Peter Parker (idontfeelsogood) wrote in snapthread, @ 2019-03-14 20:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | dick grayson, peter parker (mcu) |
WHO: Dick and Peter
WHAT: Working some things out
WHERE: Their place
WHEN: Afternoon, March 13th
RATING: Low
“So, uh, you think everything is like, okay?” Peter asked, hanging upside down from the ceiling in the bedroom. He was sitting cross-legged on the ceiling, carefully taking the light fixture apart.
Since their last adventure Peter had taken it upon himself to fix up the place where it needed it, thankfully there wasn’t much to do as like the world they had been to most recently, it seemed like the last owners of the house had just walked out one day and not returned. Once the power was going again they’d managed to be largely comfortable.
At least until a fuse blew and Peter tracked it down to one of the ceiling lights.
He’d gotten to work on it right away and Dick was kind enough to hand him up the tools he asked for. “Phillips head, please.”
---
Dick handed up the screwdriver, working on the fruit experiment burrito he’d made for himself. “In what sense?” he asked.
---
“Thanks.” He said, taking the screwdriver. “Us, I guess. I mean, I don’t know what I expected, maybe he’s just being nice online because he doesn’t know what you look like or much about you yet, but I kinda expected him to get upset about the whole twenty-five-year-old living with a seventeen-year-old.”
Peter had only recently learned that he was actually seventeen, though he wasn’t sure if that should count as time passing since he’d been dead for it.
“He’s not my dad, you know? I guess he really doesn’t act like it much either, but he does kinda look out for me.” Peter said, holding out his hand so Dick could take the screws.
---
“You and me? I have no issue with us. Like I said, he reminds me of Bruce. Bruce, I can handle.” He took the screws.
“He acts like your dad the same way Bruce acts like mine. A bit on the over-protective side and kinda on the under nurturing one. Nothing wrong with it. Just how they are.”
---
“Yeah, but like, I don’t know. I guess I expected some pushback or something.” Peter admitted, pulling off the base so he could get a look at the wiring. “Isn’t that what always happens in a shovel talk, especially if one of the people is on the younger side?”
Peter shrugged as he worked, “I mean, I guess it isn’t like we’re making out in public or anything. Maybe he’s just giving me some room to breathe.”
----
“He’s rich and brilliant, right? He doesn’t need to threaten with words where you can see it. He can make his stance perfectly clear in other ways.” He looked up at Peter. “Want a bite?”
---
“You don’t know Mr. Stark. He, well, he’s the talking type. If he doesn’t like something or whatever, you know about it. Like when I mentioned you, I could tell something was up, that he was worried about me.” He said, glancing down at the burrito.
He should have said no and let Dick have his fruit but he had to admit it did look good. One bite wouldn’t hurt and he could go fix one himself if he got really hungry. He got up a little, leaning down to take a bite when Dick offered it up. After chewing a bit he gave a hum of approval before sitting back down again.
“I- I died in his arms, you know? Watched how helpless and frightened he felt. I know he beat himself up over it after even though it wasn’t his fault. I don’t want him to worry or feel guilty or anything. And I don’t want him trying to convince himself he’s okay by trying to pretend he isn’t worried about what I’m up to.”
---
Sounded an awful lot like Bruce after Jason died, but there wasn’t point in arguing with Peter about this. Dick knew what was up. “Are we a thing then?” he asked, looking up at Peter on the ceiling fixing the lights, still amazed all the blood didn’t rush to his head like that.
---
Peter held out the screwdriver for him to take. “Something is up with the ground wire. Something is wrong with the connector cap, my guess is that the wires are a little loose since the caps look melted a little. Uh, can you check in the toolbox for more? They look like marker caps.”
He was not buying himself time, he swore.
“Uhm, we keep kissing and cuddling and all that. We’d be a thing back home if we did that, guess there’s no reason to say we aren’t a thing.” He looked to Dick, “Not reluctant to say it because of you, just worried that we might all disappear or something and I might not see you again.”
---
He grabbed some caps for him and handed them back up. “Don’t focus on the what-ifs,” he said, meeting those pretty brown eyes. “You’ll worry yourself into another grave. If we disappear, we disappear, but for now we can be a thing.”
---
“Are you yoloing me after me saying that I died once?” Peter asked, brow raised as he took the caps. “Dude, you’re the one who said to stop making you feel old. You’re doing it to yourself now.”
Jokes were easier than feelings, it was known.
He turned his eyes back to the wires and started pulling the old caps off. “But yeah, okay. We’re a thing.”
