"So, do you think you can work with this?" Mr. Stark asked.

"Oh yes, definitely! This is gonna be amazing, Mr. Stark!" Peter almost felt high after they had gone through the Spider-man training program. Mr. Stark had literally thought of every little detail in this; they were gonna test everything from how much Peter could handle physically, to how exactly his DNA had been mutated by the spider, and how they could benefit from it.

"Glad to hear that you like it, Underoos," Mr. Stark said with a rather proud smile. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you have something waiting for you in your room, don't you?"

Peters large, goofy smile froze, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Mr. Stark knew about Chewie. During all the excitement, Peter had actually forgotten about the little puppy in his room. How do you forget that you're hiding a puppy?

"Yeah, I know that you've actually got homework to do, kid. And I suggest that you get them finished tonight, so you can keep up with that schedule of yours. We can't have you falling behind in school, otherwise, your hot aunt is gonna kill me, and that is not the way I plan to go out."

Peter desperately tried to hide the rush of the relief, for the second time today. "O..of course Mr. Stark," Peter said. He then turned around, going back to his room.

He really hoped that Chewie was okay after being alone for so long. That the puppy hadn't got bored and chewed up the whole room, or worse; peed all over the floor. Then again, if it only had peed, he could wipe it up – or change the linnet. But if it had chewed the furniture… how was he gonna hide that? He would have to figure up some sort of explanation to Mr. Stark. Maybe that he had tried an experiment that got wrong? But what kind of experiment? Maybe something with termites? No, that was stupid. Mr. Stark would be asking questions like, why was he doing it in his room? And what was the purpose of the experiment?

However, Peter was relieved to find, that his room was undamaged when he opened the door. There was nothing broken, and nothing smelling as far as he could tell. You couldn't see any proof that he was hiding a puppy. No proof at all. Not even the puppy. Oh no!

"Chewie?" Peter called. He pulled off the comforter from the bed. No puppy. "Here boy." He got down onto his knees looking under the bed. Still, no puppy.

His heart was racing as he kept calling and whistling. How had it gotten out? He had closed the door when he left, and it had been closed when he got back…

"Chewie!" he turned the trash can upside down. Curled pieces of paper fell on the floor, but there was still no puppy.

Maybe one of the other Avengers had taken it? Vision had a habit of walking through the walls. What if he had found Chewie and brought him to the other Avengers? This was bad. This was really, really bad, Peter thought. What was he gonna do?

Suddenly the already ajar door to the bathroom opened – for some reason, Peter hadn't thought to look in there – and the little brown dog appeared.

"Chewie!" Peter exclaimed. He sat down on the floor as the puppy ran to him. He picked it up in his arms, hugging it tightly– without hurting it. "There you are! Oh my Gosh, I was so worried. Don't you ever do that to me again, do you hear me!?"

"Yes, I hear you loud and clear. Just because I've got funny ears, doesn't mean that I've got a bad hearing."

Peter froze.

The puppy jumped from his arms and sat down on the floor, in front of him. Peter stared at it, and it stared back at him. This wasn't possible. It couldn't be, right?

"Yes, I just talked. Don't look so surprised," the puppy said. Moving its mouth and everything. The voice was deep, much deeper than you would think at cute little puppy's voice would be. If it would even have one.

"You… you can talk?" Peter managed to say.

"Yes. I can talk. I would think that we had already established that by now."

"But… wha… ho..?" Peter was lost for words.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Chewie asked. "Well, this sure is a rare sight. You, of all people, speechless."

"I…"

"Come one, I'm sure, that you can think of something to say to a talking puppy."

Peter finally managed to make his mouth work and actually form a question. "How can you talk?"

"The same way you talk," the puppy said.

"But that… oh my gosh, this doesn't make sense…" When you think about it, this was just typical when you're Peter Parker. Who else would be able to find a puppy that could speak? "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I didn't feel like it," Chewie answered lackadaisically.

"Right…" Peter mumbled.

"So, does any of your here friends know that I'm here?"

