Chapter Text
Peter's mark was kind of obvious. I mean, it was a red circle with faded blue and white rings. With a star in the middle. Duh. Captain America.
Well, there's no way Peter's getting into that. Even on the off chance Cap even found him, he was an underage nerd with glasses the size of Brooklyn and pimples to match. Besides, the good Captain had already found his lady love, hadn't he? Peter couldn't ruin that for him; it'd be a horrible thing to do. So Peter covered the mark up and didn't let anyone see, except his Aunt May and his Uncle Ben. When he explained his reasoning Aunt May had started crying and Uncle Ben had watched him as he flitted around the kitchen, trying to find ingredients for his biology project (he also had to find some frog guts, but there was no way he was telling that to Aunt May).
They agreed to never tell anyone about the mark, and allowed him to get a tattoo in a different spot, right on the inside of his shoulder, of a bright blue rose growing out of a star. It was believable enough, yet outlandish enough, that there should be a safety of no one questioning it or trying to claim him as their own.
He went through high school all alone, staying under the radar and dreaming about the day when he'd be old enough that it'd be polite to not talk about the mark in public, and he could walk around in silence.
(0)
Steve had always had the mark, right behind his right ear. He used to cover it with his hair even though he was proud of it because he didn't want anyone looking at it, at the Mark of the person meant for him. It was private, personal. He didn't want anyone looking at it, but then he got the idea that if his Mate saw it as his symbol they might have an easier time of finding him.
But nobody ever came forward.
(0)
Peter had found his father's old notes on the subject of genetics enlightening and fascinating, but the part about the mutated spiders worried him. He hadn't seen hide or tail of these creatures anywhere, but he wanted to. God he wanted to. The things he could discover!
(0)
It was the day after he'd fought Dr. Connors over the city, a day after he'd almost let the city become lizards because of one mistake, one slip-up.
He sat on the rooftop of Gwen's apartment and watched the city tint with pink and orange, saw the day fade to night and become his playground.
What a shame it would've been to lose this.
(0)
Peter looked in the mirror one day while searching his desk for a pencil and noticed he'd changed. Gone was the pimply, gawky boy who stared with wide eyes; he'd seen too much to still be that boy. He was Peter Parker, inside and out, and he thought he looked pretty good.
Soft brown hair in a long braid (he kept forgetting to cut it, and if he left it down it dangled in his experiments), big brown eyes (doe eyes, he thought, and snickered) that saw himself with wariness, long, slender limbs, and a dusky tan.
He grabbed the pencil and left; he was late to his interview with S.H.I.E.L.D. as it was.
(0)
Steve had woken in that ice alone to the gut-wrenching pain in his heart of knowing, knowing, that his Mate couldn't possibly be alive and even if they were they'd be eighty-something and he'd be... twenty-something. And selfish as it sounds, he didn't want that.
But when he first got to a mirror and examined the Mark for the first time, it seemed even brighter, not as dull as it had been before. The reds and blues were vivid, like an angry bite wound, and he collapsed right there in the bathroom and cried.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent watching him didn't say anything, just turned and gave him a moment to relish the fact that he wasn't alone.
(0)
Steve didn't pay much attention to the scientists S.H.I.E.L.D. or Stark hired, and so was a little shocked when he ran into a man in their private rooms in Stark Tower. He began a tirade about privacy and how some people just couldn't keep their darn hands to themselves, and the man's big brown eyes went wide. His palms swung up in a sign of surrender and he took a subtle, quiet step back.
"Tony called you, and I didn't receive an answer so I opened the door to check if you were sleeping. I apologize if I offended you. I didn't take anything!" The man huffed, long brown braid swaying behind him, tucked his hands in his lab coat's pockets, and sauntered down the hall. Steve turned to stare for a moment before following sheepishly.
He tried to apologize on the lift but the man raised a hand to stop him.
"Shut up, Captain America. I get it." He smiled ruefully. "My name's Peter Parker, by the way. Tony hired me to check out the work they did on yours and the Widow's genetics. Okay?"
Steve nodded, mind occupied with that for a moment.
(0)