Chapter Text
Reveal
Tony stood with his arms crossed, watching with a half smile as Peter swung his feet from the side of the bed, pausing only when Bruce walked in front of him. It was Saturday morning and Peter thought that if he didn't get back to Spidermanning, he might actually go crazy. Tony had wanted to wait another day or two, but, thankfully, the man had finally given in when Peter had begged, groaning and throwing himself on the couch, arm draped dramatically over his face. "Are you going to do that until I give in?" He'd asked, and Peter had smiled into his arm.
"Yes."
"Fine. But we're not waking Bruce up. You have to wait for him...and you're eating breakfast first. Come on." He had tapped Peter on the knee as he'd passed, grinning when Peter had jumped up, practically flipping himself off the couch. "Easy, kid." He'd admonished, but Peter had just grinned, knowing that he was fine. His ribs didn't hurt anymore, and his head was alright. So he continued with the acrobatics, practically hanging off the ceiling and sighing and groaning until Bruce finally stumbled in. Peter had made sure to sit like a normal human then as Bruce had eaten his breakfast, talking Avengers business with Tony until finally, finally, Tony had asked Bruce if he would mind taking a look at Peter...clear him for gym class.
"Well...it looks like your ribs have healed. No sign of a concussion or trauma. No dizziness? Nausea?" Peter shook his head. "Alright." Bruce put the stethoscope down, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. "Looks like you're good to go, Pete." He smiled. "If you start to feel bad, let someone know, okay?"
"Promise."
As Peter stood in his bedroom later that day, pulling his suit on after making sure his door was locked, he felt like things were finally, finally getting back to normal. He was caught up with school. He could be Spiderman again. And more than that, he felt normal. Like, he missed May, of course. Every day. But it was like an old ache. A healing one.
It had been a good couple of days, despite being mostly confined to either school or the tower. Okay, not confined, he admitted. It hadn't been like a prison or anything. Happy had been nice and it had been good to see his friends and go to Academic Decathlon practice. The meet had been rescheduled and Peter would admit that he was anxious about it. He'd talked to Tony about quitting, and for a minute the man had looked so sad that Peter had wanted to take it back.
"I'll make sure your classmates are safe, Pete. We'll be prepared next time, don't worry." With a firm hand on Peter's shoulder, Tony had given him a soft smile. "Things might change now...I think we might need to do an actual interview...go ahead and talk about this with the press so they leave us alone. But no matter what, I'll make sure no one bothers you at school. Well...no one from the press. Can't do much about the other kids."
And Peter had accepted that, nodding and ducking away with a grin when his guardian had gone to ruffle his hair.
Now he stepped out onto his balcony, looking around to make sure no one was around. Of course, he was high enough that no one would see him. Still, it paid to be careful. Climbing onto the railing, he leaped without hesitation, adrenaline filling his body as he grinned under the mask and shot a web at the last second, swinging himself back up into the air and toward Queens.
He'd promised Tony that he'd be back by 1 for lunch, so he had a few hours to patrol. It was good to be back. "Hey, Karen!"
"Hello, Peter." His AI greeted. "How are you today?"
"Oh I'm good. Glad to finally be back in the suit. How are you?"
"I'm doing very well, Peter." She answered with what sounded like a smile. Would you like me to scan the area?"
"Yeah. Anything going on in Queens?"
One of the upgrades they'd installed to Karen had been the ability to hack into the police scanner, so she'd gotten pretty good at alerting him to the crimes closest to him that the police might not be able to stop in time. Of course, a lot of crime happened in the evening and night, so he got to see more action when he was able to patrol after school, but there were still things to do in the morning.
His first mission, should he choose to accept it, was an elderly Hispanic man with an armful of groceries. Dropping to the ground behind the guy, he grabbed one of the bags before it hit the ground. "Hey. Need some help, sir?"
The man responded in Spanish, so Peter repeated himself in that language instead, grinning when the man seemed to light up. In the end, he carried all of the groceries up to the man's second-floor apartment, waving away his effusive thanks.