---
“Good, because the way you look at me when you wake up is definitely that of someone who wants this to be a thing.” He held out his hand for the old caps, perfectly happy to hand things to Peter and let him have all the distraction he wanted.
“You okay with kissing an old man so much?”
---
“Well, you’re hot.” Peter said the same way he often spouted off any other fact he learned. “And it’s only like, what, eight years?” He pulled off the old caps and handed them over, trying not to make a face. Eight years was an easier thing to ignore when there were handsome smiles and abs that went on forever.
“I can live with it.” He nodded to himself.
---
Dick took another bite of his fruitritto and smiled softly. “As long as you’re sure.”
---
Once he was at a point where he could stop and when Dick had his mouth clear, Peter stood up on the ceiling. He took Dick’s face in his hands and planted a kiss on his lips. Sure, it was a little awkward as he was upside down, but keeping it to a quick peck seemed to be the right way to go.
When that was done he returned to his work. “I’m sure.”
---
“So that’s what it’s like to be on the receiving end of one of those,” he said. “Good.” Peter was really handsome when he was working like that.
---
“You hang from things and kiss people a lot in Gotham? Cause, you know, I’ve not really tried that before but I can tell you it isn’t the best way to like make out or something.” He said, tightening the wires before putting the new caps on.
“Is that why you don’t have something over your mouth? Cause if you do any swinging or whatever around the city, I don’t know how you manage not to get bugs and stuff in your mouth. I accidentally swallowed a fly when I was working out my first suit. I think my soul died a little that day.”
---
“Acrobats’ baby,” he reminded Peter. “I learned how to swing and flip and everything else without a mask and had to fight with the big guy for way too long to get him to stop trying to put things on me that weren’t necessary.” He handed the screws and things back when it became obvious Peter needed them.
“You just gotta remember I go slower than you do and have sense enough to keep my mouth shut.”
---
“Yeah, but that was like inside, or inside a tent. It’s different when you’re running around and stuff.” He gave Dick a look. “And come on, dude, you know I don’t know how to keep my mouth shut.”
And he talked a lot more with his mask on. That probably meant something but he didn’t want to think too deeply about it.
---
“I’ve found a pretty good way to get you to stop talking for a while,” Dick teased. “How long do you think he’s gonna keep you on the short leash?”
---
“It’s not like that.” Peter said quickly, maybe sounding a little defensive of Tony. He regretted his tone right away and cleared his throat before he corrected himself. “I mean, he isn’t keeping me on a leash of any length. He’s just, you know, dealing with the whole me turning into dust in his arms thing.”
He couldn’t blame Tony either. He really couldn’t.
“He just wants me to hang around more. He said he might need my help with some things. We’ll go adventuring again, sometime.” He made sure the base was secure before handing back the screwdriver and nodding toward the light bulbs.
---
With a younger version of himself and two other Peters? It hardly seemed necessary to have this Peter around constantly, but he wasn’t about to make either of them feel bad for their trauma. It wouldn’t help anyone.
He handed Peter the bulbs. “And you’re still dealing with the whole turning to dust in his arms thing, yes,” he agreed.
---
“I’m not afraid.” He said, taking the bulbs and carefully screwing them in. “I- But maybe I do feel bad. I mean, I didn’t like face death nobly or whatever. I like cried and begged and he couldn’t do anything. And I don’t even know what I could have done to stop it, you know? I mean, my last words were ‘I’m sorry’, how does that not stick with him?”
He sighed, “Can you go turn the power back on?”
---
“I never said you were afraid. I said you were still dealing with it. The last thing you knew, you were crying and begging and then you were in my arms in a completely different place with no power or water or idea of where you were or who you were with. Even the most accomplished swinger would get whiplash from that.”
He went to go turn the power back on for him, lingering near the box in case he wanted it off again.
---
Peter understood what Dick was trying to say, he really did, but he’d used the word ‘swinger’ and then his mind went other places. He cleared his throat and went over to test the switch after the power came on. The light came on and now there was no hint of burning plastic in the air.
“It’s working!” He called before moving to put the light cover back on.
---
Dick shut the box and came back, fruitritto finished and flopped onto the bed in the loft to watch Peter work. “Look at you being handy,” he teased.
---
“Shop is my favorite class right now. Or it was.” He sighed, screwing the cover back on before he dropped back to the floor, landing on his feet.
“Physics nerd, you know? Used it as an excuse to build a lot of my stuff, before Mr. Stark gave me an upgrade.” Peter shrugged and moved to clean up the tools.
