Chapter Text
This is ridiculous…
~
I sat at the kitchen table, my arms firmly crossed together, glaring at the hologram of dad to the best of my ability. Peter and Ned sat in the living room exchanging concerned glances.
I have had a very normal and mundane three week recovery since the ‘electro incident’. It was beginning to get a little too boring and mundane for my tastes. Dad had strictly banned me from patrolling, I wasn’t even allowed to carry groceries anymore. So the second the doctor cleared me to take it off I made Happy call dad. When he had answered, I was in the middle of building LEGO with Peter and Ned. As soon as I saw him flicker in I abandoned everything to beg.
Unfortunately for me, dad does not get swayed by begging.
“Dad, come on! The doctor cleared me, I’m good to go!” I argued, gesturing with both arms.
“Uh uh, he cleared you for light physical movement,” dad started, pointing a finger at me, “patrol is not light physical movement.”
“Ok, valid concern… so what if I did a ‘light patrol”, I responded, leaning forward on the table. Trying to make my eyes as big as possible. Dad let out a long sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Katherine, last time you went on patrol you fought a man made of electricity,” Dad deadpanned, bringing his hand down from his face.
“But nobody died, everyone was fine, no big deal!” I responded, waving him off. He took a long pause and stared at me before responding.
“I’d argue your arm was a pretty big casualty,” Dad responded, waving a hand towards the brace that had been abandoned on the table. I let out a small offended sound before I heard a small laugh come from the living room. The room went silent and Dad froze in his spot. I shot the living room a small glare, absolutely ridiculous. “Is Parker there?”
“Uh… no!” I sputtered out, unfortunately that lie lasted for all of five seconds because Peter had no self preservation skills.
“Hi, Mr. Stark..!” Peter mumbled out, awkwardly stumbling into frame. I sharply turned toward, watching him with an incredulous expression.
“Peter?! Why are you walking into frame?” I whisper-shouted at him, trying to subtly nudge him away.
“I don’t know! Standing off to the side seemed awkward!” Peter argued, whispering back.
“This isn't more awkward to you?!” I asked, attempting one last time to get him out of frame. I watched Dad’s eyes slowly shift from me, to Peter, then back to me. What… is he planning right now. I nervously looked toward him, unsure of what he was going to pop off with.
“Fine,” Dad responded, closing his eyes briefly. FINALLY! FIREWORKS LETS GO!!
“Yes! You won’t regret this,” I replied, shaking with excitement.
“I know I won’t…” Dad started, looking between me and Peter again before pointing at Peter. “Because you're going to be patrolling with Peter.”
“WHAT?!” We both exclaimed at the same time, we both looked at each other before I turned my head back towards Dad.
“Come on, I don’t need a babysitter!” I argued, throwing my hands up defensively.
“And I don’t think I’m qualified to babysit an enhanced individual…” Peter added, taking a few quiet steps backwards.
“You're not a babysitter, babysitters get paid,” Dad responded, casually folding his arms. “I just need someone there to keep her from messing her arm up again. Especially since the kid’s allergic to calling for help.”
“What? I am not allergic to calling for help,” I responded, folding my own arms together. Dad looked from the brace on the table back up to me, one eyebrow raised. I decided it would be in my best interest to shut up after that.
“Peter patrols with you, no serious crime, light stuff only,” Dad started, listing off reasons with his fingers. “And if the arm hurts, somebody calls me.” Dad finished, pointing at both of us. Peter just nervously nodded, unsure of what to say.
“Dad, I can call you myself,” I replied, feeling offended on multiple levels.
“You're infamously bad at doing the exact opposite of that,” Dad started, rolling his eyes. “If she starts acting like the arm doesn’t hurt, then you call me.” Dad finished pointing at Peter.
“Fine,” I finally responded, jaw feeling tight.
“That works good Mr. Stark,” Peter added with the confidence of a man who was just drafted for war.
“Oh! Can I be both of you guys’ guy in the chair now?!” Ned exclaimed from the living room.
