Chapter Text
Peter finished up webbing some robbers to the outside of the bank before starting to head home. The night was freezing, and he was surprised it was still raining. His heater was running, even though he usually liked to turn it off once he started moving around.
The streets shone with water under the city lights. Peter had to be careful to attach his webs to the brick on buildings, because metal was so slick that they wouldn't stick at all. His suit was wet, but the heater was regulating his temperature so he didn't notice.
"Hey, Karen?" Peter usually liked to ask questions that Karen didn't know the answers to. "Karen?"
She didn't respond. Peter pressed a button to make sure his Mic was on, but it always was. And Karen talked him through everything, whether he liked it or not.
"Karen." Peter noticed the flashing red low battery sign at the corner of his vision. "Oh, come on!"
He had helped Tony program this. Different parts of his suit shut off when it reached a low enough charge to conserve energy. First, his built in music player and other non essentials turned off. Eventually, Karen no longer operated as an interactive part of the suit. Peter wasn't sure if he could still contact Tony or not, but he was sure the suit was really close to dying.
The suit had a charge that could last a number of days, and there were extra batteries he could carry with him for long term missions. But he didn't carry them with him on patrol. He usually just charged the suit at night, but he had had a lot of late patrols that week and had forgotten to plug it in.
Peter felt the heater shut off next. The air was freezing, but he could keep moving and be okay. He could just get home and-
You know that feeling when you're walking on the stairs and you take a step and completely miss the stair?
Peter had that problem. Except it wasn't a stair. He pushed the button to shoot a web and it just didn't come out. The suit had completely died.
He hit the rooftop of a building and skidded to a stop on his side. "I'm good." He mumbled into the cement. The rain was coming down hard, and he shivered as he pushed himself to his feet. Peter could feel his side tingling as it healed. The rest of him was covered in goosebumps and the suit was clinging to his skin.
"This sucks." Peter crawled down the wall to the street.
His nose was starting to run from the cold, and his teeth were chattering by the time he got back to his apartment. The rain had turned to slush and the small icy flecks kept hitting his suit and melting. Peter climbed into his room shaking. What he really wanted was a hot shower, but the sound would wake May and she would want to know why he was showering after one a.m.
He pressed the release button on his suit and tore off his soaked mask with a wet sniffle. His nose and cheeks were red from the cold, and his hair was plastered to his forehead. He was shivering even harder now that the suit was off, so he put on sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
Peter didn't feel like doing anymore before he could sleep, but he plugged in the suit. He pulled up his hood to warm up his hair and crawled into bed.
Peter cocooned himself into the blankets and fell asleep almost immediately.
He couldn't quite stay asleep. His dreams kept turning strange and he would wake up only to find that his alarm hadn't gone off yet, and still had a while before it would. Peter rolled over for the millionth time and shut his eyes in hopes of getting just a little bit more sleep. Once he finally could sleep, his alarm went off.
He still felt cold, even though he had been wrapped in blankets for hours. His head hurt and so did his throat. His nose had been running before, but now it was stubbornly blocked and the tip was a light pink.
Peter ran a hand through his messy hair and looked himself over in the mirror. He looked a bit like a zombie.
He got dressed, leaving the huge hoodie on from the night before. It was going to be a long day.