Work Text:
Peter stirred the mix of vegetables and chicken in the pan but, his mind was on so many other things right now. First of all, MJ was about to publish her exposé into Oscorp for the Times. He was so proud of her because she had worked so hard on it and didn't get into that much trouble that she couldn't handle, unless you count almost falling to her death off of the Empire State Building. What he was worried about though was the potential drama he would have as Spider-Man once Norman's experiments were revealed to the world. Would Norman try to release what MJ had codenamed the 'symbiote' to the public now that everyone knew about it? He told himself he was being too selfish worrying about how much harder his work as Spider-Man would be once the information went public. This was MJ's moment, he would deal with the aftermath later.
His other fear was how April was doing in school now that she was in first grade. Was she making any new friends? Were her old friends sticking with her after summer vacation? Did Ms. Dawson treat her right after their 'conversation' at the last parent teacher conference? All of those questions were flying at him a mile a minute even though there was nothing he could do about it. Well, if she was getting bullied because of how smart she was, he and MJ could throw a fit with the principal but that was the worst case scenario. Peter should be hoping to hear about whatever she learned today or what cool new friend she made in class. A part of him just couldn't help worrying about her experience there and wanting to protect her at all costs. He realized this going to school full time thing was as much of a transition for him as it was for her. Even though watching SpongeBob SquarePants wasn't the most entertaining thing to watch every afternoon, he was going to miss it to see April smile.
And the smoke alarm was going off. No matter how hard he tried over and over again, he just couldn't make this chicken curry he had been promising to make MJ for what felt like the past ten years now. Either he got distracted by a supervillains plan for world domination, or he was worrying about all the ways MJ and now April could get hurt. The curry was supposed to be a surprise congratulations for getting her work published, now it looked like they were all going to have to settle for the pizza he had in the fridge for April. Peter decided to leave the burnt piece of chicken on the table as a way to say he tried and hopefully get a laugh out of the attempt. Going to cooking school definitely wasn't a good idea for a day job if these were the results of his efforts Peter had decided. Now that April was going to school full time, he was going to have to figure out what kind of day job he could get that wouldn't interfere with his less official night job.
The sound of the door opening and a familiar voice drew him back to reality, "Knock, knock..."
Peter turned around to see Miles standing at the door with April rushing past him to latch herself on Peter's leg, "Hey, you guys are back! How was school?!"
Her muffled voice made his stomach turn, "..Fine I guess.."
Miles frowned but gave Peter a shrug, "She got out a little early for medical reasons.. Luckily I was just getting out from my first day so I thought I'd bring her home. I hope Mary Jane won't mind."
His over protective dad senses were tingling and he bent down to feel her forehead, "It's fine, one less thing she'll have to worry about, thanks Miles." He didn't feel a fever but, Mom's were always the better reader of that anyways, "What's wrong sweetpea? Did you have a stomach ache again?"
April shook her head and yet squeezed his leg harder, "No..." The fact she was crying now threatened to make Peter burst into tears as well, "I told the nurse I was ok."
Miles rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "I better go umm do you mind if I borrow some of your stuff for uhh work tonight? I thought I'd give you the night off or something..."
Dealing with April's emergent crisis was enough on his plate to almost miss the implications of what Miles was asking. He wanted to borrow Peter's webshooters so he could be Spider-Man tonight. Peter had been slowly but surely training Miles for the day that he could take the mantle from him but, it was still an uncomfortable situation for him. This would be the first night Miles wanted to go out alone and fight crime. What if something happened to him dealing with any number of criminals who could be out and about tonight? Would he ever forgive himself if something bad went down and he wasn't there to help? Would Miles' mother ever forgive him for not telling her the tutoring sessions he was giving him weren't exactly for college? At the same time though, with April lightly crying on his leg, his place was here tonight.
Peter nodded trying to get April to look at him, "Yeah, top drawer on the left side. Just don't take everything.. And call if you need help, ok?"
Miles grinned and he didn't love how eager Miles seemed overall, "Ok I will! See you later April, I hope you feel better soon."
April struggled through a few sobs to say, "Th... Thank..yoo...ouu uncle Miles." She was always so polite.
Peter stared at her red rimmed eyes hoping she wouldn't notice Miles had a tendency to use his bedroom window as an exit from the apartment, "What's going on sweetpea?"
She sniffled trying to stop crying, "I'm a freak..."