“NO!” Peter and I called out simultaneously. We looked at each other for a second before I dropped my head and looked at the floor, letting out a sigh. Dad just cleared his throat, grabbing a pair of sunglasses before standing.
“Alright, have fun on your joint-patrol,” Dad started, reaching towards the end call button. He let out a small laugh before finishing, “bye bye Spider Kids.” He ended the call before I could argue with him.
“Awesome,” I sighed, lifting my gaze from the floor to look at Peter. “Guess we’re patrol buddies now.”
“Aw c’mon Kace! It won’t be that bad, sure we’ve never patrolled together… but we’re best friends, it should be easy!” Peter responded, a nervous smile on his face.
“I feel like that was more to reassure yourself than me…” I added, my expression turning blank. Peter let out a small sigh, his shoulders slumping.
“Yeah…”
“Hey you guys will be fine! Didn’t you fight together in Germany?” Ned exclaimed from the carpet, a big smile on his face.
“Dude… we fought against each other,” Peter explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Yeah and you kept stealing my moves,” I mumbled, looking off to the side.
“You're still mad about that?!” Peter asked, I just maintained eye contact with the wall. “Well, you called me clearance aisle so…”
“I APOLOGIZED!” I argued back, throwing up both of my hands defensively. Ned sat watching us go back and forth before cautiously clearing his throat.
“Ok… so maybe Germany was a bad example,” Ned relented, holding his hands in his lap. My head turned towards him so fast I heard something pop.
“Really Ned? I hadn’t noticed,” I responded, crossing my arms. Peter just let out a tired sigh. Ned grew a small smile on his face that told me he was definitely about to pitifully attempt to resolve the tension again.
“Well, at least you guys already know how each other fights!” Ned added, seeming dangerously optimistic.
“Of course I know how he fights, it’s literally just my move set,” I grumbled, glaring at Peter from the side. He just threw his hands up in feigned shock.
“I DON’T STEAL YOUR MOVES?!” Peter argued back. I just continued mumbling while walking towards my room to put my suit on.
This is going to be the longest patrol of my life… But I had already kept the neighborhood waiting long enough. I can survive one patrol with Peter for that.
Probably…
🕷️
Twenty minutes later I was pulling my mask over my head standing on top of Happy’s apartment. Peter stood beside me, adjusting something on his wrist. I looked over, watching him fiddle with little black gadgets. “So… your webs really are synthetic, must be nice,” I said, looking at the web-shooters with new-found interest. This lucky son of a gun… Peter stopped fiddling with them, and slowly looked over at me.
“Yours… aren’t?” He asked, his voice rising in pitch a bit. I just shook my head, Peter looked back, seeming a little concerned. “So, if they don’t come from shooters, where do they come from?” Peter continued, asking the question like he was carefully dissecting something.
“Uh… my wrists?” I answered, completely confused as to why this was so monumental. Peter’s jaw went slack, I couldn’t see his expression under the mask but I was guessing it must have been slightly mortified.
“No, actually how do they work?” Peter asked, trying to see if he could get a different answer.
“Dude, I just told you they come out of my wrists,” I responded, holding one of my arms out. I went to carefully pull the metal cuff off of my arm so I could show him the spinnerette, “wanna see?”
“Uh… not particularly,” Peter responded, taking a cautious step back.
“Not particularly?” I asked, holding my wrist defensively, “Peter it’s not that gross.”
“I know! It just feels invasive!” Peter explained, gesturing with his hands.
“It’s just spinnerets, no big deal,” I added, still feeling a little offended.
“It’s an open organ on your wrist!” Peter argued, I just shrugged before going to put the cuff back on. Peter reached out a hand, “wait, ok maybe just a peek.” Biology wins again. I laughed a little under my breath before fully holding my arm out to him. I watched him for all of five seconds before looking away. “So, what are the webs made up of? Is it something to do with protein or calcium?” Then it hit me, I don’t know any of the science behind why.
