Chapter 20: For Scent-imental Reasons
I've been planning this chapter for about 15 chapters now. It feels so good to finally pass one of my plot landmarks. Disclaimer: I think Sam's character is fun.
Pink Lemonade: Oh ho, you are observant! You're going to be very hard to surprise. I try my best with all my writing, but I think I'm being kind of like a supervillain for this story. Most of the plots and subplots you see are my "solutions" to certain plot problems I catch. Because overly complicated plans are always a solution :) The good news is that you'll probably be surprised by this chapter!
Thanks to Phoebe's quick lesson, dinner was not as awkward as it could have been. Peter managed to get his other spinneret to relax enough so that he wasn't spouting off silk every few seconds. Conversation was kept light at the table and Peter tried to act as normal as possible. It felt like a normal night.
It got kind of . . . boring, if he were being honest. There wasn't much interesting stuff to talk about without mentioning Shield or patrols. Peter didn't even discuss his science projects because the few he was working on were related to either Goblin or his spider gear.
But it was normal, and May seemed happy.
After dinner, Peter went back up to his room to do some homework with Phoebe perched nearby. He had just started her on geometry and she was loving it, mostly because it was so closely related to web making. As she practiced finding the circumference of circles, she also made small circles with her silk, spreading the lines out next to each other to visualize the ratios between sizes and diameter. She was pretty much figuring it out all on her own, only asking him questions when she tried more complicated things like area.
It was cute to watch her at work. When he listened in on her thoughts, they were quiet and focused, flowing fairly smoothly from observation to conclusion.
Phoebe really was naturally curious. Peter smiled softly, wishing he could concentrate like that on his own homework.
Yes, Peter was distracted. Because he was now entered into the Science Fair with what was possibly the best science project in the history of science projects. But he couldn't be perfectly happy about that because of the circumstances. Namely, because it wasn't his original idea and he just knew he was going to die of embarrassment because it was going to attract Spider-Man fans from all around. Even ignoring that giant problem, he couldn't quite feel comfortable simply sitting in his room because he was afraid silk would come pouring out of his wrists again if he made the wrong move. Writing with a pencil or pen felt weird because he was now aware of the spinnerets in his wrists and how they shifted and just felt . . . present.
Yup, that just about summed everything up. Those were all the reasons why he was sitting here moping instead of doing something proactive and helpful like writing the essay that was due soon. Well, there were a few other reasons too. Like how he could have been practicing using his new natural web shooters, except he couldn't yet because they were still kind of growing.
He frowned. That wasn't quite true. Just because he couldn't use them properly didn't mean that he couldn't use them at all. He had been able to make them work sort of on purpose back on the Helicarrier. Maybe he could simply practice what little control he had right now. It would certainly make him feel at least a little better.
Peter carefully pulled back his sleeves, staring at the pale openings in his wrists. He tried to remember exactly what he had done back on the Helicarrier. And also whatever he had done in the kitchen. Curling his fingers carefully, Peter tried and tried again. A few minutes later a thwawp startled him yet again. How did it keep scaring him when he was expecting it?!
Peter huffed from where he was now crouched on the ceiling. Maybe it was the fact that it reminded him of a Jack in the Box. He was actively working on using his spinnerets, but he didn't know the exact moment it would happen.
It was incredibly annoying.
That Speter spinner?
Peter looked down to see that Phoebe had jumped onto the wall near his desk. "Yes, sorry about that. I should've warned you about what I was doing. Are you all right?"
Phoebe okay. She giggled. Speter scared too.
"Hmph, maybe a little. I'm working on it." Peter dropped to the floor. He helped a still giggling Phoebe back to her studies, sticking his tongue out at her before settling back into his desk chair with the firm intent of remaining in it.
In front of him, the small glob of liquid silk was dripping slowly down the wall, viscous like thick honey. He eyed it.
Eat, Speter, Phoebe encouraged him.
Well, he did let her eat her webbing. And he ought to lead by example. He gathered as much of the silk into his hand as he could.
It was strange to do things like this. Not quite because the action seemed odd, but because he was so used to preventing himself from doing it. The desire to eat his webs was usually something he only had to face after a long patrol. As Spider-Man. He only wore the web shooters when he was in the suit so he only had to deal with that when he was in the suit.
Not anymore. Not anymore . . .
