[Meanwhile Patrick looks totally chill and not at all ominously intentional about his weird test of power he just did (yeah, you better keep that mental note, buddy). He just shrugs casually and holds the door open for Pete with his (spider)butt. The greenhouse is empty, so nobody's gonna hear anything about ye ol' secret identity.]
Hey, hey, it's cool; you've got plenty of time to work on your muscles. Gym, football, maybe some track and field... [As Lil' Pete dumps the pile of wood on the big ol' stack in the back, Patrick tosses his nonchalantly on the ground next to the table, near the front door, which he kicks casually closed with a foot.] Or are those all activities you avoid doing because of your powers... Spider-Man?
[He may or may not had a nasally tone to it, like a generic comic book villain.
... What? C'mon, he's always wanted to be the one to say it like that, after all these years.]
Whatever Peter had been doing previously no longer matters. His entire body freezes, and yeah, okay, he rapidly tries to think back on any time during his brief meetings with this guy when he might have let slip his secret identity. He'd told Bucky he'd be more careful about it, he really did - and he gets why he's supposed to be. People could hurt his aunt, they could hurt Ned, his friends ... his school. He swallows and slow-turns to look in Big Pete's direction, his body soul-less and numb. ]
Uh - whahahahat? [ There's a nervous laugh if there ever was one. He frowns, fingers slowly reaching for his webshooters. You know, just in case this guy is actually a total nutjob and wants to kill him.
And he seemed so friendly, too! Ugh! ] What'd you just say?
[God, that nervous laugh is like listening to a pitchier version of himself when Mary Jane asks if he's actually paid his rent yet.
But excellent, hazing is complete. Now he can drop the spooky (not remotely cool) villain tone and pat his hands off on his pants, because gross, wood chips. Despite this sudden revelation, this weirdo is still just as pleasant and friendly in tone as he was before.
At the fingers twitching, he holds his hands up in surrender.]
Hey, don't you go getting spooked and webbing me up; you sense any danger here, dude?
Besides, you totally started this when you gave away our identity here, not me.
[ Peter is still reeling from this, honestly. It's like his thoughts and his brain just aren't syncing and he's panicking a little, and also his fight/flight mechanism is going haywire, and - okay, fine, no, his spider-sense isn't going off but that doesn't mean a whole lot in Deerington. A lot of things don't make sense and seem completely pleasant until they try to attack you or kill you or eat you or psychologically torture you, and he isn't about to rule anything out just yet. ]
How do you know - how are you - what do you mean by 'our', man? What is this?
[Oh, yep, there's the short-circuiting. He winces.]
Don't go having an aneurysm on me. Then I'll get crucified for freaking out Spider-Man Jr. to death. [... Actually, he didn't think this far ahead on the whole 'explanation' thing. But is there really any way to explain it without sounding like a psychopath? He figures that at the very least, if Bucky was aware of it, this kid'll either be aware or (if he's a science nerd to the extreme like Peter suspects he is) he'll accept it over time.
He holds out a hand for a handshake???
Please don't web me????]
Name's actually Peter, and I'm definitely not from California; I was just messing with you earlier.
Wait, did he just say - ] I don't know how I feel about alternate universes. [ It's an honest answer, given with an honest ogling stare at Patrick's - no, Peter? Did he just say Peter? (He has a very bad feeling about this) - hand and no other movement aside from that. ] I mean, I've read theories, seen like, movies about them. There's a guy here who looks exactly like I do, but he's not me. That's as alternate as it gets for me right now.
[ There's a funny pit in his stomach, like maybe he's about to be a little sick, but he holds himself with a fair amount of superheroic stoicism and waits for confirmation of what he thinks he already knows this guy is about to spell out for him. ]
[He drops his hands to his sides, sighing through his nose. Woooo boy.
(Hey Pete, maybe you shouldn't have poked fun at the kid, he looks pretty freaked.)
(Please don't faint????)
(Seriously though don't throw up in the greenhouse, they grow food here.)]
