Chapter 30: Craving 'Normality'
This chapter was not supposed to exist. Its only reason for existing is the fact that I felt like some things from last chapter needed to be discussed more before we got to the finale. The issue was, I wasn't sure what needed to be discussed, so this was really annoying to write. I wasn't even remotely happy with this chapter until I proofread it, and now . . . I'm happy with it? I'm taking that as an indication that it's done. The MCU sprinkles I added probably helped.
Here's hoping that you enjoy it!
Reviews Responses
(Holy guacamole cows of the Himalayas! 101 reviews! A sincere thank you to every single one of you!)
AvidWrite14: Oh, don't you worry about Peter/MJ. You'll see some of that regardless. I have Plans . . . ;)
Guest: Thank you!
Pink Lemonade: Poor Amadeus has not seen much of the spotlight, but you probably know he's finally going to get a moment to shine. Oh boy, the next chapter marks the start of the finale, and I am so excited to see what you think of that! I'm trying my best to bring it all together, and your reviews have certainly helped remind me of some plot points! Thank you!
Peter decided to wait a little while before getting Phoebe juice that night. He didn't want May to know that he was going to get some right after she told him it was a spider thing. Besides, if May was asleep, then he could bring Phoebe down to the kitchen and she could try as many types of juice as her little heart desired. It was a win-win all around.
"Hey Phoebe," he greeted after he came out of the shower, pajamas sticking to his damp skin. He knew Phoebe didn't like to be wet, so he let her climb out of her Jungle Box herself when he opened it. "How was your day?"
Speter! Phoebe play a lot and ate all bugs! How Speter day?
"My day was . . . not too bad, maybe even pretty good." That shower had really helped him calm down. "I got to see all my friends and do some work. But then I discovered something new. Do you remember if you ever ate fruit in the jungle?"
Phoebe dragged some of her toys out of her Jungle Box as she thought about that. Ummmm . . . Phoebe not sure. Why?
Peter had to smile at how similar her response was to his own. "I just learned that some spiders like to drink fruit juice. As soon as Aunt May goes to sleep, we can take a little field trip down to the kitchen so you can try some."
Field trip? Kitchen?
Despite the fact that spiders shouldn't be expected to know what field trips or kitchens were, Peter still felt bad that Phoebe didn't know. She was enough like a human child that he knew she would have a blast if she could go to school and experience field trips herself. "Field trips are when you travel somewhere to learn something new. I used to like them until I started having bad luck. Anytime there were animals I kept getting bitten. I was bitten by a spider on a field trip, which is how I got these powers. Anyway, a kitchen is—"
Spider bit Speter? Phoebe interrupted, sounding rather surprised and angry.
"Um, yes. It wasn't a nice like you. Plus I kind of bothered it because I ended up somewhere I wasn't supposed to be. Flash tried locking me in a closet which happened to be the supply closet reserved for that lab, and somebody there must have made a mistake for some of their experimental spiders to be loose in there, so . . . yeah, I was bitten."
Spider try eat Speter?
"Oh, no, it was only a little spider, don't worry!" Peter smiled when he realized why she was upset. "Like I said, I was the one bothering it. It probably only bit me because I freaked out and scared it. And I didn't freak out just because it was a spider," he hastily added. "I was scared because I was locked in a dark closet and I didn't know what had dropped onto me. If I were a spider that fell on top of a thrashing human, I'd probably . . ."
'Bite me too' was supposed to complete the sentence, but Peter was distracted by the sudden realization that he had in fact fallen into a dark room where he was threatened by someone, and his reaction had been to bite them. He'd honestly been in the same situation as the spider that bit him, and he'd reacted the same way.
That was some serious full circle stuff right there.
But he was circling back to the spider. What did it mean if he was acting more like that spider now than his old purely human self?
Speter okay?
Peter blinked. He really needed to stop having these revelations. "I'm good."
Phoebe mean okay after bite.
"Oh, yeah, I was fine. I mean, I was sick afterwards, really sick, which was actually even more scary. But I was fine the day after." He didn't remember that night too well, and he didn't want to remember the few facts he could remember.
Okay. Phoebe sorry spider bit. Phoebe never bite Speter. She dropped her toys and jumped onto him to give him a hug.
"Thanks, I know you'll never hurt me. Now, what were we talking about?"
Kitchen?
"Right, so there's a lot that goes on in a kitchen . . ."
Peter explained the general uses of kitchens along with a description of all the appliances and the science behind them. Maybe he went a bit too deep at times, but Phoebe seemed to enjoy it. She agreed with him that it was pretty cool to cook with a Faraday cage.
As he spoke, he started to work on an old tablet he'd managed to salvage. It was terribly outdated and the screen was cracked, but once he fixed it up it would be good enough to put some simple apps for Phoebe. There were plenty that could cover basic reading and writing, and once she knew how to write she would be able to communicate with Ava too, which was an idea Phoebe rather liked.
When he was done fitting the new screen, he looked at the time. It was late enough that Aunt May should be asleep. He opened his door to listen just in case, and he could hear the sound of her gentle snoring. "Okay, Phoebe, I think it's time for that field trip. Are you ready to see the kitchen?"
Yup! Phoebe ready!
"Good." Peter picked her up and set her on his shoulder. She was so excited that he could feel it residually without even probing in her mind. "Now remember, you have to stay with me. And if Aunt May or anyone else comes, you need to hide." After having a space raccoon stop by his house a few times, Peter could never be sure who might come by at any time of day or night.
Okay!
Her excitement really was as palpable as it could get. Peter found himself grinning widely as he carefully stepped out into the hallway. He couldn't go far on foot alone. There were far too many creaky floorboards, and he'd learned his lesson about those way back in his early Spider-Man days when he would sneak into the bathroom to clean his wounds at three in the morning. Instead, he climbed onto the wall and up to the ceiling before making his way downstairs.