The next mission was a little more difficult.
"Spiderman! Help!" A little girl, probably about nine or ten called out her window, and he landed on her fire escape, crouching in front of her.
"Hey, kiddo. What's the matter?" The tiny girl with fluffy hair in a poof on top of her head was red-eyed and crying, so he glanced past her to a seemingly normal bedroom but didn't see any reason for her to be crying. "Are you okay?"
"I can't...can't find...Susie!" He held up his hands, placating as he spoke softly.
"Okay...okay, I can help. Don't cry. Who's Susie?"
"She's my friend! I opened her door and she flew away! I didn't mean to leave the window open."
He frowned under the mask. "Okay. So...Susie is a...bird?"
"She's my parrot." The girl explained.
"Right. Um...how long has she been gone?"
"She just flew away!" She cried.
"Alright. I'll try to find her." He hurried to soothe her.
Like any child, she believed him immediately, her tears drying as she smiled. "Thank you, Spiderman!"
"Of course. Don't worry...I'm sure she's fine." Never mind he had no idea how he was going to find her. He had no idea how to tell the little girl that, so he climbed up to the roof of the apartment building, crouching on the ledge. "So, uh...Karen?"
"Yes, Peter?"
"Can you scan the area for a...parrot?" He tried, able to hear the doubt in his own voice.
There was a pause. Then, "I'm not sure I have that capability."
"Right...um...can you scan the internet to see if anyone's posted anything about seeing a parrot around Queens?"
"Of course, Peter."
No one had posted anything online in the last hour, which kind of figured. So he circled around the apartment building, then around the block, keeping an eye out for brightly colored feathers. He found plenty of pigeons. "Anything yet?" He asked after what felt like a long time but was actually more like 15 minutes. Tony had joked about his inability to summon any kind of patience more than once, and Peter had to admit, the man wasn't wrong.
"Sorry, Peter. I haven't found anything yet."
He groaned, checking his phone. Tony had sent a text, just asking how everything was going. Peter started to type a reply when Karen spoke to him again. "There was just a mention of a parrot being spotted on Twitter, three blocks from your current location just now."
He put his phone back on his pocket, immediately jumping off the roof he'd found himself on and followed the directions Karen gave him to the last seen location of Susie the parrot. "Awesome! Thanks, Karen! Keep looking!"
"Of course Peter. Incoming text from Tony Stark." She informed him as he landed on a roof near the tree where someone had tweeted a picture. "He asks if everything is alright. This is the second text he has sent you."
"Yeah…" He scanned the area, finding that a couple of bystanders were also searching the trees. "Um...tell him...it's fine." He muttered. "Hey" Peter called, leaping into a tree close by and waving down at the people. "Anyone seen a parrot?"
"Spiderman?" One guy asked, wide-eyed. Peter nodded, gesturing a little impatiently. "Uh...yeah. He flew that way."
"Great. Thanks." Peter waved, swinging in the direction he'd been pointed.
He spotted the bird in a tree a few minutes later and did his best to sneak up on it while onlookers watched from the ground, crawling hand over foot along the branch and very, very aware of the fact that he probably looked ridiculous. He was pretty sure that people were taking pictures, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.
Karen's voice startled him a little just as he was within reaching distance of the bird. "Incoming call from Tony Stark."
Before Peter could ask Karen to decline it, Tony appeared in a corner of his mask. "Hey, kiddo. How's it going?"
Susie chose that moment to take flight and Peter shot a web, jumping off the tree and swinging after her as quickly as he could. "Yeah, good. Fine!" He cried, jerking his web and swinging himself forward, arms outstretched. The bird was just out of reach, winds beating the air as she escaped. He couldn't let her escape!
"Pete?" Tony prompted.
"Yeah!?" Peter swung even faster, jerking himself forward once more, not worried about form so much as speed. Making sure to secure a web to the closest building, he reached out, gently wrapping an arm around the bird and then screaming when the parrot turned around, scratching at him with surprisingly sharp talons, screaming bloody murder and attempting to bite him with the beak that was a lot bigger now that it was coming at his face. "Shit, shit, shit!" He screamed as he swung, down then up, the web keeping the both of them from plummeting to the concrete below
"Peter?" The man demanded.
