An Alien Invasion Happens And Now They Have An Excuse To Cut Decathlon Practice Short
The Decathlon team has mandatory meetings at school, but also meetings outside of school. They rotated whose house it was at and met up twice a week, and other than Peter, everyone was always there. This time, it's at Flash's. They have their rituals, just like any group. They settle into a circle on the floor, all sitting in the same order they always do, and Flash turns the TV ln for some background noise, not bothering to change it from the news. They start practice. MJ asks questions and the two in the middle of the circle try to answer before the other. It's kinda fun. Charles brought snacks, and they're currently munching on some pretty good cookies. Then the news says something that catches their attention. Aliens. Again. Peter stands up.
"MJ, I gotta go." He's not looking at any of them, just picking up his bag and walking away. MJ stands up and grabs his sleeve.
"Absolutely not. We need this practice." Peter nervously glances at the news and then back at MJ. He sighs and Flash smirks, knowing Peter is going to admit defeat.
"I'll have Karen patch you in through my private comms and you can put me on speaker." Wait, what?
Then MJ gives in.
"Fine. But absolutely no dying." Peter laughs and MJ crosses her arms and gives him a look. Peter smiles and puts his hands up in surrender.
"Seriously MJ. I've had enough near death experiences - I won't be dying today."
"Good. Now get going loser! There's aliens!" She shoves him towards the bathroom.
"And you're changing in there and not the goddamn alleyways!" She shouts through the door she just closed. There's a mumbled 'Fine!' from Peter.
MJ rejoins the group.
"What's happening?" Charles asks curiously.
"This may come as a shock for you guys, so we're just gonna wait until he's up and swinging before resuming practice." Ned laughs even though there was no joke and MJ smirks at him. The bathroom door opens. Oh. Oh there was a joke.
"What the fuck," Flash deadpans, a little slack jawed.
"I'm just gonna leave my backpack here guys!" And then Peter’s out the door.
"Everybody else saw that, right? I'm not hallucinating?" Abe asks, a little shocked.
"And now you know where he went on all those field trips and missed meetings," is all MJ says before her phone rings. She answers the call and puts it on speaker. It's loud. There's screams and guns and shouting and crashing and screeching and thwipping and other noises.
"Ah! I can reduce all that background noise if you want MJ?" Peter’s voice comes through.
"Nah. If the team can answer with all these distractions, we're golden,” MJ says as she shuffles her cards.
"Wowee. I mean, I guess you're right? But that's kinda harsh MJ."
"Shut up loser. If you don't get at least half your questions right we're doing the next five practices at the compound so they can embarrass you."
"Hey! I'm trying to save the world here - cut me a little slack!" Peter is joking; MJ is not.
Practice is hectic, but the team adjusts. They ask Peter a few questions here and there, but for the most part their captain makes them focus on practicing. The news is hilarious though as several reporters question why Spider-Man is yelling out random facts at unexpected intervals. It's actually quite a funny situation if you look at it through rose tinted glasses.
"Pathogen," MJ calls. Peter is stabbed and he says through a grunt, "Microorganism! Spreads diseases, fungi, viruses, and parasites!" Then he coughs up blood.
"Peter! Are you alright?" Sally asks in concern. MJ pulls out the next card.
"Peachy keen! This is like stubbing a toe for me!"
"That's not anymore reassuring Peter!" Cindy says in worry.
"Look, while you guys were out partying at homecoming, I literally had an entire building collapse on me! I’m telling you, this is nothing." He dodges a punch by somewhat throwing himself to the left and then ducks down to avoid a kick to the head. He sweeps his legs in a circle, knocking down his offenders. He holds out both arms and webs them to surrounding buildings.
"I've had worse!" he chirps and punches some alien in the face as MJ clears her throat.
"Aww, how cute!" Peter quips at an alien running at him. Peter jumps and while he's in the air he kicks his leg behind him to hit the alien in the head. "You run like a baby! Aren't you all just precious, inexperienced babies!" His quip is aimed at the next alien, which he takes down in a second.
"A bunch of babies when it comes to fighting! Seriously! They need some type of fighting classes where you come from." MJ clears her throat again.
"Sorry MJ! Got distracted!"
"I can tell. Answer the next one wrong and I'm serious, the next practice will be at the tower or compound."
They see Spider-Man wince and recoil some on TV.
"Gods no MJ."
It's Peter's turn again, and he was against Flash. Little shit/his idol was still answering the questions correctly while fighting literal aliens. Even bantering with the aliens and his teammates - them and the superhero ones! They saw him and Captain America fistbump with the backs of their hands before fighting back to back. And that was also when he'd answered a question before Flash even opened his mouth! Damn him.
Peter had just answered another question correctly, and it was getting on Flash's nerves. Although, it was pretty cool. Peter was actually kind of -
Tony Stark's voice cut in.
