Nightshift 32: Main Hallway, 1-Center

[ran_on_empty]

[From here.]He was close now

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[a_spider_can]

"Hey, the first night or two can be pretty disorienting," Peter quickly replied, pulling his hands up in front of him defensively to show Harry that he hadn't meant any harm by the comment. Was it such a crime to be worried on his friend's behalf? Even though he knew Harry was more than capable, Landel's was hardly safe. He got the feeling that his friend was going to have to see proof of that firsthand before he believed it, though.

The question about his costume had been expected, so Peter pushed off of the wall and turned to Harry with a shrug. "Yeah, well... I figured I would be Peter during the day and Spider-man at night. It doesn't matter with you, but..." It didn't actually matter with most of the other patients, either, since a lot of them had no idea who he was. (He was curious about how many did, but that was something to think about later.) Still, when he had found his costume it had seemed like the right thing to do. "It's just habit, I guess."

There was more to it than that, though. He felt stronger when he had it on, and having his face covered probably had something to do with it. Peter didn't like self-analyzing too much, which was probably why he was always so busy worrying about everyone else.

"Anyway, I've been thinking about what we should do tonight. Want me to give you the grand tour, or...?"

[littlegoblinjr]

[I personally don't really have anything in mind for him, 'cept for imprinting the whole night=dangerous thing, so *shrug*]

Harry shook his head, smiling slightly at Peter's defensiveness. It was funny being placated by a guy who could lift cars with his bare hands. Of course, he reminded himself, nowadays so could he. "Hey, I appreciate the company. Would be better if you'd brought some girls, but I'm sure we'll manage."

"I thought you'd be worried about people putting it together. If I'm seen with Peter during the day and 'Spidey' at night, someone might start to wonder." While he might still have some lingering resentment for Spiderman, he really didn't want to see Peter hurt. And, while they were in a loony bin, someone might take it seriously if one of the patients claimed they knew who Spiderman was.

When Peter asked what he wanted to do he wasn't sure how to respond. What did people do here during the night? There couldn't be much a nightlife in a place like this, no matter how many people were out wandering about. "A tour works, I guess. I didn't get to see everything yet. What do you normally do at night?" There couldn't be much call for a vigilante 'round here and he didn't know what else Spiderman did, when he wasn't fighting lunatics and sand monsters.

[a_spider_can]

[Yeah, same. I guess we'll just go with the flow and have them run into something that goes bump in the night eventually. :3]

"Sorry, buddy, but you're going to have to work on meeting girls on your own," Peter replied lightheartedly. Come to think of it, he really hadn't met many girls here, if any. He didn't exactly make the effort to seek them out, seeing how bad he generally was at talking to them. Saving them while in full costume was one thing, but trying to chat one up during the day probably wasn't worth the stress. Then again, Harry needed to realize that this wasn't the place to go cruising around for girls, anyway, even if he had mainly been joking.

"The thought's crossed my mind, but I doubt people are paying that much attention." Considering both of them would also be seen talking to others, it probably wasn't a huge deal, and most of the other patients were too busy worried about their own plans when night rolled around. The fact that he hadn't had someone come up to him while he was dressed like this who actually recognized him was enough proof that he didn't need to worry about hiding his identity nearly as much as he would have had to back home.

Considering Harry's question, Peter placed a hand on his hip and glanced toward the ceiling, which he couldn't really see since it was so dark. "Exploring, mainly. I usually stick with my roommate, but he had plans tonight. And I don't know if anyone's told you, but people get kidnapped for some pretty sick experiments, so if I get the chance I head up to where they do it to try and help out. But really, I'm just trying to find a way to get everyone out of here." Not that he'd had much luck with that, but he had already accepted that it was going to be a lengthy process.

[littlegoblinjr]

[Sounds like a plan, brave sidekick!]

Harry laughed, shoving lightly at Peter's shoulder. "Well, that figures. Some friend you are." He'd missed joking around with Peter like this more than he wanted to admit. His good mood was helped by the sense of excitement he felt at being free to move around like this. It was almost like they were teenagers again, sneaking out at night to have fun. Well, for him anyway. He wasn't sure Peter had ever snuck out of the house without permission.

He nodded when Peter dismissed his concerns about his identity. If Peter wasn't worried Harry figured he shouldn't be either. He hadn't been told not to use Peter's name, so he probably wasn't concerned about that.

Harry couldn't suppress a fond smile when Peter explained what he normally did of a night. Always trying to take care of everyone else around him.

"Who's your room mate?" He had to ask, reminded of the person he'd gotten a few messages from on the bulletin board. It might be the same person as whoever 'Logan' was he'd claimed to be familiar with Peter.

He was more concerned when he heard about there being experiments performed on the patients here. That sort of thing sounded a lot more believable than anything else he'd heard so far, especially considering his unexplained recovery from his injuries. "What sort of experiments? Has it happened to you?"

[a_spider_can]

"He's this guy named Logan... Apparently he knows some other version of me. It's a long story, but he's a good guy. I'm pretty sure I can trust him." Taking into account some of the other people he could have been forced to share a room with in this place, Peter considered himself very lucky. He would have to introduce Harry and Logan sometime, especially since it seemed like Logan didn't actually know who Harry was.

That made Peter wonder. Did his alternate self not have Harry as a best friend? It was a strange thought, though it already seemed like the Peter Parker who Logan knew was pretty different from him.