"Just a second!" He kept one arm around the parrot and pulled himself up to the closest rooftop where he landed in a crouch, careful not to hurt the bird. Susie, on the other hand, had no problem with hurting him, squeaking and biting him as many times as she could manage, wings struggling against his hold as blood ran down his cheek. Who would have thought that a beak could cut through his suit?
"What are you doing, kid?"
"Susie! Hey, I don't want to hurt you!"
"Who the hell is Susie?" The man asked, sounding mildly concerned.
"Um...let me...let me call you right back!" Peter cried, managing to pin her wings to her body, avoiding the talons for just a second before one stabbed him in the arm.
"Nope. No calling me right back. What's going on? Do you need help?"
"Nope! I got her!"
"Got who?" The man cried, exasperated.
"Alright, let's get you home." He muttered, then paused. How was he supposed to get her back to that apartment building? He didn't want to risk swinging...he didn't want to hurt her...even though she didn't mind the fact that he was now bleeding from a new set of scratches and bites. "Shit."
"Language." Peter blinked, looking back down at his display and catching sight of his concerned guardian's face, realizing that the man was probably seconds away from coming after him. "What exactly are you doing? Is your face bleeding?"
"Um...probably." He gave a sheepish smile. "I, uh...had to catch Susie."
"Yeah. Got that. Who's Susie?"
"Um...she's some little girl's parrot." He admitted, and Tony's eyes widened...then he barked a laugh.
"You just lost a fight to a parrot?"
The parrot in question chose that moment to squawk indignantly, trying again to bite Peter in the face. "Uh, no! I won the fight, thank you very much." He craned his neck away, looking away from the bird so that she couldn't bite his face. Again. Tony snorted.
"I can see that. According to Karen, you're bleeding from at least six places." He sounded more amused than worried, so that was a plus, so Peter grinned.
"Now I just have to get her home."
"And how do you plan to do that?" Tony asked, a grin obvious in his voice. Peter glanced down at the bird, then smiled, the expression sheepish.
"Um...you don't happen to have a cage laying around, do you?"
"I'm on it kid. Just stay there."
Tony only took about five minutes to reach him, and there were pictures of Iron Man carrying a bird cage online by the time Peter carried the same cage, this time with a still-angry parrot, back to the little girl who'd lost her. "Make sure you keep the window closed from now on." He told the delighted girl who threw her arms around him.
"I will! Thank you, Spiderman!"
"Sure thing, kiddo."
"It's weird to hear you call someone 'kiddo.'" He found Tony in his armor on the roof of the apartment building and grinned, crouching on the ledge. "You almost ready to come back and eat? Or do you want to hunt down some more birds? Maybe a pigeon this time?" Peter chuckled, ducking away from the hand that shot out to ruffle his hair and jumping down off the ledge to stand in front of him.
"Yeah. I'll be back soon."
"Alright, Spidey." This time Peter stayed where he was, letting Tony rest an iron-covered hand on his head. "Be careful. When you get back, you might want to put something on those scratches...you don't want to get bird flu."
Peter rolled his eyes under his mask, turning and leaping off the roof, smiling when he heard Tony's laughter behind him. "Karen, scan the area? I still have some time."
Everything was pretty quiet, though. Karen was keeping an eye (so to speak) on the police scanner with no luck...there was apparently no criminal activity happening in Queens. Well...nothing Peter needed to handle. Apparently, the police were on it. Besides, it was about time to head back to the tower for lunch, so he swung himself to the closest roof, about to pull out his phone and text Tony to know that he was on his way back when his senses made goosebumps erupt all over his arms.
"Hello."
Peter froze, spinning and feeling his heart stutter in his chest as he came face to face with Loki who was leaning against a wall, one eyebrow lifted. "I have heard Stark speak of you. Spiderman, correct?" Loki asked, a hint of a smirk on his face.