I paused for a second, trying to come up with a decent response before failing. “Uh… I don’t know, I just sorta think web, and then the web happens?” I explained, sounding entirely unsure of myself. Peter slowly looked from the wrist back to me. “I mean, it also makes me really hungry if I use a lot… so I guess protein is probably related?” Peter stared at me blankly for a second.
“So, you don’t know how they work?” Peter asked, his tone becoming concerned.
“I mean I know they work, I didn’t think the ‘how’ was too important,” I responded, lightly shrugging my shoulders. Peter looked at me again, his face becoming more disturbed before his eyes shifted to my right wrist.
“Wait so does that one even work still?” Peter asked, weakly pointing towards my ‘injured’ wrist. I lightly scoffed before rolling my eyes at him.
“Yes, Peter they both work fine, see look,” I started, aiming my left hand before firing a web. It came out strong and sharp landing on the ac unit. Then to prove my point I aimed with my right hand. The web came out, eventually, but it had been a little thinner and less strong than usual. I winced a bit at the sight, awkwardly lowering my wrist.
“That one looked sad,” Peter added, looking at the right web.
“Whatever it works,” I argued, crossing my arms.
“Your definition of ‘works’ scares me,” Peter replied, eyes still trained on the web. I walked towards the edge of the roof, looking over at Peter from my shoulder.
“It’s fine, now can we please just start patrolling?” I asked, my tone sounding a bit desperate. It is way too early in the day for me to want to argue about spider biology.
Peter hesitated for a second before letting out a small sigh and moving to stand beside me. “Alright, yeah that’s fine,” Peter reluctantly agreed. Under my mask I smiled triumphantly, stepping up onto the ledge of the rooftop.
“Alright so we start West—” I started to say before Peter quickly cut me off.
“East,” Peter added, holding up a hand. I slowly turned toward him, my eyebrows furrowing.
“What? No we start West, Mrs. Rodriguez needs her groceries carried it’s Tuesday,” I argued, vaguely gesturing a hand towards the western half of the city. Peter’s eyebrows furrowed together before he started talking again.
“Wait… you carry groceries?” Peter asked, sounding entirely too confused.
“It’s part of the job Peter! Can’t be a neighborhood hero without contributing to the neighborhood,” I responded, resting both hands on my hips.
“Ok, fair point, but we have to start East,” Peter started, “there’s this intersection where people keep blowing past red lights.” I let out a small laugh and his head whipped around to look at me. “What’s funny?” He asked, seeming genuinely offended.
“Nothing, nothing,” I started, waving both hands dismissively. “It’s just kinda funny, you're like a little spider traffic cop.”
“Yeah well you're a swinging delivery service,” Peter argued, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Whatever you say Officer Parker,” I replied, holding up a hand in a mock salute. Peter just let out a sigh before crossing his arms.
“Ok, we can start west, but that’s only because I’m worried about her cold groceries staying cold,” Peter reluctantly agreed, nodding his head towards west.
“Then I guess we can go play in traffic afterwards,” I responded, laughing a little under my breath. Peter let out an undignified sound, throwing his hands up in defense.
“I don’t play in traffic!” Peter argued, bringing his arms back to his sides. I rolled my eyes under the mask and quickly shot a web out, leaping off the building.
“Hurry up! She’s probably already left the store by now!” I shouted, looking over my shoulder. Peter sputtered for a second before bowing his head and jumping off the roof. Things went smooth for about thirty more feet before I felt something hard bump into me and almost throw me off course. “PARKER WHAT THE HECK?”
“I’m sorry! I always go left!” Peter responded, quickly swinging himself away.
“Well I always go right!” I argued, trying to fire another anchor web with my bad arm. I slipped a bit but quickly covered it up.
After that we both continued on my usual route, only bumping into each other a few more times.
Ok maybe like ten more times…
…
Ok fifteen. But I was still determined that this patrol was going to be worth it. Even if my new partner was worried about keeping New York’s traffic lights working.
