Peter Parker

Once the boy was settled, Howard raised a brow at the look he was given. “Go on, close your eyes and get some rest.”

Howard sighed heavily and moved to slip his card between the lock to open the door for him. With a firm hand, he pressed the young man inside. “Get your shoes off and get in bed. I fear if I leave before you’re asleep, I’ll be in trouble for letting you walk out a window or something.”

Howard pursed his lips, wondering why the hell he was dealing with this. “A happy affair. Until everyone drunk the poisonous kool-aid. People can be such downers on their death day.”

‘’That’s.. That’s bad.’’ Peter said as he walked to his dorm room. Not much later they arrived there. ‘’Thank you.’’ He said before he let out a yawn. Because that’s what you said when someone helped you, right? Clumsily he fished his key out of his pocket. When he pulled to open the door he found that it didn’t open. As push doors don’t break the laws of physics for sleepy scientists.

“Death,” Howard answered sarcastically as he led the young man to his dormitory room. “Howard Stark – your principal, basically.”

With wide eyes Peter looked at the other. So he was dead? That was what he thought until the other continued. Did that mean he was dead? ‘’So.. How was your funeral?’’ He asked as he walked to his room. Not even questioning how a dead person was able to walk him to his room.

Howard paused in his steps when he noted the other had gotten quieter with his yawns. He turned to indeed confirm he’d stopped following him. “Come now, I haven’t gotten all day, Parker.”

At the mention of his name Peter tilted his head, how did he know his name. ‘’Who are you?’’ He asked confused. But while he was confused he continued walking to his room. A debate was being held in his head about whether he knew the other or not.

Bucky could tell how out of it the student was, and his heart ached in sympathy. Once upon a time, in between his three jobs, Bucky had to drink coffee like there was no tomorrow as he pressed a damp washcloth to bring down Steve’s fever, cooked something for him to eat, cleaned up his puke, administered his medicine or what the fuck ever that his current disease required. Hell, even before that, at age 13, Bucky was working two jobs, going to school, fixing up the meals for his sisters and being a professional punching bag for his father. Needless to say, he’d been wearing himself to the bone, and drinking more coffee (no sugar, for it was expensive) than anyone should.

Watching the younger man, Bucky rolled up a joint and sat by a corner, smoking it in hopes of lessening his tremors. Six joints later, they had eased a little, but the student seemed nowhere near taking a break. Bucky stood, walking up behind him and peering at the screens.

“This is wrong”, he said abruptly. Holding the joint between his lips, Bucky reached over to tap the screen with his flesh index finger. “Here, this angle’s too narrow. If you’re trynna do what I think you’re trynna do, if this angle ain’t wider, this whole thing’ll blow in your face.”

Peter wasn’t even sure what he was working on anymore, so he was more than surprised when a finger tapped on his screen. After the explanation, it suddenly looked so obvious. Peter blinked a bit, taken back by the fact that he didn’t notice such an obvious mistake. ‘’Ah, thank you, sir.’’ He said as clear as he could before fixing his mistake. While he always went through his notes before he actually used them, that didn’t mean he always caught his own mistakes.

Deciding that he was too tired for this he switched to something lighter. Something that, if he made mistakes it wouldn’t blow up in his face. Some light picture editing. He plugged his camera into his laptop. Scrolling trough a bunch of pictures. Deleting the ones that were bad and keeping the ones he liked. One of them being his reflection in a building where it looked like he was flying. Forgetting the fact that someone else was with his room he kept up his pictures in one screen before editing the lay-out of a report in another. 

“Oh, you’re going full GLaDOS on my ass, huh?” he asked. Despite the joke, the thought of a portal device excited him to no end. “You’ll have to hit me up when you sort that out. My teleporter’s been glitching out on me and I think a portal gun might be a slightly cooler upgrade.”

He chuckled a little, demonstrating his teleporter by disappearing and reappearing a few yards ahead. “Worked alright then but, let me tell you, when you’re about to katana a guy’s nuts off and your teleporter decides not to work— not cool.”

‘’No, you’d be dead by now.’’ Peter said. It was meant to be a joke but his voice didn’t show it. When the other asked him a question he was about to answer until Wade showed of his teleporter. ‘’That’s so awesome. Who made it?’’ If Peter knew who made it he could ask their help for his portal gun. 

“You base your sleeping pattern off of wether or not you’re hallucinating?” Billy asked incredulously. “That’s pretty badass, almost as badass as how unhealthy it is.” Billy felt the static build behind his knuckles, he put his hands together to crack them. As he did, he felt the charge in the air.

