Spideys' Web of Hearts

1

Peter, Age 15, Freshman

Peter Benjamin Parker, your average kid from New York, came home from an Oscorp field trip with an itch. An itch that made him delirious, one that played with his body temperature, and overall made him want to find a dark hole to hide in until..well forever.

The glasses clad boy lazily greeted his Aunt May after struggling with his keys to get in the house, told her that he really needed to nap, and shut himself in his room. Peter just barely
managed to strip himself down to his boxers before collapsing at the foot of his bed and pulling down his comforter which he wrapped around himself to balance out his temperature. Quickly, Peter drifted into a deep state of unconsciousness, almost like hibernation.

*•*•*

About two hours later, Aunt May had to go up and check on her nephew as he hadn't yet come down for his after school snack. She entered his room (which was almost never locked) and was surprised to find him bundled up on the floor. May touched the back of her hand against Peter's head and neck to find that he was burning up. At this point his body was hardly moving, as if he was dead, but his temperature and pulse were enough to indicate that he was very much alive. Just seemingly with a high fever.

For the moment, Aunt May decided to let him sleep it off since she was working a night shift again at the hospital. She left a couple Tylenol and bottled water on Peters' bedside table incase of a headache and left to finish making dinner. Hopefully her nephew would feel better by morning but if not, May planned to take him to the hospital.

*•*•*

Peter stirred on the ground until he realized that he was completely wrapped in his comforter. Slowly he started to unravel himself and stood on unsteady legs. He sat on the edge of his bed to clear the dizziness and noticed his glasses were on the floor. Picking them up, he placed them on his face intending to see better but found that everything was blurry. It dawned on him then that he could see the glasses themselves just fine when they were on the floor. Huh, that's weird.

Peter placed the glasses on his bed and looked at the time on his nightstand. 5:34a.m. He'd been asleep for over half a day. At least it's Saturday so he still had time for his field trip assignment before the first day of school. Peter picked up the discarded clothes from the floor but then promptly dropped them again upon seeing his reflection in his full body mirror. First was his body, then his face which he touched gingerly as if it wasn't actually his face. Is that- Is that me? No. Yes. That's...me?

Just the morning before (and every morning before that) Peter had looked in the mirror to see the same ordinary nerd. He was 5'7 at 15 years old and was pretty scrawny but hoped he still had room to grow. He had dark blonde hair and green eyes that were overshadowed by his prescription glasses. And due to his small stature, he never really filled out his clothes, preferring to wear baggier shirts and sweaters to hide his lack of weight (but that only made it more obvious).

Now his mirror reflected a different boy altogether. Of course it was so obviously still Peter, but more like Peter went through the same transition Steve Rogers did. Where before you could practically see his ribs, his body had added weight that hadn't been there before. He'd buffed up enough for him to noticeably overfill his t-shirts and gained an 8 pack along with defined muscles. That's not fair, I don't even work out. It also looked like he'd grown at least an inch. Maybe two.

Next was his face. It was still him but not him. His green eyes were brighter and full of life. His hair had more volume, less greasiness, and natural highlights. Although the kid hadn't had much acne before, his face completely cleared up of any blemishes or scars. Even the dimples that hid behind his smile stood out more even without smiling. Dare he say it, Peter was a stud.