Time to Leave - Peter

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Venice was beautiful. She was glad they had managed to get to it as it near the recommended time the Inn's "travel agents" had told them to take before heading back 'home'.

She was standing in the middle of one of the squares that overlooked a large, old, beautiful church. She was waiting for Peter to bring back some gelato before they headed to the train. It felt... Bittersweet. This other world felt almost like home. The space and the diversity really helped Liz to relax. Spending time with Peter here, too, helped make things feel... Right.

She adjusted her pack on her shoulder as she waited.

Comments

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"They might." She thought about it. "Piotr said that the people in their world are called mutants and they have the x-gene? So... maybe that's a common thread?" Although Peter was bitten by a spider and not born with the ability, so his cells probably mutated a little different.

She looked at him, "Would you, um -" She paused, then shook her head. "No, sorry. That's weird. Forget it." She rolled her eyes at herself - calm down Liz.

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Liz might be all to eager to drop it, but Peter's not convinced that whatever she's asking is really as weird as she insists it is.

"Would I what?"

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She blushed, looking down at the sketch pad. "Would you... want to compare your cells to a spider...?"

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"Yeah," Peter says. "I wouldn't mind at all." He presses his lips together. "Why would you think that's weird?"

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She looked to him with a bit more of a serious tone in her eyes. "I just... Didn't want you to, I know know, think I thought of you as part insect or something."

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"It wouldn't bother me if you did think of me as part insect," Peter says, his lips quirking up into a smile. "Because it'd mean you'd like me even in spite of it."

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"I do. I mean, I would" she smiled to him. "I don't think there's anything that would make me stop liking you." Which she meant

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"I'm sure there's something," Peter teases. "What if I were Roach-Man?"

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Liz laughed. "Even then... though I don't know what your powers would be... maybe you could hiss really loud?" Trying to picture Peter as anyone but Spider-Man was hard.

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"Maybe... flight?" There were roaches that flew. "There was a guy named Ant-Man who we fought in Germany. He could get really small and really big."

The big part wasn't particularly ant-like.

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The thought of a flying cockroach was a little scary, but Liz would still love Peter.

"Ant-Man? And you mentioned Black Widow before. And you're Spider-Man." She knew of Thor and the Hulk and Captain America too. "There's a lot of superheroes named after insects... But I guess that makes sense. We all have animals we usually feel embody us."

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Peter chuckles lightly. "I'm not sure that a spider really would have embodied me until I got bit by one." Peter's not really sure what animal he'd think embodied him before then. He's just so used to being Spider-Man that really, the only animal he can identify with lately is the spider.

"What about you? What animal do you think embodies you?"

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"what would you say, if I said... Um. Dolphin?" She tried not to look as embarrassed as she felt.

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"What, for you?" Peter thinks about this, but only briefly. "I think it works, though."

He couldn't tell her why, but it does.

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She smiled. "Dolphins... They're really smart, you know? They're one of the few mammals that can recognize themselves in a reflection. And they're social. They like playing and being in groups." Dolphins might also be her favourite animal. "They're also, um, one of the few mammals to mate for pleasure." She blushed because it as one of the facts she found really interesting, but it was so sort of embarrassing

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Smart, social, playing and being in groups.

Peter nods at all of this.

But then when Liz mentions mammals mating for pleasure, Peter blushes, too. "Oh," he finally manages. "I can see why you'd relate."

Peter has to resist the urge to facepalm. Why did he just say that? And right after she just mentioned them being one of the few mammals to mate for pleasure, too.

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Her eyes widened a little and then she turned red, ducking her head for a second. He probably didn't mean it like that...right? Still... "It is nice... But unlike dolphins, I'm pretty sure I'm monogamous."

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She had taken it the wrong way.

"Yeah," Peter says, a little too quickly. "Yeah, me too."

Peter pauses, trying to wrestle together any topic he could bring up right now without things getting awkward.

"So I got a lot of books while I was out here," he says, suddenly. Liz knows this already. "Stuff to help with designing my own suit and improving the web-fluid formula. Lots of chemistry and mechanical engineering stuff. A few physics books, too."

He presses his lips together.

"I'm gonna start reading through them as soon as they get home and then eventually donate them to the library, but if you wanted to borrow any of them until then..."

He could make sure she had first crack.

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She didn't know how many books, but she did know it had been a really big struggle to pull his luggage. He made it look effortless, but she had found out quickly that it was heavy.

"I'd like that." She nodded. She might not need to read mechanical things, but the chemistry and physics one would be nice. "Did you find stuff for your webbing?"

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"Yeah, I think so," Peter admits. "I didn't have a lot of time for studying, so I just grabbed what I thought might help."

A beat.

"I hope it was enough. I mean, I can always keep using the formula back home, but once I'm done using what I bought, that's it."

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"Does that worry you?" She frowned a little, slightly concerned for him. "Would you be okay if you ran out entirely?"

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"Yeah, I'd be okay," he says, smiling. "I can always make the base formula easily." So long as they continue having the same supplies available to them. "It's just, if I manage to figure out a better formula, I'd rather use that instead of the old stuff."

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"Will it be stronger?" She knew if anyone could crack it, it would be Peter. He was brilliant with chemistry and he had won the contest they had with her chemistry homework.

"Have you ever thought about making some that can glow in the dark?"

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"That's the hope," he says about it being stronger. "I'd like it to be longer-lasting, too. Usually two hours is enough for most purposes, but sometimes you need it to not dissolve for a longer time."

And with regards to it glowing in the dark.

"I never thought about that before," Peter says, smiling. "I think it'd be great. I know this probably sounds silly, but it'd be fun to use for decorating for Halloween also."

He wonders if they're going to have a Halloween party again this year.

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"It's not silly." She smiled to him. "I think it's cute and resourceful. I bet it would help make a haunted house scarier." She loved Peter, but the idea of a human-sized spider was kind of terryfing.