Phoebe giggled throughout the ride as she watched everything avidly. Everything was new to her, and she could see it all in the dark, just like he could. She asked a few questions which Peter answered entirely telepathically, but she was mostly content to stare.
The house always looked a little different from the ceiling. From up here, there were new angles and details that were easily missed from ordinary eye level. In some ways, it made the rooms look bigger, but that was probably only because Peter could use more than the floorspace to move around. Not that he used to be able see anything in the dark. In the past, he would navigate by the light of the moon or pure muscle memory. He'd lived in this house since forever. He knew the floorplan by heart, and the walls and ceiling were getting to be just as familiar.
All that memorization was moot with night vision.
When they got to the kitchen, Peter was tempted to open the fridge upside down just for fun, but the last time he did that he'd made the absolutely ridiculous mistake of opening his water bottle upside down too. So he dropped down to the floor, landing in his favorite silent crouch. Phoebe laughed louder when he did that. The effect was more like one of those sudden drop rides for her.
"Sorry! I should have warned you I was about to do that."
It okay. Fun!
"So long as you're happy. Okay, so here's the fridge and all of its delicious wonders." He opened the door, squinting in the sudden light.
Fridge cold, Phoebe complained, pressing herself against him.
"I know, sorry." He grabbed every kind of juice they had and quickly closed the door. Then he arranged them in a line on the table. "Here we have grape, apple, strawberry kiwi, pineapple coconut, and cranberry juice along with fruit punch, which is a mix of several types of fruits." It occurred to Peter that this might possibly be an excessive amount of juice that May bought after she noticed how much he was drinking, but he wasn't sure, and that worried him. "Which one do you want to try first?"
Um . . . what Speter like?
"I like them all, although I do enjoy grape. We'll start at the left and go through them in order then. That's probably easiest." Peter very nearly took a glass from the sink before he realized that was way too big for Phoebe. He eyed the other items and decided on the simple spoon. There were enough of those that he could fill one with each type of juice all at once. He arranged them on the table and set Phoebe next to them. "There you go. Let me know what you think of each."
Phoebe paused at the first spoon, grape, appearing to sniff it first. Then she dipped her pedipalps in. There was a very quiet but still audible slurping sound that made Peter chuckle. Phoebe paused, took another sip, appeared to savor the flavor, and then she looked up at him.
Grape juice good!
"Great! I'm . . . I'm glad you like it." If he hadn't believed spiders could like juice before, he sure did now. But it solidified that feeling of regret; why had he never tried to give Phoebe juice before? Or any other type of food for that matter. Well, he didn't want to accidentally poison her, so maybe he should still hold off on other foods, but now he had to wonder what else might be good for her.
Phoebe proceeded to try the rest. She liked most of them, although she didn't like strawberry kiwi, and she wasn't a huge fan of fruit punch either. By the end of her taste test, most of the juice was gone except for those two. In usual Phoebe fashion, she pushed the strawberry kiwi spoon towards him.
Speter want finish?
Peter was pretty sure he'd had several glasses of juice today already, and he had promised himself that this little midnight voyage to the kitchen was only for Phoebe.
But a spoonful or two of juice couldn't hurt.
Oh, wait, maybe it could hurt. Now that he had the taste in his mouth, he was craving more. Before tonight, he would have assumed he was just thirsty, but now he knew better. He put the juice bottles away before he could take more.
With the spoons all empty, he started to wash them. That was only supposed to take a minute, but he used a little too much soap, and then Phoebe discovered the wonders of bubbles. She was having so much fun popping them that he couldn't bring himself to tell her playtime was over. So they stayed in the kitchen making bubbles and climbing after them. When they got too sticky with soap, Phoebe taught Peter how to hold droplets of water in his hands using the same little hairs that made climbing possible. Then they could comb the water over themselves, like having built-in wipes. It was weird, but fast and convenient.
In the process, Phoebe discovered they could hold bubbles too for a short while. She was currently holding onto a big one with all her legs wrapped around it. Peter held a smaller bubble between his fingertips, staring at its rainbow reflections for a moment before blowing it away.
This was a spidery discovery he could be pleasantly surprised about.
School was pleasantly surprising too, just like yesterday, which was . . . shocking really. Peter was quite used to being unpleasantly surprised most days. Between pop quizzes, new supervillains, Flash, world crises, and the team's shenanigans, not to mention spider mutations now . . .
Holy cow did he have a lot to worry about. Sometimes he got used to it, and other times the sheer volume of stress hit him right smack in the face.
Today was not one of those days though. He wouldn't let it become one of those either. Things were going well and he was determined to keep that going for as long as possible.
He met with Harry and MJ during lunch to keep up the conversation from yesterday. Both kept their promise about tabooing Spider-Man, although Harry sometimes scowled at anyone who passed by with Spidey regalia. Peter was just glad that they were able to have a civil and normal conversation for once. Or, at least as normal as conversation could get in New York. He was also glad that he didn't start purring again, and the team sat nearby anyway. He realized he had forgotten to set up some sort of code word or phrase or something to alert them, but having them near was enough to ease his anxiety.
Honestly, he was extra glad he didn't start purring. He would never hear the end of it if they got any more proof that he liked MJ.
Okay, so he knew that they knew that he liked her, but he would not allow them to know anything else about that purring thing. He didn't want to know anything about it.
Plus it didn't happen this time so maybe it really had been just a one-time deal.
Regardless of all that, talking to his friends during lunch was perfect because it also distracted him from his juice problem. Peter was more tempted to order some juice than he expected which was really starting to worry him. He chose water though. And May had only given him some milk that morning, so he hadn't really had any at all since late last night with Phoebe.
This was ridiculous. He didn't need juice, just like how he didn't need insects. He was going to be just fine. Yup. The scent of today's fruit salad certainly wasn't making him crave juice even more. Nope.
Oh, who was he kidding? He was a weirdo! But at least he was aware that he was a weirdo. He could control these impulses to prove to May that he wasn't only guided by instinct. Since he was already on a roll today, he bet he could last the rest of the day without drinking juice or eating bugs.