His dad senses were going off like a code red fire alarm. So she had been bullied on her first day to school. What had been said? And why had the school given her a medical leave for bullying? She didn't have any marks on her that he could see anyways which was a good sign. Maybe she felt ugly about herself? It was way too early for that phase in his opinion but, eventually she was going to have self esteem issues. Peter definitely wasn't looking forward to her going through puberty knowing how much trouble he gave Aunt May as a teenager. She had just turned five last month though, surely that wasn't going to start happening now though was it? And why hadn't the school called him to come get her? They knew he had nothing better to do and yet they chose to call their emergency contact. Were they afraid he was going to turn into the Hulk and start smashing the school grounds because of what happened? To be fair, he had chewed out Ms. Dawson for her coloring assignment but that wasn't the point.
Peter took a deep breath and put his hands on her shoulders, "You are not a freak. You are the sweetest, cutest, smartest girl I know. Why would you even say something like that?"
April looked down at her feet nervously like she had done something wrong, "Be... Because I got scared and...and did something to make the class call me a freak."
The vague way she was talking about what happened was frustrating but it was important for him to not let that show, "I know it's hard sweetie... I can help better though if I know everything. What scared you?"
April fiddled with her hands for something to do, "The teacher..the teacher put on Harry Potter..and you know that part with the giant snake?" He nodded and so she continued, "There's a part where the snake was coming right at me and I...and I..."
Peter's heart was racing as it was impossible to not start putting the pieces together, "And you were scared right? So what happened next?"
April glanced at him, her gaze was filled with fear, "Promise you won't think I'm a freak like everyone else?"
Peter gently kissed her forehead and gave her the broadest smile he could manage, "I promise nothing you could ever say or do would make me or your Mom think you are a freak. Remember how you worried so much about getting a B and everything was ok after? This is just like that. You don't need to worry about that around us."
Instead of answering him with words, April jumped up and twisted around so her hands and feet stuck to the ceiling. He gasped in a panic ready to catch her if she fell down but that moment never came. Peter always knew this was a possibility given the fact that his own genetic structure had been altered from the moment he was bitten by that spider but, the doctors had said everything was normal. Then again, he doubted the spider genes inside of her stuck out like such a sore thumb since April didn't have direct contact with the spider like he did. Realizing what happened was simple enough, her spidey senses which were untrained responded to the snake on the TV as though it was real. He wished MJ was here so they could decide what to do together but, he was going to have to wing it on his own.
From the day she was born, Peter and MJ had decided to keep his superhero identity from her. At first, it was easy enough for him to accept because he didn't want her to worry about him all the time. They had a close call towards the end of her kindergarten year when she had found him as Spider-Man entering the house, he had ultimately played it off quite well though. However, after the moment all Peter had wanted to do was selfishly tell her the truth, especially when she declared to him that Spider-Man was her favorite superhero. It would've been so easy to tell her too when the real Spider-Man miraculously showed up at her fifth birthday party to swing her to the top of Avengers Tower. Unfortunately, he had gotten cold feet from telling her for the same reasons they had always kept it from her despite seeing the way her face lit up at the realization he showed up instead of a pony.
Seeing her teary face stare down at him from the ceiling now made it clear that was a mistake. No matter whether or not he and MJ were comfortable with it, April had inherited his powers and it was clear she felt alone in the world. Peter couldn't help himself from feeling responsible for all the hardships April was going to have to go through now. Sure Spider-Man may be her favorite superhero but, from her perspective, he was very far away and couldn't help her deal with what she was experiencing right now. MJ was probably going to be upset he was going back on his agreement to tell her first how he was going to break the news to April. He was sure she would eventually understand. The tears in April's eyes needed to go away now and Peter knew it was going to take more than a few kind words.
April's tone was full of emotion when she noticed his gasp, "See, I told you you'd think I was a freak like everyone else..."
Out of pure instinct, Peter jumped up on the ceiling as well to cup her cheek, "No I don't, I was just worried you might fall down.. I remember I did my first few times..."
Her eyes widened to the point that she stopped crying from the discovery he could do it to, "You can...but.. I thought only Spider-Man could.." It was honestly rather adorable to see the gears turn in her head if it wasn't for the way they got to this situation.
He smiled at her and considered what was the best way for him to come out and say it, "Hey, can I show you something? I'll be right back. I have a secret I have to tell you."
