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“Bet you won’t try and steal an ornament off the tree,” Nova chided. Peter squinted his eyes at his friend through the eyes of his suit. Sam was carrying Peter above Utica by the arms, and they were looming over a shopping outlet. In the center, there was an enormous Christmas Tree decked out to the nines. A woman and her friend were posing in front of it while a photographer with his large camera motioned at them.
“Let me down and see.”
Nova grinned as he flew them to the ground, letting his hold on Peter go. Peter rolled in a circle then sprang to his feet. He bared his teeth like a wolf hunting its prey under his mask, and sprinted towards a nice, round, ample, red ornament hanging ten feet off of the ground. He leapt up, up, up into the air and snatched the decoration from the branch it clung to. The sound of a camera shutter flickered for a moment, and when Peter landed he saw the photographer giving him a thumbs up.
“Thanks for the perfect picture, Spiderman,” he called out with a wave.
“Spiderman photobombed our picture?”
The woman to the right with short, curly, black hair jumped up and down. The other simply buried her face in her hands with a sigh. Peter flashed a peace sign at them. He lifted his empty hand above his head, and jerked when Nova picked him up at high speeds.
“Where’s your evidence, Webs?”
Peter held the red sphere out for Nova to take with the hand he wasn’t lugging Peter with. Nova inspected it, then nodded.
“What do I win?”
Nova beamed up above.
“The dare for me.”
---
“Absolutely not.”
“You forfeit?”
Sam leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest snugly. He kicked his feet onto the long table, contemplating. Peter licked his smile and widened his stance. The two remained quiet while Sam mulled the dare over.
“What’re they doing?” Ava asked from the other end.
“Spider and Nova are playing Dare or Dare for the holidays,” Danny explained. Luke nodded from the left.
“You got five seconds to decide, Alexander,” Peter taunted. Sam scratched his chin theatrically.
“Five…”
“On one hand,”
“Four…”
“I think I might die.”
“Three…”
On the other hand,”
“Two…”
“I think I might die. You have a deal, Parker.”
Peter clapped his hands loud enough to make himself wince. His face hurt with how hard he was smiling, but he couldn’t resist it. Sam Alexander was going nowhere good, and Peter had never been more excited about anything else. Sam sighed from his seat.
“You can’t get the team to help and you cannot fly away after you do it. You are allowed to hide, but if Fury or I find you… you’re doomed.”
Peter’s grin was bordering maniacal as he tossed a small, pink bag to his friend. Sam opened his mouth to argue when Fury himself walked in. He paused when he saw Peter’s face.
“Quit looking at me like that, Parker,” Fury barked out. Peter watched Sam leave his chair over the man’s shoulder.
“Fury, my man! Nicholas, Nicky, Nick Van Dyke! How are ya?”
Fury blinked at him.
“You have point three seconds to sit down. After that, you will never call me any of those ever again.”
Peter shrugged. He practically bounced the entire way to the table, which Sam had returned to. Peter could hardly contain himself as his wide eyes saw the entire thing unfold. The moment Fury had sat down, a little flubber of gas was heard. Peter cackled and tipped his chair over with how hard he kicked the floor.
“Geez, Fury, is lunch not agreeing with you?” Sam questioned. Peter’s eyes pricked with tears. Luke’s laughter and Danny’s small chuckles joined him. When Peter sprang up to see Fury’s reddened face, his laughter doubled and he fell back to the floor.
“PARKER!”
---
They stood on the top floor of the Empire Building on a Friday night. The sun had set, and New York lights twinkled like the stars they should’ve been able to see. Light pollution unfortunately blocked the view of actual stars, so street lamps and building lights were the next best things. Peter eyed the ground and he imagined himself flat as a pancake with New Yorkers scrambling over him. He whipped his head to Nova.
“I’ll die!”
Nova clapped his bicep.
“Yeah, I know. It’s gonna be great.”
Peter slapped his hand away. Sam only smiled harder. Peter stared out, wondering what Heaven was like. Was he ready to let go of May? More importantly, was he ready to lose to Sam? Peter weighed the outcomes of both situations before he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.
“Nope, I can’t.”
Sam whooped and jumped into the air. Peter hung his head in shame as his friend flew laps around him.
“You gotta clean Rhino’s bathroom for a month.”
