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“Dude you’re scared of spiders? How can you be scared of spiders, they’re literally your brethren.”
“Ned.” they sat alone in the cafeteria, but peter would actually rather not talk about it anyways.
“Dude, can you like- communicate with them? Is that why your scared”
Peters head hit the table
“I’m not scared of them” the table heard as Ned moved the glass containing the spider slightly further towards a probably-not-listening Mj. “They’re just sort of creepy. And no, I can’t talk to them”
Peter had never liked spiders and neither did May so when a spider was found in the apartment it was usually accompanied by a hoover, a few choice words, and a spontaneous game of the floor is lava.
It wasn’t usually too much of an issue, ignoring the nightmares that peter still occasionally had of spiders biting him (he got really ill, okay? Any sane person would be a bit scared). Except for the fact that being spider-fied seemed to make them want to feast on him even more. It wasn't such a dramatic increase that he’d start packing for the end of the world, but it was significant enough that aunt may seemed to think there was a gap in a window somewhere.
Last night, he snuck out the window for patrol to see a small pile of flies on the ledge. He kicked them off with his foot, but it was confusing. He’d never heard of spiders hoarding food before and wondered if there was some mutant spider trying to become roomies.
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Tony had found out about his aversion to certain creepy crawlies. His life was over, completely done. Maybe he could try track down daredevil to cover some of his patrols- he really does not trust Deadpool all over New York.
“Chose the right insect to get bit by didn't you Pete. Did you not like the costume design for butterfly man?”
Hence why peter was staring very intently at a spider in the corner of his room. It was a stare off of power. This spider would not be winning today, Peter had all right to be here, not this freeloader. At this point, peter was half convinced he could talk to spiders, and that if he won this battle, the fallen creature would tell all spiders of New York to stay clear.
For the spider's part, it was completely unbothered by the clearly bigger and more threatening of the two and started inching towards him. Peter swiftly left the room.
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“Well, my cousin got saved from some creep following her and she swore straight down that Spider-Man was trailing spiders behind him”
“Did you hear Spider-Man can mind control spiders? He’s got his own army and all”
“Any bets saying Spidey’s just a bunch of spiders in a costumes?”
Peter was so actually done. He had half a mind to hunt down whatever cruel cruel person decided to post about his little, uh, friends.
Whoever said that immersion therapy helps fear was clearly a con artist who knows nothing of what they’re talking about. Honestly, he considered himself lucky if he didn’t see a spider at least once a day, and a couple tiny money spiders had taken to hiding in and dangling from his hair. He felt strangely bad when the shower drowned a couple down the drain, but they seemed to learn fairly quickly and left his hair beforehand now.
Obviously, Flash has very loudly accused him of having lice more than once.
The amount of dead flies he found both in his room, and in the avengers, compound has only increased, and Mr. Stark was apparently ‘not the kind of scientist’ that could give him any answers.
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“You’re lying” Dr Banner clearly also was not the kind of scientist that knew anything at all. He should stick to being green.
“It makes sense Peter, you’re not fully grown”
“If that was a short joke, you’re going out the window”
Peter wasn’t stupid, he knew it did actually make some sort of sense that as the human bits of him grow and change, so would the spider bits but come on. No matter what they said, he was not growing fangs like a vampire. He just wasn’t. Some people just had sharper teeth than others. Did Dr Bruce Banner not know that humans are omnivores?
Though later, in the mirror he could see how it looked that way. Peter groaned. It wouldn’t do to just be scared of spiders, would it? No, he had to just go and become one. Parker Luck.
He was, however, a little excited by some of the things Bruce had said could be possible whilst evolving. His powers were, admittedly, already super cool, and things like venom in his mouth creeped Peter out more than anything. On the other hand, the mere idea that peter could develop biological webs practically made him vibrate.
“Dude. Webs” Ned always understood him.
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Despite himself, Peter actually found himself quite attached to three money spiders that he kept finding on him, and was about 92% sure they were the same ones, which was probably as good as he was going to get. So naturally, he had to name them.
“Jhon” Ned did not understand him as much as he thought.
“Jhon the spider? I think I preferred ‘Man-Killer-300'” he says, walking to class and regretting his desision to let Ned and Mj be involved in naming his children.
“What you hate all Jhon’s now?” Mj choosing sides seemed to only happen to ensure Peters downfall.
“Alright what about Widow?” Ned, his re-instated best friend ever, interjected
“You can’t. I’m sure Black widow can have that copyrighted”
If he didn’t really pay too much attention in social studies, he didn’t show it. He wasn’t the best at naming things, but he really didn’t want to regret naming his spiders something when it’d be too late to change it. Was this how his parents felt trying to name him?
“Ned, I love you, but no.”
“I have a cousin called Jhon, probably! Why are you so against it?” At this point, Peter wasn’t sure why either, but it was the principle of it.
“Just pick a name and be done with it” deadpans Mj, being as little help as possible. She was sitting with Nyx, the spider she got to name, in the palm of her left hand, whilst she sketches. Art class only happened once every two weeks in Midtown, and Peter and Ned have learnt by now to not to interrupt her unnecessarily.
Peter walked home with Jhon, Nyx and Ginntho (he had chosen that one, and Mj had liked it, so they both agreed not to mention the fact it was a Star Wars reference around her).
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"What’s wrong with them?” Ned asked, when all three spiders left Peter the second they were able to, in favor of sulking, because yes they were sulking, he could tell, on Ned and Mj’s careful hands. “We’re having an argument” He grumbled, all too aware that people didn’t have arguments with spiders, but they knew what they were doing.
A raised eyebrows from Mj that could halt an alien invasion (really considering trying it some time, there really were too many these days) prompted him to explain.
“I woke up with a bunch of silk on me, which I didn’t actually love at all, and they got upset with me cos I broke it by moving an inch. Don’t look at me that way Ned your supposed to be on my side. I had to beak it at some point anyway, I can’t stay in bed forever”
Mj had that look on her face when she was going to say something very smart, true, and absolutely devastating to whatever unfortunate soul she was communicating with. Peter thinks it’s the closest her expression ever gets to ‘gleeful’.
“They were probably trying to help and protect you” what did he say “To them you’re probably this big, stupid spider who can’t make his own webs to protect himself.”
The worst thing is, it made sense. And lined up with still finding a ridiculous amount of flies everywhere. And the increase in spiders around him. And the ability to understand the vague feelings of his mini spiders. They thought he was a big spider. He couldn’t even blame them, sharp teeth (never fangs) were growing ever shaper and he didn’t have proof, but he could have sworn he managed to bully a spider that was still too big for him to be happy around out of his room by will alone.
It also made him feel really quite guilty for being annoyed at his spiders, goddammit Mj.
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His spiders (which had only increased in number, he had 6 now, one nearly as big as his hand) still tried to help Peter be a better spider, even when he started getting his own webs (Dude!) and venom that could, scarily, actually do real harm. It was quite cute though now.