Work Text
The sun was setting as it did around five in the winter months. Peter was walking home from a Aca-dec meeting that had went overtime due to the fact that MJ was a dictator and wouldn't let anyone leave until they got all the questions correct in an acceptable amount of time. Luckily they were the best of the best in a school tailored to smart kids, or it would have taken a lot longer for them to do her rigorous program. She was only got away with it, because Mr. Harrison wasn't there today due to complications in his cat's surgery.Peter usually took this time of going home, and used it as a quick patrol, swinging around the city as Spider-man. Today was different. Mr. Stark had his suit for upgrades, explicitly telling Peter to take a day and not do anything stupid. Peter had tried to sneak is original suit, only to remember that the last time he had seen it, it was hanging up in a glass case on the floor dedicated to Avenger/super hero mementos. So no super-heroing today.The only problem was that Peter was ignoring his Spider-sense for once. He knew he could help people and be Spider-man without his suit, but he and Mr. Stark have an actualy relationship now, one that was more than what ever it was they had before the Vulture. He didn't want to jeopardize that by being stupid. He knew that their were still cops here, and they could take care of his city for just one day. So he ignored the three guys about to rob the ATM machine, and walked past the drug deal happening in an alley. He may have shot some discrete webs at the man trying to take advantage of a girl, or the mugger trying to take a man's wallet, but nothing to draw attention to himself.That was when the white van screeched to a stop right next to him, doors already wide open, black gloved hands reached out and grabbed him, a prick in his neck before he could react. It happened so fast. Peter didn't go unconscious, but he couldn't move either. It felt like his whole world was on a slow spin, just fast enough to disorientate and confuse. Peter could see three men, two of which were in all black, with those hanker-chief mask things too with the weird skeleton face on it. Peter always found those to be quite unsettling to see. The third man also had a mask on, but it was a surgical mask, he was wearing a white lab coat and blue scrubs as well. He leaned over Peter, talking in a low voice that Peter couldn't make out in his state.Hands were on him, taking off his clothes, striping him down naked. One of the guys took scissors to his binder. Peter wanted to fight, but what ever they gave to him wasn't wearing off, not like most medicines. This made him realize that they knew. They knew that he was Spider-man. Luckily, he didn't stay naked for long, the two men in black wrestled him into a pair of boxers and a cheap tank-top. Peter watched as his clothes, emergency tracking bracelets, and his bag were thrown out of the van into oncoming traffic. Peter was so glad that Mr. Stark was a little obsessive with making sure Peter was safe.Ever since he found out about Mr. Toomes dropping a building on Peter, he had given Peter another industrial rod. Peter had asked how Tony knew he had that piercing. Tony had replied about May showing him pictures of younger Peter, and his angsty middle school years before he transitioned. Peter sighed, taking the thing and sliding it in effortlessly. Peter didn't understand why the Spider bit never closed up the hole. Maybe it was because Peter still had the rob in during his transformation, and that the piercing had healed before he got the bite? For whatever reason, no matter how long Peter went without putting rings or rods in the holes, they never closed up. It took a week to realize that the rod was not only a tracker, but also Vibranium. Unless you had super strength, you couldn't take it out.Peter had never been happier for this rod. He had worn it all the time, because Mr. Stark had asked, but Flash and his goons had given him a lot of crap for it at school. Jokes on them!Peter had to stop thinking about the rod. He hadn't even realized that they had stopped and the people were dragging him through a building, one that echoed, or maybe that was just Peter. They strapped him to a table, and the scientist cackled, talking about the things he was going to do. Peter didn't understand any of it. He did understand the pricks of having IVs put into him, probably more of that drug. It soon dragged him completely under. The last thing Peter heard was a the sound of dogs barking somewhere off in the distance.