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One of the biggest changes to Peter’s life after the spider bite was his new instincts. He was literally part spider now, and that came with its own set of challenges. His instincts were more developed than they were when he was fully human, like he was more in tune with the animalistic part of him.
He was considered a feral mutant, or at least that’s what Tony said. Nothing too bad had happened yet because of the feral instincts, but Peter knew he had to be constantly aware in case something did.
Though none of that changed the fact that he was still a teenager that had to go to high school.
AP US History was boring.
He dutifully took notes on what his teacher was lecturing on, something about the US Overseas Expansion, but his mind was elsewhere. Tony promised him lab time after school since it was Friday.
He just had to make it ‘til then.
“Mr. Parker,” his teacher’s voice drawled, pulling him out of his haze. “Are you still with us?”
Heat traveled up his neck in a vibrant blush, and Peter looked up to meet Mr. Carson’s steely eyes. “Yeah, sorry, sir.”
The man looked away and continued his lecture, asking the kid next to Peter a question about trade goods. Peter swallowed hard. He needed to try to pay attention, especially if he wanted to pass the test next week.
He sighed quietly to himself and tapped his fingers against his leg as he tried to concentrate on his teacher’s words.
He was midway through writing the date of an important event when his heart rate spiked. The hair on his neck stood on end. He grit his teeth and reached out with his Spidey Sense to see what was triggering him.
There. An intruder in his territory, someone who would do him and his colony harm. It took all his will power to control the hiss that threatened to slip past his teeth. His nails dug into his pant leg.
No, he couldn’t freak out here. He needed to assess the threat, not react blindly like his instincts were telling him to do.
“Peter?” Ned nudged him from the seat behind him. He sounded worried. Peter hated it when one of his colony was worried. “You okay, man?”
“Threat,” he managed to growl out. He bit his tongue as another hiss built up in his throat.
He distantly heard Ned curse under his breath and pull out his phone, but his mind was too foggy to pay much attention to anything other than the intruder.
It was moving toward the school, toward his Web . His senses told him it was another feral mutant, it had that distinct smell-taste that other ferals carried. Given, Peter had only met a few other ferals, but it was an instinctual recognition that clued him in.
Peter slipped his shoes off his feet so his bare skin could touch the tile floor. The minute vibrations told him the intruder was getting closer, almost at Midtown High.
Through the fog in his mind, Peter realized the class around him was silent. Had Mr. Carson finished his lecture? That didn’t matter.
What mattered was the fear-anxiety emanating from Ned, from one of his colony. He would destroy whatever caused that reaction. Peter looked up from his notebook and scanned the room, eyes pausing to rest on Ned.
Wait, why was everybody staring at him? Was it because of the hiss he had let out at the thought of the intruder? He thought he had quietened that enough to avoid attention.
“Peter,” Ned swallowed hard, drawing Peter’s eyes back to him with alarming speed. “Your eyes… They’re red.”
His eyes were red? How was that possible? Oh.
He was the one scaring Ned.
Peter hissed at the thought, not even bothering to hide it this time. He kept his eyes on Ned’s. He couldn’t take the thought of hurting his colony. Speaking of his colony, where was MJ? She was in his Web , he felt her on the third floor in one of the labs. She was fine.
A strong vibration brought him back to the intruder, a slam of the door to Midtown High.
Peter stood abruptly. His chair clattered to the floor behind him, making his classmates gasp. His body let out reassuring pheromones, trying to calm Ned even as his instincts went wild at the thought of an intruder.
He stopped breathing to conserve energy. His book lungs would take care of his oxygen supply until he was ready to be fully human again.
Vibrations from the whole school flooded his senses through his sensory hairs and the skin on his feet, but he was used to most of them so he filtered those out. His senses honed in on the unusual.
Someone on the third floor dropped something metal on the floor, but the pheromones told Peter it was a freshman. Someone a few classrooms down stubbed their toe, a senior. Peter was aware of everybody in his Web , even if they weren’t in his colony. He found MJ’s vibrations and felt a weight lift off his chest, she was safe.
He searched the vibrations further from himself.
There.
