Chapter 2
A kid, 18, classified little, and keeping the fact he has a super power a secret. August Reeves. He lives in a crummy apartment in Brooklyn. He's stopped regressing for about 4 months, and hasn't slept in 3 days. He's working killer hours at the McDonald's by his apartment and not sleeping well when he gets his few off moments.
While walking home from work one night, around 2 am, August was caught in the middle of a fight between some bank robbers, and the one and only Spider-Man. He dodges a stray bullet from the robbers, hiding in an alley. His breathing is picking up and he's panicking. "Fuck." He mutters to himself. He pulls his backpack in front of himself, digging for a face mask and beanie. He slides them on, zipping up his black hoodie, and steps out. "Hey!" He shouts trying to get some attention off the web slinger. "Hey kid, you might want to get out of here!" The masked hero shouts back while struggling with one of the robbers. The other two criminals rush the fairly small August.
With a quick movement with his arms, fire quickly surrounds the offenders. The third criminal is webbed up by Peter, and he's quick to do the same with the two surrounded by fire. He looks to the kid, and gestures to the ring of fire. "How the heck did you do that?" August lowers his hands and visibly relaxes, causing the fire to disappear. "Woah, that came out of you?" Peter tried to have some form of conversation. August caused a diversion with fire starting at his feet, and creates a large flame in front of him so he could run away. "Hey!" He hears Peter yell after him. He runs to his apartment, hiding on the fire escape. Spider-Man was swinging from building to building, landing on the roof of August's apartment building.
"Karen, did you get all that?" August hears him talking to himself, and holds his breath. "Of course, Peter. I sent the recording to Mr. Stark." A robotic feminine voice responded. "Peter..." August thought. He'd keep that in mind.
"Thank you. Let's go home." And with that, Peter was back to swinging from building to building. Clumsily getting into his apartment through his window, August was freaking out. "Shit shit shit shit shit! How could you be so stupid!" He fell on the floor after getting in, rushed up, and slammed the window shut. He puts his back to the wall nearly hyperventilating. "Oh god... I was recorded!" He's gasping for air. "I... Im fucked! They're gonna treat me like the Hulk!"
He slides to the floor and quickly digs through his backpack. He's getting frustrated. He dumps out his bag and quickly clutches his inhaler to his chest, he pulls his face mask and hat off, quickly intaking a breath from his inhaler. He closes his eyes trying to steady his breathing. "Ok" he sits up from the floor. "Ok... this isn't that big of a deal. My whole body was covered. There's no way they'll be able to identify me." He sits himself on his couch, running his hands through his sandy blond hair. "That just needs to never happen again."
August's attention is drawn to the other side of his couch, as his tuxedo cat hops up on the arm rest. He smiles and holds his hands out. The scrawny cat comes up to him, purring and makes her way to his lap. "Hey Peony." August speaks quietly, scratching behind his cats ears. Peony mewls looking up at August with her blue and green eyes. He picks her up, still petting her. He walks to the kitchen and puts Peony down. She walks to her food bowl, looking up at her person, letting out another meow.
August hums and scoops food into her bowl. Peony quickly gets to chowing down. He goes to his bedroom and slumps into his twin sized bed. He gets out of his gross clothes and under his covers. The bags under his eyes were awful and he was practically a skeleton from not really eating as much as he should. He's so exhausted he passes out and actually stays asleep. First time in days.
——
August is woken up the next day around 11 by a pounding on his front door. He jumps up and pulls a baggy shirt over himself with his boxers peaking out the bottom. He stretches before opening the door a crack, leaving the chain lock in place. "Hello?" He asks, looking at this stranger just outside his door.
A man with an eye patch wearing all black has a stern look on his face looking back at August. "Mr. Reeves. May I come in?" August squints with a confused look. "Uhm sure?" August closes the door, moves the chain and opens up his door to this man who looks like he's with some form of authority. "You live here alone?" The man asks looking around the small living room that lead right into the tiny kitchen. "No sir. I have a cat." August reply's while he closes the door. "And how old are you?" Fury asks as he continues looking. "18, sir. Are you here because of some kind of complaint? I made sure with the super that I could have my cat here." August tries to get out of any trouble he might be in. "No no, I'm not here about the cat." The strange man said, sounding kind of soothing in a way. "Could we sit for a moment? I'm just here to ask a few questions."
August sweats a bit at that but keeps his composure. "Of course! Just have a seat on the couch." He offers while he takes his seat. The man gave a smile and sat on the opposite end of August. Peony jumps up in August's lap, sensing his tension. He pets her without even thinking. The man smiles at this and begins talking. "My name is Agent Fury. I'm with an organization know as S.H.I.E.L.D. Have you ever heard of it?" August shakes his head slightly. "I might have heard it on the news, but I don't think I know what it is." Agent Fury nods. "Well, we look into people who might be of use to the protection of people all around the world." August tensed at this. "See, there was an incident last night close to this area and we were just wondering if you heard anything." The man was very calm and seemed relaxed into the couch. August looked up at him. Fury was just slightly taller than him. "Oh, I was working most of last night, sir." August kept petting Peony as he answered. "Yes we saw the records from McDonald's. You clocked out at 2:00 am. You would've been heading home around the time of this occurrence." Fury stated sitting up slightly. "Did you see the altercation between Spider-Man and these men?"
Fury had pulled up security footage clearly showing Spider-Man, the three thugs, and August, having two of the criminals in a ring of fire. August stared at the picture for a moment. He didn't know what to say. He kept his face neutral. "I did see some of that." He finally spoke. Technically that wasn't a lie. Fury nods. "And what did you do?"
"I ran. I didn't want any trouble sir." August answers. Again, not a lie. Fury nods again, putting away his phone. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Reeves." He stood up and offered his hand. August quickly stood up, causing Peony to jump back onto the couch. He shakes the agents hand and leads him to the door. "Have a good rest of your day, sir." August offers as he opens the door. "You do the same. And call if you see anything like this in the future." Fury gave him a black business card with a number on it. "Will do." August says before closing the door. He breaths a sigh of relief, going to his backpack and grabbing his inhaler. He takes a few puffs and sits in the floor. "Why was that so stressful?" He thinks as he curls in on himself.