Luckily for Peter, the restaurant wasn't far from the hospital so he didn't have to worry about changing into his stretched-out binder while swinging. He did not want to face May's wrath if she found out he was exercising in a newer binder. Walking was fine though, so he walked to the restaurant which was about 5 minutes of walking. He had hyped himself up along the way. Spider-man wouldn't be afraid of ordering at a restaurant. He'd just do it. He could do it. Two medium pepperoni pizzas, please. Two medium pepperoni pizzas, please. Two medium pepperoni pizzas, please. He started humming lower and lower trying to make sure his voice wouldn't give him away, testosterone could only do so much, he had to go past that weird voice stage so in the meantime he just needed to hum. Hum and repeat his order in his head.
Peter stepped into the restaurant, not humming anymore, and luckily there was no line. He got seated immediately and said that he would also like to order immediately, if possible. It wasn't long before someone came to his table to take his order. Great. Awesome, he could finally get some.... NICO? Oh. Shit. Don't panic. They don't know it's you. They probably think you are staring at them because they are androgynous. Voice. Right. In his deepest, least Spider-man-like voice he said "Oh sorry I'm not staring, my mind just blanked on what I wanted to say. You remind me of someone, but I saw them in Europe so I very much doubt it would be you and it was just in passing. Some people just make an impression, I guess. Sorry, rambling. I'm just trying to remember what I wanted to say and fill up the void. Right, order. Uhhh, could I get two medium pepperoni pizzas, please? Like have one of them in a box so it cools down less quickly and it's automatically a doggy bag?"
"Oh, that can be arranged. Anything to drink with that?"
"Right drinks. Just a Coke would be fine, thanks."
"Coming right up. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to signal me, that's what I am here for."
___
The food was good, as always. And he still had half a pizza for breakfast tomorrow. It wasn't enough but he was sure they also had some cereal or something. They might not be able to go on holidays and days out would mean taking pictures and hiking in a forest instead of going to the movies or to an amusement park. Something that May always made sure of was that Peter got enough to eat, especially with his heightened intake due to testosterone and being Spider-man. They didn't need a lot of money, just enough to pay the bills and the groceries. They'd make do with the rest.
Speaking of money, Peter needed to make sure he kept up his grades so he kept his scholarship. So even though Peter could already understand and practice physics and chemistry on a level that some PhD students would envy, he still needed to do the homework and make sure that his other subjects were on a good level as well. It doesn't matter if you are amazing at physics, if you can't write an essay on the use of weapons in ancient civilizations or something equally depression-inducing topic (We get it. Hurting other people and animals is in our nature.) But he managed to do those essays well, they just took up a lot of time that he could be spending patrolling, or inventing things. It would just be a lot easier if he didn't have to write papers where every part of the text could take an hour because he was thinking about every word and often got distracted.
But it was fine because he managed to do it. He kept up this perfect student persona, managed to be a friendly neighborhood Spider-man, and worked and volunteered as well. It was all fine, as long as dysphoria didn't get too bad, he could keep up. So Peter Parker kept on working and working and working because if he stopped, he didn't know what to do with himself.
___
"So, how much does the legal team hate me." Pepper asked Joan, groaning. Stakeholder meetings and most of the time she had to be professional. She just... clicked with Joan. Was able to let her guard down when they were together. When they were together Pepper was still the boss, but the PR team was also kind of Pepper's manager for social interaction and had saved Tony and her more times than she could count. It led to Pepper having the opportunity to discuss things as friends. No fancy jargon. No niceties. If she messed up, she would hear it. It was refreshing.
YOU ARE READING
Behind a Smile
AdventurePeter Parker's life was at a point where he was content. He could manage his dysphoria and was on the way to relieve a whole lot of it. Spider-man had not gotten a major injury in two months. Aunt May and him were in an agreement on Spider-man. He h...