Yeaaah, well... About that... I introduced myself to your pal, Bucky? And he knew right away that I was Spider-Man. Probably has to do with the fact that I let him know my name's Peter Parker, too. And I'm, uh. I'm Spider-Man! [Wags hands at his sides, like it's confetti time, only it's absolutely not.] Just... older. With a different face and voice.
[... And not any taller than this Peter. As is Parker luck.]
Whoa. [ It comes out a little more like an exhale, soft and shocked and surprised yet unsurprised all at once. He probably needs to sit down, but barring any seats in this greenhouse, he's just going to stand and hope his legs don't give out beneath him, because this is a lot. ]
How are there two of us? [ No, no, that's - they'd already covered that. Peter shakes his head and mumbles: ] Oh, right. Yeah. Alternate universes. [ And then he makes an attempt to gather this information and sort it out.
You know, logically. ]
So, like. Does that mean wherever you're from, you already did the stuff that I did and I'm about to do? How much of a difference is there? Is it mostly a temporal thing or - like. I dunno.
[ Yeah, they do look and sound different, but their names are the same. ]
[... Ah. He kind of expected this question, so it at least doesn't completely blindside him with aches and pangs that are visible from space. Besides, if he pretends she's not gone, then she's not, right? Perfect logic, right there.]
Yeah, I do. Our parents died when we were pretty young, and May and Ben took care of us after that.
[We, because unless Lil Pete says differently, he's gonna just assume the origins are all the same. But hey, maybe there's a lot of inconsistencies; he has to admit, he's really curious about the differences.]
And it's hard to say. I've been Spider-Man for eight years now, so there's a lot I've done since I was your age. Things could be pretty similar — or they could be wildly different. I know for a fact you're a crazy-smart kid, so you can figure up the conjectures and theories about parallel timelines and universes.
[A pause.]
What villains have you fought, yet? Kingpin? Vulture? Mysterio?
[ There's your confirmation, Big Pete. He's still got his aunt May, at least, but the sting of uncle Ben's death is still raw enough that he has to force himself to go on and not dwell in that soup of guilt.
He hates the idea of any other person going through something like that, and he hates it even more that this might be something they have in common. Losing their parents, losing their uncle ...
Oh.
Right.
Peter forces himself to tune back into the rest of it, marveling at the idea of being Spider-Man for almost a decade (that's so cool!). He shakes his head at the mention of Kingpin, but - ]
Vulture!
[ Yep. That one definitely rings a bell. ]
I've fought him, definitely, but I don't know the other guys. I guess they might show up in my future if I ever wake up from here.
[He huffs a laugh at that. Good ol' Toomes. Making all kinds of messes, all across the universe. That old geezer really needs to have better hobbies than torment a teenaged superhero, but you know how it goes.]
Hopefully they don't give you too much trouble. They're all a raging pain in the butt. Lucky for you, I happen to have it on good authority that we can take 'em in a fight. [Not always without getting beat to hell, but he's not about to tell the kid that; he's gonna do this no matter what, and Big Pete knows from experiencing it firsthand. Especially when MJ fretted about him, asked him if he should keep doing it; there was no question, at the time.
Now he doubts, sure, but it... took a while. And he's gonna keep going now.
... Especially after all his research turned into literal villainy.]
If there's anything you wanna ask, I'm 90% sure I'll answer honestly, if you want.
That's awesome. [ Knowing that they can take any of those colourfully-named villains down in a fight. There are days when Peter still wonders whether he's got the strength for it or whether he's capable of doing this whole spider-gig on his own, without Tony Stark and the Avengers to give him a little back-up. But he'd made his choice not too long ago, and he sticks by it.
His last encounter with the Vulture proved that a fancy suit and some advanced tech were helpful but not at all the key to being Spider-Man, and that's a lesson he won't soon forget. ]
2018. Why? What about you? [ And is the answer going to break his brain a little? ]
[Aha. Now this is where the brain-breaking comes in. Yeesh.]
