tushanshu_logs | Does whatever a spider can...

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Does whatever a spider can...

Characters: Spider-Man (1610, Parker edition), and YOU!!!
Date: 11/30
Location: all around the city
Situation: Peter's feeling better and is doing a few laps around the city via rooftops in his ~~underwear~~ torn up costume
Warnings/Rating: TBA

It felt good to be out of the suite. It felt good to be running around, jumping from rooftop to rooftop like he used to back in New York. Peter had spent enough time sitting around in recovery mode, and more than enough time being restless and wanting to wander the streets. It was a new feeling that he'd never quite had before; When you're busy every night fighting off muggers and burglars and masked mad men, you crave the days when you can just sit at home, do homework, read The Hobbit... And now Peter found himself suffering somewhat the opposite. With no homework and no Hobbit, what could he fill his R&R time with? Nothing but a restless mind with a million questions and zero answers.

So running around in his red and blue pajamas and mask seemed to help, as torn up and dirty as they still were. At least it made him feel productive. His webs were being saved, however; first he needed to scout out what was around the city that could be used to make more. Which was probably for the best... As healed up as he was, he didn't really want that wound in his side splitting wide open and gushing his insides out onto the streets below while he did his swinging around. Jumping across the rooftops at least gave him an easy stop option if he needed it.

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Peter glanced back over his shoulder in the direction of May's voice, but he didn't stop or slow down. He was sure May could keep up, and if she couldn't, well... Then and only then could he even consider disowning her.

"Showed up like this," he replied with a slight shrug. "It's one of the many joys of being me! Clearly you're missing out on all the best spider-perks if you've never done the Patrol of Shame."

The sheer number of people pointing out the state of his suit was starting to make Peter slightly self-conscious. He really did need to find some way to fix it. Or at least see if Tony had actually gone and tried to build him a suit out of nanobots.

Ouch! "You don't need to cut me with your sarcasm. I've wrecked my fair share of costumes too. Nothing like a dip in the Hudson to make it look like even the washing machine's a losing battle."

Or sticking your 'air-dry only' costume in the dryer. It's pretty bad when you're splitting your tights in a fight and you're webbing yourself back together at the same time.

For that though, she's going to set the pace. Try to keep up, Peter. He might be able to jump farther and higher, but your girl here definitely the more agile.

"Hey, you should be honored. I only cut the best with my sarcasm." He's smiling under the mask, amused at their bit of banter. "To be fair, going up against the washing machine's almost always a losing battle."

The change of pace catches Peter a little bit by surprise. There was a reason Peter had been moving the way he had, but... well, he supposed May didn't really know that, did she? As a precaution, Peter slapped some webbing over the entry/exit wounds in his side before hustling to catch up with May. Not a difficult task by any means, but still more trying than it would be under normal circumstances.

"Only the best? I guess I'm going to have to take your word for it! Going from personal experience, I'm going to have to claim the dryer as my laundry room foe." That's one lesson she'll never forget. She jumps off the rooftop to the side of a nearby building, and springboards from that to the rooftop another, higher building, and then looks back.

...Shouldn't he be going a bit faster than this?

She frowns a bit, not that it's visible, and pauses for a bit to let him catch up. "Do you want me to slow down?"

That made him laugh lightly. "Taking you out one sock at a time?"

Peter was really only a step or two behind May, slower only because of the slight strain that he felt when he moved just so. With the webbing in place and with how long it had been, there was probably no danger at all of the wound opening. But it sure did a number on his agility. He was going to need to get back in prime Spidey shape if he wanted to-- …If I want to what?

He wasn't able to linger on that thought for long before he found himself right at May's side, that question hanging in the air. For a moment he couldn't tell if she was being concerned or condescending. He was going to assume the former. He waved a hand dismissively with a chuckle. "Nah, I've just got a kink in my side, that's all. Why, is having your old man here cramping your style?"

"No, just that even he could keep up better." It's exaggeration; if anything her dad would've been just a bit slower than his younger doppleganger, but she's seen how fast Peter Parker can be when whole and healthy- she's seen an alternate version her dad's age, and one in the past when he was still a teenager. Not as fast as she can be, but he should be able to be right next to her, rather than lagging behind a bit, the way they're going right now.

