2019-11-15 - Angels and Spiders

Summary:

Peter reaches out to his guardian Angel to reconnect with the one who saved his life.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Fri Nov 15 00:00:00 2019
Location: Thea's Apartment, NYC

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

None

theapeter-parker

It's a boring, regular enough afternoon. Thea is curled up in one corner of her couch, reading a book, with a large cup of tea in one hand. Hair is a brilliant copper red, laying in static fire over the arm of the couch behind her. She's in a comfortable long sweater in a deep aqua color, and some gray and aqua leggings with bright aqua fuzzy socks. Today is a day off to relax. No makeup, none of her designer duds or shoes, just a day to unwind and do a little self care.


For Peter, it is his charge to clean up his own messes. And he considers this his mess very much. He has spent some time recuperating, the fateful meeting with Aunt May, and getting his life back together.
But he cannot hold off much longer. "ALICE…Text."

A minute later, the message appears on Thea's phone, sent through the Spider-Comm system.

<It's Peter…can we talk?>


The cup of tea is set down to pick up her phone. There's a faint frown at the text, before she's replying as swiftly as one thumb will let her.

<Of course. Do you really need to ask? »


A momentary pause. <I'll be there in a few minutes.> A pause, then one more text. <Keep the window unlocked, please?>

He does have to ask. Last thing he needs to to try an open a wlocked window and bust the lock in the process.


There is an arch of one eyebrow, a glance to the windows not far behind her. <I always leave your window unlocked for you. > It's true. But she'll get up and mark her page before the book is set aside. She'll finish her tea, and pour an Arnold palmer into a glass. She ponders setting out some snack, but she doesn't know if he's even hungry, so she'll set the glass on the coffee table (on a coaster!) before she curls back into the couch to wait.


It's more like five minutes before the window slides open and Spider-Man slips inside. He closes the window, latches it, then draws the blinds. He turns back, then pulls off the mask to reveal Peter Parker, looking much as he alwayd did, Same brown hair, same average features…even the same apologetic look.
Before he says anything else, he moves towards Thea and hugs her gently.


Thea is facing 'his' window, a faint smile in welcome as he slips in. She doesn't say anything as he latches the windows and pulls the blinds, still worried about someone seeing his face.
She's about to tell him the glass of his favorite drink is for him, before words get forestalled by a hug. Worry instead kicks in, head pulling back. "Is everything okay? Anything wrong?"


Peter pulls back, looking at her for a brief moment. "That was me…apologizing for not reaching out to you sooner. It's been two weeks without me sending so much as a text." He stands in front on her, his face downcast. "…I'm sorry, Thea, for not calling you or seeing you sooner. It was a shameful way to act."


There's a blink, before Thea is pointing to his glass of his favorite beverage. "Peter… that's not how chosen family works, at least not with me. I know if something had happened, if you were in danger, Alice or one of the network would have pulled me in. Everyone is allowed their own space, everyone needs time to reset and collect and examine. So don't apologize until there's actually something to apologize for." She will reach a hand up to tousel his hair.


Peter sighs. "Well, it's still bad to be silent. Especially for family." He looks up to meet her eyes, then says, "Are you okay? No…lasting damage? Bad dreams? Panic attacks?"
He says them with that particular tone of voice that suggests the unspoken word is "…too."


"Peter, I may eventually go off on missions for SHIELD and be away. It's just how life goes." Thea says, almost sounding philosophical. "It's not necessary to talk to you every day, to know you care for me." She will gesture him to sit down, relax.

She will settle back in, those eyes looking at him with an unusual patience, something that looks much older than he knows Thea to be in those blue-silvery depths. "I had a few bad dreams, immediately after. Things happened in such a compressed time frame, there was no time to process it until it was over. I'm sorry to hear you've been having a rough time of it."


Peter saw the drink. That was Thea, always the little notes. He picked up the drink and looked at it, before looking back to Thea. "I vaguely remember promising to stand still so you could hit me for going through with my cockamamie plan. Well, you earned it, and I'l healthy enough to take a punch from the Rhino, so…" he lifted his chin, tilting his head slightly to show more of his cheek. "…I figured I owed you."


There is a roll of her eyes. "I should hit you. But I won't. See, staying away a couple of weeks gave me time to process and meditate, and just let go of things. So.. I'm okay. You're alive, the spiders are all alive, and Morlun is dead. It's a win."


Peter lowered his chin, but still looked haunted. "I…took you for granted, Thea. Whenever I got in a real bind, you would be there to heal me up and get me back in the game…" He looked up to Thea. "Awhile ago…you told me you could do…other things. Things that I cannot do. I did not expect it. I honestly wanted to take him alive…but I had no idea how deeply you felt about me…and how much you reviled him. I forgot that you can be a dangerous person. I pigeonholed you…and I got the blinders ripped off when I least expected it."


