Chapter Text
As far as everyone can tell, Spider-Man climbs walls and shoots webs! Well, that’s all the spider abilities he’s really known to have.
Of course, they don’t know if it’s him with the abilities or the suit. Nonetheless, Peter hides it all very well. Well enough, anyway.
When Peter first got bitten by that spider and received the worst sickness of his life, he didn’t think it’d result in superhuman abilities. All of his senses were dialed up to 11, his strength was superb, and now he was always hungry due to his new metabolism. Not only that, but he has a new sixth sense that warns him of danger.
He thought it ended there. He thought there was a limit to his abilities, that he was freaky enough already.
But it got worse once more powers began to arise.
His gig had started with him creating his webs in the school labs and building his shooters. It was even better once Mr. Stark made him a new suit with the advanced web shooter designs.
What Peter never mentioned was that he didn’t need web shooters anymore. Not long after his debut, his wrists began to itch and turn red. It took weeks of scratching until what appeared to be small slits to form.
Peter didn’t even want to think about what that could mean for him. Why was he suddenly getting new powers? The bite was forever ago already; he didn’t think anything else would mutate at this point.
That was just the start of his newfound powers. The roof of his mouth would burn and feel sore for days before he would realize why. His canines changed into long, thin fangs that could retract, sitting snugly in the roof of his mouth. More like that of a snake than a spider, Peter thought, annoyed. He was also annoyed when he couldn’t figure out how to keep them in and had to wear a mask to school for a few days. He was just grateful he didn’t get a lisp..
Apart from his teeth and wrists, his instincts were beginning to feel…off. Almost like they had a more predatory sense. The urge to act and be like a spider was becoming more and more. He just wanted to crawl around on any roof to make a little web nest in every corner.
Pigeons flying in the sky looked good enough to hunt, and the same for rats skittering in the subway. He was just itching to retract his fangs and sink them into any live meat he could find.
He resisted, of course, and he hid all these new powers as best he could. Not even Aunt May knew of them, even after she found out his secret identity. Mr. Stark knew just as much as she, but once they started hanging out more and more during lab time..Peter began to get worried about accidentally exposing his newest freaky abilities.
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After the events of the Vulture, Mr. Stark invited Peter to have lab time every Friday after school. It helped sell the idea that he had an internship there, even though most of his classmates still didn’t believe him.. Even when Happy pulls up to the front of the school in his sleek Audi, his classmates, apart from Ned, wouldn’t bat an eye. They all believed Flash’s rumors.
“No way in hell does Parker have an internship at Stark Industries. That’s just some rando from the street with a nice car”, he would rattle on about. Then he would smirk. Peter could always tell that smirk meant something crude was about to come out of his mouth.
“He probably has to get on his knees every time that dude picks him up. Penis is really living up to his name if he already has a sugar daddy!”
The group would laugh and tell anyone who would listen, and then the whole school would think all the rumors about Peter Parker were true. Almost everyone knew him as “the poor orphan who gives sexual acts for favors and money”. Even some of the teachers gave him looks, some concerned, others disgusted.
Peter, for the most part, didn’t care; this was a pretty prestigious school after all. There are a lot of rich families used to this kind of drama, or does that only happen in movies?
He was just happy Ned and MJ were on his side, no matter what. They knew he was Spider-Man and that he would go out often on patrol. He was glad he was able to talk to them about that at least. They didn’t know of his new abilities, however. Peter would tell himself it’s because he doesn’t know much about them and their full extent. He was still learning to control himself and was just too scared to tell anyone, especially his friends.
Peter found that his wrists and fangs were easy enough to hide; it was the longing to act on his instincts that wasn’t.
Every once in a while, he’d catch himself staring at a bird for longer than normal. He’d immediately stop himself so that he wouldn’t start licking his lips or accidentally untuck his fangs. In P.E., it was getting harder and harder not to start crawling or climbing all over the gym, in need of spider-like adrenaline. It would benefit his hunting skills.