🕷️
I paused swinging and landed on one of the streets close to the corner store Mrs. Rodriguez normally shopped at. Peter landed a few feet behind me, looking around briefly. “So… where is she?” he asked, crossing his arms. I looked for a second, lighting up when I saw her leaving the store.
“There she is! Right on time too,” I responded, a small smile growing under my mask. I pointed a finger towards her and watched Peter follow my finger. I didn’t wait for him to respond and started walking towards her. I had made it about halfway before I felt someone tug on the back of my suit. “What, Peter, what are you doing?” I asked, turning my head towards him. He froze for a few seconds before he became conscious of his hand and yanked it back.
“Kacie… I can’t help her,” Peter helplessly explained, fiddling with the web shooter on one of his arms. Lowering his voice so no one could hear him.
“Peter, she’s an old lady, what are you talking about?” I whispered back, confusion sounding evident in my voice. Peter let out a small sigh bringing a hand to the back of his neck.
“She uh… We had a bit of uh…” Peter started, pausing himself a few times, seeming unsure of himself. I turned my body towards him, silently tilting my head. Peter let out a small sigh before finishing, “I accidentally broke her apartment window last week… Like it wasn’t on purpose there was a robber and I just got a little off-course while I was swinging and… uh… well you know.”
“You broke her window… while swinging?” I questioned, genuinely confused how Peter went so off-course he crashed through a whole window.
“Yeah… I mean I apologized!” Peter started, throwing his hands up in defense. Then he paused for a second, tilting his head a bit to the side. “Well… I tried to.”
“Dude, how do you mess up an apology?”
“She hit me with her purse! Then her dog tried to eat me!” Peter argued, motioning helplessly.
“Cupcake?” I asked, “actually that tracks.” I slowly nodded, I had been a victim of Cupcake enough times to understand the struggle.
“SHE NAMED THAT THING CUPCAKE?” Peter exclaimed, his arms falling uselessly by his sides.
“Hey, don’t disrespect Cupcake, she's a valued member of the community,” I responded, crossing my arms. Peter was about to argue back, but I just held up a hand, silently telling him to shut up. I looked back towards Mrs. Rodriguez and started walking over towards her. Peter muttered something under his breath and reluctantly followed behind.
Mrs. Rodriguez was picking up the bags out of her cart when I finally made it over to her. I quickly grabbed the remaining bags, favoring my left arm. She looked up at me and a warm smile grew on her face. “Hola Cariño,” She said, while I took the few bags she had in her hands from her. Enhanced strength or not, this lady has a lot of groceries. I winced a bit, shuffling the bags on my right arm.
“Hola Doña! Sorry about not showing up, I was on a forced medical leave,” I sighed out, bowing my head a bit.
“Not a problem, mija my son was visiting for the month so it worked out,” she responded, gently patting my shoulder. Then her eyes slowly left me and looked towards the figure standing a few feet behind me. “You,” she shortly said, glaring at Peter, he instantly straightened, shoulders squaring.
“Uh… Hi ma’am! How's the uh… window?” Peter asked, trying to sound genuine. I looked over my shoulder at him and let out an exhausted sigh before turning back to Mrs. Rodriguez.
“Please ignore him, he’s new at this,” I responded, lowering my voice and leaning towards Mrs. Rodriguez a bit. Peter let out an undignified sound, looking at me then his head subtly moved towards the bags on my right arm. I instinctively moved the arm closer to myself, quickly looking away. Mrs. Rodriguez let out a small laugh before going towards the crosswalk.
“It's alright, the landlord covered a new one,” she responded, nodding her head once. Peter’s body slumped in relief and he walked a few steps closer, following behind.
“Uh… Ka—Silk-Spinner, do you want me to get some of those?” Peter asked, stopping himself before he said anything revealing. I let out a small sigh, as much as I would have liked to just ignore him. I knew better and could already feel my right arm starting to shake a little under the bags. I reluctantly held out my right arm towards him and he took all of the bags off of it.
