Sooner Rather Than Later (HIATUS)

Chapter 10

Peter stared out through one of the many windows in the living room. The sun shined brightly as he thought about his ailment.

"Peter?" He almost couldn't hear it. Then he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Peter are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh hi Uncle Bruce. Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure? You've been awfully quiet lately."

"It's all good. You look tired."

Bruce chuckled lightly, meaning he got shy or embarrassed. "Yeah, being Hulk can drain my energy."

He had to play dumb. "Oh right. How was the fight last night?"

"From what Steve told me, not that challenging. Said the monsters turned to dust." He took a sip of coffee. "That's not good."

"What do you mean? If they were easy to defeat how is that a problem?"

"That means those monsters were creations. But if it was then why make them weak?"

Peter's eyes widened. Creations? Of course, why didn't he think of this before? Probably focusing on what he has that's slowly killing him.

"Maybe," Peter gulped, "they were distractions?" He meant to keep it to himself but it came out anyhow.

Bruce tilted his head in confusion. "Distractions? You think whoever's behind this has something worse in store?"

"Sounds right," Peter shrugged.

Bruce nodded slowly. "It's possible. I'll bring this up to S.H.I.E.L.D. and the others." He placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Thanks Pete. I'm so happy you turned out to be smart and not like Clint."

"I heard that!" Clint shouted as he entered the room. Peter chuckled.

Soon it became a family breakfast. Normally Peter loves these. Natasha and Clint arguing, Thor telling tales of his past, and Bruce trying to calm his girlfriend down but obviously failing. Steve would cook, he loves to cook, and chime in on conversation. But the only thing that seemed off was Tony.

Tony would insult Natasha or make dirty remarks to Steve but he was drinking coffee, grumbling to himself.

"Are you - "

"No Peter I am not."

Natasha feigned sympathy, "Aw, are you upset because Stark couldn't catch a spider?"

"Neither did you Redhead!"

She reached into her pocket and a click was heard. "You might wanna change that tone."

"Wait, you're trying to catch Spiderman?" Peter asked. "Why?"

"Fury wants him and he's a threat. But he keeps running off whenever we get close."

"Well maybe he just doesn't want to get caught," he put bluntly.

"Yeah no shit, Pete."

"I'm sorry but how is being a vigilante such a bad thing? He still saves lives."

"He doesn't report the authorities which could mean he's hiding something. And he's just a kid he doesn't know what he's doing."

"Amen," Clint muttered.

Peter got up. "I'm going over to Harry's. Be back soon." And he left.

"Damn they still bashing you?" Harry chuckled and handed him a beer.

"I know! I just don't get their understanding. If I do something I'm dangerous but what happens if I don't show up? Then I'd be the biggest asshole." He chugged down the whole can.

Harry snickered. "If only they knew."

Peter burped. "If only they knew."

"So...how was your date?"

"It went fine."

"Just fine?" He nudged him playfully. "C'mon, Pete."

Peter blushed and laughed a little. He nodded, "All right, all right it went great. More than great."

"Awww. That's good, man. You could use a good lay since you're always so cooped up in working."

Peter webbed his mouth. "Shut up!"

Harry took the webs off. "So are me and Gwen gonna meet him?"

Peter gulped. He was a bit nervous about introducing Wade. But his friends might take it better than his parents would.

"Yeah. Soon."

Peter crumbled up the can.

"Listen man, I need you to do me the biggest favor."

"Sure man whatever you need."

"But what I'm about to tell you can't leave this room."

Harry grew worried. This sounded serious and Peter was almost never serious. He tends to cover things with humor. But the look in his friend's eyes meant that something wasn't right.

"You all right, man?"

He shook his head. "No. Haven't been for a while." He laughed sadly. "It's getting worse."

Harry got up. "Dude, you're scaring me."

Peter opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was a painful groan. He fell to the floor and grabbed his sides. Harry quickly kneeled beside him and forced him to sit upright.

"Peter! Peter, what's wrong?"

Peter gripped his arm and pushed him roughly aside. Harry hit his head on a table and hissed. For a split second he saw Peter's eyes go black. Not completely but his irises were gone. Not brown.

Peter closed his eyes and began to cough.

After the tenth cough a small, black gooey substance left his mouth.

Peter and Harry starred as the objected moved around. Harry quickly grabbed a glass cup that had fallen from the table and tossed it to Peter. Peter then trapped the thing in the cup as it fought for escape.

"Dude...what the fuck."

Peter took quick breaths. "I need you to run tests on me and whatever this thing is."

"Yeah. Of course. Come on let's go." He helped him up before placing a coaster under the cup. "Was this the favor you were going to ask?"

"Yeah. And this thing might be the answer."

"Dude how long has this been going on?"

"A little over a year I think? I think it's killing me."

Harry looked at him in shock. "Come on. Let's go to the lab."

From a building across Oscorp, the silver-haired thief had a perfect with her binoculars. She grinned and exited the building without drawing suspicion.

She whispered into the walkie talkie built into her watch. "It's working."

"That's very good, kitten. Anything else I should know?"

"Petey pie! Where are you sweetums?"

Felicia hid behind an alley before the man looked her way. She knew that voice. That was Deadpool.

Wade continued to talk in his phone. "It's been a while since I've seen you. Please answer when you can. Wadeykins is getting lonely!" He hung up and skipped away.

Felicia gasped and whispered into her watch, "Actually there's something very interesting. And it involves your favorite weirdo."

Taskmaster growled in annoyance. "Deadpool..."