Summary:Peter tests the suit in the presence of his girlfriend, where boundaries are established. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Peter had shown Helena his new suit, but they hadn't had a chance to test it out yet. So Helena suggested that they grab lunch and then head over to some warehouses by the docks where Wayne Enterprises ships and stores equipment, away from prying eyes, to run it through its paces.
She showed up in the sports car at Peter's house, with the incongruous smell of tacos from one of the fly-by-night pop-up stands wafting out the window.
« Ready outside. :) » comes the text.
Peter appears at the front door, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, a laptop bag in the other hand. Aunt May joins him at the door, giving him some kind of final missive before he goes out. He looks a little chastened, but smiles to Aunt May and hugs her gently. Has to be very gently—Helena has probably seen him move cars and catch five-ton girders.
He waves goodbye as he heads down the sidewalk path. Aunt May smiles to him, and then smiles and waves to Helena, a look of mild puzzlement but nothing else.
Peter slides the bags into the trunk of the Dodge Challenger, then closes the trunk and gets in. He leans over to kiss Helena on the cheek. Daring, for Peter.
Helena waves out the window to Aunt May, smile warm. "Hey Aunt May," she calls over. "I promise I'll feed him!" She raises the bag of tacos in illustration, no doubt at least intending to be reassuring, before Peter gets in the car.
"Oh, hey," she grins when he leans in for the kiss, leaning over to return it in kind. "Everything okay with Aunt May? You didn't tell her I was a bad driver, did you?" she quirks a brow teasingly, pulling away from the house at an entirely reasonable speed.
Kissing Helena…whew. It was a surprise, and a welcome one. Enough to stir him a little. Then he sits back in his seat and buckles in.
"I think she was expecting you to show up in an economy car, not a muscle car like this." He smiles wryly. "I'd never say anything bad about you, Helena. Even if it was true."
"Hey, I'm an excellent driver, thank you very much," Helena grins. "I almost brought the bike, but the logistics of carrying food and the suit and you got a little complicated," she admits. "I figured the car was a better bet. Dad's kind of a car snob, though, so. We don't have a lot in the category of 'unremarkable.' I brought tacos, though!" she declares, nudging the bag into his lap. "And they're amazing."
Peter chuckles. "I'll take your word for it. Far be it from me to cast aspersions on the lady who drives fast cars and brings great-smelling food." He looked around, then said, "This is a nice car. Aunt may told me once she had a neighbor who drove a 1963 Corvette Stingray around. I've never been a 'car guy,' but I've seen pictures. And of course…getting around in a car in New York isn't the big draw it used to be."
"Yeah, most of the time the bike's a better bet," Helena agrees. "Easier to get around, easier to park. Less showy. Easier to get away from nosy people with cameras," she winks, teasing. "Oh hey, speaking of which. Mom and Dad were wondering if you might want to take their engagement pictures for the Bugle. They're finally going to actually get married, so of course it's going to be a huge thing."
Peter blinks. "Me?" He blushes immediately. "You…wait, of course you're sure. But…uhm, yeah, I could. I mean it does seem like something special, and if it means a lot to them, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't help out."
"Hey, you take great pictures," Helena glances over long enough to flash a smile. "And maybe it'll get Jameson off your back for a minute or two. Which means you might have an extra minute or two for me, which I won't complain about. Hey, have you had a chance to test the suit yet at all?" she asks. "Or are we going to be breaking it in fresh?"
Peter smiles. "I wore it to make sure the fit was right, but this will be the first time with the new V.I. installed in the suit itself. So, first full field test. I wanted you here for it." He paused. "Your opinion means a lot to me. You're very smart, intuitive, and might see something that needs to be attended to."
Helena spares one hand from the wheel to reach for his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "Thanks, Pete," she says quietly. "That means a lot. Especially coming from you," she adds with a wry smile, putting both hands back on the wheel.