"No." Peter shook his head.

"You haven't told them? Not even Tony Stark?"

"No," Peter repeated. Still, in some state of shock, he didn't wonder how Chewie knew about Tony though.

"Why not? Don't you think that they'll like me?"

"No, I'm sure they will! I just have to find the right way to tell them."

"Oh well, don't worry about it," the puppy yawned. "Let's just begin already."

"Begin on what?"

"Well, you becoming my slave, and wait on me hand and foot, while I conquer the world, of course."

"Wait. What?"

"Oh yes, that's kind of what we talking puppies like to do, you see. We make young fools like yourself take us in, fall in love with us, feed us and all that stuff, and then we take over their world."

"But, but…" Peter had no idea what to do or say. This couldn't be happening. It had to be a nightmare.

Chewie started walking around the room, like a villain, plotting his evil plans. "I suppose I could start with this Tower. As far as I'm concerned, there lives a certain amount of heroes here? Yes, they would be perfect for my army."

"No, you can't do that!" Peter exclaimed. He got to his feet, and aimed his web shooter at the puppy. He had to stop it. It was his mistake to bring it to the Tower, and he had to stop it, before it could take over the Avengers. And before the others figured out what he had done.

Chewie stopped in his pacing and looked at Peter. "And who is going to stop me? You? Come on. You could never hurt a sweet, innocent, helpless, little creature, such as me, could you? That's why you took me in, right? Because you wouldn't want the big scary world to hurt me. Because you had to protect me."

"I will, if I have to," Peter said, trying to sound confident. Trying to forget, just how in love he was with Chewies cute little face, and those eyes and little paws… No, he had to snap out of it.

"Well come on then, Man of Spiders. Show me what you've got." The puppy walked closer.

Peter found himself stepping backwards. Come on. He had to press the button. This wasn't a dog. He had to remember that. It was a monster. It would take over the world. He had to kill it. He had to. Before it was too late. His finger was on the button. But he couldn't make himself press it.

Suddenly the puppy started laughing. It sat down and kept laughing as if it had just been told a hilarious joke. "I'm sorry I can't keep this up," it laughed. The puppy started glowing, and suddenly it was replaced by the God of mischief.

"M..mr..mr Loki?" Peter stammered, as he stared at the laughing God before him. "I don't understand…"

The bathroom door opened wide and the God of Thunder stepped into the room. Holding a brown, little puppy. Somehow it appeared even smaller in the giant man's arms.

Loki stood up, still laughing, as Thor stepped up beside him. "I can't believe you actually fell for it! Oh, you should have seen your face!" Loki shapeshifted into a very pale Peter, with a terrified look painted on his face. "You were all like; 'oh no, I screwed up', but you were also like; 'oh I don't want to kill the little puppy, what do I do?'"

"Yes, that was rather funny," Thor said. "I'm beginning to see why you like scamming people that much, Loki." He looked at Peter, who was starting to understand what was really going on. "Well, of course, it's not funny to be the one who gets scammed – trust me, I know that – but when you're not the one who is the target, it is quite funny."

"Right…" Peter mumbled.

"By the way, here is your puppy." Thor handed over the puppy, that instantly started licking Peter in the face, but Peter barely registered it. He felt rather stupid now. A talking puppy, that wanted to take over the world. Sure, he had seen some pretty weird stuff in the last year, but still, he should be able to tell when something was too weird to be true.

"Are you alright, Young Spider?" Thor asked, now sounding concerned. "Loki, I think you may have taken this one too far."

"Oh, cheer up," Loki said, morphing back into his true self. "It was just a joke, little Spider."

"Yeah… very funny," Peter mumbled.

"And I told you, that it would work, didn't I, brother?" Loki smirked. "He admitted it."

"Yes, he did," Thor said. He turned to Peter, with a serious look. "Young Spider, I do not think, that it is wise, to keep a secret such as this from Tony Stark. I do not understand why you haven't told him, that you're sheltering a puppy."

"Well, uhm…" Peter began. "My advice is to tell him the truth," Thor continued. "Honesty is the best policy, as you humans say."

