The Nephilim

"i have a plan!" peter declared as he sat down at the table that ned and mj were at, a pen and notepad in his hand, "okay, so first i'm gonna sit next to jack on the flight and i bought a dual headphone adapter so that i can watch movies with him the whole time." he began, excitedly telling his friends about his "get-with-jack" plan.

it wasn't a secret to ned and michelle that peter had a crush on their friend; it was pretty damn obvious in the way he talked to, looked at, and acted around the blonde, but they could also see that jack did the exact same thing to peter without peter noticing.

it was like they were witnessing a mutual pining fanfiction in real time.

"when we go to venice; venice is super famous for making stuff outta glass right? so, i'm gonna buy him a saturn necklace since his favorite planet is saturn because of--"

"his aunt." ned cut in, the three knowing how close jack was with his aunt, rowena, and how she taught him a bunch of stuff on witchcraft, saturn just so happened to be her "planetary influence" because of her star sign and whilst it wasn't jack's, his was venus, he still said it was his favorite planet because it was her influence. "yeah, but instead of the rings of saturn, i'm gonna have a snake wrapped around it because it's jack's favorite animal. and then, i'm gonna take him to the top of the eiffel tower, give him the necklace, and tell him how i feel......then, he hopefully tells me he feels the same way."

"oh, don't forget step seven."

"step seven?"

"don't do any of that."

peter looked up at ned, annoyed, and mj also giving him an annoyed look because she honestly thought that peter's plan was really sweet, "why?" peter questioned, "because we're gonna be bachelors in europe, peter!" he replied and michelle rolled her eyes, face palming, "you're fucking kidding me."

"ned--"

"i may not know much, but i know this; europeans love americans."

peter and mj both raised their eyebrows at their friend, "really?" they questioned in unison and ned looked at them, "and more than half of them are women!" he announced and mj chuckled, "okay, sure." peter mumbled, "but.......i really like jack, okay? he's awesome, he's super funny without even meaning to be, he's really sweet and kinda weird as hell, but in the best way possible and sometimes i catch him looking at me and i feel like--he's coming, don't say anything!" the teenager rambled, cutting himself off as he saw the boy walking towards them.

"hello!" jack smiled as he came over, waving at them and holding onto the strap of his bookbag with his other hand, said book bag slung across his chest and shoulder and covered in pins and patches, including the strap and so did the jacket he was wearing over his "kill the rich (except tony stark)" shirt, the tony stark part being something he added on himself with fabric paint. "are you excited about the trip?"

"oh, yeah we were just talking about the trip."

"and peter's plan."

peter froze at ned's words, mj turning to their friend and giving him a "dude" look that jack couldn't see while the blonde furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head in curiosity, "you have a plan?" he questioned and peter has literally never wanted to hide more in his life, "i-i don't have plan." he stammered and that just made jack even more confused.

"oh, he's just going to collect tiny spoons while we're traveling to other countries."

"like......like a grandmother?"

"i'm not collecting tiny spoons, he's collecting tiny spoons." peter rushed out, pointing his pen at ned and he had never felt less-cool in his entire life, "it's not weird to collect something, peter, i collect pins and patches." the blonde teenager shrugged, giving his friend a soft smile and peter's heart threatened to leap out of his chest like a cartoon, "i should go now--oh wait! mj, here's the book you let me borrow."

jack reached into his bag, handing the girl a hardcover copy of the outsiders, "thanks, did you like it?" she asked and he nodded with a wide smile, "i loved it, but it made me cry." he chuckled and they all smiled at him, "this is something everyone should do, but travel tip; you should download a vpn on your phone so the government can't track you while we're abroad." michelle informed and jack nodded, "oh, thank you, i'll do that when i get the chance. bye guys!"

the teenager walked away, giving peter a small squeeze on the shoulder as he past him and peter would be lying to you if he said his heart didn't jump at the conact, "i think that went really great." ned smiled and peter shot him a look, "ned, that literally couldn't have been more chaotic." mj scoffed and the boy gawked at her, "no way! he didn't suspect a thing!"