The car pulls quietly into a block of warehouses by the docks, many of them not even currently in use. "I checked the records, this one's empty for the next couple weeks," she says, pulling up in front of one. "No reason for anyone to be here, so we should be good to test things out without anyone getting nosy."
Peter nods, then slips out. Once you know he's Spider-Man, things click a little better. His moves are fluid, but he spends a lot of effort hiding it in front of others. By himself, or with people he trusts…he moves without clumsiness or hesitation.
He raps lightly on the trunk. "Everything's in the bags…I opted not to suit up until we got here."
Helena hits the remote to pop the trunk, pressing her lips together against a joke about getting naked. Don't want to scare him off. "Sure, that seems smart," she nods instead, taking the bag of tacos and heading into the warehouse. She understands all too well the patterns of hiding who you are. Uncomfortable as it may be most times.
"I'm excited to see how it works out," she grins. "I know you've put a lot of work into it."
Peter carries the two bags into the warehouse, following Helena easily. He is strangely excited. This will be the first time he has tested everything together. "I'm glad you're here. And i'm also glad this hasn't…scared you off." He looks around. "We need a wide open area."
"Well, we're pretty good," Helena says with a wry smile. The warehouse itself is mostly empty, save for a few rows of high shelves along one wall. It looks like there's a lot of loading and unloading that gets done here before products are moved to smaller areas. "And it's definitely not scaring me off," she grins, sitting down on the floor and pulling out a taco for herself. "Are you kidding? It's awesome."
Peter chuckled. "Yeah…let's hope it stays that way."
And with that, he begins taking off his clothes. Shoes and socks first. Nothing special yet. Then the shirt comes off and…that is NOT the physique of a student about to start a neuroscience program. The baggy clothes hid a startling physique. He is unbuttoning his pants when his brain sends up the message that there is a very beautiful young woman about ten feet away and she is watching Peter strip in front of her. He paused, his hands on the waist of his jeans. "Uhm…am I making you uncomfortable?"
Helena does not look uncomfortable.
In fact, she's eating her taco like she's watching TV. She's had enough 'brothers' and done enough wound care that it's not exactly the first time that she's seen a boy without his shirt on. Though that doesn't mean she isn't appreciating it either.
When Peter pauses, she manages a chipmunk-cheeked smile, lowering the taco. "No complaints here," she promises with a slight flush. "Although I can turn around if you want?"
Peter sighed. "Well, I suppose it's not as bad if I keep my underwear on."
Very nice underwear, too. One of the Captain America versions, with the shield design on the front. Nothing Freudian there at all.
Barefoot and nearly naked, he opens the duffel bag and takes out the suit. The main suit is first, and he slides into it one leg at a time, like everyone else, he hopes. He brings the front of the suit together, and there is a tiny "click" as the two sides meet and lock closed. Next comes the thin boots, the telltale sheen seeming to glow in the overhead lights…
Helena pauses mid-chew. "Do you usually not wear your underwear with the suit?"
She can't help it, she just needs to know now! Even if it's giving her a few thoughts. Enough for her to trail off for a minute while he's getting dressed before she clears her throat and continues. "I feel like wearing underwear is probably a good idea. Just in case. You know, worst case scenario."
Peter blushes slightly. "I do…but I did think about it when it got up to a hundred last week. I was sweating my spinnerets off. Thank God for Gold Bond." He adjusts the fit of the boots, then begins to slide the gloves on, right, then left. A muted "beep" indicates they are on and attached to the suit.
"Hey, if you go swinging over the city, I think it's just polite to be wearing underwear for it," Helena chuckles, going back to her taco as she watches the process of putting on the suit. "Looks like it's probably a little more time-consuming than the old one," she muses. "Something to keep in mind if you're on the fly, like at the dance."
Peter grinned. "I'd be wearing the suit under my clothes. I can fold up the gloves, mask, and boots and put them in a pocket of my clothes. Take off the clothes, put the extremity stuff on. That's why the sleeves and legs are short, so my clothes can ride up a little without exposing them."