... 2018, same as you. October 2018, actually. Kind of perfectly lined up with coming here, actually. Which is luck I didn't think I'd get, but I'll take it. [He bites his lip, testing the waters very damn carefully.] Aaaand I'm guessing Devil's Breath doesn't ring any bells, either.
[I mean, Peter would never turn down a plate of Deviled eggs.]
... Not necessarily.
[He chews on his nail, thoughtful.]
I mean... we still have things that are similar enough. If anything... the differences in our years might account for some of the reasons we're not quite the same — not all the reasons, but some of them. Like... the Avengers weren't a thing when I started. There wasn't really a big boom in superheroes until a little later on, after I'd already been around a while saving old ladies from muggers.
And some of the things that happened to me from 2013 and could happen to you in 2019, just in a different time period. Or it might not happen at all, because you've got a bunch of wildly different elements affecting how you evolve—
Bottom line is, don't let it bother you too much, because it'll just make your head hurt.
[ Peter lets out a loud exhale, but he nods anyway because Big Pete's advice is pretty good advice.
He's taking advice from himself.
Yeah.
That's a thing. ]
One last brain-breaky question. [ And then he'll have like, 600 other different questions to start on. ] Do you think this kinda thing is possible outside of this dreamscape? Like, back in our own worlds - do you think maybe you or me might one day meet some kind of alternate version of ourselves?
[He hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Gwen and learning about her weird multiverse battling yet, but he's a pretty open-minded person. This kind of thing, it seems pretty on par the course. If people like the Avengers can exist? Gods, super soldiers, and magic? Then he has to believe that everything else follows somewhere, sometime.]
So maybe we might! I mean, I'm more worried we'd meet because of bad circumstances, so maybe it's better than we don't — but I'm definitely up for vacationing around universes for the heck of it.
[He smiles, leaning against the lip of the table behind him.]
We can hang out at Coney Island, maybe buy some hot dogs.
I've been banned from the rope ladder there a couple years ago, but I bet we're not in your world.
[He's pretty sure Peter has prooobably not gone super often, because they never were that well-off with cash even with Ben working to excuse spending 120 bucks on tickets alone, but they've had their rare day of fun.]
Yeah. I mean, if it's possible? It'd be cool to ... you know, know someone who's got experience with the whole spidering thing.
[ Mr Stark's the best, and a great albeit an unconventional mentor, but it's different when it's a guy who's basically you, but from the future, and he's got the whole Spider-Man thing down. He'll have answers for all the weird spider-specific questions he's got.
This is so weird, but he can see the exciting part of this too. ]
Man, the last time I was at Coney Island ... things got kinda ... you know. [ Thwip thwip!
Toomes. He was one of the first villains I ever dealt with, yeah. You might want to keep an eye on that guy — he has a habit of breaking out of prison and causing more trouble.
[He considers Peter for a moment, thoughtful.]
I bet it was pretty scary, huh? You deal with criminals on that level before then?
He thinks of the videos on YouTube, all the petty criminals, thieves - the regular bad dudes in the city. He thinks of being recruited by Iron Man to help calm down some of the Avengers, but none of it is the same.
Nothing was quite like his first battle with Mr Toomes. ]
No - no, he was the first real bad dude I've ever fought. Probably not gonna be the last either, huh?
[ Not the kind of city they live in.
It's okay, though.
He's not sure he's ready to stop being Spider-Man. ]
Thanks for the tip, though. I mean ... did you have to fight him again?
[He huffs a laugh, a sympathetic furrow in his brow.]
... I've lost exact count, but yeah, I had to.
It gets easier to manage, though — and that's over a couple years.
[He considers the boy for a moment. It's funny — he doesn't feel like he looked this young, when he started. God, he's getting old! 23-years-old and suddenly high schoolers look like kids to protect.]
If you ever need to talk about any of it, or you ever have any questions... I figure I'd be a pretty good ear. [A pause, and a laugh.] Also, sorry for scaring you earlier; I just couldn't help myself.