The man was walking towards the center of the first floor. He was too close to the gym. Peter’s hair stood on end as another hiss grew in his chest. He felt the acidic taste of venom on his gums.
On autopilot, he moved towards the door. He had to get the intruder before the man got to anybody in his Web . He wouldn’t risk the threat.
“Peter?” Ned sounded so scared, and his pheromones were practically screaming danger. “What’s going on?”
He ran his tongue over the sharp points of his teeth to ground himself as he took a stabilizing breath. He turned to face his class.
“There’s another feral in the school,” he growled. “He’s in my Web .”
Ned’s eyes went wide in realization. “Shit. Do you want me to call Mr. Stark?”
“No!” Peter bared his teeth with a hiss. He couldn’t let another one of his colony into the danger zone that was now his Web .
Ned’s eyes softened. “Understood. I’ll stay here with the class and make sure MJ stays safe. Do what you need to do, Peter.”
His chest rumbled in a different way from a hiss or a growl, a purr at his friend’s care. He glanced at the students staring at him and blinked his red eyes. They seemed to take him at his word on the threat, but a couple of them looked warily at his too sharp teeth.
The spinnerets on his wrists pulsed, readying his natural web fluid. He took a step back and shot webs from wall to wall, trapping his class into a secure area, making sure that Ned was safe.
His instincts satisfied, he opened the door, stepped out, and shut it behind him.
Time to find his prey.
He jumped to perch on all fours on the ceiling. That was his natural place. Defying gravity. He belonged on the ceiling, scaling walls and tracking his prey through the vents of the school was where he felt the most normal. A wave of contentment rushed through him at the feeling of gravity tugging him towards the floor. He was where he was supposed to be.
Peter let instinct take over. His limbs moved him rapidly towards the nearest vent panel and pulled him into it. He used the vents to get to the first floor.
The feral was near the cafeteria now, almost to the gym, and Peter dropped into the hallway below him, his bare feet hitting the tile silently. He broke into a sprint on all fours. He ran faster this way, and he needed to reach the threat before he reached the collection of students in the gym.
Now that he was closer, his sensory hairs picked up on the chemosignals the feral was letting out. The man was distressed, anxious. A panicking feral could be dangerous for all involved.
But there was also a hint of pain to the feral’s pheromones. If Peter focused, he could smell blood tainted by a foul smelling poison.
Screams rang out as the feral reached the gym.
Peter flung himself around the corner and bolted toward the double doors of the gym, opposite the side the feral entered. The doors fell from their hinges from the force of his body hitting them.
He hissed, bared his fangs at the feral in front of him. From the corner of his eye, Peter noticed a group of students and a coach huddled against the far wall. His blood raged through his veins at the threat to his Web .
The feral was covered in blood, probably his own from the gushing wound near his neck.
Wait.
He looked familiar.
Scruffy sideburns, harsh lines around his eyes and mouth, permanent snarl etched into the grooves of his face, and that stupid X on his belt, the only thing that held up his torn and bloody pants.
“Wolverine?” Peter hissed. He had never met the man in person, Tony didn’t want Logan to “corrupt Peter’s innocence,” but he’d seen a lot of his fights on YouTube. He knew he was a threat, even if he was an X-Man.
“Hey, kid,” the man said in a gruff voice. He clenched his hands a few times, seemingly needing to remind himself that he had a physical body. “Was hopin’ you’d show up.”
But Peter was still in hunting mode. He couldn’t just turn off the adrenaline that rushed through his body at the sight of another feral in his Web .
“What are you doing here?” He positioned himself in front of the group of students, between them and Wolverine.
Logan chuffed and lowered his head, eyes still on Peter’s. “I’m not a threat to your pack , kid. I’m just here for a little help, that’s all, nothin’ to get all worked up about.”
Peter crouched, a threat display, and bared his fangs. He didn’t have the presence of mind to correct the other feral that the students weren’t his pack , they were in his Web . Ferals were different, Wolverine’s mutant genes gave him pack not a Web .
