Allow Me to Shed Some Light on the Subject
“So you get the urges too?” Changeling asked as well as he could through a mouth stuffed with pizza.
Peter nodded. “I was in a radioactive building for a bit, and it did not help in the slightest! I am regularly dealing with the urge to go into a corner, weave a web, and wait. It’s getting pretty annoying.”
“Dude, I know what you mean! Being an animal is great and all, but primal urges can get so annoying! Anytime I turn into an elephant, I am going against everything that is telling me to go the opposite direction,” Changeling commiserated.
Peter laughed, nodding as he perched on the edge of the couch.
“So how’d you get your powers, dude?”
“Radioactive spider bite. Let’s just say I’m not a fan of school field trips…”
“I feel you there, dude. Me? Crippling illness, crazy scientist parents, and a weird cure that turned me green. Wild stuff.”
“Sounds it, Changeling.”
Changeling laughed. “It’s Garfield Logan, kid. Call me Gar.”
Peter polished off his current slice and moved on to another one. “Alright, Gar. You know how some animals hibernate, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Spiders don’t do that. We go through a phase called diapause. It’s not just brought on by winter, but all the things that can go along with it, like reduced temperatures, poor food supply, and a change in daylight hours. It makes us slower and we stop growing altogether. So, winters, not really that fun for me. I’m from NYC, and patrolling in winter sucks ass. Not to mention we didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so that poor food supply was always kind of a factor. It wasn’t until… Well, it wasn’t until later when I started eating enough to work with my faster metabolism that I was able to actually get better at being a hero. I had so many nights starting out that were just filled with getting so many knicks and cuts because I just couldn’t be fast enough. I’m better now, though, so it’s all cool.”
“Dude, that sucks ass.”
“It’s like a personalized version of seasonal affective disorder. It really does suck.”
“What did you do during the winter? What do you do during the winter?” Tim wondered.
“Well, I used to just be able to rely on my human side to get through it, and then I got a friend of sorts that made me a super high tech suit, nano-tech, if you can believe that! He did his research and put heaters into the suit to try and ward it off. However, now that I’m a bit more spidery, I have no fuckin’ clue how this is going to go.”
“Good to know,” Dick said. “We’ll help with that, don’t worry.”
Peter grinned widely, finishing off his second pizza. “Thanks. So, how did y’all meet?”
“Princess Koriand’r here escaped her slavers and crash-landed on Earth. We helped fight them off and somehow Gar, Raven, Cyborg, and I became a team in the process,” Dick supplied. “Tim met his portion of the team and founded Young Justice, but that, well…”
Tim sighed. “Young Justice ended poorly, so you can imagine our surprise when Starfire comes to the remaining members of the team and invites us to the Titans. We accepted, and here we are.”
Starfire sighed and leaned against him happily. “The journey has been long and difficult, but it is worth every obstacle!”
A weird jingle rang out, and Starfire and Raven’s brooches flashed. Turning, Peter saw that Changeling’s belt buckle was also flashing, and Nightwing quickly brought up his cool wristwatch computer thing. He broadcasted it to the stupidly big television, bringing up a news report of an attacking villain. A man with a black jumpsuit with black and white stripes at the end of his gloves and boots was blasting rays of light at civilians and cackling madly while protecting several bags with dollar signs on them. A big yellow lightbulb proudly took up most of the man’s chest area, and a weird white shark fin thing (?) stood up on his head. The whole thing was accentuated with a dramatic white cape and a stupid goatee.
Peter glanced at Raven, who was smirking. “Doctor Light,” she explained. “Guess he still hasn’t learned his lesson.”
Peter had no idea what that meant, but he was excited to see Raven’s powers in action. She was so cool! All of the Titans were! Peter felt a little guilty for being excited about a bad guy attacking randos, but he pushed that aside. Time to kick bad guy butt!