"For granted? Peter, you've called me family. Family is supposed to do that, or so I've been told by movies and books. Family is supposed to care about you, pick you up, dust you off, try to protect you." Not that she knows much about that firsthand, being shipped off instead. "So of course I would be there to heal you up and get you to where you needed to be."

Eyebrows will lift slightly, as she looks at him in silence, while he talks. "You mean the fact that I can use my powers to take a life, as well as save it?" She will just watch him a moment. "Peter, he was too dangerous to leave alive. Plain and simple. If he'd had time to recover, he might come after you again. I couldn't have that." Her voice is level, calm to the point of almost cold. "Everyone forgets, Peter. Not a single one of your spiders has ever seemed to pause to think about what I could do, other than patch them up. SHIELD doesn't even seem to think much about it." She will pause, studying him. "I'm sorry if I shocked you, but I did tell you in the beginning what I am."


Peter looks to Thea, then down again. "It was wrong of me to forget. I couldn't do it. Even in this mad plan, I wanted to weaken him so he could be held, to pay for his crimes. But I was naive. It is only in retrospect…Sarah was ready to do it. Spider-Girl…her, too. Spider-Woman…either of them…" Heis silent for a moment. He sips his drink, then continues, "I should know better than to take yuou for granted."


Thea will rise from the couch, to cross the space to her kitchen. She will pour herself a glass of juice, before she's sauntering back. "Peter, you forgot because you wanted to forget. It's right there in the nickname you game me. Angel." She points out, moving to sit next to him. "You just don't like to think of the fact the good angel that heals you and your friends, can be the angel of death to someone else."

"Yes. He wouldn't have left there alive, I don't think, even without me making that strike. Peter, you're a good, pure-hearted person. You believe in justice, and fair play, and everything that should be good in the world. I'm much more… cynical. That's why I can kill when warrented, and you can't. It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. I occasionaly envy you, how you can believe justice will be served, and that things will end up fair. "


Peter takes another sip, then says, "…I wish I knew what to say. Maybe I am naive to think everything works out how I think they should." He looks to the window. "But I get caught off-guard by the unexpected. Like the day after I got home…and Aunt May was home a day early. Telling me she knew I was Spider-Man."


"Not naive, necessarily. I don't think you can do what you do and be naive. You've just got a better heart and more optimism, I think. You were raised very differently from me, and that may have a lot to do with it. You believe in justice, and that's a /good/ thing."
She is quiet a moment. "So she knows. Well, that could be.. interesting. How did she take it?"


Peter looked a little uncomfortable. "She was angry about me lying to her. But she did take it into considering why I was lying. She also told me not to feel guilty about Uncle Ben, because she felt responsible for that. They had argued, which was why he ran into Carradine on the front porch." He rubbed the back of his neck. "She also said she knew I was hiding something…but she thought I was trying to conceal that I was gay, not a superhero."


"No one should feel guilty but Carradine. Period. No one made him do what he did. It is on him, and only on him." Thea's voice seems firm, determined. Then she's quiet a moment, before a snicker starts, and she bursts out. "She thought you were hiding that you were gay? But she knows about Helena! I mean, you hang out with a lot of females, true, but.. that's just because we're all in this with you."


Peter takes another sip. "Aunt May wondered if that was part of the pretense. A public girlfriend to hide my true lifestyle. She had noticed I wasn't spending much time with her lately, and it gave weight to her theory. She never let on, even though she's very devout. I think she's in the Judge-Not-Lest-You-Be-Judged category. Which turned out to be a good thing." He smiles warmly. "And ever since I told her…I feel better than I have in two years. No more hiding, no more lying. She even said she wants to give up her selfish, sedentary life and start volunteering in some capacity. Said she felt bad that I was helping people and she was doing nothing. She thought Uncle Ben would not approve."


"She thought Helena was a beard? Has she never seen you with her?" Thea may have her issues with the Wayne heiress, but her affection for Peter was not one of them. "But I'm glad the two of you talked it out. I'm glad you feel better about it, got the weight off your shoulders."
Thea will pause. "Volunteer? You mean like at her church, right?"


Peter shook his head. "That and more. There's this new company that is opening service centers to help the homeless. Get treatment, find jobs, or even a place to sleep and a meal to eat. I don't know the name. FAST? Something like that. Anyway, she wants to help at one in Queens. She even quit her weekly bridge night for it."


Thea nods, and relaxes just a smidge. "I was just worried she was going to want to do something… more dangerous. Like team up with us somehow. I'm glad that is not what she had in mind. Helping the homeless is better, less violent." She nods. "So eerything's working out, then?"


Peter nods. "I hope. Spider-Girl's grandmother can't take care of her siblings, so Aunt May offered her the spare room at the house. The kids may be going to stay with a relative, though. MJ is doing all right. So is Spider-Woman. If they are having nightmares like I am, they haven't let on."