“Look, kid,” Logan dropped his shoulders and took a step back, submission evident in his posture, “I woke up in the area all messed up, but I couldn’t catch Stark’s scent anywhere in this fuckin’ city, so I followed the scent closest to his. You’re his kid, right? The intern he’s always goin’ on about?”
Peter’s heart slowed. Logan’s chemosignals said he was telling the truth, but he couldn’t make himself relax fully yet.
“You woke up in my city?” That implied there was another threat near in his Web , he bared his teeth again at the thought.
“Yeah. Guys that had me didn’t give me enough drugs to knock me out properly. I took out almost twenty of ‘em on my way out.” Logan pulled himself up to full height. He probably sensed Peter’s heart slowing since he knew Logan wasn’t the biggest threat. “Look, kid, the smell of this place is givin’ me flashbacks to the war. You think we could get out of here?”
Peter ran his tongue over his fangs and swallowed down the bitter venom they produced. He flexed his feet against the gym floor.
“Tony and the others are out on a mission,” he replied.
His instincts were close to quiet now. He sensed the smell-taste of fear from the group behind him, and he glanced back at them. Coach Wilson stood in front of his students, arms out to hold them behind him and away from the two ferals, even if one of them was a student of his himself.
“Coach,” Peter stood from his crouch, eyes still red and fangs still sharp, “You might want to let Principal Morina know that there’s no threat. I have a feeling he’s about to call for a lockdown since Ned will have called him by now to warn him of a mutant on campus.”
“Mr. Parker,” Coach Wilson swallowed hard, “What is happening? Please tell me you weren’t just talking to The Wolverine after he burst into the gym.”
“That would be lying, sir,” Peter said, absentmindedly. His focus was fixed on Logan, or more precisely on the still-bleeding wound on his neck. “Logan, let me call for a ride. I can get you to the Tower and get you the best medical care you can get in New York, but we can’t go out like this.”
Logan chuffed, “Don’t worry, kid. I’ve been through a lot worse than this, and I’m still kickin’. I can wait for a car to get here.”
“Good,” Peter turned to the broken doors he came in through. “I’ve gotta go get my stuff before we leave.”
He looked down at his bare feet, only now coming fully back to himself. He ran his tongue over his teeth again and was relieved that his fangs had retracted back into his gums, no more venom burning his throat. As he walked out of the gym, he caught his reflection in a passing window, his eyes were back to their normal color. Thank god.
Soft padding of feet came from behind him.
“You’re coming with me?” he asked over his shoulder.
Logan grunted.
Hm. Peter needed to research more about ferals, because even though Peter was an arachnid feral and Logan was some sort of mammal feral they still understood each others’ languages. He could probably write a paper on that alone.
“Don’t freak out anyone in my Web , or I’ll rip your throat out.” Peter snorted. “Not that that’ll do much damage to you, but I don’t think my instincts would let you get away without at least injecting you with all the venom I have.”
“Your Web ? ‘S that your pack ?” Logan’s voice was gruff even when he wasn’t posturing.
Peter started up the stairs. It would be a lot easier if he could use the vent, but he didn’t think Logan would like following him through there.
“I think it would be more like a territory for you,” he answered. “Your pack would be my colony, but your territory would be my Web . Everything in my Web is mine. I can feel each person and animal here, but they’re not mine in the same way that my colony is. It’s complicated.”
“Not really. Sounds simple to me.”
Peter allowed himself a smile. “You’re a feral, Logan. You get it more than anybody else would.”
The man chuffed low in his throat. It seemed to be a vocalization that Logan made when he was either trying to calm Peter down or expressing an amused sort of fondness. It was probably because Peter was a pup to him. Peter would do the same thing with any spiderling in his colony, hell he had chirped at Ned and MJ on many occasions for the same reasons.
They walked the rest of the way to his History class in silence, but Peter paused at the door. He turned to Logan and scanned him, absently chewing his lip.
“One of my colony is in there. He’s a huge fan of yours, so he’ll probably freak out when he sees you. It’s a happy kind of freak out, so my instincts won’t activate like they would if he was in pain, but you have to promise you’ll be careful with him. Can you be careful, Logan?”
The man scowled. “I’m not gonna hurt your pack , pup, but I’m not a gentle person so don’t get your hopes up too high.”