---
“Mmm,” he said. “No shortage of chances to build things here.”
---
“Yeah, figured I could help out Mr. Stark if he needs it. I mean, I’m not like a genius like he is, but I can be pretty handy sometimes.”
He got the tools back in the box and glanced up at Dick with a grin. “And I said handy not handsy, so don’t get too excited.”
---
“Oh you can be pretty handsy sometimes, just not with him,” Dick laughed.
---
“Only with food. You feel hands on you in the middle of the night or whenever, I promise it’s not me.” He chuckled softly before carrying the box off to the closet where they’d been keeping it.
---
“Does some part of you grow when you start lying, pretty boy?”
---
“My ears!” He called.
---
“Keep going like that and you’re going to be able to fly soon,” Dick called back.
---
“Dumbo Spider-Man.” Peter said to himself before coming back. “Dumbo Spider-Man, is that anything? I don’t know. I mean, I can like picture him in the outfit, and really a flying spider is terrifying, but like, I don’t know.”
---
“Spiderphant,” Dick said, extending a hand to Peter. “It’s getting late.”
---
Of course Peter came to take his hand, staying loose just in case Dick decided to pull him. “It’s not even seven yet. I’ve got like at least two more meals to eat before I sleep.”
He squeezed the older man’s hand, “Or are you trying to get me to cuddle until bedtime?”
---
“I was trying to weasel more kisses out of you, yes,” he said. “But if you wanna go eat instead…”
----
“I mean, I guess I could multitask.” He shrugged with a big smile. “But maybe we can kiss for a while and then take snack breaks?”
Peter would take a snack break, he found any excuse to take one most of the time. He was a growing boy, or so everybody said. “It’s better than trying to eat something off you. I’ve seen rom-coms, I know that never goes well.”
---
“Oh god, no. No, that’s always a terrible idea. No food play.” He gently tugged Peter closer, not trying to pull him down but definitely encouraging him to close the difference.
---
“No food play.” He said, letting that little tug unbalance him and cause him to flop onto Dick and the bed under him.
“Oof, you are not nearly as soft as the bed, you know that?” He teased.
---
“Gimme a few kisses and I’m sure we can make me even less soft.” He stole a kiss from his boy just to keep from laughing at his own terrible joke.
---
“Ooh, flirty. And terrible.” Peter let himself laugh after the kiss, shifting on the bed until he was more comfortably beside Dick. “Something something Dick by name, Dick by nature.”
---
“Rich coming from a Peter,” he said. He leaned in and kissed him once more. “I do like the way you look at me in the morning.”
---
“That’s the second time you’ve said that.” He told him, leaning in to steal a kiss of his own. “That means you either like me half asleep or you think the grumbling that usually follows from my stomach is hungry for you and not food.”
---
“Mmm, no. You look at me like you’re just...some part of you is sure this is a dream but you’re still just…” He kissed him again. “Just really glad to have me here. Like your heart is hungry for me.”
---
“I’m so glad to have you here I’m not even gonna make fun of you for that last part.” He said with a grin, lightly poking his chest with his finger.
Dick had a point though. “I really am glad you’re here. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d turned up here alone.”
---
“Taking care of you like that at the beginning...it gave me something other than dread and the work to focus on. Kept me from running myself into the ground.” He gave Peter a lingering kiss. “I’m sorry if it made you feel like a kid.”
---
“I mean, I can stop a bus with my bare hands, but I am still mostly a kid, well you know what I mean.” That pointed finger turned into a gentle hand and he lightly caressed his chest before kissing him again. “I’m glad we have each other then.”
---
And that was exactly why he wasn’t going to get mad at Tony for using Peter as a means to ground himself. “You can stop a bus, but can you download a car?” he teased between kisses. He did ache for his own siblings. Any of them. Even Damian.
---
“Mmhm, get me a 3D printer and all the filament you can find. I’ll download you a car.” Peter teased back, letting the kisses come and go at a natural pace.
---
“Oh baby you know just how to get to my heart.” He kissed along his jaw.
---
“Yeah, yeah. I know you. Just trying to use me for free 3D printed cars, I know how you are.” He playfully shoved at Dick’s side a little, his expression turning to a big grin. “You’re not slick at all, Grayson.”
Peter decided then, looking down at the older guy with his perfect face and upsettingly gorgeous eyelashes, that Dick was right. All they really had was right then, even if they ended up going home to the same world. Their lives were such that tomorrow wasn’t a guarantee. It was better to live it than spend those last seconds before the final darkness panicking about everything he hadn’t had the chance to do.