“You don’t need to get all of those, I can still carry some on this arm,” I argued, keeping my arm outstretched waiting for him to put some back on. A few beats passed and he still hadn’t put them back yet. “Earth to Spidey?”
“I heard you, but I've got some, you've got some. Half and half,” Peter responded, adjusting the bags in his arms. “We’re supposed to be patrol partners right?” I stared at him for a second before looking towards the ground, keeping my feet moving. Something weird stirred around in my stomach but I figured I was just tired and wanted to eat dinner.
“Whatever,” I sighed out, focusing on the route to her apartment. The rest of the walk had been easy enough, a few of the kids at the park enthusiastically waving. I waved back as enthusiastically I could with my arm covered in bags.
“Evening Silk! You feeling better?” One of the street vendors asked, peeking his head out of his little cart.
“Right as rain Mr. Lowes!” I hollered back, giving him a quick nod. I felt a warm feeling settle in my chest. I had disappeared for a few weeks, but these people still cared. I looked at the ground, watching my feet feeling a grin grow under my mask.
“Quite the reputation you’ve got going,” Peter said, nudging me with his shoulder.
“Yeah, I guess so,” I casually replied, shrugging lightly. “I’m just happy everything's back to normal.” Peter paused for a second, then let out a small hum of agreement. Neither of us had to elaborate much past that, because both of us remembered homecoming and the tension that came with it. It was weird settling back into the friendship at first, but Peter and Ned had welcomed me back with open arms, just like they always had.
Things still got awkward at times, especially at school when someone brought up the Accords… But things were healing, and even if it wasn’t perfect it felt pretty darn good.
Eventually we made it to her apartment door, she unlocked it and quickly stepped aside, holding it open. I gave her a small nod and stepped inside, Peter stood at the door frame for a second. “Uh… you coming Spidey?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. He just stiffly nodded, taking a few cautious steps inside.
“Yeah… yeah I’m coming, just uh… being cautious of wild-life,” He muttered out, holding the bags close to himself. I laughed a little under my breath, setting the bags down on the dining room table. Peter did the same and let out a sigh of relief.
“Do you want any cookies for the road mija?” Mrs. Rodriguez asked, carrying a small plate of almendrados cookies towards us.
“Uh absolutely! Thank you Mrs. Rodriguez,” I replied, graciously taking one off the plate. She gestured the plate towards Peter who seemed taken aback for a second.
“Oh! Uh, are you sure?” Peter asked, pausing with his hand halfway towards the plate.
“Yes mijo, you need some meat on your bones,” she assured him, pushing the plate a little closer. I let out a strangled noise I quickly covered with a cough. Peter turned his head toward me for a second before reaching back out. He was just about to grab one before a shrill bark came from around the corner. He froze in his spot, hand hovering over the plate.
Then in all of her glory, Cupcake came charging towards him. He panicked and let out a sound that a squeaky toy would make before scrambling away. “Hi! Little guy, what’s up?” Peter cautiously said from the other side of the room, slowly backing towards the front door. Cupcake just growled in response, edging closer.
“Uh oh now she’s mad,” I responded, holding the cookie in my hands.
“WHY??” Peter exclaimed, eyes not leaving the little chihuahua standing five feet to close.
“You called her a guy, she doesn’t like that,” Mrs. Rodriguez added, holding the plate.
“I didn’t mean it like that!! I call everything a little guy!” Peter argued, putting up his hands in defense. Cupcake growled, showing her teeth, Peter took a few more cautious steps until he was out of the building. “Uh you know what, I’m just gonna wait out here!” Peter called out, staying safely out of the apartment. I laughed a little under my breath.
“I’ll get one for him, thank you Doña,” I said, grabbing an extra cookie from the plate.
“You're very welcome mija, I'll see you next week?” Mrs. Rodriguez asked, a smile gracing her features.
