#indestructibro

[doublehelixweb]

Heya, Spider. Y'know how me and Peets are visiting Win and Creeper and the kiddos in London? I was thinkin' maybe you and Claire could come join us. What d'you think?

[he’s sitting on the ceiling with his phone cradled between his shoulder and his ear, doing a fiddly glasses-kit-screwdriver thing with his left webshooter] Man, that would be Hella sweet. We haven’t been to England since—

[he squints] —since—

[clacking the chassis of the webshooter shut he drops into a crouch on the floor] —I need to ask Claire. But it could be good for us. Good for her. Remind her that there’s good stuff in Foggy Town.

I’ll have to talk to her, but. But goddamn it would be good to see y’all again.

[doublehelixweb]

"Baby, You a Song."

Claire took exacting care in picking out a nice little spot outside the city, one with a fairly scenic drive--

--she wound up deciding on a patch of green in North Salem, NY, which, while a lovely little town-- 

--Rich decided not to tell her whose doorstep they'd be on, given that if he spoke of The Devil, Logan might actually show up.

Rich managed to keep a lid on things, and a level head, all the way during putting together the picnic with sammiches and beverages and chunks of birthday cake. He almost slipped up a couple times during the drive, almost absent-mindedly said a thing while they were cruising past Yonkers and he was trailing his fingers out the window...

...but he managed. He'd never be sure how-- the one time he managed to keep his mouth shut about a thing that wasn't his secret identity --but he managed.

It had been buzzing around in his head like spider-sense since he'd first thought of it-- and it actually turned out to be easier this way, rather than the sneaking-into-Gramercy-Park idea he'd initially bumbled upon. Claire was, as usual, intuitive and wise. He was still nervous something would go wrong-- because he was him. Something always went wrong.

And yet.

And yet.

When they'd rolled out the blanket and set out the flowers that he'd finally remembered, and sat down with the aforementioned sammiches...

...perfect timing...

...a car horn honked at them, and Claire glanced up in surprise to see a pick-up truck pulling up behind Leonardo.

Then the doors popped open and--

--Clay and Peta--

--there was startlement and squealing and running and hugging--

--well, those were the ladies.

--Clay sauntered up to Rich carrying the cooler with their half of the picnic lunch and fist-bumped The Amazing Spider-Man.

"Didn't think we were gonna make it," Clay admitted. "There was a lotta traffic comin' through Philly."

Rich grinned. "Respect." Then he quirked a brow. "You traded out Penny 2.0?"

Clay shrugged. "Penny's Claire's baby, I wanted to do my own thing, be my own dude. Not that you guys are anytwo to talk, that's a cherry new ride."

Rich grinned softly. "Yeah. Friends in high places, am I right?"

Clay chortled. "Best and quickest way to Claire's good side was always to give her a car. You shoulda seen her the time our dad gave her (well, us, still can't get the hang of shared pronouns) a Rogue."

Rich made a faux-dismissive noise. "Please. I have a whole gallery of rogues."

And then the noisy bubbling huggling mess that was Claire and Peta bounced over to Clay and Rich and quips were quickly sidelined for more bubbling more huggling and breathless trading of anecdotes...

[helixwebdouble]

"Those Left Behind."

Rich vanished in a sizzle and a pop and a stench of ozone, and it even looked like a flicker of lightning danced around his outline...

...and, standing there holding Clay's hand, Peta sagged a bit against her taller boyfriend, closing her eyes as she buried his face against the solidity of his arm. "...God."

Ben, still sitting at the kitchen table holding his cane between his hands, shook his head slightly. "I've lived too long. Did that boy just text himself to England? It's like the damned Jetsons."

[doublehelixweb]

Thousands of miles away, the proverbial Sarah Brightman only-an-ocean, Richard Parker, Jr sat up sharp in his bed, clutching his head.

"Ahhh!" he sputtered, bewildered and unamused. His spider-sense had triggered so hard he'd awoken. 

He'd stayed over with Ben tonight, giving Peta and Clay free run of the Stark Tower apartment whilst keeping an eye on Ben while his nurse was away.

But now his skull was ringing and the tingling and twitching ran all the way down his back. And the direction-- was-- east? What?

He lunged for his phone, but it rang before he could dial it.

Peta.

He answered.

She sounded very alert, the kind of very alert you suddenly are when a fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night and you're a self-taught superhero for four years.

She demanded: "Did you feel that, too?"

Rich nodded, then slapped his forehead and remembered to speak. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. Checking on Ben, you-- you secure your perimeter or something. If the Twelve are pulling shit again..."

"Stay frosty, Rich," Peta replied grimly.

"Oh, Petes," Rich replied, already bounding down the hall to Ben's room because fuck gravity he's a spider. "I'm downright chilly."

[doublehelixweb]

Valentine's Day.

46th blurred by beneath them as they swung in relative tandem through Manhattan.

  Then came the corner 'round Vanderbilt, and Stark Tower loomed...

And then, with relatively simultaneous THWUDs, the two spiders landed on the glass, thoroughly chuffed with themselves. 

Sharing a look, they rolled up their masks to uncover their mouths, and breathed on the window, fogging up two patches of it, in which their fingertips traced heart shapes.