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Jean was still shaking off the remnants of sleep as she sat down on the couch, pajamas still on as she nestled a bowl of cereal in her lap, reaching for the remote with her free hand and beginning to channel surf.
Peter walked past the back of the couch and she grumbled as he patted her on the top of the head, dodging a swipe of her hand in retaliation as he kept on going.
“Coffee’s ready.” Jean said, her eyes still glued to the tv, a half asleep grunt of acknowledgement came from Peter causing her to roll her eyes before settling on what she wanted to watch and eating her cereal.
She’d let him have the bathroom for awhile, just this once.
Letting out another yawn before shovelling a spoonful of cereal into her mouth, she enjoyed the quiet morning-
“AGGGGHH!”
Startled, Jean jumped up, spilling milk slightly on the floor as she looked in the direction of the bathroom, hastily putting her bowl down she rushed over to the bathroom door, coming to a stop as she reached up and knocked.
“Peter! Are you ok!?” she asked, not even trying to suppress the alarm in her tone.
“Uh…I..I’m not sure.”
“What are you-What do you mean you’re not sure?” Jean asked with concern before making up her mind.
“I’m coming in….You do have clothes on right?”
Cause after that particularly traumatizing bathroom walk-in incident she had blocked out, but still remembered the context of why she’d blocked it out…
She wasn’t taking any chances.
Hence why she always knocked now too.
“Yeah.” Peter’s muffled voice called out causing Jean to sigh in relief.
Turning the handle, she slowly peeked in, relieved at least to see Peter standing, still clothed in front of the sink as he stared in the mirror, his eyes wide…as was his mouth?
“What is it?” Jean asked, walking up beside him slowly only for Peter to turn and point to his mouth, specifically his teeth.
His teeth which now sported elongated canines.
…He had fangs.
Peter had fangs!
“...Ok, before I jump to any conclusion, you didn’t go to sleep wearing prosthetic fangs did you?”
Peter’s incredulous look answered that question.
Peter rubbed his eyes as he slowly walked into the living room, yawning and wincing slightly at the pain in his gums. He'd felt some tenderness the night before but it was worse this morning.
Passing by Jean, he lazily patted the top of her head and predictably dodged her swipe back at him.
“Coffee’s ready.” Jean said as Peter walked past her, he gave a non verbal grunt in reply, wincing again as he rubbed his jaw and made his way to the bathroom. He had to check it out, maybe he had something caught under his gums.
Flicking on the light in the bathroom he beelined it for the sink, another yawn erupted from his throat and made Peter’s mouth gape open before he let out a groan of pain, the ache beneath his gums suddenly flared and he felt it.
It wasn’t so much an eruption, as it was an extension, a painful one as he could feel bone and his jaw shift.
He tried to suppress a groan, gripping the sink as he could taste the metallic aftertaste of his bleeding gums, spitting into the sink as the pain flared in his mouth as he looked to the mirror and his eyes widened at the sight before him.
…He had fangs!
Fangs that hadn’t been there the day before.
The pain in his gums flaring up and the trickling of blood was coming from where the elongated canines had pushed their way out of his upper jawline, extending down painfully pushing against his teeth on the sides and his gums.
Peter’s reaction was a little less than composed due to the shock combined with the pain.
“AGGGGHH!”
“I don’t know!? They just grew over night.” Peter exclaimed, once again turning back to the mirror and inspecting his mouth, his words were slightly slurring as Jean saw he was trying not to move his mouth normally, no doubt trying to stop the painful flares.
“Ok, Ok…So this is a new power…or mutation.” Jean said, trying to stay calm as she saw Peter poking at his gums and wincing painfully, his eyes scrunching shut.
“Can you…I don’t know, suck them back in?” she asked, causing Peter to turn to her.
“Suck them back in.” Peter parroted, giving her another look.
“Well I don’t know?! If they come out, maybe they can go back in, you know, like Vampire teeth rules.” Jean exclaimed hastily.
She had no basis for how they worked, and it was clear neither did Peter, it wasn’t everyday you wake up with literal fangs.
“Do you want some Advil or something?” Jean offered, only for Peter to shake his head.
“No, that stuff barely worked before due to my body's physiology and metabolism, ever since my powers evolved, taking them would be like popping tic tacs and-Aaarghhh!” Peter began before groaning out in pain again, gripping the sink and opening his mouth.
Peter’s groan raised into a scream which shook Jean, who felt tears pricking at her eyes at the sounds of his pain.
She peered over to see Peter’s lower canines had begun to jut out further, growing in size as she heard the slight crack of the teeth extending from his jaw.
Jean hurried to his side, unsure what to do other than put an arm around his back and try and comfort him.
Peter leaned over the sink, shuddering as Jean saw blood dripping from his lower lip.
The mere sight of it caused her to freeze.
Why now! Peter needed support and comfort, not her turning into a quivering statue at the mere sight of blood.
…of his blood.
So much blood.
No!
Jean shut her eyes, this was not the same thing. Peter was ok, he was alive! He was standing right beside her.
“It’s ok.”
