Chapter Text
It was dark. Fully dark. The hallways were illuminated by uncanny ceiling lights and the moon. The AcaDec team was decked out in swim attire. Everyone beside Peter, and surprisingly MJ, was very loud when ‘sneaking’ down the hallway.
Peter felt highly self conscious about his mangled left arm, since this was the first time since the snap that he had worn a T-shirt in public (He was wearing a swim shirt, he liked to be modest alright?). His thoughts were quickly shut down once he realized that nobody in his team recoiled or stared at his arm.
Anyways, back to the mission at hand: pool time! The pool was most definitely closed at twelve a.m. but that did not stop the teens. If the room keycards wouldn’t get them in, they had one boy with super strength to open the door for them.
Luckily, Peter did not have to break down the door.
They jumped into the pool. Peter was hesitant since he never really learned how to swim, and on top of that he nearly drowned back in his freshman year. But he didn’t have a parachute wrapped around him, making him suffocate. He was fine. He was at a hotel pool. Heck, he even floated like an inner tube since he was so light.
MJ sensed his hesitation, and instead of being a good girlfriend, she pushed him into the water as she jumped in with him.
Peter resurfaced and gasped. “MJ! You traitor!” Peter’s teeth chattered. “It’s so cold!”
“No it’s not!” MJ laughed.
“It feels weird!” Peter complained.
“It’s ‘cause you’re a spider, baby! Come on, move around so you don’t freeze to death!” MJ pushed him underwater once more.
Peter swam around, mostly to avoid MJ and her (non)lethal attacks. It wasn’t as cold as Peter initially had thought, since he warmed up considerably.
He migrated into the hot tub, which was attached to the pool. It was circular in shape and nicely deep. An idea carpet into his head.
“I need everyone in the hot tub right now!” Peter announced. “We’re gonna make a whirlpool!”
At the mention of a whirlpool, the boys all clambered over and fought to be the first in the hot tub. The girls, consisting of MJ, Betty, Sally, and Cindy, made their way more cautiously. They started waddling around in a circle and the boys started chanting.
“Whirlpool! Whirlpool! Whirlpool!” they cried.
“Now!” Peter said, and they all flopped over and let the current take them.
“I’ve never made a whirlpool before!” Betty laughed and her head bobbed up and down in the water. “This is fun!”
“Now we gotta jump back in the normal pool and see how cold it is,” Abe said as he cannonballed into the deep end. Most of the team followed in suit, except for Peter and MJ.
“I’m staying in here,” Peter shrugged. “My Spider Sense flares every time I get close to the edge. I think I might go into some kind of hypothermic shock.”
“Ha! You’re even more spidery than I thought!” MJ splashed Peter with water. The current around them began to die down, and they eventually settled in the bubbly water.
MJ launched herself at Peter and kissed him, ignoring the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ coming from her team mates.
“We should probably heh–head back now,” Peter mumbled. It was always surprising when MJ kissed him, even if they were dating. “It’s really late.”
Peter got up and dried himself with a towel, setting off a chain reaction of kids getting out of the pool. He pulled off his wet swim shirt and draped the towel around his shoulders. He didn’t realize that his female team mates were staring at him. Peter turned beet red.
“Stop staring at him!” MJ snapped. “He’s muscular, but that’s because he’s Spider-Man. Big deal. He’s taken.”
The other girls blush and run upstairs, leaving MJ with the boys of the team.
“If any of you are secretly gay,” MJ started, “keep it to yourself. He’s mine.”
Peter forced MJ upstairs before she could continue to show off how she was Spider-Man’s girlfriend. Once everyone had showered (which took forever since the entire AcaDec team had to share one shower), they laid in their respective bunks and fell asleep.
—
The next day, Mr. Lopez shoved everyone onto the bus and hauled them off to Yorktown, the historical fort with interactive tours.
The AcaDec team was much more at ease in this location, since there was no threat of elevators falling down the shaft. The team loosely followed the rest of the group but remained huddled in the back.
Peter got a text on his phone. He took it out, even though he wasn’t supposed to, and read the text.
мама паук
Suit up
There’s a disturbance near you
We’re a few minutes out
Spiderling
But I can't just leave my class!
мама паук
Why not?
You’ve done it many times before
Spiderling
Fine
Peter put his phone away and explained the situation to Ned and MJ. They relayed the information to the rest of the group.
Peter ducked down a random road, successfully breaking off from the group without being noticed. He sprinted to the treeline. He hated how unfamiliar this place was. He wasn’t used to the minimal areas where he could suit up out of sight. The cool metal wrapped around Peter, and Karen greeted him.
