Stories Focussed On Spider-Man

Greg (P7)

A/N as always, Greg, Mike, and FABAE belong to ShyCourage

Potential TW: Skip gets briefly mentioned. It's not gone into or anything, but it's mentioned in one line of dialogue.

"Okay, listen up," Michael grinned sinisterly. "Once, there was this teenager. Her parents were going out of town for the weekend, so she was going to be left all alone in her house. Since she was a responsible girl, she wasn't planning a party or anything like that. On the Saturday night, she found herself curled up on the couch, trying to decide what to watch on TV. She caught a glimpse of the news of some serial killer having escaped from prison before she found the station she was looking for, but she shrugged it off. After all, what were the odds?"

"Very high, apparently," Spider-Man commented nonchalantly.

Michael chuckled. "Anyway, she soon decided to get ready for bed. Now, this particular family had a dog that slept in her room. As she would fall asleep, the dog would lick her hand, which dangled off the bed. This particular night was no different, and she was soon lulled off to sleep. But, she woke up to the sound of dripping. Annoyed, she felt the familiar licking on her hand and went back to sleep. Unfortunately, she woke up to the noise again. This time, she got up and checked that the kitchen faucet was off. She went back to sleep, her pet still awake enough to lick at her fingers. The dripping keeps going though, and she wakes up again, this time checking the bathroom. The faucet was off, sure enough. The next time she woke up, she turned the light on in the kitchen while checking. When she did the same for the bathroom, she froze. There were words written in a rushed red on the mirror." Michael smiled. "'Humans can lick, too'. Startled, she happened to glance at the open shower. Her dog was hanging from the shower-head, his insides dripping into the tub. The bathroom door closed behind her and, well, let's just say she wasn't seen at school ever again."

"That's twisted," Charles gulped. "I feel bad for the parents." He glanced over at Xander. "You wanna go next?"

Xander shook his head apologetically. "I don't know any good ones, sorry."

Charles clasped his hands together excitedly. "Looks like it's my turn then! I love listening to these stories, but I always feel like I'm so bad at telling them, y'know? Now I need to decide which one to do..."

"No pressure, C," Brian smiled.

"Thanks. This is gonna be short as heck, but who cares? Okay... So, there was this guy, right? He wasn't married of anything, so he just kinda lived alone, and there was this window next to his bed. Every night, he'd glance over and see these two streetlights that were abnormally close together. He didn't think on it very much though. One day, he was outside during the day, and he noticed that the lights weren't there. That night, he still saw them from his window, which was weird, right? The next day, he was inspecting where the lights were supposed to be when he noticed the strangest thing. There were giant claw marks all around his window. That night, he looked through his window once again and noticed for the first time how similar streetlights could be to the glowing of a beast's eyes. The next day, his neighbors reported a shattered window to the police, but no one every found that poor man's body."

Spider-Man rubbed his temples. "I'm so glad my apartment isn't on the ground floor."

"Not all of us are that lucky, Spider-Man," Greg smirked. "I live in a neighborhood."

"Don't get eaten," the vigilante whispered, eyes wide. It was weird to most of the officers there to see the same person who braved guns and fires on a daily basis get shaken up at the thought of a fictional monster eating him. Or Greg - he seemed even more appalled at thought of losing Greg than he did about his own demise.

"I'll try," Greg laughed. "Everyone ready for the hot dogs?"

"Born ready," Michael grinned, already reaching for a roasting stick. He quickly popped on two hot dogs and got them settled in the flames. Spider-Man watched everyone carefully, and copied them with minimal clumsiness. He only almost dropped his roasting stick once, but he managed to stick it to a random body part before his meal touched the ground.

"So, Brian," Xander asked between as he patiently waited for his food to finish. "How's Violet? You guys ever make a decision about whether you're gonna have kids?"

Brian shrugged. "Ultimately, it's up to her. I think we both want to have kids, but pregnancy is a big commitment for her to undergo, especially when adoption's an option, y'know?"

"Adoption is great," Spider-Man chirped. "I'm adopted, actually. I guess I'm biased, heh."

"That's really cool," Charles admitted. "How old were you, if you don't mind me asking? I don't want to push or-"

Spider-Man shook his head. "If I don't want to tell you, I'll let you know, so don't feel weird about asking things. Just don't assume it's all public knowledge and go telling random people. Now, let me think. My parents died when I was, like, six. There were a couple months where I was just kinda in the system before my aunt and uncle were able to take custody of me. They technically had to foster for a year before anything could be official, so I was around seven, going on eight when it became a permanent thing."

"What's it like being in the system?" Charles asked. It seemed that both his and Brian's interest was peaked. Well, Greg's was also, but he was always paying attention to Spider-Man whenever his Dad-Senses™ went off.

Spider-Man shrugged numbly. "I won't lie, it wasn't great. One of the people that had me is actually in prison right now, but I-I'd rather not get into that one at the moment. The lady who had me after Skip was pretty nice though, but I'm still glad to have ended up with family."

Greg furrowed his brows and glanced at the teenager with a sympathetic look. He recognized the name that had been slipped from a bust he'd done years ago. "I'm sorry, Spider-Man. That must have been horrible."

Spider-Man sighed before forcing a smile, which was illuminated sadly by the fire. "Just another item on the endless trauma list, I guess." He turned to Brian. "Point is, it's hard to find a good home for orphans. I think adopting is a great idea, and you should really consider it, y'know?"

Brian nodded. "We will. And, thanks for sharing. I know it's not easy."

Spider-Man just shrugged again. "Sorry for the mood drop. I feel like I need to make a pun now, geez."

Greg and Michael exchanged a glance. "Hey, G-Man," Michael asked while holding up his recently finished hot dog. "What made the hot dog furious?"

Greg didn't miss a beat. "It was sick of getting roasted."

Spider-Man snorted and shook his head before taking his first bite. "You guys are the wurst."

A/N happy Thanksgiving!!