“Wouldn’t miss it!” I called out, walking the rest of the way to the door before closing it behind myself. Peter was still there, awkwardly standing in the hallway, trying to seem casual. “So… Spiderman zero, Cupcake one.”
“Please don’t keep score of this,” Peter sighed, rubbing a hand down his mask. I laughed a little under my breath before handing him the cookie I had got for him. He took it from me and we started walking back to the elevator. It eventually opened and we joined a few other people going down. “Alright, now can we go to the intersection?” Peter asked, crossing his arms.
“Of course Officer Parker,” I responded, mocking a serious tone. Peter went silent then I suddenly remembered we weren’t in an empty elevator. I turned my head and saw the two women standing off to the side looking genuinely confused. I quickly panicked and tried to back track. “UH… I meant Officer Spider, because Parker isn’t your name obviously. Whose name is even Parker, so lame.” Peter just silently turned his head towards me, his shoulders straightening. Eventually the doors opened and the two women walked out, leaving me and Peter standing there alone.
He waited until the elevator began moving again to talk. “Whose name is even Parker? That’s the best you could do?!” Peter argued, his posture relaxing a bit.
“I was panicking! I’m not good at improv!” I argued, waving my arms around. “Remember the dog story?” Peter looked like he was about to argue with me but just slowly nodded.
“Actually, yeah that’s true,” Peter sighed, his arms falling uselessly at his sides.
“Besides there are probably so many Parker’s in New York, no way they figure it out,” I reassured him, waving a hand dismissively at him.
“Whatever, let’s just get on the go, that intersection is probably going crazy by now. Plus Officer Perry is probably waiting for me,” Peter explained, crossing his arms.
“Officer Perry?” I asked, stepping out of the elevator.
“Long story,” Peter responded, leading us out of the complex. Apparently Peter is buddy buddy with the NYPD. Cool…
🕷️
Getting to the infamous intersection took a lot less time and resulted in much less accidental bumps. Peter landed on one of the rooftops overlooking the intersection and immediately leaned over the edge. I messily landed beside him, rolling my right shoulder.
“Oh man Perry looks stressed, he’s gonna kill me,” Peter sighed out, leaning against the ledge.
“You can tell he’s stressed?” I asked, walking up beside him, casually leaning on the ledge.
“Well yeah, look at how tense his shoulders are,” Peter causally responded, pointing at the traffic guard standing in the middle of the intersection. I squinted trying to get a better look, and the man started waving a stop sign aggressively.
Peter let out a small concerned sound before swinging off the building landing beside the officer. I jet lagged for a second watching Peter land, still frozen on my spot on the roof. Peter started waving beside him stopping a car before the officer handed a ticket over.
I watched for a few more seconds before jumping off the roof, landing beside Peter. “So how bad has it been today Perry?” Peter asked, crossing his arms.
“Awful spidey, I’ve already given out twenty speeding tickets,” Perry sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
“Damn speeders…” Peter added, sounding much too serious for the topic.
“Language,” I added, dang it Steve you got me trained like a sleeper agent. Peter's head just slowly turned towards me, we both held silent eye contact for a few beats before Perry started talking again.
“What held you up so long? The intersection’s been slammed for fifty minutes!” Perry exclaimed, throwing his sign up. Peter let out a small sigh bringing a hand to the back of his neck.
“I know I'm super late I just was… you know busy,” Peter explained, shrugging one shoulder.
“He got attacked by a wild animal… she was truly vicious,” I added, putting a hand on my heart while lowering my head. Peter let out an annoyed sound and Perry looked between us.
“Wait, you workin’ with Silk-Spinner now? The little guy got a promotion, way to go guy!” Perry said, clapping Peter on the shoulder.
“Ok no, I don’t work for her—” Peter started to explain, putting a hand on his face.
“Nah he's already got a job, ain’t that right Officer Spider?” I added, nudging his shoulder.
