Work Text:
Peter was never more thankful for his sticking to walls ability that now.
No, he wasn't fighting a robber, or a psycho in a bird suit, or a super soldier with a metal frisbee.
His enemy on the line right now was that eight legged spider staring up at him from the ground.
Peter glared back at it. He thinks he's so tough, huh? Taking up Tony's lab space. Well he'll show it. As long as it doesn't- OH MY GOD IT MOVED!
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Peter scurried up the wall, climbing onto the ceiling. Tony was out getting take out, for which Peter was grateful for. He'd never live it down if the man found out Spider-Man was afraid of spiders.
But he hadn't been the one bitten by a radioactive one. He hadn't been the one half dead in his bed, crying from the pain because he didn't want to go to the emergency room. He wasn't the one who passed out and woke up with a million IVs in their arm in a hospital room. Waking up in the sterile white hospital with that horrid smell was terrifying. Especially to a fourteen year old.
God, he despised anyone to tried to justify the spider by saying "it's more scared of you than you are of it." He didn't care. The spider may be more scared of him (doubtful. I mean, here he was on the freaking ceiling trying to avoid that waste of oxygen on the ground who didn't seem to care about Peter) but damn it, he was scared of it in the moment. It wasn't a contest of who was more scared of the other, the point was, Peter could talk. He could walk. He could articulate to everyone that "Fuck! Kill that fucking spider!" while the spider could not.
There were people who said things like "But spiders are good! They help the environment by killing bugs!" He didn't care. There were billions of spiders out there (the thought made him shudder, almost loosing his grip on the ceiling. Thankfully, this was a matter of life and death, so he held on) and killing the one spider in Peter's territory seemed reasonable enough. He didn't see the spider paying rent to live here!
Peter was still locked in a heavy stand-off with the spider. He looked wildly around the lab until his eyes settled on his empty cup that used to have gatorade in it, and a sheet of loose scratch paper on his desk, leftover from when he was testing out formulas for his webs.
Still staring at the spider intently, Peter released one hand from the ceiling and crawled slowly towards his desk. He never let his eyes wander from the horrid creature. Just when he was right above his desk and about to jump onto it, the door burst open.
"Peter, I'm back- what the fuck?"
The sudden noise startled him. He lost his grip and fell face first onto the table, and then rolled onto the floor. Now he was on equal ground with the spider.
"Peter, what the hell are you doing-"
He wasn't paying attention to anything. The spider moved. It was crawling fast towards Peter's face.
With a yelp, he scrambled up, climbed onto his desk, and scurried up the wall.
But now the spider was sitting right on top of his papers.
On his desk.
Whelp!
There goes that plan.
"Peter!"
His heart jumped, but he didn't fall this time.
"Yes, Mr. Stark?" he asked innocently, trying to play it cool.
Tony was carrying a bag full of hot Chinese food, picked up from the best little Chinese shop right around the corner.
"What the fu- heck are you doing?"
Tony seemed to be running on the mindset that Peter hadn't been accustomed to swearing before. But seriously, it was unnecessary. He went to high school. Peter'd probably heard it all and more.
"Just... uh... testing something? You scared me," he added in an accusatory tone, hoping to deviate the subject away from the spider.
Tony's eyebrows shot up. "To be fair, I didn't expect my intern to be climbing the walls when I got back. Get down. Do you want food?"
"Uhh, it's okay, Mr. Stark. I don't really want to come down..."
The man sighed. He walked over to his work bench and dropped the take out onto it.
"Alright, Webs, what's going on."
Peter weighed his options. He could tell Mr. Stark about the spider, get him to get rid of it and face the teasing. Or, he could... there was no other option. Unless he jumped out the window. Which was seeming pretty welcoming at this point, secret identity be damned.
He settled for the former. Less mad Tony Stark, less press, less chance of his identity being leaked. But it was a hard decision.
"There's a spider," he muttered.
Mr. Stark scrunched his eyebrows. "A what?"
"There's a sp-ARGH!"
The spider moved.
It was crawling up the wall towards Peter.
He scampered along the wall, caught in a chase.
Seeing no other choice, he jumped down from his vertical position and landed on the ground, immediately leaping to the farthest possible spot in the lab away from the thing.
"Seriously?" he heard Tony snicker. "A spider? Spider-Man is afraid of spiders?"
"Yeah, yeah," Peter grumbled back. "I get the irony. Can you just get rid of it, please?"
Tony seemed in no hurry to locate the spider. "How are you afraid of spiders?"
He glared at the man. "You would be too, if you got bitten by a radioactive one. I was in the hospital for weeks, Mr. Stark. Weeks hooked up to ventilator."
"How sick were you?"
"Sick enough! I can't go back there, Mr. Stark."
Tony seemed to realize how distressed Peter actually was, because he abandoned his teasing nature.
"Alright, kiddo. Where's the spider?"
With a shaking hand (when did they start shaking?) he pointed to where the spider sat on the wall.
Tony followed his finger but when he laid eyes on the offending creature, he jumped back.
"Oh fuck no. That thing is huge. You didn't tell me how big it was!"
Peter crossed his arms. "Whatever. Can you just get rid of it, please?"
Tony took a step forward but faltered on the next one, jumping back. "That thing is entirely too big for this world. There is no reason I can think of for that spider to be that big. Hell no."
"Sir," Friday piped up, "it might be beneficial to note that there are very few venomous species of spiders in this area."
Tony's shoulders relaxed slightly. "Okay, okay. Cool, cool, cool, cool. I got this, then? Yeah, Fri?"
"You didn't let me finish, sir." Friday almost sounded amused. "There are very few species of venomous spiders here. And that just happens to be one of them. That is the Loxosceles reclusa also known as the brown recluse, and it is one of the most venomous spiders in our area."
Peter felt his breath quicken. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?"
"Friday!" Tony snapped. "Why would you tell me that, now?"
"My apologize, Boss. Would you have preferred I tell you sooner?"
"No! I would have preferred to tell me after I had gotten rid of the sucker."
"I apologize, Boss."
Peter had an idea.
A stupid idea.
But an idea.
"Mr. Stark," he said quietly as if any sudden noises would trigger the spider into moving again. "Give me my web-shooter."
Tony didn't question it, reaching out blindly with his hand, he located the referenced piece of tech, and handed it to Peter.
He slapped the device on his wrist. Manually, he switched the setting to ricochet web.
Taking aim, he flicked his wrist, pushing the button on his palm.
Thwip!
A web shot out and slammed into the wall, denting it slightly. True to its name, the web ricocheted back to them, but Peter caught it before it could do anymore damage. Slowly, he walked towards where the spider had perched and looked.
Dead spider.
Smushed on the wall.
Lovely.
A wonderful addition to the decor.
He bounded back to Tony who was grinning appreciatively at him.
Peter figured he deserved to get some teasing in there.
"Almighty Iron Man is afraid of spiders?"
"Shut it, Webs. It was huge!"
"Uh huh," Peter agreed. There was no denying that fact.
"I got it all on video," Friday chirps. "Would you like me to save it?"
Tony's eyes go wide. "No!" he shouts. "Delete that footage and any trace of it, Friday. Hack into the database, I don't care. Just make sure no one ever sees it. Ever."
"Yes, Boss."
She was definitely laughing at them.
Tony looked back to Peter. "We agree never to talk about this ever again, yes?"
Peter nodded. "Agreed."