Set before "The New Sinister Six Part 1 and 2" so Scarlet hasn't betrayed anyone yet. The Academy students are very paranoid of Hydra attacking and don't like the idea of being unprepared for the inevitable attack.

As a hard-working, Academy-running, villain-chasing, quip-throwing superhero you wouldn't think Peter knew when to take a break if it rose out of the harbor and bit him in the butt. But you'd be wrong. In fact, if taking self-care were a game, he'd be winning right now. Which was something he never thought he could say about himself.

Running himself dry was a staple in the Peter Parker experience. He was good at what he did, and what he did wasn't very good for his health. But he was doing a lot better and that was because Connors was constantly getting on his case about sleeping, and eating, and this silly little thing called hygiene.

He was a mean, lean, self-care machine.

His fellow students, on the other hand, could do better. And Peter knows he doesn't have room to talk, he's gone two weeks without showering once, and only remembered to do so when Luke and Danny physically shoved him into the bathroom, threw a bar of soap at him, and sealed the door until they heard the water running. So he didn't have the best track record with taking care of himself.

But these were his teams and they should know better.

The students of SHIELD Academy were working hard. They kept up in their regular teenage studies, got excellent grades, and even better training scores. They were dedicated, focused, and motivated.

Which was great. Awesome. He loved to see it. The downside was that maybe they were doing a little too well. And by that, he meant they were running themselves into the dirt. Constant training, nonstop studying - he witnessed Flash asking Amadeus to test him on his vocabulary which is a phenomenon he's never seen in all the years that he knew him.

It wasn't hard to uncover the reason behind the craziness. Hydra and Otto were like a storm cloud looming on the horizon. This upcoming battle was inevitable, and they could feel it like a drop in pressure. With each day that passed, the threat crept closer to their doorstep.

Most of the students were paranoid and shifty, which was understandable. A lot of them started out like him, looking for a fight. Some had been homeless and on their own. No one liked the idea of being attacked in their home, and Peter understood that. He got it.

But when teenagers started training on their break times, something had to be done. Their integrity was admirable, but everyone needed a break every once in a while. If they kept going at this pace, by the time Hydra showed up the team would be too wiped out to do anything.

Besides, at the end of the day they were still kids. Teenagers. And yeah, maybe they weren't the dictionary definition of "normal", but that didn't mean they couldn't have fun.

But when Peter confronted them about their overworking, indignant words like "being prepared" and "more training" popped up and that was the final straw. He was going to show these kids a good time or he was going to sell a pint of his blood to Otto as punishment.

This is why he cleverly (it wasn't clever) devised a brilliant plan (it was actually quite simple) to encourage his teams to relax, and what better way to do that than with a movie night. It sounded great in his ears, but when presenting this plan to his colleagues their reactions weren't as excited as he hoped.

"A movie night?" Ben said, looking at Peter like he told them to dunk their heads in the Hudson. "As if we have time for that."

Nearby, Tandy nodded in agreement, conjuring and dissipating slips of light in her hands, "Yeah, we don't have time for that. We've got training and classes, and, well, we're just too busy."

Doreen was on her bunk, playing with Monkey Joe as she added, "Yeah if Hydra's gonna attack, shouldn't we be prepared? Be on our toes, and all that?" Monkey Joe chittered in agreement and she rubbed the space between his ears.

Peter crossed his arms and sighed, "That's the problem. You're too much on your toes. You guys have been training non-stop."

Ava sat up in her bunk, looking personally offended, "There's nothing wrong with being prepared. I thought you, of anyone, would agree, seeing how Ock's got a revenge boner for you."

"Please never put 'Ock' and 'boner' in the same sentence ever again."

"Look, we just want to be ready. I don't think anyone here wants a repeat battle like the first one with Hydra."

Ah. That. The battle that led to Peter taking more responsibility in the Academy. The one that led to Nick Fury going MIA and leaving SHIELD under new management. Hydra managed to take over the Tricarrier and turn it into a new base (which was in space now, thank you very much), but Fury was still missing, and so was one of Peter's teammates: Nova. But he didn't like thinking about that because it made him worry and he didn't need to stay up any later at night, biting his fingernails and fretting.

He remembered it all too well. It's also when he found Scarlet Spider, or...well when Scarlet found him. And of course, Peter didn't want it to happen again, but training to death wasn't going to give them a better outcome.

"Of course I don't want that to happen again," he said as much, "But working yourselves thin isn't going to work either. You'll be worn out by the time Hydra shows up, and I think I prefer my teams at fully functioning capacity."

His concern was met with shrugs.

"But we will have extra training," Ka'Zar said matter-of-factly, scratching behind Zabu's ears. The big cat purred in contentment and leaned against the boy happily.

