the spider whisperer

Loyalties [chapter 23]

"Morning, Sunshine," Peter had gotten better and was back to his old self. On the other hand, his partner was not. He'd caught her at one of the worst times possible. When he saw her face, he immediately regretted his playful greeting, "Or not. What's up with you?"

He got an ugly groan in response, "My conceivers suddenly decided they wanted to move in with Cairo and I."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Peter asked. Last he'd checked, she was complaining about them not ever being there. "You'll finally have them around like other kids. You know? Kind of like what you wanted...?"

"Well, I mean, sure," she said. Even if she was agreeing, she was quick to snap back, "But it's not fair that they get to pick and choose when they come and go. What do they even do anyways? They always blame their absence on their jobs, but I don't even know what they do to begin with. It seriously can't be that time consuming, right?"

Peter hummed. He shrugged his shoulders and offered her a somewhat reassuring smile. He then turned his attention to his bag. Peter still had yet to actually do his makeup work, so he just planned on cramming it into whatever bits of time he had throughout the day.

While he did that, his mind droned on to the aftermath of his failed mission. Though he'd had so much time to think about it, he still found himself going back to it. Something in his gut was telling him it was so much more important than it seemed on the surface level.

Her words always echoed in his mind as he thought about it. "What do they even do anyways?"

Peter sat on the couch of y/n's living room. She'd just finished sowing him back up for the second time. He had a pretty good feeling she was starting to get annoyed at the amount of times they seemed to be in that position. With him shirtless on the couch, spots of blood dotting his skin here and there; while he was sweaty and his hair messy. And she sat right next to him, a look that held annoyance and care at the same time.

The only difference from last time was the third person that sat on the floor next to them. Personally, Peter thought he was intruding. I mean, she was always nice to him right after he'd gotten hurt. So in his mind, Flash was ruining the mood—

"I know I'm kind of intruding on whatever this is," Flash was the first to break the silence. Peter had just finished being stitched up, but he still sat half naked. "But how did the thing that injured you go? You at least got something out of the whole ordeal, right?"

Y/n had explained some of the basic stuff to Flash. Like how she found out. The little ways she helped out. How challenging it could be sometimes to keep Spider-man's secret identity a secret.

"Not even remotely," he got an answer from the girl of their newfound trio.

Well, it wasn't exactly new per se. More so a more obvious group. They were going to have a switch in their dynamic. Now that Flash knew, things had to change to compensate for it.

Then Peter furrowed his brows, "But there were two people that were talking to Mr. Pin. They sounded somewhat familiar, but I can't quite place my finger on how."

"That's weird," Flash said. He thought nothing of it.

And through Flash's nonchalance, Peter felt himself relaxing. Honestly, why was he making so many rookie mistakes? He should've stayed with his gut feeling instead of following Flash. You know, the same person who'd barely even in on the charade for an hour. How had Peter managed to still keep the whole Spider-man thing a secret?

"Yeah," he nodded in response. "But I'm sure it's nothing. Merely a coincidence."

"Too bad I didn't think to put a recording device in the mask camera," they heard the girl next to Peter finally speak up. She was slumped down in the couch, arms crossed over her eyes so her forearms were blocking out the light.