The silk went down quickly. It was surprisingly easy to swallow for something so sticky. Maybe his saliva broke it down easily. He'd have to look into that.
Now that he had used his spinnerets again, they were tense. He rubbed the area like Phoebe had showed him. It wasn't quite as effective as when she did it, but it did the job. The spinnerets eased up and were no longer at risk of leaking uncontrollably.
"Hey, it works. Thanks for showing me that trick, Phoebe."
Speter welcome! She held up one of her silk circles, which she had crisscrossed with a bunch of lines so it looked more like a web. Look! Webs have diameter!
"That's true. Most webs are very circular, so you could find out a bunch of info about their size just from measuring how wide they are across."
Interesting!Phoebe stared at it a moment longer before moving on to another piece. Peter snorted at her somewhat short and childish attention span, leaning back in his chair. A bulge bothered his back. He pulled it out to see it was only the hood of . . . Sam's sweater. He had nearly forgotten he had it. He would give it back later, after he managed to take it off and clean the inside of all the silk he had leaked since that morning. Or he could leave the silk in there as payback. That was sort of gross though.
He took a deep breath, which reminded him of the nice scent the sweater was saturated with. Or, at least it seemed saturated to his heightened senses. Was that lavender? And mangoes? And . . . he sniffed deeper, but he couldn't quite identify any other particular scents. What a strange combination. Although Sam was a strange guy. Peter wouldn't be surprised if this were some alien mix that didn't even contain anything from Earth.
He wondered if he could get a bottle of it.
Relaxing further into his admittedly cheap desk chair, Peter began to feel a lot calmer. It was usually hard to get his mind to stop worrying about everything he had to do. But right now he was just in the moment.
And of course that moment had to be interrupted.
"Peter!" May called from the first floor. "You have a visitor! I'm sending them up!"
"Okay, give me a minute!" Peter called back as he rushed to clean up the mess of silk circles, although they sort of blended in with the silk he had leaked earlier. Phoebe quickly climbed back into her Jungle Box. Thanking her for her cooperation, Peter promised he would take her out again once his visitor left. This left no time for him to wonder who the visitor actually was or why they were here. The answer probably would have surprised him regardless.
"Hey Webs," Sam's voice came from the other side of the door as he knocked. "You in there?"
Taking a small breath and putting on his best scowl (which probably wasn't all that scowl-y according to most people he knew), Peter opened the door. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to apologize?" Sam replied without much conviction. "Danny said it'd be a good idea."
"An apology would be nice. You realize what you did, right?"
"I made you awesome?"
"You brought me unwanted attention and probably made Harry angry at me."
"That's another way to put it. Well, if you really feel that way, then I did come up with an apology. Can I come in?"
Sighing, Peter stepped out of the way to allow Sam in. "Did Danny help you word it?"
"Nah, he wasn't that helpful. He just told me this cryptic phrase that I'm mostly sure meant to apologize to you."
"Ah, one of those."
"Yup. The rest of the team is coming soon to make sure I don't muck this up."
"Very wise of them."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "I'm not that bad, you know. I admit I have my faults, but I'm a hero like the rest of you."
"I know that. I'm sorry if I give you the short end of the stick sometimes. It's just . . ." Peter rubbed the back of his neck. The movement almost made more silk come out of his wrist, but he managed in prevent it. "You always find some way to make my life harder or more embarrassing. You may not mean to do that, but that's what usually happens."
"Oh come on, name one other time I made life harder for you."
"The time when we were supposed to go to winter survival training and you took us to that island where we released Sandman."
"Right, I guess that was pretty bad." Sam looked down. "Well, on the bright side, it looks like you're leaking less."
Peter looked down too. There were a few splotches of silk from earlier that he hadn't cleaned up yet. Nothing as drastic as what had been coming out back at school, but still a bit of a mess. "Yeah, I've—um—been practicing." With some help, he wished he could add.
"Good thing I noticed it before anyone else, huh?"
"Yeah, I suppose I should thank you for helping me out back there." Peter rolled his eyes, but spoke sincerely. "It could have been a lot worse."
"Exactly!" Sam grinned. "And you even got a sweater out of it."
Peter looked down at himself even though he already knew he was wearing Sam's sweater. "Right, sorry, it—it got stuck with all the silk so it's going to take some effort to take off."