////\\\\Peter woke up and his world was different. First off the first thing he saw was a cage door. Bars going back and forth to make small squares. There was a simple lock, one you'd find on the latch of a dog cage. Peter wanted to laugh, how stupid were these people. He walked up to the door and tried to open it, only to be able to stick his small appendage out of one of the squares and bat at the latch. He stared at his hand, which wasn't a hand, but a fur covered paw. He turned around to get a better look at himself, and realized why the dog-door was not stupid at all. It was just a fact. Peter let out a scream which translated into a howl, waking up all the other dogs. The sudden booming sound of barking tore through Peter like nothing else. He shuddered and curled back into himself. So he still had his heightened sense. He tried to get up to break the cage open, but the sounds and new smells, this new dog form heightening his already heightened senses keeping him in a constant pain.It only got worse as the hours ticked away. The animals settled down again. Peter tried to break through the cage, but found he couldn't. A cocker spaniel across from his cage snorted."Will you stop, kid." She barked softly. Peter stiffened looking all around until he figured out it was her."Y-you just talked." Peter backed up. He looked around again, stepping into his water dish."Yeah. I suspected you were the new experiment. Don't think that we can understand the other dogs. We can't. And humans can't understand us. Just so you know." She blew out a breath."But you're... we're barking?" Peter yipped."It's like every-dog speaks English, but we're speaking Latin. Similar language, different words. At least that's what I think. I don't really know for sure." The cocker spaniel did an odd dog shrug."H-how did you know I was an e-experiment?" Peter asked. "I'm Peter, by the way.""Shelley. Usually Puppies don't have ear piercings. I guess they couldn't get it off of you during the transformation, or just didn't notice it. Or something." Shelley snorted. "But don't worry. You're a cute dog, cute puppy. You'll be adopted pretty quick. All the other experimentations got adopted pretty fast.""What about you?" Peter asked."Oh no. I'm not getting adopted. These weirdos want to turn me into a dog and pawn me off. Not on my watch. I'm going to make sure they see me each and everyday until I die." She growled viciously. Peter shrunk away, he jumped when the lights flickered on and a woman in a 'Paws-and-Claws Shelter' shirt on."I-is she one of them?" Peter backed away from his cage."No, most people here are volunteers for the animals. They think this is just a normal shelter. You'll know who's apart of the dark-shit." Shelley yawned."Hello, you must be knew." The girl stopped at Peter's cage. "You don't have a name yet, so I guess this is my lucky day." She opened the cage and took Peter out, holding him in own hand, examining him. She then set him back down and pulled out a clipboard with blank information slots. "Lets see, female." Peter growled at this. "About six weeks, maybe less. You're small, girly. I don't know if your mama weened you yet, so I guess I'll be the tester. White with black strips throughout body. Blue eyes, for know. And a husky-mix." She picked Peter up again. "Now what to name you? How about... ""CINDY!" A male's voice called from the front. "We have some early costumers that want to check out the dogs." Peter was put back down, his paperwork put in a sleeve on the outside of his cage and the girl left. Peter growled haughtily."I AM NOT A GIRL! I'M A MAN!!!" Peter barked at the retreating form."Don't get yourself too exhausted, kid. People don't think of their dogs as Transgender. It's a human trait." Shelley snorted."I am human!" Peter snapped back, trying to break through the cage, but not having enough space to get a good momentum."You look dog. It's like that saying. Looks like a dog, barks like a dog, is a dog." Shelley laughed. "Oh here are the kids.""Mom, look at this one." and "He's so cute!" And "Can I pet this one" soon filled the shelter, dogs barking, and two kids scoped out each and every dog. The kids soon left with an young German shepherd puppy. Cindy came back, but forgot all about the name. This went on for the whole day. Workers checking in on the dogs, and people coming in to adopt or just look at the dogs. Shelley had said she was surprised that Peter wasn't snatched up on the first day.It wasn't until the third day, three days of being bottle fed because he wouldn't eat the dry dog-food. Three days of being put on a leash and taken out to do his business in front of the whole world. Three days of everyone calling him 'good girl' and 'she'. It was bad enough that Cindy had decided his name to be 'Lady'. Peter hadn't felt so dysphoric and depressed since before he knew what transgender and the LGBTQ was. It wasn't until today that his luck turned around."I'm looking for a dog." A familiar voice said, and at first Peter thought it was just one of the male workers here."Are you sure? Dogs are a lot of responsibility. N-not saying that you aren't responsible, but they need a lot of care, and you're off saving the world. And they need constant companionship, and I'd hate to give away a dog only for it to be returned." Cindy's anxious voice said in rapid fire."It's not for me, but a friend of mine." Peter was interested, craning his neck but sadly Cindy hadn't brought the man into the kennel yet."Of course, you can go into the kennel alone, I have to take care of a few cats for a second, but will be with you momentarily." Cindy said, and the man walked through. Peter choked. it wasn't just any man, it was Mr. Stark!. Peter started barking, pawing at his cage."Calm down, kid. Tony Stark isn't going to adopt a hyper-spaz like you." Shelley snorted, licking her paw and smoothing back her fringey hairs.Tony walked past his cage a few times, looking down at his phone."Damn it Pete, where are