"Kid! We all know how smart you are - you don't have to shout random facts!" Peter does a flip off a building and shoots a web.
"I'm not just shouting them out Mr. Stark -" he does a flying kick into an alien and shoots another web, "- and besides! I thought I was on my private comms!" The team is silent, awaiting to see if Mr. Nobody Peter Parker Who Is Apparently Somebody was about to get yelled at by Mr. Big Shot Hero Tony Freaking Stark.
"We're still all in the same physical location, kid." They hear a blaster charge and an alien grunt.
"Who are you even talking to and why are they so silent?" Tony continues. Peter is on the TV and they can see his smile through his mask, and isn't that just cute?
"My AcaDeca team! Say hi guys!" He introduces them with some pride as he somersaults off a building and dropkicks yet another alien.
"Hi," they all chorus back, some nervous and others excited. MJ just scoffs.
"Well hello to you too, MJ. And hi Peter's team. Kid, I ever tell you you have too much on your plate?" Peter punches some alien in the throat.
"Yup! And like all those times before Mr. Stark, please, kindly, with the most respect ever, shut up you hypocrite. Karen hang up on Mr. Stark please."
"Wh-" he starts to protest, but a dial tone plays.
"Thank you Karen!"
"Of course, Peter." He bitch slaps some alien into a building. Ouch.
"Woah, who was that?" Cindy asks and Peter chuckles.
"That's Karen! She's an AI and she kinda lives in my suit?"
"Hello, Deca team," she greets in a motherly voice. They chime back their greetings and MJ sighs. She sets the practice cards down and settles her gaze on the TV. She resigns herself to no further practice - Peter is pretty cool anyways and is saving their asses right now though, so she supposes it's acceptable for this meeting to not be a full practice. Just this once.
Ned is changing the channel again, trying to find one with Peter.
"I wish we could just, like, see you on one consistent feed Peter," he grumbles.
"Well, the best I can do is try having Karen send you a feed of what I'm seeing?" Their words clamble over each other in excitement, but the agreement is clear.
"Cool. Karen?"
"It's possible Peter, but you'll have to hang up this call for a moment."
"Okay!" Silence for a moment and then Ned's phone rings. Ned picks up quickly and then a view of an alien's face up close and personal is taking up the screen.
"I figured your phone might be getting low on battery MJ! So I had Karen switch it up." MJ scoffs, but there's clear fondness and amusement in her eyes and small smile on her face.
"Ever the considerate. What, I can't charge my own phone?"
"MJ please," Peter says and suddenly he's zooming to the top of a tall building and a few people look away.
"I know for a fact you absolutely could, but your charger is at your house."
"Guilty as charged." He jumps off the fucking building.
"God," Abe mutters. "How do you not get sick doing this?"
"I'm just used to it." You can hear the shrug in his voice as he lands and fights some aliens. "There was a slight adjustment period, sure, but of course there was gonna be! One day you're so sick you think you might actually be dying, the next you're able to walk up walls! Life is just crazy sometimes, I've gotten used to it." He balances on his hands as he kicks an alien in the nose.
"I'll say," Flash speaks.
"Woah! I totally thought you'd gone out of the room or something, you were so silent!" Peter pulls one towards him with a web rope and punches it.
"You alright?" he asks as if he wasn't the one in danger from fighting aliens.
"Yeah," Flash replies and picks up on the lull in conversation and clears his throat. "So, that internship..."
"Oh! Spider-Man is the internship! Although I do help Mr. Stark out in his lab sometimes."
"So, you can actually walk up walls?" Sally inquires.
"Yeah! I'm sticky!" He cringes and does some ballet moves that end with about eight aliens on the ground.
"I could've phrased that better!"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," Flash finds himself scoffing and teasing back. It's actually kind of ... nice not to be rudely teasing Parker? He's a pretty chill guy?
"Sure man! But yeah, I can walk up them, sit on them, whatever. Unfortunately can't drink on them - I've tried -" they laugh because of course he has, "but pretty much any part of my body can stick to anything basically. Not just walls! I, uh, once fell asleep against Mr. Stark's side in the lab and I totally stuck to him. Now that was embarrassing!" Yeah, this is nice, they all decide. This Peter is calm and relaxed, fully open and acting his true self. They decide they like the real Peter.
"So," Abe starts with a wicked grin. "Got any good Avengers stories?"
"Y'all wanna hear how I beat them all on game night by doing WiiSports on the ceiling?" They decide yes, they do, and also they'd do anything for this adorable new side of Peter.
The aliens have all been ... Well, they've been dealt with. Peter is sitting on top of a building, postponing joining the group of Avengers. He sighs contently.
"Thanks guys. This was one of the most fun patrols I've ever had. We should do this more often."
And if they did do it more often, well, nobody had to know.