usm . story dump

Cat Videos [ ]

I thank OfficialUSMWriter for the idea, because I probably wouldn't have thought of it with out her--

So... This is pretty much just a headcanon I decided to try and make a oneshot out of, because it's a surprisingly cute concept.

ㅡ

Peter was not expecting this to happen at all, but in a way, he knew there was always an extra feline in the Academy.

Rewatching old videos on his phone over some of the funnier moments in S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy, all labeled in folders in his gallery, ranging from accidental photobombs to planned pranks that took ages to plan.

It wasn't long until he found a folder named "Proof that Scarlet is a cat". There were several videos, and he immediately played the first one.

It was the day when Peter found Ben, err-- Ben found Peter. The moment the Academy students set foot in the Triskelion, Peter was pretty much showing Ben around. At the end of the tour, the two boys immediately departed. And once Peter was done with whatever chores he had to deal with (especially with the damage done to the city), Peter walked into the dorms.

It was surprisingly empty, except for the few students who were resting in their designated bunks. Out of coincidence, he saw Ben sleeping by his bunk. It almost prompted a chuckle for his throat. The way he was curled into a ball. Peter couldn't help but snap a photo. It was the beginning of a large collection of images and videos of Ben acting like (or pretty much being) a cat.

He couldn't help but nearly chuckle at the old memory of catching Ben walk into Peter's room and pretty much tucked into a position that almost made it look like he was a loaf of bread (after an internet search, he was sure that it was a cat loaf).

He was mildly surprised when he heard that it was a comfortable position to him, because his paws-- errr, hands, were getting crushed underneath his body weight. Fortunately for Ben, Peter had the mercy to let the other live this down. That was obviously short lived when Aunt May walked into the same room.

Feeling unsatisfied and wanting to look through more of his memories, he exited the video to view another one. Selecting one of them, he immediately played it.

It was a little late at night, but everyone was still awake. Either reading a book, conversing between one another or frantically trying to finish an assignment they may or may not have forgotten. The camera panned around the room, landing toward Doreen and Flash (homework forgotten on his top bunk). They were tossing around a cucumber...

Yeah, no one knew where the cucumber came from.

Some people thought it may have been picked up from the fridge or that the squirrels brought it just because, but no one was ever sure.

Out of nowhere, Flash had chucked the cucumber toward Ava's general direction. She flinched a little, and dropped the novel, staring intently at the cucumber before picking it up.

She wasn't so sure what to do with it. And for some strange reason, she threw it over her shoulder to pick up the novel again. Coincidentally, it flew toward Ben. Upon the cucumber hitting the ground, he turned to it and immediately flinched. In a blink, he disappeared. Everyone looked around the room for him until Tandy pointed out that he was on the ceiling.

He was in the process of climbing off, facing the cucumber in a way that made it look like he was completely wary of it. He stared at it intently, his eyes not leaving the fruit and gaze completely fixed toward the cucumber as he peeled his paws-- dang it, hands off the ceiling. No one could stop laughing.

Peter couldn't help but remember that everyone would have carried a cucumber with them. It would have made sense that a cat was afraid of the long green fruit, it just didn't make sense for a human to jump at the sight of one.

But really, who was he to judge? There are still more videos to view, which meant more of a reason to be convinced that Ben is probably a cat (at the exact and first date Peter all recorded these, every single Academy student was sure that he was a cat stuck in a human body, but no one was ever too sure).

Immediately, he clicked out of the second video and promptly played the third.

It was around the date that Hydro Man had escaped. And after S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attempts of trying to recapture him, everyone's morale had been dropping. Not too much, but to a point where things have gotten a little too serious.

Peter swore he was only there to hold his phone while Flash devised a brilliant (not so brilliant) plan to prank everyone (not everyone, he eventually stopped when he accidentally pranked an innocent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who was just trying to get his coffee) by dropping a bucket of water over their heads.

And one could see where this could already go wrong. Peter still wondered how Flash convinced him to go through with the prank anyway.

In the camera shot, Flash was opening up a set of double doors, at an angle not so suspicious enough to warrant someone taking it down. But at this point, people were excited to see who would end up getting dunked. He climbed over the door and set a large bucket of water over the door. He immediately climbed back down and waited.

Peering through the crack off the door, he noticed someone was approaching. Saying that Amadeus was (and mind you, this was when he was walking with his armour on. This would have gotten really bad) walking toward the door. Flash stood back, and the door flung open.

The bucket fell and its contents were gone. They all turned to see Ben, covered completely in water. The people around them just stared as they watched him react.

He just stood still for two seconds, before pretty much bolting away from the situation. The camera was somehow able to pick up incoherent mumbles about hating getting wet.

And because of that, Flash had decided to continue with the pranks. Admittedly, not one of their brightest moments.

Growing a little sleepy, Peter turned his phone off and set it aside. There would always be time to look back through those files.

ㅡ

Inspired by OfficialUSMWriter