5 Times Peter Parker was a Kid + 1 Time He Wished He Wasn't

[madeupnames]

who: Peter Parker, age 9. Comments coming from beforethebite!
what: An NPC hits Spider-Man with a de-aging spell to escape capture.
when: Early October (potentially until end of October)
where: The streets, a playground, school, community housing, etc.
warnings: Not much! Child abduction panic from Peter? A sad kid, from time to time?

1. The Movie 'Taken', Part 50

[This is what happens when you try to arrest a quasi-wizard fugitive. You get magic slammed in your face when you're off your guard, and then you web him up, and then you feel just as sick as when you had that hangover that Shall Not Be Spoken Of. Groaning, he goes back to his apartment and just figures he'll wait and sleep it off. Seemed like just a stun attack, maybe deadly to a normal human? Maybe he should ask Mr. Stark about it... Or something...

Nah, sleep seems more important.

But when he wakes up, all he thinks is where's Ben and May? Usually they nudge him awake for school, make him stumble tiredly to a table to eat some Cinnamon Toast Crunch or something. Maybe it's Saturday? Maybe they can watch morning cartoons together? He squints around, patting where his dresser usually would be, for his glasses. There's no dresser there. He does see the Iron Man toy mask he loves so much, sitting on a little shelf. But the fuzzy world around him is definitely not his apartment. Immediately, May's grave talks about child abduction spring into his head, and his heartbeat quickens.

(He vaguely remembers a man blowing weird sparkly mist into his face; he swears, it sounded like he said something about spiders.)

He's been kidnapped.

Panic overwhelms him, and he leaps up looking around frantically. It doesn't look like a sicko's house. There's nobody around, though, and the front door is right there, so he grabs his Iron Man helmet and makes a run for the door, his eyes wide and full of fear. They could be anywhere here; he needs to find a phone, get a police officer. Right? Right! That's it, Peter. Don't be scared. Be brave, be Iron Man Brave. He puts on his plastic helmet and already feels strong enough to find his family.

He faced drones before; this can't be any worse. And yet the more he walks, the more he realizes... he's not in New York. There are big aliens wandering around, robots who side-eye him, people with pointy ears or bug men. Monsters. One towers over him working its mandibles, and he thinks for sure it's gonna eat him (it yells 'hey kid, are you okay, come back!' in an alien language as he runs away in a panic).

So yeah, there's a kid on the streets; not soweird, in Riverview, what with all the rampant orphans and street hooligans.

But this one seems withdrawn, in a too-big shirt that says 'WHY TO PLANTS HATE MATH? BECAUSE IT GIVES THEM SQUARE ROOTS'.

He ends up crouched behind a garbage can, and from around the corner of it, Iron Man watches with uncertainty.]

2. I Have No Pants And I Must Politely Inquire About Them

[If you're shopping at the corner store, a kid presses his fingers to the front desk and asks the cashier behind his Iron Man mask:]

Excuse me, I—I, um, I don't have any pants. I don't have any money, but I need pants. It's an emergency.

3. School-time Blues

[At some point, the crisis is averted. He's not kidnapped. So that's good. It's hard for Peter to open up to people. He goes to elementary school for the time that he's young, since it only makes sense that he not be in regular high school classes. Most of the kids already have friends they cling to; Peter's never really had a best friend before, just some here and there. He sticks to his corner of the playground, sits nervously in the cafeteria, and wishes he were allowed to hide behind his Iron Man mask for this particular occasion. He misses his uncle and aunt, and he wants to go home.

He ends up building a little robot out of things he's familiar with, because the teacher is nice enough to let him mess with stuff in the science room. She's really impressed, but it's nothing that fancy. He names it Bert, Bert the nervous robot.



He sits on the bench waiting for the bus to pick him up and take him where he's temporarily staying, in the community housing.

When he arrives back to his old rooming area there, he lets Bert the nervous robot run around the building, whirring loudly.

... And yes, he has an Iron Man mask on, and is chasing after it, firing fake lasers from his hands.

He ends up sitting against a hallway huffing and puffing after a very short time, popping his mask open long enough to use his Riverview-patented inhaler.]