What? Nah. [ Peter looks very nearly taken aback, making an attempt to play it cool, like what? Him? Not him.
Even if he absolutely totally was freaked out by the initial revelation. ] I wasn't scared. But don't blame me if I start calling you Patrick from now on - you - you brought that one on yourself.
[ He grins for a moment, totally teasing, before his expression sobers and he nods, averting his gaze to the tops of his shoes.
It's a funnily contradictory thought to have, considering he was just making up his own mind about the longevity of his superhero career, but: ]
Yeah. Does it ever sometimes get to be too much? Being Spider-Man? Or do you think you'll do it for however long you can?
[But as he listens to Peter, his expression relaxing into something a little more thoughtful, perhaps even somber. What should he even say? He doesn't want to be dishonest — that's not fair to the kid. And he wouldn't have wanted anyone to sugar-coat things either, if he were still fifteen.]
... Sometimes. I've had times where I've considered hanging up the outfit, too. Sometimes you do get tired of it — for a number of reasons. [He clears his throat.] We're not the same exact person, obviously, so I can't say how you'll feel about it in eight years; I still love the city, and I love helping people, and no matter how things turn out...
Well.
We're both pretty smart. We could figure out a way to keep people safe and happy in our own ways, even if we don't always want to be Spider-Man. [He smiles.] So if there's a point down the line where you feel like you can help the world in another way, that'll make you happy? Take it, kid. I promise you won't be letting anyone down by doing it.
And, y'know. Until that day comes, if it ever does... You're doing amazing things now.
Wow. [ Peter looks a little surprised, but mostly he's giving his alt-self a grateful nod, taking his advice to heart.
Because who else would know the exact right thing to say, but -- well, himself? Right? ] Is it weird to say you're like, really good at giving pep talks? Does that mean I might be good at giving pep talks one day?
[ Mr Stark's version of them could use a hell of a lot of work, after all. ]
Um. Thanks, man. I guess I didn't know I needed to hear that, but. I think a part of me did.
[Geez, it's hard to believe he was bright-eyed and youthful. Cut that out, you. Or don't, because Pete's relieved to see it than the alternative. But also — hey, being called awesome? Is kinda awesome. But also kind of leaves him feeling modest and weird. After all, he doesn't really think he's that great at the moment. Life's been rough, buddy, and he can only pray you have it easier than him eight years from now.]
Oooh yeah. You're, like, Level 1 of pep talks and puns. Just give yourself some time, and you'll probably snore them in your sleep. Buuut that's something you can work on. Until then, we just need to survive this place and get back to usual business.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Hey, hey, it's cool; you've got plenty of time to work on your muscles. Gym, football, maybe some track and field... [As Lil' Pete dumps the pile of wood on the big ol' stack in the back, Patrick tosses his nonchalantly on the ground next to the table, near the front door, which he kicks casually closed with a foot.] Or are those all activities you avoid doing because of your powers... Spider-Man?
[He may or may not had a nasally tone to it, like a generic comic book villain.
... What? C'mon, he's always wanted to be the one to say it like that, after all these years.]
no subject
No.
No no no nononono no .... no. That can't - no.
Whatever Peter had been doing previously no longer matters. His entire body freezes, and yeah, okay, he rapidly tries to think back on any time during his brief meetings with this guy when he might have let slip his secret identity. He'd told Bucky he'd be more careful about it, he really did - and he gets why he's supposed to be. People could hurt his aunt, they could hurt Ned, his friends ... his school. He swallows and slow-turns to look in Big Pete's direction, his body soul-less and numb. ]
Uh - whahahahat? [ There's a nervous laugh if there ever was one. He frowns, fingers slowly reaching for his webshooters. You know, just in case this guy is actually a total nutjob and wants to kill him.