"So you've got some of that nice antimicrobial silver woven in there too, right?" Helena asks with a playful arch of her brow, finishing off the taco and wiping her hands off as she stands up. "I'm guessing you can't just get Aunt May to take the suit to the dry cleaners."
Peter chuckled. "I screwed up her best linens. This suit is designed to handle being cleaned like other clothes. Which can be the most destructive for clothing." He slides the mask over his face, and then It's Spider-Man standing in front of Helena.
"Okay…I'm going to fire up the VI, and then we can rock and roll."
"Hit it, Spider-Man." Helena grins broadly, crossing her arms loosely over her chest as she takes a slow walk around him to appreciate the suit (and yes, him) from every angle. "Well, regardless of how it performs, it sure looks good," she approves, giving him a thumbs up as she comes around to the front again.
"You sure? It seems a little snug in the butt, but the lateral and flexibility design checks out."
He looks to the green button with the simple word ON, selecting it with an eyeblink.
The HUD comes up immediately, and he hears, "Hello, Spider-Man. ALICE is online. Running diagnostic."
"I plead the fifth on the matter of how it fits your butt," Helena says with a hand over her heart, smile wry. She's watching as he boots things up, checking the suit for any signs of failure and listening for anything that sounds like something is going wrong.
Spidey chuckles, then looks at the message that simply says <OK>. "Looks like we're green across the board. Let's check flexibility." He walks over to where the tacos are, snagging one and lifting the mask to wolf it down. "Mmm. Nice. These are pretty good. I'm going to do a few runs around the warehouse. Yoouuuu SURE there's no cameras running, right?"
"No cameras," Helena shakes her head. "I triple-checked. Power's shut down to this whole place right now, part of a green initiative, so there's no way they could even accidentally be on. You're good to go."
She steps back to make room for him to do his thing, grinning as she watches. "Show me something good, Spider-Man."
Spider-Man chuckles, then lifts both hands, firing weblines into the rafters. And just like that, he is in motion. He pulls with both hands, propelling himself up and forward. "First test, standard weblines!" he calls out as he moves around the perimeter of the warehouse, accelerating to a good 40 MPH, weaving between load-bearing pillars without slowing down…
Helena tips her head back to watch, following along with each of the motions. She's seen Dick's acrobatics. She's seen just about everyone who's trained with Batman go through various means of swinging through buildings. But this is…something more. Something different. She tries to keep an analytic state of mind, watching for oddities, but there's so much to just admire about it.
It is during his second trip around that he starts getting fancy. Somersaults, flips, twists, even a couple of half-gainers if he was diving sideways instead of down. His speed doesn't slip while he's doing this, maintaining the speed and suddenly moving across the distances instead of merely around the perimeter.
And in one of these passes, he is able to fly past and pluck a taco from the bag without slowing in the slightest. He does have to stop, or taco stuff will fly everywhere. He hops back to the ground, slowing to walking speed as he noshes on the taco. "See any rips, breaks, stuff like that?"
"Not in the suit," Helena shakes her head, though she's grinning broadly when he lands. "Seems like you've got good overlap in the gaps. Gloves looked secure, no slipping as you were swinging. You didn't feel any, did you?" she asks, stepping closer to duoble-check the joins.
Spidey shook his head. "The suit showed no lost connections, no breaks in the suit, but better to get independent confirmation. ALICE, did you notice anything?"
A female voice came from the suit. "No attenuation deficits even at 50 MPH and at moderate activity levels."
Spidey nodded. "Okay…I've tested the new shooters for travel. Let's test the advanced versions." He looks around. "Anything we can use for target practice?"
Helena nods toward the rows of shelves on the far end of the warehouse. "Can use the places where the shelves meet the uprights?" she suggests, starting in that direction. "Not moving targets, but that's a whole different game."
Spidey nods. "Okay. Alice, activate sub-vocalize. Let's see how the new shooters work." He walked towards the shelving, following Helena. "I'll try not to break anything, but I might shake a few of those shelves loose…that's not going to be a problem, right?"