“That’s all I’m asking for.” Peter smiled.
He took a deep breath before opening the door. His chest rumbled in a deep purr at the sight of his hastily-woven web still intact. He had protected his Web .
“Ned,” he called. “Everything’s okay. You can all come out now.”
Rustling came from behind the web, then a knife cut through it from top to bottom to reveal his class. Ned emerged from behind the web.
“Pete? Are you hurt?” Ned sounded worried, but there was also the smell-taste of relief buried in the mess of his chemosignals. “What happened out there?”
“That feral that I felt? Yeah, turns out he wasn’t a threat after all. Well, he’s not a threat to us at least.”
Peter gave in to the instinct to huddle close to Ned, even as he was talking, and examine him for injuries. That, unfortunately, gave his class a full view of the bloody Wolverine. Peter ignored the awestruck expression on Ned’s face to keep checking him over. He ran his hands along Ned’s shoulders and arms. There was nothing wrong with him. Thank god.
“Peter,” Ned said slowly (he was used to the mother hen act by now,) “Is Wolverine in our school right now?”
“Yeah,” Peter sighed. He gave Ned some room, hands dropping from his friend’s shirt, and shrugged. “He’s harmless at the moment. I’ve gotta get him to the Tower so we can figure out what’s stopping his healing factor, but I forgot my phone up here.”
A voice came from the clump of students openly staring at Wolverine, Abe’s voice, “Peter, what the fuck?”
Ah, this would be hard to explain.
He stepped through his web to grab his backpack. He pulled his phone from the small pocket and sighed as he saw the messages on his lockscreen. A flurry of them from Mr. Stark, a few from MJ, and one from May. He unlocked his phone and sent Happy a text asking him to come pick them up, then returned to Ned’s side.
“Long story short,” Peter turned to Abe, “Wolverine got kidnapped by some stupid bad guys who forgot he has an enhanced metabolism. He broke out and followed my scent here because I smell like Mr. Stark. Is that enough information for now?”
His class gaped back at him. Mr. Carson looked ready to faint, and Abe kept opening his mouth, trying to form a response.
“You know Wolverine?” Abe finally got out. Well, at least he didn’t ask about Mr. Stark. “How?”
“Well, technically, I’ve never met Logan before, but Mr. Stark talks about him sometimes. Mainly it’s just warnings and threats to my tuition if I ever meet him, but sometimes Tony gives me info on the X-Men.” Peter tucked his phone into his pocket.
Logan grunted. His eyes were warily fixed on the group of teenagers.
From beside Abe, Cindy cleared her throat. Her eyes were soft and fixed on Peter, who looked back at her with caution.
“Peter? Earlier your eyes were red, and I swear the sounds that you made were inhuman.” She glanced between the webs on the walls and Peter. “Are you… Are you Spider-Man?”
Silence in the room. The other students seemed even more shocked.
Peter swallowed hard, “Yeah, I guess the secret’s out there now, huh? No hiding it this time.”
“Hey,” Ned nudged his shoulder gently, “everything’s gonna be okay, right? Besides, I think Mr. Stark will forgive you for this, if just for the fact that it’s freaking Wolverine who made you slip. Nobody expects Wolverine to show up in their high school.”
Peter smiled. He glanced back to his class. “Yeah. You’re right, Ned.”
“Always am,” Ned grinned. Then his eyes shifted to Logan, and his smile turned starstruck. “I can’t believe Wolverine is in my high school.”
He chuckled at the sour look on Logan’s face.
“Yes, he is.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket, a text from Happy. He was parked at the back of the school waiting for them.
“Come on, Logan,” he hefted his backpack onto his shoulder. He wiggled his toes, squinted, and decided to leave his shoes under his desk. Ned would get them. “Happy’s waiting, and he’ll be mad if you bleed out on his clean seats.”
Logan grunted, a hint of a chuff at the end. Peter chirped in response.
“Ned,” he called, halfway out the door, “can you tell MJ what’s happening? I’ve gotta call Tony and May on our way to the Tower.”
Ned shouted his agreement.