"Pfft." Loki rolled his eyes.

"I.. I'm going to tell him, I promise," Peter said.

"Good." Thor smiled. "Let's go, then." The God walked to towards the door.

"No, wait!" Peter exclaimed. Thor stopped and looked at Peter with confusion.

Peter first felt embarrassed for yelling at a God, but quickly said: "I can't tell him right now. I..I have to find the right time and way to do it, you know."

Thor crossed his arms. "And when will that be?"

"I.. I don't know…"

"Young Spider, Tony deserves to know the truth. Now if you're too scared to tell him, then I can…" "

No! Please, Mr. Thor, don't tell him. I promise that I'll do it. Just please don't please, please!"

Thor looked at Peter, who was still holding Chewie, and was met by two sets of large, begging brown eyes. The large man almost seemed to melt by the sight. "Oh, alright, then. I won't tell him. But you have to promise that you'll do it soon."

"Yes, I promise. Thank you! Thank you so much, Mr. Thor sir. I promise to tell him!" Peter kept repeating.

"Well, then let me ask you this, young Spider," Loki said. "How are you going to keep the little beast hidden, until then? As far as I'm concerned, a dog needs food, and walks and attention, and all those unendurable daft things. How are you going to do that, when you're in school, or out playing hero?"

Peters heart sank. Loki was right. This really wasn't a good idea. He was gonna need help, but who could he ask? He suddenly had an idea. "Could you guys please help me?"

"Help you? With what?" Loki asked, crossing his arms.

Peter hesitated. "Taking care of Chewie? And make sure that the others don't find out that he is here, until I tell Mr. Stark."

"Absolutely not," Loki said, sounding rather offended.

"Oh, come on, Loki. How can you say no to those eyes?" Thor said. "Let's give the young Spider a hand. You could say that we kind of owe him, after scaring him like that."

For once, Peter was actually glad, that the other Avengers, sometimes thought he was cute. Normally it would make him feel like they thought less of him, and that he wasn't on equal footing with them. But right now, he could actually use it to his advantage. "I don't owe anyone for scamming them. That's what I do."

"Please, Mr. Loki," Peter begged. "Please."

Loki tried to maintain a straight face, as he looked at the two sets of puppy eyes, but at last, he had to give in. "Oh, fine!"

"Thank you, Mr. Loki."

"But it will cost you. You will owe me. Someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a year or ten, I'll make you pay your debt. Deal?" Loki reached out a hand towards Peter, waiting for him to shake it.

Peter looked from the hand to the green eyes. Was he about to do something stupid? Loki was the God of Mischief after all. And Mr. Stark said that you shouldn't trust him. But then again, Thor trusted him. And Mr. Stark did let him live here. Not to mention; if Peter disagreed, Loki might get angry and tell Mr. Stark about the puppy himself! Peter handed Chewie back to Thor before he took Loki's hand and shook it. "Deal."

"So, does he have a name?" Thor asked, scratching the Puppy behind his ears.

"Yeah. His name is Chewie," Peter answered, figuring that Thor probably hadn't heard him say the name several times.

Now it was Thor's turn to laugh like he had heard some very funny joke. He quickly stopped though, when he saw Peters face. "Oh, you're serious."

"That is the most ridiculous, name I've ever heard," Loki said.

"He is named after a character in Star Wars."

"And you couldn't find something else to name him after?" Loki huffed.

"Yes," Thor said. "If I should suggest a name, I would say: Fenris!"

"What, you can't mean that!" Loki exclaimed. "You can't name that after such a mighty beast." He gestured at the puppy.

"Why not?"

"Because Fenris is mighty and ferocious. And just look at it: it looks so, cute, and small, and weak, and just pathetic."

"Yeah, well, so is the Man of Spiders. Yet he has proven himself as a worthy opponent."

Peter was not sure, whether he should be offended or honored that the Mighty God of Thunder thought of him as a worthy opponent. Instead, he said: "You know, I think I'm just gonna stick with the name Chewie."

