3
“What’s going on, baby?” Tony asked. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I’m not hurt or anything,” Peter replied. “But I feel a lot different…”
“What do you mean? Different how?”
“I don’t know…” Peter admitted. “But it’s weird.”
“Are you sure you don’t hurt?”
“No. I think I feel better than I did, even before I got sick. Healthier. Stronger, even. But everything seems more intense, too.”
“How do you mean?”
“I don’t know. The sun seemed brighter and warmer when we left the hospital – even through the windows of the car. It’s a little chilly in here, but I know that the temperature is the same as it always is.”
FRIDAY handled all of that, after all, and it never changed.
“You’re probably just feeling different because you were so sick,” Stark told him, resting his hand on Peter’s leg. “It’s not surprising.”
“I can hear your heart beating.”
Tony frowned.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I like it. It makes me feel like I’m closer to you.”
“You look a little leaner,” Tony told him, his hand reaching for the hem of the boy’s shirt and pulling it up. Peter’s belly had always been flat, but now it wasn’t. There was a definite six-pack – and maybe even an eight-pack. “So sexy…”
Peter shivered at the touch.
“Your heart just started beating faster.”
Now Tony smiled, too.
“Peter’s biorhythms are much different than they were, previously,” FRIDAY said, speaking up before Tony could push the conversation aside and kiss him.
The billionaire frowned.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Dangerously so?”
“No. His blood pressure is better than it was, before, and his O2 level is, as well. Further exploration of this should be made.”
“You want to experiment on Peter?” Tony asked.
“With Peter. First, though, did anything happen at the science lab that was out of the ordinary?”
Peter frowned. The doctors had asked him if he’d been exposed to any radiation since they were telling him that his symptoms were presenting as some kind of radiation poisoning, but he knew – and had told them – that he hadn’t been exposed to anything as far as he knew.
“Not that I can think of,” he told her. “It’s kind of a blur, now,” he admitted. “We went to the labs and checked out some of the experiments, and then Ned and I were joking about one of the people who had set fire to his lab coat with a Bunsen burner. Then we were talking about what we wanted to do for lunch, but…” he trailed off. “I got bit by something.”
“What?”
“Something bit me,” Peter said, his eyes widening, slightly. “It was a spider, I think. It had a bunch of legs, anyway. I didn’t see it, really, I just slapped it when it bit me and saw it fall to the floor. Other than that-“
“A radioactive spider?” FRIDAY asked, uncharacteristically interrupting – again.
“I don’t know…” Peter replied.
“it would explain the mark,” Tony said. “And why it was so infected – and made you so sick.”
“We need to do a blood test,” FRIDAY told them. “I want to check Peter’s DNA.”
The boy frowned.
“My DNA?”
“Why?” Stark asked, curiously.
“It could prove to be interesting…”
It was cryptic, but that was all she would say – although she was more than willing to explain to Tony what he needed to do to draw Peter’s blood for her tests.
><<><><><><><>
“What’s going on, Tony?”
Stark smirked, his expression smug and anticipatory as he watched the Avengers walk into his living room.
“I want to show you guys something.”
“You couldn’t send an email?” Fury asked, looking around to see what Tony had called them to the city to see. All he saw was Peter, who was sitting at the kitchen island, greeting them all cheerfully with a wave. He’d only been out of the hospital for a few days, but he looked healthy enough, the SHIELD director decided. “I’m a busy man.”
“Not too busy to see this,” Tony assured him – and the others. He watched as Natasha walked over to Peter, checking him out as she did. He didn’t hear what she said to the boy, but he smiled and nodded, and the billionaire didn’t miss that the assassin cupped his chin in an almost motherly manner and shook his head, playfully. “It’ll knock your socks off.”
“What is it?” Steve asked.
“A surprise.”
“I hate surprises.”
Since Tony knew it wasn’t true he smiled. Then he waved Romanoff over as Nick, Steve, and Clint all sat down. Rhodes had gravitated toward the kitchen with a nod of greeting to Peter as he’d passed, but he came back into the living room, holding a cheese stick and bottle of water. Everyone sat down, all of them watching him, and Tony walked over to stand in front of them, rubbing his hands, lightly.
“Come on, Tony,” Rhodey said, feigning annoyance – a little. “Some of us have important things to do, today.”
“Nothing as important as this. I assure you.” He was torn between the anticipation of what they were going to see, and the fact that he was showman enough to want to draw it out. Anticipation won out and he nodded toward Peter. “Baby?”
The boy walked over to stand beside him. He was blushing, a little, but looked excited and trying hard (but failing) to hide it. He looked at Tony.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Peter jumped up, reaching for the vaulted ceiling.
And didn’t come down.
All faces looked up at him. They weren’t shocked like Tony had clearly anticipated. Instead, everyone but Tony was trying to figure out what his hand was suddenly stuck to on the ceiling. The boy looked down at them, and Tony scowled at the lack of excitement he was seeing from the others. That was alright, though; he and Peter had done a bit of experimenting with his baby’s newfound abilities.
“Upside down, honey,” he said. “Show them what you can do.”
They all watched in silence that was soon shocked silence when Peter suddenly twisted his body, still holding the grip on the ceiling with his hand, until he had a foot also pressed against the ceiling. Then he released his hand and was suddenly hanging upside down from the ceiling looking down at the faces that were looking up.
Rhodey was the first to find his voice.
“How are you doing that?”
Peter grinned, but it was Tony who responded.
“Well… Apparently there was more contamination from that science lab that Peter visited than was previously believed,” he told them.
“Meaning what?” Romanoff asked.
“Meaning we have pretty good evidence that Peter was hit with a shot of radiation – which is what made him so sick.”
“How does that explain him standing on the ceiling?” Natasha asked, curiously, standing up, now, and reaching out to touch Peter’s stomach – which was bare since his shirt was riding up, despite trying to tuck it into his jeans. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah.” He gave up on the shirt and took a couple of steps – just to see their eyes widen further – and then dropped to the floor, twisting in mid-fall and landing easily on his feet. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“That’s incredible,” Steve said. “How did he do that? And don’t say anything clever,” he added. “Just the facts.”
“We’re not completely sure,” Tony admitted. “The radiation wasn’t leaking out from any experiments – otherwise Peter wouldn’t have been the only one who became ill.”
“You’re sure no one else was sick?” Natasha asked.
“I verified it, yes.”
“Then why was Peter?” Nick asked. He walked over and poked the boy, making Peter smile. “Some kind of beam, or something?”
“A spider,” Tony replied. “FRIDAY’S still trying to narrow down what kind.”
“A spider?” Romanoff echoed.
“Yes. Which is why he can suddenly crawl along the ceiling.”
Her gaze went down, her head cocking, slightly.
“Does that mean you’re suddenly spinning webs?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Peter grinned.
“No. I guess not all spiders spin webs.”
“We’re still trying to figure that out, too,” Stark told them. “But it’s an interesting development, isn’t it?”
“You couldn’t always do that?” Steve asked. “Before you went to the science thing – or before you met Tony, I mean?”
“No.” Peter shrugged. “This is new.”
“It’s amazing,” Rhodes said, shoving the last of the cheese stick into his mouth. “What else can you do?”