While There's Still Something Left

The Chapter with Too Much Dialogue

Around 7:15, when Peter was sure everyone else was occupied at the meeting, he curled up on his bed, and opened his laptop, waiting for the jingle that alerted him that Ned was calling him over Skype. Already dressed down to PJ's for the night, he reached over the bed and pulled out a few packages of gummies he'd stuck in the bottom drawer to hide from Clint. He figured he was on his own for dinner, and he had too much to get done before he could allow himself to break for eating.   

Peter had a plan. It wasn't exactly exciting or earth-shattering, but it a lot more than he had yesterday. Step one, the persuasion part of the plan, was going poorer than he anticipated.

"You want me to help you bypass Tony's security protocols?" Ned hissed, under his blanket fort. "When you said you wanted to talk I figured it would be about your aunt being missing or your gay-panic over living with Captain America, not this."

Peter may or may not have called Ned the night before to tell him about Steve liking Star Wars. It also may or may not have ended up being an hour long conversation about how funny and adorable the guy was. Peter couldn't help it. He played with Peter. Full on, being ridiculous and childish playing. Steve Rogers! Even better was the fact that, as far as Peter could tell, Steve was having just as much fun as he was. It was the cutest thing ever.

Peter knew it would never mean anything to Steve, but that was okay. He hadn't meant start crushing on the guy to begin with, so it wasn't like he was going to pursue him. Even if Steve was gay, or bi, or pan, or whatever would allow for Peter to be in ballpark, Peter knew he wouldn't be the one Steve was swinging for.

"First of all, if I haven't wanted to talk about May before, why would I want to start now? And second, I don't have gay panic. It's more like minor gay-anxiety."

Peter popped a few gummies in his mouth casually and Ned tapped the camera irritably.

"Peter. Are you crazy? Seriously. I think you're crazy."

"You already hacked him once," Peter encouraged. "It's not like I'm going to make you do it by yourself."

"If you don't remember, Tony was pretty mad we did that. You're lucky he didn't ban you from talking to me. I'm lucky he didn't come to school just to repulser me through the wall."

"Tony wouldn't do that."

"To you! You're like his tiny pocket genius with superpowers."

"I'm not tiny. I'm 5'8. But that's beside the point. They aren't telling me everything. How am I supposed to help find May if they are hiding stuff from me?"

"You're 17, man. And they're the Avengers. They're supposed to hide stuff from you."

"But I'm Spider-Man."

Ned shushed him, instinctively looking to the door despite being unable to see it. "You really have to watch saying that when I'm at home. My mom would have a heart attack if she found out you are the guy out jumping in front of busses and stuff. Or I guess were."

Peter let out a long breath. Peter hadn't missed the blog posts debating whether his absence was due to something bad happening to Spider-Man or if he'd given up the gig. He wanted to ease people's worries and explain why he hadn't been there, but he knew it wasn't a good idea to post anywhere where he was or what his plans were. He just kept telling himself he had to trust that he would get to patrol soon enough. So much for that.

"Besides, using that excuse only works when you are trying to talk me into letting you beat up bad guys, not when you're spying on the good ones."

"Come on. Man in the chair!" Peter whined. "Isn't this your whole schtick? I could do it myself but you're my guy. If I make one wrong move Tony will know I've been snooping."