ah shit, here we go again
sometimes, things go exactly like peter planned. most of the time, patrol goes smoothly and the civilians are safe. not often, someone doesn't get out safe. on the occasion, someone will degrade peter for doing his job, and it kills his rush from saving them.
unfortunately for peter parker, tonight was one of the occasion nights. a man had yelled at him for stopping a mugger, but the man got caught in the middle of peter fighting and got (at worse) a bruise. he felt terrible anyways but this? this sucked. it sucked that the man didn't understand he was trying to help. it sucked the man thought he could stop the mugger himself and got hurt. of course, he blamed spider-man, because no one cares about the masked vigilante.
after the whole getting yelled at the scene, he sat upon a roof and watched. karen was good at giving updates on the city, but he can never be too careful. so he sat. sat and waited. his mind just raced, raced with thoughts of how he could've done better, /been/ better. he missed stark calling him for missions. he misses hanging out at the labs. mr. stark just got caught up in press again, it happens. 'you'd think he would at least give me a call' peter thought to himself as he kicked the gravel rooftop. "maybe, just maybe happy could text me. let me know what's going on. but he doesn't! of course, he doesn't! i could die on a call with him and he'd say i'm wasting his time." peter said aloud to himself, letting his words get lost into the sounds of traffic and the words of strangers walking below.
he supposed he should tell happy how patrol went, even if he doesn't listen. maybe mr. stark would find him useful if he heard what peter does nightly. "hey happy, what's happening? I finished with active patrol and now i'm just chilling to see if anyone needs directions or something. i bet you're doing something cool! like, i don't know, dodging my calls?," peter said this as sweetly and almost sinister as he could, "well, i'm always open to missions or to even just come hang out in the labs. everyone knows i have literally nothing else to do. oh! the funniest thing happened on patrol tonight! i stopped a mugger and the man i helped yelled at me because /he/ decided to get in the middle of the fight. i had it covered but of course! he stepped right in, got hit, and yelled at me. he said the most darn things you know? the good old 'maybe you're not cut out for this anymore. you hurt me! i feel terrible for the other people, just stop before your ego gets too big.' that really sucked happy. it's not like you'll listen to this. i'm just having a fuzzy night. i'm sorry, maybe i'll take a break for a while. i don't feel cut out for this. bye."
peter abruptly ended the call. things from the night started to crush him. maybe he should take a break for spider-man, it's not like he's truly helping anyone. honestly, the seemingly hard ground feels tempting. tempting to just feel how it would be to simply slam his body against it. maybe not even to die, just for the pain. he knows he shouldn't, he's just tired. peter just told himself to go home. that's enough for tonight.
he did what he does best, he left. he went home. of course, he did, he let his mind get to him and he wimped out. his peter parker luck is really starting to show now huh? it didn't matter though, did it? maybe he's not meant for anything great, maybe being a neighborhood spider-man is all he's destined to be. nothing too great, just a common wannabe hero. tony was right, he is just a kid. a kid with some crazy powers he doesn't have. tony isn't one of those 'everything happens for a reason' guy, and it truly shows. he's not afraid to speak his mind, and peter was no exception. yeah, he guessed it sucked. at least mr. stark won't bullshit him though.
yeah. tonight's not his night peter decided. maybe, just maybe one slip up won't be noticeable. it's not like his enhanced healing won't heal him in less then an hour. so yeah, peter decided. it couldn't hurt.
Happy Hogans P.O.V
'the kids relentless' happy thought to himself as he got a third call from peter today. pete doesn't just stop, he's an annoying teen with an overactive imagination. friday knows to just silent the calls unless he sounds like he was in current distress. of course, he wasn't. he probably saved a cat from a fire escape and wanted to let happy know. he left it up to friday to decide if it was urgent, or if he could wait until he wasn't driving to listen. currently, he was driving to wait for tony to get back from a pr stunt and was probably just going to hang in the car for about an hour until he lands. friday said recommended to listen but not urgent, so he left it. just about fifteen minutes until he gets back, so not that big of a deal if he doesn't listen right away.
at the tower parking lot happy told friday "pause music, play message from peter parker." and so, friday did. he heard every word peter said, sort of expecting it to be boring so not exactly having all of his attention on what was playing. he heard the message fully and realised that the kids definetly needed a call back, a one time thing he supposed. happy picked up his phone and dialed peters number.
"pete? it's happy." he said when the ringing stopped
"yeah, i know. what's up with the call? a mission?"
"actually kid, let's talk about the call from earlier huh? is everything okay?"