"Yeah, you will in a way, I guess," Peter admitted. "But I don't think you're getting my point. It's okay to train hard and push your limits, but we need to chill and relax too. All this extra training is going to be worthless if you overwork yourselves."

Danny smiled, thankfully coming to his rescue, "I think a movie night sounds like a great idea," he clapped a warm hand on Peter's shoulder, and Peter gave him a grateful smile. His mask was on so it might've gone unnoticed, but Danny had chi-reading powers, so he sent out grateful vibes.

"Yeah, cool, whatever. I don't know about you guys, but I'd prefer not getting distracted from the problem at hand," Amadeus lamented, chowing on a sandwich as he read a book Peter didn't recognize. "I'm not too keen on the place I'm staying in getting blown up."

"I don't know, I think Spidey has a point," Flash said, "It's very important to unwind before a big game. Back when I played Varsity Football, our coach worked us hard, but he always said to make time to relax. We'd go bowling or to the movies before a game. It was great."

"But did it work?" Tyrone asked.

"Hey, State Champion and Midtown Football Star here," Flash boasted, puffing his chest and jabbing a thumb towards himself. "We won almost every game."

"Well, I still don't think it's a good idea." Ben huffed, leaning against the wall in his patented I-look-awesome-but-I'll-still-stab-you pose.

"Well, that doesn't matter," Peter grouched, crossing his arms stubbornly. "I'm the Acting-Director until Fury comes back, and I officially declare all classes and training canceled until we have a movie night. So suck it up and get on your best jammies."

Flash and Miles whooped, pumping their fists as they went to get dressed. The others followed suit, most had small smiles on their faces, but there were a few resigned grumbles and huffs. Ben was among them and rolled his eyes, making no indication to move from his spot.

"Are you just going to sit there all night, or are you going to join us?" Peter asked, a hint of hope seeping in. "I'd be awesome to have us all there."

Ben sighed in exasperation, looking towards the ceiling as if he were searching for a way out. When he didn't find anything, he sighed, "Fine, I'll go. But not because you asked me to. I smell popcorn and I'm hungry."

Peter grinned and gave a goofy salute, "Yes Sir, extra buttery to everyone's liking Sir."

Ben groaned and mumbled something about idiocy as he walked away, but Peter didn't take it to heart because he won and everything was going according to plan.

<><><>LINE BREAK<><><>

In one of the training rooms on the 80th floor, Peter set up a projector. He could've rifled through SHIELD's tech archives for something more advanced with surround sound and HD screening, but there was something nostalgic and fun about projectors - call it his inner nerd if you want, but he liked shooting the movie across the wall in dim colors. Reminds him of old summer days when Uncle Ben set up the ancient projector he bought off a yard sale in the backyard, on a sheet strung from the single tree to the rickety porch. He and MJ spent hours watching everything they could get their hands on.

Surprisingly, amazingly, the teams aren't giving him as much trouble as he expected.

For a subversive and secretive organization, SHIELD had an amazing abundance of comfortable blankets and one was assigned to each team member as they entered. He was particularly fond of the ridiculous pajamas they were all wearing, a variety of superheroes stitched the front and patterned the pants. Peter wore a pair of pajamas with Spider-Man's face stamped all over it.

He still had his mask over his face, of course, because secret identities were a thing, but it's freeing to be in something other than tight spandex for once. He felt like a bit of a narcissist for wearing Spider-Man-themed clothes, but Danny, Ava, and Luke all had jammies with their respective hero personas on it as well, so he wasn't the only one. Another great thing about SHIELD was that they could get their hands on just about anything within an hour.

But since not everyone here was well known enough to have their own set of hero pajamas yet, they had to make do with different heroes, like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men.

Naturally, Ben refused to wear the extra pair of Nova pajamas that came with the pile (Peter was trying very hard not to be sad that Sam wasn't here to join in the fun, he would've loved teasing him for wearing Spider-Man themed PJ's.) but Peter considered it a win to get Ben to join at all, so he didn't push his luck.

Because he was a kind and gracious person, he let the teams agree on a movie, and after much arguing and a battle of paper-rock-scissors, a horror movie was decided on. Peter didn't mind, he's watched plenty of horror movies with Harry, and it's not like there was anything Hollywood could create that could scare him at this point.

He frowned, thoughts turning to the mentioned red-haired boy. It's been a while since he and Harry met up for a movie marathon. He was too busy running the Academy, and after his myriad of excuses, Harry just stopped asking.

Peter's fingers itched to pull out his phone and invite him over, but the idea was so laughable he snorted. What a way to come out as Spider-Man to his friend. It'd be one for the history books for sure. Besides, it would be fun to watch with the team. Popping the movie into the projector, he shushed any remaining grumbling over the choice, and the movie began.

He realized quickly that he made a terrible mistake.