And he seemed so friendly, too! Ugh! ] What'd you just say?
no subject
But excellent, hazing is complete. Now he can drop the spooky (not remotely cool) villain tone and pat his hands off on his pants, because gross, wood chips. Despite this sudden revelation, this weirdo is still just as pleasant and friendly in tone as he was before.
At the fingers twitching, he holds his hands up in surrender.]
Hey, don't you go getting spooked and webbing me up; you sense any danger here, dude?
Besides, you totally started this when you gave away our identity here, not me.
no subject
[ Peter is still reeling from this, honestly. It's like his thoughts and his brain just aren't syncing and he's panicking a little, and also his fight/flight mechanism is going haywire, and - okay, fine, no, his spider-sense isn't going off but that doesn't mean a whole lot in Deerington. A lot of things don't make sense and seem completely pleasant until they try to attack you or kill you or eat you or psychologically torture you, and he isn't about to rule anything out just yet. ]
How do you know - how are you - what do you mean by 'our', man? What is this?
[ If this is a trick, he s w e a r s!!! ]
no subject
Don't go having an aneurysm on me. Then I'll get crucified for freaking out Spider-Man Jr. to death. [... Actually, he didn't think this far ahead on the whole 'explanation' thing. But is there really any way to explain it without sounding like a psychopath? He figures that at the very least, if Bucky was aware of it, this kid'll either be aware or (if he's a science nerd to the extreme like Peter suspects he is) he'll accept it over time.
He holds out a hand for a handshake???
Please don't web me????]
Name's actually Peter, and I'm definitely not from California; I was just messing with you earlier.
Hooooow do you feel about alternate universes?
no subject
[ That would imply ...
... no.
Wait, did he just say - ] I don't know how I feel about alternate universes. [ It's an honest answer, given with an honest ogling stare at Patrick's - no, Peter? Did he just say Peter? (He has a very bad feeling about this) - hand and no other movement aside from that. ] I mean, I've read theories, seen like, movies about them. There's a guy here who looks exactly like I do, but he's not me. That's as alternate as it gets for me right now.
[ There's a funny pit in his stomach, like maybe he's about to be a little sick, but he holds himself with a fair amount of superheroic stoicism and waits for confirmation of what he thinks he already knows this guy is about to spell out for him. ]
no subject
(Hey Pete, maybe you shouldn't have poked fun at the kid, he looks pretty freaked.)
(Please don't faint????)
(Seriously though don't throw up in the greenhouse, they grow food here.)]
Yeaaah, well... About that... I introduced myself to your pal, Bucky? And he knew right away that I was Spider-Man. Probably has to do with the fact that I let him know my name's Peter Parker, too. And I'm, uh. I'm Spider-Man! [Wags hands at his sides, like it's confetti time, only it's absolutely not.] Just... older. With a different face and voice.
[... And not any taller than this Peter. As is Parker luck.]
... Pretty similar fashion sense, though.
[Bet you had glasses before the bite, too.]
no subject
How are there two of us? [ No, no, that's - they'd already covered that. Peter shakes his head and mumbles: ] Oh, right. Yeah. Alternate universes. [ And then he makes an attempt to gather this information and sort it out.
You know, logically. ]
So, like. Does that mean wherever you're from, you already did the stuff that I did and I'm about to do? How much of a difference is there? Is it mostly a temporal thing or - like. I dunno.
[ Yeah, they do look and sound different, but their names are the same. ]
Do you have an aunt May and an uncle Ben too?
no subject
Yeah, I do. Our parents died when we were pretty young, and May and Ben took care of us after that.
[We, because unless Lil Pete says differently, he's gonna just assume the origins are all the same. But hey, maybe there's a lot of inconsistencies; he has to admit, he's really curious about the differences.]
And it's hard to say. I've been Spider-Man for eight years now, so there's a lot I've done since I was your age. Things could be pretty similar — or they could be wildly different. I know for a fact you're a crazy-smart kid, so you can figure up the conjectures and theories about parallel timelines and universes.
[A pause.]
What villains have you fought, yet? Kingpin? Vulture? Mysterio?
