Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 43: Control Part 1

(Another week Later)

Peter and Jean were outside on the weekend, playing around as they searched the neighborhood. Tired from all the running, they both sat down, before Peter asked. "So how's the ear piece?" Jean gave him a huge smile as she replied, slightly fiddling with the ear piece. It was a habit she picked up over the week.

"It's great! I haven't heard another voice since last week." Peter nodded his head in thought, but from the way a frown came to his face Jean knew something was up. "What is it?" Peter looked up from the grass, and looked her in the eye. "Well I think you should take the ear piece off every now and then.

Jean's body froze as the words sank in. She didn't want to admit it but she was scared to take the ear piece off now. She didn't want to have powers. She didn't want to be different from everyone else. And finally the pain that was caused every time she heard too many voices made her want to run away from the problem.

Peter, seeing the scared expression Jean now sported, let out a small sigh, before reaching out to grab her hand. Giving her a reassuring smile, he tried to calm her down. "There's nothing to worry about Jean, you shouldn't have to hide who you are." Jean still wasn't sure, but had no words to reply.

She didn't know what she should say at that moment. Peter's face grimaced before he continued. "Here's the thing Jean, I'm not sure if that ear piece will always work." Jean's eyes that had been scared and afraid one second, shot wide open at the words. She thought it was a permanent solution, the ear piece. Now that she was finding out that it might fail, her fears tripled.

Peter just gripped her hand tighter, as he tried to explain. "I don't know much about your powers, Jean. I don't know if they'll get more powerful in the future. And the ear piece you have right now, might fail at some point…" He was unsure how to word the next sentence as he knew she wouldn't like the idea, but he continued. " I-i-I think you should try to control your powers."

Jean who was still reeling from her fears, asked in a quiet voice, but it was easy to notice her voice tremble. "Control?" Peter nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yeah control! I mean, it's your brain; it's like a muscle. Just like walking and running. You have to do it a few times to get it right. Or that's what I think." Peter's voice tapered off somewhat near the end, but that was because he didn't want to give her false hope.

He didn't know exactly how her powers worked and anything less than dissecting Jean would possible lead to answers. But that was something Peter, didn't want to happen at all costs, and would make sure never happened.

They both turned quiet after Peter's words. Jean thought over what Peter said, and couldn't help but agree. In a small part of her mind she couldn't help but think, 'Damnit why is he always right'. "Because I'm smart!" Peter spoke up from the side causing Jean to look at him in bewilderment. 'How did he know!' He sported a mischievous smile. "Because it was written on your face." *Smack*

"Oww, hey stop doing that." Peter rubbed his arm with a hurt expression. "Serves you right! Humph." Jean turned her head away from him, a small smile playing on her lips, and crossed her arms. After a few seconds, they both look at each other and broke out laughing.

Laughing so much that they cried and started rolling around on the grass, they finally pulled themselves back together after a few moments; Jean speaking first. "Ok, I'll learn how to control my power. And then I can read your mind to tell when you're lying!" Peter's eyes bulged. "Hey wait, that's an invasion of privacy! You can't do that!"

Jean just gave him a smirk. "So when do we start?" Her innocent smile didn't fool Peter, in his mind he was thinking of ways to speed up Project 3, before it was too late! Finally recollecting himself a few seconds later, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's try it tomorrow. Come over to my house and we'll see what we can think of." Jean thought about it for a few seconds before nodding her head. Her parents didn't really care if she went over to Peter's, they could spend the whole day trying to figure it out. "Ok." "Ok."

With that out of the way, they both stood back up and went to find something fun to do. They had finished their break.

Chapter end