Peter hung on to Starfire’s wrist and hand, excitedly watching the buildings go by with wide eyes. His full mask was back on and Peter was glad of it. He liked the Titans, but average civilians and villains did not get to see his face, any part of it. He was still baffled by how the domino masks did literally anything to protect anyone’s identity, but there were other things to focus on at the moment! Like how Starfire was lowering to the ground and Doctor Light was in his sightline.
“Titans, go!” Nightwing shouted, ditching his motorcycle as he charged onto the scene.
Peter let go and shot a web at a building, gaining momentum to plant both feet in Doctor Light’s chest with a solid thwack ! The villain sputtered and crashed into the wall behind him, looking thoroughly frazzled. “Who are you? You’re not a Titan!”
“I’m your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!” Peter shouted.
Doctor Light snarled and aimed a beam of light at the teen. “I hate spiders!”
Peter easily dodged, eyes widening in surprise when Light used his other hand to snap a whip made of light at him. Weaving between one beam of light and another, Peter distracted the villain so Starfire could blast him with a starbolt from behind. That made Light land flat on his face, barely being able to get up before dodging an attack from Nightwing, wielding his trusty escrima sticks. Light dodged the attack, managing to land a steel-toed boot solidly in Nightwing’s ribs. Peter cringed in sympathy.
“You’re no match for the Light!” the villain cried, baring his chest, which opened and shot a repulsor ray look-alike at Starfire, who managed to air roll out of the way in the nick of time.
Changeling turned into a ram (so cool!!) and ran at the maniac. Light shot a beam at Changeling, who squawked and quickly turned into a hawk to get away.
Red Robin dashed forwards, managing to get a solid right hook in before being blasted away. Peter swung forwards desperately, catching Tim before he could crash into a building. He lowered them both to the ground and watched as Cyborg fired his sonic cannon at Light, who managed to block it with some weird shield technology.
“You seem like you’re in the dark,” Light sneered. “Allow me to shed some light on the subject!” Light grabbed Cyborg with his weird whip thing and threw him into an advancing Starfire. The two cried out and smacked hard into a building, giving it a shiny new indent.
Peter cupped his hands, letting Tim get a foot in before Peter launched him at Light. Red Robin flipped gracefully through the air and kicked down hard on Light’s back, using that to backflip again before landing on the ground. Or at least, that was what Tim tried to do. Somehow, Light managed to twist around, grab Red by the ankle and throw him into Peter, who was able to hold his ground through the power of Spider Stickiness. “Be careful,” the villain taunted, “Bats aren’t very fond of the Light!”
“Bats might not be,” Peter yelled, “but someone with the power of the sun certainly is!”
Starfire dove back in and shot a beam of her own at Light’s suit for a good minute, which fizzled out with the over abundance of energy.
Meanwhile, Raven was gathering her power, and Peter watched in awe as she now loomed ten feet tall, with tendrils of darkness writhing out of her cloak like tentacles. One of them wrapped around Light’s ankle, yanking him to the ground and dragging him slowly towards her. Light clawed at the ground as the Titans stood by and watched the villain beg.
“Wait, no please, not again! NOT AGAIN!”
Raven smirked and backed down, using her magic to break Light’s suit completely so he wouldn’t be able to escape as she held him against the wall. She turned and made eye contact with Peter, who wasn’t sure how she could do that through his mask, gesturing with her head. Peter nodded and webbed him to the wall, landing on the ground in front of him.
The team stood triumphantly in front of the squirming villain. “Those webs sure are handy,” Cyborg remarked. “Now we don’t have to wait around for the cops!”
Nightwing made a so-so gesture with his hand. “Not entirely true. Spidey might never wait around for them, but I want to make sure no one else tries to take off with the money he stole. Red Robin, you’re with me. The rest of you can head back to the tower. Start training, and Red Robin and I will join you in a couple of minutes.”
Tim started to protest, but was cut off by a look from Nightwing. The rest of the team began to head back towards the tower. Peter shook his head at Starfire’s repeated offer to fly him back, instead asking Cyborg, “You cool if I ride with you?”
