Hey, Little Spider || Peter Parker One-Shots

Spider

A/N: Homecoming happened, but Tony didn't sell the tower. Also, the Avengers made up and they're all living in it (the tower).

***

All his life, Peter had been told to 'get over it'.

"Come on, Peter, it's not that big - Oh, just squash it already!"

"Don't be such a baby, Peter."

"Peter, it's literally the size of a speck of dust."

"This is so stupid! They can't even hurt you!"

"Get over it."

"Get over it!"

"Get over it."

Peter wished he could. He wished he would wake up one morning, and be able to look a spider in the eyes - all 8 of them - without flinching.

Spiders. Peter was terrified of spiders.

He knew it was an irrational fear; he'd lectured himself about it plenty of times. It won't hurt you, Peter. Just go up and touch it. Or ... walk past it without climbing on the ceiling.

That was actually how the Avengers had found out Peter was Spider-Man. Tony had been introducing Peter as his intern, when a huge (well, maybe not so huge) spider had crawled right past Peter's foot. The boy had jumped onto the ceiling, and not moved until the spider was gone.

Naturally, everyone made fun of him for it. Spider-Man afraid of spiders - oh, the irony. Every time, Peter would laugh it off, saying something like 'I know, right? So funny'. And every time, a part of him wanted to scream 'You don't think I've berated myself enough about this? You don't think I've heard it enough? You don't think I hate myself for it?'

But he never said a thing. For over 15 years, Peter took the jokes, jabs, and jeers with tight lips and a smile. Until one night, everything came crashing down.

***

It had been too cold for Peter to go patrolling, so Tony had invited him to come to the tower and work in the lab. The boy had - enthusiastically - agreed, and soon, the two heroes were happily tinkering away.

Peter liked spending time with Tony. They could banter for hours, help each other with projects, and Tony actually seemed to enjoy Peter rambling on about whatever crossed his mind. However, the best part was that Tony never made fun of (or told Peter to get over) his arachnophobia.

Peter supposed it was because Tony had fears of his own that he didn't want to talk about. Or maybe he saw that Peter didn't like being afraid of spiders, and knew that mocking him wouldn't solve anything. Either way, Peter was grateful he had at least one person he could talk to without having to worry about bringing up the subject.

***

It had been a few hours, and Tony seemed to be getting more and more frustrated. Peter had glanced over a few times, and saw that the man's project was growing more and more unstable. Over the course of the evening, Peter had started bringing Tony tools from around the workshop, worried that if the billionaire turned around, the entire project would blow up in his face.

"Kid," Tony grunted, "Could you get me a wrench?"

"Sure, Mr. Stark!" Peter chirped, eager to help his mentor. However, as soon as he spun to face the toolbox, he froze.

Sitting on the lid was one of the biggest spiders Peter had ever seen. With his enhanced vision, the boy could see each individual hair on it's legs, and the shine in every single one of it's eyes.