The Amazing Spider-Man 4

Chapter 3

It wasn't until Peter made it back to his apartment that he realized how awful he smelled. It was certainly no surprise, considering the environment he had just been in, but this was just BAD. He quickly removed his costume and jumped in the shower, hoping to find some way to stifle the stench. By now, he'd had plenty of experience dealing with every kind of smell, ranging from sewage to that disgusting water out in the bay. The smell of smoke had consistently proven the toughest to mask though, as it seemed the line between too little and too much scent on top of it was very, very thin.

As he worked to cleanse himself and at least not look like a total disaster, Peter thought back to the events of the evening thus far. His mind went to the people he had rescued, and now they most likely had nothing now, or at least very little. He'd been in a similar position at different times in his life, so he knew how hard it was. He'd always been lucky to have May to lean on if he absolutely needed to, but who knows if many of those people were so fortunate.

Peter's mind also went back to his mysterious stalker that he could not see. That was the most likely assumption as to why his spider sense kept going off earlier at least. He'd dealt with a lot in his time in the suit, but he'd never dealt with someone who could turn invisible, or could otherwise make themselves disappear somehow. Many questions raced through his mind. Who was the person? What did they want? How much did they already know about him?

The last question scared Peter the worst. His spider sense had led him to keep his mask on for the time being, but what if it had all been for nothing? If they already knew who he was, they could come after him or his loved ones at any point. Then again, that could have also been why this mysterious individual was tailing him in the first place: trying to discover Spider-Man's secret identity. If that was the case, they had failed, since he had kept his mask on. Peter's spider sense hadn't gone off for the remainder of the trip home either, so there was no reason for him to believe the individual in question had followed him back here.

"Relax, Parker," he thought to himself. He raised his face up towards the showerhead, letting cool water run down his face. He took in its soothing nature as it began to finally cool down his still very warm skin, letting out a breath. At least for tonight, he wouldn't worry about such things. He still had a date with Mary Jane ahead that evening, and she deserved his utmost attention...which meant that he still needed to actually try and wash himself at some point instead of standing under the water the whole time. As refreshing as it was, Peter was running late enough already and there was no telling how long it would take for him to try and quench the smoke smell from his person. Applying what he hoped to be enough soap, he scrubbed and scrubbed until it seemed that the body wash had fully soaked into his body, like it had become part of his skin.

Finally, Peter made his way out of the shower, grabbed some decent clothes, and put on what he hoped wasn't too much deodorant. He decided to take a quick whiff, getting a little frustrated when he could still detect a bit of a smokey scent after all that effort. There was the scent of the soap and deodorant as well, but it was like the smoke smell was leaking out in between the other two.

Maybe he really didn't have anything to worry about; M.J. didn't have super senses like he did, right?

----

Hearing the much-anticipated knock at the door, M.J. got up and walked over to answer it, not even peeking to see who it was before opening. Sure enough, just as she anticipated, there was one Peter Parker on the other side, his face bearing a pleasant but also apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry for being so late," he said.

M.J. grabbed him by the arm, pulling him in for a kiss.

"Don't worry," she replied. "No offense, but I've kind of come to expect that from you."