"Uh...yeah...uh...nice to meet you, man." Peter greeted, lowering his voice as much as he could. The smirk grew. "You're Loki, right."
"Yes." Loki took a strop forward. "And you are…"
"Spiderman."
"Right. Of course." He moved a little closer, and Peter had to fight the urge not to take another step back...or jump off the roof. "I'll admit, I only heard about you by chance. Stark was talking to Colonel Rhodes in his kitchen. I don't believe he knew I was there." Peter felt his stomach drop. "He mentioned a vigilante called Spiderman and I'll admit, I was intrigued. Especially considering a conversation I had with Stark's son."
"Oh...uh...well, I don't really know the guy. Uh...his son, I mean. Or Stark...Tony Stark...uh...Mr. Stark. I mean, I met him once but, uh…" He swallowed hard, struggling to keep his voice low.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I mean, I don't, uh...haven't had much of a chance and…". Loki was staring at him, smirking, an eyebrow lifted. Peter released a breath, crossing his arms and scowling beneath the mask. Loki's face softened then, his smirk turning into an almost gentle smile.
"You can remove the mask now, child."
"'M not a child." He grumbled, ripping the mask off and glaring at the Asgardian who's smile didn't falter. "You shouldn't...you shouldn't do that." He told him plaintively, earning a chuckle from Loki.
"I'm assuming your father knows."
"Yeah." He crossed his arms again, then felt his heart clench in worry. "You didn't tell anyone, did you?" Loki shook his head.
"No. But you will most likely have to soon. You were the one that took out that guard." It wasn't a question but Peter nodded anyway. "They will want to know what really happened."
"I know," Peter told him, voice small.
"And you know that you will still be safe. Even when your identity is found out." It wasn't a question, but Peter felt like he needed to answer.
"They'll be mad at Tony...they'll blame him." Peter confided softly, plopping down on the ledge of the roof, grateful that they were so high up and wondering how exactly Loki had gotten up there. "Tony recruited me when I was fourteen. They're going to say that's too young...but I was already doing this, being Spiderman, before Tony ever came along. He just made me a better suit that had features in it to protect me and then he mentored me and was helping…". Peter trailed off, having said more than he'd meant to. "I just...I don't want them all to fight again. Not over me."
Loki joined him then, sitting down on the ledge of the roof and staring out at the city. Then, slowly and almost hesitantly, he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, the cool hand resting gently there for a moment. "I could wipe their memories."
Peter snorted, laughing out loud. "Could you really?"
"Of course."
He shook his head. "Nah. Don't do that." He swung his legs, kicking his heels gently against the bricks to make sure he didn't damage them. "Tony would be mad."
Loki dropped the arm. "You are not responsible for their reactions." He told the boy softly. "Your father is capable of protecting himself, and my brother and I are on your side."
"Thanks." Peter's voice was practically a whisper as he turned to smile at Loki. The Asgardian continued to stare at the city below them, the only acknowledgment a slight nod. "Um...I better get back to, uh...you know."
"Of course." Loki stood fluidly and Peter hopped up.
"You want a lift back down?"
"I suppose." Then, before the Asgardian could continue, Peter slipped his mask back on, hooked an arm around Loki, then jumped, grinning under his mask when the arm holding him tightened, Loki clutching him like a drowning rat. The boy had to fight a laugh as he shot a web, lowering them gently the rest of the way to the ground.
"There you go," Peter said with a cheery smile, ignoring the glare the Asgardian shot him.
"Brat," Loki muttered, making him laugh again.
"See you later."
"Yes, yes. Go save an old woman from a tree or whatever it is you do." Rolling his eyes, Peter shot another web and took off, feeling a familiar exhilaration as he swung away. Loki knew...he knew and nothing terrible had happened.
One down. Quite a few more to go. He supposed it was time. He couldn't keep his identity a secret from the Avengers forever.
As Peter swung back to the Tower, he tried to decide how to bring that up with Tony, adding that to the list of things they needed to talk about.