warnings: mentions of not eating enough (but not like to harm himself, just peter not solving problems well), violence

Peter is a teenage boy. Peter has a metabolism that's somehow been messed up by the spider bite. Peter is living in a household that very much has a budget, and Peter is very much aware of that budget and of how much food costs.

Naturally, he solves this problem by- and this is, he sincerely thinks, the best solution- not eating as much as he maybe should!

It's simple, it's quick, and it's cheap!

(He'd add to the infomercial-like sentence by saying that it's easy, but it's really, really not.)

The only problem is, he feels tired most of the time. And also hungry. So, so hungry. His stomach feels like it's caving in maybe ninety percent of the time.

But. That's not important. What's important is the fact that they've managed to survive one more month on Aunt May's nurse's salary, the fact that they've been able to keep the heat on and the water running.

May looks at him sometimes, and asks if he's getting enough to eat. If he's getting enough sleep. If he's okay.

("You just look so thin and tired all the time, Peter. I'm worried about you. Are you sure you don't need more food?")

Peter denies it. May knows about him, about Spider-man now, but she doesn't know that something happened to his metabolism. Peter wants to keep it that way.

So he lies. He feels horrible about it, of course, but he's pretty sure he's going to feel a lot worse if he adds more stress to Aunt May's already-heavy load. She's got enough to worry about right now.

He does too, what with school and extracurriculars and being Spider-man, so he just... pushes it down and ignores it when his stomach starts complaining and he can't quite focus all the way on the things around him.

(It's probably not a big deal.)

(Until it is.)

Peter's out on patrol when it happens, because of course he is. He can't be in his room, or at school, or even in Mr. Stark's lab, because he'd even take being embarrassed in front of Mr. Stark instead of this.

This being almost collapsing in front of half of New York as he takes on the animal-themed villain of the week. It's some guy in a huge rhino suit, which, really? Isn't the best fashion choice? Like, at all?

Peter's given up on figuring out why the supervillains he always fights seem to come out of some kids show. Honestly, it just kind of fits into the enormous mess that's his life at this point.

But. Sidetracked. Rhino-Man. Right.

He's doing what he does, slinging webs and making quips and he's actually doing kind of well- kind of well, as in, "hasn't gotten hit more than four times."

Which is, of course, the reason everything goes to sh- to crap.

(In the back of his mind, he can't shake the feeling that May will somehow know if he curses. It makes him flush when the people he fights asks if he's twelve, but he really doesn't want to risk Aunt May's wrath.)

He swings towards Rhino, fully intent on ducking under that punch that's aimed for his stomach- his stomach, which is currently in the caving-in mode that it occupies almost constantly now, but his reflexes are a bit slow, and the punch, which was supposed to go right by his side, plants itself right where it was aimed- namely, his stomach.

(The thought flashed through his mind that this is perhaps due to the fact that he's having trouble focusing on the fight and reacting quickly to his spidey-sense because of the almost overwhelming need for hunger.)

Peter loses his grip on his web and crashes to the ground, struggling to regain air. His spidey sense starts buzzing in his head, which kind of adds to the haze that threatens to swallow him whole.

He staggers to his feet before he can dwell on how much that hurt, because he knows if he stays down he's as good as dead.

Plus, there's, like, five thousand people here in Times Square, and he'd much rather have Rhino do- well, whatever it is he's planning to do- to him than literally anyone in the crowd.

(He's always been like that, he thinks, in the split second before he dives back into the fight. Whether it's bullies or people looking for someone to shoot or supervillains in weird costumes trying to carry out evil plans, he always has and always will prefer that he's the one getting hurt, that he's the one taking the beating.)

He stares Rhino down and shoots a web at the man- or, rather, he tries to. His web fluid has apparently run out. He glances down out his webshooter, cursing his luck, because, really? This had to happen right now?

Then his spidey sense goes crazier than it already is and he glances back up just in time to see Rhino's fist coming at his face.