Yeah, that was a good bet. He could do that.
Happy with his little resolution, Peter returned to paying attention to the conversation. MJ was telling them about the journalism internships she was planning to apply for. The Daily Bugle was now lower on her priority list since she'd spoken to the New York Times, which was great to hear. Harry was starting to sit in on some of Oscorp's business meetings. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were a little less boring when you were allowed to make decisions, or at least participate. They didn't let him call any big shots yet, but he was making the right impressions.
With the trend of the conversation, Peter knew that he was going to be asked about his own plans for a future career. He was thinking of saying something like going back to Stark Industries for another internship. That sounded plausible, and it didn't require him to bring up the Iron Spider suit exactly. The only problem was that Harry might feel upset that he wasn't choosing Oscorp. Harry had always promised that he would have a job there, and Peter used to think that was his best and only way into science, but now . . . now he'd managed to impress Tony Stark, which was actually pretty impressive now that he thought about it.
Wow, he'd always wanted to do that! And now he'd done it! He really needed to keep better track of these things.
"So what are your plans?" Harry asked as expected. Peter opened his mouth to answer, but was distracted when he heard his name on the loud speaker.
". . . Peter Parker is required to come to the principal's office," Stan's voice crackled through. "Will Peter Parker please come to the principal's office. I feel like there's an alliteration opportunity I'm missing here. Where's my thesaurus? Oh, wait, is this thing still on—?" The speaker clicked off.
Peter sat there with wide eyes. On one hand, he knew Stan was a Shield agent so this was probably just Shield related. On the other hand, it was the principal's office.
"Whoa, Pete, you're not in trouble, are you?" Harry asked.
"It's probably related to the Science Fair," MJ guessed. "Go get 'em, Tiger. We'll catch up with you later."
Peter got up and made his way through the empty hallways. When he entered the office, he was surprised to find another person there, one who looked kind of familiar. The man was tall and well-built and rather grumpy looking. Where had he seen him before?
"Hello, Peter," Stan greeted. "How's life?"
"Um, it's alright," Peter replied, still eyeing the possible stranger. "How are things going as principal?"
"Eh, it's a job. I'd actually rather scrub through the scummy halls than be in charge of them, but somebody has to be the boss." Stan leaned back in his chair, or really Coulson's chair, smiling kindly. The familiar stranger coughed, staring pointedly at Stan. "Oh, right, Peter, I'd like you to meet Harold 'Happy' Hogan, Tony Stark's personal bodyguard. Tony has set up his lab for that video you need to do, and Happy will take you over so you can complete it today."
"Oh." So that was why the man looked familiar. Peter hadn't officially met Happy yet, but he'd seen him in pictures with Stark many times. As the billionaire's bodyguard, they were rarely apart. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Hogan. I thought the plan was for me to go after school though." He held out his hand.
Happy rolled his eyes and did an excellent job of ignoring the attempted handshake. "Officially, Tony decided that it might be best to give you more time to film everything. Unofficially, he's using this to skip a meeting."
Peter nodded, retracting his hand and using it to rub the back of his neck instead. "Okay, whatever works best for Mr. Stark."
Happy raised an eyebrow. "You are Spider-Man, right?"
For a second, Peter felt a stab of fear that this man knew his secret identity. Then he remembered that Happy must need to keep a bunch of Stark's secrets, and he felt a little better. "Uh, yeah, that's me."
"Not to mention that he's one of our best and brightest," Stan chimed in. "If I were his parent, I'd be so proud."
Peter rubbed his neck harder. "I don't know about being your best, but—um—thanks."
Snorting almost amusedly, Happy turned and gestured for him to follow. "Boss is gonna love this," he muttered under his breath, too quiet for most people to hear. Peter usually liked to pretend that he didn't hear people muttering, although he was rather curious to know if Happy meant that sarcastically or not. He followed in silence instead and was thoroughly distracted when they got to the parking lot. Sitting there in its shiny glory was a black Ferrari, one that Stark himself was regularly seen in on his casual day trips.
Needless to say, the ride was surreal.
Despite visiting several times, Peter had only entered the Avenger's Tower through the door at the helipad. Either he climbed up there himself, or he was flown up like when he'd briefly been an Avenger. And there was that one time he was thrown through the window and into their living room, but that was an accident.
Today, though, he was entering through the parking garage, coming up in the special elevator reserved for Stark and his closest friends. Peter discovered that classic rock replaced the usual droll elevator music. It was a long way up, and standing there next to the stoic Happy was somewhat intimidating, but it was no worse than being in the elevator with Norman Osborn.
The elevator opened up to Stark's personal lab, the one Peter had worked on the suit in. Tony Stark himself was sitting at a table which appeared to be laden with brunch. Stark turned to his guest, half of a bagel hanging out of his mouth. He finished his bite and greeted them as they stepped out of the elevator.
"So this is the face behind the spandex onesie! It's great to truly meet you, kid."
"Hi, it's great to 'truly' meet you too," Peter held out his hand out of habit, half expecting Tony to ignore it like Happy did, but Stark gave him a firm handshake.
"You know, the Avengers and I had a bet going on in regards to your age," Stark said very casually.
Peter felt his cheeks start to heat up, and he was aware that Stark could see it. On some level, he understood that Stark had to learn his identity for this to work. Not to mention that Stark was more than smart enough to put two and two together the moment he saw the flyers from Midtown. But it was ten thousand times more nerve wracking to meet him without the mask. Stark could now see every blush, every awkward facial expression, and if Peter hadn't had his contacts and veneers, it would have been a million times worse.
"Nat thought you were seventeen," Tony continued in Peter's silence. "Clint put you at twelve, but I think he was joking; Steve went with fifteen for personal reasons; and Sam was giving you the benefit of the doubt with nineteen. I was the only one to guess right with sixteen." Stark grinned. "And no, I did not ask Bruce to tell me. He refused to tell anyone about that time you two switched bodies."
