In the Club
Spiderman has been a huge topic of interest at the GSA for the last few weeks. Peter understood Spiderman’s coming out would be massive news, but he didn’t know the school’s queer population would be so concerned about it for so long.
He’s awkwardly sitting near the back of the room, picking at the skin on the edge of his fingernail. MJ is beside him, her feet propped up on the desk, her head lolled backwards as she pretends to sleep. Ned, on Peter’s other side, is fiddling with the portfolio of news articles he’s collected on the queer stories going unnoticed.
Something catches Peter’s eye, and he pulls out a newspaper clipping from an article discussing Mr Murdock. It’s about a transwoman, Delilah Torres, who was arrested for killing her date. Peter scans it, reading about how Nelson, Murdock and Page proved that Delilah was acting in self-defence, and that her date had every intention of raping and murdering her. The article goes on to mention that Delilah was kept in a male-only cell, and that Nelson, Murdock and Page is now working on a lawsuit against the city’s police department to prevent trans people in the future being held in wrong cells and jails in the future.
“You’re doing good, Mr Murdock,” whispers Peter to the little news clipping. He clutches it in his hand, oddly protective over the older man.
He’d seen him two nights ago, where they’d discussed Peter’s outfit for the upcoming photoshoot. They’d sat on Matt’s rooftop, and Peter couldn’t help but notice that he was wearing baggy clothes to cover the small bump. Peter was interested in this, considering he had never seen a pregnant guy before, but he didn’t mention it, for fear of making Matt uncomfortable.
They’d chatted for a while, with Peter trying to describe the trans flag to Matt, who had actually never seen it before. He’d mentioned how Mr Stark was making him a suit for the photoshoot in pink, blue, and white, to represent the trans colours.
Matt was worried this seemed gimmicky, but Peter had shrugged and said, “It’s alright. I think it’s all about being visible. I know a lot of people want me to say that I’m trans and that’s okay, but what if I’m proud of it? What if I want to scream it from the rooftops?”
Matt had pulled out the sonograph to show Peter, who cooed and made appropriate noises to the little black and white blob. He’d let Peter snap a photo on his phone to show Aunt May later, and Peter now has to unconsciously stop himself from peering at it, thinking that this is what his life could be like in the future. When he first came out, people told him that he would never have a family, that no one would ever love him, and now he has proof of a baby that has so many people to love it, being carried by someone just like him.
“The Avengers are doing a photoshoot for CelebBuzz this week,” Kelsey, the leader of the GSA, says at the front of the room, bringing Peter’s attention back to the present. “I wonder what Spiderman is going to do for it.”
“I mean, he can’t dress up like the others,” Peter says, hearing himself speaking before he can stop himself. “Maybe he’ll do something to his suit.”
“Ooh, interesting idea, Peter!” Kelsey says excitedly. “Anyway, has anyone seen the paparazzi footage of the Black Widow? It seems she’s a fellow sapphic.”
Peter has seen the photos. Most of the Avengers have. Natasha had crept back into Stark Tower early, the morning after the big press conference. Unbeknownst to her, Tony was already waiting up for her with a paparazzi photo on the screen, a devilish smirk on his face.
Natasha had been spotted making out with a beautiful, dark-haired woman. All of Avengers knew this was Elektra Natchios, however the media has been on an absolute frenzy trying to figure out who this mystery woman is. Natasha has been tight-lipped about it and has been simply going about her business as usual.
Peter had asked her why she wasn’t speaking up about it, but she’d simply responded, “They wouldn’t care if it was a man. I’m treating this exactly like I would any other speculation about my love life.”
“Do we really need to speculate about someone’s sexuality?” Peter asks the group. “Yes, she’s obviously queer, but do we need to try and label her any further?”
“Don’t you think she has a duty to come out? To admit who she is?” Bryan, another trans boy Peter has never really spoken to before says.
Peter rolls his eyes. “Why does she have to come out? Because she’s famous? Frankly, she is a freaking superspy, so she probably let the paparazzi take a photo in the first place.”
“Maybe,” Bryan says with a nod, “but I just think it would be better if people in positions of power could just be themselves.”
“It’s not your job to decide when people should come out,” Peter replies. “Now that Spiderman has come out, maybe that means more superheroes will do too, but we can’t force them out. They’ll come out when they are ready to, not when other people try to force them to.”
“You’re right, Peter, this feels like an invasion of privacy,” MJ says from beside him, giving a yawn and a stretch. “Anyway, why don’t we discuss this stupid ball we need to put together? I’m thinking Carrie theme?”
Kelsey gasps at this. “Absolutely not! Why don’t we go for a classy theme?”
The group continues discussing the upcoming ball. Peter keeps scanning over the news article of Matt, wondering what he’s getting up to right now. He’s probably at the office, or maybe even at Stark Tower discussing Daredevil’s upcoming involvement in the Avengers. Peter knows Tony was stressing over the idea of Matt being involved in missions, however they’d decided that it would look strange if Daredevil was never seen, so Tony was trying to think of ways Daredevil can be public for the media without revealing the pregnancy.
Peter didn’t really concern himself with all of this, and was simply looking forward to when none of the Avengers had to hide. He hopes that, in the future, they’ll all be able to be who they truly are.