Short Story: Who's Peter Parker?

Starring: Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, Kurt Wagner, Scott Summers, Jean Grey.

Westchester County, North Salem

The Charles Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters

"She's wearing makeup."

"I can't find him. All I'm getting are adults and retired white dudes - No, No, Nevermind, there's some Spanish and Black guys here too," Robert "Bobby" Drake said as he scrolled through the numerous search results under "Peter Parker."

"Did you add in the 'Benjamin?'" Katherine "Kitty" Pryde said as she sat cross-legged on the lavish couch in the recreational room within the Xavier Institute.

"..."

"...No," He admitted, quickly adding the middle name to his search result.

Once their instructors and guardians had left the building for the boy, and alongside Kitty's observations on the girl they only knew as "X," the students had immediately gone to find out who the boy was, with the intention of gaining information on who would be their new student and the connection he had with their new mysterious acquaintance.

"Sh-Should we really be doing this?" Kurt asked as he nervously stood behind the couch, watching his peers continue their quest for information.

"We should wait to meet him and the -" He tried to voice his thoughts, but the Six-Foot Brunette man who stood beside him cut him off from doing that.

"- Everyone googles each other nowadays, Kurt," Scott said, rationalizing his actions. "And besides…" he paused, a stern look crossing his face, "I doubt they'd tell us anything about him."

"What makes you say that?" his blue elvish companion asked.

"Cause they haven't told us anything about X. She's been here for more than a week now, and we know nothing about her outside that she has some relation to Logan and will kill us if we get too close; The accident with Kitty proving that," He explained with frustration growing in his voice.

"It was my fault," Kitty sternly said, turning away from her research to face Scott, "I went into her room, remember?" she stated, putting the blame rightfully on her.

He went to open his mouth to say something, but Kitty interrupted him before he could, "She's not as bad as you think," she firmly said, defending her raven-haired neighbor.

"She's pretty bad," Bobby offhandedly said as he scrolled through his phone, letting out a small laugh as a thought came to mind, "Makes me wonder what her boyfriend looks like," he said as he thought about the possible appearance of Peter Parker.

"We don't know if he's her boyfriend," Kitty stated, regretting her previous assumption that everyone now latched onto. "L-like, he could be her friend? or someone close," she recommended, trying to dissuade them.

"Do you put on makeup to meet your friends?" Bobby retorted.

"Ye-yeah, sometimes… all girls do it, right Jean?" She asked the redhead who sat beside her, trying to garner support for her point.

"Yeah, but I don't think 'X' does," She stated as she too, scrolled through her search results.

"Whatever he is, He's someone important to her, and if we can find anything out about him, then maybe we can find something out about her," Scott reasonably deduced. "I still can't believe the Professor didn't tell me about him as soon as he popped up," he bitterly said in a softer voice.

"Scott, you know the Professor; he has his reasons," Jean said as she turned to her partner.

They met each other's eyes before he looked away, letting out a sigh, "I know, but…I thought he trusted me enough to share them."

"He does, but not everything is meant to be shared," Jean said as she reiterated one of the many lessons he tried to teach her.

"You're one to talk," Bobby said with a snicker, but it stopped as she glared at him ever so briefly.

He decided to change the subject, laughing to himself once more.

"I bet you he's a goth," he said as he returned the subject to Peter. "Hair over his eyes, makeup to make him pale," he laughed as he built his image of Parker.

"Bobby…," Kitty said as she huffed, amused by his mental image but not fond of his assumptions.

"Okay, okay…" he said as he stopped voicing the image he had for Peter, "But if I'm right, then I get to pick where we go for our next date."

Kitty rolled her eyes as she continued her search.

"Well, save your pick for later Bobby," Jean said as a smile grew on her face, "He's not edgy," she stated to the surprise of others.

"He's far from edgy…" she added as her eyes widened.

"You found him? Show us!" Kitty said in a demanding, excited voice as Jean let the young woman take her phone.

Upon taking her phone, everyone around the young girl who sat in the middle scrambled to get a good look at the boy on the screen.