Any of those ringing bells?
no subject
Yeah. That's what happened to me too.
[ There's your confirmation, Big Pete. He's still got his aunt May, at least, but the sting of uncle Ben's death is still raw enough that he has to force himself to go on and not dwell in that soup of guilt.
He hates the idea of any other person going through something like that, and he hates it even more that this might be something they have in common. Losing their parents, losing their uncle ...
Oh.
Right.
Peter forces himself to tune back into the rest of it, marveling at the idea of being Spider-Man for almost a decade (that's so cool!). He shakes his head at the mention of Kingpin, but - ]
Vulture!
[ Yep. That one definitely rings a bell. ]
I've fought him, definitely, but I don't know the other guys. I guess they might show up in my future if I ever wake up from here.
no subject
Hopefully they don't give you too much trouble. They're all a raging pain in the butt. Lucky for you, I happen to have it on good authority that we can take 'em in a fight. [Not always without getting beat to hell, but he's not about to tell the kid that; he's gonna do this no matter what, and Big Pete knows from experiencing it firsthand. Especially when MJ fretted about him, asked him if he should keep doing it; there was no question, at the time.
Now he doubts, sure, but it... took a while. And he's gonna keep going now.
... Especially after all his research turned into literal villainy.]
If there's anything you wanna ask, I'm 90% sure I'll answer honestly, if you want.
But first, I gotta ask, to clarify:
What year are you from?
no subject
His last encounter with the Vulture proved that a fancy suit and some advanced tech were helpful but not at all the key to being Spider-Man, and that's a lesson he won't soon forget. ]
2018. Why? What about you? [ And is the answer going to break his brain a little? ]
no subject
... 2018, same as you. October 2018, actually. Kind of perfectly lined up with coming here, actually. Which is luck I didn't think I'd get, but I'll take it. [He bites his lip, testing the waters very damn carefully.] Aaaand I'm guessing Devil's Breath doesn't ring any bells, either.
no subject
No ... [ Devil's Breath? Whatever that is, it definitely doesn't sound good. Nothing can be good if there's 'Devil' in front of it.
Except maybe 'eggs'. ] ... and it kinda ruins the whole 'maybe you're from an alternate future' thing if we're from the same year.
no subject
... Not necessarily.
[He chews on his nail, thoughtful.]
I mean... we still have things that are similar enough. If anything... the differences in our years might account for some of the reasons we're not quite the same — not all the reasons, but some of them. Like... the Avengers weren't a thing when I started. There wasn't really a big boom in superheroes until a little later on, after I'd already been around a while saving old ladies from muggers.
And some of the things that happened to me from 2013 and could happen to you in 2019, just in a different time period. Or it might not happen at all, because you've got a bunch of wildly different elements affecting how you evolve—
Bottom line is, don't let it bother you too much, because it'll just make your head hurt.
no subject
He's taking advice from himself.
Yeah.
That's a thing. ]
One last brain-breaky question. [ And then he'll have like, 600 other different questions to start on. ] Do you think this kinda thing is possible outside of this dreamscape? Like, back in our own worlds - do you think maybe you or me might one day meet some kind of alternate version of ourselves?
Or maybe we might meet?
no subject
[He hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Gwen and learning about her weird multiverse battling yet, but he's a pretty open-minded person. This kind of thing, it seems pretty on par the course. If people like the Avengers can exist? Gods, super soldiers, and magic? Then he has to believe that everything else follows somewhere, sometime.]
So maybe we might! I mean, I'm more worried we'd meet because of bad circumstances, so maybe it's better than we don't — but I'm definitely up for vacationing around universes for the heck of it.
[He smiles, leaning against the lip of the table behind him.]
We can hang out at Coney Island, maybe buy some hot dogs.
I've been banned from the rope ladder there a couple years ago, but I bet we're not in your world.
