Chapter Text
It was an ordinary thursday morning in one of New York’s many train stations. Trains coming in and out as quickly as possible, people walking, running, looking at the screens to see if their train was delayed. Only a few persons were not moving. An old man was reading his newspaper, an anxious looking woman smoking and looking at her phone, and a primary school class was being counted by their severe looking teacher. All the pupils were behaving, except one, who wasn’t even listening. He was looking around, detailing people with his wide brown eyes.
A man ran into the train station, holding his opened bag against his chest. He looked like a mess, with huge bags under his eyes, wild untamed dark hair, and his jacket inside out. He was by far the fastest runner of the train station, so his situation must have been really desperate.
The boy’s gaze zeroed on the man just as he tripped and fell, the papers in his bag flying all around him. Although the boy was far from the man, he heard him whimper as a train, maybe the one he was trying to catch, left the station.
It didn’t take long for the boy to make his decision. He left his group and walked towards the now crying man. He knelt beside him and started picking up the papers with him. He kept his face turned towards the floor more out of habit than to hide from the stranger.
“It’s alright. I’m late too sometimes.” He said, hoping it would comfort the man.
The man’s hands stopped moving and the boy realised he must have not noticed him before he spoke.
“W-Why are you helping me ?” He asked, surprised.
The boy opened his mouth to answer, but he heard his teacher yell in the distance.
“Peter Parker ! Come back this instant ! We will not wait for you !”
He didn’t even bother to look at her, prefering to answer the crying man. “Because my aunt used to say that helping people is one of the best feelings in the world, and I agree.” He replies as he lifts his head to look at the man. He can’t help it, he’s too curious to see what he looks like from up-close. Plus, he’d like to see how the man will react.
The man’s wet eyes widen as they study his face. Half a second later, they darken in understanding and empathy.
“Children at school picking on you ?”
To Peter, it sounds like the man’s been there before, and like he might understand, but he doesn’t want to talk about it yet, so he shrugs. “Doesn’t really matter. Was it an important meeting, sir ?”
The man sighs, and his eyes are suddenly full of tears again, though it’s obvious he is trying to control himself in order not to show so much pain in front a child. “Yes. I think I just lost my job.”
Even though Peter is young, he is smart enough to know that having a job is vital in america, and basically everywhere else actually, so he understands the man’s tears. However he will not cry with him, since he has just the plan to make it all better again, both for the man and for him.
Peter sat up and gave the stranger his most serious look.
“Well, I have a new job for you, sir.”
The man laughed a little through his tears. “Yeah ? And what kind of job might that be ?”
“Father.” Says the boy. He needs the man to understand just how serious he is. “I need a new dad, and you look nice.”
The man’s smile is wiped away in an instant, replaced by a look of pure bafflement.
“I- What ? I’m a complete stranger !! What the hell ?”
Peter ignores him -he’s pretty good at ignoring grown ups now- and keeps going. “If you want the job, call this number at any moment during school hours and tell the one who’ll pick up that Peter’s uncle asked you to pick him up from school.”
He knelt down again to scribble the school’s phone number on one of the few papers still on the ground, stood up and left.
He couldn’t see the teacher and the other students, so he ran to where they were supposed to catch their train, leaving the man kneeling in all his papers, his tears forgotten as he was wondering what the fuck just happened to him, and if all of this was real.