Chapter 2
The other Peter or Pietro Maximoff, his actual name, had an even faster metabolism than him. Which is frankly incredible. It had something to do with his mutation. He was so nice to explain some of his powers over the frosted flakes they found to eat.
He was a cool guy, like Peter expected. Not only did he have an immense knowledge of music but also was a pantomath, a person who knew a lot of fun facts which unironically was his first one. Most things he rushed out in a big jumble of thoughts, a stream of consciousness if you will. Peter didn’t have a problem with that at all as most conversations are too slow for him anyway. The thoughts were mostly racing in his head and he had problems articulating them in a structured manner most times. And this Peter was on a whole other level of ADHD-riddled brain functions than him.
They would get along great. Peter thought to himself. Ever the optimist.
After their snack, this was not lunch, Peter M. had stressed that, he ushered him into the bathroom with a fresh towel and some of his clothes saying almost bored “You fucking stink dude. No offense. You said you lived on the streets. But I won’t let you in our room if you smell like that. Yuck. Now go- hush- I’m supposed to show you around and I’m not in the mood for Dad to scold me today. I’ll get the perfect soundtrack. We need the right music for the feeling, you know? You know. Ok, see ya’.” And then he was gone with a blast of air.
In the shower he laid eyes on his body. It wasn’t as bad as a few days ago but still, the cornflakes almost made another appearance. Sure he was always thin, lean, but now? Even before May knew he wasn’t always able to eat enough, as money wasn’t easy. Now his stomach was sunken in enough for his ribs to stick out. The blue and green state they were still in did nothing for his comfort.
Peter pushed through the shower, enjoying the hot water only shortly as he never wanted to wear clothes faster than now, to just not have to see his body anymore. He used shampoo and wash gel he found in the bathroom. There was different stuff laying around, all different types and smells. Lavender had always been one of his favorites along with the flowery ones as they weren’t as aggressive on the nose as the fruit or sport kinds, so he used those.
The clothes looked ridiculous on him. The torn black jeans and ill fitting band shirt made him look like an anxious emo teen. After eying the holes in both shoes, in the sole and the one on the top of the right shoe, making his big toe stick out, he decided to just go in socks. Not like it didn’t feel natural like that anyway.
With a bundle of stuff he made his way through the halls again.
Teenagers were talking all around. Some in rooms, persumily theirs, some in the classrooms and others walking down the halls like he did. There were noises he wasn’t used to from New York and he couldn’t relate to anything he’s ever seen or heard. Flapping? Or scratching? And somewhere under the house were a lot of electrical systems running together. And that is definitely nothing normal judging the age of the house.
Whatever, Peter should just look into it later with an open mind. Not like Wade would bring him here if they weren’t somewhat safe with these people.
Now he just had to find the room again. Where did they walk again? It must have slipped his mind, talking while walking or later in Peter M.’s case being dragged around the house.
And he for sure wasn’t in the right spot anymore as there were way too many heartbeats (some very interesting heartbeats, too) in this hall. Classes. This is where they must be. Not that that information is helping him right about now as he is still shuffling around in his socks with a handful of stuff.
And now there was a blue woman standing in front of him. Is she naked? She’s not wearing clothes so it does count as naked right? God- Is he staring? Hopefully she doesn’t perceive it that way.
Where did she come from anywhere? Like what the fuck, do people just appear around here?
“Hi.” Wow, Peter. Good job. Really impressive voice crack right there.
Now that the initial shock of blueness is gone he recognizes her as Mystique. She is famous, too, and in close relationship to both the Professor and Magneto, though Peter doesn’t know how exactly.
“Who are you,” she asks, not too friendly.
“My- my name is Peter Parker. I’m eh- new here?”
“Is that a question?”
“No.” What? “No, it isn’t. I’m new here. I talked with the Professor just this morning. It is very nice to meet you Mrs. Mystique.” He sticks his hand out or tries to but half his stuff is falling down without the support. Peter scrambled to pick it up again and just stuck some of it to his skin, to be able to attempt another handshake.
She had an amused look when he made eye-contact again. And man, that felt uncomfortable. As if the yellow eyes pierce right through him, seeing every dark corner of him. He really hoped that wasn’t one of her powers. Wow, he felt naked and he was the one wearing clothes.
After some excruciating moments where they both didn’t bulge, Peter wasn’t gonna just buckle in front of her, her gaze softened a little and she met the handshake with a firm grip.
Her voice was kinder than before. “Welcome. Are you lost? Do you need help?”
“Ehm- I just took a shower and am not sure anymore how to get to my room,” he said a little sheepishly. It sounds dumb, forgetting were your own room is.
