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Peter slid down the wall and onto the ground with an exhausted sigh. He took on the blame for Amadeus and now he had to pay the price. After a few hours of being hunted by security bots he gave up and just let them shoot at him until quiet hours when they would go back to their charging stations.
He groaned as he pulled off his red gloves and went on to take off his shirt to reveal a variety of fresh, mild burns and scars from previous fights. He figured that there was no point in tending to those earlier as the bots were still out to get him, so now he had to deal with all of them at once and hope tomorrow would be better. He groaned, annoyed, and pulled his Spider-Man mask over his nose.
Now that he was living in the same room with both his old team and New Warriors he couldn’t take the mask off at all. It was the one thing he didn’t actually think about when he agreed to this set up. Of course this whole secret identity thing was his own invention and he had no obligation to actually follow through with it, but after all this time it just felt like a necessity. After all if it was up to him, his old team wouldn’t know his identity either, but sadly that was revealed to them without him having any say in the matter.
He grumbled as he pulled closer the first aid kit and started digging through it. He took out what he needed and was about to start putting an aloe vera ointment onto his arms when the door next to him slid open. Peter glanced at the person walking through and just nodded in greeting before resuming what he was doing.
“Spider-Man? What are you doing out here? Everyone else is already asleep.” Amadeus jerked his thumb towards the room he had just left. Peter gritted his teeth and hissed in pain as the lotion touched the sore spots.
“Just have to deal with those real quick. Those bots really dislike me, you know?” He tried to joke, but the pain caused it to sound strained. Amadeus grimaced and walked up closer to kneel next to Peter.
“Do you need help with something?” Peter looked up at the boy surprised by the offer. He smiled softly when he saw the boy’s sincere worry.
“If you could help me with my back that would’ve been nice. I can’t exactly reach it myself.” He threw the tube into Cho’s hands and turned around to reveal a bright red spot that covered most of his back.
Amadeus cringed at that and hissed as if he could feel the pain just by looking at it. He squirted some of the ointment onto his hands and started working it into Peter’s back.
“The bots really like to attack from behind, huh?”
“Yeah, blind spots are the best place to strike.” Peter said nonchalantly and reached for some more of the cream to work on his torso from the front.
“I thought your spidey sense was supposed to warn you about stuff like that.”
“It does.”
“Then why didn’t you dodge this?” Amadeus asked curiously and looked over Peter’s shoulder to try and see his expression.
“I was just tired after a few hours of that, so I figured letting them stung would be easier.” Peter answered with a smile as if he was talking about something completely normal and Amadeus fell silent for a moment.
He was still new to this superhero business, so seeing Spider-man dismissing getting shot at the whole day with a smile was shocking to him. A pang of guilt rang in his chest. He reached for some clean gauze and started applying it to the burns.
“I’m sorry.”
Peter’s head shot up from where he was focused on his front and he turned to look at the boy over his shoulder.
“Sorry for what?” Amadeus sighed and looked up at Peter.
“For making you deal with this. I didn’t listen to you and then asked you to not tell anyone it was me who let Zola out and now you lost your hall pass privileges and are getting hunted by security robots!” As he continued, his words became quicker and his eyes started to water. Peter gave him a worried look and turned around to try to calm him down.
“Hey, hey, clam down now. There’s nothing to apologize for. You’re still new and it’s my responsibility to keep you out of trouble. I didn’t do that so it’s only fair that I take the blame, right?” Peter smiled hoping to be comforting, but Amadeus took just one look at Peter’s expression and started sobbing. Those weren’t some exaggerated sobs like in the movies, but small, quiet, honest sobs that the boy couldn’t restrict.
“It’s still my fault. I should’ve listened.” Peter grimaced and moved closer to try and take a different approach.
“Hey, it’s not your fault. It was, um… a lesson! A lesson for the future. Now you’ll know not to do that and always listen to me!” He said the last part with a cocky smile, pointing at himself with both thumbs. Amadeus stared at him for a second before snorting and laughing out loud.
“You really are stupid, you know that?”
“Believe it or not, I’ve been told that before.” It took a moment for them both to calm down and Peter turned back around so that Amadeus could finish his job.
“Thanks for doing that, Spider-Man.” Peter smiled fondly as he applied the last piece of gauze to his torso.
“No worries kid. You can repay me sometime.” Amadeus chuckled at the lighthearted remark. Peter patted him on the shoulder as he stood up. “Alright, it’s already late, so you should go back to bed. I still have to clean this up, but I will also go to sleep soon.” He reached out his hand to help Amadeus up.
The boy took Peter’s shirt and gloves, that until now were discarded on the floor, and took the help gratefully. He handed Peter his clothes and turned to walk back into the dormitory, but right before opening the door he turned around one more time.
“Just don’t take too long or the bots are going to think you’re an intruder and mess up all our work.” He gestured loosely at Peter’s body and the teen couldn’t help, but chuckle.
“Yes, sir.” He gave a small, mocking salute and watched after Amadeus as the door closed behind him.
Once again he was by himself in complete silence. He stared at the already closed door for a moment longer before he went to put on his clothes and clean up the first aid kit. He smiled to himself as he thought back to what Amadeus said. At least this whole mentor thing wasn’t completely pointless.