"No worries, I'll clean your spider cooties off of it."
Peter frowned. "Spider cooties?"
"I'm kidding! Just give me the sweater back, dweeb. And by the way, you've got some silk around here." Sam pointed at his mouth.
Raising a hand to his face, Peter's cheeks heated up as he realized that Sam was telling the truth. "Oh, um . . ."
A wide grin formed on Sam's face. "Were you eating your webs?"
"No! Well . . . maybe . . ."
"How does it taste?"
"Not bad . . ."
"Can I try some?"
"Sam, it's coming out of my arms."
"And milk comes out of cows' breasts. I used to try almost every food in the galaxy and believe me, there is some strange stuff in space. But fine, I won't do it so long as I get my sweater back."
Eyeing him warily, Peter tried to wipe the silk off of his face. He did it with the cuff of the sweater sleeve just to spite Sam. In fact, a plan was forming in his head. "You know what, no. I'm keeping this as restitution."
Sam frowned. "It's my sweater."
"And it's my science project you entered, so this makes us even."
"Thief!"
"Restitution, Sam. Look it up in a dictionary. Anyway, let's hear this 'apology' of yours."
Sam looked like he was willing to keep arguing about the sweater, but he dropped the subject. "Don't sound so shocked," he said as he sat on Peter's bed. "I can be sorry. I am sorry that there're going to be some unwanted outcomes of my idea. I thought I was covering my bases by talking it over with Stark, but I guess there really is a reason why Fury doesn't trust him all the time."
Peter folded his arms. "Now you're just blaming Stark for everything."
"Okay, fine, it's my fault that this started in the first place because I tried to have an awesome idea for once. You can't be the only one who can help people out."
"You're not still jealous of me, are you? I thought we established that I'm nowhere near as perfect as I pretend to be."
"But you can still pretend to be perfect," Sam said matter-of-factly. "Sometimes, that's all that matters."
Huffing, Peter threw his hands up. It was usually flattering to be told he seemed perfect, but not when people thought he was perfect all the time. It was this sort of thinking that sparked the misunderstandings that were really getting on his nerves. "You know what, that's not even true. Putting on an act like that only makes it harder for me to live up to myself."
Sam nodded with a slight roll of his eyes. "Yeah, I know, your spider stuff."
"No, you don't know! If you knew, you never would have tried this horrible plan in the first place!"
"Because it's giving you fame and spiders are introverts?"
"What? No! That—that's not—" That wasn't one of the many spider things Peter worried about on a daily basis. It wasn't true, was it? "That's not what I'm talking about." He sighed, then took a breath of the sweater's scent to ground himself. Yelling at Sam never worked anyway. "Look, let's just forget this, okay? You apologized, and I appreciate that."
"Oh come on, I thought we could talk about your spider stuff now."
"We can, but this isn't about that. This is supposed to be about you respecting my life."
"If trying to help was disrespecting you, then you disrespect everyone," Sam countered.
Peter opened his mouth, only to close it again. "Well," he said at last. "At least I don't jeopardize people's secret identities when I help them."
"Touché."
The room was silent for a moment.
"Do you really think I'm an introvert because of the spider stuff?" Peter burst out.
"Not really." Sam shrugged. "I'm just trying to understand where you're coming from."
Peter exhaled in relief. "I don't know if you could ever understand," he muttered.
Sam gave him a deadpan look. "Get over here," he said firmly, patting the space on the bed next to him.
"What are you up to?"
"Just come and listen."
Continuing to watch him warily, Peter sat beside him. Sam pulled his phone out and began to click away at it.
"I've been thinking," Sam began, voice oddly quiet, "about what you and Ava have said about how your normal may be different from other people's normal. And then I thought about what Kraven did to you and how he tried to do it again. And then that got me thinking about what you had to do to stop him."
Swallowing nervously, Peter wondered where he was going with this. "Wow, I had no idea you were capable of so much thinking."
"Hardy har har. Anyway, I've been thinking, and I think your troubles are far more universal than you realize."
"That's a nice sentiment, but I highly doubt that."
Sam smirked. "I knew you'd say that, so I downloaded this." He tapped one final button on his screen and a song began to play.
Ever since I could remember
Everything inside of me
Just wanted to fit in
I was never one for pretenders
Everything I tried to be
Just wouldn't settle in
If I told you what I was
Would you turn your back on me?