See, Peter's fought enough villains and monsters to make anything in the horror genre pee their pants. After staring down the likes of Goblin and Doctor Octopus, he didn't think anything could scare him anymore.

But he was wrong. Very wrong. Every time the horribly crafted monster popped on-screen he jumped. Whenever a blood-curdling scream erupted over the speakers, he flinched and pulled his blanket tighter around himself, focusing on not hurling himself into the arms of the closest person. Which happened to be Tyrone, and he didn't fancy getting teleported to Latveria.

And because his luck was trash, his shame didn't even go unnoticed by his teammates, who were giving him weird looks whenever he stifled a noise or flinched from the screen. The only relief he could fall back on was that he wasn't the only one. Next to him, Miles was slowly sticking himself farther into his side with each jumpscare.

And next to Miles, Flash was inching behind the younger boy, as if he would protect him from the big bad monsters - it didn't look intentional, but it was obvious whenever he grabbed Mile's shoulders with a squeak. Amadeus didn't seem to be having trouble, the lucky little bastard. But surprisingly, despite Ben's big-bad persona, he too was tense and jumpy.

But on the downside, it was only them who were having a problem. This movie was ancient, barely out of the black-and-white era, and the rest of the teams were having a ball laughing and making fun of the monster.

Peter tried to join in from time to time, but his voice started shaking and he clung tighter to Miles, and eventually, he decided to pipe down and spare whatever dignity he had left. Even if this movie was slowly killing him inside.

But life wasn't that easy. The teams couldn't just let their combined anxiety go. Towards the end of the movie, the spider's behavior was getting noticeable. During a quiet, boring scene with the protagonist trying to convince themselves everything was fine, Ava turned her smirk at Peter as she tossed a few pieces of popcorn into her mouth.

"Someone looks scared."

"Am not," Peter squeaked, and then cleared his throat, "I'm not scared."

"Riiiight, that's why you keep jumping. And hiding in your blanket. And squeaking. And-"

"Okay, I get it!" Peter interrupted, waving his hands in front of her to cut her off. "It's just...this movie is a bit more intense than I remember..."

He was lucky Sam wasn't here after all. He'd be teasing him mercilessly right about now. But because Peter's on a jerk team full of jerk team members who were all jerks, they decided to take his humiliation into their own hands.

"Aw, we can turn it off and watch something else if you want," Luke teased.

"Would you like to hold Monkey Joe?" Doreen offered with a barely contained smile.

"The monster in this movie is quite unrealistic and very humorous," Triton chuckled. "It's quite silly of you to be scared of it."

Peter glowered at them all, and because he was a truly loyal comrade, he wasn't going down alone."Hey, I'm not the only one. Football star over here is getting clingy."

Flash stuttered nonsensically at being thrown under the bus before accusingly pointing at Miles, "Well Kid Arachnid is scared too!"

"So is Amadeus!" Miles was quick to defend himself.

"No, I'm not," Amadeus said and pointed at Ben, "But he is."

Ben glared at him, one barb shooting out of his wrist, but the threat was empty and Amadeus didn't even blink.

"I think it's just you spiders," Ka'Zar said, scraping the bottom of the popcorn bowl for remaining kernels.

Peter hunkered lower in his blanket, grumpy and stubborn, "I'm not...that scared. I've watched plenty of horror movies before, and they were a lot scarier than this. I don't know what's wrong with me right now. Or any of us really," he gestured offhandedly to the rest of the Web Warriors.

"Yeah, I watched scary movies all the time back at home," Miles muttered, "But it's been a while. Since I got my powers, I think."

Amadeus took a sip from his soda can and announced casually, "I have a theory."

"Of course you do," Flash mumbled.

Amadeus went on with his explanation like he didn't hear him, "It's really obvious, actually. You all have spider-sense, don't you?" a mumble of yes's. "I have my artificial spider-sense, so it's not really the same, but Agent Venom gets his from the symbiote, and Spidey, Kid Arachnid, and Scarlet all have theirs biologically built-in."

"Uh-huh," Luke said, stroking his chin intrigued.

"Well, they're all so used to their spider-sense telling them when something is going to happen that the prospect of NOT being able to sense it mentally and physically freaks them out. They can't sense when the monster is going to pop up because it's not technically a threat. It's just a movie. But they instinctively expect to sense it, and when they don't," he shrugged, "well, they're caught off guard. It's really simple. My artificial spider-sense isn't as ingrained as theirs, so my brain isn't turning me into a scaredy-cat. You know, like them," He finished it with a shit-eating grin that earned an attack of unpopped popcorn kernels from his fellow arachnid-themed group.

"Wow...that does make sense," Tyrone said, impressed.

Amadeus flicked a piece of popcorn off the sleeve of his Hulk pajamas, "Being a genius has its perks."

