WEB OF LIES [TRANS PETER PARKER]

eight

Chapter Eight
trigger warning for my fellow transmasc people, this chapter deals with "shark week", if u know what i'm talking about, but it's just at the start so just skip that and go to where it says "tw ends" if it makes you uncomfortable!! (I promise there's a point to it later on, otherwise I wouldn't include it at all)

Peter's POV

I woke up on Monday morning with a sick feeling in my stomach. After a weekend of crime fighting, it was no doubt school was going to be a drag. Well, there was only one real night of crime fighting. The rest of the weekend was spent patrolling rooftops and playing video games with Ned. And I helped this nice old lady and she bought me a churro!

I rolled over in bed, my stomach still nagging me, until I finally recognized the pain. I had been taking hormones for over a year now, and this familiar feeling had gone away months ago. But now it was back: Shark week.

I knew that it was possible for it to return, but only on rare occasion. Why was this happening to me? Curled up in a ball, I knew that I couldn't face going to school that day. Hell, it would be awkward enough having to tell Aunt May. It was just one of those things that I didn't want to ever talk about, ever.

Even with my newly defined muscles from the spider bite, even with my miniature superhero powers, this was the thing that was going to ruin my day. It had just the right timing, which made me wonder if it was all connected. The spider, it had done something to my body. I wasn't sure what, yet, but perhaps it had caused a hormone imbalance of sorts. A shiver ran down my spine as I thought of the mess that would put me in. At this rate, I definitely couldn't mention this to May.

*****tw ends*****

Sure enough, an hour later I was sitting in biology. We had a substitute. so I was ferverously typing away on my phone, trying to find any sort of research connecting radioactive spider RNA to hormone intake, but turning up empty handed. MJ and Ned were watching YouTube videos beside me, but I couldn't be bothered to join in. I felt like smashing my head into the desk.

"Peter, have you seen this?" Ned chirped up, noticing my quietness.

Finally, I glanced up at the screen to see an all-too familiar scene. It was a clip of me on Friday night, as Spider-Man.

As if this day couldn't get any worse. Or... better? I had to admit, I looked pretty cool stopping that bus. Too bad they didn't get the part where I webbed up that bad guy and ditched him in the alley.

"W-what's this?" I asked innocently.

MJ chimed in immediately. "This guy's all over the internet, how have you not heard of him?" I gave her a blank stare in reply, and she continued. "He totally saved this girl from this creep. Afterwards, she told a news reporter that he called himself 'Spider-Man'. He can like, shoot webs and stuff. And he's in New York!"

A part of me felt a little jealous. MJ seemed to be so interested in Spider-Man, but I knew she would be disappointed if she found out that I was him. But the other part of me thought that maybe there might be some way for me to use Spider-Man as a way to get closer to her.

"Yeah, that's... he seems pretty cool," I shrugged, slightly shaken by the recognition. My natural instinct in life was simply to try to hide and blend in as much as possible. I steered clear of the popular crowd and kept within my small group of friends: Ned, and now MJ. But for some reason, being behind a mask made me able to be visible. When I was Spider-Man, I didn't have to worry about all of Peter Parker's problems, I had my own. It was like a switch was flipped. I didn't become a new person, but I was simply seen in a new light. I could get used to this whole double life thing. Maybe I could even learn to impress Flash.

"Hey Peter," I heard MJ whisper seductively in my ear. I jumped, tensing up, as I stared back with wide eyes. She laughed, falling back into her chair, and Ned joined in.

"Dude, you totally zoned out," he said through giggles as I glared back, my face flushed.

"What do you waaant?" I groaned.

"Well, I was wondering if you two wanted to come hang at my place later," MJ finally spoke up. My eyes lit up.

"Hang out? At your place?- of course! Yeah, right, Ned? We can do that!" I chirped immediately. Then, remembering that I had stood outside her window just a few nights before, made sure to add, "I don't have your address. Where do you live?"

Once again, Ned and MJ starting laughing, as he leaned in and said, "I told you that would make him happy!" I returned my usual confused looked, to which he replied, "We noticed you've been all moppy all day, and we wanted to cheer you up!"

I frowned to myself at that, but they didn't seem to notice. I didn't like when people picked up on my emotions, which is why I usually tried my best to hide them. Because when people see through you, they want to know what was wrong, and then all of their attention is on you. This was exactly the kind of thing that I wanted to avoid. But, with Ned and MJ, I suppose it couldn't be as bad as I was making it out to be, besides, I wanted to spend time with them. It would probably be good for me to get back into my own head, instead of pretending to be some spider guy all night. I mean I was some spider guy, but that's beside the point.