"he's jack! he's just a personified puppy! it's not like he's gonna think peter's weird for collecting spoons, which by the way; what the hell?"

"i panicked!"

peter groaned, letting his head fall onto the table with a thud, hoping his plan didn't go as poorly as that interaction just did.

•◇•

"remember to call me or dad when the plane lands, jack."

"i will, i promise." jack smiled before getting on his toes and hugging his father, the teen's suitcase beside him and sam smiled, giving his son a pat on the head as he pulled away, "have fun, alright?" the man cooed and jack nodded, grabbing his suitcase and running to the group of students who were already checking in their baggage.

"i hate planes."

"dude, you can fly." peter replied in a whisper and jack sighed, "that's different, it lasts less than two seconds but a plane lasts hours and its shaky and just bad." he mumbled as he moved forward in the line, peter pulling him in for a side hug and ruffling his hair, "aw, i'll protect you from the scary plane, jackie."

despite the way his heart picked up it's pace, jack managed a retort; "i'm gonna throw you off the plane if you call me that again." he grumbled and by the smirk on peter's face, he could tell that the teen wasn't done, "i'm terrified, jackie."

this remark didn't get him thrown off a plane, of course, but instead got him a smack to the back of the head before he put his suitcase onto the platform for it to be checked in, "....honestly though, can you please sit with me? i know it's kind of childish, and if you don't want to, i could ask--" the teen began, but his friend cut him off, "jack, relax, i'll sit with you."

jack gave his friend a grateful smile, "thank you." he mumbled and peter gave him a pat on the shoulder; that helped peter's "get-with-jack" plan and he could kinda cross step one off his list now, hopefully it was this easy going the rest of the way.

•◇•

the plane ride went just as well as peter hoped it would, which meant that him and jack watched movies and passed the hell out at around hour five, peter waking up to the blonde sleeping peacefully on his shoulder and his heartrate jumped by like a million, but that was fine. afterwards, they had arrived to their hotel in venice, which was kind of gross to be at, before going back out and mr.harrington and mr.dell told the students to look around the shops in the area.

to most, this was just a fun little tourist moment in venice, but to peter, this was the perfect opportunity to secretly walk off to a jewelry shop and continue with his plan, where he explained to the man what he wanted and he paid for it, the man telling him when to come back and peter thanked him, walking away and going back to his friends.

•••

"if these birds shit on me, then i'll fucking end them all."

peter laughed as watched jack and michelle stood in the middle of a swarm of birds, brad taking photos of them as pigeons landed at their feet and on their arms, peter smiling to himself as a pigeon landed on jack's head, making the teenager squeal and scrunch his face up in surprise.

the brunette jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket, opening it and seeing a message from the shop owner and he quickly walked away, knowing that jack was focused on other things and he walked back to the glass jewelry shop, the owner greeting him with a wide smile before ducking under his counter and grabbing a small and circular jewelry box, opening it and pulling out the necklace he had made; a small but rather thick piece of braided leather was looped through a hole that was attached to a snake that was made of metal and painted gold and wrapped a glass sphere that was colored with pale pinks, yellows, and tans to make it look like saturn.

"it's perfect."

the man let out a grateful laugh as he gave peter a gift bag to put the necklace and its casing in, which the teen accepted and out the items away before thanking him and leaving, making his way to where his friends were; "boh!" peter jumped at the sudden sound of jack's voice and he quickly hid the gift bag behind his back, eyes a little wide at the sudden appearance of his friend, "what?"

"boh! it's an italian phrase that mj just learned and she just told me about it! it's 'the most perfect word in the world' according to her and i like it too." jack beamed as him and peter began walking again, "what does it mean?"

"that's the best part, it can mean a million things; it can mean 'i don't know', 'go away'.....'i don't know and go away'. it's, again according to mj, 'probably the best thing the italians created, except for espresso'. which, i have to agree with."