Of course, to keep his identity a secret and to prevent more rumors about him, he stuck to his usual “Peter Parker” ego, no matter how much his instincts were screaming at him.
He couldn’t then, so he shouldn’t now.
After a particularly rough day where lunch wasn’t good enough to eat, not that it would fill him up anyway, the bell rang signaling him to rush out of the classroom. It was finally Friday, so he could meet Happy outside the school. He did his best to dodge and avoid other students in the hall. It wasn’t until he met up with Ned that he started slowing down a bit, but still kept a fast pace towards the exit.
“Happy, already waiting for you, dude? What’s the rush?” Ned said while slamming his locker door and catching up with Peter.
“You know how Happy is, Ned. He’ll get grumpy if I’m more than 5 minutes late.”
Peter knew that wasn’t entirely true. Happy only got mad if he was really late. He’d act grumpy and say not to make him wait too long, as: “Waiting parked in front of a school makes me look creepy”. But he was always willing to stay for Peter.
“Besides,” Peter continued, “I don’t want to be late-“
“For the Stark internship, I know. So, how is working for Tony Stark going? Like, for REAL this time. I know the internship was just an excuse for Sp- you know who, but now you’re actually in a lab with him! I still can’t believe you’re working with THE Tony Stark! Like, actual science work-“ By now, he and Peter were walking down the steps of the entrance. Ned was slightly out of breath from his rambling and from the pace they were walking. Peter had tuned out what he was saying and was looking for Happy’s car.
“Yeah, yeah, Ned. I’ll tell you all about it later. I think we’re working on my suit today! So I’ll test it out for patrol and then text you, alright?”. Peter had spotted Happy’s car, so he faced Ned and stuck out his hand to do their handshake. He made sure to keep his sleeve over his wrist just enough so his spinnerets were out of view.
“Alright dude, see ya later! Be careful out on patrol”, he kept the second part quieter while giving a thumbs up and gave a not-so-subtle wink. Peter snickered at Ned’s antics while waving goodbye and jogged towards Happy’s car.
“Hurry it up, kid. I hear traffic is gonna be awful, and I don’t want to keep the boss waiting.”
Peter huffed a laugh while climbing into the back seat, Happy immediately ready to drive. He pulled onto traffic away from the school with the visor going up in silence, guessing he wasn’t in the mood to talk today. Peter must’ve looked content enough when he was with Ned that Happy didn’t feel the need to ask him anything.
Happy would occasionally ask how school was, sometimes even asking if anyone was giving him trouble. He would seem none the wiser when Peter gave him his usual cheery response.
“It was good, Happy! And it’s an all-nerd school, no one messes with each other! We’re too busy with classes and homework. Ned and I were actually planning this new idea for robotics class, where we-“
By then, Happy would roll up the partition, satisfied enough with his answer, but not wanting to listen to Peter’s ramblings.
That’s how Peter knew he was hiding it all well enough. In reality, he was tired most days after school. The rumors really hurt sometimes, and Flash got on his nerves, but he could handle it; he’s Spider-Man after all.
Besides, he had Ned and MJ. He also had some of the Academic Decathlon and Mr. Harrington. They didn’t believe the rumors and tolerated Flash; they may not have been fully convinced his internship was real…But they were with Peter for the most part, so he didn’t mind.
Peter kept reflecting on his friends with a small smile on his face as he looked out the window. It was quickly wiped off once he realized what he was hiding from them. He turned to slowly pull down his sleeve and looked at his wrist. Should he just tell them? Ned and MJ could probably help him figure out how his new powers work, maybe even how to satisfy them. They won’t take it as a big deal, right?
Okay..Ned would probably get overexcited, and MJ would just shrug it off. But it’s not like they’ll think he’s more of a freak, right?
His thoughts were abruptly stopped once he realized the car had slowed to a halt and Happy was talking to him.