And if I seem dangerous
Would you be scared?
I get the feeling just because
Everything I touch isn't dark enough
If this problem lies in me
I'm only a man with a candle to guide me
I'm taking a stand to escape what's inside me
A monster, a monster
I've turned into a monster
A monster, a monster
And it keeps getting stronger
Can I clear my conscience
If I'm different from the rest
Do I have to run and hide?
I never said that I wanted this
This burden came to me
And it's made its home inside—
Peter hurriedly paused the song, breathing deeply and blinking hard. That . . . that was . . . "W—where did you get this?"
"From the internet. It's called 'Monster'."
"Who sings it?"
"Imagine Dragons. They're a pretty cool group." Sam gave him a sidelong glance. "Do you like it?"
"It's—it—that's the original version?"
"Yeah. So what do you think?"
Peter stared at the phone, lyrics echoing in his head. He wasn't sure if 'like' was the right word. It felt like each verse was stabbing him in the gut. "It hit the nail right on the head."
"Is that a good thing?"
"I don't know."
"I think it should be a good thing," Sam offered. "You're not the only person fighting an inner battle, Pete. Even the average Joe has to fight his inner demons. It's just more literal for you. Not that you're a demon. I just mean that you've got stuff in your head that you're not sure is right. But it's kind of better for you. Like . . . Put it to you this way: You're so perfectly good that you don't even have metaphorical demons. So in order to give you your daily dose of angst, the universe had to dump this spider stuff on you. It's the same type of inner battle though. The same one everyone faces every day across the galaxy."
A smile began to pull at Peter's lips. "Did you just compliment me?"
"I'm proving you're wrong and I'm right. If there's one thing I learned in space, it's that no one's ever alone in anything, not really. Unless you're literally stuck floating alone in space. Then it gets pretty lonely."
"That's . . . very insightful of you."
"Yeah, I'm done now. That's my daily allowance of wisdom."
"More like your yearly allowance."
"Fine, that's the last time I waste it all on you, then."
"Fair enough."
"Wanna hear a happier song?"
"What else have you got?"
Sam started up a playlist. Peter moved closer to peek over his shoulder, leaning his arm on Sam and resting his head against it. The next song was loud with massive bass, but with a violin melody that was strangely smooth and calming. Peter watched him click efficiently through a million menus a second. Idly, he wondered if Sam's tech-savviness came from his experience with a wide variety of alien tech. Sam was no computer geek, but he wasn't completely clueless either.
The atmosphere gradually became much calmer than it had been when Sam first arrived. The vibrations in the air from the music were rhythmically soothing. And the scent from the sweater sleeve was stuck in Peter's nose now. It was kind of weird for this level of sensory input to be relaxing for once. It was usually more annoying than anything, even if it was meant to be comforting.
Eyes sliding shut, Peter thought about how surprising Sam's little monologue was. Even after Ava had told him that Sam cared, he hadn't actually believed her. Anyone could say they cared, and Sam just . . . didn't seem like the caring type. He was usually their loose cannon who was always willing to shoot up the bad guys. Seeing this side of him was interesting. Sam's point was even more interesting.
It was pleasant to think that he wasn't alone in this.
"What's that sound?" Sam asked suddenly, disturbing Peter's peaceful moment yet again. Peter opened his eyes to look at him.
"You mean aside from the really loud music?"
"Yeah. You're shaking too."
"I am not shaking."
Sam paused the music. In the ensuing quiet, a steady thrumming could be heard. For one terrible second, Peter thought Phoebe was purring so loudly that they could hear her from the closet. But then he realized it wasn't coming from the closet. It was coming from his chest. Yelping in surprise, Peter scooched back, pulling at his shirt. And then suddenly he was falling to the floor on the other side of his bed with an 'oomph'.
Where was his spider sense when he needed it most?
The sound and the vibrations stopped.
Sam's head peeked over the edge of the bed. "Was that purring? Were you purring?"
"No."
"That was purring. You were purring."
"No I wasn't."
A horribly delighted smile lit up Sam's face. "I knew it! I knew that if you could hiss, you had to be able to purr too!"
"No! That's not what this is!"
"Peter Parker purrs! Peter Purr-ker!"
"Don't you dare!"
"Wait until the rest of the team hears!"
