While Flash was in the hospital, high on painkillers, Peter was actually having a blast. He'd not only gotten all the junk cleared out and crushed at the junkyard, but a huge supply of dubious whitewash had come in. Peter knew it was stolen, but after fixing half a dozen fridges, and a huge LCD TV that only needed a new starter for the internal light, he'd managed to get several huge drums of it to paint the whole floor. Sure he had to give the excess back but right now, he didn't care.

He'd even discovered a new power. Thinking back to when he strained against the concrete cemented post, his skin bled a black viscous liquid, covering him head to toe in a slick bodysuit. As it covered him he felt his muscles surge with hidden power and the post came tearing out of the ground with no effort. As he rammed it through Jack Thompson's car he heard an echo in his mind, we are strong, we are Venom. The spider bite must have been making him slightly weird but Venom was cool, he liked the sound of it.

Recalling the way he felt, the way he wanted to get back at the assholes who ruined his life he found the skin would extrude out of his pores, two weeks of suspension and he no longer needed the anger or the hate, it was now a reflexive action, responding to his will. Not just that, but as he’d raged at the car his fingers had become thick claws and as he tore with glee at the tires he burst through the rubber with no issues.

The warehouse was 100 meters each way and at night when he knew only the most diligent of security guards would be about, he upended each of the shipping containers and lay them against one wall. He then spread out the paint with a huge floor brush and opened all the windows and left it to dry. After a few days, he did the other side and with a little persuasion, he got Alexsi to part with some expanding insulation spray. He had to pay for the sprayer and mask at full price with no discount. Alexsi had squared him in the eye this time, it was only a rental but Alexsi refused to budge, the upside being that he got to keep it for as long as he needed it.

Peter knew he was being generous since Bennie had decided to leave, his mom was ill in Seattle, and he'd gone to take care of her leaving Peter to cover his work as well as make up his own. It was fine though, once he'd shown his expertise in not only mechanical and electrical repair, Alexsi had him fixing everything from appliances to mobile phones. Peter had also made out from this deal. Alexsi had a lot of industrial machinery around, which Peter had borrowed temporarily. This let him, not just weld the big bay doors shut, but reinforce the building itself and insulate it further. He got a welder and an arc cutter and had already drawn out plans to build houses out of the storage containers.

His plans were slowly taking form, the nouveau chic of living in a warehouse was coming into fashion, and no one minded paying less for an apartment made out of a shipping container if it was warm, dry, had the amenities of a normal place, and most of all was cheaper. Peter could invite a couple of tenants into the warehouse, stay in the offices and make some decent money himself by doing nothing. He didn't need the scholarship as much anymore, well, as long as his ideas panned out.

He soon had two 20 by 20-meter hollow boxes in the warehouse, each one took a corner and he planned to make a small garden between them, with plastic sheeting and a raised platform he would make sure that watering it took care of any mould issues and it wouldn't die in the winter, it would add a little hominess to the warehouse's drab white and grey interior. He would paint it eventually but right now, white was clean and more importantly, free.

Plans upon plans were swimming in his mind and these were the easiest. He was slowly growing his abilities and wasn't even going to venture out hunting until he knew he wouldn't fall and die on his first night or be killed by a lucky knife strike. After getting into a fight with Flash he persuaded Aunt May to let him go to self-defence classes. The classes were slow, of course they were. No one expected a bunch of kids and old ladies to become MMA fighters overnight, and he had to temper his impatience. Slow and steady, as with his powers, he couldn't force lessons, even if he could afford them.

Back in their apartment, Aunt May was taking her time getting used to Peter being out of the house more than home. She knew he was working but it was nearly midnight each night before he wandered in, tired and smelling of work. Grunting a basic hello before devouring her home-cooked offerings and heading to bed. Most days he was gone before she even got up. It was good to see him work but at the same time, it was worrying he wasn't taking any breaks. 

Tapping her finger on the kitchen table,  she was going to interfere and while Peter might hold it against her this time, she was worried. Picking up the phone she flicked through the list of contacts that she took from Peter's phone. "Yes hello, this is May Parker, Peter's Aunt, can I speak to Gwen please."

Giving Gwen the address Peter hung out at most seemed like cheating, she'd been online and checked out the junkyard he worked at, repairing old appliances was fine, Ben had started off fixing kids bikes before moving up into a car mechanic, and she thought nothing was wrong with working your way up.

The warehouse he had been to most days though was worrying, the news report of a shootout and subsequent meth-lab discovery wasn't a happy image, but if a junkyard cleanup crew was there, she knew he'd probably be hauling trash rather than cleaning bloodstains. It would be fine though, Gwen was a sensible young woman and she trusted her with Peter, even if Peter didn't know he needed it.