Helena considers for a moment, then shakes her head, wrinkling her nose. "If they're loose enough to get knocked down by webbing, they weren't steady enough to take cargo anyhow," she decides. "Better to take it down and make sure they get put up the right way before the next load comes in."
Spidey nods. "Okay. Let's do this."
The next ten minutes are a flurry of activity. Web "grenades" shake the shelving. High-impact webbing knocks one shelf loose, rattling others. Wider webs fill empty spaces, trap webs are set, then react as items are jostled. And Spidey keeps firing rapidly, with enough webfluid to imprison a hundred people…
Helena watches each type of web, that broad smile never wavering. There's a sense of wonder to it, mingled with that sharp, scientific mind as well, as if she can appreciate both parts of it equally well. "Yes!" she exclaims as another web hits its target square, jumping up once. "It's looking great, Peter," she says.
Spider-Man stops, then ejects three spent webfluid cartridges, catching them in the other hand and sticking them in the backpack. "Well, Helena…that should be plenty of data. Alice, run an updated diagnostic and store the results."
"Yes, Spider-Man," Alice replied in dulcet tones.
Spidey looks to Helena, then pulls off the mask and it's Peter Parker from the neck up, giving her that same wry smile. "Thanks, Helena." He took a deep breath…and then he leaned forward to kiss her, on the lips…and not mistake or surprise this time.
Helena doesn't hesitate or flutter this time, reaching up to clasp her hands behind his neck as she leans into the kiss. Sure, there's still a trace of taco spice on her lips, but she's not worried about it. She's eager and innocent at the same time, as only teenagers can be, perfectly willing to spend an afternoon on just this. At least until she needs to take a breath. "You're amazing, Peter Parker," she murmurs against his lips, her own curved in a warm smile.
Peter broke the kiss, smiling warmly. "You're pretty amazing yourself, Helena Wayne." He holds her in his arms, one hand resting between her shoulder blades. "Smart, beautiful, brave…"
"What can I say? I got good genes," Helena winks, leaning in to brush her lips against his once more. "And good luck," she adds, tipping her head back just far enough to rest her brow against his. "Did you know, I have had a crush on you since I was, like, fifteen?" she smiles crookedly. "Seriously. I used to look forward to the regional science fair just for a chance to see you there."
Great. Now he's got his Goober Face on, that look of perplexed surprise he'd worn often. "You…? Crush…? ME…?"
NICE, Parker. Work a little harder, and you can get beyond the one-word sentences.
"But…I mean, I wasn't a HOBO, but…I had no idea. Nobody said anything." He didn't mention that those who did wanted something from him, or were setting him up. "…I never would have dreamed I had a chance with a woman like you, Helena."
Helena laughs, lifting one shoulder in a shrug as she lets one arm hang over his shoulder. "Funny story, I didn't think I had a chance with a genius like you," she says, amused. "So I guess we were both in our own ways there. I've always been kind of an outsider at school. Not really good at connecting with people, kind of a dork. Suspicious of most people and that they were just trying to get close to the family."
Peter looks thoughtful. "Okay…yeah, I can see that. Harry had to deal with the same thing. His model girlfriend is soaking him for two grand a week. He knows, but he can't just dump her without a good reason. That's why he comes to the house. He knows I'd never ask him for a dime."
Helena whistles softly, shaking her head. "I dunno, I think that's a plenty solid reason to break up with her. Then again, I'm kind of of the mind that people should be able to break up and get together when they want. As long as everyone's honest about it. Mom and Dad are only just getting married, but they've been together my whole life, you know? Dad knew Mom wanted to feel like she still had her freedom, so he didn't push things."
Peter looked into Helena's eyes. "I am beginning to think that telling you about all…this…was probably the best decision I made. I didn't want things to go like before. Besides…I had the gut feeling you could handle it."
"Oh no, I maintain that that was a terrible decision," Helena smiles ruefully, softening the comment with another slow kiss. "No offense." Her fingers tangle just a bit in the hair as his nape, smile fading as she sobers. "You know I…I trust you, Peter. I do. And you're a good person, and you always mean well. But I hope that you can trust me, too. Even if I can't always be as honest with you as you've been with me."