He webbed his backpack to a tree and ran to the location that Nat had sent him.
“This sucks!” Peter said to no one in particular as he sprinted across a field. He made it to some tall buildings and immediately started swinging. He landed on top of a bus, which conveniently took him almost the entire way. He had to hop off once it turned left, away from the location.
Peter met up with Clint who was positioned on a roof.
“Hey, kiddo,” he said. “Having a nice trip?”
“For the most part,” Peter replied. “My AcaDec team nearly became nervous breakdowns yesterday at the Washington Monument, but other than that it’s all good.”
“Well, don’t blame them. Not everybody can deal with traumatic situations like you and I. Not everyone’s a hero.”
Peter nodded. “I know. Oh, and then we snuck down to the pool. That was really fun.”
“I know. I watched you and your team run down the hall. I heard you. I bet I could have heard you if my hearing aids were out because of how loud you kids were.”
“I blame it on them! They aren’t quiet like I am.”
“Okay, kiddo. Whatever you say.”
“Hey, so what is this mission?”
“Some radical group again. The same guys by the looks of it. Sam and Bucky are dealing with the big guys in Europe.”
“Aw man, so we’re stuck with the lame-os?”
Clint laughed. “Yeah! I guess we are. We got a tip from a former member of this group. They call themselves the Border Breakers.”
“Lame name.”
“Yup. All of the groups have lame names. Anywho! You know the deal. They want things to go back to the way they were during the Blip, yadda yadda. They’re going to do a violent protest from the looks of it. You see them down there?”
Clint pointed to a building where a bunch of people were aimlessly gathering. Peter nodded.
“So we’re gonna take them out if they get too rowdy?” Peter asked.
“Yes, but non lethal. The police want them for questioning.”
“Okay!”
They waited for about fifteen minutes. Nothing happened.
Peter bounced on his feet, anxious to get this over with.
“I bet my class has noticed I’m missing by now– oh no, what if they start making excuses? Oh no, oh no, oh no!”
“Relax, kid. You’ll be fine. Nat had it dealt with.”
“Waht?”
“Don’t question it.”
Peter pulled out his phone and texted the AcaDec team’s group chat. He asked if they had come up with any lies to cover for him.
Idiot
Yeah, I said that you had to run to the bathroom
In a separate group chat with only Ned and MJ, Peter said this:
Spiderling
Ah yes, I’ve been in the bathroom for a full twenty minutes without raising suspicion
This is why Flash’s contact name is Idiot
MJ (My love)
XD
The rest of the team is trying to cover for you since the bathroom isn’t very convincing
GITC
They’re horrible at this
OH NO
THEY”RE SAYING YOU GOT TAKEN AWAY BY DR STRANGE
Spiderling
NOOOO
THEYRE GONNA GET ME CAUGHT
MJ (My love)
Chill out
I think them coming up with these horrible excuses is actually good
Nvm
I take that back
Flash just said you are spiderman-
Peter stared blankly at his phone. He hung his head in defeat. This was it, his life was over. He’d have to call Tony and tell him that the whole world knew who he was, and it was pointless to keep it a secret.
So much for graduating normally.
And he was so close too. Just a month away from graduation.
Betty
…
Our classmates are actually stupid
Idiot
I didn’t mean to
Betty
I wasn’t referencing you when i said classmates
But thanks for knowing your place
Peter
What happened
Abraham Lincoln
Flash said that you were spiderman when ppl asked where you were
And they said ‘yeah right’
They didnt believe him
So ur all good
Cindy
So i guess we can make up the most absurd excuses and they wont question it
Peter
No plz no
“Webhead, I think they’re actually doing something,” Clint said. “Nat’s doing her stuff down there.”
“Honestly, I don’t see the point in me coming here to stake out and let Nat do everything,” Peter complained.
“You’d rather walk around in the hot sun listening to a tour guide? I thought you had enough of guided field trips!”
“Well it’s better than sitting on a roof, with no shade I might add, wearing very hot metal armor.”
“Lies! I know Tony put a cooling system in that thing! Tony would never let you get too hot or too cold!”
Peter frowned, for Clint was right. Peter was not roasting alive in his suit; he was at a very comfortable temperature. Cho had warned Tony that, with Peter’s changing abilities, he might lose the ability to thermoregulate. So that led to Tony stealing Peter’s nano-suit and adding a temperature controlled environment option to it.
There was a commotion in the streets below.
“Finally, some action!” Peter waited still.
“Heya, boys,” Nat said over comms. She was talking to Clint and Peter, but also to the Border Breakers. “You ready?”
A singular gunshot rang out from the streets below.