“Who are you dorming with? I can help you.”
“Peter.” As he realizes that this might not be enough information, because Peter is a pretty common name and he just introduced himself as Peter, he adds hastingly, “Oh, I mean the other Peter. Or Pietro- Maximoff. Mr. Magneto’s son.”
She huffed a laugh before turning and walking down the hall. “This way.” So Peter quickly jogged after her.
They didn’t talk until they were at the room, which was great because Peter was way too nervous and would have probably just embarrassed himself further.
She just walked into the room and he really hoped that she was the exception here. That’s no common decency May and Ben had taught him. The other Peter didn’t seem to mind much but he probably realized someone was walking in fast like no one else did.
“Why are you not in class?”
Peter was laying on his bed, head hanging over the edge at the foot end, playing with a Nintendo. “Am excused for showing the new Peter around.”
“So why did I find him walking around the house. Lost and alone.” Ok, Peter wouldn’t word that way but yeah- sure.
“He showered. Was I supposed to babysit there? No thank you. And look-” He gestured to him still standing in the doorway. “-he found his way back.”
“With help,” Mystique deadpanned.
He shrugged, like Eh- He did it .
She left as fast as she appeared saying a quick, “You two, meet me outside in two hours.”
Peter hovered in the door. He never had to share his bedroom with someone, being an only child and all that jazz. And the room was lived in, which wasn’t really helping him at all feel at ease.
“I got you sheets and stuff,” Peter M. said nonchalantly, gesturing to the freshly made bed on the other side of the room. “You can get another set of towels later and clean your clothes in the washroom. If you need new stuff, just ask one of the teachers and they’ll take you on a trip to the nearest mall with the other guys who need stuff. Or if you don’t want to go they’ll just buy stuff in your size. Don’t ask Beast though. He’s an absolute overkill and you’ll look like straight from a kids Target mannequin. We also have this closet on the second floor, end of hall with a whole lot of stuff if you need things right now. You can just take them. It’s for everyone who needs new clothes immediately.”
That was cool, because he didn’t really have anything other than the few torn clothes in his backpack. Peter thanked him which he just shrugged off.
He settled on his own bed, taking the few other things out of his backpack to put away. It was really nothing much. Ben’s old camera which he carefully placed on his bedside table along with the picture of Ben, May and him at the zoo some years ago. And some other clothes and Spider-Man things.
Peter M. sat beside his bed on the floor criss-cross applesauce a second later, face inches away from the photo. “Who is that?”
“That’s my uncle Ben,” He was wearing glasses, a checked shirt and shorts in the picture. Like a Dad. “and this is my aunt May.” She wore a really nice summer dress that day. In a soft yellow tone with small flowers on it. Later that day it was ruined by a camel she stood too close to who thought it was edible. They had laughed and she joked that holes in clothes are IN anyway. That she just was going with the trends.
“They send you here?”
The smile he had faded. “Oh, eh- no. My uncle died a few months ago and my aunt- she said she needed time when she found out. Yeah. I haven’t seen her for a few weeks now.”
He looked sorry for asking and said apologetically, “Shit sucks.”
Peter laughed self-deprecatingly, “Big time.”
“So, Wade?”
And Peter really didn’t know if that was a question even though it sounded like one. His face must have given him away as the older teen followed up with, “Are you, you know? Smoochin’ buddies?”
“What?” If he had been eating something he would have definitely choked.
“Oh you know. The big gay. It’s cool. I just wanna know, ya’ know? If you make out please do it in his room though. No use in me barging in when he has a perfectly good single dorm.”
Peter regained his composure and replied a bit flustered, “No, Wade and I aren’t eh- ‘smoochin’ buddies’. He is my best friend. We met some months ago. He helped me a lot these last few days and said that he would stay with me here for a while which is great because I’m not all that good at making friends. He kind of just picked me as his friend and stuck around.”
Speaking of the maniac the door opens with a kick and Wade stands there in all his costumed glory. “I demand we eat lunch. Now! Oh man I just noticed that we all have these stupid high metabolisms. We could eat this place into its ruins. We need a name! Like ‘black hole gang’, you know, ‘cause we are the black holes.”
Peter M., now standing beside his wardrobe in a new shirt and jacket, his old clothes laying beside him the ground in a heap, pipes up, “Or ‘All-you-can-eat’s nightmare’.”
“‘All day, everyday mukbangers’,” he joined in, too.
This continued until they found their way to the eating hall where a lot of other teenagers were already eating lunch. Looking at the variety of people, some with non visible mutations, some with full body changes Peter could finally figure out some of the sound which confused him earlier.
