pepper-meant to be!
Before the spider bite, winter was his favorite season. He loved the chill in the air and the warm hot chocolate. He had never minded the fact that his coats never truly kept him warm, it just meant he got to snuggle up with extra blankets each night.
After though, it turned into the harshest time for him. Patrolling in the snow and freezing his ass off all the time truly wasn’t a fun thing for a spider, especially when he couldn’t even thermoregulate properly and became far more tired all the time no matter how much he slept at night.
Even more so, him and Aunt May hadn’t been able to properly celebrate the holiday season for years. Before Uncle Ben passed, they would create a fuse of Christmas and Hanukkah. Ben would light the Menorah with Peter each night, and May would take him to church on Christmas Eve. He had always looked forwards to both, even if they didn’t exchange presents like other family’s.
This year was different though! Kind of… May hadn’t been able to get any time off, but Tony had invited Peter to stay in the tower Christmas week.
“You good Underoos? You’re shaking like a leaf in that jacket. Which reminds me I need to buy a new fleece lined puffer. “ Tony is standing in the entrance of the common rooms, holding two steaming mugs in both hands, one containing half drunk coffee, the other hot chocolate with whipped cream and peppermint shavings (because Tony is extra in everything he does.)
“I’m alright Mr.Stark!” Peter drops his backpack, stripping off his winter gear having already started sweating in the compounds heat.
“Mr.Harringtons class is always freezing anyways so I was already cold sitting in there. I’m pretty sure he’s a sociopath. Or lizard person, you decide which is worse. Ned swears I’m just bitter because he always wakes me up but it’s not like-“
Tony cuts him off by placing a hand on his shoulder, now handing the mug off hot chocolate into the boys hands. “ That’s great Underoos, but maybe save some lizard people talk for your political campaign. Why don’t we head up to the lab before dinner time, alright? “ Peter smiled brightly, using his right hand to push up his long sleeves and clutching the mug in his left.
They took the short trip to the lab, Peter still rambling on about his teachers and calling his gym teacher the spawn of satan for making them do extra push ups at 11 am.
Finally, the two got situated, Peter going to sit and work at his own personal desk. He had just begun brainstorming new web formulas when he remembered the lukewarm hot chocolate sat in front of him and finally took and brought the mug up to his face.
And then recoiled backwards, his spidey sense suddenly blaring as he kicked his chair backward and practically flung the mug away from him, the sugary chocolate liquid coating the white walls off the lab in a mere second. Tony turned in shock.
“What the fuuuck…. If you didn’t like hot chocolate you could’ve just said that bambino!” Peter stares, mouth slightly agape with a pen still positioned in his hand. “I- I am sosososossoso sorry! Oh my god I will clean this immediately! Holy shit I broke your mug-“ Peter stammers, reaching over his desk the wards a roll of paper towels and immediately going to wipe the dripping coco off the wall.
“Underoos- “ Tony stampers a laugh “ It’s okay alright? Just step away from those glass shards and tell me why you threw that M.I.T mug like it insulted your bloodline..” He stood, quickly maneuvering his way around a still frantic Peter to begin picking up the pieces.
“ I really don’t know and I’m so insanely sorry- I just… well my spider sense went off and in the moment I just had to get it away y’know? It was like the moment I went to take a sip my senses were on fire and spidey brain kicked in..” He flicked his fingernails together as he went to wet a paper towel and deal with the puddle of coco.
The two worked quickly to clean the mess, all remnants of the incident quickly discarded of as Peter stammered out a hundred apologies. “I’m serious kid, it i really is fine. I have like 30 M.I.T mugs, what’s one less? I’m more concerned with the fact that your spidey senses went haywire over hot chocolate - maybe that’s something we should look into kid.” He patted Peter’s shoulder, unsure of how to comfort the overly apologetic and anxious teen.
“Yeah probably… that’s never happened before.. It’s probably some weird spider thing, like the thermoregulating issue! Maybe I should look up like, spiders and chocolate or something.”
And so, the two settled down to cram in front of Peter’s work station and searching various key words about spiders and chocolate, spiders and whipped cream, spiders and hot drinks? And finally, the two landed on an actually helpful discovery.
“Look at this one Mr. Stark! Apparently Spiders hate the fragrance from peppermint oils because it messes with their senses… which is why my spidey sense went haywire! I guess the spider part of my DNA is deathly allergic to peppermint.” The two leaned back into their chairs, satisfied with their discovery.
“Well then, I guess that means no more peppermint for the baby spider. Friday, add that point to the baby protocols.”
And so it seemed, with half spider biology Peter had way more to learn about this whole mutate thing than he had initially thought. At least he never liked peppermint that much anyways.