Evolution

When Wade finally woke up the first thing he noticed was that spider-boy was gone. Immediately the merc was on his feet to search the cold water for any sign of the arachnid. For a moment Wade feared that the kid had turned into a spider again and drowned while he had been sleeping, which would have been really awkward, because how was he supposed to explain that to his client. 'Oh yeah, I got your spider, but I felt like it could use a bath and accidentally drowned it, whoopsie-daisy!' So when there was no trace of a spider.. or kid to be found he left the bathroom for further investigation and for breakfast, because that damn venom had drained him.

Upon seeing the mess that was now his living room Wade realized that a dead spider would have been so much better then this.

The whole left-hand corner of the room had been seized by the odd creature and was pretty much a giant web now. Attached to the walls, right in the middle of it all there was a big orb-like cocoon big enough for the kid to hide in, but in front of this construction was a circular web that was probably supposed to catch giant flies and that also served to protect the inner lair.

Wade rubbed his forehead and couldn't really believe what he saw. He carefully touched one of the sticky threads only to find out that they were in fact so sticky that getting that stuff off of his hand almost ripped off some skin as well. He looked up to the web-orb again. “Peter? You're inside that thing? Because, you know.. you just could have asked and I would have let you sleep on the couch or something.. damn.. how the hell are you even..” He cursed under his breath, but the kid did not show itself. “Okay, okay.. fine.. just.. stay in there and I will make some pancakes.”

While doing exactly that Wade wondered how he was supposed to get the webs off, when the web-head was gone. He fantasized about acid and flamethrowers until a giant stack of pancakes was ready to be eaten. He took the plate and headed for the living room, positioning himself a few feet away from the web. The merc started to eat, paying attention to every movement or sound originating from the spider's lair, while he ate noisily. After about three pancakes he heard a very faint growl from the web and after pancake number seven Peter finally took a peek at him, slightly crawling out of his nest on hand and feet. Wade took a pancake and waggled it around, which made the spider's stomach growl longingly. The scarred man grinned and tossed the pancake at the web, missing the boy quite a bit, but Peter just shoot out a thread of web out of his wrist, caught the pancake in the air and studied it carefully before finally digging in. Wade got to admit that he was rather amazed about the boy's abilities, but he did not throw another pancake. Of course the boy was still hungry, his stomach demanding more of Wade's delicious pancakes, but the merc just sat there, eating them on his own. Peter observed him very carefully and after a few minutes of staring the boy finally started moving towards Wade. It looked pretty eerie like the kid crawled closer on all fours, still obviously missing the eight legs he had before. When he was close enough, Wade held out a pancake for him, but instead of taking it the spider-boy simply bit a piece off. He scuttled away after he did so, but soon came back to take another bite, eyes always glued onto Wade. At some point Peter sat down in front of Wade and the merc taught him to actually use his hands to eat. When they were finished, Wade decided that he should try the name-thingy once more. He pointed at the boy. “Peter.” He explained. “'Peter' is your name. N-A-M-E. Try to say it: P-E-T-E-R.” But Peter just blinked, totally oblivious to Wade's efforts into teaching him the human language. “My name is Wade. W-A-D-E. Okay? Peter..” He pointed at the boy.

“Wade.” He pointed at himself.

“Peter.”

“Wade.”

“Peter.”

“..vvVeyTh..” The boy hissed. Wade's eyes widened as he nodded. “Well.. close enough.” He admitted. Then all of a sudden he felt a blush crawling up his cheeks as it occurred to him that the first conscious word that odd creature in front of him had said was his name. “..pi-thar..” It continued. Wade nodded again and rubbed his neck as he got up to go inside his bedroom, the sounds of Peter's babbling continuing in the background.

He went to his wardrobe, picking up some clothes, because even though the boy was quite good looking it was pretty weird to have him move around his apartment completely naked all the time, damn that kid would probably catch a cold soon and then Wade would have to nurse him and that was definitely nothing he wanted to do. Ever. Like, he still hated that guy for biting him and ruining his living room with his damn webs.

When he came back into the living room he was greeted with a cheerful “Wade!” , that almost made him go all sentimental, but he was quick to shake of that feeling. Peter was something like a hostage after all. He had stolen him and he would sell him – so Wade was better off without any emotional bond.

He showed the clothes to the boy, that picked up a hoodie to examine it, biting it in the process. “These are C-L-O-T-H-E-S. You wear them, because.. that's what people do.” Wade tried to explain, showing off his spandex suit he still wore. Peter seemed interested, but he started to fight back when Wade tried to help him into the hoodie. It took Wade quite some effort, but in the end Peter was fully dressed in his clothes, that were way to wide and baggy on his small frame. Wade was satisfied with the result, but Peter himself seemed to feel uncomfortable, constantly rubbing and pulling at the fabric.

Wade picked up the plates he had left on the floor to bring them into the kitchen and hesitated for a moment, before pulling out his mobile to call his client. He had to wait a little, before someone picked up, the voice of a man answering the call.

“Deadpool?”

“The one and only!”

“Do you have the spider?”

“Erm.. well that's .. quite complicated?”

“Listen, Deadpool: No spider, no money. If you can't get the job done, someone else will do it so don't waste my time!”

There was a short pause before his client hung up. Wade bit his lip. Of course he could have told them that he had the spider, that it had just altered it's shape a little – it's DNA was probably still useful, they would run a few test on the boy and would be happy to pay the merc. Right?

But somehow that would feel like betraying the kid. He had been a tiny, little spider minding it's own business, bred and used as a lab rat, but now he was human – to some extent. Wade knew how cruel scientists could be to their precious experiments and somehow he just hadn't the heart to force that kind of life onto that innocent boy, that hadn't done anything wrong. The man took in a sharp breath, trying to calm himself.

He took of his mask that he had been wearing all the time and went back to Peter, who was currently examining the remote control, pushing the colorful buttons randomly. The boy flinched away as the TV went on, but as he saw the moving pictures he stared at them fascinated. “Wait until you see 'Golden Girls'” Wade said to gain Peter's attention. The boy looked at him curiously, tilting his head a little. “Wade?..” He asked as if he wasn't sure if the face beneath the mask was related to the merc he had met.

“Yes, Peter it's me.. you don't mind it?” Wade asked with a grin the boy just looking at him curiously – no fear, no disgust. Wade nodded. “How about staying with me for now?” Peter just blinked. Wade took that as a 'yes'.”