Partners

An Ultimate Spider-Man Fanfiction

Summary: Peter and Ava are assigned as partners for the classic egg baby project. When Peter screws up and Ava struggles to forgive him, they learn more about themselves, each other, and what it really means to be partners.

/!\ Warnings: Mild violence.

Disclaimer: We don't own the characters or the cover image.

A/N: Apologies in advance for any spelling/grammatical errors we didn't catch.

Chapter One: Monday

Peter's daily race against the clock became an inside joke among the students of third period home economics with Ms. Nelson in room 118. We anticipated his arrival like jaded housewives with social lives sustained by daytime television and afternoon soaps. Will Peter make it on time, or be defeated by the clock and condemned to Saturday morning detention?

I glanced at the second hand speeding toward the twelve. Why wouldn't it slow down? I clenched the edge of my desk, stretching skin taut over my knuckles. Come on, Webhead. You can't afford to be late again.

"Peter Parker?" Instead of "Here!" or "Present," her words were met by creaking chairs, idle chatter, and the whir of oscillating fans. Typical. I peeled myself off the chair, sweat plastering my shirt to my back. Gross. It was the twenty-first century and this school had yet to install air conditioners.

Ms. Nelson peered over her glasses, scanning the room until her eyes snagged on the vacant seat beside me. "Peter Parker? Are you here?"

Still nothing. My classmates and I exchanged glances, our faces reading the same question: Was Peter going to show up ten seconds or ten minutes later, or not at all? He always kept us wondering.

Ms. Nelson looked at her clipboard, pen poised to mark Peter absent. She sighed. "Well, then..."

Thump! Thump! Thump! Our heads swiveled toward the pound of feet outside the door. Nearly ripping the it off its hinges in his haste, Peter skidded to a halt in front of Ms. Nelson's desk. With his windswept hair and clothes, I would've thought he'd been standing behind a jet engine, but I knew better. He just won a hundred meter dash with a photo finish and hadn't broken a sweat.

"Here," he said as the door swung closed behind him. "Sorry, Ms. Nelson. I was -" The teacher raised her hand.

"I don't want to hear it." Lips pursed, she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a gnarled finger before they slid off. "Consider yourself lucky, Mr. Parker; I was about to mark you late." She jabbed her pen at him. "You better watch your tardies. One more and you'll have a date with me Saturday morning."

"I bet you're not too happy about that, are you, Parker?" Flash Thompson and his cronies guffawed like a pack of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. I rolled my eyes. The joke was lame, even for him. Smiling, Peter turned to his nemesis and shrugged.

"Nah, it's okay. I had a date with your mom planned anyway."

That shut them up real quick. Snickers erupted throughout the classroom, and I bit back a smirk; Flash's expression was priceless. Before he had the chance to make a comeback I doubt he had, Ms. Nelson interjected, "Enough, Peter. Go to your seat."

"Yes, ma'am." He slapped Harry a triumphant high-five on his way down the aisle. He dropped his bookbag beside his desk with a thud and slid into his desk, running a hand through his brown hair that fell into its natural part as he lowered his arm.

"You cut it pretty close," I muttered as Ms. Nelson resumed roll call.

"Hello to you too, Ava. What does it matter? I made it on time." He unzipped his backpack and plunged his hand into it. Candy wrappers and wadded tissues spilled onto the floor as he dredged up a battered textbook and crumpled papers from its depths. Eww...did his backpack double as a trash can? Nas-ty! I shuddered. His hand dove in again, rummaging through who knew what before resurfacing, empty. "Hey Ava - whoa!" He nearly poked an eye out with the pencil I was offering him. Your Spidey-sense hadn't seen that coming, did it?

I smirked. "You're welcome."

He accepted with a sheepish grin. "Thanks."

"One more tardy and you'll be in detention."

He scoffed. "Ava, last time I checked your name wasn't Ms. Nelson." I rolled my eyes; Peter's flippant attitude was beyond me.

"Parker! Ayala!"

We snapped our heads up.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you two didn't talk while I'm discussing the final project."

"Sorry," we mumbled. I sank into my chair and Peter rolled his eyes as everyone redirected their attention to the front of the room.

Mrs. Nelson cleared her throat. "As I have told you before, we will be starting the parenting project - the final one of the course - today. The objective is simple: care for the egg and leave it intact until the beginning of class on Wednesday. You must also write a report about your experience. The formatting can be found in your syllabus on page three. If the egg is broken - if there is so much as a crack on it's surface - you will fail the project and thus, the course and have to retake it in summer school." A collective groan rose from the class. Who wanted to spend summer vacation retaking a course widely considered as a freebie? "And don't even think of replacing it with one of your own..." Ms. Nelson's eyes narrowed. "Because I'll know the difference."

"How?" Peter asked.

"Shhh!" Did he want to incur Ms. Nelson's wrath a second time?

She clasped her hands. "You won't be choosing your partners." Another groan. "You will be picking a piece of paper out of this basket." She held it up for all to see. "There are twenty pieces of paper, numbered from one to ten; each number is in here twice. Whoever's numbers match will be your partner." She handed the wicker basket to the nearest student. It wound up and down the aisles, and by the time it reached me, a few scraps remained. I picked one and passed the basket over, stomach fluttering as I unfolded it.

