Peter
Later that Wednesday night, Peter is waiting to be locked in for the night by laying on his bed reading one of Dr. Banner’s more recent works, Mr. Stark called it his homework.
He can’t believe he’s thinking this, but he actually had fun with Stark today. Every day he spends with the man changes his opinion a little bit more. He still does things that piss him off, but he’s definitely not the spoiled, narcissistic, arrogant rich man Peter thought he was at the beginning. He’s actually very generous with his time and his money.
Today, after he decided that Peter needed to be challenged on an academic level and made his internship real, he gave Peter a more in depth tour of the main section of his lab, like where all of the tools and materials are kept. Then, the man walked him through how he makes some of Hawkeye’s trick arrows. Peter just watched Stark work today, but his mentor was very clear that if Peter wants to work on something, he just has to let him know. He also said that Peter could make more webs any time he wanted, or he could share his formula and Tony would supply it for him. Now he doesn’t have to sneak things from chemistry class anymore, which was getting pretty stressful.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t think he’s going to be in Stark’s good graces for long. He put some kind of injury detection system in the new spider suit, which is next level bad. It’s really not about the Spider-Man injuries, it’s about the Peter injuries.
He’s fine living with the Pattersons. He knows that from an outsider perspective, it probably doesn’t look great, but he also knows that his best chances are to stay with them. If he puts on the suit and it reports injuries to Stark that he didn’t get as Spider-Man, then the man will definitely call CPS thinking he’s doing the right thing.
As much as he wants to keep going on his own, he just knows it isn’t feasible anymore. As soon as he hears his door lock for the night, he drops Dr. Banner’s book and gets up to get ready for his nightly patrol. He puts the suit on under his clothes, but before he sneaks out the window, he pulls his phone out of his backpack. Before he can think twice, he sends a text to Ned.
“Can we hang at yours this weekend?”
Before he can even put the phone down, he gets a response.
“Sure dude. Just lmk when.”
He slides his phone into his pocket, grabs his backpack, and leaps out the window, closing it behind him.
It was a fairly busy night, especially for a weekday. Peter drops his backpack and clothes in an alley near the apartment before swinging away, and he’s only a few streets down when he starts hearing screams.
“Get the fuck off of me, pervert!” He hears someone call out.
He immediately rushes to where he heard the voice coming from, and sees a very large man trying to force himself on a teenage boy.
This looks pretty simple. The guy doesn’t even have a weapon.
Peter quickly steps in between them and tries to push the bigger man back gently. “Hey, man, what’s going on here? He’s clearly not into this, so why don’t you just move along-“
He’s interrupted when the man growls and takes a swing at him. He’s clearly pretty drunk, and it’s not hard for Peter to duck out of the way of his swing and shove the guy face first up against the brick wall of the alley. He webs him into place and turns back to the boy. He looked to be just a little younger than Peter is.
Peter reaches a hand down to help the guy off the ground.
“Thanks.” The boy says nervously, looking Peter up and down like he’s another threat.
“It’s no problem at all. Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man making sure everyone makes it home safe tonight.”
The kid nods, looking more relaxed. “Yeah, I’ve heard of you. You look different today.”
“Oh yeah?” Peter asks with a smile. “You like my new look? I got a sponsor now so I don’t need to wear my thrift store sweat suit anymore.”
The kid laughs, looking more at ease by the minute.
“Why don’t you point the way to your place, and I’ll just make sure you get back okay?” Peter asks.
“Uh, yeah. Sure. It’s this way.” The boy responds as he starts walking down the sidewalk.
“Who’s this fancy new sponsor of yours?” The boy asks, trying to make some small talk.
Peter skips alongside him, trying to act chipper to keep the boys mood up. “Oh, you’re not going to believe this. You’re actually the first person I’ve told. It’s my first night out since I got it. It’s Tony Stark!”
“Whoa!” The boy exclaims excitedly. “Like the Tony Stark? That’s so cool! You got to meet him?”
