Peter was observant. More observant than he’d been in the past, partly due to the enhanced senses he possessed. So when he’d been walking past what looked like a burned up building he definitely overheard some things that he likely wasn’t meant to hear. The fire being a forensic counter-measure, that they couldn’t find a traditional accelerant ‘like the others’.
His brain got stuck on that. A fire being set as a countermeasure was one thing, but a non-traditional accelerant? It’d been Ned to remind him, in chemistry he’d been trying to think on a few different topics when Ned had leaned in close and asked if he knew that pistachios had to be transported carefully to avoid spontaneous combustion.
That reminded him of something and it was that moment he decided he’d try to swing (pun unintended, he was planning on being there as Peter instead of as Spider-Man) and offer up his ideas.
Which was how he found himself sitting in the station, knee bobbing somewhat anxiously and running through information in his head. This was probably going to sound ridiculous.
(under cut bc length and posted because i rewrote this thing like, five times and got frustrated that my brain refused to say it was good enough)
Andy didn’t know about Liam Knopke. He didn’t know about Tyler Harrison, Stephen Price, Dylan Hoyt, or Micah Bateman. He knew that his mom had been more uneasy lately, that Mike had been cautious about Andy going anywhere on his own. He knew that when they’d left on a two-week trip they’d been uneasy enough about Andy being on his own (more related to Andy’s nightmares and paranoia after Chucky) that they arranged for a friend of his mom’s to stay with Andy at the apartment. Maggie was nice, with her laidback nature it wasn’t like she was babysitting him. More like an older sister hanging out with kid brother for a couple weeks.
It was her idea to head to the park early, yeah the original plan had been to go there for Community Day anyway but Maggie had pointed out that there might be Team Rocket stops that they could hit before the event got started. She’d handed him a few bills, told him to get each of them two large water bottles and a couple snacks then come right back out. Andy had been the one who paused, muttering a “sorry, ‘scuse me” to the man he had to scoot past to grab some sunscreen on the way towards the drink coolers.
Four large bottles of water (no regrets there), a bag of Cheddar Chex Mix, a bag of Sour Cream and Onion Chex Mix, and a bottle of sunscreen were held in his arms as he started towards the register. He ended up behind the man he’d scooted past and apparently he was with a couple friends. A blonde woman who was talking about how she wasn’t going to use the others’ deodorant and a black man who teasingly commenting about how “You could’ve just used Reid’s, he uses unscented.”
“I don’t care, I’m not using anybody’s deodorant. " The blonde’s head turned and when she’d accidentally made eye contact with Andy there was a look that was only there for a split second, but made Andy feel a bit uneasy about being on his own while Maggie kept the car running outside. As if she knew there was something going on that he didn’t that meant he shouldn’t be as relaxed about the day as he was. But then her look shifted to the literal armload of goodies and a brow raised ever so slightly. Andy knew what that look meant, his mom had given it to him before when he’d been a little store goblin carrying everything in his arms instead of using a basket.
“We’re headed to the park, we’re going to play Pokemon.” As soon as he’d started talking, he saw something... he wasn’t sure what it was, but it expressed that she was a bit more at ease hearing he wasn’t completely on his own.
Although he usually liked sticking to quiet areas he had to admit there were advantages to going to cities and towns. He got more money in cities and towns which made it easier to take care of himself and Bear. Mostly Bear, Bear was one that he worried about overall. He’d had a paper that told him foods that were safe to give him, but it was opened and re-folded so many times it’d started to come apart and the writing was barely legible anymore.
So... Against every instinct telling him to avoid medical (even though it was definitely not for him) he’d stepped into the vet clinic and sheepishly spoken with the young woman at the counter about getting another paper to be sure he wouldn’t accidentally feed Bear something that’d cause trouble. Which led to sitting in a chair with his hands fidgeting with Bear’s lead and rapidly bouncing his knee. Bear, on the other hand, was very interested in investigating the other pets and people in the waiting area. He’d tried to sit away from others (avoid making them uncomfortable with a very obviously homeless person just invading their bubble) but Bear was still trying to go investigate.
“Bear, leave the cat alone, she doesn’t want to say hello right now.” Bear looked over to Ezra at mention of his name, but he ignored the rest of Ezra’s words, instead going back to looking at the unusual cat carrier and the kitten inside. The next words were to the cat’s apparent owner. “He looks scary but he’s a sweetheart, he just wants to meet her.” He still pulled at the lead just a little, keeping Bear from getting too close. Bear wasn’t a tiny dog, and to a little kitten Bear had to have seemed more than a little intimidating.