Peter focused on the Hulk's respect rather than the other opinions about his age. "Yeah, Hulk and I kind of promised each other that. But you're right on the money. I turned sixteen a few months ago."
Tony frowned. "You were only fifteen when I helped you make the Iron Spider suit then?"
"Yeah . . ."
"Were you still fifteen when we made you an Avenger?"
"That was right after my birthday, which was a great present by the way. I'm sorry I quit so soon though."
"Hey, no need to apologize. You were able to keep up with us the entire day, even while we were trying to beat you up. We should really be the ones apologizing."
Peter stared at him disbelievingly. Tony Stark was apologizing to him?! Peter occasionally had nightmares about the Avengers attacking him, but this moment made up for all those sleepless nights. "Thank you! I mean, it wasn't your fault since Loki kept switching us back and forth, but I really appreciate the apology. And the fact that you helped me get my body back in the first place."
Stark gave him his own disbelieving look, glancing at Happy questioningly. Happy nodded and Tony started to stare at Peter shrewdly. "Okay, kid, are you messing with me?"
"No . . . I'm not sure what you mean." Why would Stark think that? Peter hadn't said anything wrong, had he?
"It's just, as Spider-Man you're a lot more—how should I put it—snarky? Annoying? Like a miniature version of me if I'd decided to become Iron Man back in MIT?"
Despite being called annoying, Peter was overjoyed to hear that he seemed like a little version of Tony Stark. "Oh, I get it now! I sort of act a certain way as Spidey. It's mostly to help keep my identity a secret, and maybe it's also a bit of a coping mechanism, but it's also for fun."
"It works on all accounts then. If I hadn't already known, I never would have guessed you were Spider-Man. My god, aren't you a little prodigy? You're over here with layers of identity encryption on yourself while you save lives, and I was just flying around and eating donuts when I first made my suits." Stark laughed, more at himself than anything else. "No wonder Cap likes you."
"Captain America likes me?" Peter asked before he could stop himself.
"Of course, why wouldn't he? You're way more responsible than half the Avengers."
Peter shuffled his feet. "I didn't exactly make the best first impression. Or second impression."
"What did you do? Steal his shield?"
Reluctantly, Peter tilted his head in a so-so gesture.
Tony's eyes lit up. "Ooh, I don't think I've heard about this! Look, I'm currently working through some brunch after I slept in. How about you join me and tell me all about this shield theft. Then we'll get to work on the video."
"Um, okay." Peter technically just had lunch, but he couldn't say no to Iron Man, and he certainly had the space for some more food. He followed Stark to the table. "So you know how Captain America always uses his shield like a frisbee? And how Dr. Doom has a place in the city?"
"I like where this is going already."
Luke wished they could just go already.
He sat on a roof overlooking Central Park. It was a gorgeous night. Cool. Quiet(ish). With a soft breeze just strong enough to rustle the leaves below. He couldn't hear them from here, but he could imagine the soothing sound. Danny said that the rustle of tree leaves was one of nature's ways of talking. Luke didn't know if that was true, but he agreed that it was nice to listen to anyway.
It was a great night for Peter to be late for patrol. Again.
At this point, the team hardly held it against him. Peter was getting much better at being punctual, so the only times he was late was when something bad happened. Or if he was just busy. Like today. When Peter went to the principal's office and never came back, Luke knew that he had probably been called away on official business. Sure enough, a text came in explaining that he was starting the video for the science fair early. Sam had desperately wanted to go 'help', but the rest of the team insisted he keep out of it.
Peter was probably still at Stark's place. Luke didn't know the first thing about filming, but he understood it could take a while. He knew that Peter would probably show up any minute now.
Yet he couldn't stop worrying that something bad had happened. Judging from the restless looks on everyone's faces, neither could they.
This wasn't even being overprotective. Peter got into so much trouble that his tardiness usually did turn out to be bad at least a few times a month. Sometimes it wasn't too terrible, like when he got dragged along on cool team-ups with other superheroes, but there were certainly worse scenarios.
Luke stood to stretch, testing his leg. It felt a lot better and his parents insisted he was fine now, but he couldn't shake the feeling of the wound. There was a long scar to memorialize where it had been, and the roughness of that skin only exacerbated that feeling of wrongness. The scar had a high chance of going away, or at least fading considerably, but even then, he knew he would still feel it.
The 'invulnerable' member of the team had now been sliced through like butter, and he couldn't help but feel weaker for it.
Luke knew that was silly, but what was sillier was his weakness. Bad skincare. What sort of Achilles heel was that? It was ridiculous! He had hoped it wasn't true, but after several days of moisturizing, his parents proved that his skin was impenetrable again.
He couldn't believe it. It was like the Hulk's weakness being a bad hair day. It was embarrassing!
At least the team wasn't making fun of him. Luke appreciated that.
His thoughts were interrupted when Sam let out a loud groan. "Where's Web Head?! The sun's setting, and we're supposed to start the mission as soon as it's dark!"
"He is probably still at Avengers Tower," Danny said.
"He is," Ava confirmed. Everyone looked at her. "What? We do have GPS in our communicators, and we all have access to the info during patrol hours."
"We do?" Luke asked, looking at his communicator. "Since when?"
"Since the last time Spidey was kidnapped. It would be ridiculous if we always have to call Shield every time we lose him."
Sam snickered. "That makes him sound like some sort of puppy we've chipped."
Luke tuned out the ensuing conversation between Sam and Danny about which type of dog Peter would be, instead checking out this new feature on his communicator. He usually tried to keep up with all the upgrades, but ever since he'd started at Midtown High, he'd slacked a bit. He had nearly forgotten how much time homework could take.
The GPS screen did in fact have an extra option at the end of the list that was usually absent. 'Teammates'. He clicked on it, and all four of the others showed up as little red dots. Peter's dot was moving.
"Spidey's on his way according to this," Luke reported. He turned back to Ava. "Did you say this feature only works when we're on patrol?"
