threeisapattern | starter for threeterparker

starter for threeterparker

When he moved to NYC, Stiles figured that things would be - well, not less weird exactly, he's seen the news reports about the giant lizards stuff and the guy made of electricity and the whole Spider-Man thing, but less weird around him specifically. Because here, he's just a guy going into Criminal Justice (and also somehow kind of dating a very cute nerd photographer, can't forget that), not one of the few people who knows what a magnet Beacon Hills is for the supernatural and how insanely close they keep coming to destruction.

Apparently, that was too much to hope for because here Stiles is, sitting in class and taking notes like the good student he'd like to convince his GPA he is, when the entire room gets an alert that everyone needs to evacuate right the fuck now because there's a giant lizard in the building. Which Stiles is absolutely, totally, 100% planning to do except someone shows him blurry photos of the giant lizard and there's reports of people in the creature's path struck down with paralysis and, well. Yeah. It really is like high school all over again.

So instead of running out of the building like it's on fire like a good, sensible average human, Stiles finds himself shouldering his backpack with the emergency stash of mountain ash he's kept in it for the past several years and heading towards the screaming without much plan except the knowledge that he's probably the only person who knows what this thing is and how to contain it.

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"Kanimas can get pretty nasty, so that could've gone way worse," Stiles points out. "Unless you mean the whole mutual accidental reveal of secrets thing, which is - " Yeah, that probably could've gone better? But honestly, his life is already so goddamn weird that dating Spider-Man almost feels normal.

Also, uh. He might be eyeing Peter up a little? Now that they're out of immediate danger and it's sinking in all over again that he's dating Spider-Man, that is... quite a skintight outfit. "...So."

"Yeah, I meant the—" vague handwave gesture at the mask hanging limp in his hand.

Stiles is ogling him, and don't think that Peter doesn't notice Stiles ogling him, but honestly by this point he's so used to wearing the suit that it doesn't really occur to him just how skintight it is. At the moment, he's less concerned with being conspicuously checked out and more concerned with making sure that his boyfriend isn't freaking out over finding out about Peter's side hustle as a masked vigilante.

"So. Um. Do we talk? We should talk, right?" He moves to awkwardly perch on the arm of the sofa, a safe enough distance from Stiles so that he has space if he feels like he needs it, but not so far as to be ignoring him entirely.

"I've never actually had anyone find out by accident like this before."

"I - yeah." Okay, Stiles. Your boyfriend is Spider-Man and he's wearing an extremely tight costume and you're going to be very cool about this because you do actually have to have a serious conversation. "Yeah, we should. Do you want to, like, take turns asking questions, or....? Like, how did this even happen?"

And is Peter still 100% certain he's not a werespider? He could be.

"Taking turns probably makes the most sense, yeah..." Peter rubs a hand through his messy hair, then slides it back to brush his fingers over the phantom itch on the back of his neck where the spider had bitten him, those years ago.

"I was bitten by a genetically-modified spider." He makes a face. "Which, now that I say it out loud, definitely isn't helping my 'I'm totally not a werespider' case..."

"It kinda doesn't? But like. If you ever want to test that, we can. Cause you wouldn't be able to cross the mountain ash line like I set up earlier. Genetically modified how?"

Okay, so technically it might not have been his turn for a question, but Peter didn't ask one, so.

Peter didn't ask a question, no, and that's on him, so as far as he's concerned, Stiles is in the right to ask him to elaborate further. And to be honest, Stiles' whole deal is so baffling to him, be doesn't really know where he would even start with questions, so it's probably for the best he lets Stiles take the lead for now.

"It was an experiment in cross-species genetics. Mixing spider DNA with human DNA, to try to find ways to give people some of the enhanced abilities that spiders have. Oscorp did similar experiments with lizards, too, which, uh. Led to the last giant lizard person I fought, actually."

Ok. His turn for a question.

"How does the mountain ash thing work, exactly? Like, it doesn't make any sense."

Well, that's... totally beyond anything Stiles could probably hope to understand, even if it sounds like the plot a really awesome scifi B movie. Attack of the Giant Lizard Men? Gene Splicers From Planet Nine?

"It's, uh - I mean, it's magic? That sounds like a cop-out, but it's literally druidic magic. It's not just the ash, it's also belief that the ash works? You're probably gonna hate this because it doesn't make scientific sense but, yeah, it just... works. Like, the first time I used it, I had to put a ring of it around an entire building and I realized I didn't have enough, and I just sort of believed it would work and it did."

...Well.

"You're right, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever." But he's not going to go so far as to say he hates it, per se, because it's clear it's protected Stiles before, and... well. He isn't about to badmouth anything that's saved his boyfriend's life.

"Okay... Your turn. What's your next question?"

"Why, uh. Why the suit? And the crimefighting?" It's not that he doesn't get it, he guesses. Like, they screwed up pretty badly in Beacon Hills sometimes but they also tried to help people, but this is a whole... Aesthetic(TM). Plus, he wants to know what Peter's answer is.

Peter bites his lip, fidgeting slightly as he tries to figure out how to put what has become his life's mission into words.

"It's something my uncle said, before he died. About how if you can do good things for other people, you have a responsibility to do those things." He takes a deep breath, shoulders raising then falling. "My uncle died trying to do a good thing. Something I could have done, but I didn't. I guess I fight crime for him. So that something like that doesn't happen again."

He looks down at the mask in his hands, still-gloved thumbs rubbing over the fabric.

"I wear the suit first because it inspires people. It's become more than just a guy in a suit. Spider-Man is a symbol, one that people need to see and believe in, I guess. But the second reason is so that the people close to me don't get hurt."