"If you dare tell them then I'll—I'll—"
"You'll what?"
"I don't know, but it will be awful."
"I won't tell them if you give me my sweater back."
"Never."
"I want my sweater!"
"You're never gonna take it from me now, Bucket Head!"
Sam raised an eyebrow at the challenge.
Ava was the first to raise her eyebrow curiously, because she was the first to hear the sounds of a scuffle above them. A few seconds later, Luke and Danny looked up from the plate of cookies May had brought out.
"What in the world are they doing up there?" May asked. She stood up, and the rest of them followed her up the stairs. She opened the door to her nephew's room, revealing Sam hanging onto an upside-down Peter and trying to pull his sweater off. The two boys froze, turning to their audience. They were both covered in white liquid and they both looked like deer caught in headlights.
"Boys!" May chastised. "There will be no fighting under my roof, is that clear? Peter, get off the ceiling! And Sam, stop pulling his hair!"
"Yes, ma'am," they both replied, immediately letting go of each other, although that looked challenging with the amount of webbing stretched between them. Ava stared at it curiously. She hadn't had a chance to see Peter's natural silk yet. It looked like Sam's description of 'slimy' was kind of accurate.
"What were you even fighting about?" May asked as Peter dropped silently to the floor. He opened his mouth to explain, but Sam beat him to the punch.
"Nothin' much. I just discovered the most interesting little fact about Petey here. Guess what it—!" Sam started before Peter clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't say it!"
Sam pushed him away. "Peter can purr!"
Peter groaned defeatedly, pulling the hood over his head and closing it until it hid most of his quickly reddening face. The room was silent for a few seconds as the meaning of Sam's statement sunk in. Grins formed on Luke's and Danny's faces. Ava tried hard to fight it, but she had to smile too.
"Did you say purr?" Luke clarified. "Like a little kitten?"
"A kitten?! Really, Luke?" Peter demanded, glaring at him through the small hole left in the fabric. "Do you have no sympathy for my dignity?"
Luke was too busy laughing to respond. So was Sam. Danny was coughing unconvincingly. This probably wouldn't have been so funny, Ava mused, if it hadn't been for how hilariously mortified Peter was acting.
"Hold on," May said over the laughter, hands on her hips. "Stop teasing my nephew! Peter, why didn't you tell me you could purr?"
Peter reluctantly uncovered his face enough so he could look at her. "I didn't know! I don't think this has ever happened before!" He briefly glanced at his closet in the same way Ava had seen him do when he listened to Phoebe. "Or at least I never noticed before," he muttered.
Well, that was interesting. Ava decided to ask him about that later.
"But I finally got you to purr!" Sam said in a singsong voice. Peter stuck his tongue out at him, fangs poking out slightly.
"We didn't even know I could purr!" he countered.
"I had a hunch," Sam said flippantly. "I bet you could do it all along. You just never relax enough to let yourself do it. A stressed kitten doesn't purr. That's a simple fact"
"Stop calling me kitten! You never call Ava a kitten."
"That's only 'cause she'd kill me."
Peter groaned, then locked eyes with Ava, realization dawning on his face. "Wait a second. You're part tiger, but I've never heard you purr! There has to be a way you stop yourself from purring!"
Ava shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Pete. Tigers don't purr. I've never had to deal with that."
"Oh come on! You're lying! I bet you do purr!" Peter snatched his phone from his desk. Ava felt her cheeks heat up.
"I've never lied before. Why would I lie about this?" she said in an attempt to distract him from his search. She was saying the truth, but purring wasn't what she was worried about.
Sam, Danny, and Luke crowded around Peter to read his screen. Ava tried not to give anything away, although it was very disheartening to see how quickly they all turned on her the moment they thought they found a crack in her normally tough character.
Peter sighed disappointedly. "I guess she's right. Tigers are physically incapable of purring. That isn't fair!"
"Wait, Pete, scroll back up," Luke said. Ava inched closer to the bed, preparing for the inevitable.
"What'd you see?"
"That."
Ava's hand found the pillow, grabbing it firmly.
"Does that say what I think it says?"
"Oh! Play the video!"
Ava cringed at the sound.
Silence for a beat. Then gasps of surprise.
"I had no idea tigers did that!"
"Was it just me, or did that sound astoundingly familiar?"
"I think you're right, Danny."