"So she'll be staying with you, but her siblings… well, if it's family, it's not so bad, right?" Thea is trying to look on the bright side. " I'm glad MJ is doing well. She has a lot of moxie, that one." She nods, shrugging. "Peter, he was after you. You were the one who got run to the edge of your endurance, again and again. That makes it easier for things to seep in, so it's natural you would have more nightmares."


Peter looked to Thea. "Morlun's family might never know what happened to him. But my luck has never been that good. I'm worried they're going to come for whoever killed the patriarch of their family. We don't have to worrk about finding their weakness. We have to worry about them showing up out of the blue."


"And that would be my problem. I'm his killer." It is true, in the strictest of word play. Thea doesn't seem the least bit ruffled by this fact. "Stop borrowing trouble. Worry when something happens, not before. It just ruins your day."


Peter nods, but responds, "It is also said that chance favors the prepared mind. So it wouldn't help to have a safeguard or two." He looks around. "I wanted to aask about your other skills. Not just combat, either. What about research, or forensics, or detective work? If i'm going to stop taking you for granted, I have to see you for who you are, not what I'd like you to be."


"I'm not skilled in forensics. I only have my G.E.D., because of my training. I've had to do all kinds of research though. Even I can't just go at a target without knowing everything that can be found out. Which is a little bit like detective work - I can blend in when I have to."


Peter nods. "I'd like to share some of the info I have about various criminal groups that I've collected over the last couple of years. I'd like your insights, and any assistance you can give."


There's a long look at him, almost as if she has suspicions about this whole taking her for who she is thing. "Sure. I'm more than happy to look at it, and into it, for you. I mean, around SHIELD stuff, obviously. "


Peter nods. "ALICE, can you download the files into a micro SD card?" He reaches into the backpack and takes out a blank SD card the size of a fingernail, slipping it into a slot hidden under the left wrist. "There. It's all text files and such, really. Some maps, som org charts. Would you like me to connect you to the feed I have set up regarding ongoing crimes and investigations?'


She will smile faintly as he whips out a little SD card and slides it somewhere she hadn't known had computer access. "Sure. If there's a pattern, it's generally easier to look from current backwards, at least for me." In her studies, anyhow.


Peter takes the card and plugs it in, After ten seconds, he unplugs it and hands it back to Thea. "I appreciate any help you can give. And if anything is helpful to you and SHIELD, by all means, use it."


"I will. But I couldn't get into SHIELD servers for this. I'm not that good with hacking." She will wink at him. "So it will have to be what I can glean from other sources.


Peter smiled in response to her smile. "I am beginning to understand how capable you can be at this. I rpomise never to take you for granted again."


"Feel free to underestimate me. That's my best weapon." Thea will smirk at him. "People forget, or they don't know - they just see me as some pretty face. How do you think I got around in my previous profession?"


"Yes, but I'm not your adversary. So I shouldn't make the mistakes they will do." Peter finished his drink, then said, "Listen…if I wanted to invite you to dinner with Aunt May, would you say yes?"


There's a slow chuckle. She looks at him, a faint glance of surprise. "I already promised her I would come over for dinner. Of course I would."


Peter nods. "Well…Aunt May wants you to come for Sunday dinner. She's making Yankee pot roast. And I think she would like to meet the person who's been helping me in my crimefighting."


"Well then, I will clear my schedule." Thea says with the faintest smile. "I'll remember the wine and the dessert, as promised. But she knows it's not just me, right?"


Peter took a breath. "I haven't told her about all the stuff you help me with. I'd like to tell her, with your permission."


That does give Thea a pause, a curious look. "What did you tell her? And what do you mean, all the stuff. All I've done is keep people in working order.


"Well, i told her you were able to heal people faster than normal. I didn't tell her anything else…" He looks sheepish. "Even that felt like too much of your secrets, though. She did want to tell me to thank you on her behalf."


"PEter.. that's all I've done, other than one time, in your presence. " Thea will point out, a pat to his arm. "She's your Aunt, Peter. She knows about you, and that's a much bigger secret than my powers."


Peter still looked a little sheepish. "She said she wanted to meet you personally. To make up for lost time. Her words." He put down his glass. "I think she wants to know I'm in good hands."


"Make up for lost time? What lost time?" Thea sounds confused. She will laugh though, before sipping juice. "Are you worried that she won't approve of me?"


Peter shrugs. "I think she means she has missed out on so much the last two years because i deceived her. Now, she wants to know the truth." He chuckles. "I think she might adopt you, honestly."


Thea ahhs. "That makes a lot more sense. She feels like she needs to recoup time with you, and that means getting to know your friends. She's a keen woman, your aunt. If she loops all your friends in with homemade meals, she can keep track of you better." There's a chuckle there, before it stops dead. "Adopt me? Me? I'm not sure I'm the sort of person people adopt."


Peter grins. "Aunt May surprises a lot of people."


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