Peter smiled under his mask at Harry's question, honestly glad to hear that he was worried for him. "No, not to me, but to a lot of other people. And there's no saying I won't be next." He didn't want to have to be such a pessimist, but it would be naive not to be in this place. While he had been figuring that Eddie's symbiote would be something that would interest the sick curiosity of the doctors here, he knew that his powers were probably just as intriguing.

"Anyway, grand tour. We could head upstairs or try to get outside for some fresh air." He tried to keep his tone light so that it seemed like he was talking about a tour through a museum rather than through a deranged hospital crawling with mutated creatures.

[littlegoblinjr]

So the guy on the bulletin board was Peter's roomie. He hadn't really said much to the guy and it was difficult at best to judge people based on what they wrote on a public board, so he really shouldn't be forming any opinions about what the guy was like. All the same, he was a inclined to dislike this 'Logan'. It was entirely possible that, whoever he was, he was taking advantage of Peter's trusting nature. His instinctive dislike of a man he'd never met had absolutely nothing to do with the fact the guy had tried to warn him off going after Brock and even less to do with the faint feeling of jealousy that Peter had found someone else to rely on in this place.

He really wasn't sure what Peter meant when he mentioned another version of himself. The only thing it brought to mind was some old episodes of Star Trek he'd never admit to having watched. "Sounds complicated, maybe I should talk to him myself, see what he has to say." His desire to speak with Peter's roommate also had nothing to do with his aforementioned lack of jealousy over whatever relationship Peter had with him.

The possibility of Peter being experimented on was something he didn't want to consider any more than the prospect that something may have already been done to him. Choosing instead to focus on the question of where to go, he responded, "Why not go outside? If there's a way out it's gotta be out there, right?" Sure, if it were that simple, Peter would have already left, but, well maybe he'd missed something.

[a_spider_can]

Meanwhile, Peter didn't think there would be any harm in introducing Harry to Logan. Considering he approved of both of them, it followed to assume that they would get along without too much of a problem. Logan was pretty open, from what he could tell, and while Harry had the tendency to cause conflicts, it seemed like he was making more of an effort to avoid that kind of behavior now, knowing where it had led him.

"Yeah, I'll point him out to you," he agreed with a nod. It might even be a better idea for them to meet up during the day, since nightshift wasn't exactly the best time for drawn-out conversations.

Once Harry mentioned going outside, Peter was about to nod yet again until he realized one very important fact. "All right, but... I haven't actually been outside before. I mean, I went through the front doors once when we went into town, and I've been in the greenhouse once, but that wasn't really outside. I know there's a courtyard, though... I just haven't been there." He was fairly confident that he knew the way to the courtyard, though, remembering when the nurses had filtered into the cafeteria from there the day of the riot.

"I'm pretty sure I know the way, though. It's through the sun room, which can get dangerous at night, so stay close." He felt bad ordering Harry around, but he had to teach him the ropes first.

[littlegoblinjr]

It looked like he would be getting the opportunity to meet the mysterious Logan at some point. In spite of the fact it had been a long time since he and Peter lived together, Harry couldn't help thinking of this guy as his replacement. He hoped he could be civil when he met Logan long enough to find a legitimate reason to dislike the man. But, he forcefully reminded himself, if Peter thought of him as a friend, then Harry had better get along with him or learn to pretend to, as once Peter had made up his mind about a person it was almost impossible to change it. God knows he'd tried enough times where Spiderman was concerned, even if that was a special case.

Harry was honestly surprised to hear that Peter hadn't been outside yet. He'd expected that Peter would have been over every inch of this place if he seriously wanted to find a way out of here. "Why haven't you gone outside? Is it that difficult to get out there?" A sudden thought occurred to him, "Wait, how long have you been here?" If Peter hadn't been here much longer than him then it might make sense he hadn't been everywhere yet. It did seem like the institute was pretty big. A through search of the kind Peter would be most likely undertake would take a while to complete.

Either way, Peter hadn't been outside yet, didn't think it was a bad idea to go out there, and had told him which direction to go. When Peter felt the need to warn him about the sun room he almost asked him just which one of them had saved the others life not once, but twice. But, then he'd get that awful, wounded look of Peter's, the one that made Harry want to do anything to get rid of it, be it introducing him to a famous scientist he respected or buying him some new piece of technology he'd never be able to afford on his own.

He settled for calling back cockily "Sure thing, Spidey. Why don't you watch my back?" as he headed towards the oh-so-terrible sun room. He was determined to show Peter he was just as capable as the bug at this sort of thing. He might be half blind but he was far from being a liability. Even in a place like this, where the biggest threat seemed to be the lack of light.

[a_spider_can]

"About a week?" Peter guessed. It was long enough that he was starting to get more than a little antsy, but at least he had his bearings to an extent. This specific situation just proved that he needed to get his hands on some of the maps he had seen being passed around, but that could be a project left until the next day.

"I just haven't gotten around to it," he explained. He caught Harry's implication, of course, but the fact of the matter was that it wasn't easy to cover much ground each night when there were battles to be fought every step of the way. In any case, there was no better time than the present to see what there was out there, even though his hopes weren't too high.

Though when Harry started for the sun room without a sliver of hesitation, Peter fought the urge to call after him before ditching that idea and instead just making sure to follow closely. There was bound to be something in there, and they would just have to face it together.

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