"That is so adorable!"
That was the last straw. She flung the pillow at them. The boys recoiled from the sudden impact of fluff. Even Peter was kind enough to allow himself to be hit. He usually dodged any unexpected projectile, no matter how harmless.
"Stop watching that right now if you want to live," Ava commanded.
"Aw, come on," Luke said, tossing the pillow back to the bed. "It isn't a bad thing."
Ava shook her head. "I have never made that sound and you will drop this subject now."
"It's called chuffing, and you have totally made that sound before," Sam insisted. "I just thought you made the sound whenever you were annoyed by us and—" he gasped. "Does this mean you actually think my jokes are funny?"
"Of course not!" Except he wasn't entirely wrong. Her chuffs sounded a lot like normal huffs of annoyance. That's how she usually passed it off as nothing. She was almost always annoyed by the guys. But sometimes their company was . . . not completely unbearable.
"There is no shame in truth," Danny added calmly though keenly.
"Yet there's—" she cut herself off this time. She wanted to say there was plenty of shame in admitting to this, but wasn't that what she kept telling Peter wasn't true? If she didn't want him to feel embarrassed about these things, then she probably shouldn't make such a huge deal about it.
But gosh this was hard to admit to!
"Please say this is true!" Peter said excitedly, bouncing on the soles of his feet. "This would mean that I'm not the only one! And this doesn't even sound as bad as purring! I bet you chuff as menacingly as you growl!" He looked so ridiculous and hopeful with his eyes all wide and pleading . . . And it was terribly nice to feel needed . . . And why was he so good at compliments?! Ava allowed it. She huffed. Chuffed.
The guys gasped and 'oohed' and stared. She rolled her eyes, grabbing the pillow to throw it at them again, but the boys were ready this time and blocked it.
"Ms. Parker, please put an end to this," Ava requested as she started to growl at the boys' antics.
May looked a little bewildered by the unexpected developments, but she had a small smile now. "Okay, that's enough, everyone. Peter's had a long day, and I'm sure the rest of you have homework and other things to do."
Sam and Luke begrudgingly stopped teasing. Danny simply hid a snicker while Peter remained oddly quiet. They all said their goodbyes, Ava leading the way out. When they were at least half a block away from the house (the entire team was well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of heightened senses at this point) conservation started up again.
"I can't believe that Pete purrs and Ava chuffs," Sam said, voice full of uncontained glee. Ava turned on him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Oh no, you are not going to humiliate me or Peter. That's not what he needs right now. Did you even apologize to him for your original mistake?"
"I did, in fact, Miss Grumpy Cat. Or should I say, Happy Cat?" Sam wiggled his eyebrows.
Ava growled louder, wishing that she could still strike fear in him like she had when they had first met.
"How did the apology go?" Danny asked neutrally.
"It went great. Don't look so dubious! I got him to purr, didn't I? Only happy cats purr." He glanced significantly at Ava.
"We don't even know if that's how it actually works for him. He is right that he's part spider, not part cat," Luke said.
Sam coughed, suddenly looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, well, I kinda doubt the alternative. And there's, like, ways to test it, right? That's what Webs will probably want to do anyway. You know him and the scientific method."
It occurred to Ava that maybe Sam was actually doing Peter a favor by teasing him about just the right things. Why did spiders really purr? She had read something about this shortly after Peter first confided in her, but she hadn't exactly paid it much mind since she had thought he couldn't purr.
"What are the alternatives?" Luke asked.
Was Sam blushing? Oh boy, this was officially bad.
"Family," he blurted out. "Spiders only do it around other spiders they love like family."
Oh. That wasn't so bad . . .
"Is that so bad?" Danny mused, voicing her thoughts. "We are supposed to be a team, after all."
"I think I get it," Luke said with a smirk. "Sam's just feeling guilty that Pete is good enough to still love him after that stunt he pulled with the Science Fair thing."
Sam scoffed, but something about the way he did it didn't settle right with Ava. "Hey, that means he really forgives me, right?"
"Or he's just being too nice, like he usually is." Luke shrugged. "Anyway, it's still kind of early. Anyone want to play a bit of basketball or something at the park?"
Ava grabbed Sam's arm as he tried to raise it. "No, you don't get to have fun tonight. If Peter's too nice to punish you, then I will. You're helping me train."