"If you're that out of shape, maybe you really do need that extra training, and to lay off the fast food, too. You don't want to be showing off a gut with that costume." She's not entirely sure what's going on with him, but she can pretend everything's fine too.

Beneath the mask, Peter had to roll his eyes a little. Sporting a gut in costume was the least of his concerns, really. "A little Photoshop magic before the Daily Bugle puts their photos out will fix that right up."

Now that they were stopped, he took the opportunity to stretch a little, carefully twisting himself from side to side, raising his arms over his head and then out in front of him. The strain sucked. Slowly Peter was deciding that he was in no danger of splitting open while in mid-air; he could probably push himself a little closer to his limit.

"And it's not the fast food's fault. It's the unlimited Jell-O supply at the hospital."

She propped herself up on the side of a chimney, sitting on it, watching while he stretched. Anything she might have said in response was put on hold with his hospital comment. His costume looked bad, but hospital bad?

"Hold on, why were you at the hospital?" This wasn't exactly the sort of weather meant for sticking around in in tights, but she had stopped for him in the first place.

Edited (HTML oops) 2013-12-12 02:48 (UTC)

Oops. Peter waved a hand, trying to dismiss the comment. "I wasn't- I'm just saying. Hospital Jell-O is good."

He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised to realize that May would have some concerns about things like that. After all, he was an alternate, younger version of her father. "I haven't had to go to a hospital in a long time."

"Right." Both of those statements are coming across pretty fishy- c'mon, Peter, as the daughter of the original Spider-man she can catch when something weird's going on with Peter Parker at least some times- but she's not going to push it just now.

Maybe she can get the full story out of Kaine, if he knows.

Either way, she pushes off the chimney with a flip, and motions in the direction of nearest tallest building in the vicinity.

"Race you?"

He chose not to defend himself any further. Mainly because he was pretty sure there wasn't a need to do so. He really hadn't been to a hospital in a long time, not since Aunt May's heart attack, and that was when he realized just how good hospital food actually was.

Straightening to his full height, Peter just stared in May's direction. "Seriously? Are you testing me or something?"

May's a full inch taller than him. It's something she hadn't entirely realized until just now, but now that she sees it, she can't unsee it. How is she taller than any version of Peter Parker? Too weird.

"Should I?" The grin on her face as she tries to not think about that is apparent in her voice. "I could tell you how you'd measure up to his standards." Her dad pushed her to constantly improve out of paranoia that she might get hurt, but Parker Standards for themselves have always been outrageously high.

If only May could see the way Peter rolled his eyes under his mask. 'His standards.' Knowing who she was talking about, it all felt so strange somehow. Maybe it was a normal enough reaction, but with all the craziness that had been thrown his way, somehow it seemed like he shouldn't be this surprised.

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I really shouldn't back down." His tone was light, but honestly, Peter's feeling a lot more curious than he was competitive in any way. "Are his standards are like, crazy high? I didn't bring my jetpack, so I feel I'm already at a serious disadvantage."

For a girl who's rarely lacked self-confidence, the standards her dad expected her to measure up to always managed to make her feel like she was disappointing him, until she decided to making being Spider-girl her thing.

"Five AM training, Spidey." She can call him that, right? "Are yours crazy high? I don't think you need to worry about the jetpack, last time I checked my spider-powers didn't include flying."

If she didn't have to worry about webfluid, she could definitely manage a parachute, though.

He let a mock shudder of disapproval visibly ripple through him. "Five AM. That's just plain monstrous. Sometimes I don't even get home by 5 AM."

In response to her question, though, he simply rolled his shoulders back in a shrug. "I'm sixteen, and I've been in tights for a year. I mostly just try to stay alive."

"And you get away with that?" A low whistle. Even though her parents know she's out there in costume, they'd never let her get away with staying out that late.

"Alive is good. But trust me, you can do much better than just alive. I can teach you." She's had her close calls, but she knows how much closer those would be if she didn't have the same amount of training or experience. "Between him, my uncle, and even Elektra, I have to know enough at this point to pass something on."

She stretches her arms out, and with a wave, motions for him to follow her off the roof.

"I mean, if it's okay with you."