“That makes sense.” He said out loud without noticing, looking at the kid who had scales all over his arms, neck and face. They made a slight scraping sound where they overlapped. Nothing audible without heightened hearing like his.
“What does?”
Before he could answer Wade he was interrupted by a boy who stood up from a table close by exclaiming loudly “Wade, what are you doing here again? I thought it was already clear last time that we don’t want you here.” The room quieted after the incredible disrespectful declaration of that dick. Peter’s blood boiled hot the second the words left his mouth. No one is allowed to speak to his friend like this.
“What did you just say?” Peter stepped forward, closer to the guy and with Wade now protected behind him.
That guy closed in on him, as well, now only standing an arm length away from Peter. “I said that he isn’t welcome here. Who are you to care, anyway?” The teen huffed before him as if he just made the greatest joke.
Peter squared his shoulder and fixed his gaze on him but before he could answer his roomie popped up beside them saying an uninterested “Scott Summer, Peter Parker. Peter Parker, Scott Summer. Scott, don’t be a dick. Pete, I’m fucking hungry, so lets zoom.”
And with that, he stood in front of the buffet, head spinning and stomach doing somersaults.
Wade jogged over just a moment's notice later. “Oh Petey, that was really cute and all, but you can just ignore Scott. You don’t need to defend me.”
“Yeah, he thinks he needs to be the cool guy. As if we need to impress someone here, ” Peter M. adds though Peter doesn’t exactly know what he means with that.
Their lunch after is surprisingly uneventful. He had really expected Scott to act up on some of the shit he grumbled to his friends. They seemed relatively cool though as they convinced him to chill out and try to take it easy with Wade and stay open minded about Peter.
The room cleared more and more as people trickled out to presumably go to their next classes. To be honest Peter could have continued eating for another hour but looking at the clock on the wall he noticed that they were supposed to meet up with Mystique somewhere.
His glance didn’t go unnoticed as Peter M. realized the time, too, so soon after Peter found himself sitting outside in the grass with Wade on one side and the other Peter laying a few paces over. He was listening to music and threw a ball up to catch it again. It was nice weather for the fall. They needed a jacket against the wind but the sun warmed their faces non the less.
This time he didn’t get startled as Mystique, or Raven, Peter M. told him, walked over from behind them as he heard her coming without any distractions this time around. Just before she was a few feet away, Peter stood and turned to greet her. She shortly looked surprised but scolded her expression soon after. Leading up from the other path, the Professor and Mr. Lensherr made their way over to them, too. Wade ignored all that and just continued at his chosen task of tugging out grass and soil to leave the outline of a penis in the ground.
“Hello Peter. I hope you settled in without any problems. I’m sure Peter already told you, but just to be sure, ask any of us if you are in need of anything. You can join the group on Saturday to the mall if you're interested,” Xavier said. He had a nice smile and seemed very friendly which relaxed Peter a little in his nerves.
Wade beat him to an answer, “Sure or we can just go. I’ll drive you Petey. Just say the magical word.”
“Wade,” he hissed slightly at him, face turning red. Because no way he is gonna say Wade’s magical word in front of these people. He turned to the Professor and said thankfully, “I would like that. Thank you.”
“Raven suggested we see some of your powers which I think is a wonderful idea. Beside the ‘sticking’ we would love a visible presentation as it would help us immensely to understand your powers some more and to figure out how we can help you control them in further training. If you’re comfortable with that, that is.”
Peter M. perched up from his spot on the ground, too. They haven’t talked about his powers besides the sticking he had already involuntarily presented in the hallway, so of course he would be interested.
He wasn’t really sure how or were to start and stood sort of stage fried before them. “Sure,” he pressed through the dryness in his throat.
“You should do that thing with your back. That’s freaky,” Wade suggested like the great friend he is.
“No.” He shut that down.
Not successful as Mystique pipes up intrigued, “What back-thing?”
He hesitated for just a second but answered before Wade could for him, which would definitely be worse. “I’m just flexible. It’s nothing special.”
“Show us anyway.”
He shuffled for a second, realizing that he is still just wearing socks but ignores it for now to not bring it to their attention. Peter slowly leaned over backwards, head in his neck to still be able to see until his head was sticking through his spreaded legs. As quick as he did it, he undid it. That was probably not his maximum but he would rather show off other less weird looking stuff.
“Gross,” Peter M. said with admiration.
“Uhh- now lift something heavy or break something!” Wade shouted from the side with all the excitement only he could bring to the table. As if he was seeing all this for the first time.
He looked around, left and right, unsure what he could use when Peter ran away only to after a short moment stand by his side with a thick metal rod. Peter doesn’t question where he got it from.
