Going Through Changes -> Peter Parker

4.

Later in the evening, Peter was standing on top of the house, getting rid of the clothes he had worn on top of his Spider-Man suit, muttering to himself nervously, trying to make his voice sound more mature and less like himself. "Hey, what's up? I'm Spider-Man. I just thought I'd swing by and say hello to my buddy Peter. Oh, what's up, Ned? Hey, where's Peter anyways? He must be around..." He sighed heavily. This was never going to work. "God, this is stupid. What am I doing?" "Making a fool out of yourself.", a voice answered from the driveway. Peter peaked down the roof to find Liam looking up at him, a smug grin on his lips as usual. "You were listening?" Peter asked, a blush appearing on his cheeks. That was awkward.

"Of cause. That's my job, remember ?" The older responded lazily leaning against the house's facade. "Help me up?", he added. Peter looked puzzled for a second, not understanding what the agent wanted. Liam rolled his eyes then pointed at the roof. "Oh! Sure!" Peter could mentally slap himself for being so stupid. He shot a web towards Liam, pulling him onto the roof in a smooth motion. The other landed gracefully on his feet, already another cigarette in hand. "You know they're bad for you, right?" Peter said, looking disapprovingly at him while he grabbed for his lighter again. "You know making Spider-Man a party trick is bad for you, right?" Liam retorted with a huff, lighting his cigarette between his lips and inhaling the first smoke. Peter blushed. "I was not gonna do it.", he defended himself. Liam only hummed unconvinced, then blew a ring of smoke into the night air. "I was just considering it." Another hum in reply. Peter sighed, looking down through one of the windows, spotting Ned awkwardly waiting for his return as Spider-Man. "You're an odd one. Cute, but odd.", Liam stated while stepping beside Peter, also looking at the party. "Why are you doing that?" Peter asked suddenly, eyeing the other boy sceptically from the side. "What do I do?" Liam returned, not looking away from the dancing high-school kids. "Calling me cute and stuff." "Because you are, and I think you can use the compliment.", Liam answered truthfully while exhaling more smoke." You know, I'm into girls..", Peter mentioned a few moments later, shifting awkwardly on the spot not wanting to give the other teen any ideas. "Doesn't make you less cute," Liam started winking at Peter, who blushed. "So maybe, we should go back to that party," Peter suggested after clearing his throat and fighting against turning into a tomato. "Maybe.", Liam agreed, snipping his cigarette from the roof. As the two turned around, they both spotted the bright blue explosion in the distance immediately. "Or maybe we should check out what the hell that was." 

The two boys started running across the roof, Peter put on his mask, and as they reached the end, he grabbed onto Liam, swinging both of them down the street. They landed on another rooftop, running and flipping from it. Peter tried to shot another web to cross a vast golf course, but the web had nothing to attach itself to. "Hurry!" Liam called out to him, already sprinting across the course, much faster than Peter would have expected. He chased after the agent, not fast enough to catch up to him. "This sucks!" Peter gasped while the two were hit by the fountains of multiple sprinklers watering the grass. Liam grinned back at him, enjoying every second of the race as it was the closest he had felt to being an active agent again in ages. They stopped near a bridge, Peter catching his breath. He wasn't used to running this fast. He looked at the other boy beside him, who showed no sign of physical exhaustion and was just grinning like a mad man, an odd determination glimmering in his eyes. "Why are you not panting at all?", Peter asked baffled just to be hushed by Liam, who held on long finger against his lips, still grinning. "They're here", he whispered. Another explosion echoed through the night, followed by metal hitting the pavement.

"Now, this is crafted from a reclaimed sub-Ultron arm straight from Sokovia. Here you try", someone said, sounding too proud of his ware. Liam tensed at the mention of the villain. It had been a chapter of his life that had been especially painful.  Peter unfaced by the name, gestured towards the bridge wall suggesting to crawl it up. Liam nodded, reaching down his left leg to draw a Beretta from its holster at his ankle, releasing the safety catch with deadly expertise. Peter stared at him shocked. He'd never been that close to an actual gun and a teenager just carrying something like that around like a pencil just baffled him. It was just another reminder of how he knew nothing about the other boy and where he was coming from. The realisation sent a shiver down his spine. "Just in case.", Liam whispered, looking more serious than Peter had ever seen him before. The way he held the weapon gave the other boy a first impression of what stories the teen could tell. 

"Man, I wanted something low-key. Why are you trying to upsell me, man?" a second male voice answered the first person. Peter was now crawling up the bridge to better look at the deal, while Liam was waiting patiently for his cue for action. The dealer was continuing trying to sell his products to the other, not noticing Spider-Man silently crawling down behind them. Peter watched as the first dealer walks towards his van, presenting the mass of weapons in its back to his customer. Spider-Man eyes narrowed at the sign. There at least two dozen. They had stumbled across a big thing. "Oh, this must be where the ATM robbers got their stuff!" Peter realized in aw. "I need something to stick up somebody. I'm not trying to shoot them back in time.", the customer said, looking through the weapons. " I got anti-grav climbers.", the other suggested. "Yo, climbers?" Suddenly the two were interrupted by a ringtone blasting through the night—Peter's. The weapon dealers perked up in high alarm. Liam, in his hiding spot, tensed again. "Ok, what the hell was that?" one asked. Peter tried to get his phone out from underneath his suit while it continued to ring aggressively. When he finally had the phone in his hands, he looked on the display only to see Ned called him. The dominant dealer drew a gun, pointing with it at the other, who put his hands up immediately. 

"Did you set us up?" the man with the gun barked. Liam behind the bridge was getting ready to intervene when Peter jumped in front of the dealers: "Hey! Hey, come on! You gonna shoot at somebody, shoot at me!" He spread his arms widely in invitation. "All right.", the dealer agreed, turning the gun on Peter, who shot a web just in time to disarm him. But due to the distraction, Peter got hit by the other with one of the special weapons, slamming painfully into the side of the brick wall, landing on the ground in front of Liam's feet. "You're ok?" the dark-haired asked, helping Peter back to his feet with one hand. "I'm fine.", was the breathless answer. The impact had knocked the air out of Peter's lungs and he needed a second to catch his breath again. The two of them watched as both dealers jumped in the car, driving off laughing triumphantly. The boys exchanged a look, then Peter shot a web towards the van, attaching it to its back. "Oh, come on!" Liam cursed the stupidity of the younger boy. Then he started running after them.
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