"Aw, man! That's not fair!"
"Sounds fair to me. You boys have fun." She waved at Danny and Luke as she dragged Sam away. Luke waved back amusedly, but Danny looked suspicious. He seemed to have also picked up on Sam's unease. Ava would have grilled Sam right then and there so they could all be on the same page, but if this turned out to be something too embarrassing then it was easier to threaten one person to secrecy.
Sam pouted and grumbled theatrically until she pulled him into an alleyway and out of sight. Then he looked slightly nervous.
"Wait, can't I go get my helmet first before you beat the snot out of me?"
"Setting aside how you still need to work up your non-space-magic strength, no, I'm not going to beat you up. I want to talk about what exactly you know about purring spiders and how you got Pete to do it."
He flashed an anxious smile. "Jealous?"
"Talk."
"Fine, fine. So . . . entering him in the Science Fair wasn't my only great idea . . ."
Ava pinched the bridge of her nose with a sigh. "Sam, why are you like this?"
"I'm trying to help! Usually I help with jokes, but everyone always tells me to be more serious. Yet the one time I try and you're all upset at me!"
"Taking things seriously means taking the time to think through your actions. Not just how to make them work, but also whether they should work, if you should do it. I could carry you over to the basketball court and throw you into the hoop right now. But should I?" She paused thoughtfully. "I'm not quite done thinking that through yet."
Sam rolled his eyes. "Ugh, point taken. See? This is why I don't take things seriously. It's such a drag."
"You don't get out of it that easily. You're going to do the serious thing now and tell me exactly what this other idea was and if there's any way we can stop it before it turns into another disaster."
Making a face, Sam crossed his arms. "All right, so . . . have you ever noticed how Pete reacts to some scents? I know he's got heightened senses like you, but there are some things that seem to affect him and not you. Like gum. If you pop a mint gum in your mouth and talk to him, he'll make this face like you still have bad breath. But if it's any other flavor like fruit or bubblegum then he's fine."
Ava blinked. She hadn't noticed that exactly, although she was aware of the scent thing thanks to Phoebe. "You tested how he reacts to different flavors of chewing gum?"
Sam shrugged. "I go through a lot of gum. A guy as popular as myself should always have fresh breath." He wiggled his eyebrows again. Ava rolled her eyes. "Besides, it turns out that I'm right. Spiders don't like mint. And that got me thinking—yes, thinking—that Danny is always going on about aromatherapy and all that monk-y stuff, but it usually doesn't work with Pete. He gets all sneezy around Danny's stuff, which happens to you sometimes too. I figured that he just doesn't know what scents you do and don't like. I saw that all the time in space. Different species need different medicines and diets. So I read a few websites and told Danny to make me a special brew that could possibly help Pete destress, which we can all agree that's what he needs."
Well . . . he wasn't quite wrong. "That's surprisingly thoughtful coming from you."
"I also figured that calming him down would make him more likely to help me with my homework."
"That's less thoughtful, but continue."
"Right—um, that's about as far as my good deeds go, 'cause I sort of got impatient with Danny's brewing methods. I tried to speed up his boiling process, but his equipment isn't Nova-heatproof, and it got a hole, and everything spilled on my favorite sweater, which I wore today hoping that it would make Pete less angry at me if it works."
Ava looked down at his t-shirt. "Where's the sweater now?"
Sam was looking very hesitant again. "I—uh—needed some way to hide Pete's leaky wrists and suddenly famous face from the public this morning."
Her eyes widened.
"But on the bright side," Sam continued with a desperate grin. "He hasn't been all that upset today. He seems pretty calm about the whole natural webbing thing."
Ava huffed disbelievingly as her mind processed the implications. "Oh my god, are you telling me that Peter is high on the scent of your sweater?"
"Probably not high. He's not acting high. But I think he's more mellow."
"Why didn't you ask to take it back when you had the chance?!"
"I tried! He insisted on keeping it as payback."
Massaging her temple, she took a deep breath to prevent herself from delivering on her threat to slam dunk him. "What sort of ingredients did Danny put in that concoction?"
"I didn't really listen when he was explaining. You'll have to ask him."
"Uh huh. You realize Pete needs to know about this, right?"
"No he doesn't! Just help me get the sweater back and this will all be over!"
