Chapter Text
Peter's journey, did not start tomorrow. Or the day after tomorrow. Or the day after that. In fact, his journey didn’t start until two weeks later, as he had forgotten that his exam week was upon him. Peter went through his exams swiftly. He was confident in most of his exams, except for the few first ones because it took some time to shake off his thoughts about all the stuff that was clouding his mind and actually focus on his studies.
Even that felt weird. Peter never had trouble compartmentalizing before. "I need get through my exams. So that's what I'll focus on" and oh boy focus on those exams he did. He would just refuse to divert his attention to anything else other than the task at hand. It was a tactic that worked like a charm. Peter would look through the materials the week before the exams and that would be enough. Sure, sometimes he would sit at his desk for hours until his bones started to ache or he would forget to take a piss but it was fine.
Honestly, being Spider-Man hadn't changed this routine by a lot. He would just think of the exam week as two parts instead of one. One part being a highschool student and one part being the neighbourhood hero. It worked even better than his previous routine as all the jumping and swinging around gave him enough exercise to get rid of the aches. He also felt his mind to be calmer whenever he got back from a petrol and sat down to study.
But now Peter felt like he lost that sense of familiarity in his routines. Sure, he managed to do good in all of his exams but this time around the study period was just cruel. His mind constantly wandered off to all these other things. Then of course there was Tangerine who was trying to take a bite of off Peter's pencil whenever he moved it. By the third day of the exam week Peter had to leave him at the Stark Tower so he could actually focus. It broke his heart but he reminded himself that at least the Avengers would appreciate Tangie's extended presence at the tower.
Anyway, enough of the exam week now. Peter had ACTUALLY important stuff to get started with.
And it was, technically, more studying. Yay.
It was a different kind of studying. It served a completely different purpose. At least on the bright side no one would be testing him on his knowledge. Well, except for Captain America probably. Peter was sure he wouldn't test him. As time passed though, his silly thoughts became actually worries and being 'sure' turned into merely wishful thinking.
Peter had no idea where to start. So he did the most sensible thing and went on reddit to actually get some resources to start on. What started as just a link to a short article expended into lots more links, videos, studies, blog posts, books, tests and even longer articles.
It was a lot to take on. It was a lot more to draw parallels between the knowledge and his own life. At the beginning Peter would look at all the different signs and disregard them.
Like, of course he didn't have literal thinking. When someone said "it's raining cats and dogs" Peter knew they didn't mean it was LITERALLY raining cats and dogs. Never in his life he got confused with such idioms. Then Peter realised he had understood the sign of 'literal thinking' too literally. Literal understanding didn't always mean not being able to understand things such as idioms. The cats and dog thing was just an example but wasn't limited to idioms. But Peter THOUGHT it meant not being able to understand idioms, just like the given example. Then again I guess there was the whole thing of imagining actual cats and dogs raining like something you might see in a cartoon.
Alright, so he indeed had literal thinking. Peter 0, autism 1 (now that he said/thought it like that the 1(one) had sounded like the word "won" in his head and it made it seem as if he thought "autism won", which was hilarious in his opinion)
Peter was busy writing down notes from the latest article he read when his phone started to ring (that happens a lot in this fic huh)
Learning from his previous mistakes, he looked at the caller ID and saw that, surprise surprise, it was Mr Stark calling.
"Hi hello Mr Stark" Peter greeted as he continued finishing the last sentence he started.
"Hey kid. Just checking up, everything good over there?"
"Huh? Yeah of course. Signs, sorry- I don't even know what I was trying to say there," Peter put down his pencil. "Everything is good Mr Stark. Why?"
"Ah nothing too important. Just that the kitty has been here for a while now. Which is not a problem. But I worry the longer he stays the harder of a time Clint, and frankly Thor and Bucky it seems, will have separating from him" Tony added, his voice sounded as if he was tinkering with his own stuff on the other side of the phone. Peter's suspicion was comfirmed when Tony dropped something and cursed under his breath.
"Anyway yeah"
"Oh right," Peter checked the date on his phone. Fuck. It has been already five days since his exam week was over? How couldn't he notice it sooner? 'Time blindness is a common struggle for people in the autism spectrum disorder' a part of his brain seemed to remember. Alright, Peter 0, autism 2. Fine.
"Sorry Mr Stark. I didn't realise it's been that long already. I'll come pick him up in....uhh...an hour?" Peter suggested.
"Sure thing. No need to rush. I think Natasha got a hold of the little devil and they're napping on the couch. The couch which I was supposed to relax on right about now, may I add" Tony said with an annoyed tone.
