I own nothing, Spider-Man in its entirety belongs to it's proper owners.

Peter Parker, the one and only Spider-Man from the year 1933, otherwise called Noir by his friends, was lying down upon the couch, his trench coat draped over the back and his fedora resting on his face. He had one hand behind his head, and the other on his chest, looking like he was passed out and dead to the world. But it wasn't because he was sleeping, no, the black and white superhero just needed to find a little solitude in the darkness of his hat.

All of these colors that he was still struggling to understand sometimes would get too much, too overwhelming, and give him migraines. Despite always wearing his Spider-suit, his goggles weren't tinted and provided him no relief whatsoever. It wouldn't be so bad at night, when he normally was awake and where the darkness would welcome him back amidst the bright neon signs, but as fate would have it, his universe was set twelve hours apart from this one, and his night time was day time for the home dimension of the Spider-Man known as Miles Morales.

And so here he was, staying at the flat while everyone else was out and about, wondering why none of these blasted windows had any blinds. Maybe if he was out doing something it wouldn't be so bad, but the grey-scale carried over from his world ruined any chance he had of blending into this one, even if he changed out of his suit. Peni looked a little odd compared to Miles, Gwen, and Peter B., but she could still fit in with only a few raised eyebrows, while Peter Porker, otherwise known as Spider Ham, Porker, or just Ham, pulled a covered stroller out of thin air and had Peter B. push him around in it, claiming that he "already looked like a tired dad" as his reasoning.

The sound of heavy footsteps broke him from his train of thoughts, however, as someone made their way down the hall outside. Noir tensed up, ready to spring up and behind the couch at a moment's notice. He's had one to many encounters with the mob that'd started off this way, and he was starting to regret agreeing to leave his guns back in his home dimension. But as the footsteps drew nearer, he started to loosen up a little at recognizing the sounds, before relaxing completely from hearing keys jangeling as the door was unlocked.

Noir didn't even have to raise his hat to know that Peni Parker had just walked in, feet pounding the ground in uncharacteristic anger and slamming the door shut behind her before letting out an annoyed huff. Muffled yelling could be heard from their downstairs neighbor, a highly unpleasant madam in Noir's own opinion, at the ruckus Peni made, to which the girl responded by giving one last, hard stomp out of spite.

He wasn't too surprised by this. Peni could act a bit smug at times when it came to her intelligence, and having to deal with the other kids in her grade at school had a tendency to drive her up the wall, both from having to try and simplify everything for the other students as well as being mocked for her brains. While the cruel comments were easy for her to deal with, for the most part, having to put up with what she perceived as the stupidity of her classmates never failed to get her piping mad by the time she came home.

Noir choose to keep quiet and let her think he was asleep, not because he didn't care, but because they all knew it was best to let her work it out on her own, most often by going to her room and crawling into SP/dr. Gwen checked on her once and said all she does is eat candy and watch videos of cats, something that baffles Noir as he's still having a hard time trying to understand what video is, let alone the concept of this 'internet' thing, but if it helped, who was he to judge.

So he just kept still, listening as the youngest of the Spiders kicked off her shoes and hung up her jacket, before she walked closer and dropped her bag at the coffee table. This intrigued Noir a little, as the kid genius almost always got her homework done while still at school, so perhaps she had some sort of project to work on. Was that what got her so angry, having to do a project? But Porker liked to help her with those, and Noir and Peter B. often found themselves helping as well, when Noir wasn't completely lost that is, something Peni enjoyed.

But as he listened, he didn't hear her get down, open her bag, or anything like that. As far as he could tell she was just standing there by the table, occasionally shuffling her feet back and forth. Seconds ticked by, marked by the faint ticking of a clock in the next room, and Noir was starting to grow worried. He knew very well what it's like to be trapped in your own thoughts, going over every detail, brooding over them to the point of madness. That's not something Noir wanted Peni to have to experience, and he was starting to suspect this was the case.

Just as he was about to speak up he finally heard something from Peni. More specifically rapid footsteps followed by a quiet grunt of effort. Before he could even question them Noir found himself reeling in shock as Peni crashed into his chest. He lurched upright, or as much as he could go, arms found forward from shock, hat falling from his face and gasping for air. At first he was blinded, the welcome darkness gone and replaced by all the harsh colors, so he shut his eyes and tried to breath. When he could feel the flow of air back into his lungs he flopped back down, one arm left hanging in the air as the other picked his fedora off the ground. Noir carefully opened his eyes and looked down at his assailant, confusion evident behind the mask.

Peni had her head tucked into his chest as she straddled his waist, hands gripping his shirt tight and legs clamped down upon his sides, as if she was trying to use her whole body to hug him. If he stood up right now he wouldn't be surprised if she clung to him still, like a baby chimp. Awkwardly, Noir set his hat aside and reached for her shoulders, trying to pry her off of him. Again, it wasn't that he didn't care, but in this case he felt a little uncomfortable with this. While he treasured the bonds he made with his friends, and they helped him open up a lot compared to how he once distanced himself from others, physical contact on a regular bases was something he was still trying to adjust to, and if he were only on step five, then this was step eighty four.

But Peni had other plans, as she wiggled out of his grip and dived back down into his chest, hiding her face once more. He reached for her shoulders again, but she merely shook them off. Noir heaved a heavy sigh, watching the young Spider on his chest rising and falling with the motion. Something was starting to tell him that it wasn't just getting angry at the other school kids that was bothering her. He tried to read her mannerisms, see if that could help him decipher the problem, but from this position that was difficult to tell. She was latched onto him and barely moving, the only sings he was able to notice was a nothing more than a slight shudder he's sure she was trying to repress.

Perhaps, along with getting worked up at school, someone had made a comment towards her, some insulting jab that while she ignored it them, haunted her throughout the day before becoming front and center in her mind just a few minutes ago. To Noir that seemed to be what must've happened, and instincts as a private investigator haven't misled him yet. That must be why she came to him instead of going to her room, because she needs solace, not solitude.

It still didn't help the fact that Noir had no idea what to do in this situation. He had no children, and yet here he was with an upset little girl clinging to him like her life depended on it. Slowly Noir brought a hand around and set it on her back, unsure of himself in how to act. He waited a moment, and when she didn't respond to the contact he brought his other hand down her head. It must have looked as awkward as he felt, but Noir ignored that and moved his thumb back and forth through Peni's hair, hoping that she could get some comfort from it.

For a moment she seemed to tense up more and Noir was starting to worry he did something wrong, but bit by it, he felt her calm down. The muscles under his hand started to relax, the white-knuckled grip she held on his shirt eased up, and her legs loosened their grip on his sides. A smile grew behind Nori's mask as he kept at it, lightly running his through her hair and keeping his breathing even so as not to upset her. He could faintly hear her own breathing and found himself listening to it grow slower, deeper, calmer.

After a minute Noir gently lifted his hand from her head and grabbed his coat from where it lay upon the back of the couch, and swiftly pulled on it, swirling it in the air in what an onlooker would call overly dramatic fashion, before letting it slowly drift down to perfectly cover the young girl like a blanket. Reaching for his hat, Noir gave one last warm look to Peni, sleeping soundly on his chest. She moved her head a little, revealing her face wearing a peaceful expression. Content, he leaned back, setting his hat back over his face and resting his hand behind his head.

When the others got back a little bit later they were all quite surprised seeing Peni cuddled up on top of Noir, but one glare from Nori telling them to keep silent put a stop to any inquiries. Fortunately, Miles had his phone out and managed to snap a picture before anyone noticed.

Just a sweet little story I imagined and couldn't let slip away. Hope you've enjoyed!