“Yep!” Peter says proudly. “He’s training me to be in the big leagues. Pretty soon I’ll be fighting with the actual Avengers.”
“Wow!” The kid says, amazed. “That’s so awesome! Well, this is my place. Thank you so much for all your help, Spider-Man!”
“Anytime! Hopefully I see you again under better circumstances!”
He waves to the kid and watches until he makes it inside his front door. Then, he calls an anonymous tip into 911 that they’ll find a very drunk man at the corner of 3rd and Elm, who Spider-Man had felt the need to detain.
Now, onto the next one.
He stays out for a couple of hours until the exhaustion kicks in and he decided to throw his normal clothes back on and walk home. On the way, before he can think better of it, he stops by a fast food place and picks himself up a late night dinner with Mr. Stark’s credit card that he gave him. He probably won’t be able to keep it for very long considering what he’s planning. He might as well use it while he has it.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Peter doesn’t get a lot of sleep the next couple of nights, between his late night and early morning patrols and inability to sleep due to anxiety over what to say to Ned. He’s also being on his absolute best behavior at home so he doesn’t end up dealing with anything more intense than some shoving and hair pulling.
Finally, Friday night comes and Diane comes by to lock his room for the night. Then, he makes his move. He grabs all of his things, including the suit under his clothes of course, and sneaks back out of his bedroom window.
He swings with his backpack on with his clothes in it until he’s close enough to Ned’s to walk the rest of the way. He climbs the fire escape to Ned’s window, and he can see the boy watching TV inside. He knocks gently on the window, and Ned falls out of his bed and onto the floor with shock before turning around and seeing that it’s just Peter.
He scrambles to the window and yanks it open.
“Peter, dude!” Ned whisper screams at him. “When I said you could come over this weekend, I thought you meant during the day, through the front door.”
“Well, I couldn’t manage that, so this was the alternative. Can I come in?”
Ned huffs, but steps aside so Peter can crawl through the open window, shutting it behind him.
“My moms going to be so mad when she finds you here.” His friend said anxiously.
“Calm down, Ned.” Peter replies, hushing him. “She’s not going to find us. And I have something really urgent I need to talk to you about.”
Ned sits back down on his bed, leaving Peter the desk chair to sit down on.
“Okay, what is it?” Ned asks.
Now that Peter was here in the situation, he wasn’t sure he could go through with it. This could ruin their whole relationship. But Ned loves Spider-Man. He’s like his biggest fan. Surely Ned would be okay with this development.
“Okay dude. First off I need you to know that you’re my best friend, and the first person I’ve ever told this to. And I didn’t keep any secrets because I didn’t trust you. It was just so big and I really didn’t feel like anyone should know and I still don’t think I’d be able to do this if it wasn’t for a really really good reason-“
“Peter, dude, whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine. You can trust me with anything. We’re brothers, right?” Ned says, surprisingly calm, while holding out his hand. Peter takes a deep breath to stop his rambling and reaches his hand out in turn so they could do their best friend handshake.
Peter takes another deep breath before just spitting it out.
“Ned, I’m Spider-Man.”
He pulls up his shirt as he says it to show Ned his new and improved spider suit underneath.
He looks up at his friend with a grimace, expecting the worst, but Ned is just staring at him with a blank expression.
“That’s a…uh…cool cosplay?” He says with a questioning inflection and an awkward chuckle.
“It’s not a cosplay, Ned. I’m really Spider-Man. That’s why I’m interning with Mr. Stark. He’s training me.”
Ned is still staring blankly.
“You….you’re the Spider-Man?” His voice is at least one octave higher than normal, and he looks like he’s getting a little pale.
“Do you need to lie down for a sec, dude?” Peter asks cautiously, approaching slowly just in case he passes out, but when Peter stands up, Ned snaps out of his haze and jumps to his feet.
“YOU’RE SPIDER-MAN?!” The boy practically screams.
“Ned, shush!” Peter whispers back and slaps his hand over Ned’s mouth. “You trying to tell everyone in the apartment building? Yes, I’m Spider-Man. Now let’s please keep the questioning at a whisper level.”