Peter smiled at that comment. "Alright, no rush"
"Great, see you later kid" Tony ended the call.
Peter put down his phone and looked through his notes once more. An idea started forming in his mind but before he could weigh the plausiblity of it, it was gone. "A worry for another time I guess." Though he knew that didn't satify him because he kept trying to remember the thought as he swung to the Stark Tower.
Entering the tower felt heavier than before somehow. Peter felt as if he was seeing everything around him in a different light. Like his brain was now programmed to always think about things in a certain way.
'Why did I just interpret that thing like that? Is that autism?'
'That was a weird reaction. Did I always react that way? Is that autism?'
'Now that just feels uncomfortable. I don't think it bothered me before. Why does it bother me now? Did I just never notice it before? Is that autism?'
'Stop labelling your kids with weird stuff. It's not autism or ADHD or OCD or anything like that' a voice inside his head said. It was that weird comment he saw in a comment section of a parent sharing their journey with their autistic kid and sharing tipps on how to see the early signs of autism in young kids.
'Everyone is a bit autistic'
'I don't get why suddenly everyone is autistic'
'We didn't have this weird shit back in my days'
'The kid just needs some beating. Stop being soft'
'I guess everything is just a trend now'
'Gen Z always coming up with weird shit I swear. Fine, you are autistic and you have pronouns. Get it off of my face'
There were many ignorant comments like that under anything that tried raising awareness. Even at the beginning of his research where Peter knew nothing about the autism spectrum, he could see how hurtful those comments were to the cause. He didn't understand how some people could just choose to be rude and mean. It seemed like being kind and caring was the much easier path.
But then again, his second identity as the Spider-Man only had a job because those and even worse people existed in the world. He was all too fimilar with it. He loved being Spider-Man. Of course he did. But if he had the choice, he would prefer to have a crime-free world even if it meant not being Spider-Man anymore.
Peter shook those thoughts away as he got into the elevator. There was no point in getting upset about a bunch of comments he saw on the internet.
Yes, he was viewing everything differently now. He almost felt like a whole new person, but somehow still himself? It wasn't easy to explain. He just knew whatever change he was going through wasn't inherently a bad thing. It would just take some time to get used to it.
"Hey, welcome Spider boy!" Thor greeted him as he stepped off the elevator.
"It's actually- nevermind. Hi guys" Peter knew there was no point in arguing he was 'Spider-Man' and not 'Spider-Boy' so he quickly dropped it.
"Are you here to pick up Tangerine? Because let me tell you, he was just shaping up to be a great warrior. We've been training" Thor added.
"Training?" Peter looked to Thor.
"Training." Thor showed the little scratch and bite marks all over his hands and arms. Proudly. "He is very fierce for a guy of his size. Reminds me of my brother whenever he turned into a tiny creature. Though Loki had less teeth and more knives...oh well. Brothers, am I right?" Thor smiled.
"I wouldn't know" Peter gave a simple laugh. He looked around and spotted the kitten napping on the couch but the Black Widow was no where to be seen. "Where are the others?"
"Up in the rooftop" Buckey popped behind Peter, startling him. "I'm pretty sure they're having an argument over who woke up Natasha. She thinks it was Tony. Tony says it was Clint."
"And who did it?"
"I did"
"Oh." Peter said as he sat beside the kitten. "I assume it was very tactical?"
"Naturally." Bucky commented without elaborating.
After a few moments of silence there was sound of the elevator doors opening. The group on the rooftop got out, their hair a mess from the wind. "Right. That's settled then." Tony said, clapping his hands.
"I'm not quite convinced on Steve though."
"He literally has no alibi. We talked about it. Like, 40 seconds ago"
"Sure"
"Hi Pete"
"Hey"
Peter hanged around for a while. Had a small snack. Talked about his exam week, deliberately left out the reason as to why he forgot about the kitten after his exam week, then headed home with Tangie in his carrier. The weather was bit chilly without the sun out. Honestly he didn't even notice it go down. By the time he arrived home, Aunt May had prepared a delicious meal which he enjoyed together with her.
Laying at bed, Peter thought back to the research that stood on top of his desk. It was probably a good idea to put them away before Tangerine started messing with the papers but Peter couldn't move a muscle. He realised he was exhausted from all the studying he has been doing lately. Not just physically but also mentally. He decided to give the whole tomorrow for some quality Spider-Man time.
As Peter drifted to sleep, most of his thoughts fading away in the background, only the image of the rainbow infinity pin he saw on the woman he saved was left in his mind.