Peter looks at her. "If you can't tell me something, Helena…tell me that you can't tell me. If you don't know, say you don't know. I would rather get one of those responses than a lie."
"There are a lot of things I can't tell you, Peter." Helena's expression softens, apologetic. "They're just not mine to tell. But I promise that I will never let those things hurt you. Deal?" Her hand shifts to cup his cheek, but she doesn't lean forward again, wanting to give him a chance to answer honestly.
Peter smiles gently. "If it does…then I know you tried your best anyway."
Helena grins, closing the distance between them once more for another brief kiss. "Thank you." Her smile slips crooked as her eyes search his face, memorizing the lines of it. "Okay, one more thing. And I know it's gonna sound weird, and like I'm being way too clingy or something, but…People in my life have taught me that there are some things you'll regret not saying, and I don't want to regret that. So I'm not making some grand, forever declaration or anything, and I'm not…I don't want to be weird, but I just want to say that I love you, okay? Like. Like, lower-case l. Like I love ice cream. Or bacon. Or-" Yep, she's rambling now.
Peter hugged her gently. "Okay…I can accept that, Helena. And here's what I'm going to do. I will not push. I will not guilt. I will not harass. But if you feel you want to take the next step…then you have to make the move. Because I'll let you dictate this, because I respect you too much."
"I really need to send Aunt May a fruit basket or something." Helena reaches up to brush the hair from his brow with a gentle touch, smile wry. "Or else sign her to a book deal so she can tell the rest of the world how to raise someone like you."
Peter sighed. "Uncle Ben, too. He contributed a lot. I think he and Aunt May kept me sane…kept me grounded…kept me from giving in to my anger." He touched her cheek. "I'm not perfect, Helena. So…you might have to be patient with me."
"Nobody's perfect," Helena smiles ruefully, turning her head to brush a kiss against his wrist only to laugh when she ends up with a dried string of webbing stuck to her lips. "Case in point." She reaches up to brush it away, then pops up on her toes to drop a kiss on the end of his nose before drawing reluctantly away. "Okay. So. Now that we've been serious, I think it's time to have some fun with this thing."
Peter raises an eyebrow. "What sort of fun are you talking, Helena?" He looks interesting, but puzzled.
"I think it's time for some Charlotte's Web action." Probably not the kind of fun that sprang immediately to mind. Helena steps back, hands on her hips as she looks to the shelves. "Maybe some 'dust me' across the whole thing?"
Peter chuckles. "So…I get to go up there and dust the shelves? Not the first time I've been asked to do that…"
"Or! 'Never flush spiders.'" Helena grins, gesturing her hand across the whole thing like it's a billboard. "Sorry, I'm a dork. But you can't say you didn't know what you were getting into. You did ask me out at the science fair, after all. Oh, hey! Speaking of!" No, the next thing is not actually related. "Are you going to be working fashion week? Or is there maybe a night when you're not on duty? I'd love to go with you, even if you have to duck out early."
Peter chuckled. "I'm not a fashion photographer. If I did go, I would have to go as your guest. When is it?"
"All next week, more or less," Helena answers, smile flashing when he says he wouldn't be working. "So whatever night works best for you, we could go out. I mean, a lot of it's just watching people in crazy outfits, but there are some after-parties with snacks and stuff. And some of the fashion can be really cool."
Peter nods. "I'll make time for you. Is this one of those dress-up things where I'll be blasklisted for wearing the wrong color tie?"
"Are you not blacklisted now?" Helena teases, quirking a brow. "I mean, there's usually some dress code. But I'm pretty sure we've still got some of Dick's old suits at home, if you want to borrow one. You guys have a sort of similar build. Simlar enough to make it work, and I've got your measurements from working on this suit."
Peter chuckles. "Well…all right." He smiles to her. "Let's do this, then."