Spider-man Oneshots

Hidden Talents Part 1: Artist

Peter sat contently, perched on one of the stools in the kitchen as he watched Steve toss the contents of the frying pan up and down. The others were in the living room watching a sorry excuse for a comedy on the flat screen TV. Steve would occasionally hear the rustling of paper and the scratching of a pencil. He would send curious glances over his shoulder  at the young hero, wondering what he was doing.

The movie ended and everyone followed their noses into the kitchen to see what Steve was cooking up. None of them had noticed Peter until Nat heard the sound of paper on pencil and turned to see her Spider-son sitting at the counter drawing something.

"What are you drawing Peter?" She asked.

Tony looked up and saw Nat leaning over Peter who's face was red with embarrassment. He had something clutched tightly to his chest out of view of the others.

"Yeah, what's that kiddo?" Tony asked.

"W-well um..." He hid his eyes behind his hair.

"C'mon, let me see." Tony held out his hand.

"I-its personal." Peter said quietly.

Tony didn't like the fact that Peter was hiding something from him, but let it slide when he saw the kids expression. His lips were pressed into a tight grimace and his eyes were squeezed shut. Tony sighed, "Alright, but I'm asking you about it later."

Peter relaxed his shoulders and set the closed notebook in his lap. Clint didn't get the message and as soon as Peter let his guard down, he snatched the book from him and held it in the air so the short teen couldn't reach it.

"Clint! Give it back!" Peter shouted as he tried jumping for it.  The ex -assassin laughed at the boys attempts to get it back and he ran away from him. Peter gave chase, refusing to let up. He wanted his book back. No. He NEEDED it back.

Peter jumped on Clint, knocking them both to the ground. Peter tried to pin Clint under him, but the archer turned things around and sat on Peter's back. the spider-kid would have easily beaten him had it not been for the pins and needles he had from sitting on the stool for so long.

"Man of spiders, why is Barton sitting on you?" Thor asked as he came out of the elevator.

Thor had come to visit them for a few days, but was not accustomed to the time difference, and therefore was sleeping until that moment.

"He stole- gah! He stole my notebook!" Peter struggled.

Thor bent down and picked up the old worn leather book and held it in his hands. "You mean this?" He asked.

"YES!" Peter shouted desperately.

Thor opened the book to a random page and flipped through it, ignoring Peters screams of protest.

There were things in there that he didn't want anyone to know, things that he wished he could forget. Things that haunted his dreams and seeped into his mind during the day.

Thor's face scrunched up as he looked at the several pages covered in pencil markings. he glanced at Peter and narrowed his eyes. 

"You are an excellent artist, man of spiders. But what I don't understand is why these drawings are so... horrifying."

The word caught Tony's attention and he stole the book from Thor and flipped through the pages. The other avengers leaned over Tony's shoulder and peaked at the sketches.

Some of the pages were full of picture perfect drawings of missions that they had been on. Some of them were of the team celebrating and others were of them in mid-combat. To the naked eye, they seemed innocent enough, but once you took a closer look, you could see the deeper meaning.

As you flipped through, the drawings became more... descriptive.

There was a drawing of tony alone in the desert and Cap cringed when he saw the lost expression on the sketched Tony's face.  There was one of Spidey siting alone on the shore as he watched Tony fly away with the Spider-man suit. The next page had a drawing of Peter watching as his friends plummeted to the bottom of the Washington monument as he was helpless to save them. There was one of Peter trapped under the rubble of a fallen building, his face covered in blood and tears as he desperately clawed his way to freedom.

The most recent drawing is what hit Tony the hardest. They were two drawings right next to each other. One was of Peter holding his Uncle ben as he died on the street and the other was of Spider-man holding Tony as he bled out, pieces of his suit broken off and blood seeping through his chapped lips.

Peter finally wrestled Clint off of him and stomped over to take his sketch book back. he held it close to his chest and fought back tears, thinking about how the avengers must think he was an idiot. He shouldn't be drawing, he should be training to become stronger.

"Kid, why did you-?" Tony didn't want to say it.

Peter looked down at his feet and sniffled. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the open window and he thought about jumping out of it and swinging away. But before he could, Tony engulfed him in a hug. The other avengers joined in without a moments hesitation. Peter was squished between two ex-assassins, two civil war veterans, a scientist, a god, and a billionaire.

"if you ever need to talk kid, we are here to listen." Tony whispered into Peters ear.

"Thanks dad." Peter whispered back.

Tony pulled away and Peter thought he messed up but when he saw the smile on his father-figures face, his worries washed away.

"Now, why didn't you tell me you could draw!" Tony shouted.

Peter shrugged. "its no big deal."

"No big deal!? Are you kidding me!?" Tony gasped. "I need to know these things so I can put it on the fridge!"

"Tony, you are such a dad." Nat laughed.