SUMMER JOB || Peter Parker X Reader

Chapter 20: Magnetism

You passed the laptop to Peter in defeat. "I can't get in."

You were in the basement again, this time joined by Lee and Laurie as Uncle Tommy had officially gone back to work today. He was almost entirely healed at this point.

But you had made little progress on finding where TelePro might be. As it turned out, tracking magnetic pulses was a fantastic idea, but the execution of said idea was turning out to be more difficult than it sounded.

Currently, you were trying to hack into a weather channels radar with no avail.

Peter took the laptop from you, looking over the screen.

"I can't get past the firewall." You said. "They've got like, super intense protection on that thing."

"Why though?" Laurie asked from the old couch tucked away in the corner. "What are people going to do, make a better forecast than them?"

She was absently scrolling through her phone on the couch, resting her head in Lee's lap as he did the same. Lee hadn't said anything about Spider-Man since the night he found out - he hadn't even shown that he knew at all. You were impressed, but then again, he always had a straight face.

Peter grinned. "Yeah really."

He hadn't said anything about that night either... much to your dismay. His words had been rolling around in your head since then. 'I mean... kind of.' What did that mean?

He tapped away at the laptop for a few minutes. "Oh wow okay... they really do have this thing locked up."

"Yeah I know." You said. This would be easier with more hands and a fresh mind. If only Theo were here too.

"Oh... wait, I think I've got it." Peter said. "No, yeah... there we go!" He turned the laptop so you could see the screen.

Sure enough, full access to the radar and the archives.

"Nice job." You said. "Now let's see if we can pinpoint the magnetic pulses...". You took the laptop from Peter, scrolling back to the archives to the day of the Stark open house.

You found the building on the map, zooming in. A green blob spread out from the building.

"Yeah, look." You pointed to the green blob. "That must be it."

Peter peered at the screen. "Let's hope that it picked up the smaller one from his watch then." He said.

You zoomed back out, looking for any more green blobs on the map. Peter scooted around so he could look too, leaning over your shoulder.

You could see the little sun freckles on his face in your peripheral vision.

"Wait, zoom in there." He said, pointing to a little spot in the Bronx.

You did, and noticed a smaller green blob, almost identical to the one that had surrounded the Stark building.

"That must be where he want after... or maybe came from... what's the time stamp on that?" Peter asked.

You clicked the upper corner of the screen. "1:03. After then."

"I guess we just look around this area for a bit then." Peter said.

You moved the clock forward day by day, each time checking for green spots. Peter pulled out a notebook, writing down times and addresses, most of them being that one spot in the Bronx.

An hour later, you were at current time, and had a page and a half of the same address over and over.

"I think we've got him." Peter said.

"Wait, really?" Laurie asked, looking up from her phone.

"Yeah, come look." You said.

Laurie got up, walking over to peer at the notebook, flipping the pages to see the entire list. "This is everywhere he's been?"

"We think anyway." Peter said. "Those are all the places there have been magnetic pulses similar to ours on the radar."

Laurie grinned. "That's got to be him then, who else would be using teleportation?"

"Exactly." You chimed in.

"This is great." Laurie said. "Now we just go get him."

——

Theo picked up the phone on the second try.

It was late, and you were downstairs in the living room alone. Laurie had been in a fantastic mood for the rest of the day, treating everyone to brownies she made as a reward. She had decided that you would plan the next course of action tomorrow.

Which is why you wanted Theo there.

He was as much as part of this as anyone else involved, and you wanted him to have a chance to come with you when you went to confront TelePro. So even though you had intended to let Theo reach out to you first, you called.

"Hello?"

"Hey Y/N." Theo said.

You smiled at the sound of his sleepy voice. You had missed him.

"What's up?" He asked.

And so you told him. You told him about Laurie's plan and Peters help (leaving out the part that he was going to help as Spider-Man too) and that you'd found him.

"You... found him." Theo said.

"Yeah, we did." You said. "And we're going to go get him."

Theo was silent for a moment.

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't." He said.

"Oh." You said. You'd really thought he would have wanted to cone with you guys. He'd completely cut himself off from everyone, surely that meant he would want some closure?

"I just..." He paused. "I can't do that again. I thought... I thought I was going to die." He said.

"That's okay." You said.

"No, I feel bad now..." Theo said. "I really do appreciate that you wanted to tell me."

"Theo, it's perfectly fine that you don't want to come with us." You said. "I understand."

He paused. "How's your uncle?" He asked softly.

"He's fine." You said. "Almost fully recovered. He actually went back to his office for the first time today."

"That's good." Theo said.

The line was quiet for a moment.

"I've got to go." Theo broke the silence. "My grandma is calling me. She probably needs help with her medication."

"Oh, yeah, go ahead." You said. "Um, it was good talking to you."

"You too." Theo said. "I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah... see you."

"Bye." Theo hung up the phone, leaving you with your own thoughts.

You slipped your phone back into your pocket, thinking about when you first met Theo. It seemed like an entirely different world.

You definitely missed it though. His boundless excitement and enthusiasm for learning and the internship, and his dumb sense of humor and all the times he would text you in the middle of the night for no reason.

You felt bad that the attack had affected him so terribly... but it made sense. Uncle Tommy had been protecting him when he caught the bullet, and the teleportation device had been his idea.

You just wanted the old Theo back.