Ned nods and Peter slowly releases him and steps back.
“I can’t believe you’re Spider-Man! How? When? Where? Where’d you get that suit from? Spider-Man hasn’t worn that before. Is the stickiness a superpower? Are the webs? Or is that all a part of the suit? Do you lay eggs?” Ned state ta asking whispered rapid fire questions.
“What? No I don’t lay eggs! That’s what you want to know?” Peter asks, a little disgusted.
Ned just shrugs. “I have so many questions!”
Peter sits back down, and Ned follows suit. “I got bit by a spider at that Oscorp field trip we took in middle school. Remember when I was really sick for a few days after that and May and Ben were really worried? That was my body developing my powers. The stickiness and the strength are powers, but the webs I made. Mr. Stark was assigned to train me by the government since I’m operating outside the accords by using my enhancements to help people. He made me this suit and gave it to me at the internship on Wednesday.”
Ned is staring wide eyed the entire time Peter speaks, hanging onto every word.
“How far do your webs go?” He asks eagerly.
“What? I don’t know!” Peter replies.
“If it were me, I would just stand on the edge of a building and shoot them and see how far they go. Have you met Thor?”
“Yeah I’ve met most a few of the avengers. Thor, Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Bruce. Steve and Natasha gave me fighting lessons last week.”
“My best friend is on a first name basis with the Avengers?!”
Ned kind of looks like he’s going to pass out again, so Peter decides to change the subject.
“Look, Ned. You’re the person I trust the most, but I only told you this because I really need your help with something and I don’t really have any other options.”
“Of course, Peter. I’ll always help you. Whatever you need.” Ned nods, easterly awaiting his assignment.
“I need your help hacking into this suit that Mr. Stark made for me.”
“…you need me to what?” Ned’s face immediately dropped from determination to fear in half of a second.
“Look, dude, I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t really important. I really need you.” Peter pleads with his friend.
“You want me to hack into a suit that Tony Stark made for you? You think I can hack into anything made by Tony Stark?” Ned asks with disbelief.
“Of course you can!” Peter encourages him. “You’re the best hacker I know. I’m sure you’re the best at midtown. And he didn’t design this thinking someone would hack into it. I’m sure you got this, man.”
Ned still looks wary, but he nods. “Okay, Peter. If you think it’s that important, then I’ll do it. But if you get me on Tony Stark’s bad list, I’m going to be so mad at you.”
30 minutes later, they’re stationed at Ned’s computer, hacking into Tony Stark’s technology.
“Okay, Peter. I can get rid of the protocols that alert Mr. Stark when you get injured and disable the tracker. There’s something else on here called the ‘training wheels protocol’.”
“Training wheels?” Peter says, appalled. “Get rid of that too. I don’t need training wheels.”
“Are you sure? I’m sure Mr. Stark put it there for a reason. Like, maybe you just have to get used to the suit first and it’ll unlock itself.” Ned replies hesitantly.
“I’m sure, Ned. Get rid of it, please.”
“Okay…” Ned clicks a few more buttons on his keyboard. “Done!” He unhooks the suit from the computer and hands it back to Peter, who hurries to the closet to put it back on.
“Can I be your guy in the chair?” Ned asks when Peter is finished.
“My What?”
“Your guy in the chair! You know how there’s always a guy with the headset telling you where to go? Like if you were in a burning building, I could tell you where to go because there would be screens around me?”
Ned seems very enthusiastic about this idea, and Peter can’t tell him no. He sighs slightly. “Sure, Ned. You can be my guy in the chair.”
“Yes!” Ned exclaims, holding his hand out for a fist bump. Peter acquiesces.
“I can’t believe my best friend is Spider-Man. You’re life is so crazy.” Ned declares wistfully, as if wishing it was his own. Peter sighs again. Ned doesn’t know anything.