She nodded. "For privacy reasons. Shield still has access to this information at all times, but they don't trust us to have the same access."
"Fair enough. I don't need you tracking me down for training in our free time."
"I wouldn't do that all the time," she defended, but not very convincingly.
Within minutes, a flash of red and blue could be seen approaching. Peter swung up and landed in a crouch among them, breathing hard.
"Hey everyone—Sorry I'm late—The taping thing—went over—and—yeah—I came as fast—as I could," he said between breaths.
"Were you able to finish the video?" Danny asked.
"Yup!" Peter took a final gasping inhale before he got his breathing back under control. "Nova, Power Man, I couldn't quite add in what you guys were going for, but something happened that I think you'll like anyway."
"What'd you do? Blow up the lab?" Sam snorted.
"No! It's—You'll see. So what are we doing tonight? Stark may have muted Fury when he called."
"Of course Stark would do that." Ava shook her head. "We're helping the NYPD tonight. There's some sort of small gang hiding out in Central Park and mugging people. There's evidence to suggest that a few of them might be minor mutants or enhanced in some way, but even without that there's nearly ten in total. So we need to case the park and track them down."
Peter nodded, quiet for a moment as he started to think. Everyone waited patiently, even Sam. It had been long enough since their last proper patrol that they all just wanted to have a nice, normal night with an actual plan. Plans could always fall apart even on normal days, of course, but it was the feeling that mattered. Nothing felt better than having a good strategy and executing it perfectly and looking awesome in the process.
Luke never did anything just because it was cool, but he did enjoy looking cool when he could. That's why he chose sunglasses to be part of his super suit.
"Okay," Peter said, rubbing his hands together. "We need to split up into two groups to sweep the park as fast as possible. It's getting dark, and it'll be too cloudy for moonlight, so both groups need a resident flashlight. Fist, you'll go with Tiger at the . . . south end. Yeah, south end is best for you two. Nova and I will take the north. Do you want to join Nova and me, Power Man?"
It was an established fact that Luke and Danny usually partnered up. They'd basically become brothers during their short stint as a duo before Shield created the team. Tonight would be a perfect time to avoid Sam and Peter's insult trade, but . . .
He refrained from reaching down to rub his leg again. Going with the brighter 'flashlight' and the person who could easily wrap up wounds seemed a lot more appealing tonight. Luke was grateful Pete brought it up first so he didn't need to admit any of that aloud.
"Sure, I'll go with you this time, Spidey."
"Alright. So we have our two groups and our two directions. I know the width of the park is an issue, but any signs of a group staying there should be fairly obvious, especially if they're young and loud, so we should be able to run through fairly quickly. When we find them, don't engage right away. There are too many unknowns here. Wait and watch to see how many there really are, and if any do have powers. Then we decide how to engage. Sound good?"
"Are you sure you don't want me to do a flyover?" Sam asked.
"You'll give us away if you do that, giving them time to scatter. You'll need to keep yourself dimmer as it is. Although I'm sure that won't be too hard for you to be dim."
Sam's aura flashed in spite. "Uh huh. I'm the brightest one here and you know it."
"Only on the luminosity scale. Anyway, we're good to go?"
Everyone else was content with the plan. They split up accordingly. Luke let Sam fly him down to the ground, in between some trees at the north entrance of the park. Peter came down with an elegant flip on a tree branch.
The sun was just about set at this point, its orange light only reaching the tops of the trees and the surrounding buildings. Luke knew that at a certain point they would lose sight of the city and it would seem like they were in the wilderness. He was actually kind of excited for this mission. He'd never had a chance to properly check out Central Park before. Sure, this was still technically work, but he imagined it would be peaceful to take a jog through at night.
They started at a run. It was highly unlikely that any group could stay hidden near the edges of the park. There were way too many visitors around here even at this time. People were starting to notice the heroes, shouting mostly encouraging things. A few denounced superheroes in general, but the majority of critics focused on Spider-Man. Luke couldn't understand why Spidey got all the hate. There were plenty of other heroes, most of which actually had questionable pasts and morals. Punisher literally went around killing bad guys. Why was Spider-Man always the scapegoat?
It was probably Jameson's fault. He made Spidey front and center in most media outlets. At this point, Pete was competing with Iron Man for having the most publicity.
Luke was happy to leave the competition between those two. He was content to be able to save lives in peace.
After a bit of running, they started to get away from the streets. Sam took to flying among the treetops to obscure his light. As it got darker, he looked like a swarm of fireflies darting through the leaves. They slowed to a light jog once they were far enough from the crowds.
"If there's anywhere that looks like a good hiding place, we should probably stop to investigate," Peter said. "Aside from that, we'll give the rest of the park a quick once over. We should be done in no time."
"That's what you said about my math homework when it took us five hours to finish it," Sam complained.
"If you had kept up with the material, we wouldn't have had to review everything for three of those hours."
"When am I ever going to need to know the quadratic equation?"
"I can't even count all the ways that equation comes in handy in our daily lives."
"You can't count them because there are none!"
"Hey," Luke interrupted. "That looks like a possible place for people to hide."
It went on like that for quite a while. They jogged for a bit, chatting and trading banter quietly, then went silent and carefully to inspect possible hideouts. There were many places where the trees became very thick, or rocks formed semi-caves, that seemed highly suspicious, but they didn't find anyone. Nearly two hours later, they had only covered a quarter of the park. Ava and Danny had made roughly the same progress, so half of the park remained. Sam only said 'I told you so' once.
Two hours of continuous jogging and running was a lot, even for enhanced individuals like themselves. Peter called a break then to allow everyone to regain some stamina. Luke settled on the grass, leaning back against a trunk. Peter and Sam sat by trunks facing him. Luke sighed and rubbed his calves. He was fine with stamina, but that didn't mean he liked to be active for so long.
And the remnants of that scar still felt funny.
"How are you doing?" Peter asked him softly.