But... That has a tendency to happen anyway.

At the mention of dead family, Stiles just kind of automatically reaches his hand out for Peter, squeezing it absently. They haven't exactly had a ton of in-depth conversations about their respective parental situations, but hey, Stiles is ready to be Supportive, even if it's only coming up briefly.

He's not sure what answer he expected, but he gets it, he thinks. He spent a good portion of his high school years mired in messes of the if we don't fix this, who will type. Though he might've just added make sure boyfriend isn't killing himself out of sense of responsibility to his list of Shit To Keep In Mind About Peter. "I guess that worked. Plus, you look pretty great in it. Even if that's not the important thing here."

Look. Peter's still wearing a skin-tight suit. Stiles is Doing his Best.

Peter looks down when Stiles grabs his hand, and forces a smile back onto his face. He slides off of the armrest of the couch, closing the distance between them a bit.

"I dunno. It could be the important thing. If you want it to be."

Okay, so this is definitely not the right time for seriously exploring the whole boyfriend in a skintight Spider-Man suit thing, but Stiles allows himself a few seconds to at least think about it before being responsible.

"Your turn for a question."

Honestly, Peter can't think of many more questions he wants to ask about the whole werewolf-magic-not-scientifically-possible business, because the more he hears 'it just works because you believe in it' the more he's going to get a headache.

So he just sort of raises his shoulders and gives Stiles a sheepish smile.

"Are you mad at me for lying to you?"

"Not really? I mean, I was lying to you about the existence of the supernatural and like, how big that is in my life. I mean, I was going to tell you eventually cause not to be presumptuous but if you ever wanted to see me with my shirt off then there were gonna be some hard-to-answer questions."

That's a normal, not-concerning thing to say, right? "Were you... ever thinking of telling me at some point?"

Peter's eyebrows raise in concern. "You know you can't say something like that and expect me to let it go, right?"

But fine. He'll answer Stiles' question first, even if he does feel a little guilty about what the answer is going to be.

"Actually... I hadn't really been planning to." He takes a deep breath, shaking his head and looking down at his hands again, still holding the mask. "Whenever I told the people I cared about in the past... It didn't go well for them."

"I, uh. I've got this scar on my shoulder, from a wendigo bite. The way it looks, it's kind of hard to explain within the bounds of... the natural world."

Seeing as how there's not a ton of creatures your average human could get bitten by that have a perfectly circular teeth formation.

As for Peter's answer, that's... well. Not great. He'd kind of been hoping that Peter was planning to tell him at some point down the line because that is a huge thing to keep secret in perpetuity, but he guesses he still can't be super mad about it because he was pretty much planning to keep the supernatural from his dad for as long as possible until his hand was forced.

He sighs. "Okay, not gonna lie, that's not... great. What's happened before?"

He wants to ask more about this scar, but figures it's probably better to get his own answers out of the way first. Plus, he realizes that he isn't coming off in the best light here, and pressuring Stiles to share new parts of his body is crossing a line that he doesn't want to cross right now.

"I told you about Gwen, right? My old girlfriend." Even now, after all this time, it's hard to talk about her, but he presses on because he owes Stiles this explanation. "She was the first person I told. Her, ah. Her dad was the chief of police, and he was very much anti-Spider-Man. He came around eventually, but... He died helping me, and the last thing he asked from me was to keep Gwen out of it, because he knew how dangerous it is, living the life that I do. I tried to honor his wishes, but... Gwen hated me for turning her away. And so I just... gave in, because I loved her and I didn't want to keep this part of my life from her."

He swallows hard, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat.

"But all that did was get her killed, too. Killed by my best friend, who I also couldn't save."

He scrubs a hand over his face and finally turns to look at Stiles again, a pleading look in his eyes.

"I know that 'I was lying to you to try to protect you' is the worst excuse, but... I just don't want anyone else I love to get hurt."

......Has he used the L-word with Stiles yet? Welp. It's out there now.

God, that was a lot. Okay. Stiles needs a second, because on top of everything else, Peter just dropped the love word, and there's just way too much to process. He ends up going quiet for a moment, looking down at his hands and counting fingers til he gets to ten because even though he doesn't genuinely think this is a dream, it's still kind of soothing to do. Reassuring.

"I refused to tell my dad about the supernatural for the longest time," he says eventually, his voice soft. "I was terrified of losing him, after my mom died. And I thought if he didn't know, then he could be kept away from it. But it didn't really work, because dangerous stuff existed whether he knew about it or not and I guess he was always going to get caught up in it eventually." He looks back up at Peter, his eyes just... tired. He tries not to think about or talk about this stuff too much, especially since he moved, but it's kind of obvious right now in his face that there's a lot of trauma weighing on him. "So I guess I get that. I don't like it, and I don't think it really works, but... I guess I get it."

Peter nods, completely understanding the way Stiles must feel. He's tried to keep May out of it all for the same reasons, because she's lost enough and he couldn't bear to cause her any more pain. But Stiles is right. The dangerous stuff exists whether or not someone knows about it.

"I'm sorry," is all he can say, looking back down at his hands again. "I know that saying 'I'm sorry' only amounts for so much, but... For whatever it's worth, I am."

"Yeah."

For all that Stiles can get energetic to the point of being annoying, there's certain topics of conversation that tend to drain him and leave him feeling empty. This is one of them, he guesses, and he might need a moment to recharge, so he goes quiet for now. He can't remember whose turn it is to ask a question, anyway.

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starter for threeterparker

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shows up 19 days late with starbucks

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