“No I’m not an Officer I’m just Spider Man, can we please stop giving me imaginary promotions?” Peter argued, sounding exasperated.
“Hey I wish my boss would give me ‘imaginary promotions’ beats standing here watching some jerks fly by—” Perry started before a car flew by him. “HEY! STOP!”
Peter jumped into action, shooting a web that tugged gently on one of the back tires slowing the car enough to stop it without throwing it backwards. Peter walked over to the car and knocked on the window. He stood at the window watching it roll down with his arms crossed, tapping one foot. I wish I had a picture of this… holy Stars and Stripes.
“Hey there Cowboy, do you usually treat traffic laws like suggestions?” Peter asked, sounding scarily serious. Perry walked over with a ticket already printed.
“Here’s the ticket, next time don’t go fifty in a twenty-five,” Perry added, handing a ticket over through the window. The driver mumbled something quiet enough that I couldn’t hear then drove off. “Nicely done Officer Spider.”
Peter sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Again, not an Officer, not officially affiliated with the NYPD,” Peter responded, Perry just let out a laugh in response.
I stood from my spot in the intersection, watching the interaction prove every joke I made to be true. He really is an honorary traffic cop.
A loud beep broke me out of whatever trance I was in and I immediately jumped out of the way. The car drove by with a window rolled down and a rather rude hand gesture was held out the window. “HEY! CAPTAIN AMERICA WOULD NOT APPROVE OF THAT!” I shouted out, angrily waving a fist at the car.
“Silk-Spinner yelling about that war criminal?” Perry asked Peter, doing a terrible job keeping his voice down. I immediately lowered my fist and awkwardly tried to clear my throat. Something still stung about hearing that, it almost stung more than the fact I hadn’t heard from him in months.
Peter quietly looked toward me, he gave me a small nod before looking back towards Perry. “Hey Perry I think you need more printer paper in your ticket thingy,” Peter rerouted the conversation, tapping a hand on the ticket printer. Perry immediately changed course and started looking at the machine. I felt my shoulder relax and felt painfully grateful for Peter.
I crossed the rest of the distance and stood beside them trying to watch what they were doing. Peter noticed I was just standing there and turned to face me. “Ok traffic laws 101, that way you can help instead of looking like a lost puppy,” Peter explained, before pointing towards a car.
“What? I don’t look like a lost puppy,” I argued back, Peter ignored me and continued explaining the “method”.
“Ok so when you want to make a car brake you can’t just web the back of the vehicle, you’ve gotta get one of the back tires,” Peter explained, expression entirely serious. “If you yank too hard on a car you could give someone whiplash.”
“Wow okay you’ve just been promoted to Doctor Spider,” I added, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder.
“Dude this is legit important stuff!” Peter argued, gesturing to further prove his point.
“You're like Barbie, you have so many careers!” I responded, trying to sound genuinely happy. Peter let out an exhausted sigh before turning back to the intersection.
After a few failed attempts at slowing down cars and a few passive aggressive comments from traffic cop Peter, I started to get the hang of it. I had just stopped one particularly stubborn car and only pulled them back a bit with my web this time. Peter enthusiastically ran up beside me, watching Perry walk over with a ticket in hand.
“Yeah! Just like that,” Peter said, resting his hands on his hips. “Maybe you should be promoted to Officer Silk,” Peter continued, laughing a little to himself.
“No I couldn’t possibly take one of your amazing jobs Spider Barbie,” I argued, putting a hand on my heart. Peter let out a little sigh that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. I was about to tease him again when a car started to blow past a red light, headed straight for a small group of pedestrians.
Without even thinking I instinctively jumped towards the group and I watched Peter brace himself to catch the car.
I quickly webbed the pedestrians to the side, ensuring they landed safely, straining my right arm a bit. While I was ensuring the pedestrians were all off the street safely, Peter was webbing the tires to the road, resulting in a loud screech coming from the asphalt rubbing against the tires. When the car stopped everyone stayed frozen for a few seconds. I had instinctively raised a wrist toward the car just in case something snapped.