4. Neeeeeeerd! (party-sized)

[He ends up at the local playground, where he meets a bunch of really nice kids; some are aliens or not human, and that's kind of freaky, but he's still got his Iron Man mask. It's always made him feel tougher than he is, gave him more confidence to work with. When he introduces himself as Peter, everyone else sort of just adopts him into their group. He makes friends with Lanie and her brothers, and they all run around playing superhero. It's the most fun he's had in a while, even if he ends up out of breath and not really able to keep up very well. He also kind of mixes up some people, because everyone's faces are still flippin' blurry from afar.

He pants, hands on his knees:]

Sorry, I got asthma. And my allergies're pretty bad. I can't do too much.

[He's not sure how, but he ends up sitting on a swingset with a totally intense conversation going on.

Bits and pieces are as follows:]

I've never heard of a Spider-Man before... b-but he can't beat Iron Man. Like, there's no contest... You should have seen him. I bet Iron Man could get to the stars if he tried hard enough. Can Spider-Man take out robots with hand blasts? Can he fly? Or does he, like, shoot webs out of his butt...? Is he hairy like a tarantula...?

5. Wildcard.

[Got a specific starter you wanna do? Just hit me up at simpledog

The kid'll be all over, so I'm down for any random prompt you got in mind. Is he visiting? Babysat? Did they visit a comic store?]

+1. Homesickness | Closed to Close CR Who'd Have Him Over At Some Point

[Peter doesn't gravitate towards the roof when he's sad; he's scared of heights. He usually just finds the nearest bed, curling up and trying not to cry. When he went camping once for a week, away from May and Ben, he cried a little then, too. Because it's so scary, being away from the people you know, you know? Even when you're not whisked away to another weird world with aliens and monsters and no signs of normal life. Even when you're just at Camp Hard-To-Pronounce and you're sleeping in a bunking area with other kids... He worried something was gonna happen, like it did Mom or Dad. He missed the smell of May's chicken dinners. He missed Ben's weird cologne smell that adults sprayed so much.

Homesickness was a bitch. And it's one today, too.

He sniffs, cradling his toy helmet, trying to be quiet.]

Comments

+1

[nobasisinfact]

[When Richard had found him, it hadn't taken any time at all to decide to bring him to the house. While the inside was scary, big and rather foreboding, the inside was more like a museum than anything else. There was a lot of older furniture and books all over the place. There were rooms to run around and beds that were surprisingly soft, and a surprising variety of movies between what Alex kept bringing in and the older ones that Richard already had in the house. There were even a chess set and a box of Trivial Pursuit sitting on a high shelf, plus a few other chess sets sitting around.

When Richard finally found Peter, curled up in one of the rooms further away from the living area, he was only mildly surprised to see that he was crying. Peter was, after long months of observation, an emotional boy.

When he found him, he quietly moves, sitting on the bed next to him. His voice softer than normal, kinder.]

Can I, help with anything?

[He couldn't deny that it had been a very long time since he'd dealt with children, especially emotional children.]

[beforethebite]

[He's liked the house. It's kind of a lot to deal with, moving around place to place, and while some kids might like the shake-up in routine — well, Peter has always been glued to his home, eager to return to his room and daydream, or read, or work on his projects. He didn't have any real friends, and maybe some of that was lingering fears of getting too close to people.

'Cus you lose them overnight.

He glances at Richard, caught red-handed as he panics and puts the helmet back on to hide his splotchy face His voice is quiet, polite, and mildly muffled.]

I'm okay.

[Sure thing, bud.]

[nobasisinfact]

You don't, have to be. There's a lot going on, and you're allowed to be scared and sad.

[Richard doesn't pay any attention to the mask. It can stay on for as long as Peter wants. If it's a crutch, right now he might need it. This isn't a blanket of belief that ought to be pulled off. It's a proper coping mechanism for a scared young boy who was a teenager only a bit ago. Although, it seems he might not remember that part.]

[beforethebite]

[It's pretty crazy, yeah, that he's just... in a whole 'nother world. Even if the Riverview government people said they'll fix it and send him back to his uncle and aunt, it's like... a lot. Too much. But at least the people he's been staying with and meeting have been really nice. He's just. Shy.

He folds his legs, sitting more attentively; after a moment of hesitation, he does push the mask back up on his head instead.]

... I miss my family.

They said they'll fix it, but the social worker people didn't say how.

But I really get to go back, right?

[As long as people are sure it'll work out...]

[nobasisinfact]

[Richard could understand being shy. When he was about that age he was shy too. He kept things to himself and hadn't told anyone but his sister about the thing's he'd been seeing. Of course, Cheryl understood, she saw them too.