That settled, Peter made his way out of the school, even as students peered out of classrooms and people screamed at the sight of Logan behind him. Word must have gotten around. Peter was just surprised that Morita hadn’t put the school in lockdown yet.
Logan gave him a soft chuff of gratitude as they tucked into the back of Happy’s car.
The next day, the internet was abuzz with the reveal of Spider-Man’s secret identity. Peter Parker was officially a celebrity. Peter Parker was also officially considered an ally to Wolverine and his pack .
On Monday, Peter walked into Midtown High with an extra pep in his step. Ned and MJ walked at his side, creating a barrier against the clamoring students trying to get a look at Spider-Man, as if they hadn’t been going to school with him for years now.
Peter smiled at Abe in the halls, who smiled back after a moment of hesitation.
MJ, who had demanded to visit the Tower over the weekend to catch up after Friday, stuck by Peter's side as Ned split off from them to get to first period. She glared at each person that tried to approach them. Peter gave all of them smiles to counteract the glares, but he let MJ take the lead nonetheless.
“I’m sitting next to you,” she said, putting her bag on the desk next to Peter’s. Her words weren’t a question, and Peter smiled.
“Of course.”
MJ’s lips twitched.
The class slowly filled, all eyes on Peter as they whispered about him, uncaring that he’d hear.
He huffed as Flash entered, beelining straight to Peter’s desk.
“How’d you fake it, Parker?” Flash sneered. “Did you seriously hire a Wolverine look-alike to back up your fake Stark internship? How pathetic are you?”
Peter cocked his head and smiled. “You still think I’m faking, Flash?”
“Of course you are, there’s no way Penis Parker is Spider-Man.” He said it in such a haughty tone that Peter had to laugh. That made Flash turn an angry red. “Why the hell are you laughing, loser?”
He saw MJ smirk out of the corner of his eye, and he made up his mind.
“I’m laughing ‘cause you’re the loser here, Flash.” Peter shook his head as the other boy opened his mouth to retort. “You’re the only one who doesn’t believe that. For good reason too. Two classes saw me with inhuman features and talking to Logan. You’d have to be stupid or stubborn to think it wasn’t real, so which are you, Flash?”
Peter grinned as the boy spluttered, his skin a violent red.
“If you really don’t believe it, I could just prove it to you.”
The whole class was now visibly listening to their conversation, and the whispers started up again at Peter’s words.
MJ’s languid voice cut in, “How’re you going to do that, loser?”
Loser was a term of endearment from her, not an insult like Flash used it as. Peter gave her a grin.
“How do you think I should, MJ?”
She hummed, pretending to contemplate. “Well, the red eyes are new, so you can’t do that at will yet. The fangs are fun but come with venom which isn’t fun. How about you show them all your gravity trick, the one that always freaks out your dad?”
Peter gawked, “Tony is not my dad!”
“Keep telling yourself that,” MJ snorted.
Flash stomped his foot impatiently, his sneer back in place. “Well? Are you going to prove that you’re a liar or what?”
Peter sighed and heaved himself out of his chair. “Here we go.”
He jumped, flipped himself in the air so he could land on the ceiling with his feet. Even through his shoes, he stuck to the plaster. His hair didn’t dangle like it should have. Blood didn’t rush to his face. His clothes didn’t fall or drop from his body. It was like gravity didn’t affect him at all, and it drove Tony insane each time he saw it.
Flash gaped up at him, as did most of the class. Cindy clapped dramatically with a smirk, having seen his powers in action already on Friday. The others joined in quickly. Peter blushed at the action and dropped back to the floor.
“Guys, it’s nothing that special, seriously.” He settled back into his seat and avoided their gazes.
MJ sighed, “Peter. You’re a superhero, you’re going to have to get used to people appreciating you like this.”
The heat in his cheeks burned stronger. “Shut up, MJ.”
His reply drew a deep laugh from her, which he considered a win.
He was just happy his colony was happy and his Web was functioning like normal. As always, life went on. It didn’t matter if the local superhero turned out to be a nerdy teenage boy still in high school, Midtown would continue like normal.
Peter’s smile didn’t leave his face all day.