"Soooo," Peter said carefully, "We're all in agreement that we can blame this on spidey-sense then right? And that we're not actually a bunch of chickens, our brains are just so finely tuned to keep us safe that – oh shit something's happening!" Peter, Flash, and Miles immediately huddled together as the movie took a dark turn.

Amadeus wasn't affected like them, but being in the middle of the group, he found himself swathed in blankets with the rest of the team, squished between Flash and Miles. Ben held out by himself for a while, body gradually getting tighter and tighter until he resembled a rosined bow. When one of his barbs shot out during a particularly brutal jumpscare, Miles asked, "You wanna join us?" and held open the cocoon of blankets in invitation.

"I am not sharing a blanket with you guys."

<><><>LINE BREAK<><><>

Ben was huddled between Flash and Peter. Mile's clung to Peter's other side, and Amadeus was squished next to him, looking almost bored, but he let Miles hold his hand without complaint. They were all mushed together, the blanket a protective barrier.

The movie was reaching its climax and the monster was expected to show up at any moment. The cluster's eyes were glued to the screen and their breathing hitched as the suspenseful music rose. The blanket bunched tighter until only their heads were poking out. Though because Miles and Amadeus were the smallest, only the tops of their heads were visible and their eye lenses were the only thing the rest could see.

Behind the unsuspecting group, Luke and Ava shushed the others and slowly rose to their feet, stalking towards them. The music was rising, the cluster stopped breathing as they waited for the monster to pop out and eat the unsuspecting protagonist.

And right as the music stopped and the monster shot into view, Ava and Luke jumped, yelling as loud as they could, "BOO!"

The next moment was pure chaos.

The Web Warriors screamed. Miles jumped straight out of the blankets and into the arms of an unsuspecting Doreen. Ben was so startled, his barbs shot out, ripping the blanket to shreds and breaking the popcorn bowl he was clutching to his chest. Flash shrieked, the venom symbiote reacting to his emotions by lashing out in tendrils and knocking over the projector. Amadeus shot to his feet, stumbled, and fell back on his butt.

The teams guffawed with laughter, holding their sides breathlessly at the panicked sight.

"Wait, wait," Ka'Zar said, looking left and right, "Where'd Spidey go?"

A quick look around the room confirmed that Spider-Man had disappeared. Danny heard a small noise above him and looked up. He tapped Luke on the shoulder a second later.

"Webs?" Luke laughed incredulously.

Peter was on the ceiling, clinging to one of the light fixtures like his life depended on it. His hands were gripping it so tightly his fingers dug into the material. His legs were wrapped around the fixture like it were a piece of driftwood and he was on a turbulent sea. The room erupted into another round of laughter and giggling.

It took a moment for the Web-Warriors to calm down, but eventually, the venom symbiote withdrew its tendrils, Doreen gently deposited Miles on the floor, Luke helped Amadeus off the ground, and Ben threatened to mutilate anyone who brought this up ever again.

Which only left Peter.

"Spider, you can come down now," Danny said.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah sounds good. Great. Wonderful. One problem though," Peter mumbled, "I, uh...I don't think I can." He pried at his fingers but they may as well have been glued to the light fixture. There were more laughs shared and a very disgruntled Peter glowered down at them as he tug-tug-tugged unsuccessfully. Eventually, Miles and Flash climbed onto the ceiling and together managed to coax Peter's body into letting go.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Peter whirled around with a finger pointed at the amused expressions of the group, "We never speak of this again!"

Humiliation aside, movie night was a success. The next morning, the teams looked far more relaxed. They were smiling and joking again, and there was endless teasing towards the Web Warriors, but that was fine because everything else was perfect.

In fact, more than one of them approached Peter afterward asking when the next movie night was going to be or suggesting other fun things to do. A lot of them wanted to go bowling, and Peter wondered if that was the influence of Amadeus and Flint.

Even Ben was more relaxed and that was saying something. "It wasn't bad," he admitted to Peter, begrudgingly, and added a quick "Punk," as an afterthought.

Yeah, Peter lost some dignity that night, but at least he wasn't the only one. Miles, Flash, and Ben all got to share in his suffering.

He just really hoped Sam never got his hands on that video footage.

Sam definitely got his hands on that footage when he got back. Hahah thanks for reading. This is just a stupid, silly little one-shot I wrote a while ago. I just want a lot more shenanigans with the teams, I want them doing fun things together, and I love torturing the Web Warriors.

LOLOL I definitely think that because their spider-sense is always telling them what to expect that they have a certain vulnerability to scary movies. Amadeus isn't affected with his artificial spider-sense as it's not biologically ingrained into his brain, but I'm sure he has a lot of fun using it against the rest of the Web Warriors. They can have movie nights at Aunt May's, it's how he gets revenge.

Thanks for reading! Drop a comment below and I hope you enjoyed it!