mailbox.
"I'm sure armed robbery was not your career choice, buddy," Peter said with his arms out. "Is there something you need?"
The thief looked like he was going to say something, and then turned and ran out of the alley.
Thankfully, he seemed to turn the opposite way from where the tourist went. Peter shook his head and then turned to the brick wall to start climbing toward the roof for the gun.
"So, this is just your first attempt, right?" Aunt May was leaning her shoulder against the doorway to his room where Peter was attempting to sew his first Spider-Man suit.
"What do you mean? I'm almost done." Peter said, looking up from his desk. Aunt May shook her head.
"Nope. No, you're not." She said. "We can do better. Grab your costume - we're going to the tailor."
"What, but what about my secret identity?" Peter asked.
"Peter, I'm going to let you in on a secret." Aunt May walked toward him. "Everyone's the hero of their own story. Do you know what I mean?"
"That everyone is trying to do their best?" Peter asked.
"No, well, yes. That's not the point I'm making, but that is a valid point." May said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Everyone is focused on themselves. There's nothing wrong with that. The only one who has your back is you, and me, of course. I have your back."
"Aunt May, I'm not sure what you're trying to say here," Peter said. Turning in his desk chair, Peter fully faced her. "We shouldn't trust a tailor?"
"Ugh. This isn't going well. I'm trying to say that everyone is wrapped up in their own life and not very observant. So, when we hop on the subway and go to a tailor in a different borough, they're not going to remember us. Alright, get up, we're going." Aunt May let go of his shoulder and headed toward the door.
Peter followed.
Now that Peter had decided to fully lean into the spider theme, he built on his idea of web shooters. Originally, it was just an idea in the back of his mind. But with unrestricted access to the Chemistry lab at Midtown Tech High School? Peter couldn't help himself.
Peter started to dabble with different solutions. It took a week before Peter had the right mix of a web that could hold his weight, shoot beyond 10 feet, and dissolve in two hours.
Well, it would have taken less time, but Peter was committed to the dissolution of the web fluid.
He couldn't just leave it all around town. It needed to dissolve and not leave a trace.
Armed with a new suit, his web shooters, and a planned patrol route, Peter was ready to hit the streets. Starting in Astoria, Queens, Peter helped a lost girl find her parents, made sure the college kids leaving the bar got into a cab and were not behind the wheel and pulled a woman out of the path of a car.
While tame for his first night as a superhero, Peter knew that people wouldn't just react to him the same way that they did to Iron Man or even Captain America. However, Peter definitely wasn't expecting the Daily Bugle to have an article on The Masked Menace the next day.
Now, Peter wasn't one to get intimidated easily. He wouldn't just back away from a bully - unless it was Flash Thompson. But that's another story. Peter was focused on helping out the little guy and everyone across Queens. He tried to stay within his borough. Knowing that the city had quite a few superheroes running around, Peter wanted to establish his own neck of the woods.
And, Peter had something else going for him. He actually talked to people. There were patrols where Peter didn't end up stopping any crime. Instead, he would help an old lady carry her groceries up her three-floor walkup. Or, there was the time he had to honest-to-god pull a kitten out of a tree.
With a few months as Spider-Man under his belt, Peter got closer to fifteen. And, he started to develop regulars. Well, he wasn't sure if they could be called regulars. Spider-Man was always ready to help whether it was tracking down Mrs. Kowalski's rambunctious 8-year-old twins (they had a habit of running around the neighborhood just before curfew), or giving Mr. Jureau's grocery cart a boost over the tricky step to his first-floor apartment.
Peter focused on supporting people where he could. Then Tony Stark met Peter on a rooftop and invited him to Germany.