"He's…"

"He's…"

"He's a complete Dork," Bobby stated as he looked at the picture before them. On a small page, followed by only four people, stood a singular, high quality, yet low effort, awkward picture of Peter Parker, presumably standing in his room. He had bright blue eyes, slight sideburns, extra fluffy hair styled upwards, and an awkward, half-hearted smile on his face.

"I was going to say 'cute' but…" Jean said as she shook her head, slightly agreeing but not wanting to admit that Bobby's comment was right.

"Well, he is that too, "Bobby nonchalantly said, "But you can't lie, he looks like a total loser."

"You would know," Kitty jokingly said as she passed the phone back to Jean before returning to her laptop.

"Is there anything important on it?" Scott asked as he leaned forward on the couch beside Jean.

"Well.." she began to say as she gained information off the page, "...'He only made it at the behest of friends,'" she stated as she began to read his bio. "He goes to Midtown High, and he's a freelance photographer," She finished with a shrug, as that was all the page had said.

"Who are his followers?" Scott asked, wanting to gain more info. Jean tapped to see the four who followed him.

"Well, there's a 'Gwendolyn. Stacy,'" she said as she read out the first name that popped up, "an 'H. Osborn'...a 'Flash. T,' and…" she stopped speaking as her gaze fell on the fourth follower.

"And what?" Scott asked, wondering what had caused her to stop.

"and 'TheRealJohnnyStorm,'" she said as she looked at her partner.

"The Human Torch?" Kitty instantly snapped as she recognized the username. "The Human Torch follows him!?" She yelled in disbelief as she immediately went to find the page Jean was on.

"Oh my gosh, he does," She exclaimed as she looked at Peter's follower list.

"Why?" Scott asked as he began to ponder the countless reasons why The Human Torch cou-

"He's a freelance photographer, right?" Kurt asked no one in specific, "Maybe he takes pictures of him?" Kurt guessed with a shrug.

"He's right," Kitty said as she looked at his tagged photos. They were full of Human Torch pictures which were posted on his account. She clicked on one of them, which featured a selfie of the teenage hero and a surprised, caught-off-guard Peter, holding his camera with two hands, "Like to give a shout out to the man responsible for these amazing pictures, Peter Parker. The greatest photographer in all of New York," she finished reading the text below the picture.

"Oh," Scott simply said as his guesses were thrown to the wayside. Peter Parker was just a photographer.

"He doesn't just take pictures of The Human Torch though, lookie here: he takes pictures of Spider-Man too," Bobby said as he browsed through his professional page, "He's the one that takes the pictures of Spidey for the Daily Bugle," he flashed the photo's for all to see.

"No way," Kitty said as she recognized them, "I have that one in my room," she pointed out as Bobby scrolled through the page more.

How could she not have noticed?

She went back to searching more about him as the others listened to Bobby as he recapped his professional experience. "He also volunteers at the F.E.A.S.T. homeless shelter," Scott stated as he and Bobby reviewed his public resume.

"He seems like a good guy," Kurt said as he smiled upon hearing about Peter's volunteer service.

"Yeah…" Scott said, agreeing with Kurt on this. Though not much, Peter Parker did seem to be at least good.

"I can see the appeal," Jean commented, earning a raised brow from Scott.

"You do?" he said, extending the last word too long.

"Yeah, I do. Not my type, though," Jean said with a smile as she turned to her partner, shutting down his creeping jealousy and replacing it with something else.

"What is your type then?" he asked with a smirk, leaning himself further on the couch..

She put a hand on his face.

"Big and strong," she said in a low voice before closing her eyes and giving him a peck on the cheek.

Scott smiled as they returned to their previous positions.

He crossed his arms, dropping his smile though his expression was much softer than it usually was.

"This still doesn't explain why the Professor kept him a secret and his relation to X," Scott said, sighing.

"We'll find out eventually, my friend," Kurt said as he put a hand on Scotts shoulder.

Kitty remained silent.

Upon her search, she had found herself on the page of a small article published by The Daily Bugle; It was dated November twelfth, twenty-nineteen, with the title reading:

"Benjamin Parker, Sixty-one, killed in house robbery; Leaves behind wife and nephew," She struggled not to put her hands to her mouth in shock and sadness.

Instead, she opted to close the tab before anyone noticed.

She had mistakenly voiced her thoughts once today; she would not do so again.