Cyborg grinned and gestured at the T Car, which he had parked nearby. “Be my guest, kid! I understand if it takes you a moment to get over her brilliance, after all, the T Car is a thing of beauty!”
“I get shotgun though,” Raven stated matter-of-factly.
Cyborg shrugged at Peter. “Them’s the rules, kid.”
Peter shrugged back, not caring a bit. “Fine with me, Mr. Cyborg! Honestly, I’m just excited to see how well you decked out the interior.”
Said ‘Mr. Cyborg’ laughed, shaking his head. “The name’s Vic, kid. Victor Stone.”
Peter beamed.
The ride back to the tower was pleasant, with all the windows open and Cyborg blasting some of his favorite rap music. Raven was jamming along in the front, apparently familiar with the song. Peter had the feeling the two of them had done this many, many times before.
They parked in the garage, with Peter firing off questions as fast as Cyborg could answer them, eagerly learning all he could about the badass car. Raven chimed in every now and then, apparently having a bit of her own knowledge about it, which Peter was admittedly surprised at. They made their way back to the living room, seeing that everyone else was already there. “Excellent work, Spider-Man!” Starfire congratulated, wrapping Peter in a big hug.
Peter chuckled, clasping his hands behind his head. “You guys were great too! Vic’s sonic cannon is so freaking cool! And Raven, you were so terrifying! It was epic!”
Raven’s smirk only got stronger, and she shrugged modestly. “You would think he would know better by now,” she mused.
Changeling —Gar— laughed. “That’s Raven for you. She’s the coolest!”
A light blush graced the pale woman’s features, and Peter looked between the two of them with interest. Catching Peter’s eye, Cyborg rolled his. “Lovebirds,” he muttered under his breath to Peter, who giggled.
Cyborg dodged a blast of dark magic laughing. “Aw, come on!” he teased. “You’re the closest thing I have to a sister, gotta treat you like it!”
Peter leaned back and watched the whole thing with a big smile on his face. He barely even noticed Starfire coming to stand beside him, giggling at the three’s banter. “After I left Tamaran, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find a family again,” she confessed softly. “I am very grateful for my friends.”
“I know the feeling,” Peter mumbled, his mind flashing back to his various sparring sessions with the Avengers.
“Dick did mention that you’re not from this world. Might I ask about yours?”
Peter hesitated. “I’d rather not talk about it quite yet, if you don’t mind.”
“Alright, dear friend. Just know if you ever need someone who can relate to a very specific set of issues, I am here for you. And even though we have not known you for very long, I am very happy to call you a friend.”
“Same here, Star. Same here.”
“You may call me Koriand’r, if you wish to. I go by ‘Kory’ to those closest to me.”
Peter smiled and took off his mask, then took off the domino mask he had underneath it. “Peter,” he announced, holding out his hand like May taught him.
Kory grasped it warmly, not shaking it but holding it between her hands. She smiled at him, and to Peter it felt like the sun was shining on him. It was a good feeling, a very good feeling indeed.
“Why’d you want us to stay behind?” Tim asked as he and Dick watched the last cop car leave, the blue and red flashing lights fading into the city.
“I wanted Spidey to let himself open up a bit more, see what my teammates are about,” Dick admitted. “Sometimes being around those you’re most comfortable with means you’re less likely to leave your comfort zone, and he needs to open up. Batman taught me that.”
Tim gawked at Dick. “The fuck you mean Batman taught you that?!”
Dick laughed. “He taught me that by showing me just how isolated he is. He has the JL, but it took him way longer than necessary to open up to them, to his friends. You heard Cyborg, it took me way longer than I should have to share with my friends who I am, and that’s not the route I want for Spidey. You feel me?”
“Yeah, I feel you.”
“Good. Now let’s get back. If we hurry, there might be a bite or two of pizza left!”