Eventually the pedestrians started standing up, giving little ‘thank you’s’ before brushing it off and trying to get back to their normal routines. Peter had given the driver a stern lecture about traffic lights, and why it was important to follow them. Perry had made it to the window with a ticket while Peter had started walking towards me.
The adrenaline had started to wear off and my right arm began to start feeling a little sore. I tried to shoot a web out of it and a pathetic little ribbon came out. I crouched down to get a better look at it. Peter stopped a few feet away and looked at the web before looking back at me. I looked at him before letting out a small sigh, dejectedly looking down. “Ok maybe I’m done for today,” I said, picking my head up enough to look at Peter.
“Okay, we can be done,” Peter responded, offering me a hand up. I looked at it for a second before grabbing onto him and lifting myself up. Peter aimed a hand up ready to swing off and I just awkwardly cleared my throat. He looked back, confused, and I just silently lifted my right arm up. “Oh… right sorry we can walk,” he added, rubbing the back of his neck.
I caught up to him and we started the trek towards Happy’s apartment. Peter had started absentmindedly talking about other things he usually did on patrol, like which pigeons he was sure were secretly spies and which food trucks would give him a free sample. I pulled my phone out and clicked on his contact and subtly changed the contact name.
Spider Barbie 🕷️
Peter must have noticed I stopped listening at some point and looked over my shoulder at my screen. “Delete that,” Peter stated, pointing at the contact name.
“But it’s so accurate, look I’ll even put a little bow by it,” I responded, innocently adding a bow emoji to the end of the contact.
Spider Barbie 🕷️🎀
Peter let out an exasperated sigh, before just bowing his head down. “And to think I told you all of my secret traffic tricks,” Peter added, sniffling a few times to sell his point. I rolled my eyes, shoving my phone back into one of the utility pockets on my suit. I gently nudged his shoulder with my arm.
“Alright, alright fair enough, enforcing traffic laws is genuinely important,” I relented, acting extremely inconvenienced by the fact he had technically been right.
“See! I told you, spider traffic watches are important!” Peter exclaimed, throwing his hands out.
“Of course Officer Spider, I would never want to undermine your work,” I responded, clasping my hands together. Peter was about to argue before my phone started ringing. I pulled my phone out and felt my stomach sink a little seeing the contact.
Iron Dad 🙄💰
I let out a small sigh before I reluctantly answered the phone. “Hey…” I mumbled out, deliberately walking down an empty street.
“Hey kiddo, how’s the arm?” Dad asked, his voice coming through seriously on the other end.
“It’s fine!” I responded, Peter awkwardly cleared his throat and I glared at him before letting out a small sigh. “Ok it’s not great, but I’m walking back home with Peter,” I reluctantly explained. Dad had gone silent on the other end for a few beats.
“Wow, character development,” he responded, letting out a relieved sigh, before I had a chance to defend myself he continued talking. “Alright, text me when you get home, Pepper is forcing me to sit through a stock meeting. No surprise bank robberies,” Dad finished.
“Ok fine, no surprise burglars on the way home,” I responded, hearing Peter let out a small laugh beside me. “I love you, dad bye,” I continued, hoping to get off the call before he could decide to make me take a subway home.
“Love you too,” Dad responded before the call hung up.
“So… no surprise robberies?” Peter asked, his head tilting a bit. I let out an annoyed noise, feeling my shoulders slump.
“Oh shut up Spider Barbie,” I replied, walking a few feet ahead of him. Peter rushed to catch up, sputtering something about how the nickname didn’t even make sense.
The rest of the walk shifted into a comfortable conversation, and something subconsciously reminded me of how much I enjoyed this. Things would never be the same level of normal they had been before Germany. Golly, they wouldn’t even be as normal as it was before the spider bite.
But the part of me walking shoulder to shoulder with Peter, arguing about traffic laws decided that would be ok.
I could get used to this version of normal.