Jean’s eyes peeked open, and she saw Peter looking at her, reaching up to put an arm on her shoulder.
“...I’ll be ok, Jean.” he said, trying to comfort her even while obviously trying to suppress a grimace.
He was trying to comfort her, despite him being the one in pain. Jean felt the tears that had been welling up in her eyes begin to fall, and the sound that echoed from her throat was a mixture between a sob and a laugh.
Of course he would be comforting her.
Peter turned to face her fully and brought his arms around her, Jean didn’t protest and leaned her face against his shoulder. All the while she could feel the slight flex in his arms, obviously in response to another flare up.
Pulling back, she sniffled and felt a bit embarrassed at having soaked the side of his shirt. Again he was the one who was in pain and she wasn’t helping by being a crybaby.
“We could maybe try and find a clinic that would be ok with treating you as Spider-Man.” Jean suggested only for Peter to shake his head.
“No, no I’m not going to-” He began before wincing. “I’ll just tough it out, it should pass soon enough.”
Jean’s protest only grew once Peter winced again, this time his hand slammed down on the sink hard enough to crack it and she felt another tear run down her cheek.
“Peter, you’re in pain.”
“...I’ve been through worse.” he said, as she saw him try and shrug it off which didn’t make her feel any better.
“That’s not the point!” Jean replied as firmly as she could while her face was flushed and tear stained, but her resolve crumbled quickly as she couldn’t suppress the emerging sob from her throat.
“We can do something, anything. I don’t want to see you hurting…” she trailed off, curling in on herself slightly and again annoyed at herself again for freezing up before.
“Hey, it’s alright…Look, maybe I can call someone for some advice.” he said, stepping closer and once again encircling her in his arms.
Jean liked his hugs, she knew a lot of people would love for Spider-Man to wrap his muscular arms around them, and the online buzz from people who he’d rescued or met who’d had the pleasure had only made it all too clear how truthful that was.
…Some of whom wrote things that made Jean instantly click off.
She enjoyed teasing Peter about some of the crushes and hero worship that flooded social media from the spider-fans.
But some people creeped and grossed her out over how far they went, and Jean did not need to think about those people perving on her brother.
But she never felt any of those feelings or thoughts when he held her. His hugs were a safe place, an assurance she would be ok, it felt familial and caring.
…It felt like home.
“Promise?” she asked.
“I promise..”
“Ok, yeah we’ll be sure to call if anything happens.” Jean said as she sat beside Peter, holding his phone due to the fact Peter couldn’t.
The bag of frozen peas he was holding on the outside of his lips and face in one hand and the remote control in the other being the reason.
“Thank you again, Ms. Temple….Ok, bye.” Jean said before she ended the call.
Jean was thankful to Claire, she’d been one of the nurses on duty when Peter had been brought into the hospital. While Jean had stayed connected to Peter, she’d seen Claire impress upon the other nurses and Doctor’s not to remove Peter’s mask unless there was no other choice, protecting his identity as they worked to help him.
They’d moved his mask up at one point over his mouth when they’d needed to give him more oxygen, Jean had been ready to try and make them not see his face or maybe blur it from their vision if need be.
Putting the phone down, Jean shifted on the couch and sat closer to Peter.
Upon calling Claire earlier she’d given them a rundown on what they could do, especially seeing as the normal pain relief meds wouldn’t work.
Her advice had been to flush the surrounding gums with either salt water or antibacterial mouthwash and keep the areas clean, as well as apply ice packs…or in this case the closest thing they had, hence the frozen peas.
The mouthwashing hadn’t been pleasant.
(Flashback)
“Yeah, we’ve got some.” Jean said as she had Claire on the line as Peter retrieved a bottle of mouthwash.
“Ok, now you shouldn’t need too much.” Claire’s voice said over the phone’s speaker. “Just enough to cover the inflamed gum areas and rinse them.”
Jean watched as Peter took a probably too generous swig from the bottle before his body stilled, she arched a brow before seeing his eyes watering and his free hand clenching into a fist.
“...Uh, Pete-” Jean began before she witnessed a rare event.
“FUCK!” he exclaimed, along with spitting out the mouthwash into the sink in a spray of spittle, blood and profanity.
“...Uh…He did it.” Jean uttered after a moment of silence aside from Peter’s breathing.
“Yeah, I picked up on that.” came Claire’s deadpan reply.
(Flashback End)
Jean found herself not just beside Peter, but quickly it transitioned to her snuggling into his side as they reclined on the couch.
Peter had even let her pick the show they had on despite Jean saying they could watch something he wanted.
“Feeling any better?” Jean asked, which only got a muffled sound from beneath the bag of peas, but the accompanying nod did alleviate some of her concern.
“That’s good.” she said genuinely, curling her arm around his and resting her head on his shoulder, taking comfort in the fact at least some of what they were doing was working.
The small smile on her face did shift just a tiny bit wider as she couldn’t help but speak up.
“And hey, look on the bright side.” she remarked, causing Peter to turn to her, raising a brow in confusion.
“At least you didn’t need to get braces.”
Peter’s expression in response definitely helped cheer her up as she laughed while snuggling closer.