Being that young and suddenly being in Riverview had to be a hundred times worse. Especially when you weren't sure if anyone could do anything to get you back to where you felt you belonged.]

Yes.

[The word is honest or at least sounds honest. Richard is good at lying, or at narrating the facts to come to what needed to be let out into the world.]

Until they do, you can stay here any time you want.

[He leaned in as if he were revealing a secret.]

Especially if you help me annoy Alex. It's quite fun.

[beforethebite]

[Peter's at least a little more at ease, sniffing to clear his nose. There's no reason to distrust the guy, right? If he says it, and the Riverview people say it? Then what does he have to be concerned about? He'll just — keep being brave, so that when he returns home he can tell Ben and May he'd been exceptionally brave.

... If they believe him, anyways. It's kind of a wild story.

Mention of annoying Richard's fellow adult makes him grin.]

... That's not very nice, Mr. Strand.

[And yet he looks so tickled by it anyways. He'd never annoy anyone on purpose, but it is funny.]

[nobasisinfact]

[Richard holds up a finger, smirking slightly.]

But if we don't, she'll think we're imposters. Also, it's incredibly enjoyable.

[He wasn't lying, Alex would completely think he was being weird if he stopped mocking and teasing her. He was, an asshole, after all.]

2

[indigobird]

[Oh boy.

Hawke popped into the store earlier to replace a shirt that had torn. But her quest for the replacement shirt derails the moment she sees the little boy at the counter in the too big shirt, politely asking for pants. Her heart breaks at the sight. Is he an orphan? Or were his parents too poor to afford even basic clothes? She frowns.

The lady at the counter seems rather uncertain as to what to do, so Hawke steps in.]

Well, goodness, this won't do. What's a boy to do without his pants? [She smiles easily at the kid.] Do you know what size you're in? They lay out clothing here by sizes. It's usually a number, like 4 or 8.

[beforethebite]

[The boy startles a little, not expecting another voice to chime in, but when he turns his masked face towards her it's pretty much impossible to read whatever face he's making beneath the Iron Man helmet. Which is one of apprehension, relaxing fraction by fraction as she speaks.

His hands drop to his sides, where he smooths the shirt that is far too big.]

Umm... I don't really know.

[More quietly, like he's embarrassed he doesn't know:]

... My aunt buys my pants.

[indigobird]

That's all right. [She knew it would be a long shot, but it was worth asking. But she can tell he's embarrassed, so she drops her voice to a conspiratorial "whisper", though loud enough for anyone near them to hear.] I don't even know my own pant size sometimes.

[And she's an adult. So don't feel bad, buddy.]

Well, best thing to do then is find a few that you like that look like they might fit you and try them on. Sound like a plan?

[beforethebite]

[He nods quickly, the little red and gold helmet bobbing as he goes.]

Yeah...! Then I can, um, I can... try to find a phone. I know my uncle's number; he can come pick me up.

[A nervous pause, and he looks around, like he's trying to make sure someone dangerous isn't close by.]

... I think — I think someone kidnapped me.

[O h d e a r.]

[indigobird]

[Hawke's not clued in to this being Peter yet, so when he expresses concern that he's been kidnapped, she takes it rather seriously. The cashier looks concerned, but Hawke shakes her head when she goes to open her mouth. She'll handle it.

Hawke gently steers Peter towards the children's section before she starts talking again.]

Why do you think that? Did someone grab you?

[beforethebite]

I... I don't remember... being grabbed. But this weird old guy in a... in a cape? I think he blew something at my face. Something kinda sparkly. He said something about spiders... And — and then I woke up in a bed, in this shirt...

[He quickly adds, gripping the fabric as he walks alongside her:]

I'm not hurt, though! I ran outta there as soon as I woke up.

2

[seeingscarlet]

[Hey, she knows that mask! Peter had one. Maybe he lent it out? But something about this kid feels weirdly familiar--

Oh.

Ohhhhhh.



...what.]

Hey. [She smiles at him, trying for reassuring.] I wouldn't be a very good Avenger if I let that happen.

[That should help, right? She looks at the cashier, mouths 'can you hold that for me?' and looks back to the-boy-in-the-mask-who-inexplicably-seems-to-be-Peter.]

Let's see what we can find.

[beforethebite]

[The kid's face is still obscured, but there's a swift stiffening of his shoulders before he looks up at her. He's rather puny, this one, with knobby knees, pale and what some classmates would call noodley.]