"oh, so you've been drinking espresso?"

"mhm!"

"gentlemen!" a man cried as he rushed up to them, holding several wrapped flowers and obviously trying to sell them, peter and jack faltering as he held out a red rose to them, "uh.....boh." jack stammered and the man's face fell and he sighed before leaving, "woah." peter mumbled and jack giggled, "boh is like a super power."

"you already have those."

"i don't have mind control--at least, i don't think i do."

"that must be weird to not know what you can do."

"yeah, but i haven't gotten the chance to test something like that out yet, all the training has been physical before this trip and i don't really wanna put one of them in a mind spell like that ya know?" jack explained and peter nodded, he understood that because he still had a hard time training with the avengers with his super strength and while jack didn't have super strength, he had an energy blast that could make things explode and he was still afraid to use those powers at all.

you're probably thinking something like, 'what do you mean they haven't trained his powers with him yet? shouldn't he have used them by now?'; the answer to that is no because around the time that jack's powers were discovered and tony had given him a suit; thanos came around and jack was not in the finale battle against thanos and his army because tony didn't want him there; it wasn't that he thought he was too weak, it's just that he didn't want the kid to get hurt because he wasn't sure what to do.

"hey, what's in the bag?"

peter looked down at the gift bag in his hand before looking back up at jack, "uh, boh." he smirked and jack giggled, "nice." he smiled as they continued walking along the bridge and down some steps to a boardwalk, where jack stopped as he noticed a bunch of crabs climb onto the shore; "woah, cool." he muttered before bending down and pulling out his phone, taking some pictures of them and he turned to peter with a smile, which the other teen returned before his attention shifted once he heard a soft gurgling noise.

a drain that was built into the floor was suddenly sucked dry and peter's eyebrows furrowed at the sight, wondering what the hell could be happening before he heard a huge booming and him and jack jumped at the sound, watching as a huge surge of water burst into the air and peter grabbed jack's arm, pulling him away from the edge of the shore just as the boat that betty and ned were in came rocketing at them, jack and peter rushing over to their friends and helping them out, michelle running towards them to make sure they were okay and everyone turned as another burst of water came soaring into the air, forming into a monster of some kind as it let out a terrifying roar.

"what is that?!" 

"i don't know!"

"what are we gonna do?!"

"i left my suit in the hotel room."

"why?!"

"because i'm on vacation, ned!" peter replied to his friend, "everyone's gonna see me, just get them outta here." he ordered and ned nodded, quickly grabbing betty's hand and running off with michelle and jack, but jack turned around and went back to peter, "my suit's at the hotel as well, what should we do?" jack rushed out and peter didn't get a chance to answer as the water creature let out another cry and began wrecking buildings and smashing into the water, the brunette grabbing jack's hand and running off with him and ducking behind a wall to protect him from a blast of water.

peter quickly put the gift bag into his backpack before grabbing a small circular object from said backpack and he smacked it against his wrist, it turning into his webshooters and he shot a web at the monster, but it went directly through it because it was made of water and jack grabbed peter's arm to get his attention, "i'm gonna go over to the bridge and get people away from here, focus on keeping the structures that people are on intact." he rushed out and peter gave him a nod before the blonde teleported away.

peter briefly took in his surroundings, seeing where the creature was headed before he jumped and ran across a bunch of messed up boardwalk posts, grabbing a rowing stick and using it to catapult himself onto a bridge, helping someone up and to rush away just before the monster slammed its fist into the bridge, sending peter flying into the opposite end of the bridge, now soaking wet.

the teenager scrambled to his feet, planning his next attack before seeing someone fly past him, furrowing his eyebrows as he watched this man who was surrounded by green smoke and wearing a fogged-up bowl om his head attack the water creature, peter quickly regaining hinself and grabbing a jester mask from the floor and putting it on his face, quickly climbing his way onto a roof and watching as this unknown man attacked the creature and did his best to stop it.

