man up; trans peter parker

sixteen

tony stark was furious, angry beyond belief, baffled even. it was getting worse, and there was only so much containment the crumbling team could do without actually understanding what was going on. no database that tony had on file could explain the technology he was faced with, sure, familiar metals and parts, elements that are present and accounted for on the periodic table, but absolutely nothing could explain the flesh. what a strange thing, it was tissuey, and sticky, it wasn't bleeding nor had it shown any signs of being able to bleed, it was a peachy color, like the type you would see a crayola crayon labeled as, and it pulsated. that was the worst part, the pulsating. this creature that peter parker had tossed into his office, had been pulsating for two weeks. the other ones like it were burned, and nothing had been left of them but some melted metal, the flesh on those were gone, these robots were alive and more than capable of dying too, but it didn't have a normal cellular make up, that was for certain. since that tense night, the robots had been popping up out of thin air all over new york's boroughs, attacking everything in sight, and for the sake of the lord it was giving tony a headache.

he had't spoken to peter either, partly because he was still living a normal life at school and was gone for most of the day with mj, ned or oliver, he was being a teenager. he hadn't gone out, to tony's knowledge and don't be fooled, there's not much that can get around him, since that night. he had abandoned his suit for two weeks. maybe it was midterms, or stress, maybe even a hint of depression, but peter had spent little to no time even at the tower except to sleep in his bed at night and have dinner. tony wanted to sit down and have a man to man chat with him, but had no idea how to go about that, he was a scientist, not a dad. and sure, he'd been there, he was a rebellious teen once too, but what peter wasn't doing wasn't rebellious, he was just being a normal high school kid who just so happened to be a super hero sometimes.

steve hadn't been in much either, and when they were face to face with each other, tense wasn't even a good word to describe it. there was malice, confusion, frustration, a lack of communication that drove a massive wedge between the two of them. they both wanted more than anything to talk to each other, to say something to break the awful tension in the room whenever they caught sight of the other, but what was there to be said? tony still didn't have answers, and steve would not be accepting no as a valid response. for once in his life, tony stark felt completely and utterly powerless.
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peter parker felt like he was on top of the world, he had benched spiderman for a while, took a break. his grades were going up again, he had introduced ned and mj to oliver and they were doing all the things nerdy high schoolers should be doing. playing video games at mj's after school on fridays, building lego sets at ned's nana's house, taking walks around new york to find 'the worlds best ramen shop.' he was on fire. sure, did he feel bad that he wasn't out there being apart of the avengers and fighting whatever the hell those robots were? yeah, he felt a little guilty, but all that washed away when he was with his friends. it had been a drizzly and dreary saturday and the four of them were scattered in nana's living room having a horror movie marathon in their pajamas, peter and oliver on the floor with ollie's head in parker's lap, stroking his fingers through his thick curls. ned huddled up against mj because he couldn't handle even the most predictable of jumpscares. and mj, stone faced, pointing out every flaw in the slashers they were watching, whether it was bad camera angles or cheesy acting.

they had been on friday the thirteenth and ned had just jumped at yet another, predictable jumpscare, startling oliver.

"¡de mierda! you jump at everything?" oliver yelled, sitting up and laughing at ned. ned nodded frantically and shoved another handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"cálamate, tigre." peter chuckled, patting oliver's shoulder.

"stop flirting with him in spanish, nerd." mj shot with a sarcastic smirk.

"never." the two replied damn near in unison. the four of them were enjoying every second together. every sarcastic remark, belly laugh moments, just the joy that filled the room when they were together, filled peter with a sense of normalcy. he didn't miss being spiderman, he missed being peter parker, and being a dumb, stupid teen boy.

the movie had ended and they all ended up on the floor playing uno, bantering back and forth between each other without a care in the world, passing around a bottle of vodka mj had stolen from her dad to spice things up a bit. they were all mildly intoxicated and ned let out a long sigh.

"do you miss it?" he sputtered out. they all looked up at him confused.

"miss what?" mj asked, looking for some context.

"do you miss being spiderman and freeze? i mean, you guys haven't had your suits on in weeks and like, it's not my business or nothin, i was just curious i guess." peter shrugged, holding the bottle to his lips and taking another swig, swallowing slowly enough that the burn would be a little stronger.

"i mean i guess? i dunno, i thought about just, not ever puttin it back on!" he said, finishing with a little hiccup. they all looked very put off, as if an adult had walked into the room and they switched off the drunk and felt like completely sober adults.

"what?!" mj remarked, glaring at parker who shrugged.

"dios mio, are you for real, peter?" oliver questioned quietly. peter nodded, his head looking like it was too heavy for his neck.

"come on you guys, i mean like really when did we ever have time to do dumb fuckin shit like this before i low key retired the suit? never. i went on like one actual date with my fuckin boyfriend and never got to actually see you two, get real. maybe it's a good thing. tony stark expects so much shit out of me that it is unreal, man. like for real, i'm fuckin seventeen and was working some full time job type beat making sure the cops do their damn jobs and keep literal people from dying. i can't handle that! i'm drunk ignore me." peter rambled, slurring his words and laying down on the carpet.

"i mean like, i was taking a well deserved break, but i wasn't not gonna put my suit back on. i fuckin love what we do." oliver sighed, leaning back on his hands.

the energy in the room shifted, mj was more than baffled by peter's confession. he didn't want to be spiderman anymore? what was that about? when did parker make that descision? or is he saying all this because he's drunk off his ass, mj wasn't sure and she was too intoxicated to find out, she made a note of it in her phone and laid down with them on the floor. everyone was kinda quiet for a while, not really saying anything, someone would shift their body to fit a more relaxed position every few minutes but it was only soft breaths and the rain that had picked up outside. after a good while, ned stood up, tipsy and rocking back and forfh, shuffling to the kitchen and coming back with a loaf of bread. the silence had been broken by seven wholesome words.

"does anyone want some of nana's sweetbread?"

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two updates in one night?! whT the fuck? im on a roll! be careful, maybe ill go off grid again and yall wont hear from me for another year like last time....im kidding im kidding i wont do that.