Thank you. I don't have any money, b—but my uncle'll pay you back. When we find him.

... What's a 'Avenger'?

[Oh dear.]

[seeingscarlet]

Don't worry about that.

[Her voice is as gentle as she can manage - poor kid. Whatever happened to him got him good. He doesn't even know who the Avengers are.

She must have gotten his age wrong, but in her defense, he's always been noodly and she can't see his face.]

I'm Wanda. I work with your friend, [she nods, indicating the mask.] So I'm going to make sure you get what you need.

[beforethebite]

[Whoawhoawhoa, hold up.

He audibly gasps like this is the biggest shock of his life, and suddenly he's popping his helmet off to look at her with big brown eyes and a wild head of curly locks.]

You know Iron Man? The real Iron Man?

Not just the weirdo who dresses like him for pictures?

[Does that mean she's a superhero, too?]

[seeingscarlet]

[oh nooooooooo he is very small]

Definitely the real one. I don't think anyone else could drink so much coffee. And the 'weirdo' can't fly, can he?

[...she's going to have to leave Tony a message and tell him to call Peter, isn't she? It's really the least she can do aside from making sure the poor kid has pants.]

[beforethebite]

N-no, he sure can't! He can't fly at all. And the specs're all wrong for his suit.

I know. I met Iron Man in person before. At Stark Expos.

[And he's clearly a big nerd, but that's something we all knew a while ago. He hugs his helmet close to his chest — the thing's chipped and worn and clearly prized. He studies her a bit more intently now though, knowing she's not just any helpful lady.]

What can you do? I m-mean — what's your superhero thing?

1.

[jintetsu]

[look I just want every conceivable permutation of cr with you apparently, is that so wrong

Anyway. Iron Man, meet Steel Man! It's a chance meeting again - Jintetsu just happened to be passing by, and he happens to see some kid hiding behind a trash can in a filthy alley. Ironically, he might have actually missed him if not for the brightly-colored mask.

For a second, he debates just passing by, but... the kid seems pretty lost. Worth asking, at least. He doubles back and approaches, but not too close, since... well, he's a shady-looking character, he knows that. (But also, in the back of his mind, because for all he knows this could be another Laura situation.)]

Oi, kid. You lost or something?

[beforethebite]

[Ah—

He stares in mild horror for a moment, shrinking even further back. This guy doesn't look like a hero-type, not with a face like that. Like, May and Ben always tell him not to judge people by their covers, but also — that's a literal metal face.

Be brave, be like Iron Man. Remember when you fought a drone? Even if Iron Man came in and helped you, it's something.]

N... no, I'm fine. I'm just... hanging out.

[#nailed it]

[jintetsu]

[... Ah, crap, he scared him anyway. Jintetsu sighs and scratches his head. What's he supposed to do in this situation? (What even are children? We just don't know.) Like... he could just leave, but if he did that and then something bad happened to the kid, he'd feel terrible.

After a second, he squats down to be closer to eye level.]

Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. Are your parents around?

[beforethebite]

[Oh—! He considers the question, wondering where 'Stranger Danger' should come into play. Especially since everyone is a stranger so far. More than that, they're not normal strangers; some are... definitely not people. Not, like, people-people. Should he be asking for police? Refusing to answer? Maybe run?

He doesn't seem that bad, now that he's talking more. Doesn't sound like a robot. His voice seems kinda funny in a way he can't quite place from his hiding spot, though.]

... I don't have — umm. I live with my uncle and aunt.

Do you know where a, a phone is?

[jintetsu]

A phone? Yeah, here.

[He reaches into the folds of his shirt and pulls out a generic smartphone, which he holds out to the boy. This is with his right hand, the flesh-and-blood one.

(It'll occur to him, later, that this would be a great way for a clever kid to dupe someone out of their phone. But in the present that doesn't really occur to him.)]

You know how to use it?

[Since, you know, he barely knows how himself. The phone is pretty much still on factory settings. Generic background, bloatware on the home screen, no password or anything. And the battery is at, like, 14%?]

[beforethebite]

[He does not run away with it. But he does stare at it with great uncertainty after flipping his mask up to sit on top of his head. You know, it's hard to see through those little eye holes.]

Ummm... Yeah! I think... so...

[But he still stares at it a bit hopelessly, anyway.]

How do you type in phone-numbers? This button?