“Sorry about that.” He apologised, “Side effect of the spells.”

‘’What can I say, I like to live life as a complete idiot.’’ He was almost sure that that wasn’t how that saying went, but he couldn’t care less.

Jen sat quietly in the dorm’s living room, curled up on the couch with her laptop perched on her knees. She was completely absorbed in her new side project, the Tinder website up on her screen. Pepper had been a huge help, Jen definitely needed the opinion of someone outside the family. Writing a dating profile for Bruce had been a bit more uncomfortable than she had expected.

The project had been live for a short while and now Jen was running into her first problem. Sorting out the creeps from the normals. She had already had to reject two people asking to be called Daddy. Jen groaned and hid her hands in her arms. “Why are people so gross?”

@spiders-arent-scary

Peter was looking through his closet in search of an empty notebook. As he just filled in one, and it started to look like that was the last one. He was about to leave to get a new batch when he heard Jen ask a question. 

‘’Are we talking about smell or behavior?’’ Asked Peter. ‘’Because I have no answer for both.’’ He smiled at his dumb little joke before walking towards her. ‘’Is there something you need help with?’’ He said as he sat down next to her.

Howard ignored him as he led the young man the dormitories. “Which one do you live in?” he asked curiously, plans to get the boy settled in his own space. Whether he went to sleep (he could tell by the bags and overemotional actions) was on him, but at least he could get the kid out of the public eye.

At his question Peter blinked. He couldn’t remember. And when he almost started to panic he remembered. ‘’Room 206.’’ Peter answered softly. Not capable of talking any louder than that. A yawn left his mouth before he stopped walking. With both his hands he rubbed his eyes, trying to make his sleepiness go away without succeeding. His legs felt too heavy to walk, so he didn’t walk. With a blank look he looked at Howard. And not late after he yawned again. 

Six days. What an idiot. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Jen understood working through the night. After all, this was college and even in high school she had needed to miss sleep here or there to get work done. Still, Peter was hallucinating and violent, it was obvious he had gone too far. “Quit apologizing and focus on where you’re walking.” He was a bit bigger than her and she was sure if he lost his footing he would take her down with him.

The name made her burst into laughter as the turned the corner to the front of the dorm. “So you’re my mysterious roommate.” The only person she hadn’t met now was Ariabella. “I feel better about not having met you now that I know you haven’t been anywhere near your bedroom.” She sighed and pushed the door to the dorms open, pulling him along after her until they reached the elevator. As they waited, she pinched the bridge of her nose. The anger was fading and she was starting to feel bad for him. The elevator doors opened and she ushered him inside with her. “I hope we can talk more after you’ve slept. I think we will both be less awful.”

‘’Hey, I’ve been in our room.’’ Peter said with a slightly insulted tone. It’s where his clothes were, so he had to go there. It’s also were he stored his books and energy drinks. He protected them like they were gold. And it might as well be. As those books cost him a fortune and the energy he stored away wasn’t something you could buy in a grocery store. In fact he had to order them online from Sweden. It took a three weeks before it arrived but it was worth the wait. As it was basically coffee on steroids.’’I just don’t stay.’’ Peter usually spends his nights in the library or common room. Or just walking around town. There wasn’t much, but it kept him awake. 

Billy laughed. “Bit of an understatement there.” Billy couldn’t imagine school nurse, especilly with all of the mutants and aliens running around. How many fields of training would she even need? “It is?!” Billy feigned shock.

“Maybe you should follow your own advice.” Billy gestured to the time on his computer. “All jokes aside, the mind can only stretch so far before it snaps. Even super photographers need some shuteye.”

Peter just smiled at Billy’s feigned shock, as he didn’t know how to respond to it. Normally he would react as sarcastic as the other but his tired mind didn’t acknowledge it as an option.

Wade was almost speechless at that announcement. Although, of course, not quite given that his mouth moved faster than his brain in most incidences. Quite often, his help was avoided, nevermind asked for. Mentally, he praised himself for doing such a good job in helping Peter earlier that he felt like he needed him for such tasks as carrying books.

“Need some brawn for that brain, huh, Einstein,” he smiled at him, rubbing his hands together as moved to the door, hands buried deep in his jacket pockets. “Lead the way then. Usually, I don’t give in so lightly. I get a lot of requests for my help, you know? But, because you’re pretty, Beauty, I think I can make an exception and carry your books. So, what’re you studying then?”

Peter nodded gratefully as Wade accepted his request. If he wasn’t so tired he would comment on the compliments, but for more reasons than one he decided not to. The biggest reason being that he couldn’t think of anything good.