“A month?”
“A month!”
---
“Alright, Parker. Hit me.”
Peter slapped the back of Sam’s neck with all his force. Sam screamed and soothed the injury with his hand while glaring at Peter.
“You’re such an asshole,” he muttered.
“Yeah, well, we’re tied for the most dares, so, survival of the fittest and all.”
Sam shook his head.
“So if you don’t do this one,” Peter continued, “I win and you suck ass.”
“And if I do do it?”
“You said ‘doo doo’,” Peter snickered. Sam flicked his forehead. Peter swat his hand away.
“But, to be fair, I called in the team,” Parker announced.
With a wave of his hand, White Tiger, Iron Fist, and Power Man stepped in with crossed arms. Luke cracked his neck, causing Ava to gag slightly. Danny merely looked passive as ever between the two.
“You two fuck faces have entirely destroyed the Academy with this game thing,” Ava scowled at them, “and since you won’t stop, we asked to be the final judges.”
“You didn’t ask, you twisted my arm behind my back and wouldn’t let go until I agreed,” Peter barked out. Luke grinned at the memory of Peter yelping like a hurt chihuahua and Ava shrugged apathetically. The three advanced on Sam and Peter dauntingly. Peter felt the size of a pea compared to the way they towered over him; how did Ayala do that when he was a head taller than her?
“You both are tasked with three endeavors” Luke explained, “first to the finish line wins.”
“But what are the challenges?” Sam asked.
“Us,” the trio answered in unison. With that, they each jumped into stance, ready to fight. Tiger’s claws grew with a mechanical shink noise, and Danny’s fists glowed ominously with quiet snaps of fire. Power Man cracked the ground as he brought his curled fist to it. Peter gulped.
“We don’t have suits!” Sam shrieked.
“You have other resources,” Danny replied.
Ava was the first to strike. She ran headfirst into Peter’s stomach, making him fall with a grunt. Danny followed with a fiery fist down, but Peter rolled out of the way and onto his feet. In the corner of his eye he saw Luke swinging Sam across the room.
“HI-YAH!” White Tiger yelled as she triple kicked him, knocking Peter against the wall of the room. He screamed and ducked when Luke put his own hand through the wall, inches from where Peter was. Peter kicked out both of Luke’s legs and grabbed onto the wall to avoid being a cushion for Luke’s fall. From his safe space above everyone on the wall, Peter analyzed the fight. Without him to pummel, Sam was taking on all three of their friends at once. Peter pushed off of the wall with a groan, sending all his weight straight into Power Man. They collapsed together, but Peter took control of his fall and began rolling, then turned out into his stance with one hand in front of the other. Luke scraped himself off the floor and smiled at Peter.
“The fuck is May feeding you?”
“I’m a growing boy,” Peter grinned.
Before Peter could attack, Sam landed on his stomach next to Peter. He rolled his eyes and helped Sam up, despite his bitching.
“We’re competitors, Webhead,” Sam grumbled, “mind your own fight, would you?”
“Behind you,” Peter quipped. Sam turned around a second too late and Luke gave him an uppercut. Peter moved his head in a matching arc with Sam’s body as he watched his friend fly. Peter held his hand out for a high five, but Luke only took it to yank Peter to the ground.
“Ow,” he commented. Luke flashed him finger guns, then chased Sam with a raised fist. Iron Fist came in, slicing his hand against Peter’s neck then ribcage. He followed with a swift kick to Peter’s stomach.
“Sam, we gotta take them together!”
Ava made a tiny noise as she was thrown to Peter’s feet. Peter looked up to see Sam doing a small victory dance. Peter stepped onto Ava’s back before she could get back up, and she growled. Luke charged at Peter, so he kicked Ava at him, causing Luke to trip over the girl. Ava pushed herself up with a heaving chest to level Peter with a glare. Peter sent her jazz hands in a form of apology, then leapt over the pair and onto Danny’s back.
“Take him out!” Peter yelled. Sam punched Danny’s cheek, then his sternum and kicked his legs out. Peter and Sam panted together above the rest of the team before high fiving each other.
“You fucking jumped on him, man!”
Peter laughed with his friend.
“Hey! It worked, did it not?”
“No, it worked because I kicked his ass.”
“Shut up, Buckethead.”
“Shove it up your web shooters.”