"I'm good," Luke said mostly honestly.
"How's your—uh—skincare routine going?"
Luke tried not to scoff. It wasn't like he was against having a skincare routine. He spent way too much time with Danny not to appreciate what oils could do for the body. No, his issue was why he needed to suddenly start such a routine. He was being forced into it because his life more or less depended on it. It wasn't his choice. "It's going fine. My skin's as smooth as ever and I'm invulnerable again, so I can't complain." He paused. "How are you doing," he asked, directing his question at Peter.
"I'm fine."
"You haven't nearly poisoned yourself again?" Sam asked.
Peter turned to him, the lenses of his mask narrowing, not necessarily in an angry way. It looked more like his eyes might be closed behind them. It was a subtle difference, one that had led to many misunderstandings when they first formed the team, but they could recognize it now. "Can we not talk about that on patrol? I don't want Jameson getting any ideas."
"We're, like, miles from civilization here," Sam exaggerated. "I doubt Jameson's got a reporter in any of these bushes."
"I actually wouldn't put it past him."
"You're so paranoid."
"You're so weird."
This time they did settle into silence. Peter kept his eyes closed, likely listening to the white noise around them. Luke liked it. The noises of the city were muffled enough that Peter was probably the only one who could tell that New York was out there beyond the trees. The sounds that were easier to hear were the leaves blowing and the crickets chirping. It really was as nice as Luke had expected.
"We should get going," Peter interrupted abruptly, springing to his feet.
Sam and Luke exchanged a glance. Peter almost always let breaks run a few minutes longer than they should. This one had barely been five minutes. Did Peter want to finish this mission early?
They started their jog again. Peter did run faster at times, and Luke understood if he wanted to finish early, but then Peter slowed at times too. At first, Luke thought he might be listening for the gang, or maybe he could see something with his night vision. The problem was that Peter wasn't looking anywhere in particular when he slowed. He was only staring at the trees or even at the ground immediately around them.
And then Luke heard a noise, and the clues clicked together.
"Spidey, are you hungry?" he asked as Peter's stomach growled loudly. Peter whipped around, already starting to rub his neck embarrassedly.
"I'm not hungry." It growled again. "I'm not that hungry."
Sam floated down. "Didn't you eat at Stark's?"
"Well, yeah."
There was something highly unconvincing about that answer. "Did you eat enough?" Luke clarified. He had seen firsthand how uncomfortable Peter could be accepting hospitality.
"Stark had a literal buffet of food for lunch."
"What about dinner?"
"Okay, so he tried to buy me a thousand dollars' worth of gourmet burgers which I declined, but I still had enough."
'Enough' in Peter's eyes could mean 'less than enough' in more honest terms. Luke understood what it felt like to be on a mission while hungry. They should wrap this whole thing up so they could go raid the nearest pizzeria. "Why didn't you say so? Let's get that gang so we can grab a bite to eat."
Peter noticeably tensed at that, which was weird. Both Sam and Luke cocked their heads in puzzlement, but Sam spoke first. "Spidey, do you want to eat something now?"
They weren't technically supposed to go off on snack breaks in the middle of a mission like this, but if Peter needed it, Luke knew they wouldn't get in trouble.
"We shouldn't be rushing off like that," Peter declined. "We could alert the gang if they see you or me passing overhead."
"You don't need to go anywhere to get you anything and you know it," Sam said, crossing his arms.
Luke was confused for all of five seconds before the final clue clicked.
There were crickets all around them. Peter ate crickets. Although, Luke could remember him insisting that he didn't eat them live, but maybe this situation was too tempting. It seemed akin to being inside a restaurant while you're hungry. How could you not eat something?
Peter's lenses widened. "What are you talking about?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"The crickets," Luke said. "You've been staring at them the whole time. Do you want to have some or something?"
"Is it that obvious?" Shame was in Peter's voice now, just like when he'd first confessed his instincts to them.
"It's fine if you have some. You know we won't mind," Luke insisted.
"Yeah," Sam chipped in. "Like you said, we want to retain the element of surprise. We can't do that if your stomach gives us away."
Peter made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. "But then I'll have to catch the crickets."
Luke couldn't help but scoff. "If you can catch supervillains, then you can definitely catch some crickets."
"Yeah, and you've already tried catching them, haven't you? You had them all over your room last week," Sam said, which peaked Luke's curiosity. Pete had already tried live ones? He hadn't told anyone. Or at least not everyone. Why was he so embarrassed about it?
"Look, guys," Peter said. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm not hunting any bugs tonight, okay?"
"It'll take you, like, five seconds to eat a few," Sam insisted. "Plus there's probably a pretty good variety out here. Have you tried anything other than crickets yet? I can see fireflies here and there. And I'd really appreciate it if you got rid of the moths that have been bothering me."
"No, Bucket Head. I'm—I was actually going to try avoiding eating stuff like that today."
"Why?" Luke asked, surprised. He thought Pete had been more accepting of this stuff lately, especially with his new organic silk.
"It's a personal thing, and I've succeeded all day. I'm not stopping now."
"Even if you're starving?"
"I'm not starving! I'll be fine." In an attempt to end the conversation, Peter started walking off, but the other two stayed put. When he saw they weren't budging, Peter huffed and made his way back. "Why can't you drop this? If we keep going now, we can finish soon."
"Not that soon. This is taking forever," Sam whined.
"And you avoided answering my question," Luke pointed out. "Why did you decide not to eat crickets today?"
Peter went through his usual stubborn pattern. First, he stayed still and silent. Then he folded his arms and glanced around as if searching for an escape route. And, finally, he deflated with another huff. "Fine, I guess you'll be hearing about it soon enough anyway. Did you guys ever notice anything weird about my eating habits?"
Luke and Sam thought about it for a moment. "Do you mean aside from the bug thing?" Luke wondered.
"Not that it's weird, really, it's just the only thing out of the ordinary for you."
