Growing Up

14 Years Old

"Peter has just returned from school," FRIDAY announced.

Without looking up from where he was working on his suit, he told FRIDAY, "Tell him I'm in the lab."

He continued to work, expecting Peter to come running down to the lab at any moment, but he didn't. Several minutes after Tony was sure FRIDAY had told Peter where he was, he set down his tools. Peter had been on a field trip all day and Tony knew the kid would want to tell him all about it. Why Peter hadn't come running down to the lab remained a mystery to Tony. Perhaps he had come home hungry. Concerned, Tony headed up the stairs from the lab in search of him.

As soon as he stepped into his room, Peter dropped his backpack by his bed and collapsed on top of his blankets. He groaned when he bounced back up and buried his face in his pillow. Oscorp had been cool, but Peter felt like absolute trash. Ever since he'd been bitten by that stupid spider, he'd felt sick. Maybe he was allergic to spiders. Maybe he should ask FRIDAY to run some scans. However, that would have to wait until the world wasn't abnormally loud and he felt like vomiting.

"Peter?"

Peter covered his ears, irritated with his dad for yelling when he was close enough to talk normally. When he looked towards his doorway, though, he discovered Tony wasn't there. Frowning, Peter slowly sat up. Why had his dad sounded so close?

"Hey, FRI? Where's Peter?"

"Peter is in his bedroom."

With another groan, Peter laid back down and closed his eyes. He listened to his approaching footsteps until they stopped in the doorway.

"Hey, kid," Tony said quietly, "You feeling okay?"

Peter groaned in response and Tony frowned.

"I feel like trash," Peter mumbled.

Confused, Tony sat down on the bed beside Peter and asked for a better description.

"I don't know," Peter grumbled irritatedly, "Everything's really loud and my head hurts."

Tony felt Peter's forehead after the kid rolled onto his back and his frown deepened. Peter was definitely warm.

"You're probably getting sick," Tony said, standing up. "I'll bring you some medicine. Try and sleep it off."

Peter nodded and was already half asleep as Tony left the room.

* * * * *

When Peter woke up, he was confused. Everything was still very loud, but it was less deafening in a strange way. The cold medicine was still sitting by his bed, but he didn't feel sick. Just... strange.

Confused, Peter stood up and decided to seek out his dad.

"Good afternoon, Peter," FRIDAY greeted.

Peter jumped. FRIDAY was much louder than normal and the volume had sent him jumping in a panic. When he looked at where he was, though, his eyes widened.

He was on the wall. He'd never been on the wall before but that was no surprise since Peter happened to know for a fact that humans could not just stick to walls. FRIDAY didn't seem half as surprised.

"Mr. Stark is on the 34th floor in a business meeting and would like a report on how you are feeling."

It took a moment for Peter to hear her, still revelling in the fact that he was sticking to a wall.

"Um, tell him I'm fine," Peter replied, slowly pulling himself off the wall.

Curious, Peter jumped at it again. He stuck. With a grin, Peter decided to see how high he could go. He climbed up the wall and hung from the ceiling.

"That's so cool," he whispered to himself. Dropping down from the ceiling awkwardly, he raced down the stairs to the lab. "Hey FRIDAY, run some tests," Peter said, "But keep them secret!"

He pricked his finger with a slight grimace then gave the blood to FRIDAY. After several long minutes, FRIDAY had his results.

"It appears you have arachnid blood mixed in with your own."

Peter stared at the results with wide eyes, thinking back to his trip to Oscorp. Apparently the spider he'd been bitten by had been a little bit above average.

"How long will it last?" he asked.

"From my calculations, it will be with you for the rest of your life," FRIDAY answered, "Would you like me to tell Mr. Stark?"

"No!" Peter blurted, "In fact, delete this from your database."

After giving the override code, FRIDAY confirmed all recent research and conversation within the past ten minutes had been deleted. Just as Peter closed out of the result file, he heard Tony coming down the stairs.

"Hey, kid," he announced, walking into the lab. "FRIDAY said you were doing better, but I don't believe it so no school for you."

Tony looked around the lab, then asked what he had been doing.

"Looking for you," Peter lied. There was no way he'd be telling his dad about the spider incident.

"Well, here I am," Tony answered, "How about we go upstairs and you tell me all about your field trip?"

Peter nodded. "Okay."