Only One Left [COMPLETED]

Chapter 9: A Bloomin' Friendship!

Peter POV

Peter couldn't bring himself to leave the lab for 3 days.

Don't get him wrong, he wanted too - every single night. But every time he took a look at his costume, or made a move to put it on, his thoughts were jerked back to his irrational paranoia that Otto would not be here when he got back. Peter would kick the dirty costume back under the bed every time.

He stayed closer to his Godfather. He helped around the lab, assisted in any experiments Octavius needed an extra hand with (which was few and far between), and cleaned up any science equipment that needed it - only having to run out of sight twice when Norman Osborn unexpectedly flashed his concrete face on the screens with a question or cold remark for Otto.

Once gone the second time, Otto had turned to Peter with his metallic arms wringing together anxiously, "These frequent visits are beginning to worry me,"

But Peter waved off Otto's concern, not wanting to rile the aging man. "Ah, don't worry about little ol' me," he said, "Norman won't find me. I've become very skilled in the art of hiding under the table."

Otto sighed, but Peter wasn't able to tell if it was in amusement or exasperation. So he went with mildly entertained and got back to work cleaning out the test tubes and beakers.

But, after a couple hours more of cleaning, there was nothing left. There was only so much he could accomplish in a small, hidden lab designed for one. So, humming the 'Fresh of Bel-Air' theme song, Peter set down his rag, sat on a nearby tabletop with his legs swinging, and watched as Otto fiddled with a bit of his DNA under a telescope.

Peter vaguely wondered what was going on under that scope. He's never actually done a close up study of his DNA molecular, but judging by the words Otto kept mumbling under his breath, it seemed like it was something cool. Head tilting curiously, Peter hopped down from the table and slowly looked over Otto's shoulder.

Otto's head turned up to him almost instantly, with the question, "What are you doing?"

Peter took a step back holding his hands out sheepishly, "Sorry, sorry. Just curious."

Otto looked stared at him a second longer, before turning back to the telescope. Rocking on the balls of his feet, Peter twiddled his thumbs innocently as he looked indiscriminately up at the ceiling - yep, the roof was still constructed of concrete and pipes - nothing out of the ordinary there. His head dropped back down at Otto who had been sucked back into the telescope and its data again.

He really shouldn't bother him when he got to work. There was no place for distractions in this lab. But yet, Peter found himself creeping up again hoping to get a look at the glass slide his DNA was on. Maybe later when Otto was sleeping, he could take a small peek for himself.

"Peter, do you need something?"

Peter jumped back again, shaking his head. "Nope. No. All good here. Just go back to working, Otto. I'm just gonna," he jerked his thumbs over to the table. "Go back over there." With that, he slunked away.

Octavius sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose softly with one of his tentacles. "Peter, why don't you go take a break."

"A break?" Peter stopped his random tapping on the tabletop to look up at Otto. "A break from what?"

Otto adjusted the telescope. "From being in the lab," he said. "It's not healthy for a kid to be cooped up inside for so long."

Peter folded his arms with a snort. "Yeah, tell that to any teenager ever." He went back to tapping out a tuneless rhythm. "Besides, I thought you didn't like me going out as Spider-Man, especially with S.H.I.E.L.D on my back now. I would've thought you'd like me staying in here more."