"No, it's not the only weird thing," Peter admitted quietly. There was a resigned tone to his voice now, as if Luke's answer had confirmed something for him. Luke couldn't imagine what though. He'd tried his best to say something reassuring.
"Don't leave us in suspense!" Sam pleaded, apparently oblivious to the undertone of the conversation.
Out of the blue, Peter started pacing agitatedly, hands moving animatedly. "I knew it! I knew May would be the one to notice something like this! I'm sorry, I'm not upset at you guys, but you've only known me for so long. May's known me for practically my whole life and—" He was forced to stop when Luke grabbed his arm and put a finger to his lips. "What's wrong?"
"You're saying her name while you're in the suit. You know better than to risk it." That was true. Peter was usually a stickler to every rule that protected their identities. They were pretty much the only rules he never broke.
"Oh," Peter looked down at his feet, a classic sign that he was beating himself up for his little slip up.
Luke let him go. "You're really worked up about this. What did she notice?"
Peter looked at him, his lenses reflecting Sam's blue glow. "She noticed that I've only been drinking juice lately. Well, maybe not exclusively since I drink water too, but I've been drinking juice every single chance I get. I never really noticed, you know? And if I didn't notice, then I'm not expecting you guys to notice, so please don't think I'm angry at any of you—"
"We get it," Luke assured him. "Now that I think about it, I guess I usually see you with juice, but it seemed normal. So why are you so upset about it? This isn't spider related."
"Except it is! Young spiders drink fruit nectar when there's not enough bugs to eat, and I haven't been eating enough bugs, I—I mean, I'm eating more than enough bugs, but not—like—exclusively like real spiders. Right? My diet is way more diverse than that."
Sam hovered closer. "I told you that you should eat more bugs! You wouldn't be having this juice problem if you ate them all the time."
Even with the mask on, Peter looked aghast at the thought. "That's completely the wrong idea! The point is that I thought I was in control of what I ate. I thought I didn't need to do things like a spider if I didn't want to. I thought I could act normal for a change, but it turns out I've still been following these instincts by having juice instead." A tree was nearby, so he leaned his back against it and crossed his arms. "Today I was sort of trying to stay away from both of those, which I think I can do, maybe, but out here? With crickets literally surrounding me? It's . . . harder than I thought."
Luke wondered what he could say now. He wasn't even sure if he understood this right. He kept thinking this was like craving food, but the way Peter spoke about it made it sound different in a way Luke couldn't even imagine. The only thing he could understand was Peter's effort to remain in control of the situation. "Spidey . . . I understand you're trying to prove you can control this, but you do realize you don't have to be so upset about not completing the full day, especially since you're hungry. I mean, you already lasted most of the day, which is impressive enough for something you're craving. My dad can't even stay away from sweets for this long."
"Yeah, it sounds like dieting," Sam added. "I don't know anyone who hasn't failed a diet their first time."
"I know, I know, I'm too hard on myself and all that." Peter let out a slow exhale. "I just don't like it. And I think I can keep going without eating anything. I'm only a little hungry. Let me make it through today without any more spider stuff, and I'll be happy, alright?"
"Well, technically spiders can go a long time without eating, so that's still related," Sam informed him most helpfully.
Peter covered his face with his hands as his stomach growled again. "That's right! Augh! It's a no-win situation."
"So . . . will you eat the moths that are bothering me? I usually just fry them with my aura but you said I can't flare up tonight." Sam gestured to the small swarm of moths around his head, which was actually pretty amusing. This only happened when Sam had to dim himself to this level where his light and warmth was more akin to an old lightbulb than a bright star. Everything avoided him when he was in full Nova mode. "Come on, help a buddy out!"
Literally in the blink of an eye, Peter's hand darted out and snatched one of the moths right out of the air. "I will eat three moths to keep you and my stomach quiet. That is it, alright?"
"That's not even half of the ones around me, but you're not going to listen if I argue, are you?"
"Nope."
"Fine." Sam's face lit up. "Hey, I'm paying back my debt!"
Peter paused as he lifted his mask to uncover his mouth. "What?"
"You know, the debt I owe since I lost our purring bet. I promised to get the team's snacks during patrol. I thought I'd have to buy everything, but here I'm supplying you with moths free of charge!"
"This doesn't count. You're not giving me the moths. I'm taking them from you. If anything, I'm the one doing you a favor."
"I say it counts."
"Then grab the next one for me," Peter dared as he popped the moth in his mouth. There was a soft and muffled crunching noise that did not sound appealing to Luke, but Peter seemed unbothered by it.
For a few minutes, they got to watch and laugh as Sam tried and failed to grab any of the many moths surrounding him. The moths flew so erratically that Sam couldn't keep up. But he was spared from further humility when Ava interrupted them on the comms. "Hey, Iron Fist and I are almost near the middle. I caught their scent a few times in the air, and with the direction of the wind I think they're on your half of the park. Are you near the middle too yet?"
"That's a good clue," Peter told her. "We probably still have some ways to go, but you can keep going if you're sure they're on our end." He stopped speaking into the communicator. "Come on, guys, let's go before Ava realizes we slacked off for so long."
And that was that. They went on their way again. Peter pulled his mask back down, and Luke felt bad that he wasn't able to eat more.
At a certain point, Peter stopped dead in his tracks, even backtracking a few steps. Luke was certain it was because he was hungry again, but when he asked, he was shushed. Peter started slowly walking towards a small bridge that went over a stream. "They're beneath us," he finally explained. "I think they dug a tunnel under the bridge."
Sure enough, it was true. Sam flew close enough to reveal that one of the shadows under the bridge went deeper than it initially appeared. They waited for Ava and Danny before going in. Ava coughed and complained about stinking boys the moment they entered. The gang was surprised enough to be caught by actual superheroes that they offered little resistance. They were rounded up within minutes.
