Poor Peter Parker // Irondad

Chapter 11

Today is Sunday, so I don't have the internship today. Kinda sad—I wanted to work on my suit. I guess I'll just have to work on it tomorrow. After crawling out of bed and smiling when I remember that I actually have a home to live in now, I find Eddie sat at the island in the kitchen.

"Hey." I call out as I pull the fridge open, surprised to actually find food in it. A carton of milk, some yogurt, eggs, and lettuce peer at me from the shelves.

"Hey." Eddie calls back as he peeks over the Sunday newspaper. I didn't know he read the paper?
Next I check the pantry, again, surprised to find bread and a box of cereal. It's not a lot, but it's much more than I expected—which was nothing. "When did we get food in here?"

"Oh, I went shopping yesterday." Eddie waves it off as if it were nothing.

"How?" I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Well, I went after I got off work." He replies as if it were the most casual thing imaginable.

"Where do you work?" I finally ask, my brows scrunching as I wait for an answer.

"The New Yorker. They have me on as a junior writer." He shrugs. "I don't really have hours, as long as I write my articles and snap some pictures."

"Oh." My mouth falls into a confused frown, "Cool." A smile forms.

"Yeah." He smiles back at me proudly. I respect the fact that the guy was able to handle Midtown high, the crowd at Midtown high, the orphanage, Venom, and his job all at once. That takes a lot. I mean, I'm only able to really handle Spiderman and the internship. I can't handle the crowd at school, I can't handle my homework on late nights, getting enough sleep, basic life-support functions...wow. I can't handle a lot.

I feel depleted after this realization. Maybe I'm not as tough as I thought I was. How can Eddie handle all of that, and I can barely handle a third of what Eddie has to? All of my hard work looks like nothing next to Eddie.

Am I really cut out to be a hero?

I get quiet after this revelation, moving through the motions of eating my cereal and preparing for the day. I shower, shave (I find a new pack of razors beneath the sink!), and start to pull my suit on. Wait. Maybe Ned wants to hang out...? So instead of getting into my suit and saving people, I pull on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with my converse. I can be Peter Parker for a day—the world won't end, right?

"Hey, Ned." I call Ned from my Stark phone.

"Peter!" He exclaims happily. "What's up, dude?"

I laugh at his excited greeting, "Want to hang or something?"

"Totally!" I can already hear him moving to grab his stuff. "Meet at Peppy's in 20?"

I'm enveloped in a heavy blanket of embarrassment, "Oh, I don't know if I'd be able to pay—" I murmur.

"Peter—" Ned stops me with an amused laugh, "Don't worry about it." There's a pause as we let the awkward moment pass. "So pizza?"

"Sure." I smile, even though he can't see me. It's nice to be Peter again.

"See you." He replies just a hear a door shut. I better hurry.

"Yeah, see you." I end the call and stuff my suit into my backpack and sling it over my shoulder.

The walk to the pizza place is kinda fun, just observing people and being a kid for once. Every now and again I'll notice people struggling with directions and I'll give them a hand. It's cool to still help people without being Spiderman; Gives me hope that maybe Peter Parker can be a hero too.