"He needs to know that whatever is in your 'cologne' can affect him this way!" After the initial spike of anger, Ava was beginning to recover some of her common sense. "Did you even tell Danny your real agenda?"
"Not in so many words . . ."
"Did he at least know that this was for Peter and not you?"
"Not really."
Ava threw up her hands in frustration. "Then we don't know what's really going on with Peter! He has different biology. Whether he's acting like it or not, you may have really just drugged him!"
"I hope so."
"What?! How can you say that?!"
"I mean I hope he really is purring because he's chill, because the alternative is—um . . ."
"What?"
Sam was blushing again. "That he likes me. Likes me likes me."
"For his sake, I hope not. If you did all this for a friend, I'd hate to see what you would do for your significant other. We can test whether he purrs with the rest of us."
"Ooh, that sounds like a team challenge! I think we just found our distraction opportunity to steal back my sweater!"
"We're not stealing it! We're telling him!"
"Never!" Sam made a break for it, dashing out of the alley. Ava shook her head at his antics. She stood there for a good minute before she realized that she might be jumping to conclusions.
Maybe Sam hadn't done all that for a friend.
Peter shuffled his feet awkwardly in the silence that came after his friends left. His aunt was sort of staring at him, studying him, and he couldn't find the courage to look her in the eye.
It was humiliating enough to have them all burst in on him and Sam like that, let alone with the added idea of purring.
Phoebe said this wasn't his first time purring, but that was somehow even more worrisome. How did he not notice?
Speter purr with Phoebe purr. Phoebe explained patiently. Addition!
Well, he had thought she purred extra loudly sometimes. Adding his purr to the mix made a little more sense then.
"So," May said at last. "You purr when you're calm and happy?"
Peter swallowed. "It—um, seems that way."
She cocked her head. "And you're sure you've never purred before?"
"P—probably not? I've read about it, but I really had no idea if I was doing it."
"And you've never purred with me." She sighed somewhat sadly. "Are you really that stressed all the time?"
Realizing what was really bothering his aunt, Peter shook his head. "No! I'm not that stressed here at home. Sometimes I worry about school and stuff, but . . . You make me feel safe, May." He blinked. That was kind of a weird thing to say, but it was true and it brought a small smile to May's face. She held her arms out to him.
"Come here, honey."
Peter obligingly went over to hug and be hugged.
"Is that a new cologne?" she asked curiously.
"Sorta, yeah." He took a deep breath. Yup, the scent was as strong as ever.
"It's unique, just like you." May chuckled. "I hope you know I'm not letting you go until you purr. Even if it takes all night."
"I don't know if it'll happen, but . . . this is fine by me," Peter replied, just enjoying her warmth. She was extra warm from the kitchen and smelled like cookies, suggesting there was a fresh batch waiting for him downstairs.
May began to rub small circles into his back. It reminded Peter of the memories he and Phoebe had shared earlier, reminded him of his mother, because this basically was his mother. She had taken on the role with all her heart. Peter had never admitted that out loud, but he knew it.
They both startled a little when the rumbling began in his chest. Peter stiffened. But May resumed the massage, and he relaxed.
"I'm glad I make you feel safe," she said quietly.
"I hope I can keep you safe." Peter hugged her tighter.
"Whoa, loosen up there, honey," she said, and Peter immediately relaxed his grip, purr faltering. He almost pulled away, but she held him close. "It's my job to worry about you. I know I can't keep you safe out there, but I can make sure that you're living a full and happy life."
It did make Peter feel better to know that May was looking out for him, but that wouldn't stop him from looking out for her too. She was his only family left. He would protect her from anything, whether it was crazy supervillains or . . . or whatever dangers came from his spider side.
Purring . . . didn't seem like much of a danger.
Maybe it made him a bit more clingy though. He didn't let go until May reminded him of the cookies cooling downstairs.
Fun facts:
- The cologne thing is part truth part scientific/creative liberty. Spiders are deterred by certain smells like mint. But cats are attracted to certain scents like catnip. There is also some experimental evidence that cats are even attracted to some perfumes and colognes. So I figure that there might be some scents that spiders like. Scientists just don't bother researching them because nobody wants to attract spiders. But plenty of people would want to attract Spidey!
- I really do put way too much scientific thought into this story . . .
- Monster by Imagine Dragons is a real song that is essentially the theme song for this story.
