Chapter 1
Fury lounged in his chair, kicking his feet up onto the coffee table and skimming through the sheaf of papers in his hands. The window at his back blew cool, fresh air through the apartment, thin curtains billowing out at his sides.
“Hey,” a voice whispered behind him.
Fury sighed. He thought he’d finally get some goddamned quiet already. “What." he demanded. Froze. He flew out of his chair and unholstered his gun, flipping off the safety and taking aim in one smooth movement. The papers scattered across the carpet.
“I come in peace!” the kid yelped, hands raised above his head from where he was perched on the windowsill.
“Who the hell are you.” Fury ordered, not lowering his weapon. The intruder was wearing a red and blue suit made of what looked to be spandex, wide bug eyes staring back at him.
“I’m Spider-Man!” he blurted, gesturing to his suit. There was a large spider emblazoned across his chest. Not that it helped matters.
“Am I supposed to know who the fuck that is?” Fury intoned. He kept his aim. The guy wilted, raised arms lowering slightly but not falling.
“Well, I guess not,” he admitted, shrugging. “I’m pretty new at this.”
“And what, exactly, would this be?” Fury questioned, patience wearing thin.
“Ah!” he perked up, moving to stand straight up. Fury tensed. The dude hit his head on the top of the window with a solid smack, flinching back down and jerking his hands up to cover his head. “Owww!” he hissed quietly, rubbing at the spot. He settled back into his crouch, letting his palms rest on his knees. “The whole heroing thing,” he finally explained.
“Hero?” Fury repeated, dubious. The kid nodded emphatically, then clutched at his head, wince obvious even through the mask.
“Yeah. You know? The whole, pew pew, raaaah, fight bad guys! Save people!” he gesticulated wildly with his apt descriptions, pausing to look up at Fury as if to make sure he understood. “That whole thing.”
Fury sighed, lowering his gun. “I am well aware of what a hero is,” he said dryly.
“Ah,” the other replied. Then added nothing more.
Fury closed his eyes briefly, willing himself to be patient. He looked back at the kid. “What I am not aware of,” he began, “is why you are here. Hero or not.”
The guy visibly startled. “Oh - yeah of course! My bad! I guess I just got kinda excited when I saw you. You’re, like, the boss boss, ya know?” He took in Fury’s less than pleased expression and hastily continued. “Anyway, so basically there’s this whole alien invasion about to happen.”
Fury breathed in. Out. The other started to talk again but he cut him off, raising his hand and looking to the side. He waited for a few moments. “Explain,” he ground out.
He nodded. “Okay, so I thought it was just like a normal drug deal or something-”
“Kid,” Fury interrupted, incredulous. “You’re, what? Eight?”
“I’m eleven!” he replied petulantly, then covered his mouth, a muffled “oops” slipping through.
Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, okay. I’m just gonna take this whole thing back a step - to the present situation.” He dropped his hand to his side, stepping forwards. “First off, how the hell did you even get in here? This is the forty sixth floor.”
The boy hopped inside the room, this time ducking below the window’s top. He turned around, facing the wall and pressing his gloved fingertips flat against the surface. And then he climbed. Fury stared as the child crawled up to his ceiling, not even stopping for a second before turning completely upside down and making his way along that too. He craned his neck down to look at Fury, taking one hand off to wave at him and making Fury flinch, ready to lunge over and catch him. He waited for the kid to come back down before speaking again.
“So you’ve got some kind of grippy suit?” The boy shook his head, peeling off a glove and standing on his tippy toes, placing his palm flat against the wall. Then he let his feet level off so he was hanging from the side by his one bare hand. Fury’s eyebrows raised. “Okaaaay, not the suit.” The kid dropped down. “So-” he paused. He was already getting real sick of not having something to call him. “You got a name?”
“No,” he replied quickly, shaking his head.
Fury deadpanned. “If you know I’m the ‘boss boss’ - as you so eloquently put it - then you should damn well know I'll find out who you are. You’re just dragging out the inevitable.”
The kid hesitated for a moment - long enough that Fury thought he'd refuse - shifting on his feet. Before Fury could call him out on it, though, he pulled his mask straight off to reveal a mop of fluffy brown hair and a set of doe eyes. The kid gave a sheepish smile, fidgeting with the mask. “I'm Peter - Peter Parker,” he said.