you?" Tony huffed, running his hand over his face. Peter let out a bark, but it was drowned out by the other barking dogs."He knows you?" Shelley asked, now sitting up, looking interested."I'm right here. Mr. Stark!" Peter swatted at the man's faded jeans, catching his small claws on the man's ankle. Tony stopped for a second and looked down at Peter. Peter cocked his head, letting his ear flop over to show the rod in it."Have you found a dog your interested in?" Cindy asked."Uh, yeah. Can I see him?" Tony pointed to Peter, who let out a happy howl, beating his tail on the ground."Uh, yeah, She's been here for three days. I've named her Lady." Peter snapped at Cindy's fingers as she passed him to Mr. Stark, who laughed."Easy boy, I got you." Tony said, lifting him up so their noses were inches apart. Cindy made a noise, but didn't say anything. "What's with the ear?""I'm not sure, but every attempt at removing has proven futile. We think the person who had Lady last branded their dogs. Because the rod is the perfect length to allow growth in the ear without it hindering Lady in any way." Cindy said."I'll talk him." Mr. Stark said. "Where do I sign?""Well, have fun kid." Shelley said as Peter was taken to the front of the shelter, in the hands of the person he trusted.////\\\\"How do you get yourself into these things, Pete?" Tony asked as Happy drove them home. Peter just shook his had and barked. "I was in a meeting with T'challa when your aunt called. Said you hadn't been home since Tuesday morning. I checked your trackers and they were scattered everywhere. It took a minute to find you. I should have known the rod would be the most reliable one. I just didn't think you'd actually be in a dog-shelter. I didn't think you'd actually be a dog.""Woof." Peter wiggled onto Tony's lap, nuzzling into Tony's hand. He might be in dog-shape, didn't mean he was a dog."I'll get Steph to meet us at the compound, see if he can fix this." Tony let his hand stroke down Peter's soft fur. "We'll fix this."To find out, Peter wasn't even in New York, but in Pennsylvania. So the drive was long a boring. Peter found out that his tiny body needed a lot in very short amount of time, so Happy had to stop and get food and a water bowl for Peter, grabbing a case of waters and a few dozen hamburgers. He had tried to grab dog food, but both Peter and Mr. Stark were offended."He's not an actual dog, Happy. Have a little more grace than that." Tony snapped, holding Peter close to his chest.Happy also had to stop multiple times because Peter had a tiny bladder, and was not about to have an accident in Tony's nice car. Tony took this time to call Aunt May and explain to her that Peter was perfectly fine, other than the fact that he was a puppy. Peter tried to talk to May, but only barked a couple of times."I'll have to run some tests to make sure, but it seems like he's all there. He was real defensive when the Shelter-woman kept calling him a girl." Tony laughed."Good, he's my baby boy, he should be offended." May sniffed, wiping away her tears. "But Tony, I can't... there's a no animal policy in our apartment." May sniffed."I know, and I know that you can't move too far from your job." Tony said, and Peter nodded in understanding."Just take care of my boy. Get him right." May said. "I love you, Petey. Just hang in there." Peter whined, bumping the phone with his forehead. She ended the call.The rest of the time spent was with Tony doing business he was supposed to be doing today instead of tracking down a helpless dog-turned teen. Peter curled onto his lap, closing his eyes and falling asleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
A week went by for Puppy Peter. Peter was at the Sanctuary with Dr. Strange, sitting on his lap as the man poured over book after book trying to find the correct spell the help Peter. It would have been so easy if they had the time stone. Sadly since the whole Snap, all the stones were destroyed."Do you think this one will work?" Stephen asked, turning to Wong, who glanced over. His eyes drifted to Peter for a second, then to the words on the page."No, that's for changing a person into a different person, not a dog into a human." Wong stated. Peter let out a whine. "We could put a spell on him so he could communicate."Both Stephen and Peter looked up at the stoic man, blinking at him. Granted this was the first day that Peter had meet Wong in this form, but the man knew of this problem since the beginning. He could have mentioned this earlier."That would be helpful. A translation spell would work?" Stephen asked."Only if you had a Dog-to-English dictionary Strange." Wong sighed, he walked down an isle of books to come back with one, opening it to a page. "This would be the safest.""And it won't hurt him?""If he's truly has a human mind, than he will be able to control the thoughts that we see." Wong explains. Peter cocked his head, letting out a small snort. He was ignored."So like a mental chat-box?" Stephen said."Exactly." Wong nodded. "Would that be alright, Peter? Twice for yes, thrice for no.""Woof Woof." Peter barked. This has been their communication. It sucked. Peter had tried to do Morse code, but it was exhausting and annoying.It only took about five minutes, and for the most