O*o*o*

Peter sat down at his desk and opened the book. He was way behind on his schedule, and he knew that he would probably have to stay up all night, to get done.

He tried to ignore that feeling that he had sold his soul when he made that deal with Loki. He couldn't image, what he would be able to do for The God of Mischief. Well, he would just have to wait and see. As for right now, he would have to focus on his homework.

It couldn't be something super bad, that Loki wanted from him, right? All the stuff he had said, about taking over the Avengers and then the world, when he was disguised as Chewie, was just part of the joke, right? But then again Loki had tried to take over New York. Peter leaned back in the chair. Oh my gosh, what had he gotten himself into?

O*o*o*

When Peter woke up, he wasn't sure where he was at first. But he soon realized that he had fallen asleep by his desk. Oh man. It was 1 AM and he still wasn't finished with his homework.

He reread the page he had fallen asleep on, but then his stomach started rumbling. There was no way he could concentrate on an empty stomach. He glanced at the bed, where Chewie was still sleeping before he left the room, making sure that he closed the door behind him.

He soon found his way to the kitchen and started looking through the fridge.

"Well, look who is still up. Isn't this a school night?"

"Oh, hey there Mr. Stark," Peter said. "I was just getting a midnight snack, you know." He held up the sandwich he had been making.

"You aren't still doing your homework, were you?"

"No. I mean, I'm almost done."

Tony sighed. "That's not good, kid."

"It's no big deal..."

"Yes, it is. Kid, when we made this agreement, part of it was, that it couldn't affect your school."

"It's not Mr. Stark," Peter said. "It's just a subject that I find a little difficult, and want to make sure that I understand."

"Peter, if this is becoming too much for you, you need to tell me, because then..."

"It's not, Mr. Stark, I can handle this, I promise! Please don't shut down the program." He couldn't believe that he had screwed up this much; he had only helped out a bit in the lab today, they hadn't even started on the real program yet, and he already made Mr. Stark think that he wasn't able to handle it. How pathetic could you be?

"Kid, if you had let me finish, you wouldn't have heard me say anything about shutting down the program - especially not after all that work we've put into it already. I was going to say, that we could reschedule it a bit until you've caught up with school." Tony laid a hand on Peters' shoulder before the boy could argue again. "Peter, I'm not gonna think less of you, if that's what you think. Yes, you're a kid who can stop a bus, with your bare hands, crawl on walls and whatever else you do. But you're still a human being. And Human beings, are not invincible. They all have a breaking point. And it's no shame to admit when you're reaching yours, understand?"

Peter nodded. "Yes, Mr. Stark."

"Good. I need you to be in perfect health for this program. And it's not healthy for you to stay up all night when you need to sleep."

"But you're up late all the time," Peter argued without thinking.

"Now that's different. I'm an adult, I can handle a little lack of sleep. You, on the other hand, are still a kid. You're still growing, and you need your energy to do that, which means that you need to sleep," Tony argued. "Now don't let me catch you up this late again, or I'm gonna enforce a bedtime for you, and I really don't want to be that kind of boring pa... person."

Peter took a bite of his sandwich and nodded.

"Now, what kind of homework are we talking about?"

"Physics," Peter answered, still with bits of his sandwich in his mouth.

"Well, I should be able to help out with that. Come on, let's have a look at it." Mr. Stark started walking towards Peters room.

"Oh no, that's really not necessary, Mr. Stark," Peter insisted. "I've got it, really!"

"I'm sure you do, but you need to get done and in bed, and I'm gonna make sure that you do both." Mr. Stark gave him the 'do not argue with me' - look.

"Okay, but... can we do it in the kitchen?"

Mr. Stark gave him a surprised look.

"Well, then we'll be closer to the fridge if we get hungry! And, um... I think that a change of scenery would help me concentrate better."

Mr. Stark shrug. "Sure, if that's what you want."

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. I'll go get my books, you just sit down, I'll be right back," Peter said as he trudged towards his room. Phew, that was close.