"ex-excuse me sir?!" the teenager cried as he held onto the edge of the roof he was on, getting the stranger's attention, "i can help! let me help! i'm really strong and...sticky!" he added, mentally punching himself for the end of his sentence, "i need you to lead it away from the canal!" the man replied before flying off, which the creature didn't like because it went to follow him, and that meant it crashed into the building peter was on and the teenager shot a web, swinging away and landing on another house.

peter shot web after web, swinging through buildings as he attempted to put thrm back together, not knowing how else to help as the strange man seemed to be doing a fine job at distracting the monster; as he landed ontop of a sturdy roof, the water monster smashed into a large clock tower and that caused it to begin falling apart, "come on!" peter grumbled as he shot a web, swinging towards it and shooting more webs to keep it together, wrapping the material around the building to get it back up, landing in the bell area.

the creature smacked into the tower again, causing it to begin tilting and peter quickly shot two webs, pulling at them to keep the building up and a sudden crash caused peter to slip, makimg him hit the bell and he groaned as he fell, going to stand back up but only to get hit again and have his webs come loose, shooting two more and pulling with as much force as he could to get the building to fall away from other structures because there was no way that he could keep it from falling.

the strange man managed to defeat the water creature, it dissipating into just normal water just as the clock tower fell into an empty area, peter smacking into the floor and he scrambled to get up, seeing that everyone was cheering the man and he went into his bag, checking to see if the necklace he had bought was still okay, which it was.

the teenager made his way back towards his school group just as the unknown man flew off, seeing that everyone was okay and he let out a relieved sigh, looking around for jack and he rushed over to his friends, "hey, everyone okay?" he asked and there was a collective nod, "where's jack?" he added and the subtle sound of wings fluttering met his ears and he continued to look around, "i don't know." mj breathed out just before jack came running from behind a building, crashing into peter and hugging him tightly, making the brunette let out a surprised grunt.

"woah! hey, you're okay?"

"yeah, m'okay, you?"

peter nodded with a smile as he pulled away, jack smiling back and they both turned as harrington spoke up, jack's hand remaining on peter's shoulder and the butterflies in peter's stomach would not calm the hell down because of it.

•◇•

"yeah, dad, we're all okay, nobody got hurt at all, i promise." peter heard jack say on the phone as he walked down the hotel's hallway, seeing the blonde leaning against the wall with his cellphone up to his ear as he talked to who peter could only assume was either castiel or sam, "no, i don't know who that person was, neither does peter, he isn't an avenger and none of the avengers are even in italy right now, tony isn't that protective." he mumbled and peter chuckled a little, which caught jack's attention and he jumped, "dad, i should be going now because curfew is soon, i'll call you tomorrow sometime okay? i love you too, bye."

"did the water thing make it to the news in america already?"

"yeah, dad called me as soon as he saw it and at first he was freaked, but then he became a grumpus because i dunno who that mysterio person was." jack shrugged, peter realizing that it was castiel who had called, "i'm gonna go grab some water from the front." he muttered before walking off past peter, only for ned to come down the hallway and catch up to peter, a kind of panicked expression on his face.

"is everything okay? what are you going to do about the water monster?"

"everything's good, ned, and i'm not gonna do anything, it's dead and even if it wasn't, that mysterio guy is all over it." peter shrugged before walking towards his and jack's room, which made peter nearly choke the first time he heard that they were bunking together, "look, i just want to spend some time with jack. we were talking about paris and......i think he really likes me." he added with a smile as he turned into his room.

"that's nice, it reminds me of when betty and i first fell in love; i had just finished my fruit cobbler, right?--"

peter froze as he heard ned's sentence come to a sudden stop and then a thud, turning and seeing his friend passed out on one of the beds; "you're a very difficult person to contact, spiderman." an all too familiar voice spoke and peter turned around, eyes wide as he stared at nick fury.