The Amazing Spider-Pidge (Plance)

2 - This Place is Lit

"So, can you talk to spiders?"

"No, Hunk."

"Can you read their spider-brains?"

"No, Hunk."

"Do you have an army of spiders?"

"Yes, and if you keep asking questions I'll sic 'em on you."

Hunk laughed, then stopped. "That's a joke right?"

Pidge simply shook her head in reply and bit into her sandwich. The lunchroom buzzed with kids yelling and laughing, among them Pidge, Hunk and Lance sitting together at a table.

Pidge leaned against Lance and yawned. She couldn't help it; she was tired. She was out longer than usual last night, fighting some random street mugger. He was surprisingly powerful, and the fight took way longer than it had to. She managed to web him up, but not before giving her a beatdown that still stung a day later despite the advanced healing. Plus the wound in her shoulder still hadn't fully recovered, leaving one arm all but useless.

"Is that why you're so tired? Cause you were out Spider-Manning?"

Pidge nodded, stretching her arms out like a cat. "Mhm."

Lance peeked at his phone and cursed under his breath when he noticed the time. "Hunk and I gotta get to class. See you later," he smiled and pressed a kiss to her temple as him and Hunk stood from the table. Pidge waved goodbye, then winced a little as the wounds flared up. She could only hope Lance didn't notice as she looked back down at the table.

+++

"You okay?"

The question was out of the blue and it made her reel a little bit. Pidge spun around to see Lance. He leaned against the locker next to hers and knitted his brows. "You were super tired all day. Long night?"

She just nodded and rubbed at her eyes, almost childishly.

"Take a break if you need it, okay? I don't think Queens will mind if you gave some time to yourself."

"No can do, Lancey Lance." Despite her fatigue, she perked up and gave him a lively smile. "Besides, I love being Spider-Man! I don't mind if my sleep schedule suffers because of the coolest job in the world." She pushed her books into her bag and adjusted her glasses. Lance seemed like he wanted to say more, but he stayed silent as Pidge waved goodbye and left the school.

She was excited to get back into the suit. As much as being beat up sucked, the rush of adrenaline and helping others made it completely worth it. She slipped into a dark and dank alleyway and changed into the Spider suit, one she'd made herself. She swung from building to building freely, looking out for any type of crime she could stop.

For a while she found nothing. Just giving a few kids autographs and selfies, helping old people cross the street, and helping a little girl find her cat. She was happy to help, sure, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she could — or should — be doing something more.

The day picked up when her hearing picked up on an alarm blaring down the street. She ran over to investigate, inhaling sharply when she saw what triggered the alarm.

Smoke flooded out of the windows of an apartment building, the roof and walls engulfed in flames. The FDNY had already gotten there, but judging from the screams both on the ground and in the building, people were still trapped inside. It looked ready to collapse.

"Spider-Man!" someone screamed. Pidge snapped her head down to face them. He looked like a teenager, hugging his body with tear stains on his face.

In a split decision of bravery and stupidity, she climbed up the burning building despite the firefighters yelling after her. She slipped into one of the windows where the screaming was loudest and crouched down onto the floor. Scanning the area, she felt fire lick at her suit and it made her heart pump. She tried not to breathe in the smoke heavily even when she desperately wanted to and crawled to the bathroom door. She managed to push it open and stumbled in to see a girl that couldn't be older than 12 huddled against the wall. The skin on her right foot was red and burned and her glassy eyes were blown wide.

"Hey, I'm gonna get you out of here," Pidge murmured soothingly and she picked the girl up. She instantly clung to her, wrapping her arms around her neck and her legs around her waist. Pidge kept her head low and ran back to the window, swinging to the ground and reuniting her with her family. The father picked her up and held her tightly to his chest, sobbing out thank yous.

"Is anyone else in there?" Pidge asked.

The girl rubbed at her eyes and nodded. "I-I heard someone else."

She didn't think twice as she put her hand over her mouth and nose and ran back into the building. She dropped to the floor and pushed the front door open. Sure enough, she heard a faint call for help in another room below her. She moved to the stairs, but a sudden creaking noise from the ceiling followed by a crash stopped her. Before she could process what was happening, a searing pain in her leg flared up and she bit back a yelp.

She turned and saw the debris from the ceiling covering her leg, wood poking at her skin and fire forming sick burns. She pushed the wood off with shaking hands and pulled her leg back. The pain made her stomach twist. She stumbled down and tried to shake the pain off as she burst into the apartment that seemed to be the source of the yelling, and picked up a little boy and his dog to help them out the window into the arms of the policemen below them.

When the firefighters announced no one was still in the apartment complex, Pidge fled the scene without another word. Her leg still burned with agonizing pain and her lungs felt clouded with smoke.

She swung back into the alley she left her bag in and practically ripped her suit off, writhing in pain and coughing violently.

A string of curses escaped her mouth when she tried to stand back up. She changed back into her school clothes as fast as she could and limped back to her house. Her patrol usually lasted twice as long, but she was too tired and the pain was too strong to go out again. The thought of curling up in her bed and passing out for the rest of the night was a blessing.

When she got home, her mom didn't seem to see anything wrong with Pidge's leg. She gave her a sweet smile.

"Hi honey. How was school?"

"Good," she replied quickly, honestly just wanting to get into her room.

"So, about tomorrow, apparently they're doing construction on the road you usually walk to school on, so you're gonna have to take the long way. Is that okay?"

Shit. Fuck. "Yeah, that's fine." She lied.

"Great. Call me if anything happens, I work early tomorrow but I'll come get you if you want."

"Thanks Mom." Colleen gave her a kiss on the cheek and busied herself with washing the dishes. Pidge fled into her room and stifled a long, drawn out groan.

Of all the fucking days.

Well, that's Parker Luck for her.