Luke was sort of glad he didn't need to test his skin tonight, although he felt like Peter might have been tested instead, and maybe even Ava. It was too much of a coincidence that they were here on a nice night with plenty of insects. And the gang had been underground, requiring Peter's ability to sense vibrations. For Ava, Luke was pretty sure that predators usually hunted downwind so they could smell their prey, but their prey couldn't smell them. Peter must have assigned Ava accordingly.
This was a mission that benefited from animal instincts. In fact, Peter and Ava could have probably handled the entire thing themselves.
But that's what mattered, right? They'd handled it with no problems. Ava didn't seem disturbed at all, and Peter likely would have been completely fine if he had eaten a proper dinner before coming. If this was Fury's idea of checking if they were still field ready, then they should have passed with flying colors.
It felt wrong though, to think that two of their best teammates had to be tested like this. Was this what Peter was so worked up about? This feeling of not being trusted? Was Ava worried about it too? That would explain why she always trained so hard.
Now that wasn't normal. They shouldn't need to be tested like this behind their backs. Although, both were smart enough to notice. Maybe they just chose to ignore it to keep up some level of normalcy.
"You can't ignore these urges," Dr. Connors insisted. "So far as I can tell, your body needs insect protein to keep functioning normally. If juice is an acceptable alternative according to spiders, then I think you should take advantage of it too."
Peter hmphed and shifted, crinkling the paper on the examination table. He'd had a feeling that Connors would say something like this once he heard the whole juice explanation, but he had hoped for a different answer.
"Were you craving insects tonight?" Connors asked innocently.
Peter had also suspected that Shield would be interested in how he faired surrounded by crickets and other insects. He was rather ashamed that he hadn't been able to prove himself. "I was hungry, so yeah, sort of. Sam tempted me into trying a couple moths that were bothering him." It really had been temptation. He had been way too curious to find out what moths might taste like. It turned out they were a little sweeter than crickets, although their wings felt weird in his mouth. Maybe he was supposed to take those off? He'd try next time.
Except he didn't want there to be a next time.
. . . Unless Phoebe wanted to try moths too. That was one way he could diversify her diet without accidentally poisoning her with human food.
"I see," Connors said. "Do you think you were hungry because you didn't have juice today?"
"Maybe. I thought you might know."
"Well, it seems likely. The data so far shows that on days where you had crickets and juice, you ate the least amount of food in general. On days when you only had juice, you were still craving insects but eating the same number of calories otherwise. Today was the first time you removed juice from your diet in a long time, and you seem to have been immensely hungry for both food and insects. The amount you ate at Stark's alone is more than your usual calorie intake."
Wow, Peter did not like that data one bit. "Are you saying that it's literally impossible for me to not eat like a spider?"
"I wouldn't say impossible. Just really hard. You'd need a lot more food than normal to provide the specific proteins you need for your venom and silk, which honestly seems like an unnecessary stress on your body and the food market." Connors chuckled lightly, but stopped when he saw Peter's eyes widen. "I'm only joking! You may eat a lot, but you couldn't affect the global food economy by yourself."
Peter sighed. This wasn't what he wanted to hear. This wasn't what May wanted to hear. How was he supposed to act normal if his body kept telling him to eat bugs and do other weird things? At least juice seemed outwardly normal though, so it seemed like a lesser evil. "Am I going to have to tell Aunt May to keep buying juice so I can eat less crickets?"
Connors shrugged. "I was under the impression that you liked crickets, but if you do want to eat less of them, I suppose that might work. I'll say this, though: ounce for ounce, crickets contain way more nutrients than juice. And they're better for the environment since insects don't need as much farmland to be harvested."
"I guess that's a good thing."
"It really is. I've actually been considering adding them to my own diet. How do they taste?"
"I'm probably not a good person to ask," Peter admitted, rubbing his arm. "I think I'm biased about the flavor."
"I'd rather ask you than someone who's disgusted by insects."
Peter looked up at him. Connors seemed sincerely curious about the flavor of crickets, just like how he'd been curious about moths, but based on the time the team had tried crickets, Peter was fairly certain that his opinion was way too unique to be helpful. "They're really good in my opinion. Crunchy like cheese puffs or something. I don't know how to describe the flavor though."
"Fair enough. Now, I don't think moths are usually sold, but have you tried any other of the more common ones like mealworms?"
"Um, no. I didn't know people ate those."
"Oh yes, they're very common to add to dishes, especially in powdered form. I can give you some if I buy a pack."
Well, if other people were eating them . . . "Maybe I'll give them a shot."
"That's the spirit! Now, since we've discovered juice's role in your diet, I'd like to quickly go over how that may tie into your puberty health—"
"Oh, geez, look at the time! I have school tomorrow and I need to review my research for the science fair and Jarvis is probably done editing the video so I can review it and—"
Dr. Connors rolled his eyes amusedly. "It's normal to avoid this topic, but you can't hide from it forever. At the very least, can you promise me that you'll eat plenty of insects and drink juice daily?"
Peter did not want to promise to act spidery, but he supposed he might end up following the doctor's orders anyway without even noticing, so he might as well do it consciously. "Fine. I'll see you, Doc."
"Good luck with the science fair! I was going to volunteer as one of the judges, but they decided against letting any Shield affiliates be judges. Perhaps I can take a break to stop by though."
"I'd appreciate that." Nothing was worse than constantly being approached by strangers at a science fair. Granted, meeting new people was sort of the point, but seeing a friendly face tended to boost one's confidence.
Although seeing Stark today was a great confidence booster alone. It was too bad that Tony was too famous to come by like all the rest of the research mentors could, like normal kids could have.
Maybe Peter's life wasn't entirely normal, but maybe that wasn't necessarily a bad thing either.
Fun Facts:
- Being cold blooded and often inactive, spiders can go a long time without eating just like a lot of reptiles. Interestingly, they also like to eat as much as spiderly possible when they do find food.
- Predators like wild cats hunt from the downwind direction so they can smell their prey but their prey can't smell them.
- It's now the 2-year anniversary of this story! I can't believe it! Thanks again for all the reviews!