The next thing he knows, he's on his back, his face feeling like it's about to split in half, with Rhino pummeling him.

Peter's barely able to get his arms up to shield his face. Rhino speaks for one of the first times during this entire fight, his voice just this side of incredulous. "How much can you take, kid?"

Peter brings his feet up- he's not actually sure how he manages it, but he's not going to question it at this point- and shove Rhino away just enough so that he can scrabble away from the older man.

His mind is kind of hazy right now, with the two most prominent thoughts being gotta get away and gotta protect the civilians.

(These thoughts don't really agree, so he picks the most important one and shoves the other back in his mind. Taking care of the civilians will always, always win out over his own personal safety.)

There's a groan from the crowd when Peter can't get away fast enough, when his hand skids over loose rubble and sends him crashing down on his side, and Peter can't help but wonder why the police haven't evacuated yet.

And then-

And then Rhino's got his ankle, and he's pulling him back, and all Peter can think is pain pain pain.

(But he's keeping Rhino distracted, and he knows, he knows, that the moment the man gets bored, he's going to turn to the civilians.

Peter cannot let that happen.)

He lets himself get pulled back as he scrabbles at the tiny pocket he's got in his suit where he keeps his extra web fluid.

He manages to pull a canister out and as he's about to install it, Rhino yanks him up in the air so that he's dangling by his ankle, which is still being held- painfully- by Rhino.

Then Rhino sucker punches him in the stomach. Peter tries to yell in pain, but all that comes out is a strangled yelp. The vial of web fluid clatters to the ground, forgotten, and he reflexively curls up around his stomach, but then Rhino slams him into the ground and the gravel bites into his skin, even through the costume, and there's just so much pain.

Dimly, he's aware of the same thing happening again, over and over and over.

Karen, who has been speaking only when absolutely necessary, goes silent, and Peter suddenly really wishes he had told her to call Mr. Stark before now, wishes that he hadn't told her that he could handle it.

(This isn't handling it, not nearly. This is the opposite of handling it. This is dropping it on the ground in a puddle of drying cement and then tripping in headfirst right after it.)

Beneath the mask, he's trembling and gasping, unable to do more than hang there limply, one leg half curled, the other bearing the weight of his entire body.

Then Rhino squeezes, and Peter can hear as much as feel the bones in his ankle grinding together before they start to break.

Peter screams, and he thinks that's what Rhino wants, because he stops squeezing and lets out a laugh, cruel and sharp and full of promises of more pain. He lets the teen hang again, which, while better than having his ankle crushed, still puts quite a bit of strain on the appendage.

Peter's only ever been in this much pain once before now, and it was when he fought Vulture for the last time. Right when he brought him down.

Peter isn't anywhere close to bringing Rhino down, and that knowledge is what has him hyperventilating more than anything else. He can't- can't breathe, he's suffocating-

Rhino drops him to the ground in a pathetic little heap of red-and-blue, and then kicks him so hard that he goes flying into a nearby building.

Peter notes, distantly, as he crashes through the window, that it's been evacuated.

(He spares a moment from the pain to be glad that he's the only one that's going to go down for this.

It's not even a question at this point. He knows that there's no way he gets out of this without serious injuries. Maybe even-

He doesn't let himself finish that thought.)

The teen crashes through more than one office before he comes to a stop, rolling over the floor until he hits a desk and sends it skidding.

(How is he still conscious?

Maybe he isn't, because he's pretty sure he loses time somewhere between feeling approximately ten billion shards of glass digging into his back and legs and coming to a stop.)

Rhino's by him a few seconds later, and his spidey sense is going insane at this point.

Thanks, Peter thinks. It's a bit hysterical, but he's, like, ninety-three percent sure that he gets a free pass for that at this point. Real helpful. Haven't noticed any danger yet.

Peter again scrabbles for a canister of web fluid- the second to last one that he has- but he's grabbed again by Rhino before he can do anything with it.

