#starsdusted bruce

[boywebbed]

❛  you don’t know when to give up, do you ?  ❜ bruce, still admiring, slipping into dad mode

" I told you, I don't go down easy. " Despite his words, his world is spinning. He had spent over half a year with Venom & the creature had taken a toll on his body. It had pushed him to every limit, seeing how much it could feed before he faltered... All while daring Peter to face this new & terrifying world on his own. But no matter how lonely Peter was, isolation was better than whatever was going on between him & the symbiote. It had almost convinced him that he couldn't do it on his own, that he needed help somehow someway. Almost, being the key word. Peter had felt himself slipping through the cracks, the line between him & the symbiote blurring dangerously.

Spider-Man had no doubt made the news that night. He had been fighting someone. A nameless masked villain who would have been locked up & forgotten tomorrow, if not for Peter's lack of self-control. He had followed Venom's lead, trusting the creature's instincts & strength to end the fight. It was becoming second nature to let it take over, if only for short periods of time... But something had happened.

It was a strange sort of fear that he felt. He had thrown a punch, an untempered display of strength. Peter was sure he had never hit anyone with all of his strength before. He would never forget the haunting crack from when his fist hit the man's jaw, knocking him back several feet in a lack of self-control. The paramedic said he would be lucky if the man would ever walk again if he woke up.

He was sick of it, what the creature did to him. It made him feel small. It made him just as powerless as it made him strong. Tonight was the night that he would take back his life. Venom's sensitivity to sound was something Peter had noticed early into their... relationship. Peter's own hearing was sensitive but Venom had done something to temper it, woven into Peter's nervous system... But it didn't seem to be able to control its own sensitivity to sound. The sound of metal scraping against metal made it pull away from his skin in a desperate attempt to get away.

He had climbed into an old bell tower in an old church. There was an abundance of them in Gotham, ironically. He had thrown himself at the bell to start the agonizing process. He had no time to think, only act. If he wasn't smart, if he wasn't fast it would find a way to stop him. He had climbed to the top of an old bell tower that loomed over one of those churches, flinging himself at the metal bell before his feet hit the around.

In hindsight, there was definitely a better way to have executed his plan but he couldn't risk the symbiote stopping him. It had been an agonizing process as the creature peeled away from Peter's body, fighting it's natural weakness to the sound at every step. Peter wasn't sure if he had screamed or not but his throat felt raw. Peter kept the bell ringing at the expense of his own senses, they were sharper than they had been in months. His ears were still ringing & he was sure they would be for a while.

" You probably didn't see any of the good parts, huh? " There's a triumphant sarcasm to his voice. This was the first real win he had gotten since coming to Gotham. Since whatever had stolen his life a year ago. He can't help but smirk, despite the way his lip was split. It was strange to think he had missed tasting blood after a fight. He felt exposed before the other, someone he had spent his life looking up to. Without a mask, covered in blood & sweat... He might worry more if there was anyone his identity could place in danger, but no one knew who Peter Parker was....No one but Batman.

@starsdusted || answered. 

[boywebbed]

❛ you don’t know when to give up, do you ? ❜ from bruce (with grudging admiration)

          It had been only a month since he had moved to Gotham. His time had been largely occupied with finding an apartment with a working toilet & following a breadcrumb trail of clues having to do with some sort of drugs & weapon ring. It was strange here, chaos built into each of the old buildings that made up the city. In New York, Peter had always known what was going on. He had connections with the police and informants on the street, he knew the heartbeat of his city. Gotham was much different. It hid it's heartbeat or else it risked getting stabbed in the chest.

Everyone here needed help. Everyone here always seemed to be in some sort of danger. The symbiotic suit he had learned how to coexist with made it abundantly clear that Peter couldn't do it alone. It was a consistent theme between the two of them & Peter was almost convinced it was right. Without the suit, he wasn't sure he could navigate the chaos lurking around every corner. It made him stronger, it dulled his senses enough to drown out the noise of sirens on every street. It seemed to be a power struggle between the two of them. Still, he had to be thankful for the abilities Venom lent him regardless of any other..... complications.

Peter had been doing this since he was fifteen. That was half a decade of 'saving the day' behind him. It was infuriating that the criminals here seemed to know how to stay a step ahead of him, no matter how hard he dug for clues... Perhaps the frustration is why he had so confidently dropped into a room of armed men. Peter hadn't entirely thought the action through, as he had not taken inventory of the firepower they had access to. He thought he had an idea of what they had access to from his prior investigations. Of course, he didn't think about the implications of being wrong.

The moment he, quite literally, dropped in was the moment he stopped thinking. Every movement was based on instinct, a mix of his spidey-sense & Venom's reflexes. There were a few uncomfortable cracks as his fist made contact with some of the goons but it didn't seem to slow him down too much. He dances in & out of attacks, playing a dangerous game of chicken. It was distracting enough to leave an opening for someone to use a propulsion device to throw Peter against the wall. Even Venom couldn’t protect him from that. He left a spider-man-sized hole in the cement wall before falling to the ground, breathless.

He was back on his feet in half a second, but it was half a second too late. It gave enough time for more men to fill into the room, to see what was going on. Peter did the best he could to shoot a web at the man’s weapon & smash it on the ground, exchanging more blows as he lost control of the situation playing out before him. He managed to push his way through half of the henchmen but his bones felt heavy, he wasn’t sure he had ever taken the moment to force air back into his lungs. There wasn’t a second to spare. 

It was then that the room filled with smoke, leaving everyone confused. Something...? Someone dropped upon the scene from above. The phrase ‘ The Bat! ‘ is screamed by more than one man before a spray of gunfire lights up the smoke, illuminating their downfall. Before the smoke cleared, the remainder of the henchmen are incapacitated. When Peter see’s who’s left standing there, he’s in awe. 

Batman. The Batman. Peter had spent his life seeing snippets of the vigilante’s accomplishments. It wasn’t until now that he fully believed the other man was real. He wants to be excited, but there’s a nagging voice in the back of his head. Venom. It tempers his emotions, any feelings of idolization being swept to the side. He nearly doesn’t realize when he’s spoken to, responding only a few moments later.

      “ Yeah, that’s sort of my thing. “ There’s a dry sort of sarcasm to his words, his bones ache as he steals a breath of air. He’s fighting the awe that washes over him, another feeling creeping up on him instead. A tinge of embarrassment is enough to make him feel like he may fold in on himself. The words felt like a compliment. Maybe. 

                               “ How much of that did you see?”

@starsdusted || answered.