She relaxed against the ceiling and spoke in a hushed whisper, "Like when I told you Iron Man wasn't my favorite superhero anymore?"
Peter grinned wondering if she was going to figure out the fact that she had told him twice, "Exactly like that. One second ok? Don't move and I will be right back."
MJ would murder him several times over if she knew he was going to let April sit on the ceiling while he got his mask. Her immediate fear would be that she could fall down and hurt herself. He understood though that April would be fine up there for hours and it definitely wouldn't take him that long to get his mask. When she inevitably nodded, he jumped off of the ceiling and rushed to the master bedroom as soon as possible to get what he needed. As Peter opened the drawer he was grateful Miles left his suit and a single webshooter with a note labeled, "Just in case," next to it. Peter felt better about letting Miles go on his own since he seemed to be willing to ask Peter for help still when he needed it. He was used to putting the suit on fast for emergencies but, this somehow felt even more urgent somehow.
He came back into the room all suited up and April grinned, "I knew it!"
Peter was actually a little deflated expecting more of a shocked reaction, "You..you did..?"
She had a smug look on her face and was nodding emphatically, "You called me sweetpea when I wanted a drink of water and Mom wasn't scared to see you at my birthday party.. I just thought I was daydreaming to think it was actually true."
He jumped back onto the ceiling so he could get close to her again, "You Parker women are too smart for your own good you know that?" Peter had a teasing tone before turning the conversation back around to where it started, "Do you think I'm a freak?"
April shook her head the instant he asked the question, "No!"
That was the answer he was looking for thankfully, "Well then, you can't be a freak either. You just got really scared because snakes go after spiders and your a spider. Like me."
April hugged his neck closely and he made sure to use his other hand to keep them stable, "Thank you for saving so many Moms and Dads.. How do I...show people I'm like everyone else even when I'm scared?"
Peter had no idea what the best way to answer that question was since he had been able to keep his identity secret through high school, "I guess you show people that even when your scared, you're really just like them."
April gave him a confused expression, "Dad, how can I do that when I'm the only one hanging on the ceiling?"
Peter was pretty stumped by the question himself but he had to come up with something, "You and your friend Alex like eating apples right?" She nodded and so he shot at an apple on the counter with a web, "Let's say you get scared during lunch time right? Maybe you could eat from the ceiling and show everyone that your just as hungry as they are?"
She took the apple from his hand and looked between it and him, "I didn't know you could eat upside down?! Really?"
He was amused to see she was so excited by such a simple idea, "Sure you can! You have no idea how many donuts I've had upside down waiting for a bad guy to show up. Try it."
April seemed to think the apple was made of poison from the way she slowly put it to her mouth, "Mom won't be mad I'm not eating at the table?"
Peter ruffled her hair teasingly, "I think she'll make an exception just this once. It's for science purposes."
He couldn't help but smile watching her eat for the first time upside down. Peter couldn't help it as he remembered all the junk he would eat in a similar position waiting for Fisk or some other criminal organization to show up to the stakeout he was at. While the immediate crisis was over, he knew that today was going to open up a can of worms. They were going to have to have a pretty serious conversation about how she couldn't tell anyone who he was. The last thing he needed was villains coming to the school and using her as a hostage once the news got around. Training her spidey senses to not overreact to all the stimuli it received was also going to be a challenge but, he was up for it. He had to be, there was no Yoda around to hone her abilities, just him. At this point he was going to have to start his own version of Hogwarts with all the spider people popping through the woodwork.
The door opened again and his heart lept out of his chest when he heard MJ, "I am so so sorry, traffic was a nightmare and the school wouldn't- Oh my God!"
It had to be quite the sight to see her daughter on the ceiling eating an apple, "Hey Mom! You knew Dad was Spider-Man right?"
MJ's frustration with traffic disappeared obviously in a panic that she might fall at any minute, "Of... Of course I did, he does a really bad job of hiding it doesn't he? Why don't you come down from there and we can talk about what happened at school today?"
Peter motioned to his other hand which was keeping her stable, "I got her, we're just practicing eating upside down. So she doesn't seem weird at school again if she gets scared."
Mary tilted her head at him for a few seconds before turning her attention back to April, "What scared you baby? Was it the janitor because he scares me too with those eyes."
The three of them laughed and Peter took the opportunity to tell MJ the story. They might have difficult situations ahead but, they were going to get through them as a family.