This time, the man grabs Peter by the wrist, crushing his web shooter on that arm, while using what seems to be a flamethrower to set fire to the web fluid.

It explodes.

(Later, Peter resolves, he will fix that particular error. Later, when he's not preoccupied with being beaten down by a man he's pretty sure he's heard the Hulk had trouble with.

Peter doesn't let himself dwell on the fact that there might not be a later.)

Rhino, protected by his suit, is fine after the small explosion. Peter is not, and is left feeling rather singed.

Also, he's pretty sure he's got a couple second-degree burns on his torso, but hey, minor problems.

Rhino laughs again, and then speaks, his voice coming out a strange mix of gleeful and angry that immediately makes Peter want to punch him.

Well. Makes Peter want to punch him even more than he already does.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you, kid?"

Peter gets thrown across the room again- gentler, this time; he only takes out two walls, one of them glass, and another desk- and, again, comes rolling to a stop.

It's becoming a real theme with him. Maybe he should change his name to Rolling-Man.

Nah, doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Peter struggles to push himself to his hands and knees, but somehow, he makes it. He grins back at Rhino, dimly aware that his mask is torn just enough to show his mouth. His teeth flash, bloody and feral and full of sharp edges and conviction- conviction that he won't go down easy, that he'll take Rhino down with him.

"I've been told it's a real fault of mine."

And then he's raising his arm, hoping, begging, praying that this will work. He inserts the last canister of web fluid into his one last working webshooter, and fires.

(He takes a moment to thank Karen for automatically switching over to taser webs just before she was taken out of commission, something Peter had worked out with her weeks ago. He had figured that if he was ever fighting someone that did enough damage to his suit to take out Karen, he'd need a taser. This probably wouldn't work nearly as well without that little detail.)

As he fires, Peter notices that there's water spilled on the floor, a water cooler knocked over nearby, and Rhino's standing in the middle of the puddle- and Peter's in the water too.

He has just enough time to think, oh cr- before the pain hits.

He feels like he's being torn apart. His muscles start to spasm. He's faintly aware that someone's screaming, and he's not sure if it's him or Rhino, who he can see has been brought to his knees by the powerful current.

Peter forces himself to let go of his webshooter, releasing the web and stopping the current as he sees Rhino keel over.

Peter collapses just outside the puddle as the spasms die into tremors that wrack his frame. He can't move, can barely think, and can't even raise the energy to look over at Rhino.

This, like most things that have happened tonight, turns out to be a Bad Thing.

The only warning he gets before he's picked up off the ground by the back of his suit is the sound- and tremors that vibrate through the floor- of giant footsteps making their way over to Peter.

Rhino looms above him. He's raised his mask, and the middle-aged, balding guy that's controlling the suit looks absolutely ticked.

Apparently the electricity didn't do as much damage to him as Peter had hoped it would.

The man's speaking, but Peter's drifting in and out of awareness, and can't quite focus on the sentences. He does manage to put together the fact that this guy hates him now.

(Didn't he hate him already, though?)

Then, suddenly, he's being crushed into the floor, a giant hand pushing down on his chest.

He can't breathe, and he can feel his ribs bending slowly, until one slowly snaps- and then another, and another.

(Bizarrely, the only thoughts that float into his mind are, I'm going to die hungry, and at least May won't have as much to worry about now.)

He's pretty sure that he's hallucinating when Rhino starts to tilt slowly to the side. Also, his hallucination is showing him a dart the size of his hand sticking out of the guy's neck and also Iron Man?

Yeah, he's definitely hallucinating.

It's a nice hallucination, though, and he thinks he tells fake-Iron Man that before he passes out.

i loved spider-man so FRICKING much but i couldn't help thinking about his super metabolism and like the fact that food costs a LOT and to feed a metabolism like that? on one income that isn't super high?

also second chapter will be up soon.