Is this really a display of powers? Logically, he thinks, they wouldn’t know if that thing is stable in any way. So he stands there with this rod in his hand again looking unsure at the three adults.
“Should I just-” the question is open as he doesn’t know what he is asking.
Mystique takes it from him and she tries to bend it for a second. Unsuccessful. She hands it back only for Peter to repeat the motion. The metal bends with ease. It’s nothing special or extremely strength intensive for him and he says so, too. They assured him to find something to test his strength more reliable with, as scale of some sort.
Next are his webs and stickiness he decides, as he eyes the big tree behind them. “I’ll just-” he cuts himself off again and just shows it. Arm shooting out he aims at one of the branches and is internally relieved that he struck it like he wanted and didn’t embarrass himself. He uses the web to swing himself up the tree and sticks upside down to one of the bigger branches. Like in the movies, Wade told him one time, he slowly lowers himself by one strand of web until he is on eyeheight of the others again. “I can also jump really high. That height I could have probably done without the web,” he says nervously while letting go off the strand to stand normally again. “I can also swing around or trap people because other people than me stick to it.” He demonstrates by webbing Wade’s hands together.
The teen tugged a few times on it to show before Peter hastingly ripped it off him.
“That stuff comes out of you?” Peter M. sounded equally disgusted and amazed at this.
“Yeah, it does. But I also developed a chemical replica and web shooters because sometimes when I’m stressed I get blockage and can’t use them,” he exclaimed.
The professor perked up, “You replicated it?”
“Yes, in my school's chemistry lab.”
“That’s very impressive Peter.” He ducked his head at the Professor's praise.
Magneto’s and Mystique’s expressions were unreadable for him but Xavier looked elated. Same as Wade, but he doesn’t count.
“I can’t really show you the durability and healing factor right now. Sometimes I forget or can’t control my strength all that well so I’m sorry if I break anything. The webs dissolve after a few hours naturally. Both, eh- both types of webs. I also really like to sit high up if that’s no problem. I won’t leave footprints everywhere, I promise. It’s just that I like it to have the whole room in my view and it feels safer, if that makes sense.” Peter took a deep breath, scrunching his hands together, nervously. He perked up and remembered his heightened senses as he heard a glass shatter in the kitchen of the building. “I totally forgot about my senses. We can test those if you want.”
“You said they were enhanced. Do you have an idea to which extent,” the Prof Xavier asks him.
For a moment he thought about it, realizing that he couldn’t really remember the time before the spider-bite and how much normal people could hear. There was only one thing he knew for sure. “I can hear your heartbeats and like, changes in your body for example the bruise on Mrs. Mystique’s ribs. I can hear the muscle and feel the heat it’s radiating. Your skin makes very interesting sounds by the way. As well as Peter.” He turned to the other boy. “Your body makes a humming sound. I can smell the tea you drank around an hour ago,” he says with his focus back on the Professor. “Or I could tell you that in one classroom, someone is gossiping with someone about-” he cut himself off as he listened in on the conversation. His face heated up. No, that’s nothing to share. “-Something I’d rather not tell you,” he finished clumsily. “I can also hear the electrical wires and circuits throughout the building and that there is a big system which requires a lot of energy under the school. And I have this danger-sense, which I also can’t really show off right now. It warns me from immediate danger or if a person is a potential threat. The best way to describe it is a buzz in my neck.”
That was a lot. He wasn't sure if he had ever talked this much about his senses before. Sure, he had told Wade to some extent. There were evenings when they had been sitting together on a roof, overlooking the city and Peter had rambled about the stuff he heard. The city’s darkest secrets or greatest news. Life's ups and downs or painful plains.
Wade knew little of it, but he had never shared how much he notices all day long. The small details that his brain just sucks up and he has to tune out all the time.
“I try to not listen in. Or don’t share the information when I subconsciously notice,” Peter clarified as he realized how it may be perceived as intrusive. The Professor will probably understand, Peter figured by the nature of his powers and how he himself had asked the man to respect his boundaries.
And he was right as the Professor said in a warm tone, “We can work on headphones or glasses, to help you tune everything out. I believe it can be very exhausting, trying to block it out on your own.”
“Yes, absolutely. Sometimes, everything gets so loud, it feels like my head is splitting open. I get nauseous from certain smells and other stuff that bothers me, too. I read something about sensory overload. I think I get that, when it’s bad,” Peter admitted, hand scratching his neck.
The Professor again with the warm smile, said in a calming tone, “We’ll figure something out to help you with that.”
“Thank you.”