[He's pretty sure Peter has prooobably not gone super often, because they never were that well-off with cash even with Ben working to excuse spending 120 bucks on tickets alone, but they've had their rare day of fun.]
sorry this is 84 years old
[ Mr Stark's the best, and a great albeit an unconventional mentor, but it's different when it's a guy who's basically you, but from the future, and he's got the whole Spider-Man thing down. He'll have answers for all the weird spider-specific questions he's got.
This is so weird, but he can see the exciting part of this too. ]
Man, the last time I was at Coney Island ... things got kinda ... you know. [ Thwip thwip!
He shrugs. ]
It's where I stopped - uh. The Vulture.
no subject
Toomes. He was one of the first villains I ever dealt with, yeah. You might want to keep an eye on that guy — he has a habit of breaking out of prison and causing more trouble.
[He considers Peter for a moment, thoughtful.]
I bet it was pretty scary, huh? You deal with criminals on that level before then?
no subject
He thinks of the videos on YouTube, all the petty criminals, thieves - the regular bad dudes in the city. He thinks of being recruited by Iron Man to help calm down some of the Avengers, but none of it is the same.
Nothing was quite like his first battle with Mr Toomes. ]
No - no, he was the first real bad dude I've ever fought. Probably not gonna be the last either, huh?
[ Not the kind of city they live in.
It's okay, though.
He's not sure he's ready to stop being Spider-Man. ]
Thanks for the tip, though. I mean ... did you have to fight him again?
no subject
... I've lost exact count, but yeah, I had to.
It gets easier to manage, though — and that's over a couple years.
[He considers the boy for a moment. It's funny — he doesn't feel like he looked this young, when he started. God, he's getting old! 23-years-old and suddenly high schoolers look like kids to protect.]
If you ever need to talk about any of it, or you ever have any questions... I figure I'd be a pretty good ear. [A pause, and a laugh.] Also, sorry for scaring you earlier; I just couldn't help myself.
no subject
Even if he absolutely totally was freaked out by the initial revelation. ] I wasn't scared. But don't blame me if I start calling you Patrick from now on - you - you brought that one on yourself.
[ He grins for a moment, totally teasing, before his expression sobers and he nods, averting his gaze to the tops of his shoes.
It's a funnily contradictory thought to have, considering he was just making up his own mind about the longevity of his superhero career, but: ]
Yeah. Does it ever sometimes get to be too much? Being Spider-Man? Or do you think you'll do it for however long you can?
no subject
Patrick's not the worst nickname ever.
[But as he listens to Peter, his expression relaxing into something a little more thoughtful, perhaps even somber. What should he even say? He doesn't want to be dishonest — that's not fair to the kid. And he wouldn't have wanted anyone to sugar-coat things either, if he were still fifteen.]
... Sometimes. I've had times where I've considered hanging up the outfit, too. Sometimes you do get tired of it — for a number of reasons. [He clears his throat.] We're not the same exact person, obviously, so I can't say how you'll feel about it in eight years; I still love the city, and I love helping people, and no matter how things turn out...
Well.
We're both pretty smart. We could figure out a way to keep people safe and happy in our own ways, even if we don't always want to be Spider-Man. [He smiles.] So if there's a point down the line where you feel like you can help the world in another way, that'll make you happy? Take it, kid. I promise you won't be letting anyone down by doing it.
And, y'know. Until that day comes, if it ever does... You're doing amazing things now.
no subject
Because who else would know the exact right thing to say, but -- well, himself? Right? ] Is it weird to say you're like, really good at giving pep talks? Does that mean I might be good at giving pep talks one day?
[ Mr Stark's version of them could use a hell of a lot of work, after all. ]
Um. Thanks, man. I guess I didn't know I needed to hear that, but. I think a part of me did.
You're kind of awesome.
no subject
Oooh yeah. You're, like, Level 1 of pep talks and puns. Just give yourself some time, and you'll probably snore them in your sleep. Buuut that's something you can work on. Until then, we just need to survive this place and get back to usual business.
[He holds up a fist for a fistbump, smirking.]
Spider Team?
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