Peter heads home soon after that. He didn’t want to stay at Ned’s any later than necessary and risk getting caught by his mom. Ned doesn’t deserve to get in trouble because of him.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
Despite how tired he is, Peter gets very little sleep again. He just can’t stop thinking that maybe he’s put Ned in danger by telling him the secret.
By the time he finally gets to sleep, he’s woken up after only a couple of hours by one of Bill’s big work boots hitting him square in the side of the head.
“Get up, shithead, and start making breakfast before I throw you into the frying pan with the bacon.”
Peter sighs. Another lovely Saturday morning in the Patterson household.
He drags himself begrudgingly out of bed and throws on his same clothes from last night. He’ll have to figure out a way to get some laundry done soon. He’s starting to smell. He wonders if anyone will notice and wonder, or will everyone just assume he’s like all the other gross teenagers who just reek all the time.
When he gets downstairs, Bill and Diane are watching TV on the couch in the living room, so Peter just goes straight to the kitchen and puts some bacon on the stove. He also grabs some eggs and some bread. Bill usually likes a big breakfast on Saturdays.
He’s almost finished when the man himself comes into the room to check on him. His hair stands on end in warning as Bill stands over his shoulder, watching him take the bacon out of the pan and put it on a plate. Bill grabs the two full plates from the counter to take back to the couch, and as he passes Peter again, he shoved him roughly up against the counter.
Peter could feel it coming, but couldn’t feasibly do anything since he wasn’t even looking towards Bill when he did it, so he just had to accept it. Unfortunately, Bill shoved him a lot harder then Peter had anticipated, and hot bacon grease splashed out of the pan and onto Peter’s bare arm, burning him.
Screaming out in pain, he drops the pan, spilling grease all over the kitchen floor. Luckily, he stepped backwards quickly otherwise his feet would’ve gotten burned too.
He hears a chuckle behind him and turns around to see Bill bent over laughing. If Peter had less self control, Bill would be getting beaten into the grease soaked ground right now, but he doesn’t have that kind of luxury. Instead, he bites his tongue, tries not to think about how red his face must be getting, and bends down to get the pot from the ground. He spends the next 20 minutes scrubbing grease off the floor until it’s shining.
His arm is bright red from the burn, but it’s not blistering. The redness should fade fast with his healing. Once he’s finished cleaning the grease, he decides to just clean the entire kitchen. Saturday, since he’s home all day, he’s supposed to clean the entire apartment. If it’s not to his foster parents’ satisfaction, he has to redo everything on Sunday.
He’s really not looking forward to next week. He’s off school from Wednesday to Friday for thanksgiving. Normally he likes having a few days off school, but Bill and Diane are off work for the holidays as well, so he’s stuck in the house with them for three extra days.
He can usually avoid them well enough and hide out in his room all day, but he has to worry about where he’s going to get food from when he doesn’t go to school. Sometimes Bill and Diane let him eat some of the dinner he makes for them, but more than often he gets dinner privileges taken away as a punishment. He never gets the other meals at home.
He’s been eating better the last few days since he decided to start using Stark’s card. He’s been buying breakfast and dinner on his walk to and from school, and a meal when he’s on patrol. He just has to hope that Mr. Stark isn’t paying close enough attention to notice that he’s buying pretty much every meal.
He’s not sure how he’s going to be able to sneak out and buy food when he’s off school. He might have to buy meals in the middle of the night and just store them somewhere in his room for the day. Maybe Mr. Stark will add a mini fridge into his allowance. He has one at the compound after all.
He’s also not entirely sure if he’s supposed to go to his internship on Wednesday. Maybe he’ll call Mr. Stark and ask. Or maybe he should just show up and hope the man lets him stay so he can get away from this horrible apartment for a little while. He’ll have to see.
A thump to the back of his head draws him back out of his thoughts.
“Quit staring at the wall and get cleaning, you little twerp. You’re such a waste of space, I swear.”
Peter scowls at Diane’s feet retreating as he gets down on his hands and knees and gets back to cleaning. Yeah, he’s definitely getting out of this place on Wednesday. No way he’s spending an entire extra day with these two losers.