After the phone call, Gwen stared at the address May had given her, and even if she didn't recognise it, she recognised the building. It had been in the news plenty, as even with Brooklyn, a shoot out was huge news. She had immediately called a cab and headed into the industrial zone to find out if Pete was okay. When she got to the address though she was shocked. Whoever had been here had done a great job. Most of the buildings had the usual grime and street dust blackening their walls but this one was clean. None of the windows were boarded up, and they shone as the light reflected off their anti-glare tint, which was either freshly repaired or newly installed. After the horror stories of the news, she was glad if Pete was in there it wasn't as bad as everyone made out.

The chainlink fence surrounding the property had been repaired and the gate swung on a newly oiled hinge. The path leading to the main door had been weeded and blast cleaned, small chips in the concrete had been filled and evenly sanded. This wasn't a work job for Pete, someone was renovating the property for sale again and Pete was probably on the crew helping them. Fresh welds around the large shuttered loading bay confused her though, why weld the bay closed if it was going to be sold but the fresh paint on the door, chalked as "wet," and the massive new bar lock were hints as to what she would find inside.

Gwen knew better than to just barge into a strange building so she banged on the door before noticing a buzzer, the intercom crackled as Pete's voice, "Hello?" sounded through it. 

"Yeah Pete, it’s Gwen, can I come in?" 

It sounded like he fell off something and there were a lot of clattering noises before a, "Sure, sure," and the buzzer sounded as the lock released.

What was inside blew her mind. Everyone was talking about gentrification these days, in fact, her father had a huge file on some of the more aggressive attempts to get older or lower-income tenants out of their apartments so the renovators could come in, but this was on a whole other level. Two massive box apartments sat on one side, freshly sprayed a deep blue colour with a white corrugated plastic roof, unneeded in a warehouse but adding to the aesthetic, between them a raised white picket fence lined dirt patch had been tilled and waited for seeds. While unfinished, each box house had a path chalked out and Pete had begun to spray mark lines for a front yard. Piles of scrap steel plates were still lettered so she guessed he hadn't finished.

"What the hell Pete? I expected a crime scene, not a hipster farm. You explain right now mister." Gwen was faking her anger but she still wanted to know, and making Pete think she was mad was the fastest way to get proper answers.

"Oh uh, Hi Gwen," was all he said though,

"Don't you hi Gwen me, Pete, what's this, apartments? Are you helping build condos in old warehouses now?"

"Uh, no," he replied and cursed under his breath, he'd bet anything Aunt May put a GPS tracker on his phone and had now roped in Gwen to keep tabs on him. He rubbed his forehead between his eyes, "Uh here Gwen," Peter pulled out a folding chair he'd scavenged, and as Gwen sat down, he began to explain.

Listening to Pete talk, her own anger slowly overtook her curiosity about what he was doing. Harry hadn't been back at school either and even after several attempts to contact him, he hadn't answered either his phone or any texts. Once Peter had left school, Gwen had been unable to find out what was going on.

As well as his suspension, he'd also gotten a text rejection from Hammer, citing "inappropriate behaviour" as the reason for cancelling his internship. Pete had really got some crappy luck this time but her eyes began to sparkle when he started on the next part.

"So uh, yeah, I own the warehouse but please don't tell May. I kinda spent my college money on it but uh, look, see, two apartments," and motioning over to the partially build portacabin, "and my own place. I added some solar panels to the roof so electricities free, and,"

"This is great Pete," Gwen was in awe. Pete had shown her the inside of one of the box houses and it was huge, sure he had just sketched out the floor layout but she could see that for one person in Brooklyn he could get maybe $2000 easy for each one. "I want one," she immediately stated, "non-negotiable."

"Uh Gwen, I really need the money you know and it doesn't feel right charging you for,"

"No!" She pushed against his shoulder, "proper landlord, lease, and I want one. MJ and I were talking about getting our own place but this, this is amazing Pete."

Pete grinned and scratched the back of his head, "well yeah but most of the plans came from the internet, and Mr Sytsevich has been,"

"Alexsi Sytsevich?" Gwen interrupted him, "My dad has a file a couple of inches thick on him Pete, he's a crook." Pete looked away pulling a face, "but yeah, you already knew that huh?" She asked.

"Look Gwen it's a job and I'm not doing anything illegal I swear. I just uh can't tell May and please, please Gwen you can't tell her either."

Gwen smiled evilly at him, "It's fine Pete, you just gotta do one little thing for me." She took a deep breath, taking a risk to finally admit after all this time how she really felt about him,

"Anything Gwen, anything."

Looking him straight in the eye. "Good, so now we're dating."

~

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