He just shrugged again. "I wouldn't say I'm getting away with it. It's not like I'm having the time of my life out there."

Peter almost wanted to laugh at the 'alive' comment. Alive was good. And truth be told, he would've liked learning how to do better than he was before things ended the way they did. So he really didn't see any reason to refuse May's offer. And on top of that, she had actual training from people with years of experience.

"It's totally okay with me. The only 'training' I got was from Tony, and while he's a total tech genius, he was a pretty bad teacher." He couldn't even count Captain America as a tutor. The man took him to a graveyard and talked about the mortality of man.

"I don't either, but I don't want to think about the look on my mom's face if I tried to use psychopathic criminals as an excuse for why I came in so late after curfew!" You know a version of her mom. There's no way any version of Mary Jane, whether still a Watson or a Parker, would take that well. She'd end up locked up in her room for the rest of her life if her mom thought that'd work.

"And wait, Tony?" He's not talking about who she thinks he is, right?

"You've never met my Aunt May. She can get pretty vicious." Though an angry MJ is never something he's looked forward to dealing with either. He still didn't know why she broke up with him after the big flood, and every attempt to ask her about it had ended poorly.

--Wait, May had another question. "Yeah. Tony. Stark? Do you... not have one of those?"

"I kinda did, once? Time travel was involved." She's not going to touch the rest. And with the way her mom's voiced her problems with May being Spider-girl in the past, if she knew about Peter not knowing that, she'd definitely be able to enlighten him as to why.

"We do! He's retired," and so vain that his hair's an obvious dye job, "But he was still trying to backseat drive the Avengers." He can't tell, but she's making a face. She doesn't really like the guy, for all that he was a big time hero. Being a 'good' person didn't make you a 'nice' one.

His eyes widened slightly. Time travel?? Was she serious? Because first of all, time travel. But second-- "Wait a second. You went back in time and met Aunt May?! And that- That wasn't the only way you could meet her, was it???"

That's a pretty important distinction, after all.

As for Tony... "Oh... Well, I guess that kinda figures. He really just- does whatever he wants, huh?"

Uhoh. How do you tell someone their mother figure died before you were born? May focuses on the bit about Tony Stark for the moment. She needs to think fast, because this isn't of thing anyone should have dropped on them.

" The guy really needs to learn how to listen. He tried to push a bunch of retired heroes on the team even though they had been out of it for years. You can guess how well that went." Hint: Not at all.

She still has no idea how to answer his question right, so she just pauses. "Yeah. Time travel." Her voice is serious, slightly lower. "It kinda was the only way I'd ever meet her."

"Not well at all, huh? Sometimes I'm not sure Tony's got working ears, to be honest." While that was a joke, it was absolutely true that Tony really sucked at the hero thing 9 times out of 10.

And then Peter got his answer. Aunt May wasn't around in this May's life. Honestly, Peter couldn't even imagine a life without Aunt May around in some capacity. She was his entire family, really. Peter slumped back against the nearest object, suddenly needing the support while he let this information process.

"Oh." He had other questions of course, but he didn't think May would have the answers. And he wasn't sure he wanted to dwell on the subject for too long.

Aunt May was such an important figure in her dad's life that even though she died before May was born, he still spoke about her with plenty of fondness.

So it's not a big surprise that this Peter slumps, making her wish she hadn't opened her mouth on the subject of Aunt May in the first place.

She hovers nearby for a second, not entirely sure what to do before she puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I am so, so sorry I said that. I shouldn't've brought it up."

He just shuts his eyes and lets out a sigh (that just gets caught and thrown back at him by the mask). "No- No, it's okay. I asked."

Pulling in another breath, he tries to reason with himself. He has to. As much as he's never wanted to think about it, Aunt May's just as mortal as everyone else. And in another 20 or 30 years, who even knew what would happen? The woman had suffered a heart attack when S.H.I.E.L.D. attacked their house, and he himself had just died... Like Captain America said, they're all going to end up in the ground eventually.

"I'm sorry." He finally turns back to May, pulling himself back together enough to not be slumped and wallowing in a big steaming pile of pity. "I'm sorry, I was just- surprised. I'm okay."

Does whatever a spider can...

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WOOOOO LATENESS

Re: WOOOOO LATENESS

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