Peter M. who had just stood by and watched until now piped up from beside him, “How come you have so many mutations? And are you that Spider-Man guy, ‘cause you kind move exactly like he did in the videos as well as those web-things?”
Ok, so he was that obvious. Great. Well, not like there is any reason to deny it now.
Trying to answer he stuttered a little and cleared his throat to try again. “I- Yes, I’m Spider-Man. If you could maybe tell no one? It’s kind of a- a secret identity thing. Or it’s supposed to be-” He trailed off in the end.
“Sure.”
“And I was bit by an experimental spider. I don’t have the x-gen.” Peter followed up before turning to Xavier again. “But maybe, if that’s ok with you, I would like to test my blood in the lab. I have my theories about changes in my DNA and well, I would love to prove them.”
“Let’s talk with Hank, our top scientist here and we can definitely arrange something.”
Mr. Lehnsherr didn’t look all that happy about it but it was the Professor's decision so Peter ignored that for now.
Before Peter could let any feelings of unease rise again in a moment of quiet Xavier turned with his chair in the direction of the house and left with “Peter, Wade, please follow me, to discuss your school schedules.”
Wade groaned beside him but let himself pull with Peter as he followed the man to the building. He said quick goodbyes to the rest of the group who stayed behind and walked in the opposite direction, starting to talk about something he didn’t pay attention to.
The house was quiet like New York could never be. Most people were asleep. Even heartbeats, deep breaths and rusting sheets eloped the quiet. In the City it was never this still. People were awake and active all hours of the day. Some worked, some pursued more illegal activities and others just didn’t sleep during the night for whatever reason there was. Out here in the country, the building surrounded by wide grounds and nature, Peter didn’t know what to do with himself and the lack of sounds.
Peter M. fell asleep half an hour ago and snored lightly in his bed. To have another heartbeat on the other side of the room while sleeping was another first for Peter and he wasn’t sure yet how to feel about it. The rhythm in his chest was faster than the usual heartbeat even in his sleep. His own had a unique pace, but his was on another level. It made Peter restless in his bed, tossing and turning. An itch under his skin he didn’t know how to deal with.
He stood without a thought to it. This room became more and more unbearable with every second passing. Too new, too foreign and unnerving. He needed to move.
Standing in the hallway he felt even more out of place. The house was big and unsettlingly empty without the people filling it with noises.
As if on autopilot he walked through the halls until he stood in front of one room and just then did he notice that he followed the one sound that felt familiar. The one heartbeat he got to know like the back of his hands these last few months.
Quietly, or as quietly as one could open a squeaky old door he entered the room, whisper-shouting “Wade? Wade, are you awake?”
He knew that he wasn’t but it was more for his own comfort than anything else. Closing the door behind him, he tiptoed over to the bed where his friend was sleeping away.
Peter shuffled only a second, undecided from one foot to the other, until he nudged the teen a little and pushed his way beside him into bed. Wade shot up, alarmed but relaxed instantly as Peter said a quiet, “It’s me, Peter.”
“What are you doing here?” His voice was rough from sleep and sounded already half into dreamland again. His blanket got lazily opened, so Peter could shuffle under and closer to him.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
He heard a quiet humming sound in acknowledgment and an arm opened for Peter to lean into. He did so without hesitation, cushioning his head on Wade’s shoulder. In a whisper he continued, “I’m scared,” and realized by saying it out loud what has been bothering him.
“Of how this all will work out,” Wade asked him just as quietly.
Peter nodded into his shoulder and Wade’s other arm wrapped around him in a hug. “Whatever happens, if you don’t feel comfortable here or can’t stay for whatever reason, I’ll be there, ok? You can always stay with me in New York. You’ll get your education somehow and we fight crime together at night. We can figure it out.”
His throat closed around the emotions blossoming in his chest. But he bit them down to ask, his voice rough trying to push his vocal cords to work, “And if I like it here, if I want to stay? What will you do?”
Wade hugged him closer. “If you want me to, I’ll stay here, right by your side.”
“Ok.” I don’t deserve him, he thought to himself. He thought about all the other times Wade had helped him and never asked for anything in return. How he left the city without a thought because he believed this place to be good for Peter, even though he had to go to school and follow rules which he obviously didn’t like. Thinking about all this, Peter wasn’t able to say anything other than, “Thank you Wade.” The only thing he knew for sure, that he is grateful to have Wade here by his side.
“Try to sleep, Petey,” Wade breathed out before his evened out and Peter knew he was asleep again. He nuzzled his head a little closer and tightened his own arms around the body by his side. Listening to the familiar heartbeat in Wade’s chest, suddenly sleep didn’t feel all that hard anymore.