part was painless. Peter still was comfortable with his colorless sight, seeing things as if they've been muted. He always liked seeing Stephen and his magic friends doing magic, because it was really pretty. Now it just looked like someone had taken a light yellow crayon and drew in the air. Not impressive at all."Ok, Pete, take a deep breath and try to send your thoughts out into the material plain." Stephen coaxed.Nothing happened for a good while. Both he and Wong kept trying to help Peter through it, but neither of them knew what to really look for. Eventually they went back to finding a spell that would change Peter back, while Peter was stuck trying to figure out this spell they cast onto him. How was he supposed to show them his thoughts? Stephen had said it would be like a mental group-chat. Group chats were easy, all you had to do was write something then press send!Oh.'Press F for respects.' Peter could see the floating letters appear just above his head. They wear backwards due to the reflective surface of some ancient thing he was using as a mirror, but they were there. He let out a happy bark. 'I DID IT!'Peter ran up to Stephen, the words chasing after him."I can see that. Now try to make the words go away. People will get suspicious of a magic dog." Stephen said, patting Peter on the head.Peter went back to his spot. It was easy to change the words, make his thoughts seen to the rest of the world. But making those thoughts go away was hard. He found out that the words faded away over time, but it took an hour. He tried the group chat science again, but it didn't work.'I AM DARKNESS! I AM DEATH!' floated above Peter's head as he ate his dinner, which was chicken noodle soup. Wong wasn't going to make something different just because Peter was a dog. Strange walked Peter, which was still highly humiliating, in a deserted area of who knows where. It was about this time that Tony came into the Sanctum."I see we got communication set up." Tony said after giving Stephen a 'hello' smooch. They sat together on the couch. "How can this stop though?"'That's what I've been trying to figure out.' Peter barked, trying to jump up onto Tony's lap, but falling back down on the floor. 'No!'"It's ok, kid." Tony picked him up, racking his fingers over Peter's fur. "Have you tried just erasing the words?" Tony asked. "Like the holo-pads?" Peter looked up at his mentor/father figure.'Uh... no?' Peter huffed, turning in a circle. 'I'll, uh, I'll try is now.' It didn't work. Peter shook his head vigorously, hating this now. He wish he had never asked for this to happen."Hey look, it worked." Tony clapped. Peter looked up to find that he had no more words following him.'HECK YEAH!' Peter howled, jumping up. 'It's like an etch-a-sketch.' Peter shook his head again and the words vanished."Alright kid, let's get you back to the compound." Tony picked up Peter and Stephen made a portal for them.////\\\\Peter was sleeping on Ms. Danvers's lap. They were in the living-room, her and Mr. Rhodey had just gotten back from a debrief with the Accord council about the mission they were on. Also about other Accord Council things, like the Rogue Avengers. Tony didn't like Peter knowing about what was going on with them, but Peter had Enhanced senses. And with him being a dog, their 'safe zone' just became not so safe."I get that you want to pardon them. That's fine. But do they have to stay here?" Stephen asked, his voice gentle and soothing."Ross wants people capable enough to take them down to be around them. Who are more capable than very qualified Avengers." Tony sighed."But this place isn't just the Avenger's compound. It's still a Stark Industries. There are civilian workers here, doesn't Ross not want anyone to get hurt. That was the whole point in the Accords." Stephen huffed."The Accords was pageantry at best." Tony snorted. "It's for show. Only Rogers and his merry band of fuck-ups didn't understand that. We do what we want, and then debrief, just like we did under Nick Fury. It's just that Nick Fury is dead and these past years we've been left to our own devices."Stephen snorted, and there was a wet noise, cluing Peter into tuning their make-out session out. It wasn't until they started to talk again that he perked up."Anyway, it's not finalized, we still have a bit until they're actually pardoned." Tony said. Peter was distracted by Mr. Rhodey changing his movie.'No! Luke was about to find out who his father was!' Peter whined, his ears flopping down."You've seen Star wars more than Quill has listened to his limited amount of songs. A little change up won't hurt you, kid." Mr. Rhodey ruffled Peter's fur.'But I've already watched everything interesting on NetFlix.' Peter pouted."I'll talk to Tony about it later." Mr. Rhodey promised as he turned on Parks and Rec."Oh no, if you're complained about the kid seeing his thing too much, you can't just do the same thing. A little change up won't hurt you." Ms. Danvers reached over and plucked the remote from Mr. Rhodey, giving him a peck on the cheek. She then changed it to the Great British Cook-Off. Something everyone could agree that they've watched more than a thousand times. They all settled down, watching Sue and Mel being the amazing hosts they were meant to be.