7

Everyone turned to their neighbors, eagerly asking one another what he or she had. Some got up to search for their partner on the other side of the room. Little did I know, I didn't need to venture far for mine.

I swiveled toward Peter, dreading the worst. "What number do you have?"

"Seven."

Just my luck. "Me too."

"Sweet." He flashed me a lopsided grin. "I guess we're partners, then."

"Yeah. I guess."

I wasn't the only who noticed my lack of enthusiasm. "Hey, what's wrong?" Peter asked, frowning. "Aren't you glad to have me as your partner?"

Guilt engulfed me. "I am, Peter. It's just…" I regretted having said anything at all. Me and my big fat mouth! "I don't know. You seem to have a knack for screwing things up." What I really wanted to say was he was a giant goofball who couldn't take anything seriously.

"I do not! Give one example."

"Well, remember the time you brought the Iron Spider suit to the science fair and it ended up in the hands of Taskmaster?"

"We got it back though, remember?"

"It would have never happened if you hadn't brought it to school in the first place, right?"

Peter raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. So bringing Stark tech to Midtown High wasn't one of my brightest moments. I was intimidated by Amadeus Cho, and wanted to prove I was smarter than him - that's all. But I'm still gonna prove you wrong, Ava. I will not screw this project up. You watch." Twirling his pencil in a display of dexterity, he pointed it at me before it slipped between his fingers and onto the floor.

He reached down to retrieve it as I said, "We'll see."

The desk jolted; I jumped. "Ow!" Peter winced, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the underside of my desk on his way up.

At the end of class we received our egg - ahem, child - carrier included. On our way to lunch I addressed our most pressing issue.

"Name it?" Peter scoffed. "I am not going to name a stupid egg."

I swatted his arm. "Come on! Be serious for once in your life."

"I am serious - or at least I'm trying to be."

"This isn't just an egg; this is a baby, our child! We have to treat it as such."

"Fine." He rolled his eyes. "How about Eggsy?"

I wrinkled my nose. "Uh, no. How about not? Hmm…" I tapped my chin, thumbing through my mental Rolodex of names. I snapped my fingers. "Got it! How about Victoria? I've always liked that name." Peter's face scrunched up at my suggestion.

"Her? Why does the egg have to be a girl?"

Raising a brow, I stopped in my tracks - forcing Peter to do so as well - and planted myself in front of him, arms akimbo. The stream of students eddied around us. "I thought you didn't care either way?"

He threw up his arms in defeat. "Fine! We'll name her Victoria. Heck, we can even call her Vicky for short. Can we get to lunch, please? I'm starving!"

"Fine. Let's go."

Almost everyone had gotten their food by the time we arrived, so we didn't need to wait long to get served. We grabbed Styrofoam trays, napkins, and plastic cutlery before jumping in line.

A shudder skipped down my spine as the lunch lady slapped a glob of unknown origin onto Peter's tray. Splat. The menu said chili, but I wasn't so sure. They didn't call it Mystery Meat Monday for nothing.

"You gettin' some of this, too?" she croaked.

"Um, no thanks." I opted for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, and chocolate milk then joined Peter, Danny, Luke, and Sam at the table.

"Hey, guys." I set down the tray and carrier, shrugging off my backpack and dropping it on the floor with a heavy thud. I rolled my shoulders; carrying those textbooks really did a number on them.

"Hey," Luke and Danny said in perfect harmony.

Sam aimed his spork at Vicky. "What's with the egg?"

"Home economics," I replied. "Whoa, Peter! Watch out!" Maternal instinct kicked in as I whisked Vicky into my palm seconds before Peter crushed her to death with his food-laden tray.

"Huh? What?" Peter looked around frantically like he was expecting the roof to cave in or something.

"You almost killed Vicky! Can you at least try to be careful?" I cradled her in my hands as I lowered myself into a seat, heart still hammering from the near miss.

Luke elevated an eyebrow. "I'm guessing Peter's your partner?"

"Yep." Unfortunately.

"I feel sorry for you," Sam said. "You just started the project and Webhead almost screwed up already."

"No, I didn't. It was a mistake." Peter turned to me. "I'm sorry, Ava. I'll try to be more careful." You'd better. He set his tray on the table, but not before double checking that Vicky was out of harm's way.

"You're okay," I said as I set her on the empty space beside me.

Peter sat down and scooted his chair closer to the table while I did the same. "So, how is this going to work?"

"I was thinking we can alternate." I peeled the crust off my PB&J. "You know, like I'll take Vicky today and you'll have her tomorrow?"

He shoved slop into his mouth. "Fine by me."

I didn't know what disgusted me more: Peter eating mystery meat or talking to me with a mouth full of it. I eyed his lunch warily. "Do you even know what you're eating?"

Peter nearly choked on his lunch. Once he recovered enough to speak, his voice had turned shrill with indignation. "Of course I do! It's chili…" A slight frown. "I think." He shrugged and took another bite, smacking his lips with gusto as I swallowed bile. This was just one of the many conundrums of Peter Parker I could never quite solve.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Chapter two coming next week.